Fans as scouts?

There is a tendency for us to believe we can help the professionals, who have much better access to potential signings. We would probably just get in the way. I think we have to keep on touting possible players on TW, and hope somebody who can do something about them, sees the positives and acts.

Surely not.

I've identified a few and I'm willing to let Koeman know in case Steve Walsh is shirking his responsibilities. Griezman, Koulibaly, Keane, Hazard, Kane the list goes on.

That made me laugh out loud, cheers!

No whackos to be seen, here.

It's the rest of them. They're "crackpots"!

("I'm not crazy, everybody else is.")

Eventually... I was asked to come along for trials. Unfortunately, I never got much further than a couple of trial games.

They don't know what they missed out on!! 😞😞😞

Yes.

Try Championship Manager.

Sometime around 2010 or '11, I wrote a long post about a Costa Rican midfielder named Oviedo who had just ripped the USA apart in a friendly. The same player had been brilliant the year before in the CONCACAF U-20 final, in which Costa Rica beat the USA 3-0. I thought Everton should sign him.

And in 2012, out of nowhere, Everton signed its first Central American player EVER in the history of the club.

Oviedo.

So... well... I just wondered.

Still do.

It's never too late...

Ask for a retrial!

Dele Alli was a no-brainer, lighting up the lower leagues at 18, raved over week-in & week-out on the Footy League Show.

Erickson, ripping up Holland with Ajax, available for 㾷m, scoring free kicks every week and a top assist in Europe.

Toby Alderweireld looked the bollocks at Southampton, represented Belgium at every level from U15 to main team, made available by his club Athletic to the highest bidder who again was Spurs at 㾷m.

Hugo lloris bought for less than 㾶m at the age of 26 and captain of France.

Eric Dier again available cheap (٢m) applied his trade in Portugal, came up with a total different style of footy from the other English defenders and again a very reasonable price and again a no-brainer, at ٢m you simply can not lose on an English player.

Kyle Walker bought for ٧m with Kyle Naughton, again both English, both quick so again you can't lose. Naughton flopped and was sold for ٣m, meaning Walker stands Spurs ٢m!

Most footy fans could point out most of these players; I'm not saying we should or could all be scouts but sometimes I do wonder if scouts tend to over think things a little.

Michael Keane has 12 months on his deal and already has Premier League experience, no-brainer.

Inaki Williams at Bilboa looks the real deal, it's not like Bilboa have the resources to turn down big money.

Betrand as a left back is solid and wouldn't cost no more than 㾻m.

Sessegnon at Fulham looks a prospect.

Will Hughes at Derby looks like hes ready to step up to the Premier League.

Loftus-Cheek is Premier League ready and doesn't play at Chelsea.

Iheanacho doesn't look like Peps cup of tea at City since they have Aguero & Jesus.

Kasper Dolberg at Ajax is awesome.

Josh King at Bournemouth is clearly capable of scoring premium goals.

Tielemans has already been linked with us and again rave reviews are out on the lad.

Wilfred Zaha, Harry Maguire, Callum Chambers all Premier League ready and gettable.

Not saying all these players are same type of price as Spurs lads but the fan scout is just something that's more a joke than anything else.

In essence that is "fans as scouts"; but with quality control. We started that relationship with Sports Interactive several years early.

Damian @11 Obviously I already have.

I think there must be a clever way to tap the knowledge and collective viewing hours of football-crazy fans who love their clubs. Obviously whatever way that is, we would need to siphon out the crackpots. Not sure I've hit upon it here, I won't quit my day job yet!

Now go back over the great tips for the future that the game has made:

Cherno Samba
Tonton Zola Moukoko
Kennedy Bak... can't remember the rest of his name, he was a Turkish forward

This is a selection that if you Google will lead onto a long list of comedic predictions.

How's about I give you some closer to home:

John Paul Kissock
Jose Baxter
Ryan Ledson
Jon Oster
Ibrahima Bakayoko

The game didn't just say these guys would be good, it was predicting they'd be at the very top.

So in conclusion, leave it to the professionals.

I thought he was highly rated?

In 2003-ish, I had all 3 of them in my Everton team.

That Bak.... bloke was a Swedish international, great on the right wing. And he spoke 4 languages.

Oh the memories.

I got a response from James Smith – Head of Performance and Analysis, thanking me for my message and to say that Marco was already on their radar having seen him play at the Olympic Games. He agreed he was an interesting player and that we were "looking into him and his situation".

He subsequently signed for Stuttgart but got injured early on and never got a look in. He is back at Melbourne Victory, and has been tearing up A-League defences again. The "Kiwi Messi" will be playing in the A-League Grand Final this weekend.

Might be that he has found his level in Australian Football which isn't exactly world class, but anyway, my point is that if you think you've unearthed a gem, why not let the club know... just maybe someone will listen to you.

Steve Ferns , John Audsley, you guys mean Kennedy Bakırcıoğlu. Swedish player with Turkish roots. I've seen him play as he spent five years in the Dutch competition. He obviously never reached the potential Football/Championship Manager gave him. But he wasn't all that bad. He set the Eredivisie alight for two seasons at Twente, scoring 23 goals and having 16 assists as a midfielder. He was sold to Ajax, where he never really made it, both because of injuries and just not being good enough.

Now the thing is that this player is exactly what bias you will have with fan as scouts. Kennedy scored goals that were absolutely stunning. He had a great shot, he could curl it in from 30 yards and did so on a regular basis. These players look spectacular, especially if you only see highlights of matches. That he is caught out of position a lot, that he is too slow for professional football, stuff like that with which he got away at lower levels but which cannot be disguised at Ajax, you do not see that on Match of the Day or youtube. So if you see a young Kennedy score a couple of absolute screamers, you will think "here is the next Maradona!".

I'm convinced that the Tonton Zola Moukokos and Jon Osters fall in the same category.

Do you guys remember Morten Gamst Pedersen? He scored some absolute ridiculous goals over ten years ago, shooting left and right from 40 yards. I hardly ever saw him for 90 minutes, just the highlights on MotD. I thought he was going to be the next superstar, but as teams learned that you simply should deny him space to shoot at all times, his goals dried up fast. He scored more in his first 2,5 season for Blackburn than in all the rest of his career - over ten years afterwards. He was not entirely useless once his trick was found out but Blackburn was his level and nothing more. I always keep him in mind when I think I see the next Bergkamp. Morten Gamst Pedersen was an absolute wonderkid in CM05 or so.

All those hours wasted on those games...