We will bring players in,however we do not want players to pay and be no better than what we have,our first team is very good,remember they waltzed league 1. injures and fatigue are the big concerns,we need quality without blasting the pay structure. As we can see it is harder than it looks,but by god SC pulled some great signings last season,We have to hope he can do it again.
I was really excited yesterday about the possible signing of Lingard but it's not to be. Cotterill knows we need better players for the Championship, but is hamstrung with his budget. Have a feeling we'll start poorly and find it hellish difficult to recover. The opposite to last season, ironically starting the season in Sheffield.
It's right not to pay over the odds for players. Our 1st XI is a match for ANYONE in this league (remember last season). Yes, the squad is thin, but as long as things are done to strengthen it (with quality not quantity) in the window (and then the loan market) then all will be well. It's not urgent unless we pick up injuries straight away.
It's not necessarily the quality in our first team that concerns me - its the lack of depth. We don't have the quality replacements waiting in reserve to step in if we get an injury or ban. We lost Cunnungham, JET and Elliot and have bought in 1 striker. Not enough in my book. We may survive the first few games but when the season starts in earnest we will be playing 'at risk'.
Lack of depth doesn't just mean replacements for injured players, either. It means having a Plan B when the time requires it. We didn't really need it last season as our quality (and luck in regards to injuries) saw us through, but that won't be the case in this league. Say what you want about JET and Cunningham, but they were great Plan B's, and now they are our direct rivals.
If I’m honest I’m slightly more concerned than I was a few weeks ago but I’m still not panicking quite yet. Our starting XI can hold its own and although our bench doesn’t look great I believe it can do a job. I’m not ready, like others, to write off youngsters like Reid and Burn just yet and even El-Abd has done a job at this level in the past and was a regular in a side that got promoted to League 1 and aren’t some people saying we should be looking at signing players from the lower leagues rather than the ones we are aiming at? We have to remember that we don’t have to get all our signings in by Saturday, we still have 4 weeks until the window shuts. I will start to panic after the Burnley game if we have no new signings by then. I’m happy that we are not having a scatter gun approach to signings and seem to be trying to improve the first team rather than signing players just to make up the squad. I’m also happy that we don’t seem to be throwing money at it as well and looking for the right deal for BCFC. Also not making any signings at this stage could possibly be looked at being a good thing, stay with me , it gives Cotts a chance to evaluate his squad in the opening games, see who is up to making the grade at Championship level and those that are not and then he can focus on those positions he need to strengthen. The same can also be said if we were to have any injuries in the opening month.
We're definitely bucking the trend of other clubs with regards to new signings. Most of us seem to agree that the squad is potentially good enough in term,s of quality but is seriously lacking in depth. We lose a couple of key players to injury or red cards and we're way too thin. We do still have plenty of time to bring players in but unless we're looking to get in players who are cast off from Premier League clubs, surely most of the good lower league talent has already been snapped up? Personally, I do not want any journeyman types here - no has beens looking for a final pay day. The youngster from Man U wast exactly the type we should be going for - undoubted quality which isn't being given a chance to shine due to the proliferation of foreign imports. Kids that want to prove a point. We have to be patient whilst Cotts goes about his business. If anyone thinks that Cotts or Lansdown are trying to be too frugal, I would say they are wrong. The price of failure for both is huge - Cotts loses his job and damages his reputation and Lansdown bleeds more money. Keep the faith chaps - we all want to see some movement and I'm sure we'll be rewarded.......just sooner than later we all must hope.
'Our 1st XI is a match for ANYONE in this league' Flint, Freeman, Korey, Bryan and Kodjia(fingers crossed) are in my opinion Championship. As for the rest - Time will tell.
Why pick on one? We have a team in one of the truest ways that I have not seen since AD and his boys in the 1970's. The team is fine, strong, determined to win and they do not like losing. They just need three, maybe four to help them along the way.
Whilst the 1st team is up to standard, our bench isn't, we can't change things up or bring in fresh legs. This season is not about promotion but about building for the future. Sadly you can't build by few signings and lots of loan players. A small squad also adds in the lottery of injury and bans. Also what happens if someone comes in for a key player? Who do you replace them with.
