| Andy Belk video....Is this working? 16:14 - Jan 8 with 13886 views | BillericayR |
Been head of recruitment for 3 years.
Analysing possible signings.
Produced a 36 page dossier for Paal.
With our striker recruitment and loans who mostly are always injured or ill is this working?
Would we ever have bought Stan Bowles using this type of analysis?
Now 8 days in to January and still no movement on any possible signings. Are they waiting again for a panic Hendrick signing? |  | | |  |
| Andy Belk video....Is this working? on 00:38 - Jan 9 with 2625 views | PunteR |
| Andy Belk video....Is this working? on 23:01 - Jan 8 by daveB |
I think the ideal scenario is that all parties work together. You don't sign a player the manager doesn't want as he won't play him but if you are working together what the manager wants and what the recruitment team suggest should be the same thing |
Agree with that. There needs to be a bt of balance and if a manager wants to bring in a certain player and it doesn't breach the budget then I don't think it's the end of the world. I think the problem the club have got atm is the players they are recruiting are way below what the manager wants. This has been going on since Maclaren, Warburton, Beale and by the sounds of it Critchley.has an issue. |  |
| Occasional providers of half decent House music. |
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| Andy Belk video....Is this working? on 02:02 - Jan 9 with 2574 views | SydneyRs |
| Andy Belk video....Is this working? on 18:22 - Jan 8 by PunteR |
I've got a bit of an issue with this manager verses the modern stats /moneyball/recruitment team.
I do get it that a manager is surplus to requirements these days but surely if you have someone managing a team you have to have a level of trust in his judgment of players otherwise whats the point of him being there?
There are things that a stats team cant calculate. One of them being how they respond to a certain manager.
Look at Warnocks time. He knew what made players tick, he got the best out of them.
Anyway, something is clearly not working atm and maybe its the managers fault for putting their own players in front of the recruitment teams . |
Warnock also had a very healthy budget at his disposal the year we won promotion. | | | |
| Andy Belk video....Is this working? on 14:27 - Jan 9 with 2333 views | Dixie_CT |
It would be interesting to know if Zian Flemming’s name was on that whiteboard?
We obviously look at the Eredivise as a market we can operate in and were even actively looking at Flemming’s team mate, George Cox.
At £1.7m, Fleming is the sort of investment we should be making instead of the cash wasted on Bonne and numerous loan moves, for example, Iroegbunam.
If I was the Board, I would be asking why he wasn’t considered more seriously. |  | | |
| Andy Belk video....Is this working? on 14:40 - Jan 9 with 2257 views | stainrods_elbow |
| Andy Belk video....Is this working? on 16:53 - Jan 8 by Northernr |
For me, Belk is a good guy.
He's a grown up in the room. At a club that, even four or five years ago, was basing its signings on agents Gary Penrice knows, and paying £500k for Sean Goss, he's trying to bring in and grow structures and recruitment practises that other clubs have been doing for years and years. People like Willock are here because of him - fans really happy to put Neil Banfield together with the Arsenal connection and come up with five on that one, he had fck all to do with it.
When we got beaten by Luton, we all point at their strikers and say 'well they can do it why can't we?', but Luton have been doing it by employing people like Belk, building a recruitment team and analytics, and using that, and they;'ve been doing it a lot longer than we have. Nathan Jones had fck all to do with who Luton were signing, which is why he goes to other clubs and doesn't do as well, while Luton carry on without him without missing a beat. IMO we're much better off doubling down, and doubling down again with Belk, and his team, than we are several other people drawing large salaries at QPR at the moment while producing very little.
From a PR point of view I thought it a bit odd to put out a video interview with him - and he's very reticent to give interviews and very cautious in how he speaks publicly in my experience - at this moment, when the recruitment in the summer was all over the map, and the recruitment this january will be extremely challenging and largely spent mopping up a lot of mess Beale has left here. But, again in my opinion, that's not his fault, it's the club once again letting three or four different people recruit and push players for three or four different reasons and agendas - in this case, in particular, letting Beale bring in loads of his boys and tell tall tales about how he used to read them bed time stories when they were six years old. If they went with Belk and Belk alone, and the manager had to deal with what he got, we'd be in a much better position IMO. But you put that video out, and things continue to go to sht, and people inevitably point fingers at him. I get that, but it's nothing to do with him. He's one of the good guys here atm.
This post has been edited by an administrator |
So when is Belk's supposedly constructive influence actually going to show some results, Clive? He's apparently been at the club in one capacity or another 14 and a half years! |  |
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| Andy Belk video....Is this working? on 14:49 - Jan 9 with 2284 views | DejR_vu |
| Andy Belk video....Is this working? on 14:40 - Jan 9 by stainrods_elbow |
So when is Belk's supposedly constructive influence actually going to show some results, Clive? He's apparently been at the club in one capacity or another 14 and a half years! |
Well if LF is sat in his office, blind-folded, being spun around in his chair by LH before being stopped suddenly so that he can stick a pin in a piece of paper, I would rather the piece of paper was one of Belk's lists than one of his own.  | |
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| Andy Belk video....Is this working? on 15:00 - Jan 9 with 2276 views | PinnerPaul |
| Andy Belk video....Is this working? on 16:42 - Jan 8 by Rangersw12 |
The problem for me seems to be we don't use him enough
We have a mix of Belk signings and signings that the manager knew and wanted prime example of the manger signings are Wallace under Warburton and Balogun under Beale |
He actually says he wanted the club to sign Paal when MW was here but the manager preferred another option - that was Wallace I take it. | | | |
| Andy Belk video....Is this working? on 15:04 - Jan 9 with 2267 views | PinnerPaul |
| Andy Belk video....Is this working? on 17:48 - Jan 8 by Northernr |
I agree with your first line, and I don't know the answer to your second.
For me, signings like Odubajo, Balogun, Dom Ball, should not be happening in this system. Renewing Lee Wallace's contract, should not be happening. I should not be doing summer interviews with managers having them talk about bringing players in they've known since they were 8, talking about all the agents they've been on the phone to. |
As you've said before, the big problem is that when we lose 6 matches in a row or some such, its the manager that gets the sack not Belk or any of his team.
Not that I think they should be accountable in that way, but you know what I mean. | | | |
| Andy Belk video....Is this working? on 15:50 - Jan 9 with 2210 views | TheChef |
| Andy Belk video....Is this working? on 02:02 - Jan 9 by SydneyRs |
Warnock also had a very healthy budget at his disposal the year we won promotion. |
Able to loan the likes of Walker, Routledge and Miller which even back then would not have been cheap. |  |
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| Andy Belk video....Is this working? on 17:40 - Jan 9 with 2158 views | PunteR |
| Andy Belk video....Is this working? on 02:02 - Jan 9 by SydneyRs |
Warnock also had a very healthy budget at his disposal the year we won promotion. |
He did yes. You could argue so did Ramsey and Holloway as we had parachute payments. Annoyingly as our manager selections have got better our budget has got smaller. We've wasted so much money on mediocre players. | |
| Occasional providers of half decent House music. |
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| Andy Belk video....Is this working? on 14:35 - Jan 10 with 2006 views | Sakura |
| Andy Belk video....Is this working? on 16:53 - Jan 8 by Northernr |
For me, Belk is a good guy.
He's a grown up in the room. At a club that, even four or five years ago, was basing its signings on agents Gary Penrice knows, and paying £500k for Sean Goss, he's trying to bring in and grow structures and recruitment practises that other clubs have been doing for years and years. People like Willock are here because of him - fans really happy to put Neil Banfield together with the Arsenal connection and come up with five on that one, he had fck all to do with it.
When we got beaten by Luton, we all point at their strikers and say 'well they can do it why can't we?', but Luton have been doing it by employing people like Belk, building a recruitment team and analytics, and using that, and they;'ve been doing it a lot longer than we have. Nathan Jones had fck all to do with who Luton were signing, which is why he goes to other clubs and doesn't do as well, while Luton carry on without him without missing a beat. IMO we're much better off doubling down, and doubling down again with Belk, and his team, than we are several other people drawing large salaries at QPR at the moment while producing very little.
From a PR point of view I thought it a bit odd to put out a video interview with him - and he's very reticent to give interviews and very cautious in how he speaks publicly in my experience - at this moment, when the recruitment in the summer was all over the map, and the recruitment this january will be extremely challenging and largely spent mopping up a lot of mess Beale has left here. But, again in my opinion, that's not his fault, it's the club once again letting three or four different people recruit and push players for three or four different reasons and agendas - in this case, in particular, letting Beale bring in loads of his boys and tell tall tales about how he used to read them bed time stories when they were six years old. If they went with Belk and Belk alone, and the manager had to deal with what he got, we'd be in a much better position IMO. But you put that video out, and things continue to go to sht, and people inevitably point fingers at him. I get that, but it's nothing to do with him. He's one of the good guys here atm.
This post has been edited by an administrator |
Clearly your more in the know than most on here. But despite that I really question your insistence on Belk taking all the credit for Willock. Then also seemingly attaching any negative signings to him despite our low hit rate.
To say Banfield had nothing to do with it is surely a provably false statement. And if it isn’t that’s a failure on Belks part
As part of these 30-40 odd page documents on players he apparently turns out. Character / personality assessment must be part of that.
So if I were Belk and I was scouting Willock and one of the first team coaches at my club was Willocks childhood coach I would definitely interview him about it and use that to form an opinion/ recommendation.
For you to suggest that Banfield has “f all to do with it” means that didn’t happen. In which case that’s a total failure on Belks part. Or if they did indeed gets Banfields assessment then your statement is false
The season before Willock arrived at Rangers he spent first half the season on loan at West Brom and played zero games
Second half the season on loan at Huddersfield and played 14 games mainly as sub
So I would suggest they had the time on their hands and little data to assess
in that year. So to get input from his experienced coach in Banfield might have been a good use of Belks time
Other than Willock and Paal who else should we attribute to Belk in his many years at the club?
To me, our hit rate on signings should be a bit higher than it has been. Dozzell for example a very lazy signing on that front of the Goss mould (also one of his punts surely)
Is that one is attributable to him? That soft. At times disinterested type. Who maybe game the system with a high completed pass ratio
To me. Belks input at best has been mediocre. I agree his role is important. I firmly disagree that we have seen enough out of him to stick with him and not find a better alternative
(Same thinking applied to Les on that front for me too) [Post edited 10 Jan 2023 14:41]
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| Andy Belk video....Is this working? on 14:41 - Jan 10 with 2006 views | Rangersw12 |
| Andy Belk video....Is this working? on 14:35 - Jan 10 by Sakura |
Clearly your more in the know than most on here. But despite that I really question your insistence on Belk taking all the credit for Willock. Then also seemingly attaching any negative signings to him despite our low hit rate.
To say Banfield had nothing to do with it is surely a provably false statement. And if it isn’t that’s a failure on Belks part
As part of these 30-40 odd page documents on players he apparently turns out. Character / personality assessment must be part of that.
So if I were Belk and I was scouting Willock and one of the first team coaches at my club was Willocks childhood coach I would definitely interview him about it and use that to form an opinion/ recommendation.
For you to suggest that Banfield has “f all to do with it” means that didn’t happen. In which case that’s a total failure on Belks part. Or if they did indeed gets Banfields assessment then your statement is false
The season before Willock arrived at Rangers he spent first half the season on loan at West Brom and played zero games
Second half the season on loan at Huddersfield and played 14 games mainly as sub
So I would suggest they had the time on their hands and little data to assess
in that year. So to get input from his experienced coach in Banfield might have been a good use of Belks time
Other than Willock and Paal who else should we attribute to Belk in his many years at the club?
To me, our hit rate on signings should be a bit higher than it has been. Dozzell for example a very lazy signing on that front of the Goss mould (also one of his punts surely)
Is that one is attributable to him? That soft. At times disinterested type. Who maybe game the system with a high completed pass ratio
To me. Belks input at best has been mediocre. I agree his role is important. I firmly disagree that we have seen enough out of him to stick with him and not find a better alternative
(Same thinking applied to Les on that front for me too) [Post edited 10 Jan 2023 14:41]
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Could be wrong but I'm sure I read Field and Dunne were his
Need to remember that not every signing is going to work out for whatwver reasons
Don't see an issue with Dozzell signing as he showed the early part of the season that he has something about him. Would rather he played than Tim tbh seeing as we own him and it's in our interest to improve him | | | |
| Andy Belk video....Is this working? on 15:26 - Jan 10 with 1894 views | Sakura |
| Andy Belk video....Is this working? on 14:41 - Jan 10 by Rangersw12 |
Could be wrong but I'm sure I read Field and Dunne were his
Need to remember that not every signing is going to work out for whatwver reasons
Don't see an issue with Dozzell signing as he showed the early part of the season that he has something about him. Would rather he played than Tim tbh seeing as we own him and it's in our interest to improve him |
My issue with the Dozzell signing . Who I would say overall has actually been bette than our average signings this last 3-5 years (or longer really) is it fits with this team being soft. Lacks commitment. Horribly prone to extended bad runs of form. Weak characters
I see Dozzell as being a type of character who causes that. Good when things are good and folds when going gets tough
So far then that's Belk getting credit for Dunne, Field
, Paal and Willock. Wow what a hit rate. All great then. Been here for a decade and signed four players... all good signings attributed to him. Not suspicious at all…
What about our pile of s** t signings. Nothing to do with him no?
Thinking back to the recent past we were spending millions on Joel Lynch, Ngbakato, Boryisuik, and Jake Bidwell... was that him too?
Brentford used that same summer we bought Bidwell to buy Rico Henry from Walsall who's now a solid Prem left back. We spent a lot more than Brentford that year
Our problems are deeper than this year. Belk is culpable for that
I smell BS that being here all these years and all his name is against is Field, Dunne, Paal and Willock
But not to any of the streams of slop we've signed in that time
The guys failed for me. And so has Les [Post edited 10 Jan 2023 15:28]
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| Andy Belk video....Is this working? on 15:38 - Jan 10 with 1873 views | Antti_Heinola |
| Andy Belk video....Is this working? on 15:26 - Jan 10 by Sakura |
My issue with the Dozzell signing . Who I would say overall has actually been bette than our average signings this last 3-5 years (or longer really) is it fits with this team being soft. Lacks commitment. Horribly prone to extended bad runs of form. Weak characters
I see Dozzell as being a type of character who causes that. Good when things are good and folds when going gets tough
So far then that's Belk getting credit for Dunne, Field
, Paal and Willock. Wow what a hit rate. All great then. Been here for a decade and signed four players... all good signings attributed to him. Not suspicious at all…
What about our pile of s** t signings. Nothing to do with him no?
Thinking back to the recent past we were spending millions on Joel Lynch, Ngbakato, Boryisuik, and Jake Bidwell... was that him too?
Brentford used that same summer we bought Bidwell to buy Rico Henry from Walsall who's now a solid Prem left back. We spent a lot more than Brentford that year
Our problems are deeper than this year. Belk is culpable for that
I smell BS that being here all these years and all his name is against is Field, Dunne, Paal and Willock
But not to any of the streams of slop we've signed in that time
The guys failed for me. And so has Les [Post edited 10 Jan 2023 15:28]
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Belk has been at the club a long time, but only been head of recruitment since 2020. He's been promoted a lot from within.
In 2016, the Bidwell year, he was an analyst at the club and co-ordinated scouting. So perhaps recommended Bidwell (who's a solid Champ left back and was rated as a very good signing by a lot of people outsie the club at the time) but hardly responsible for the signing.
It's worth finding out more stuff about something before forming such a strong opinion based on guesswork I think. |  |
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| Andy Belk video....Is this working? on 15:41 - Jan 10 with 1856 views | Wegerles_Stairs |
| Andy Belk video....Is this working? on 02:02 - Jan 9 by SydneyRs |
Warnock also had a very healthy budget at his disposal the year we won promotion. |
Warnock has a proven track record of achieving multiple promotions without large budgets. Look at what he did with Cardiff after we said we preferred JFH.
That season before Uncle Bungle et al. came in is still the most successful season we've had for decades. No coincidence that it came when we appointed a good manager and let him get on with the job, without DoFs, PE teachers and the like. | | | |
| Andy Belk video....Is this working? on 15:42 - Jan 10 with 1855 views | daveB |
If you watch the video he explains what his roles have been at the club so people blaming him for signings 5 years ago obviously didn't watch it |  | | |
| Andy Belk video....Is this working? on 16:09 - Jan 10 with 1783 views | WestbourneR |
| Andy Belk video....Is this working? on 16:53 - Jan 8 by Northernr |
For me, Belk is a good guy.
He's a grown up in the room. At a club that, even four or five years ago, was basing its signings on agents Gary Penrice knows, and paying £500k for Sean Goss, he's trying to bring in and grow structures and recruitment practises that other clubs have been doing for years and years. People like Willock are here because of him - fans really happy to put Neil Banfield together with the Arsenal connection and come up with five on that one, he had fck all to do with it.
When we got beaten by Luton, we all point at their strikers and say 'well they can do it why can't we?', but Luton have been doing it by employing people like Belk, building a recruitment team and analytics, and using that, and they;'ve been doing it a lot longer than we have. Nathan Jones had fck all to do with who Luton were signing, which is why he goes to other clubs and doesn't do as well, while Luton carry on without him without missing a beat. IMO we're much better off doubling down, and doubling down again with Belk, and his team, than we are several other people drawing large salaries at QPR at the moment while producing very little.
From a PR point of view I thought it a bit odd to put out a video interview with him - and he's very reticent to give interviews and very cautious in how he speaks publicly in my experience - at this moment, when the recruitment in the summer was all over the map, and the recruitment this january will be extremely challenging and largely spent mopping up a lot of mess Beale has left here. But, again in my opinion, that's not his fault, it's the club once again letting three or four different people recruit and push players for three or four different reasons and agendas - in this case, in particular, letting Beale bring in loads of his boys and tell tall tales about how he used to read them bed time stories when they were six years old. If they went with Belk and Belk alone, and the manager had to deal with what he got, we'd be in a much better position IMO. But you put that video out, and things continue to go to sht, and people inevitably point fingers at him. I get that, but it's nothing to do with him. He's one of the good guys here atm.
This post has been edited by an administrator |
Northern I agree with a lot of what you're saying but you're wrong about the Banfield Willock link. It came publicly and directly from the club that Neil Banfield strongly recommended him after working with him an Arsenal.
I'll have a look for the quotes. |  |
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| Andy Belk video....Is this working? on 16:26 - Jan 10 with 1721 views | Sakura |
| Andy Belk video....Is this working? on 15:42 - Jan 10 by daveB |
If you watch the video he explains what his roles have been at the club so people blaming him for signings 5 years ago obviously didn't watch it |
You and Antti sure about that? Watch the video yourself he says
2008 to 2015 performance analyst
2015 to 2019 recuitment analyst
Since then in this role
So 2016 signings were very much under his watch and everything since then
Him and ultimately Les
Can’t help but feeling an obvious one is if he was good at his job we would have signed Rico Henry not Jake Bidwell
Remember speaking to Brentford fans and the common line from them all was Bidwell will be a 6 or 7 out of 10 every game. They never thought he was capable of more. Couldn’t cross. No pace. Mediocre. Just about enough for this level
But never a prayer of pushing on to next level as Henry has. Poor selection choice and not just hindsight saying that [Post edited 10 Jan 2023 16:29]
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| Andy Belk video....Is this working? on 16:39 - Jan 10 with 1695 views | Antti_Heinola |
| Andy Belk video....Is this working? on 16:26 - Jan 10 by Sakura |
You and Antti sure about that? Watch the video yourself he says
2008 to 2015 performance analyst
2015 to 2019 recuitment analyst
Since then in this role
So 2016 signings were very much under his watch and everything since then
Him and ultimately Les
Can’t help but feeling an obvious one is if he was good at his job we would have signed Rico Henry not Jake Bidwell
Remember speaking to Brentford fans and the common line from them all was Bidwell will be a 6 or 7 out of 10 every game. They never thought he was capable of more. Couldn’t cross. No pace. Mediocre. Just about enough for this level
But never a prayer of pushing on to next level as Henry has. Poor selection choice and not just hindsight saying that [Post edited 10 Jan 2023 16:29]
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From his own Linked In page:
Head Of Recruitment
Jan 2020 - Present3 years 1 month
Recruitment Analyst & Scouting Coordinator
Dec 2015 - Dec 2019 - 4 years 1 month
Head of Performance Analysis
Aug 2008 - Dec 2015 - 7 years 5 months
I mean, decide what you want based on your own perceptions, but as I said, it's pure guesswork - I know no more than you do, but your opinion is not based on anything other than guesswork and assumption of what a role is and what Belk's view of different players was at the time (for example, you have no idea if he also recommended Rico Henry). It's an extremely basic and black and white view of something that's probably far more than complex than 'he chose Bidwell and ignored Henry'. You literally have not a clue what he thought at the time. | |
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| Andy Belk video....Is this working? on 16:51 - Jan 10 with 1654 views | Benny_the_Ball |
| Andy Belk video....Is this working? on 02:02 - Jan 9 by SydneyRs |
Warnock also had a very healthy budget at his disposal the year we won promotion. |
I doubt it was the biggest in the division. In any event, it's how you spend the money that counts. Neil brought in the likes of Kenny, Derry, Hill, Orr, and Mackie, all of whom added steel, spine and desire to the team (something that the current first team lacks). He also nailed down Taarabt on permanent deal. |  | | |
| Andy Belk video....Is this working? on 16:54 - Jan 10 with 1641 views | francisbowles |
A lot of people, when berating the club for some of it's signings, seem to overlook that the percentage of successful recruitment across all clubs is quite low. Additionally, when you got pennies to spend, your in the fruit salad isle of the sweet shop, trying to find a bargain that will keep you going for a while. | | | |
| Andy Belk video....Is this working? on 16:56 - Jan 10 with 1635 views | francisbowles |
| Andy Belk video....Is this working? on 16:51 - Jan 10 by Benny_the_Ball |
I doubt it was the biggest in the division. In any event, it's how you spend the money that counts. Neil brought in the likes of Kenny, Derry, Hill, Orr, and Mackie, all of whom added steel, spine and desire to the team (something that the current first team lacks). He also nailed down Taarabt on permanent deal. |
But to balance that out, don't forget Colin Clarke, Rob Hulse and Peter Vagen-Moen. | | | |
| Andy Belk video....Is this working? on 16:57 - Jan 10 with 1633 views | slmrstid |
| Andy Belk video....Is this working? on 16:51 - Jan 10 by Benny_the_Ball |
I doubt it was the biggest in the division. In any event, it's how you spend the money that counts. Neil brought in the likes of Kenny, Derry, Hill, Orr, and Mackie, all of whom added steel, spine and desire to the team (something that the current first team lacks). He also nailed down Taarabt on permanent deal. |
Be damned if I can find it now but I have seen a graphic from that season and we did have one of the highest wage bills in the league. Not sure if the highest though.
As Kieran Maguire has pointed out many times generally wage bill = league position, with a few outliers each year.
In that 2010-11 season the outlier ended up being Sheffield United, who I think from memory were top 10 in wages paid and ended up being relegated.
And of course in 2013-14 we had the highest wage bill by a country mile and just squeaked up in the playoffs. God bless Bobby.
So if we're still in the bottom third of salary payers in this league then the bottom third is where we will most likely finish year on year. Which isn't exciting or appealing I know! |  | | |
| Andy Belk video....Is this working? on 17:07 - Jan 10 with 1590 views | Sakura |
| Andy Belk video....Is this working? on 16:39 - Jan 10 by Antti_Heinola |
From his own Linked In page:
Head Of Recruitment
Jan 2020 - Present3 years 1 month
Recruitment Analyst & Scouting Coordinator
Dec 2015 - Dec 2019 - 4 years 1 month
Head of Performance Analysis
Aug 2008 - Dec 2015 - 7 years 5 months
I mean, decide what you want based on your own perceptions, but as I said, it's pure guesswork - I know no more than you do, but your opinion is not based on anything other than guesswork and assumption of what a role is and what Belk's view of different players was at the time (for example, you have no idea if he also recommended Rico Henry). It's an extremely basic and black and white view of something that's probably far more than complex than 'he chose Bidwell and ignored Henry'. You literally have not a clue what he thought at the time. |
So that ties in precisely with what I said on dates. The 2016 misguided final relative spending binge under his time then
My suspicions have been raised because despite all that time at the club. All we've openly got against his name is Paal and Willock. Then strange and I logical dismissals of any of Banfields input into the Willock signing despite their history
My recollections on the Banfield input match with WestbourneR's but maybe that's been scrubbed from history.
Sean Goss signed with Holloway as manager. I refuse to believe that had anything to do with him. Can only believe Les would have been guided by the recruitment analysts which included Belk
Goss and Dozzell of a similar ilk. There's a pattern there I'm seeing with Belks finger prints over it. His interview I think with Clive was hinting strongly towards just missing out on Billy Gilmour wasn't it? Another similar tidy but soft type that Belk seemingly gets hot and bothered for and is a big part I see of the weak/ soft characters throughout this squad
In the same summer we were signing on loan Hemed and Wells and paying a fee for David Wheeler from Exeter. Brentford again were buying from the same club, Ollie Watkins for the price of an Ariel Borisyk
There's just too many misfires in our past and worrying trend for weak characters
We can't change the owners and I think that does us no good
I'm not blaming Critchley. The problems he's coming up against were suffered by Warburton and Beale
But a change can be cathartic. It's psychologically good for the club if we can make Ferdinand and Belk (even if false) our scapegoats.
It's the same reason that Democracy is healthy. There's a cigarette paper difference between a what a Starmer and a Sunak led government or Boris for that matter would do. But people can illogically and without any real data pretend a change or a different vote would have made a difference
Obama's famous "Hope" poster. The country had a healing process high. But ultimately he achieved nothing. The life of the poor only got worse. He dropped more bombs and entered more wars than the previous admin
But psychologically society intermittently needs someone to blame. Take a new leader to get behind and see. Use it as a release valve
We need that as a club now. And I think the best place for the good of the club to aim that anger if things keep going badly is towards the most easily replaceable Les and Belk [Post edited 10 Jan 2023 17:09]
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| Andy Belk video....Is this working? on 17:10 - Jan 10 with 1584 views | Northernr |
| Andy Belk video....Is this working? on 16:09 - Jan 10 by WestbourneR |
Northern I agree with a lot of what you're saying but you're wrong about the Banfield Willock link. It came publicly and directly from the club that Neil Banfield strongly recommended him after working with him an Arsenal.
I'll have a look for the quotes. |
This quote?
“He has experience at this level having spent time on loan at Huddersfield last season. He had a great academy education with Arsenal and he is known very well by Neil Banfield, our first team coach. Neil knows his character and that’s important — we know he is a good trainer and a good lad."
qpr.co.uk/news/club-news/chris-willock-completes-qpr-switch/
Fair enough, "fck all to do with it" was needlessly flippant on my part, posted in anger after Fleetwood. I know my fans on here don't let me away with things like that so I'll be more careful in future. I'm sure they spoke to Banfield about what sort of lad Willock was and all of that. But he was spotted, scouted and recruited on the basis of the work of the analytics and recruitment department led by Belk. Banfield didn't come to work and say "have you thought about this lad..." which seems to be the perception, it was very definitely the other way around.
Also worth saying the club aren't beyond putting out a not-ever-so-quite-true quote every now and again if it makes somebody look good who needs to look good - this latest video interview with Belk seems in part to be to rebuff Beale's assertion that Paal was all his work which the club were happy to put out when Beale was the cool new kid on campus, and we of course landed ourselves in hot water previously for claiming publicly we'd spent £3m on Ale Faurlin which was a lie designed to placate fans and make Flavio look good.
As for Belk's career here and who's responsible for what, there's a lot of that in our interview with him here from a year back...
https://www.fansnetwork.co.uk/football/queensparkrangers/news/55955/andy-belk-%E
... among which he says Paul Smyth was probably the first signing he had most to do with, which was 2017. However, we also signed Luke Freeman in 2017, which we know was a Gary Penrice deal. And we signed Sean Goss in 2017, who was an Ian Butterworth pick when he was head of recruitment/scouting here. So pointing at dates and saying "well he's responsible for that" is a bit of a fool's mission. Do we really think he had anything to do with Dom Ball in 2019? Or Moses Odubajo in 2021? Both clearly Warburton picks. Lee Wallace...
That's part of my problem with the whole thing, and my main criticism of Les. We're running a director of football system, we're running an academy development system, we're running a head of recruitment system, and we're still letting managers have players they want. You've got players in the squad who are Belk players, Les players, Beale players, Warburton players, and probably soon to be Critchley players as well. It's a lot of cooks around the pot, and you notice them occasionally trying to justify their contribution to the broth - like Paul Hall saying in another interview with us that his staff have graduated 30 players to the first team, a number which only stands up to scrutiny if you start including one sub wonders like Deshane Dalling. |  | | |
| Andy Belk video....Is this working? on 17:13 - Jan 10 with 1575 views | Antti_Heinola |
| Andy Belk video....Is this working? on 17:07 - Jan 10 by Sakura |
So that ties in precisely with what I said on dates. The 2016 misguided final relative spending binge under his time then
My suspicions have been raised because despite all that time at the club. All we've openly got against his name is Paal and Willock. Then strange and I logical dismissals of any of Banfields input into the Willock signing despite their history
My recollections on the Banfield input match with WestbourneR's but maybe that's been scrubbed from history.
Sean Goss signed with Holloway as manager. I refuse to believe that had anything to do with him. Can only believe Les would have been guided by the recruitment analysts which included Belk
Goss and Dozzell of a similar ilk. There's a pattern there I'm seeing with Belks finger prints over it. His interview I think with Clive was hinting strongly towards just missing out on Billy Gilmour wasn't it? Another similar tidy but soft type that Belk seemingly gets hot and bothered for and is a big part I see of the weak/ soft characters throughout this squad
In the same summer we were signing on loan Hemed and Wells and paying a fee for David Wheeler from Exeter. Brentford again were buying from the same club, Ollie Watkins for the price of an Ariel Borisyk
There's just too many misfires in our past and worrying trend for weak characters
We can't change the owners and I think that does us no good
I'm not blaming Critchley. The problems he's coming up against were suffered by Warburton and Beale
But a change can be cathartic. It's psychologically good for the club if we can make Ferdinand and Belk (even if false) our scapegoats.
It's the same reason that Democracy is healthy. There's a cigarette paper difference between a what a Starmer and a Sunak led government or Boris for that matter would do. But people can illogically and without any real data pretend a change or a different vote would have made a difference
Obama's famous "Hope" poster. The country had a healing process high. But ultimately he achieved nothing. The life of the poor only got worse. He dropped more bombs and entered more wars than the previous admin
But psychologically society intermittently needs someone to blame. Take a new leader to get behind and see. Use it as a release valve
We need that as a club now. And I think the best place for the good of the club to aim that anger if things keep going badly is towards the most easily replaceable Les and Belk [Post edited 10 Jan 2023 17:09]
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Bizarre post.
What this is just making thinmgs that have happened fit your own narrative.
I'll do it too. Here's what Olly said about Goss: "I've managed to borrow one or two from United over the years, but sometimes you spot one and you want him - and that's exactly why I've brought Gossy here.'
So, using your impeccable methods, I can absolutely guarantee you that the person desperate to sign Goss was in fact, Ian Holloway. | |
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