Ruben Rodrigues - Joined Oxford United

[RodleyRam]

Assuming that we weren't actually in for him, it gives an indication that the transfer strategy this year will be geared towards lower risk, solid consistent performers who fit the desired tick boxes on work ethic etc. The plan will be to get out of the League, so I reckon PW will go to his comfort zone and try to get solid and proven in L1 (but potentially uninspiring) 

I know little about this player but general consensus is that he is in the more unproven at this level, potential luxury kind of bracket. One could argue that the financial risk in his case would be low so theoretically, low risk, high reward but I think it's an interesting indication of the strategy if we didn't make an offer at all.

The silence is a tad deafening at the moment but I'm sure we'll have a better sense of the direction over the next few weeks. I want to be excited...

[alram]

3 hours ago, Animal is a Ram said:

No doubt you'll be commenting on the players we are *actually* linked with, then sign.

Probably to say they're not good enough for a pub team.

i think that is harsh, i will give everybody a chance in a rams shirt

 

i very rarely get on players backs as long as they give 100%.

 

ik am sorry if i seem overly negative at the minute i am just not convinced we are going in the right direction based on the summer so far

 

the reality is under the restrictions we have we have to snap up players like this that are free

Edited June 13, 2023 by alram

[Foreveram]

4 minutes ago, alram said:

i think that is harsh, i will give everybody a chance in a rams shirt

 

i very rarely get on players backs as long as they give 100%.

 

ik am sorry if i seem overly negative at the minute i am just not convinced we are going in the right direction based on the summer so far

 

the reality is under the restrictions we have we have to snap up players like this that are free

Why do we?

[NottsRam77]

38 minutes ago, RodleyRam said:

Assuming that we weren't actually in for him, it gives an indication that the transfer strategy this year will be geared towards lower risk, solid consistent performers who fit the desired tick boxes on work ethic etc. The plan will be to get out of the League, so I reckon PW will go to his comfort zone and try to get solid and proven in L1 (but potentially uninspiring) 

I know little about this player but general consensus is that he is in the more unproven at this level, potential luxury kind of bracket. One could argue that the financial risk in his case would be low so theoretically, low risk, high reward but I think it's an interesting indication of the strategy if we didn't make an offer at all.

The silence is a tad deafening at the moment but I'm sure we'll have a better sense of the direction over the next few weeks. I want to be excited...

Who said we we’re ever in for him other than a little very level “linked with” claims

if derby had gone knocking for him id bet my house, mortgage and kids he wouldnt be lining up for oxford next season.

sounds arrogant but in my book its how it is plain and simple 

[NottsRam77]

4 hours ago, alram said:

still nothing to worry about though is there guys! 

Nope … next 

[Tamworthram]

4 hours ago, Ambitious said:

It all boils down to how much of an impact he has for Oxford next season. If he’s one of the best in the league then we should’ve offered him more money, more playing time and whatever else was required for him to sign. If he’s s****, the club were right not to have an interest in him. 

We get to see in real time how this plays out because we know the club have watched and evaluated him - to in the end sounds like we deemed him not good enough so let’s see if that’s the case. 

But as @Foreveram says, just because he does well at Oxford (if he does)it doesn't mean he would have fitted in at Derby. Too many ifs buts and maybes to be too critical of our recruitment strategy.

Plus, as I said, perhaps Oxford have decided he is their key signing, and therefore pulled out all the stops to get him, whereas maybe we need to recruit more and therefore need to spread our investment over a bigger number of players.

[Anag Ram]

2 minutes ago, Tamworthram said:

But as @Foreveram says, just because he does well at Oxford (if he does)it doesn't mean he would have fitted in at Derby. Too many ifs buts and maybes to be too critical of our recruitment strategy.

Plus, as I said, perhaps Oxford have decided he is their key signing, and therefore pulled out all the stops to get him, whereas maybe we need to recruit more and therefore need to spread our investment over a bigger number of players.

Perhaps they’ve signed him to replace Brannagan, who’s coming to us?

[Ambitious]

29 minutes ago, Tamworthram said:

But as @Foreveram says, just because he does well at Oxford (if he does)it doesn't mean he would have fitted in at Derby. Too many ifs buts and maybes to be too critical of our recruitment strategy.

Plus, as I said, perhaps Oxford have decided he is their key signing, and therefore pulled out all the stops to get him, whereas maybe we need to recruit more and therefore need to spread our investment over a bigger number of players.

No it doesn’t, but so there is some margin of error, but ultimately if he does extremely well then it’s undeniable. We have no idea how Kevin De Bruyne would get on in Derby’s team and League One but we can assume that he would be half decent based on his body of work at Man City. 

I’m being facetious, of course, but you understand my point. If he steps up with ease and is hugely impactful for Oxford then we can gauge with confidence that he would’ve been decent for us - even without him playing for us. 

[IlsonDerby]

6 hours ago, Kernow said:

My grandkids said he supports Oxford United, apparently loads of people who grew up in Oliveira de Azeméis do.

You can’t begrudge him joining his boyhood club.

He’s just saying he supports Oxford. I know from his kids at school that he’s actually a massive Cambridge fan. 

[Gee SCREAMER !!]

Oxford Mail

United have reportedly beaten Championship side Cardiff City, plus League One rivals Barnsley and Derby County, to his signature.

United’s head of recruitment, Ed Waldron, said: “There were a lot of clubs looking at him, which was hardly surprising given the way he has played for the last two seasons.

“For him to choose to come to Oxford, based on the way we want to play and where we see the club going, is a fantastic endorsement for us.

“Our work continues behind the scenes to keep building the squad, and this is a really exciting first arrival of the summer.”

[alram]

2 hours ago, Foreveram said:

Why do we?

because we cant go out and outbid teams of players that will cost money

 

we have to prioritise free players as thats how the majority of our business will have to be done

[Ram-Alf]

10 minutes ago, Gee SCREAMER !! said:

Oxford Mail

United have reportedly beaten Championship side Cardiff City, plus League One rivals Barnsley and Derby County, to his signature.

Oxford finished the lowest of the 4 reported clubs interested in him, I wonder what was the incentive to go to Oxford and not the other 3, Playing time, Wages, A Doctorate at Oxford University, A part in Inspector Morse, The Cox in the boat race, To open a shop for very loose fitting trousers.

If I was the manager of one of the other 3 teams I'd be buying all my players a mug that said...we dodged a bullet there. 

[Gee SCREAMER !!]

8 minutes ago, The Last Post said:

Oxford finished the lowest of the 4 reported clubs interested in him, I wonder what was the incentive to go to Oxford and not the other 3, Playing time, Wages, A Doctorate at Oxford University, A part in Inspector Morse, The Cox in the boat race, To open a shop for very loose fitting trousers.

If I was the manager of one of the other 3 teams I'd be buying all my players a mug that said...we dodged a bullet there. 

I think Paul gave away all his mugs last season.  I'd suggest he pins a photo to the another isn't interested board.

[Caerphilly Ram]

Just now, Gee SCREAMER !! said:

I think Paul gave away all his mugs last season.  I'd suggest he pins a photo to the another isn't interested board.

Take Derby out of the equation for a moment, so we can shelve the anti-Warne sentiment just for some objectivity. What appealed to Rodrigues more about Oxford than the other rumoured interested clubs? Championship side Cardiff City, Barnsley who were the form side towards the back end of league one and narrowly missed out on promotion, Portsmouth who were nearly-rans for the league one play offs….all the narrative seems to be he chose Oxford over Derby…no mention of those other clubs who arguably hold as much if not more appeal as us? Is it perhaps possible that we weren’t interested in signing him, nor were the others and those names were used to drive up the price for Oxford or increase their urgency? 

 

[Gee SCREAMER !!]

1 minute ago, Caerphilly Ram said:

Take Derby out of the equation for a moment, so we can shelve the anti-Warne sentiment just for some objectivity. What appealed to Rodrigues more about Oxford than the other rumoured interested clubs? Championship side Cardiff City, Barnsley who were the form side towards the back end of league one and narrowly missed out on promotion, Portsmouth who were nearly-rans for the league one play offs….all the narrative seems to be he chose Oxford over Derby…no mention of those other clubs who arguably hold as much if not more appeal as us? Is it perhaps possible that we weren’t interested in signing him, nor were the others and those names were used to drive up the price for Oxford or increase their urgency? 

 

Nah I think we were interested in some way.  Perhaps he saw St Peters Street and the new Debenhams overhaul. That would put off anyone. 

[Chopper]

I dont know Rodrigues, I've never seen him play, never even watched highlights but ... but (breaks down in sobs)

Silly season I think. If we were interested it certainly isnt happening, there will be more out there and its early days yet (I'll save my angst for if we lose some more players without signing any)

[Caerphilly Ram]

8 minutes ago, Gee SCREAMER !! said:

Nah I think we were interested in some way.  Perhaps he saw St Peters Street and the new Debenhams overhaul. That would put off anyone. 

Even if that were the case, it doesn’t account for the lack of noise or drama regarding the other allegedly interested clubs. It’s very clear some posters don’t like Warne and so will use anything like this to push that narrative. Warne isn’t going anywhere currently, whatever recruitment is being worked on will give him the team he wants, according to his approach to the game and team building, regardless of any of our opinions.
We’ll soon get to find out if that will or won’t succeed, until that point what’s stopping people from just waiting to see? If he fails, those of you who don’t like him will get your I told you so moment. Those who don’t like his interview style won’t have to listen to him anymore. Those who don’t like his approach to motivating his team/direct reports won’t have to put up with the idea what doesn’t work for you might work for someone else anymore. 
And, IF he succeeds, we’ll have a team being successful on the pitch and winning promotion. It’s win win for you lot who don’t like Warne, chill out and enjoy the summer rather than attributing every rumour or half truth to being Warne’s failing when it could so easily be that Oxford guaranteed Rodrigues something none of the other clubs would or offered him better wages or no other clubs were actually in for him.

Edited June 13, 2023 by Caerphilly Ram

[Ram-Alf]

11 minutes ago, Gee SCREAMER !! said:

Nah I think we were interested in some way.  Perhaps he saw St Peters Street and the new Debenhams overhaul. That would put off anyone. 

There's plenty of things that interested myself in some way in my lifetime, But once viewed I gave them a swerve 👍

[Animal is a Ram]

For all those *still* moaning about this one - look at it from a slightly different, albeit perhaps a bit ram-tinted spectacles, perspective:

If Derby had offered a contract, and the lad's chosen Oxford, does that not speak volumes of his ambition? No slight meant on OUFC here, but our aim will be promotion. After last season, I'd expect Oxford's will be mid-table with an eye on playoff contention.

[Archied]

21 hours ago, Ambitious said:

You could & probably should. 

As it comes to player evaluation - any player signed that go on to do well that we could've been in the market for should be an indictment on the club. Any player that we sign and ultimately fails to perform is also an indictment on the club. 

In the most simplistic way, any player who comes into this division, who we could've signed, and does well - 

It comes down to three points - 

1) why weren't we looking at them? Are we casting the net wide enough - if a rival in this league was able to scout him then why weren't we? A failure on the technical scouting and recruitment side most likely. 

2) we were aware of the player, but after review deemed him not good - well, he's gone on to perform very well so what processes were followed out to come to the conclusion that player X wasn't good enough. 

3) we were aware of the player, we did want him to sign but couldn't get him through the door - why is another team in this division able to win a player's signature over our own. A higher division, more money, etc, fine. We then have to look at how we sell the club to players. 

If the above 3 processes are fine tuned, along with coaching, then we should never make a poor signing and we shouldn't ever let a player slip through the net and join a rival that we would've been useful to us. 

My point with Rodrigues: according to Leigh, we weren't interested, which is fine but if he does turn out to be a very good player at this level then we have failed on point 2. If we were interested then we've failed on point 3. We know that point 1 was covered as Warne went to watch the National League final. 

Wow , you’ve just made signing any player or appointing any manager an exact science , this game has been around for over 100 years and no one has ever managed that before , have you considered going on dragons den you should be worth millions in no time