Views from the Sieve

Bought a programme at the West Ham match and was pleased to see it had reverted back to its old size. Not only that the content was much much better and it contained some very interesting news about new developments in the clubs scouting set up, the new owners are certainly making some positive changes which should benefit the club in the days to come.

That sounds interesting but unfortunately couldn't get one yesterday as all sold out when I got there. Would be interested if you would expand on the things that were mentioned please.

Apparently we have recruited a chief scout who will attend 3-4 elite academy level games down to Step 5 as well as 3 recruitment analysts who are highly skilled in football data and technology who will attend 2 games a week. This means between them they will view 10 games a week which is a huge step forward for the club. Lets hope it reaps some rewards.

Thanks for that, as you say it sounds very positive and shows that the owners have a different and perhaps more professional approach that hopefully will reap rewards for us in the future.

Chief scout is Peter Taylor.

I wasn't a fan of Peter Taylor when he was our manager but hoping that he can spot some good prospects.

Taylor classic good coach but rubbish manager, Burnett is another in that mold, I think he should have a good eye for a player, we will soon find out.

I think Taylor’s recruitment when we were close to going under had some good finds in it. Will Wright, Onariase, Goodliffe, and Wilkinson were quality loans. With all apart from Wilkinson coming from nowhere beforehand. Has good connections too, having managed half of the EFL, I think he can be a scout for us.

I suppose these analysts do a lot of the grunt work sourcing players, and he is then able to see if they pass the experienced eye test and are worthy of a development contract. I am Interested to see how it goes for us.