Swindon Town v Bradford City matchday thread

[Nemo]

Andrew Hawes points out that the number of Bradford players with 100+ EFL appearances is... 17.

Ours is three. Shade, Austin, UGM.

[Bob's Orange]

Andrew Hawes points out that the number of Bradford players with 100+ EFL appearances is... 17.

Ours is three. Shade, Austin, UGM.

It's an amazing stat. You think at 28 FBT must have, but he's on only 85!

[DV]

Interesting stat but does it in anyway, shape or form correlate to league position?

[Nemo]

Interesting stat but does it in anyway, shape or form correlate to league position?

I imagine it's probably a bit of a bell curve - Colchester a few years ago where every player was ancient weren't very good either. Someone could work it out I'm sure!

It's an amazing stat. You think at 28 FBT must have, but he's on only 85!

Yeah, you have your FBT/Khan/Brewitt who have played quite a lot of games that don't count in different leagues/non-league, so it probably exaggerates how young we are a bit.

[reeves4england]

I imagine the sweet spot is having players who've made the right number of appearances (e.g. 200-400) within the right space of time (e.g. they're not all 34+ years old) at the right level (e.g. upper L2 or above). If anybody wants to gather the data and run the regressions then fair play, but the days when I had the time and understanding to do that kind of thing are long gone! Where's Sandro's spreadsheet when you need it?

[Riddick]

I imagine the sweet spot is having players who've made the right number of appearances (e.g. 200-400) within the right space of time (e.g. they're not all 34+ years old) at the right level (e.g. upper L2 or above). If anybody wants to gather the data and run the regressions then fair play, but the days when I had the time and understanding to do that kind of thing are long gone! Where's Sandro's spreadsheet when you need it?

Its tricky right, if you have someone with 200, then they have played 5 seasons lets say, if they are still in league 2 at that point, then its fair to say they are a league 2 standard player. A player with 50, may well still be learning and end up as a championship player, so you are better riding their development over the next 100. There is certainly something to be said for potential over lower league journeymen.

Sure the right mix is necessary etc etc. But i think of maybe the best team we had in recent years under Cooper and a decent number of them would have been sub 100 right? Stephens, Turnbull, Kasim, Luongo, Gladwin, Thompson, M.Smith, Foderingham.

[reeves4england]

Its tricky right, if you have someone with 200, then they have played 5 seasons lets say, if they are still in league 2 at that point, then its fair to say they are a league 2 standard player. A player with 50, may well still be learning and end up as a championship player, so you are better riding their development over the next 100. There is certainly something to be said for potential over lower league journeymen.

Sure the right mix is necessary etc etc. But i think of maybe the best team we had in recent years under Cooper and a decent number of them would have been sub 100 right? Stephens, Turnbull, Kasim, Luongo, Gladwin, Thompson, M.Smith, Foderingham.

Foderingham had 100+ going into that season. Thompson had 75, and although Smith only had 23 games for AFC Wimbledon the year before, he scored 9 so was clearly promising. The rest were all rookies, and you can add Branco, L Thompson and several loanees to that list.

The experience came from Andy Williams (200+ apps), Obika (around 100 apps), Foderingham and then Sam Ricketts at the business end of the season.

I think the fact a lot of those younger players have gone on to have careers in L1, the Championship and above shows just how good a group they were, despite their age.

[Riddick]

Yeah i wasnt quite sure where Foderingham would have sat at that point, but it was only just over 100 if it was.

Your last point is really what i was driving at. Young players with no experience is fine, if they have great talent and potential and they can develop and get better as the club does.

In fact its better, because its far harder to do well with players that have spent 5+ season in league 2 as they are clearly not much better than league 2 players.

Youth is fine, if they are good enough.

[DV]

Like anything in football - you need to right mix of everything & a little bit of luck

[Batch]

Like anything in football - you need to right mix of everything & a little bit of luck

Agreed.

Its still very easy to cock up with a big budget and experience.

Even easier with no budget.

[Pericardinho]

Way too much being made of this. You can have 300+ EFL appearances and still be crap.

You can also have 300+ games and still show no leadership qualities whatsoever. Or traits in which you'd want in a struggle towards the bottom.

I just want 2-3 characters in the dressing room to guide the younger players. They don't need a billion games, just enough to lift the heads of the younger ones when things go to shit.

Absolutely do not want a team of journeymen.

[Anonymous77]

Way too much being made of this. You can have 300+ EFL appearances and still be crap.

You can also have 300+ games and still show no leadership qualities whatsoever. Or traits in which you'd want in a struggle towards the bottom.

I just want 2-3 characters in the dressing room to guide the younger players. They don't need a billion games, just enough to lift the heads of the younger ones when things go to shit.

Absolutely do not want a team of journeymen.

I think 12/13 players from the 20/21 season had over 100 EFL appearances yet we was absolutely shit.

[Batch]

Surely the point is we are restricted to recruiting embryos and crocks.

[adje]

I'm optimistic that at least the starting 11 will be better than the last one

[RedRag]

Bump.