It's the thread Redprintt's been waiting for! Below is a list of signings made since 16/17, with my thoughts on what fans thought at the time they signed, how they've ended up being and assigning a score out of 5, taking into consideration their transfer fee also. I'm sure there'll be disagreements with some of the assessments so feel free to respond! *Note, details have been sourced from https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/bristol-city/transfers/verein/698. If something is incorrect, or I have wrongly included/omitted anyone, please let me know. Lee Tomlin Fee: £3.15m What we thought at the time: After his successful loan spell the season before, this seemed a no-brainer and a real coup. How’s it gone? Not great. Some might argue he was sometimes played out of position, but it would be hard to argue that he wasn’t also given plenty of opportunities and ultimately the buck stopped with him. Sold on the comparative cheap, he got found out at Cardiff also and was then farmed out to Nottingham Forest, where he hit a little purple patch. Score: 2/5 Hordur Magnusson Fee: £1.89m What we thought at the time: If you knew who he was before he joined us, you’re probably a liar. How’s it gone? Mixed bag. He’s flitted in and out of the squad, sometimes performing decently, but often looking unsure, particularly in high-profile errors leading to goals against Cardiff and Man City. May yet come good, but also seemingly on his way to CSKA Moscow for €2.5m (roughly £2.2m). Score: 3/5 Milan Djuric Fee: £1.62m What we thought at the time: Another unknown, but being a Bosnian International offered some hope. How’s it gone? Unfortunately, Djuric has spent the majority of his time at City injured. When he has played he’s been an effective target man and scored match-winning goals. I for one would love it if he got a run to show what he can do. Score: 3/5 Taylor Moore Fee: £1.58m What we thought at the time: English youth team Captain, with Ligue 1 experience? Yes please. How’s it gone? Farmed out on loan and whilst some good feedback received, nothing to suggest that he’s knocking on the door of the first team. He does have time on his side though. Score: 3/5 Gustav Engvall Fee: £1.44m What we thought at the time: An established Sweden U21 striker with a solitary cap for the Senior side – a bit exciting. How’s it gone? Some might say he hasn’t had many chances, but I think those same people wouldn’t pick him to start either. Frankly it looks as though this hasn’t worked out and City’d do well to get much of their fee back. Score: 2/5 Callum O’Dowda Fee: £1.08m What we thought at the time: Already tipped as a rising star – we may well have pulled off a blinder getting there first. How’s it gone? Started a touch slowly, as you might expect from someone so young moving up a division, but this season he really started to show what he could do and his injury pre-meditated our poor run. Still a way to go, but at this stage this looks a really good signing. Score: 5/5 Matty Taylor Fee: £315k What we thought at the time: Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Hard luck Rovers! How’s it gone? Another where injuries have played their part and makes it hard to truly judge. Missed some good chances early on, though found good positions and is part of our history for his pass to Korey Smith Vs Man Utd. I think he’s ultimately likely to leave us without having caused many waves, but the small fee is also to his credit. Score: 3/5 Jens Hegeler Fee: £270k What we thought at the time: An experienced German midfielder from the Bundesliga with Champions League experience. Seemed like a great move. How’s it gone? Pretty stinky. It just seems as though he hasn’t fit in to the team or the Championship in general. I still have faint hopes of him having a storming pre-season and coming good, but as it is, it’s only the small fee keeping this from being a 1/5. Score: 2/5 Josh Brownhill Fee: Free What we thought at the time: Might be decent down the line. How’s it gone? Pretty damned well I think. One of our stars and I reckon he could be in the Premiership at some point. And he was free! Score: 5/5 Diego De Girolamo Fee: Free What we thought at the time: A bit of a punt. You never know. How’s it gone? If it weren’t for his unusual name, I don’t think I would’ve remembered him coming and going. At least he was free. Score: 2/5 Gary O’Neil Fee: Free What we thought at the time: He could offer some valuable experience to an otherwise youthful team. How’s it gone? Meh. Did OK at times, but didn’t have the influence you would’ve liked. Score 3/5 Adam Matthews Fee: Loan What we thought at the time: He was pretty damned good the last time he was here on loan – shame we couldn’t sign him permanently. How’s it gone? Thank f**k we didn’t sign him permanently. Turns out his good season before was the exception, rather than the rule and his injury, coupled with Ayling leaving, left a gaping hole at right-back, which is still an issue today. Score: 1/5 Jamie Paterson Fee: Undisclosed What we thought at the time: Sounds like a bit of a cocky, entitled kid – but there must be a reason Forest fans are upset… How’s it gone? Started off on the bench behind Tomlin, but now one of our key men, with the ability to create opportunities and a good free-kick on him. Another injury that maybe cost us this season. Score: 5/5 Ivan Lucic Fee: Undisclosed What we thought at the time: Bayern Munich? Wow! Wait, even Luke Chadwick played for Man Utd once… How’s it gone? I think he only played for the first team once. Another punt that didn’t come good. Score: 2/5 Fabian Giefer Fee: Loan What we thought at the time: Fielding has his faults, so this could be a great ‘try before you buy’. How’s it gone? Sometimes there’s a reason why players are allowed to leave on loan. I suppose he was back-up if Fielding got injured. Score: 2/5 Bailey Wright Fee: Undisclosed What we thought at the time: Yeah, he might be alright. How’s it gone? Ask someone in November just gone they would’ve said ‘good job’, now they’re more likely to say: ‘he can’t handle this level’. Really divisive, so understand some questioning me going down the middle. Score: 3/5 Tammy Abraham Fee: Loan What we thought at the time: Why are we giving an 18 year old kid the number 9 shirt? We must be desperate. How’s it gone? A contender for best loan signing of any club, anywhere, for many a year. Made a massive contribution, boosted his reputation, as well as City’s as a place Premiership clubs can trust their kids to go. Score: 5/5 David Cotterill Fee: Loan What we thought at the time: Why are we re-signing Coterill? We must be desperate. How’s it gone? Actually made a decent contribution in his spell. Not enough to want him back permanently, but perfectly good temporary acquisition. Score: 4/5 Joel Ekstrand Fee: Trial/Free What we thought at the time: He was good at Watford – if he gets fit this’d be great. How’s it gone? Didn’t happen, nothing lost. Score: N/A Famara Diedhiou Fee: £5.4m What we thought at the time: That’s quite a bit of cash – hopefully he’s Kodjia v2.0. How’s it gone? Pretty good I think. Sometimes some don’t rate him, but he has a very respectable goal return for a debut season and seems comfortable in the Championship. Score: 4/5 Nathan Baker: Fee: £3.9m What we thought at the time: I suppose that’s Flint off then… How’s it gone? Seems pretty solid and rarely criticised. Score: 4/5 Niclas Eliasson Fee: £1.8m What we thought at the time: He looks good on those YouTube highlights. How’s it gone? He’s young and has time on his side, but the signs do not look good. £1.8m is a bit much for a ‘punt’ and at times he doesn’t seem to know where he needs to be at any given moment. Score: 2/5 Liam Walsh Fee: £990k What we thought at the time: Everton fans seem upset. That’s a good sign. How’s it gone? Possibly suffered from the fact that his best days are still (hopefully) ahead of him, whereas at the time he was signed we needed someone who could make an impression immediately. It may seem a cop out, but I’m saying too early to judge. Score: N/A Luke Steele Fee: Free What we thought at the time: I’ve heard of him! Good for Fielding to get some competition. How’s it gone? Some will say he ought to have played more and will be disappointed that he left. If nothing else, he did well enough when called upon. Score: 4/5 Eros Pisano Fee: Free What we thought at the time: Don’t have a clue. How’s it gone? Started VERY promising – then our injured right-back curse struck again and we had to resort to Wright playing out of position. Struggled on his return, but fitness was an issue, so the jury is still out. I will score though, based on how he was at the start of the season and that he was free. Score: 3/5 Lois Diony Fee: Loan What we thought at the time: He scored a lot in Ligue 1 at Dijon – try before you buy is good. How’s it gone? Oh dear. Score 1/5 Ryan Kent Fee: Loan What we thought at the time: Liverpool rate him and we apparently beat other clubs to get him. Nice. How’s it gone? Oh look, he’s lost the ball. Again. £500k fine?! Score 1/5 Jonathan Leko Fee: Loan What we thought at the time: Hopefully he’s Tammy v2.0. How’s it gone? Started brightly and it looked like we’d struck gold again, but then… Score 2/5 Cauley Woodrow Fee: Loan What we thought at the time: Why? I suppose he did decent at Burton… How’s it gone? Best Goals to minutes of anyone – but he didn’t have many minutes. Score 2/5 Total: 78/135 Average score: 2.89/5 Perhaps not unsurprisingly, the average score indicates that we’re slightly underperforming when it comes to transfers, though there are a handful of Princes amongst the frogs. Thoughts?
Nice in-depth thread and you should get a lot of feed back. As for your ratings they’re pretty much on the mark for me but others may differ.
Reckon Matty Taylor is possibly worthy of a 4 rather than 3, purely due to the fact he was cheap as fook. Add in the United moment and the fact we got him from the sags, we've definitely got value for money. Other than that, I'd mostly agree, and add that the average of 2.89/5 is likely to rise rather than fall over the coming years from that sample. There are 2 or 3 in there who could really kick on and become much better (Eliasson, Walsh could get a rating, Moore, etc).
Good thread Nick. Agree with most of the ratings but I also agree with Rob that Taylor deserves a 4 for me. I think he has more to offer us and I hope he stays.
Well done Nick. Be interesting to see RP’s ranting sorry rating after she badgered you into doing this
Good thread Nick, lot of effort, the one player I thought was a brilliant signing at the time was Taylor Moore, as you rightly said time will tell.
Thanks guys. For me Matty Taylor is still a 3 - not yet done enough, but injuries have been a factor so still has time to prove himself.
Really good thread Nick , agree with most of yours scores and total score is about right , think Taylor deserves more , I believe he helped us stay up his first season , his assist , the fact his purchase pissed off the gas and also because he was soo cheap, add to that given the chance next season I’m hopefully now fit he will really do well.
To echo the others - god stuff Nick More or less agree with the marks etc - some of the guys are young (like Taylor-Moore and Walsh) - so they can still "train-on"
Morning Nick, top marks for effort although I disagree with most of your ratings. They remind me of a friend who teaches in a large Bristol Comprehensive. He says 'they give some pupils a certain percentage mark just for attending the exam'. Anyway I agree totally with Tammy. Tomlin was a very expensive mistake. I'd throw Fammy out of the club. Baker was here before LJ. Bailey Wright 3/5 ? He can't even get in the team at C H. Or for that matter the Aussie national squad. Let's not forget he's another with a character flaw - this one's a cheat. He only played because Pisano, like O'Neil, Djuric and Hegeler are/were crocks. Marty Taylor was brought just to f**k off the Rovers. Luke Steel 4/5 ? He can't get passed the useless Fielding. I wouldn't give Dioney or Kent 1/5 - did they get 1 for attending ? Not sure how you can give Woodrow a 2, has he played ? Iv'e obviously missed some, including Engvall, but I think you get the general thrust. Anyway as I've said I commend you for your efforts with this thread but we'll never come close to agreement on LJ's transfer record. Who's right or wrong ? Our league position next May will give a better idea.
Let me guess RP, you'd give all the 'crown jewels' that were at the club before LJ top marks.......... You seem to forget that before LJ coached these 'crown jewels', nobody was talking about them going for high single figure/low double figure millions. Under Cotterill we would have been lucky to get between £1-2 million for the three of them!!
I particularly like the swipe at LJ for the Tomlin transfer but then gives him no credit for Baker even though both were originally signed on loan before LJ got here and he then signed them both permanently. Talk about blinkered vision
