foreigner":6rjzgj43 said:
To be fair to John James he has uncovered a few.
I don't think we have enough scouts to adequately cover the Westcountry. That is the problem.
That's the thing, we didn't miss him, we had watched him several times. Devon is a big county, but all the youth sides play in the same divisions so everyone is aware who is decent and plays where. It looks like he was never on Argyle's radar which has to go down as a misfire.
As for Beckham, Ferguson was aware of how good he was and how much potential he had. Manchester United had been courting his long term future when he was 10. Typical Londoners, Beckham Snr and Jnr were both keen Manchester United supporters. By the time he was a teenager, Ferguson would call Beckham ahead of MUFC's fixtures in London, invite him down, show him around the dressing room and make him feel valued. Having read both Fergie's books and Beckham's, I don't think it was ever in doubt that Manchester United was where Beckham was going. Even the manc lads (Butt, the Nevilles, Giggs, Scholes) didn't have the kind of passion Beckham had in collecting newspaper cuttings and making scrapbooks about the club, knowledge of history, legends and statistics - he was a real fanatic.