I only used him and Richy because of the money we spent. There’s been so many but there’s no way scouts go and watch them two and come away really impressed by them. If it’s going down the route of stats and data driven as you pointed out with Brennan’s stats then there will be continued mistakes made by recruitment teams.
A great man once told me before that you need to see a player play well,play poorly and play in games that they win and lose in before you can make a decision on them. He said it might take 4 games or it might take 15 games but you’ll see all the attributes they have,weaknesses they have and character traits you need to know if they are what you are looking for.
Stats and data hide so much of that. The eye test is the most important thing in scouting. Of course there is a place for stats and data but watching players closely over longer periods in different scenarios is a must.
All fine.
I don't think Johnson is part of any worst basket of buys we have made.
Lots of teams make poor acquisitions and it's often that the perceived paucity is at a time when success or consistency of high performance is absent.
I am sure players are observed or whatever, but the facts are that often it just doesn't work out.
What we need to do in my opinion is got the managerial appointment right in the first instance, and then find a model of acquiring players that manager can develop,that has greater or closer synergy with the heritage of the club, without being suffocating.
And even with all that, there will still be players who either can't make the grade or are simply a wrong fit.
Let's not seek to find perfection in an imperfect set of conditions.