Loans More Likely..

BRISTOL CITY: Loans now more likely claims Robins boss Steve Cotterill.

BRISTOL City boss Steve Cotterill still hopes to make at least one new signing ahead of next week's transfer deadline.
But he admits inflated prices in the Championship will almost certainly force him to pursue short-term loan deals instead.

City's manager remains in the market for a striker, a central midfielder and a centre-back and has until 6pm on Tuesday to add to the two permanent signings he has made so far this summer.
There are unlikely to be any new arrivals before Saturday's home game against Burnley and Cotterill confirmed: "There has not been any progression in terms of players coming in."
He added: "But we are still working on things. You have to change your targets a lot if you don't get what you want. You have a plan A, a Plan B and even a plan C and you have to swap around a lot.
"I don't anticipate anyone being in before the weekend but, as regards next week, I am still hopeful that we could get somebody in right up until 6pm on Tuesday."
Eager to bolster a squad that remains short of adequate cover and competition in a number of key areas, he says he is doing his utmost to sell the club to potential newcomers.
But Cotterill fears there is a gulf between what City and many of their cash-rich Championship rivals are prepared to pay players.

City had bids accepted earlier this month for Crystal Palace forward Dwight Gayle and Brentford hot-shot Andre Gray, yet were unable to land either player. Gayle did not want to drop out of the Premier League, while Gray joined Burnley after failing to agree personal terms with the Robins.
Cotterill said: "I cannot sell the club any more than I have done. That's the bottom line here.
"There are players that potentially don't want to join us. I don't think that will be anything to do with the football club or anything to do with me. I think that will be purely down to finances.
"At the end of the day, we are nowhere near some of the money floating around out there. These days, if someone is going to offer you double what I'm offering you, then you are not going to sign for me.
"We are not in a position to do that. I can try and do things properly, but there is a risk we could end up in the bottom three and people probably wouldn't thank me for that."
Although Cotterill claims City are not prepared to be drawn into a bidding war situation with rival clubs, he admits the Championship newcomers have to become more competitive in the market place if they are to avoid a season of struggle.

He explained: "You have to be competitive, or you may as well not be in the league. If we are not going to be competitive in this league, then we may as well not have been promoted last season.
"I don't want Bristol City being one of those clubs languishing in the bottom half of the Championship. We have to break that mould.

"We have to become one of the sexy teams in the Championship, whether that means playing good football for a year and making players look at us and think 'that's not bad, I wouldn't mind some of that', I don't know.
"But you simply won't be able to bridge some of the gaps we have tried to bridge. I cannot bridge a huge financial hole. If it is close, I have a good chance. If it is not close, then I cannot possibly do it."
In the event Cotterill is unable to recruit the additional players he feels he needs ahead of Tuesday's deadline, he will try again when the window for emergency loan signings opens the following week.
He revealed: "I would look in the loan market anyway, but we might now be at a stage where we are looking at loans more than anything else.
"I might have to (seek short-term options). I might have to go into the loan market because I have to - it's not my choice to do that.
"I had to go that route at Portsmouth and Nottingham Forest and I had to do it when I first came here, and it is not my desired route.
"An ideal scenario is what we did last year. But we have not done that and we cannot keep talking about it.
"What you don't want to do is get in competition. We've already had that, digested it and moved on.
"We've learned from our summer activity or inactivity and we've moved on from that.
"Ideally, I want to sign (players) in May when they have not got four or five others after them. When they have four or five after them, that's when I have a problem.
"But you can get some good loan signings. There are many good loans out there and some of the ones I loaned in my first season here were good.
"You don't know until you bring them in. It can be a case of try before you buy, but you don't want too many of them."

In the meantime, Cotterill will select a side from his existing squad list to face Burnley at Ashton Gate tomorrow.
He said: "That's okay. We have a good team and it does not matter what anyone is going to pay anyone else at the moment, we will give any team out there a run for their money."
Goalkeeper Frank Fielding is expected to be sidelined with a shoulder injury for at least another two weeks and Ben Hamer will again deputise.
http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/BRISTO...-Robins-boss/story-27689611-detail/story.html

 

Nothing new then..