Bristol City CEO Phil Alexander makes summer transfer admission regarding Alex Scott's future Bristol City CEO Phil Alexander says there hasn't been any contact from Premier League clubs yet regarding the Championship Young Player of the Season Bristol City CEO Phil Alexander insists the Robins summer transfer business will not be determined by the sale of Alex Scott, with money to spend in the window irrespective of whether the midfielder leaves or remains in BS3. City are looking to conclude a number of deals as early as possible in the off-season with Aberdeen’s Ross McCrorie, Jack Currie of AFC Wimbledon and Crystal Palace defender Jake O’Brien the known targets, with other players also under consideration. Scott’s future at the club beyond this summer is uncertain given the breadth of interest from a host of Premier League clubs and an increasing feeling that the time is now right for the teenager to make the step up. City’s valuation of the Championship’s Young Player of the Season stands at £25million as a baseline with the potential for that to rise should multiple clubs bid for the 19-year-old, a figure that would represent a huge injection of revenue for the club - the most they’ve received for four years. That, in turn, could then be reinvested in the first team, placing City at a distinct advantage over many of their Championship rivals not in receipt of parachute payments however, speaking on BBC Radio Bristol, Alexander has indicated the club are looking to strengthen the squad even with the possibility of Scott staying for another season. The Robins cut their losses by 25.7 per cent in their accounts ending 2022, from £38.4m to £28.5m, aided by a 14.6 per cent decrease in salary expenditure from £31.5m to £26.9m. Both have reduced further over the last 12 months, also assisted by the £10.5m sale of Antoine Semenyo to Bournemouth, while the sizeable contracts from the summer of 2019 of Dan Bentley, Tomas Kalas and Jay Dasilva will no longer be on the books. As a result, City are in a stronger financial position than they’ve been in for any of the five transfer windows Nigel Pearson has been involved in since taking over, although that could be even further enhanced should a deal involving Scott be brokered. “We’ve earmarked some players which we’d like to bring in pretty quickly in the summer, I think Nigel and Tinns have alluded to that,” Alexander told BBC Radio Bristol. “We have some money for that but it has to be the right players, they’ve got to the right people who can work within the group that ultimately Nigel will sign off on. "We have got some money to spend and bring in. If Alex does go, then potentially there could be some more players coming in as well, but it’s not an exact science, this whole thing, we’re ready for anything that happens with Alex. We haven’t had any contact with anyone as yet. Every time I pick up a paper he’s linked with a new and different club. “He’s such a lovely guy. I spent some time with him last weekend up in London at the Football League awards, which you know he won the Young Player of the Year award, just getting to know him, he’s so grounded, he enjoys his time at the club, he’s got some great friends and I don’t think he’s in any major rush to go. "He’ll make his decision when there’s a decision to be made but at the moment he’s still a Bristol City player, we’re counting him as part of our plans next season and we’ll see how that manifests itself over the summer.” There is a new contract offer on the table for Scott which has continued a theme over the last six months of trying to tie down their best talent to long-term agreements that not only deliver a strong show of faith in the individual but also safeguard City in the market. Semenyo’s sale in January, for example, was as much driven by the need to move the Ghana international on as he entered the final 18 months of his deal - a situation that will be the same with Scott next year should he stay for the 2023/24 season kick-off. So far this year, City have announced new contracts for goalkeeper Max O’Leary, defenders George Tanner and Rob Atkinson, plus veteran striker Nahki Wells. Talks remain ongoing with Zak Vyner, with his 12-month option already activated, while Tommy Conway and Sam Bell are under contract until 2025, and Cam Pring 2024 with a year option, as City look to protect their assets or, at the very least, put themselves in a position where they can seek maximum value in the market for their talent. “The club’s gone through a fairly difficult period over the last 2-3 years,” Alexander added. “The club has tried to bring costs down in line with the financial regulations in the Football League and successfully achieved that. “We’ve still got a few more players that are part of the legacy of that era but we are working together to make sure the players that we do bring in, we get the best deals we possibly can and I’ve said on lots of different occasions, internally and externally, because we’re reducing our cost base at the football club it doesn’t necessarily mean we’re reducing our ambition. It’s not the case. “We still want to be pushing in the top six next year and we’re going to be in the marketplace looking for deals, looking for the right players at the right prices and we’ll be announcing them as soon as they’re done. “As of right now there’s still a lot of work going on, we’ve been looking at players over the last 2-3 months in terms of offering new contracts - Max O’Leary, George Tanner, most recently Rob Atkinson - so these are all good things we’re doing for the club, protecting the assets for the future.” https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/sport/football/bristol-city-alex-scott-transfer-8402705
There are a lot of sensible comments in this press release and from the sounds of it we have finally got our financial house in order. Many other teams have scored great success on budgets and revenues that are way below those at Bristol City which goes to prove a point to all who believe that you have to spend big to get results. Regrettably we have never found the key to that particular door, based on our previous experiments with managerial philosophies and failed tactics, which begs me to ask the question as to whether Nigel Pearson is the messiah of sensible cost effective football? I like the cut of the man's jib based on his blunt assessments that might have finally woken up the sleeping bear of Ashton Gate, but the proof is only in the pudding and let's hope it's to everyone's taste. I have said many times that the frustrations of being a Bristol City supporter knows no bounds, and after all these years of promises backed up by virtually no forward progress on the pitch we deserve a massive change in fortune. The dynamics mentioned by Nigel in this statement don't fill my bucket list if I'm totally honest and, yet again, the names put forward as potential new players are not exactly household celebrities, but perhaps that's the whole point looking at the wider picture.
NP has reduced the squad and wages considerably yet attained a respectable mid table finish. That's some achievement in my book. Well done to Coventry, Millwall and Luton who have achieved beyond expectation. Nevertheless I think we're in safe hands and look forward, should we sell Scott, to an interesting summer of recruitment.
I’m happy with mid table given our earlier plight. Well done to Nige and the lads. Without trying to piss on anyone’s camp fire or take anything away from Nige’s achievements, the world of football (at this level) - and indeed the world in general is very different to what it was back in LJ/Ashtons time. Money was plentiful back then - the market was buoyant and it was easier to buy and sell at a profit. Clubs were willing and able to pay huge salaries and signing fees. Once COVID bit everything changed and players across the spectrum had to lower their wage demands or face unemployment. Wells and Kalas are good examples. It’s not just Nige and Bristol City who have had to realign finances against assets on the pitch - it’s ALL clubs in this division apart from the parachute clubs. Things will get even tougher now as the cost of living crisis continues to bite hard. So what I am trying to say is that Nige has done ok in a professional situation whereby other clubs have also done well. RP mentioned Luton and Millwall - they have both done exceptionally well - better than Nige and us. Particularly Luton - we ‘poached’ their player of the season last year (Naismith) - I wonder if he wished he’d stayed where he was???
It's good that we are an established Championship club (past 7 years). IMO because of Covid, wages and quantity of players have not been sustainable (as with most clubs). With that, I agree that NP has done a decent job and although at times it's been a bit touch and go around the relegation area, I think we now have taken a turn towards what we want to achieve..............but next season IMO is key........we need to kick on and be in with a shout of at least top 6 otherwise it will be back to square one as any decent players we have will want to move on......some good business in the summer should also be key, giving the fans the intent of where we look to be going..
Are you being selective ? I agree about Covid and finances however, 'back in LJ/Aston's day' not ALL clubs went for it like we did, particularly Coventry/Luton/Millwall. Clubs like these haven't had to slash wages and squads as NP. He's done a remarkable job to avoid FFP rules, how close were we to a points reduction ?
I know we were worried about a points deduction for a while but I’ve genuinely no idea how close it was to becoming a reality.
Do you know Chelsea have spent so much money, signed so many players, replaced and paid off various managers just look at the mess, confusion and results they have ended up with now, like others I don't want to piss on any ones campfire but it does remind me of recent circumstances in our own clubs history.
Seriously? It’s not like it’s been written time and time again how skint the last lot left us. Covid can be blamed for part of it but before that if we never had any to trade on (looking at the players we had at the time that’s a no) we would have been ****ed. And ****ed hard as well.
Yes seriously. I saw it posted on various forums, by fans that we were ‘in danger’ but that’s vague. I don’t know how close we were. Do you? Within £1 or £1m or £100m? How much exactly did we have to find in order to avoid it? What were the thresholds? Is it an ‘exact science’? I was under the impression that it was a ‘grey’ area, open to interpretation and enforcement by the EFL.
Let's just hope we have left that particular potential millstone in the dust and that we can move on without looking back over our fiscal shoulder. The dynamics of the rules have always left me a little confused and how and when they are implemented just add to the mix to further blur the lines. The upcoming 2023/2024 campaign will prove to be another tough road as I think it's quite obvious that the parachute clubs are much more fiscally prepared to meet the challenge for promotion than the likes of us mere mortals. Good recruitment and keeping the player's wages side of the equation down to reasonable values will see us well, but whether or not we can create enough momentum to shake the supporters into believing that next season will fare any better than the campaigns of the past will only be measured when the campaign starts in earnest.
NP have to admit I’ve never heard it put into figures, just that we were close. I thought we’d avoided sanctions as much by the actions we’d taken to get the debt down since COVID, rather than just by a straight monetary figure. Also we’d illustrated that COVID affected our model by preventing us from making a profit from selling players, as well as prevented us from gaining any revenue from the use of our stadium and facilities on non match days also.
