On the radio at 3pm. He'll be talking about Sam Baldock, JET, El-Abd and next season. I'll post the important things he says here
On being appointed Bristol City manager Steve Cotterill: Im from the west country, it was a club one day I wanted to manage. I had a other job option that was attractive but I chose Bristol city because of the future growth and trust with the chairmen. It will take time to build the club the way I want. We have wonderful support, I love our fans and the way they have been with me, I felt for them when I came in, The fans were great vs crewe
SC: The players when I came in were down and lacking confidence, wins were needed. We had to learn to play football the right way, they know when they make a mistake. I've been pleased with the players. I really like Lansdown, Dawe and the rest of the board.
Do you think city could have been relegated SC: No, no way. We couldn't work on hope and faith. It had to be a stern answer "this is what we are doing" People feed off of good energy. Positive energy from the fans helps the players and manager. It had to start with me, I'm a positive person
SC: There were a couple of turning points. The win at Leyton orient was huge. When we went down to 10 men at Peterborough and still won. Those were the 2 big stand out points for me.
SC: The players are in a good place for their summer break. I was waiting for a drop in performance, we were missing the spark and zip. Our passing has been great, one of the best in the league. We didn't have the bit of luck to put us in front and Crawley
Cotts on Baldock SC: Baldock has been an assets in the 2nd part of the season, and not the 1st. Not sure why he wasn't in form before cotterill arrived. The change in how we play has suited SB. Its suited most players and the ones it hasn't, haven't played in the team. He missed a few chances when we played MK Dons, I decided to keep him on, that gave him some confidence. Where ever I've played him he has done great.
SC: We wanted Sam to finish as top scorer. "how far can sam go?" SC: He's had a go in the championship, wasn't that successful. More successful in league 1. Its all about partnerships, pitches and goal posts are the same in every league, what is important is his strike partner
Cotts on JET SC: He's a lovely boy, hes nothing like what you think he would be, people might see him on the pitch and think he isn't doing much, he is very mucha team player. He isn't capable of running around a pitch for 90 minutes no matter how fit we get him. Baldock can run for 90 minutes but he cant do what JET can. People can get frustrated with him, he doesn't realise that he cant do great things every day. He wants to give the paying fans something to watch. He needs to be fitter but overall he is a great boy.
Do you expect clubs to be interested in JET SC: I don't know and I don't care. We haven't got to sell anyone and until that moment comes I wont let it stress me out. On martin Patterson and Barnett SC: I needed to bring them in, they complemented the lads we had here, we cant bring in Assomolonga or edgar, we have to bring in players who aren't playing at there clubs and get them up to speed here which is a tough scenario to be in. Every player deserves credit for joining us. Players don't want to join you when you are bottom, being Bristol city means nothing. The players deserve credit, they may have only scored 2 goals between them but barentt has been excellent and should of had more. Patterson earns us a point on his debut and sets up Baldock throughout the season.
SC on midfield SC: There were footballers here but they didn't penetrate enough. Pack has grown as the season has gone on. Elliott is great with the players , Gillett has scored important goals and has played his part. Kelly and Pearson wanted to play more but we didn't want to upset the starting 3. Reid fell off the boil a bit
On the defence SC: We need to play from the back, wingbacks have been incredible, they have to be energetic which helps with 3 in the middle of the park. I like the system we play and we have enjoyed playing it and we look good when we play it. Wagstaff, Moloney, Cunningham, Bryan all deserve credit for playing the wingback roles as a lot of it goes unnoticed, they need to do a lot of running. On El-Abd SC: Next season will be an important year, it was a difficult time when he came in, I don't think he played to his full potential. We will have to wait and see what happens with him in the future On Careys record SC: I said to Louis, I knew you were going to break the record. It would be wrong of me not to help him get it. Louis hasn't been a major starter for last 18 months so he wasn't never going to be a regular. He was always disappointed not to play. Its a wonderful achievement what he has done, I cant see the record ever being broken. I played him purposely to break the record, even if that was in midfield. What ever the future is for Louis he will reap the rewards
Frank Fielding SC: He will be injured through the summer but he wont be leaving the club. He has been absolutely fantastic for me. it's important you stick by an out of form keeper, the Moore signing was a kick in the teeth for him but he understood. I don't want any negative thoughts towards Fielding, that is why I brought moore in. It worked out for us, Fielding was down when Moore first signed but he was back to normal the next day, working hard. He will be involved with the first team next season.
On wes burns SC: He forced my hand with his performance's, You can bring him on and he can light a game up, he has done that. He needs to take a backwards step and mature, he needs to think about what he has achieved this summer and push for a starting place next season. He needs to learn more about the game before he starts. At the moment he is an impact sub. He's a great kid and I hope he has a great career with us.
Potential signings SC: We need to look for more experienced players, 30 years olds are alright so long as they are the right ones. We need to find players 25-28. Bristol is a good city, younger players take advantage of the city nightlife and sometimes it doesn't benefit the club. Ideally a 25 year old married player with kids would be a good player. We have enough youngsters here. They might struggle but at the end of the season they will have learned something and the tough ones will break there way in to the first team. We wont be signing any 17/18/19 year olds from league 1/2 to come and play in our academy as its blocking our own players.
On john pemberton SC: I had to have a talk with him about the players and what they have been doing. He had an answer/opinion to why players wernt playing and what they wernt doing right. He was great as soon as I walked through the door and he's helped me greatly SC: This time next year I'd like to be sat here talking about promotion, that is our target. Even if we don't get promoted we cant see it as failure. We need to be up there, automatic would be great, play offs is the aim. We need to do what we have done over the past 5 months for a longer period. Everyone at the beginning of the season were expecting promotion, that wont change for next season. I don't know how the team will react to a missing stand. We need to get those big boards to hide what is being done to the stand.
On his summer break SC: I'll have a holiday, I wont be at the club every day, but when im not ill be working at home. You don't get Christmas day, bank holiday, new years eve etc off so we have to enjoy the summer. Its good for us when we have time off. I didn't realise how important a break was.
