Have we done enough this time?

Many of us on this site have complained about Bristol City never doing enough in the new player department, especially after a virtually non-existent dip in the summer.

Now here we are just a few days from the transfer window closing and we have brought in 4 new players with various talents to stop the rot from taking us down. It now begs the questions as to whether you see light at the end of tunnel with our new recruits or have we gone down the well travelled road of cheap options mainly from our fear of the FFP police. Not a lot of money has been spent in these deals and it would be interesting to hear the salaries offered to them.

From a long way away it looks to me as if Pemberton has taken the reins firmly in his grasp and frankly I have always had this suspicion that he will be the boss until the end of the season. If you look at our overall policies from our past it must be hard, if not impossible, to get anyone excited about the prospect of coming to Bristol City and that would include any manager who has the expertise and experience of how to run and operate a team at this level.

I just hope these signings don't come back and bite us on the bum because I see the cheaper side of our mantra coming to the fore again and although any signings are a step forward for us it worries me when, reading between the lines on some blogs, I hear comments such as he has an attitude problem, a bad temper that gets him in to trouble or he couldn't cut it at Championship level.

Quality will always outstrip quantity and perhaps Pemberton has a better pulse on the ailments that follow our team than I give him credit for, so let's hope that these new players will bring some fight back to the squad and get us out of the hole soon. The only question that remains is do we need to do more?

 

Me too!

 

I feel for SC.

Had he brought these players in himself we'd be the proverbial 'over the moon' but there are possibly things going on behind the scenes that make me a little uncomfortable the way it's all suddenly come to life....

It just feels like he's been stitched up to a degree. But maybe he was the problem ?

 

6 new signings in this transfer window, can I remind you how many times you've said the board won't get anyone etc etc

 

Must admit I share these mixed feelings.. Would like to know the answer too one day.

 

I've said it many times as you say ROD and I am pleased that we have finally pushed the boat out and have brought in these new players. Let's hope they can help gel the team for the rest of the season and get us out of this mess. We will never, as always, be informed as to why these problems constantly seem to surface when it comes to major decisions made by the club. Perhaps our dip in to the transfer market is a statement of intent on behalf of Bristol City but I can't ever see them admitting to any internal issues that have clouded our return to the Championship, and perhaps that is the way it should be.

Good luck to all our new lads and only the future will tell if we got it right, and indeed whether Pemberton is the man to get it done.

 

The more I think about it, the more it feels to me that there was a personal issue going on between SC and certain members of the board.
Was SC a little indiscrete in business perhaps ?

 

I really am a big fan of SC but I don't think he's been stitched up at all. Most deals are made at the end of the window, so our sudden burst into life in transfer business has nothing to do with his sacking imo. The timing of his sacking in itself could be questionable, but the fact we're signing players after he has left is less to do with him and more to do with the end of the window approaching tbh.

 

I would have hoped this was more like a good reason but his comments about finding it impossible to get players here and rumours I have heard about him from people in football and attached to the club do make me wonder?

 

I've not heard any rumours at all so would be interesting to know, but I do remember SC saying himself any deals were likely to be done towards the end of the window, which has proved to be the case, with or without him.

 

The unknown is whether any of Tomlin, Goldbourne, Pearce, Gladwin etc would have come here had SC still been in charge.

Its a very interesting question, but one that can never be fully answered I suspect.....

 

Have I missed one I can only count 5, O'Donnell, Gladwin, Pearce, Tomlin and Golbourne

 

We are still short a striker which is needed desperatley, so while we have clearly added some depth, strength in midfield and defence, we won't have done enough until we get a striker in who can convert the chances are current ones are spurning!

 

And the youngster from France that will be in amongst the squad

 

Ah yes, forgotten about him in the deluge of new signings

 

Excluding the youngster - 4 of the 5 are loan deals - we need more permanent deals due to restriction of loan players in the match-day squad

 

At least we appear on the surface to be making an effort or whatever you might call it, but it doesn't seem that we have spent more than 5 bob on the lot. Now I understand our need to be frugal, and perhaps someone knows better than us all, but this could easily be called another cheap option package if you excuse my reluctance to jump over the moon.

As regards to SC falling out with the board that precipitated his demise as suggested by many, including brightred, I think the board has been more involved behind the scenes than we could possibly imagine. Ever since the departure of GJ we have struggled to move effortlessly to the next stage of the improvement of our club, as stated many times by Steve Lansdown, and the bad side of how our club is run kept sticking it's ugly head above the sand to take a quick peek, only to disappear below the radar again to regroup and come up with more lame excuses as to why our progress has stalled.

Would I be correct in saying that this is our most prolific transfer window of the last 10-15 years, but the only determining factor that matters is who is pulling the strings during this time? I doubt that it is Pemberton in his supposed interim managerial position, although surely he must have had a pen in the ink, so we only have to conclude that it is probably a group from the boardroom in conjunction with the seal of approval of SL. How would that sit during an interview with the high calibre potential managers we apparently have beating down the doors of Ashton Gate to become our new manager, or is it the reason why the gossip column on that front has all but gone dry?

Lots of activity I know but to me the main decision doesn't appear to be getting any closer, and that's the key one in my books so the more I look at the situation I now strongly believe that Pemberton will soon be announced as our next manager. All these moves being made without a new manager in place smells like a pre-planned set up that only points to a single outcome, and that is that the hunt for a new progressive manager who has lots of experience and success at the top level has been cancelled due to lack of interest, and I'll leave it up to you to choose who is not interested.

 

I'm glad we've filled up on loans.

Last thing I want is to sign players on championship wages and we do drop then we get saddled with highly paid first division players, that would then restrict summer signings.
This way fill our boots with loanees and the odd bargain and keep the wages under control.

I've said before but this constant doing things on cheap is ****ing bollocks. Criticise SL, then expect him to fund the signing and what's more he has to pay the wages. Because incase you don't get it I will tell you in capitals

THE CLUB DOES NOT TAKE ENOUGH INCOME TO PAY THE WAGES.

Now please feel free to carry on complaining about SL, but try looking at it from a financial point until the ****ing stadium is built there ain't no more money coming into the club. But feel free to offer to pay for these players I'm sure SL would be grateful of the help, because at the day his wealth is HIS.