BRISTOL CITY: Robins boss Steve Cotterill can see signs of progression. By a_stockhausen BRISTOL City manager Steve Cotterill feels his players are gradually coming to terms with life in the Championship. Accustomed to winning and crowned League One champions last season, the Robins have retained the nucleus of the young side that won promotion. And a lack of Championship experience has been a major factor in a modest return of two wins from the first 12 games, a record that has left City hovering one place above the relegation zone. But Cotterill, who has spent a majority of his two decades in football management working in the English second tier, can see positive signs of progress. Back-to-back draws against Ipswich and MK Dons and victory over Nottingham Forest saw the Championship newcomers move off the bottom of the table, while City gave leaders Brighton a real fright before going down 2-1 at the AMEX Stadium in midweek. Next up is Monday's televised Severnside derby at Cardiff City, and Cotterill believes his charges are growing in confidence as performances improve. He said: "Our boys are still learning about the level, about the movement of the opposition, about ball retention and about the stadiums they are going to. We are crossing those bridges week by week. "We've had to sharpen up in a few areas and I think we've done that. I can see progression from the beginning of the season to now. "They are getting the idea of it (the Championship) more and more and are getting used to these new stadiums they are going to. "As many players had not been to Birmingham previously as had not been to Brighton before, but we dealt with it a lot better at Brighton. I can see their confidence more now. "I think there has been progress with lots of little things. Some of the things that saw us get burned earlier in the season are not happening so often now. "There is a gradual process the boys are going through and I think they are coming through it. Sometimes you have to progress before you can get the results." City's young players, many of whom are experiencing the Championship for the first time, are eager to learn and improve themselves. That may be a long-term process, but it remains the only option open to City's manager, who is unable to resort to the transfer market in order to make wholesale changes. Cotterill added: "Some of them are not long out of school and they are used to learning. The brilliant thing about them, is they want to absorb new things and they want to listen. "They are a great bunch of lads to come in and work with every day and I've probably more time for them this season than I had last season when they were winning all the time. "At the end of the day, it is all about the effort and the application they put in to try and implement the things I have asked them to do. "They are going to be up and down and the process does take time. We know what our pitfalls are and we work on them, but we are not going to get them right immediately. "To do that immediately, you need to get rid of a whole lot of players, bring in a whole load of experienced ones that are a lot older and cost a lot more money." http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/BRISTO...terill-signs/story-28040525-detail/story.html
Well here it is, I've been waiting for the latest ' Steve Tease' about our woeful form and it's ' A WORK in PROGRESS'..
You could also look at it, only the run away leaders have taken maximum points of us from the last four games? Or maybe in the last four games teams have had to snatch goals in the last minutes of the game to salvage something? Or you can just think it's bollocks, and saying its a a work in progress is just a funny statement.
I agree with him in many respects. I imagine most of us saw this season as an adjustment from our relatively easy life in L1. But what we can't afford to do under any circumstances is go back through that trapdoor in the wrong direction. It would undo all the hard work and achievements of last year.
I'm still very much with SC. I missed the MK game but I've enjoyed the football at AG other than some rank defending at times. Makes sense to me what SC is saying in a very very difficult league. Honestly don't think we could have a better man at the helm.
Of course its a work in progress, only a complete idiot would suggest we were gonna go up to the championship and walk through it, its stronger than ever with nearly every side competitive. The strikers in this division are so much sharper and lethal, thats the reason the defence looks shaky, we just didn't concede last season.
The simple answer is that we didn't, for some unknown reason, prepare for what faced us in the Championship and now we are finding out that the path to consolidation is just as difficult. Bringing in players on loan is a let's patch over the cracks scenario and although it may give us a false sense of security for a while it can never be the blueprint for building a team that can actually compete. At some point in time our leaders have to decide what they want to be when we grow up and take control of our new rebuilt digs, which I must confess is starting to look like the real deal. Yes a point at Cardiff was all very well and good but I get somewhat fearful when our leader comes up with his statement that we are not where we deserve to be and I hate to be the one who shatters his dreams, but we are exactly where we deserve to be as the table never lies. I think we have a good manager but some of his comments are being second guessed and if I hear the age old comment about us being 1 or 2 players away from competing at this level then I shall scream. Bristol City have been using the same old phrases as long as I can remember, along with many frustrated faithful on this site, but we continue down the same path ad nauseum. Come on please wake up to the fact that you ignore the warning signs at your peril and preparing for what you want during the next transfer is vital if you want to avoid the pitfalls, and downright embarrassment, of our last attempt to lure young potential players to join our quest.
Double edged sword for me Mike Heartily sick with the same old excuses and how much better we are than the table suggests, but SC has to give a positive vibe to the media as well, otherwise we'll be into SOD territory. And I'm sure none of us want that again. For me there are 2 possibilities for the situation still. 1) SC asked for money for reinforcements during the Summer and was turned down by the board OR 2) He genuinely thought what we had was good enough to survive comfortably at this level Not sure which I believe to be honest. Either way, we then saw the panic attempts by the club to offer ridiculously huge sums of money at a couple of players, who (probably rightly) turned us down when they saw the salary being offered. All we need to do is survive this season. We can rebuild and strengthen properly once safety has been achieved, and hopefully lessons will have been learned for once for future seasons.
I have been told by a fairly reliable source that the Andre Gray deal did not break down over wages as everyone is presuming but a relocation package that was adding substantially to the overall cost and deemed unreasonable. There's fans moaning when we don't but anyone and even more moaning when we try to as its too much money..
I agree, some are constantly saying we didn't prepare but then saying why spend that amount. We have on all the occasions bar one looked the better side. I believe it will click, but when it does some will still not be happy. I worked out the Cardiff office today and quite a few commented on how good some of our players looked especially Kodjia. So not preparing when we spent well on him is still not enough. One of the comments was that we've got a player that could potentially make us a fortune in the future.
Regrettably it seems that success can only be achieved through the cheque book and at the moment we are in the bottom half a dozen in that respect. SL has decided that financially a model must be followed and this involves creating the wealth to increase the money available. This makes absolute sense but does not satisfy many supporters who want instant success. I point to the current position of Brighton who have quietly built up their finances and are now reaping the rewards. I understand SL has a 5 year plan and we must all remember we are only in year 1. Rome wasn't built in a day
I understand the need for financial prudency but how many more 5 year plans must we go through to achieve our goals?
Could you expand on what you mean by this? What is acceptable spending for you and what players as an example are you suggesting? I'm genuinely interested?
Spending a million or two at this level wont raise eyebrows, it's standard stuff. But reportedly offering £9m with add ons for Andre Gray was a ridiculous sum to offer Brentford for an unproven, although reportedly talented player in my humble opinion. It reeked of sheer desperation by us having been late out of the traps with team strengthening during the Summer. Blackburn said they wanted £11m for Jordan Rhodes (who is an excellent striker with a proven track record to boot) but everyone baulked at the price. By comparison, I'd choose Rhodes every day.
Unfortunately he wouldn't chose us.! You make a fair point but the reality is we can't attract those players at the moment, the £9m for Andre Gray was the asking price for the player, I am also relieved we didn't get him as I also don't think he's worth it, but it has sent a message that we will pay the money for the right player and we will compete financially in this division, this has unfortunately backfired as there is now a perception (incorrectly if my info is correct) that we won't compete on wages. Damned when they do..Damned when they don't. A difficult balance to contain a tight knit squad who did so well last year and maintain some team spirit whilst adding the required quality without breaking the team spirit and anyone who under estimates the importance of this doesn't understand football. Its a work in progress and may take several windows to acquire the quality we need, in the meantime, as fans, the least we can do is support the man who got us where we are now and yes I agree relegation is most definitely not an option but I still feel we are better equipped this time than last time. Calling for Cotts head before Oct is out, which some 'fans' have chosen to do is quite frankly shameful and embarrassing.
