Portuguese Players to Plainmoor

[portugull]

Paul Buckle has done a good job at Plainmoor given the severe budget restraints and the very small hard core of support circa 2000/2500.

The Board have rightly supported the reintroduction of the youth team and three players are showing promise Halpin, Yeoman and Palmer.

Recruitment of good players especially to what is a geographical outpost has never been easy but I would like to seriously suggest that Paul and the Board consider a new strategy for player recruitment.

Portuguese players have very good technique and because of Portugals history there are many players who originate from Brasil, Argentina and a number of African countries.

Outside the big 5 clubs such as Benfica many premier league clubs average gates similar to TUFC. In the two divisions below matches are sometimes played before only two or three hundred spectators.

However, technique and skill levels are high. I have only missed one home game this season at SC Olhanense and this month we play at home against Sporting Lisbon and FC Porto who look certain to win the league this year. Portugal is a small country with 10 million population but the standard of football is very good.

Premier league clubs like Man U and Chelsea have bought top Portuguese players with great success. I believe that lower league clubs if they used more imagination with their recruitment could purchase players who could go on to play at a higher level. In the past United did well from two foreign recruits in Rodney Jack and Gregory Goodrich. Hereford have just sold a French player, Mathieu Manset, who they picked up from Le Havre and sold to Reading for £200k which could become £450k if he is sold on.

During February I will be in UK and attending the two home games with Burton ALbion and Southend Utd. If anyone at Plainmoor would like to talk about Portuguese players I would be happy to talk. I am retired, a lifelong Gull and have watched professional football for over 50 years.

There are plenty of diamonds waiting to be polished in Portugal!

[Fonda]

It's a nice idea, and in an ideal world would work. Unfortunately, technique is only one of the attributes required to play at League 2 level (and perhaps not the most important). I'm afraid skillfull players from the continent are likely to find the 'kick and rush' of lower league football in England difficult and quite unpleasant.

[ferrarilover]

Hmmm, sounds suspiciously like Knoberts idea of buying Latvian or Romanian players (or whatever his crackpot idea was.)
Lovely idea, a bit like buying knock off DVDs from the market and making a 50p markup on flEa-BAY, but in reality, it just won't work.

Matt.

[RussianGull]

Portuguese is my 4th language, i'd love to get some down Plainmoor, but don't think they'd fit into our style of play, League 2 isn't about skill its about pushing forward and hoping for a set piece.

[robc]

RussianGull - Did I imagine us getting promotion in 2004 playing attractive, passing football?

[cambgull]

The problem with teams like Torquay buying cheap foreign players are the costs involved mainly, most clubs will have to help provide some sort of housing for the players who have never been in England before, and we would probably have to pay some kind of transfer fee (how many times do we do that with English players?!). The few occasions you see foreign players in teams like Torquay is when they have already been playing for another English team and generally, they aren't small, skillful players. They are French players who (without trying to sound racist) are black, 6 foot 4 and built like brick sh*thouses, play upfront and generally play like Emile Heskey except even less talented.

As much as I would love to see some decent Portuguese wingers come in and dominate L2, the costs would probably outweigh the possible transfer fee we might get, assuming they don't become homesick, play badly then bugger off.

[happytorq]

Anybody remember Bruno Mereilles? Wasn't he portuguese? He looked like he had a lot of talent but he just couldn't use it, even in league 1. Let's face it, the main thing that teams of our level need is somebody who can take a kick or two.

[Fonda]

Anybody remember Bruno Mereilles? Wasn't he portuguese? He looked like he had a lot of talent but he just couldn't use it, even in league 1. Let's face it, the main thing that teams of our level need is somebody who can take a kick or two.

Good point, he did look to have some ability and it was a shame things didn't quite work our for him. Similar story with Khalid Chalqi (though not Portuguese obviously), another player from the continent that looked able to deal with the physicality of the English game, but with a decent technique.

[Jeff]

Bruno Mereilles did look a decent enough player. My opinion of the couple of times I saw him was that he was almost always trying to find the killer ball rather than keeping it simple. He certainly didn't look out of place.

However it was in the days when our transfer policy was revolving door - no doubt due to the financial restricitons imposed on Leroy. I think we had a JPT (or whatever it was called then) when Leroy started both Bruno and Ashley Keane. I think they were both subbed by half time and never to be seen again, with leroy saying something along the lines of "some players had been on at me to get a game, I give them a chance and that is what they show me". Perhaos it was Bruno who rated himself slightly higher than Leroy did.

[RussianGull]

RussianGull - Did I imagine us getting promotion in 2004 playing attractive, passing football?

Look where it got us though, straight up, then down, twice.

[cambgull]

Look where it got us though, straight up, then down, twice.

To be fair though, that was more the board and the lack of money to strengthen the team, rather than the style of football.

[portugull]

I guess the response was predictable. It will be difficult, it wont work, it wont suit our style of play, housing problems. Why then has Eunan O`Kane been such a success. Ok he is not Portuguese but he came over from Ireland, had to find accommodation, is a physical lightweight, but he has class, skill, and possibly against all odds has now established himself in the team because of his ability.

I am not suggesting we need 11 highly skilled players in league 2 but I promise you 2 or 3 skillful players can transform an average team into a very good one.

Every day the world becomes a smaller place and there is now more and more movement of professional footballers not only between one country and another but between continents.

I know little of our scouting system but I do believe there are many players available without a transfer fee if clubs like United just broadened their horizons. Exeter to Faro is 2 hours which is probably a lot less time than it takes for John Milton to drive to London to watch a prospective player.

[ferrarilover]

Then stop whinging about it on here and E-Mail the club. If you're lourded as a scouting genius, I'll eat my hat, if not, my theory about PB and his team of scouts knowing more about the game than you stands.

Matt.

[Gulliball]

Then stop whinging about it on here and E-Mail the club. If you're lourded as a scouting genius, I'll eat my hat, if not, my theory about PB and his team of scouts knowing more about the game than you stands.

Matt.

[ferrarilover]

Is that in reference to the E-Mail thing? Coz I spotted that too, but left it in anyway.

Matt.