"Best Scouting Network In The World" This line get almost as much air time on here as 'wages'; 'fit's the Pozzo's model' and 'tinpot'. Yet how true is it really? Can anybody absolutely verify it as fact or is it just a little Watford urban legend that we have somehow invented for ourselves?
I would imagine there are bigger clubs with better scouting networks but there is no doubt it is much better than what we had. So not best in the world - just very good. I think the difference is in the way it is utilised by Udinese. They will actively buy players to send out on loan to serie B or to us which means the number of players they bring in is probably higher than most but that does not constitute the best.
It sounds like when Hoofturd said we had the "best two wingers in the league" and it was accepted as fact. One of them was MacAnuff. However, the Pozzos certainly seem to have a far greater insight than any of our rivals. Whether or not there are other clubs out there who are better than they, I don't know, but it's certainly the best scouting network in the Championship.
I wonder if they are basing the claim on sale through? Wouldn't be surprised if the profit made from their player pickups is right up there.
I think it is unfair that the Pozzos are taking credit for the network originally set up by Robert Baden Powell!
One of the points of a scouting network is to turn up unknown, talented players who will go on to achieve great things. Most big clubs sign already proven players; there are few who have a good track record of bringing in young unknowns and making them into stars. Udinese are one of the clubs who manage to consistently do this, and they're definitely not big by European standards. When you look at the transfer record of most Premier League clubs, for example, most just buy the finished (or almost finished) article. You don't see Udinese splashing the money that the top end Serie A clubs do for players, yet they're consistently achieving fantastic results. This is down to the fact they're finding brilliant players before they become expensive. On that basis, you'd have to say they have one of the best networks going.
Erm of course they have the best scouting network in the world ever. Did none of you see a certain Steve Leo Beleck play last season, absolutely shat on the league
It's a good question and always healthy to challenge seemingly obvious , well entrenched viewpoints . I guess the argument would be that they have 2 decades of empirical evidence from a successful business model that relies solely on the plan of buying cheap and selling on for big profits whilst quickly replacing the outgoing players with better/as good as, but unheard of players . If they didnt have an exceptional scouting network , Udinese and to a lesser extent Granada wouldn't have been able to do this .
