1. Log in now to remove adverts - no adverts at all to registered members!

The Need for a Striker

Discussion in 'Bristol City' started by wizered, Nov 29, 2019.

  1. wizered

    wizered Ol' Mucker
    Staff Member

    Joined:
    Jan 25, 2011
    Messages:
    33,401
    Likes Received:
    5,983
    Exclusive: Mark Ashton opens up on Bristol City's January transfer plans and the need for a striker
    The CEO details what the club require from any potential recruits

    Mark Ashton has confirmed that Bristol City are in the market for a new striker in January but admits the winter window is notoriously difficult to navigate and the club will only sign a player capable of making an immediate impact.

    Speaking exclusively to Bristol Live, the Bristol City CEO states that Benik Afobe's ACL injury suffered in September has left the Robins light in the forward department with the club keen to maintain momentum from their promising start.

    Despite an injury-plagued opening to 2019/20, City lie seventh in the Championship but similar problems from previous campaigns have emerged with a nagging lack of quality in the final third.

    Afobe's arrival on summer deadline day had briefly addressed that, with the on-loan Stoke City striker scoring three goals in five starts and giving the Robins attack greater penetration and mobility.

    In the five matches Afobe played, City averaged 2.0 goals a game but in the 11 matches since he went down with his knee injury on September 19, City have averaged 1.18.

    When asked if there will be moves to recruit in January, Ashton said: "It would be remiss of me to say no, but it has to be right. The worst thing we can do is take the wrong one.

    "What do we need in January? Well, we lost Benik Afobe. So, the logic is, if the right player is available in that position, then absolutely we look to recruit it. But I make no apologies for saying this, it has got to be the right one.

    In the eyes of City fans, the January window has represented a missed opportunity over the last two campaigns as, having entered 2018 and 2019 well-positioned in the Championship, that failure to invest has led to a drop off down the second half of the season.

    Ashton "understands the emotion that runs around that" viewpoint but admits negotiating for a player during that short time and the completing a signing is challenging, not to mention the added risk of bringing someone in with no pre-season or time to properly integrate themselves in the squad.


    Indeed, looking at the example of Championship rivals Leeds United, as per Phil Hay of The Athletic their recruitment department believe that roughly only one in four January signings prove successful, across all leagues, hence why so few clubs do business.

    "In the summer you've got preseason. Lee's got preseason to get them up to speed and work with them," Ashton, who collected his award as Championship CEO of the Year on Thursday, added. "He hasn't got that time in January because he's in the middle of games.

    "That's the challenge because that pond we recruit from has shrunk and it's shrunk even more because clubs see us as a competitor, and we've got to get someone who's up to speed or fairly up to speed and will fit the way we play. It's not easy.

    "In saying that, we have options. But I'm too long in the tooth; you can be 99.9% sure you've got that option nailed, and at the death it's gone.

    "Because the club get an injury and they keep him in. All of a sudden, it’s a spider web, once one movement happens three clubs away, the effect comes down to you and it gets you here.

    "And that's why we have the data sets to see if we're at risk of something happening that could affect our decision making."

    In terms of targets , Ashton's words imply City are likely to focus on domestic-based players due to the risks around players settling from overseas, with the signing of Lois Diony in 2018 a prime example of how things can go horribly long.

    Realistically, the loan market is the safest option from a risk-free perspective with Bristol City monitoring Eddie Nketiah's situation at Leeds United and ready to make a move should he be recalled by Arsenal.

    Liverpool forward Rhian Brewster also looks increasingly like he'll be allowed to leave Anfield temporarily in the New Year, with a host of suitors across the Premier League and Championship, and Ashton has outlined what he, the Lansdowns and Johnson want from any potential new arrivals.

    "He's got to be someone who can make an impact and have an effect," Ashton said.

    "Because what you what you've also got is you've got some good youngsters in the building who are who are coming through, and sometimes you can create the illusion that just because it's a name that its better and the grass is greener and we can get them, when actually it's not. So, it's getting that balance.

    "We've got a very tight group, a good group of humans where there was a hell of a lot of mission, vision, values, behaviours-setting done in Tampa.

    "And what you don't want is someone to come into that group who is totally against that and upsets that because that would undermine everything we've got. So, the person's got to be a person fit.

    "They’ve got to be physically capable of playing the way Lee wants to play. And they've got to be able to improve us.

    "And what sits behind that, as you would imagine, is in a raft of technical information that Lee wants that the recruitment team work on."

    There is belief among some supporters that the club's relative inactivity in January is due to an apparent reluctance from the Lansdown family to invest significant funds in one player but Ashton categorically refutes that claim.

    "I don't think that since I've been at this football club, there's ever been a single deal that I've taken to my owners that they've said no to," he insisted.

    "We know what we do, so we would we only take them things that fit our model. And they’ve always been supportive.

    "So, there's no reluctance not to spend and there's not a desire that we've got to spend this, they just do the right thing.

    "It's simply that we take things to them we believe are right for this football club and our owners have been fantastic since the day I met them."

    https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/sport/football/exclusive-mark-ashton-opens-up-3591378
     
    #1
  2. Red Robin

    Red Robin Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jan 25, 2011
    Messages:
    15,242
    Likes Received:
    2,149
    Niki done deal :emoticon-0136-giggl
     
    #2
  3. wizered

    wizered Ol' Mucker
    Staff Member

    Joined:
    Jan 25, 2011
    Messages:
    33,401
    Likes Received:
    5,983
    Looks positive that we will get a striker, I know some people are a bit sniffy about him but I would go big time for Gale.
     
    #3
  4. Red Robin

    Red Robin Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jan 25, 2011
    Messages:
    15,242
    Likes Received:
    2,149
    Me tooo0000000 that would be amazing alonside Niki promotion would be guaranteed
     
    #4
  5. oneforthebristolcity

    oneforthebristolcity Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jan 26, 2011
    Messages:
    8,360
    Likes Received:
    2,788
    We could have Messi, but it wouldn't guarantee anything.....apart from a big fat wage bill.....
     
    #5
    TampaBayBCFC likes this.
  6. AshtonRed

    AshtonRed Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Feb 14, 2017
    Messages:
    8,783
    Likes Received:
    3,246
    Have I missed something, who the heck is Niki ?
     
    #6
  7. Red Robin

    Red Robin Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jan 25, 2011
    Messages:
    15,242
    Likes Received:
    2,149
    Niketah
     
    #7
  8. AshtonRed

    AshtonRed Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Feb 14, 2017
    Messages:
    8,783
    Likes Received:
    3,246
    The Arsenal manager being sacked may change the whole dynamics of that.

    If he does come here we won’t get anybody else in. The only reason he’d come here would be to be guaranteed game time.
     
    #8
  9. Alandicksthegreat

    Alandicksthegreat Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Apr 22, 2011
    Messages:
    1,253
    Likes Received:
    249
    Nothings guaranteed in this league mate, plus two players don't make a team, we seem very weak in midfield plus we seem to play backwards more than forward, the only positive from the WBA game was Korey Smith nice to see him back and lasting 90mins.
     
    #9

Share This Page