Give me a chance RP! I probably don't have time today, but at some point I'll start another thread where I rate all signings out of 5.
Out of the 30 players signed my thoughts are that the only failures who were actually our players was free transfers Ivan Lucic and Joel Ekstrand. The others were all loan players. Here is the list and my thoughts 1 Adam Matthews Loan - Failure 2 Bailey Wright Success 3 Callum O'Dowda Success 4 Cauley Woodrow Loan - Failure 5 David Cotterill Loan - Ok 6 Eros Pisano Success 7 Fabian Giefer Loan - Ok/failure? 8 Famara Diedhiou Success 9 Freddy Hinds Too Early to call 10 Gary O'Neil Ok 11 Gustav Engvall Too Early to call 12 Hordur Magnusson Success 13 Ivan Lucic Failure 14 Jamie Paterson Success 15 Jens Hegeler Too Early to call 16 Joel Ekstrand Failure 17 Jonathan Leko Loan - Failure 18 Josh Brownhill Success 19 Liam Walsh Too Early to call 20 Lois Diony Loan - Failure 21 Luke Steele Ok 22 Matty Taylor Ok 23 Milan Djuric Success 24 Nathan Baker Success 25 Niclas Eliasson Too Early to call 26 Ryan Kent Loan - Failure 27 Tammy Abraham Loan - Success 28 Taylor Moore Too Early to call 29 Tyreeq Bakinson Too Early to call 30 Lee Tomlin - ok
If we are after so called better players, then the club must sell ambition for the prem to them. Otherwise we will be looking at the left overs come the end,just like last season. Interesting times ahead.
Didn't Watkins choose Norwich over us last time he went walkabout? Why might he change his mind this time out, perhaps desperation?
He clearly saw Norwich as a better destination as all the others did we tried to sign. Ambition is a major factor in recruiting better players.
Your definition of ambition is simply be willing to spunk a wedge of cash on wages and transfer fees on big names. There's been plenty of ambition shown by the Club - look at Ashton Gate itself for one.
Nick - the Stadium of Light is a lovely ground and they're now in League One - as Mike said, there needs to be a balance. Perseverence and sticking to a plan has got its' merits but if that's flawed then you wont get the reward your stadium investment justifies. Spunking cash need not necessarily be the answer though, but if the plan is playing your way out of this division like Wolves and Fulham have done, then it'll take some serious investment. On the other hand, some serious thoughts on what it takes to get out of the Championship may be more realistic.
Not really Nick- All very well having a shiny new stadium,but you need to fill it it with a quality product.That is the hard bit. Our better players will go if a lack of ambition shows. Also hard to bring in quality if there is a lack of ambition. As others have said a fine balance. This club can go places with the right recruitment that is down to Mr L and his troops to produce,
The stadium was just one quick, off the cuff example of progress being made (hence me saying 'for one'), but there are more. Progress is being made by improving the infrastructure and ultimately improving our league position four years running so far.
Nick - I bow to your superior knowledge of your own club. Progress is a funny thing though - can often be one step forward and then two back.
Should we book the audience or should we book the band? Words from a song I think but the song remains the same.
Indeed - on the pitch there is only so much influence you can have. You give yourself the best chance in terms of preparation/recruitment/management etc, but there're always surprises where things just happen to click. When Blackpool went up at your expense was a good example, because it wasn't stupendous management by Holloway and certainly not down to their board that contributed to their success! They say patience is a virtue, though it's surely true that resting on your laurels can be detrimental too. I'm personally comfortable with the direction and pace with which the club is moving, though the collapse at the end of the season was undoubtedly frustrating. It could be quite a turnover for us in terms of players leaving and us getting replacements, so if it's seen that we've taken a step back then the frustration will increase. It's all well and good planning for the future, but if you disregard the present then the future will never arrive...
Bye bye Hordur. I liked him and wish him luck. https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/sport.../exclusive-bristol-city-sell-defender-1633171
That came somewhat out of the blue, and 2.5m Euros would be a little on the cheap side if true. A bit of a shame, though he did have a knack for giving the ball away in dangerous positions, which isn't exactly what you want from defenders. The transfer merry-go-round grinds into life...
Me to a very committed player,I just hope the powers that be now what they are doing. I hope quality is coming in to replace the outgoing players. Going to be interesting over the next month,if our player recruitment is not sorted by then, with the outgoing better play gone then I fear for our championship survival.
shame, wasn't a bad player, shame we won't be hearing anymore of that chant, I liked it and got the whole ground going at times
