Shad Khan and Jacksonville Jaguars

[dino1828]

Hello all, I am new to this board I live in Jacksonville Florida and I am a massive sports fan, American football is my favorite and I am a Jaguars fan so I do know a lot about them and Shad Khan, but I was looking for a English team to become a fan of well Shad made my decision for me so I am picking up Fulhum as that team, I have a million questions about this sport and I am sure you have as many about Shad Khan, so if you have questions about Khan or the Jaguars I will be happy to answer if you would be as kind to me and answer my questions.


Thank You,

Bryan

[dino1828]

Ok I must ask how do your teams find players are there scouts all over the world is it a free for all? If you find a player do you sign him right there or is there a draft? How old are they allowed to sign with a team?

[justinfromga]

Ok I must ask how do your teams find players are there scouts all over the world is it a free for all? If you find a player do you sign him right there or is there a draft? How old are they allowed to sign with a team?

The best comp I give to most American fans who know nothing about the sport is it most closely resembles the MLB international free agent pool.  Players are usually sixteen before they can sign a professional contract, though some may do so later.  Teams then develop their homegrown talent through their U-18 and U-21 programs.  There are youth programs that go farther down than that but for the easiest way of explaining it we'll use just those two.

So imagine if you can a baseball player from the Dominican.  He's just turned sixteen and the Braves or Marlins or Rays have just signed him to his first professional contract.  The kid then goes into the farm system and develops his talents until he is ready to play at the MLB level.

So to answer your questions in order:

Yes there are scouts all over the world and yes it is a free for all.

There is no draft.

I BELIEVE it's sixteen is the youngest they may sign a professional contract though I could be wrong.

Don't worry, soccer or football or whatever you wish to call far more complicated than what is listed here.

[dino1828]

That made a lot of since to me thanks for putting it that way, do players get traded and how long are the first contract?

[zschwartz]

Hello Dino, welcome and thanks for the opportunity.

How does the draft, trading and salary caps in the NFL affected the Jag's player acquisitions? The record for last season appears to be very poor. Is the team relying on the draft and the new head coach to sort out these problems? What influence could Khan have over trades if he were to offer larger contracts?

Here we are rather concerned with investing in the squad during the transfer window (two a year, one in the summer one in the winter). There has been much talk about his buying large video screens to improve attendance at games. He is clearly willing to invest int he team.

Have fans been critical of this type of investment over others that might more directly affect performance? Or are his hands pretty much tied with the way transfers work in the NFL? Thanks man, welcome.

[dino1828]

In the NFL the best way to build a team is to build the team threw the draft. The bad record came from the bad personnel decisions made by former GM Gene Smith, the GM makes the personnel decisions, the coach figures how they will use the players that the GM have given him.  The Head Coach is one of 10 coaches on the team he is the air traffic controller of all the other coaches.

You are aloud as many trades as you want in a year although there are not usually many trades in the NFL, if there are trades it is usually a player for draft picks rarely is it player for player. The salary cap keeps things even does not allow teams that are richer to buy a championship although that also has ben tried and that did not work either. Cap does effect a lot of teams because the better the player the more he gets pay if you have several real good players you will not be able to afford all of them under the cap, so trades do happen for cap reasons most of the time.

Shads improvements to the stadium is not affecting there ability to sign free agents they have signed 10 so far this year. The cap helps with that. The Jaguars had there worst year last year so he fired the GM and the Coaching staff, he hired a new GM David Caldwell Head Coach Gus Bradley to lead this team into a new age.

[Daffy]

Welcome to the club, Dino. May I compliment you on your excellent choice.

There is a transfer window across the whole of Europe running from 1 July to 31 August. Player contracts usually run from 1 to 5 years, and if they want a transfer they cannot talk to talk to another club without permission.  If a club wants to buy a player contracted to another club they have to make an offer, and it has to be accepted before they can approach the player.

If a player's contract comes to an end he is a free agent. So usually when a player enters the final year of his contract, it is decision time for his club - offer a new deal or sell or risk he will walk away for no fee in a year's time.

When the transfer window closes on 31 August players cannot make permanent moves unless they are free agents. There is a shorter transfer window in January allowing clubs to make additions to their squads before the end of the season in May.

Hope that helps!

[dino1828]

Wow thanks Daffy it does help, but that is more complicated the American football, sounds more like American baseball. How many players are on the active roster?

[Daffy]

There is no roster. In practice every single player is available for transfer, so if Fulham wanted to buy Lionel Messi they could put in an offer! But it would have to be more than £100 million I expect for Barcelona to accept, and then they would have to pay ridiculous wages to convince him to come to Fulham!

A bit of an extreme example but I hope it explains. In practice Fulham will be looking for good quality players across the world who maybe aren't yet well known, or are unhappy at their club and would be looking to move, but who will obviously improve our squad in the areas needed.

Right now I would say our two greatest needs are a pacy striker to complement Berbatov and a creative midfielder to link up play between defence and attack.

[dino1828]

I take that the players contracts are fully guaranteed?  How close is Fulham to the top of the league, is it a couple of pieces here and there?

[alexbishop]

In a league of 20 teams Fulham have come; 12th, 9th, 8th, 12th, 7th in th last 5 seasons.

[dino1828]

So they have been middle of the pack not bad.  Is the team Manager a good one or do people want to see a change?

[zschwartz]

Dino, squad depth also depends on placement of the previous year which determines how many competitions any given team will compete in. All premier league teams will compete in the F.A. and the League cup as well as the regular season. Often these tournaments are a chance for younger talent and reserves to get opportunities to play alongside members of the first team, particularly in the early stages.

Teams that finish in the top 4 spots in the premier league will compete in the Champions league while the 5th placed team will compete in the Europa league.

Additionally, teams who win the two domestic cup competitions, the league cup and the f.a. cup, are also awarded with a spot in the Europa League. This past season Swansea (who finished 9th) won the league cup and Wigan (18th place and relegated) won the F.A. cup. 

Starting in 2014/15 season the winner of the Europa League will be awarded a spot in the Champions league.

Throw in any international duty certain players might have during the "off weeks" and summer tournaments (World Cup, Euros, Confederations cup, etc) and you can see how squad depth might need to vary from club to club.

[Sammyffc]

the majority of fulham fans are split on the manager , i personally have no problem with the current manager and has run the team as best he could with the funds avaliable from the chairman. However , if mr khan decides to give the current manager lets say a 20 mill transfer budget i could see are current manager making some very very good signings

[dino1828]

20 million he is paying that to the 2 guys he just fired from the jaguars, I think that would be no problem for Khan, if it would improve the team.

[Sammyffc]

hopefully , we have been on a very tight budget in previous years hence why we are only a mid table team , saying that a mid table team in the best league in the world is still a major achievement ! . What do you think shad will bring to the club if he does buy it ? and what are the reports in the USA saying about him buying fulham ?

[dino1828]

The reports out of the Jaguars stadium is this is going to happen and Khan want that team bad. He will light a fire under the people of that team or he will find someone with fire, that's how he likes it, to get better every day. He is a likable guy with high sprits, he is engaging he thinks out of the box, but also likes to hold with traditions, and he is an intense sports fan, this may be an investment to him like the Jags were but make no mistakes about it he enjoys this very much.

[Sammyffc]

thats good !  the key thing fulham fans want is to keep the tradition of the club , as many new owners come into a football club ( soccer club ) and automatically want to move stadium etc , but i can guarantee there will be 0% of fans who would want this !

[dino1828]

He did change our uniforms this year.

[Holders]

Uniforms? Do you mean strip (kit)? If he tried to change the colours that would not go down at all well.