Honestly in the next 5 years I would hope to have seen us reach the premier league and realistically we probably will have come back down to the championship by then! Hopefully either an established team pushing for top 6 every year in the championship or a lower premier league team. As you say, Bristol is a massive city but there are so many 'fans' of the big premier league teams. If we were to even spend one season in the PL the increase in our attendance would be massive. The new stadium is going to be a 30k seater with potential for expansion if required so a lot rides on the relative success of otherwise of our club. How about yourselves? The sad thing is that our owner has actually spent a lot of money over the past few years, it's just a lot of the players GJ/SC have brought in are not actually that good but on big wages. Millen has only made one cock up so far which was Woolford for £700k.. Landsdown said in an interview at the end of the season that he admits the biggest flaw in his ownership is that he is a fan of the club so has been guilty of not questioning previous managers requests for transfer funds/ loan players. Hence we have invested in young players with the potential to get better rather than established names. From his interviews the impression is that the funds are there, but only if he thinks it is a genuine improvement on the squad. In the last two years we have opened brand new training and youth facilities so I am hopefully the a few years down the line we will have some very good players coming through the youth team. Currently we have Skuse, Ribeiro, Wilson and Edwards in our squad that have come from the academy but we have others pushing for a place this coming season too. Out of the above Ribeiro and Wilson could well make the grade as PL defenders and I hope they can with us! I'd think we are just about in the top 20 at the moment but as I said earlier I hope to see more players coming through soon. How many players in your team have come through the academy or is it pushed to the side considering the players arriving?
Not heard a peep from Maynard, it really is judgement time for him, either sign a contract with Bristol City or ask for a transfer. This whole saga has gone on for too long, both clubs need time to plan their next step i.e. Bristol need replacements if he goes, we need new targets if he stays. Either way we need to know soon what HIS plans are, and not what his chairman or manager says. I personally think that £5m is far too OTT, and an even more inflated price than Waghorn was. We could probably get Cox and Fuller, two equally good strikers IMO, for less than £5m between them.
Isn't it about time he came out and said that, then, and stopped pissing us all about??? It might be 'clear' that is what he wants, but why hasn't he said anything?
"Either way he isn't going to Leicester this summer" Thank goodness, I thought we were going to go a full two days without having this repeated!! Phew.
I think the majority of fans from both clubs, apart from the odd persistant few with a liking for copy and paste, have got to the stage now where they think "who cares". The outcome, won't make or break either clubs season and I think this time period has given both sets of fans time to reflect on the players true value (Some BCFC fans, from comments on here, have started to suggest that they take the money and LCFC fans sick of it, saying we shouldn't pay such a huge fee) A) He has decided to honour his contract (good for him, wish more players did it) and wait for a huge sign on fee in the summer (understandable) or to see if Brizzle go up - if that is the case, why not just come out and say it like whatsisface did at Swansea when we tried to buy him last year. B) He is waiting for a big offer from a Prem club or to see if Leicester is the only one on the table and then possibly go at the last minute if he gets enough dosh. If this is the case, I would feel the player has let down BCFC big time, as they will be given very little time to re-invest the money. And it goes without saying, if this was the unlikely scenario, I would have my doubts how committed he would be coming in to my club as a fan. Either way, don't think it has been dealt with very well - player saying absolutely nothing, chairman trying to overcompensate for this with bold statements and the agent hyping up the Leicester bids.
Yeah I think BC went around it quite well, with it being announced on bcfc.com about the bids, but with Maynard seemingly tight lipped about the whole thing, this could drag out until next summer . But if the owner is a BCFC fan, then hes right to want to keep Maynard for another season, but its a bad move from a business stand-point, as, if nothing happens, hes likely to go for nothing next season.
With regard to this signing 'making or breaking our season', well that all depends who we're bringing in instead. If it's Ched Evans...god help us! I'm really happy with the way the rest of our squad is shaping up, Sven's doing a great job, but the central striker position is very important. If we bring in the next Claridge, Cottee, Wortho, etc. (not comparing, you know what I mean) then we're set. Bring in the next Akinbiyi or Kermorgant though and it could make all the difference. The promotion battle will be tight as always and a good striker could decide big points here and there, which will be vital by the end. I hope it's true about Sven offering a big 'take it or leave it deal'. If it's £5.5m+ - and he doesn't sign - then we can say fair enough, it's not like we haven't tried, and move on. If we keep stringing it out though it's not doing us any good.
And Adel Taarabt, who got 19 goals. We haven't got an exceptional talent like him. It's not that it's impossible to go up without 20+ goals a season from your striker, but that's no reason not to get one if you've got the money. It's risky to rely on goals from all over the pitch when you don't need to.
I know, what I'm saying is QPR were able to compensate for a lack of a top quality striker with someone like him. He was massive for them. We haven't really got anyone of that standard.
Why can't we play Waggie down the middle for 10 games with Nugent and Gallagher? Sure he will get 1 in 2?
For what it's worth, a Swedish Bristol City fan asked Sven today in Sweden if NM wanted to sign for you and he said "The answer is yes"
