NP - No Point in Spending Money in January.

Nigel Pearson gives three reasons why Bristol City didn't sign a striker in the summer window
Bristol City brought five new faces to the club over the course of the transfer window but didn't land a player in the final third
Nigel Pearson admits the state of the transfer market this summer, Bristol City's financial resources in the wake of Covid-19 and the quality already present in his squad was behind his decision not to bring in a striker over the window.

Deadline day passed last Tuesday with City's only late addition to their squad being the arrival of right-back George Tanner in the preceding 24 hours, as the clamour for a frontman ended with silence.
Pearson declared in June that he had five transfer targets - two centre-backs, two central midfielders and someone to "stick the ball in the back of the net"; Rob Atkinson and the return of Nathan Baker satisfied the first category, Matty James and Andy King the second (with the quartet all signed by July 3) but the third wasn't fulfilled.

Speaking on Thursday, nine days after the window closed, Pearson listed three prime reasons why the Robins didn't reinforce the position to help and provide competition to Chris Martin, Nahki Wells, Andi Weimann and Antoine Semenyo plus academy prospects Tommy Conway, Louis Britton and Sam Bell.
Pearson regards Weimann as a striker with the Austrian having played in a variety of positions for the club but is now entrenched in a central position, rewarded with four goals in his opening five appearances.

"I've got them already," Pearson said, when asked if his wish in June changed over the course of the summer as the realities and challenges of the market increasingly came to light. "I said I wanted someone who can put the ball in the back of the net and we've got them at the moment.
"There have been players who I'd have possibly liked to have brought in but, as I've said throughout all of this summer, there are some players we like who we can't afford, it's quite simple.

"To improve on what we've got is going to be quite expensive. We've already got good players here. To build a team or a squad doesn't happen overnight but I think we're in a reasonable place at the moment, considering it's the first window.
"I'm really happy with the business that we've done, I'm happy to keep the players that we've got; the ones that go, go with our blessing. We are where we are because there's a necessity of ours to not talk nonsense in the public domain just to try and keep fans happy.

"It's better off us being honest. We've got to be a little bit more wary of the finances and still be competitive and still give belief to both the players and the fans that we are moving forward, and I think we are. But we have to be brave enough to take setbacks as they come.
"There will be people out there who when we don't win games will be wanting to point out, 'yeah, but they didn't spend money on a striker', but we can't spend the money to improve us because you've got to spend a lot of money improve on what we've already got.

"We've got some really good players. When you look at Nahki Wells, he hasn't featured too much but he was our top scorer last season, and he'll score goals.
"So I was offered lots of players in the window, and I'm thinking, 'why am I interested in them?' I keep getting linked with all sorts of players who other people don't want and I think, 'I don't want them either' because the players we already have in the house are better than lots of people being touted around.
"When all this countdown to the end of the window is ticking down on TV screens, I'm thinking, 'well, we've done our business ages ago' so I don't watch it."

Martin has led the line in all five of City's Championship matches with Weimann playing a supporting role and Wells enjoying only 51 minutes of league action.
Perhaps tellingly, despite a number of loan offers for Britton, Conway and Bell, Pearson has kept them in Bristol for the season insisting their development will be better served in the West Country. But they may also be required to play given the potential for injuries.

Saturday's opponents Preston currently have Connor Wickham on trial, with the 28-year-old available on a free transfer and able to sign for clubs outside of the window.
It's a mechanism that could be used by City should any of Pearson's frontline strikers sustain injuries, and the club;'s confirmed squad list to the EFL has 21 of a possible 25 declared for the first-team (with under-21 players not counting towards the final total), leaving space for additions.
But the Robins manager has indicated that barring a "crisis", the club's business could well done for the rest of the campaign.

"I can tell you now, I don't expect to do a lot of business in January so the build-up to that window is going to be really hard for you [the media] because I'll be saying, unless we have a crisis I can't see the point in spending money in January when it's a lot more expensive than in the summer," Pearson added.
"We'll only do business in windows if it's the right thing for us to do, or if it's the right thing for us to spend or invest on. Regardless whether you or anybody else starts talking about where we're going to strengthen, we'll decide that internally."
https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/sport/football/bristol-city-striker-nigel-pearson-5895485

 

I like this bloke the more I see and hear him, after 5 years of good boys and windbags it's so refreshing to hear the honesty and factual truth being expounded, I wonder what coaches he is on about talking a lot of hot air, could it be Chris Beech of Carlisle or maybe someone else ?

'The big shift this year is about us trying to be the best version of ourselves we can be.
Because if we're not, it doesn't matter who we're playing and what they do. You can lose yourself in tactical nonsense.
There's a lot of new coaches out there who talk a lot of hot air about it.
I don't get about that. It's more about what our players can do themselves.'

 

What impressed me about this manager, he came in on a temporary contract when we were for what ever reason right in the depths, he assessed the situation,from top to bottom,internal including medical, fitness, coaching, scouting and academy, external including Mark Ashton and his cronies, out of contract players, club culture, discussed in depth with JL & SL club finances, ambitions, dicipline and mangement responsibilities, agreed a 3 year plan and signed a contract.

He then in my mind did a clever thing, he took a calculated risk and played out the rest of the season with the squad he inherited, gave everybody a chance to shine, made only one emergency signing I believe, he cleared out the incompetent, the driftwood, the arrogance, the greedy and selected his band of angels, being a man of experience and maturity, he renegotiated 1 released players contract, brought in 2 very experienced players he trusted and has made 2 astute, economical signings.

As has been said we are leaner, fitter, team spirit and moral is much higher, the style of play has improved, the whole buzz coming from the team is much more positive, he has a plan, he has been totally honest with the supporters, no false promises, no emotoional twaddle, he is sometimes abrupt with the media but he sticks to his word.

What is acceptable is honesty, straight talking and no twisted words or waffle, he has worked diligently and is earning the trust of all and sundry, some people may not like his style, tough, he just gets on with his job, that in my humble opinion is why he and his statements are acceptable as opposed to previous encumbers.

Everything in football changes even Alan Dicks was moved on, so who knows.

 

Every word from Nigel Pearson on Bristol City's summer, Nahki Wells, Curtis Fleming and Preston
Full transcript from the Robins boss ahead of the visit of the Lilywhites on Saturday, including reaction to the summer transfer window and loan plans
https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/every-word-nigel-pearson-bristol-5896661