Excellent again tonight against Man City.
Never got a start for us. Let him go on a Free Transfer.
Hard to fathom.
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Excellent again tonight against Man City.
Never got a start for us. Let him go on a Free Transfer.
Hard to fathom.
Tough for him to break through at the time. One of those things, but annoying none the less.Quote:
Originally Posted by Baloo
Brought in by Slade for nothing, let go on a free by Warnock.
Peltier also got on tonight.
I presume Mrs Peltier was happy with this.Quote:
Originally Posted by Madassa
It's not that hard to fathom really, was well down the pecking order and not ready at the time.
His first team experience at Rotherham played a massive part in his development.
All hindsight.
he went on loan at Rotherham first, and probably could have been loaned again. but we had no interest in developing any youngsters.Quote:
Originally Posted by Trigger
Or he didn't want to sign a new deal. He was 23 for crying out loud. 100 games later he made it back to the level we were at. He needed to put down some proper roots. Ajayi is probably a good Championship defender but let's keep some perspective. We didn't release Maldini. Good for Ajayi but let's not forget what happened in 17/18, the season after he left. Would we have loaned him out again in 18/19?Quote:
Originally Posted by Rjk
Colin had no interest in developing him. Why can’t you accept that? Stop making excuses for the mans shortism policies.Quote:
Originally Posted by Pedro de la Rosa
Absolutely. He wasn't part of his plans.Quote:
Originally Posted by J R Hartley
As he didn’t get a game for us I gathered that he was well down the pecking order at the time. And your correct it’s hindsight given we sold him 4 years ago.Quote:
Originally Posted by Trigger
Watching him play now it’s just a bit of a shame that he had to leave for Rotherham for his development.
Ajayi was 24 when he left us and three years later he's playing in the Premier League. I honestly don't think that there are many other clubs besides Cardiff City who would deem a player "not ready" in their mid twenties - maybe if we'd have been bold enough to give him a chance just before he left, he could have established himself and put himself in the running to be our Young Player of the season in 2018?Quote:
Originally Posted by Trigger
West Brom have conceded the most goals in the Premier League this season.
We had four centre-backs (Morrison, Bamba, Ecuele Manga, and Connolly) under contract for the 2017/18 season. Why would Ajayi have signed a new deal with us in that situation?Quote:
Originally Posted by J R Hartley
Because one of those four hardly played for us again, another one left a year later and another one was getting towards his mid thirties - with a different approach and a little foresight from City, he would, surely, have been happy to stay rather than go to Rotherham.Quote:
Originally Posted by LeningradCowboy
Why? He'd already been at the club for two years and not played a single minute for us. Morrison, Bamba, and Ecuele Manga were clearly ahead of him in the pecking order, so he'd have been fourth choice at best.Quote:
Originally Posted by the other bob wilson
I think this is the different approach TOBW is hinting at.Quote:
Originally Posted by LeningradCowboy
Fourth choice with a good chance of being second choice a year later - there was always a good chance that Bruno, who was thirty himself by then, would be moving on soon and Bamba was at an age where his performance levels could decline quickly. Truth is though, I was daft to mention "foresight" because City have proved over a period of years that they don't do foresight.Quote:
Originally Posted by LeningradCowboy
He had loans first at league 2 level, then league one, then at championship levelQuote:
Originally Posted by Baloo
After leaving us he briefly dipped back to league 1 and then has done very well at championship level and now is a premier league player. Early in his career he had a reputation for looking commanding , but dropping the occasional clanger. But Rotherham persisted with him and with experience he's become quite the player.
I can't understand why he's made it to the premier league and none of the players we've loaned to Weston Super Mare have made it yet?
Can anyone help?
Hindsight is 20/20, unless you are claiming that was your opinion in March 2017 when Ajayi signed a contract with Rotherham?Quote:
Originally Posted by the other bob wilson
At the end of the 14/15 season we had Ajayi at the club in desperate need for some first team action, a run of games at the end of the season where we had literally nothing to play for and we chose to play Danny Gabbidon, who was going to be out of contract a few weeks later. We also played Gabbidon in the league cup and Ajayi was on the bench.
We've needed a better approach to bringing youngsters through for years.
Didn't show enough at the time I guess , some players flourish in better in different environments or mature into better players , wasn't De Bruyne and Salah at Chelsea , Vardy was a lower league player for years ??Quote:
Originally Posted by Baloo
Was just about to use Cheslea, KDB and Salah as my example. It happens at all clubs.Quote:
Originally Posted by life on mars
Did I think Ajayi would be playing in the Premier League within three years? No I didn't. Did I think that he was someone who could do a job for us based on what I had seen of him in what I would guess would be around twenty appearances for our under 23s? Yes I did. All four of those centrebacks you mentioned were thirty plus or getting fairly close to that age and so it was clear that a degree of rebuilding would need to be carried out in that position.Quote:
Originally Posted by LeningradCowboy
Ajayi's subsequent career proves I was underestimating him when I thought of him as only a potential Championship player, but, more important than that, our manager at the time didn't rate him that highly - if he had done, there wouldn't have been any need to have spent all of those millions on Aden Flint.
Both sold under mourihnio, who also throughout his career has neglected youth developmemt, and has a history of starting really well at clubs, but after 3 seasons leaving them in a horrible mess.Quote:
Originally Posted by BlueArmy 86
He’s exactly like Warnock only thinks of himself and not the future of the club by developing young players!Quote:
Originally Posted by Rjk
Yes, and I can't blame them for doing it. The average length of a managerial employment is less than 18 months, and if the manager does hang around for long enough for his self serving ways to catch up with them then it'l only be because he's been relatively successful in his first 2 years, and will probably walk into another job on the strength of that.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ianto13
This is exactly why clubs need a director of football
Was Ajayi good enough at the time to play for us in the season that we got promoted? Let's be honest, he probably wasn't, so how would he have developed if he had stayed here? Not by playing for the under 23s.Quote:
Originally Posted by the other bob wilson
Well, seeing that Ben Nugent came in as a teenager and didn't let anyone down in our previous promotion season, I'd say the answer to your question is, almost certainly, yes because Ajayi is clearly the better player of the two.Quote:
Originally Posted by LeningradCowboy
What on earth are you talking about? Ajayi would have had to be better than at least two of Bamba, Morrison, and Ecuele Manga to play for us in 2017/18, not Ben Nugent!Quote:
Originally Posted by the other bob wilson
better than at least 2 to be a regular starter - not to come in and do a job occasionally.Quote:
Originally Posted by LeningradCowboy
Greg Halford even plyed a few times for us at CB during that season didn't he?
But Ajayi would have needed to be playing regular first-team football to develop.Quote:
Originally Posted by Rjk
Ajayi needed to play. He wasn't as good as Morrison, Bamba or Manga. He went away and played for 2 and a half seasons in League One and Championship. If he was a centre mid, or a winger that's a different story but we had to make a call on Ajayi. You can't chop and change centre halves, especially when Morrison and Bamba were the best pairing in the league arguably. In 17/18 he got dropped a fair few times and ended up playing defensive mid for Rotherham as he was a liability in League One. Ajayi's career is similar to Moore's where he's a very late developer, he signed for us at 22!Quote:
Originally Posted by J R Hartley
We need a better approach to our youth development and some promising signs are there with Harris but I think Ajayi was at a crossroads and was in the wrong place at the wrong time with us. Take Rodon, if Swansea never got relegated I don't think he'd have ever got a look in there. Many Jacks have said the same. I don't see how Ajayi could have got anywhere near the first team in 17/18 or 18/19.
I would have thought it was perfectly clear what I was talking about. Ben Nugent, a teenager who went on to play for the likes of Gillingham, Crewe and Stevenage, was good enough to come in and play eight to ten times I think it was for a side that won the Championship without having a detrimental effect on results, so I’m pretty sure that Ajayi, who would have been twenty four to Nugent’s nineteen and is now playing in the Premier League world have coped fine if he had to.Quote:
Originally Posted by LeningradCowboy
I have to agree the Morrison Bamba Manga partnership was the most solid defensive setup I have seen for a long time
For a manager to mix that up for no particular reason would be crazy
Not good enough for us according to this thread, but just scored a late equaliser for the Baggies at Anfield.
Game finished 1-1.
What an athlete he is. And what a header for the goal.Quote:
Originally Posted by the other bob wilson
He looks a good player whenever I’ve seen him, if he hadn’t trained with Rotherham and played fewer than 100 game for them, he wouldn’t have been good enough for Cardiff according to some on here :hehe:
Should have been loaned out for that one Sean then given some playing time here.
Absolutely just think the lad hadn't matured or shown enough it wasn't until 2017 he must have started to mature through the 90 odd appearances with Rotherham before that he appearances was not good anywhere never mind usQuote:
Originally Posted by WJ99mobile
Senior career*
2012–2013 Charlton Athletic 0 (0)
2012 → Dartford (loan) 3 (1 goal)
2013–2015 Arsenal 0 (0)
2015 → Cardiff City (loan) 0 (0)
2015–2017 Cardiff City 0 (0)
2015 → AFC Wimbledon (loan) 5 (0)
2015–2016 → Crewe Alexandra (loan) 13 (0)
2017 → Rotherham United (loan) 17 (1 goals )
2017–2019 Rotherham United 81 (11 goals)
2019– West Bromwich Albion 57 (6 goals )
A lot of managers and coaching staff missed something
good goalscoring record, with our set piece prowess it'd be great to have had another 6ft 4+ target to aim forQuote:
Originally Posted by life on mars