Graham Carr

Adam-Utd

Part of first caf team to complete Destiny raid
Joined
Sep 10, 2010
Messages
39,954
Ok he isnt a player, but my god has he done a good job at Newcastle.

Surely we should be looking at recruiting him ourselves?

Im sure Fergie trusts our scouting team massively, but adding another who clearly knows his role inside and out cant hurt.

Quite odd also that his son is comedian Alan Carr, i can just amagine his dad prancing around a football stadium like him :lol:
 
Adam-Utd said:
Ok he isnt a player, but my god has he done a good job at Newcastle.

Surely we should be looking at recruiting him ourselves?

Im sure Fergie trusts our scouting team massively, but adding another who clearly knows his role inside and out cant hurt.

Quite odd also that his son is comedian Alan Carr, i can just amagine his dad prancing around a football stadium like him :lol:
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If he was involved in the Cabaye, Ben Arfa and Cisse deals then I'd say sign him up. If he recommended signing Obertan I'd say keep him away
 
Adam-Utd said:
Ok he isnt a player, but my god has he done a good job at Newcastle.

Surely we should be looking at recruiting him ourselves?

Im sure Fergie trusts our scouting team massively, but adding another who clearly knows his role inside and out cant hurt.

Quite odd also that his son is comedian Alan Carr, i can just amagine his dad prancing around a football stadium like him :lol:
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That's as random a connection since I found out Emily Bishop of corrie was Ollie Holts mum!
 
Not to be pedantic, but to most football fanatics - like many on the caf - these players were not difficult to find.

Such is the insular and parochial nature of English football you'd swear they were plucked from some backwater Polish town.

No doubt Carr's doing a fine job; but come on!!!
 
bsc said:
Not to be pedantic, but to most football fanatics - like many on the caf - these players were not difficult to find.

Such is the insular and parochial nature of English football you'd swear they were plucked from some backwater Polish town.

No doubt Carr's doing a fine job; but come on!!!
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This. A thousand times, this! You only had to read the column inches about Aguero at the start of the season to know how insular the English football fans are.
 
Maajid said:
This. A thousand times, this! You only had to read the column inches about Aguero at the start of the season to know how insular the English football fans are.
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Spot on.If you're a really good player you'll perform well more often than not wherever you play
 
Have we resorted to muppetizing over scouts and backroom staff. feck off redcafe. This is a new low.
 
Indeed I had heard of either briefly or was well aware of all the players they signed. None were hidden gems like Hernandez for example.

They have done well to recruit the players though.
 
Maajid said:
This. A thousand times, this! You only had to read the column inches about Aguero at the start of the season to know how insular the English football fans are.
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Really annoyed me when Aguero scored the two goals against Swansea on his debut, "a star is born".
 
United have an excruciatingly thorough scouting network. I'm pretty certain we 'knew' of all these players. Wouldn't surprise me if we deemed them not good enough for United. Just because the journos and fans are insulated in terms of knowledge it doesn't mean United are.


Also Adam, aren't you the guy that had never heard of Shaun Maloney and felt he was worth a punt?
 
Ole's_toe_poke said:
United have an excruciatingly thorough scouting network. I'm pretty certain we 'knew' of all these players. Wouldn't surprise me if we deemed them not good enough for United. Just because the journos and fans are insulated in terms of knowledge it doesn't mean United are.


Also Adam, aren't you the guy that had never heard of Shaun Maloney and felt he was worth a punt?
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We may have a thorough scouting network but we sure do miss quite a few talents.
 
well if all these players were so fecking obvious, why didnt we sign any of them?

I dont really care if you had heard of them or not, if it was that obvious they were going to be stars im baffled why we have not been interested?

Every top club in England looks bloody stupid now that they managed to nab so many good players for such a little fee.
 
You do know there is a difference between being "good enough for United" and "good enough for Newcastle".
 
Adam-Utd said:
well if all these players were so fecking obvious, why didnt we sign any of them?

I dont really care if you had heard of them or not, if it was that obvious they were going to be stars im baffled why we have not been interested?

Every top club in England looks bloody stupid now that they managed to nab so many good players for such a little fee.
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Quite simple, because they're not good enough.
 
Ole's_toe_poke said:
You do know there is a difference between being "good enough for United" and "good enough for Newcastle".
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The same Newcastle that beat you? White text.

But it's not like the players they signed are terrible in anyway. Cabaye won the title in France, Ben arfa is one of the most exciting young talents and scored one of the goals of the season, Cisse has scored wonder goals but has also had a great goals to game ratio. The players they have signed are good enough for United to be a squad player at the very least.
 
SilentWitness said:
The same Newcastle that beat you? White text.

But it's not like the players they signed are terrible in anyway. Cabaye won the title in France, Ben arfa is one of the most exciting young talents and scored one of the goals of the season, Cisse has scored wonder goals but has also had a great goals to game ratio. The players they have signed are good enough for United to be a squad player at the very least.
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This
 
SilentWitness said:
The same Newcastle that beat you? White text.

But it's not like the players they signed are terrible in anyway. Cabaye won the title in France, Ben arfa is one of the most exciting young talents and scored one of the goals of the season, Cisse has scored wonder goals but has also had a great goals to game ratio. The players they have signed are good enough for United to be a squad player at the very least.
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Possibly. We were linked to Ben Arfa quite a bit when he was younger but there was always a question over his discipline.

But really we have a lot of squad players. We started the season with something like 7 strikers. Even a quality player like Berba couldn't get enough games.

Cabaye is the one that is interesting from a United perspective. He looks like a quality player.
 
That's fair enough, my point wasn't really revolved around the specific players they signed (just used as an example) but more around the point that the players he has managed to scout would be good enough for United in at least a squad role.

Another factor of those players is their age. Ben arfa and Santon are both young but Cabaye and Cisse are older. For a club like Newcastle they really needed the experience and managed to scout 2 brilliant players who were available to them.

You can't really say "But they didn't get Hazard" etc. Well, no, because he wouldn't be available to a club like them. The one thing he and they have managed to do is get the best players in the range available to them and for brilliant prices.

If he moved to a bigger club he'd obviously be looking at the bigger players and more younger potential superstars.
 
He is basically doing what Wenger did for Arsenal in the 90s regarding transfers. What is different is their policy aims to get the 'best' players in the aspiring top-tier teams, where as other clubs would just concentrate on youth.

Sooner or later getting the talent, on cheap will dry up.
 
Randall Flagg said:
Indeed I had heard of either briefly or was well aware of all the players they signed. None were hidden gems like Hernandez for example.

They have done well to recruit the players though.
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Hernandez wasn't a hidden gem, he was a full international that is widely thought to have cost around £7 million. Just like the players we've signed aren't hidden gems. Clubs like Manchester United will have a vast scouting network employing many different people on full-time and part-time basis, with links made to many clubs and agents. The world is a very small place these days and it's the same story with football clubs - most of your big guns have all the bases covered.

The one thing we've done well is pick value players who are suitable for our club on not just a technical basis but a personality basis and made sure they are made to feel welcome once they're at the club. We've done the basics very well and simply tapped into a market that is largely underutilised due to the close minded attitudes of medium-to-smaller clubs in this country. Wenger started doing it over a decade ago, it's nothing new. Fact is French, African, Dutch etc players are far more technically proficient, physically strong and frequently more professional than your bog-standard English player. The good ones are in greater supply and are also cheaper. Spending our money wisely in these markets has allowed us to leapfrog 75% of the league since promotion.

Graham Carr is generally regarded to be a very astute and knowledgeable scout in the regions he's focused on but there are many like him out there and many will already be employed by MUFC as part of their vast web. To suggest poaching a scout to help 'find bargains' is an extremely simplistic and naive understanding of the nature inwhich clubs go about their recruitment basis.
 
Sewelly The Geordie said:
Hernandez wasn't a hidden gem, he was a full international that is widely thought to have cost around £7 million.
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According to SAF we were watching Hernandez before he got into the Mexican team. The fact that he got in which could potentially have increased his value and interest only hastened the transfer.
 
I also seriously doubt there are many 'unknown gems' out there. Considering the vast scouting networks the big clubs have, I'm sure most clubs are aware of most of the talented players. It's just who is brave enough to go and sign them.
 
The Mexican Primera has average attendances of around 25,000, larger than Ligue 1.
The TV viewing figures are some of the highest in the world and sponsorship and wages are comparable to most European counterparts.

This is a hugely popular product and one of the biggest sporting leagues in the world. Just because it is in another continent it is very naive to suggest that buying a prolific goalscorer and full international for a significant fee from this league is 'finding a gem'.
 
It would be funny if this guy was Jimmy Carr's Dad :lol:

Funnier still if he was Alan Carr's Dad :lol::lol:

alancarr.jpg
 
Sewelly The Geordie said:
The Mexican Primera has average attendances of around 25,000, larger than Ligue 1.
The TV viewing figures are some of the highest in the world and sponsorship and wages are comparable to most European counterparts.

This is a hugely popular product and one of the biggest sporting leagues in the world. Just because it is in another continent it is very naive to suggest that buying a prolific goalscorer and full international for a significant fee from this league is 'finding a gem'.
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As has been said it's essentially impossible to actually find a player you could truly define as a hidden gem in today's game.

However Hernandez is about as close as it comes in my opinion as I doubt many people outside of Mexico knew about him at the time of signing. The criteria I would use to describe it is that when United signed Hernandez it's likely that 99% of fans had to Google who Hernandez was when it was announced he was signing for United. However Cabaye and Cisse for example were players I had heard of and had even seen play.

Now obviously a lot of this has to do with the geographical proximity of Germany and France to Ireland as opposed to Mexico and the coverage of their respective leagues, but the fact that he was a virtual unknown outside of Mexico, as far as I can tell anyway, makes him about as close to a "hidden gem" as you're going to get in my view.
 
Most people had looked at him and thought he's too shit a footballer to make it, even if he does get goals.
 
The Neviller said:
:lol: Don't be daft.
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He is.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...app-Graham-Carr-Newcastles-driving-force.html

Alan Carr is a funny man but it's his dad, Graham Carr (right), who is making Newcastle smile.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graham_Carr

His son Alan Carr, is a comedian who is most well-known for co-presenting The Friday Night Project and hosting his own chat show called Alan Carr: Chatty Man.[4]
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Carr

His father is former Northampton Town and Nuneaton Borough F.C. manager Graham Carr.[2]
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/a...an-Carr-I-come-football-boss-dad--Ive-in.html

His soccer boss father wanted him to be a footballer, but Alan Carr always knew he wasn't like other boys. Now, as Britain's campest comic, he's making millions.
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http://www.whodoyouthinkyouaremagazine.com/episode/alan-carr

First up, this means heading north to meet his father at St James’ Park, home of Newcastle United, where Graham Carr is the chief scout. “Did you think I’d ever come out of this tunnel?” jokes Alan as he walks out towards the pitch.

Graham played professionally and went on to become a manager, but he wasn’t the first footballer in the family.
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SilentWitness said:
The same Newcastle that beat you? White text.

But it's not like the players they signed are terrible in anyway. Cabaye won the title in France, Ben arfa is one of the most exciting young talents and scored one of the goals of the season, Cisse has scored wonder goals but has also had a great goals to game ratio. The players they have signed are good enough for United to be a squad player at the very least.
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Historically United have always preferred paying more for a player that is proven in English football, than take a chance on a player.

Obviously we've had to tweak that philosophy a little given our financial means, but I'm sure we'd be happy to pay, for example, Newcastle double what they paid for Cisse given that we now know he can perform here.
 
feck sake.

Newcastle will be shite again next year, and someone will bump this thread for the hilarity.

Sign up Graham Carr. :wenger:
 
Bilbo said:
Historically United have always preferred paying more for a player that is proven in English football, than take a chance on a player.

Obviously we've had to tweak that philosophy a little given our financial means, but I'm sure we'd be happy to pay, for example, Newcastle double what they paid for Cisse given that we now know he can perform here.
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Park, Vidic, Evra, Anderson, Nani, Hernandez, De Gea, Rafael, Fabio etc.

You still buy other players and you're not going to have scouts who are only limited to the PL, you will obviously have them all over the world considering the size of club that you are. Plus the ones in bold were for a pretty big sum so you are a team that is also willing to 'gamble' so to say.
 
Twigginater said:
feck sake.

Newcastle will be shite again next year, and someone will bump this thread for the hilarity.

Sign up Graham Carr. :wenger:
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Hi pal.

Couldn't be bothered starting a new thread as more funny seeing people praising him. He is one of the reasons Newcastle have gone down. Signing a whole host of average French players. The only good French player he signed was Cabaye.
 
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