Three more years for Marcel Brands?

When Brands joined the club, one of his major tasks was clearing out the horrendous number of overpaid and under-achieving players littering Finch Farm. This was never going to be an easy job with players on good contracts and handsomely paid for their under-achievements. Players were sold during his first 3 years: Vlasic, Lookman, Dowell, Robinson for example. But, while these players were sold, we have had any number moving from loan to loan.

Getting them out of the squad and getting some of their wages paid is no mean feat but, when it comes down to it after 3 years in the job, we still had players such as Bolasie, Besic, Walcott (whose contract is up in the summer, thank god), Tosun and Kenny on the books.

As hard as it is to move players such as these on permanently, I think more could have been done to at least get a few more players moved on. Kenny for one could have been sold to Burnley at one point. To be fair, the club did seem to believe he had a future with the Blues, hopefully now fully extinguished.

Incoming transfers seem to have gone better. Brands came into the club with the clear strategy of signing players in the 25 years and under age bracket. Added to this was the aim of bringing players through from the club's academy.

Looking at the signings since Brands came to the club, Digne, Godfrey and Doucouré have all been successes, Jarrad Branthwaite and Neils Nkounkou are young players who have good potential, and Brands certainly gets a tick for these.

André Gomes flattered to deceive for 6 months but has declined ever since. Bernard is a player with technical skill but ultimately is not suited to the Premier League. La Liga would suit him.

Alex Iwobi has been an expensive mistake while the 6-month contract given to Josh King in January is absolutely pointless. We can also add to this list Jonas Là¶ssl and the year-long loan of Djibril Sidibé.

The signings of Allan and Rodriguez signings have improved us on the pitch, but one is pushing close to and one is in his early 30s. They are both good players but are slightly on the decline in their careers. This season has also shown the questionable fitness records of both.

Which brings us to Delph… why we signed him is beyond me. A player with leadership qualities? No, just a big month and a horrendous fitness record. Gbamin is different as his fitness record was fine at Mainz but I fear he is now to be plagued with injuries and he will be an unlucky expensive mistake.

Moise Kean was a good signing who just never settled at the Blues. He will probably leave in the summer for a profit.

When you look at the signings under Brands in total it is very average. Added to this the signing of players 25 and under does seem to be an ideal which is not fully observed, as the signing of Doucouré, Allan, Rodriguez and the absolute stain on the club, Delph, shows.

Meanwhile, players we have sent out on loan during Brands's time at the club have not made any impact on the first team: Kenny, Broadhead, Bowler, Baningime, Dowell (sold to Norwich last summer) etc. We have a number of players out on loan at present: Gordon, Simms, Gibson, Branthwaite… Will any of these come through to the first team? Branthwaite is the one who has a chance.

Which brings us to the club's academy. I have written a number of critical pieces on the academy, believing that we will not see any progress while Unsworth, Ebbrell, Jeffers and Co continue in post. Unsworth has even been made Head of the whole academy structure under Brands.

During the 3 years Brands has been in post, we have not had one young player come through and make any impact on the first team. A couple of appearances by Virginia during a goal-keeping crisis this season and a couple of minutes against Sheffield Wednesday for Thierry Small and Tyler Onyango is all we have had, plus Anthony Gordon who produced some underwhelming appearances before he was sent on loan to Preston.

I don't think there has been one iota of progress in the academy since Brands joined the club. To be fair, we do have a number of prospects in the 16- to 18-year-old age bracket at the moment, the above-mentioned Small and Onyango, plus Reece Welch, Lewis Warrington, Rafael Garcia, Charlie Whitaker and Zan-Luk Leban, for example. Will any of these players progress to the first team? A long shot with the current leadership of the Academy is my view, but one can hope.

Marcel Brands's first 3 year spell is chequered at best, and I would say very average. A Louis Campos, Paul Mitchell or Fredi Bobic he is not. Should he have been given a new contract? Questionable, and as Campos is out of work at present, I would certainly have put out feelers in that direction. But the club just seemed to be waiting for Marcel to renew.

Now Brands is in post now for another 3 years, he has made all the right soundbites:

“When I came to England almost 3 years ago, my plan wasn't to stay only 3 years.”

“My job is a long-term job and, in the previous clubs where I worked, I stayed a long time.”

“It is a long-term job, trying to build something for a long time, with a structure behind it. From Academy to First Team, from recruitment to sports science and medical — all departments involved in football. It takes serious time to get all these departments in line with each other and we are working hard on that.”

“The ambitions of the Club are great, everyone wants to be part of that — especially me, not only as Director of Football, but as a Board member, working closely with my colleagues.”

“Once I choose something — I go 100 per cent."

“I am never satisfied — we have to do more and work harder.”

“I think we are making good progress but there is still a lot to achieve.”

“We want to win things and be in Europe — but then I will want more.”

I agree that his job is, as he says, “a long-term job”. But I think we should have seen more progress in the 3 years he has been in post. The signing of a new contract by Brands does give the so-called panacea of stability that everyone seems to mouth.

It is to be hoped that, in the next 3 years, we will see the progress which I think has been lacking in Brands's first 3 years at the club. This for me definitely means bringing through a couple of young players from the Acacdemy into the first team, which will not happen with the present academy leadership in my eyes.

On transfers, a movement away from the 25-and-under age group has been creeping in since the arrival of Carlo Ancelotti and I would suggest needs to be reversed.

My own question is “Did the board (not including Brands, who is a board member) actually take a critical review of his first 3 years with the blues? Bill Kenwright saying “It only took one spin of Z Cars in the discussion of a new contract" seems to point that they did not. But we now have Marcel Brands in post for another 3 years; let's hope we get more progress than in the first 3 years…

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