Happy or disappointed....

[Olé]

The best thing about where we've ended this transfer window, is I think it will soften that growing expectation that we're a top six club in waiting and will be up there this season. That's not meant to sound like a backhanded negative criticism because it isn't. I believe we are in the right phase of transition to what SL/MA/LJ wants and are absolutely heading in the right direction. But not with the urgency of a number of clubs in our division - and that's okay.

The lesson is that our change is progressive, not short, sharp and aggressive. The three ex-Premiership clubs have a finite time to spunk their parachute payments and minimise the impact of being out of the top division. They will be aggressive. Teams like Wolves are going to be aggressive because they're in full-on 'twist' mode (throw everything in the air and start again) and hope lots of money quickly is enough of a solid foundation (thought it rarely is).

We have developed our squad for the immediate, but mainly the long term. We've kept winning players from promotion and last season, all with a season at this level under their belts. We signed Tomlin, someone who lifted our season in Spring. We've brought in a new spine in Mags, O'Neil, Tammy, all class acts. We've also brought in many high calibre young players who can only offer upside: Taylor Moore, O'Dowda, Brownhill, Paterson, and Engvall.

There isn't immediate depth of star quality and spending to be an obvious top six side, that I think a few thought we were building towards this transfer window. That's good news. We have ended up with less pressure but lots of upside possible both this season and next. I do think we missed out today on a frontline to be much more certain of our competitiveness (and on young players we've only really seen O'Dowda) but these can all carry into next year.

Success this season would not be unexpected but would be ahead of schedule and without completing the recruitment obviously needed. Success next season would be unsurprising and appropriate for current trajectory of existing players, new signings, and remaining investments needed (proven strikers being most obvious). The other bonus with next year is the possibility that teams of the size and spending of Newcastle and Villa may not be part of it.

In summary: shame not to go for it (or be successful in attempts to go for it) today after losing last seasons top scorer and with the chance to build on a fantastic transfer window and have a real shot at being one of the top Championship sides.... but, with a bit of reflection, we remain on track, Rome wasn't built in a day, by any measure we've had a good transfer window, but we just need to keep progressing, hold onto good players, seal the deal next year.

[Kala Taro]

7 minutes ago, Olé said:

The best thing about where we've ended this transfer window, is I think it will soften that growing expectation that we're a top six club in waiting and will be up there this season. That's not meant to sound like a backhanded negative criticism because it isn't. I believe we are in the right phase of transition to what SL/MA/LJ wants and are absolutely heading in the right direction. But not with the urgency of a number of clubs in our division - and that's okay.

The lesson is that our change is progressive, not short, sharp and aggressive. The three ex-Premiership clubs have a finite time to spunk their parachute payments and minimise the impact of being out of the top division. They will be aggressive. Teams like Wolves are going to be aggressive because they're in full-on 'twist' mode (throw everything in the air and start again) and hope lots of money quickly is enough of a solid foundation (thought it rarely is).

We have developed our squad for the immediate, but mainly the long term. We've kept winning players from promotion and last season, all with a season at this level under their belts. We signed Tomlin, someone who lifted our season in Spring. We've brought in a new spine in Mags, O'Neil, Tammy, all class acts. We've also brought in many high calibre young players who can only offer upside: Taylor Moore, O'Dowda, Brownhill, Paterson, and Engvall.

There isn't immediate depth of star quality and spending to be an obvious top six side, that I think a few thought we were building towards this transfer window. That's good news. We have ended up with less pressure but lots of upside possible both this season and next. I do think we missed out today on a frontline to be much more certain of our competitiveness (and on young players we've only really seen O'Dowda) but these can all carry into next year.

Success this season would not be unexpected but would be ahead of schedule and without completing the recruitment obviously needed. Success next season would be unsurprising and appropriate for current trajectory of existing players, new signings, and remaining investments needed (proven strikers being most obvious). The other bonus with next year is the possibility that teams of the size and spending of Newcastle and Villa may not be part of it.

In summary: shame not to go for it (or be successful in attempts to go for it) today after losing last seasons top scorer and with the chance to build on a fantastic transfer window and have a real shot at being one of the top Championship sides.... but, with a bit of reflection, we remain on track, Rome wasn't built in a day, by any measure we've had a good transfer window, but we just need to keep progressing, hold onto good players, seal the deal next year.

Tremendous post.

[Sydneybcfc]

The official list from the OS:

IN

Josh Brownhill (Preston North End) 
Gary O’Neil (Norwich City) 
Diego De Girolamo (Sheffield United) 
Lee Tomlin (Bournemouth) 
Hordur Magnusson (Juventus) 
Callum O’Dowda (Oxford United) 
Ivan Lucic (Bayern Munich) 
Tammy Abraham (Chelsea, loan) 
Adam Matthews (Sunderland, loan) 
Taylor Moore (Lens) 
Jamie Paterson (Nottingham Forest) 
Gustav Engvall (IFK Gothenburg) 

OUT

Scott Wagstaff (Gillingham) 
Adam El-Abd (Shrewsbury Town) 
Luke Ayling (Leeds United) 
Kieran Agard (MK Dons) 
Derrick Williams (Blackburn Rovers) 
Jonathan Kodjia (Aston Villa) 

DEVELOPMENT GROUP

Jonny Smith (Wrexham) 
Jack Challis (Birmingham City) 
Kodi Lyons-Foster (Aston Villa) 
Shabazz Omofe (Chelsea) 

LOANS OUT

Wes Burns (Aberdeen) 
Shawn McCoulsky and George Dowling (both Weston-super-Mare) 
Joe Morrell (Sutton United) 
James Difford, Harvey Moss and Charlie Harris (all Frome Town) 
Jonny Smith (Cheltenham Town) 
Max O’Leary (Bath City) 
Arnold Garita (Plymouth Argyle) 
Zak Vyner (Accrington Stanley) 
 

Not bad that.

[Port Said Red]

4 hours ago, Sydneybcfc said:

The official list from the OS:

IN

Josh Brownhill (Preston North End) 
Gary O’Neil (Norwich City) 
Diego De Girolamo (Sheffield United) 
Lee Tomlin (Bournemouth) 
Hordur Magnusson (Juventus) 
Callum O’Dowda (Oxford United) 
Ivan Lucic (Bayern Munich) 
Tammy Abraham (Chelsea, loan) 
Adam Matthews (Sunderland, loan) 
Taylor Moore (Lens) 
Jamie Paterson (Nottingham Forest) 
Gustav Engvall (IFK Gothenburg) 

OUT

Scott Wagstaff (Gillingham) 
Adam El-Abd (Shrewsbury Town) 
Luke Ayling (Leeds United) 
Kieran Agard (MK Dons) 
Derrick Williams (Blackburn Rovers) 
Jonathan Kodjia (Aston Villa) 

DEVELOPMENT GROUP

Jonny Smith (Wrexham) 
Jack Challis (Birmingham City) 
Kodi Lyons-Foster (Aston Villa) 
Shabazz Omofe (Chelsea) 

LOANS OUT

Wes Burns (Aberdeen) 
Shawn McCoulsky and George Dowling (both Weston-super-Mare) 
Joe Morrell (Sutton United) 
James Difford, Harvey Moss and Charlie Harris (all Frome Town) 
Jonny Smith (Cheltenham Town) 
Max O’Leary (Bath City) 
Arnold Garita (Plymouth Argyle) 
Zak Vyner (Accrington Stanley) 
 

Not bad that.

And made a profit! They should mention the Bolasie and Adomah transfers as well, we could have made as much from them as the sale of Ayling, Agard and Williams combined.

[SE23Red]

4 hours ago, Sydneybcfc said:

The official list from the OS:

IN

Josh Brownhill (Preston North End) 
Gary O’Neil (Norwich City) 
Diego De Girolamo (Sheffield United) 
Lee Tomlin (Bournemouth) 
Hordur Magnusson (Juventus) 
Callum O’Dowda (Oxford United) 
Ivan Lucic (Bayern Munich) 
Tammy Abraham (Chelsea, loan) 
Adam Matthews (Sunderland, loan) 
Taylor Moore (Lens) 
Jamie Paterson (Nottingham Forest) 
Gustav Engvall (IFK Gothenburg) 

OUT

Scott Wagstaff (Gillingham) 
Adam El-Abd (Shrewsbury Town) 
Luke Ayling (Leeds United) 
Kieran Agard (MK Dons) 
Derrick Williams (Blackburn Rovers) 
Jonathan Kodjia (Aston Villa) 

DEVELOPMENT GROUP

Jonny Smith (Wrexham) 
Jack Challis (Birmingham City) 
Kodi Lyons-Foster (Aston Villa) 
Shabazz Omofe (Chelsea) 

LOANS OUT

Wes Burns (Aberdeen) 
Shawn McCoulsky and George Dowling (both Weston-super-Mare) 
Joe Morrell (Sutton United) 
James Difford, Harvey Moss and Charlie Harris (all Frome Town) 
Jonny Smith (Cheltenham Town) 
Max O’Leary (Bath City) 
Arnold Garita (Plymouth Argyle) 
Zak Vyner (Accrington Stanley) 
 

Not bad that.

I'm happy with that. I'm also happy we didn't part with a huge chunk of the JK money on one of the many average strikers who's names have been thrown about in the last 24hrs. For all the talk of not being able to rely on an 18yr old up front I'm as sure of Tammy as any of our other young signings.

 

We've now got 4 months to gel a team from all of this promise, establish where the weak links are (they won't all work out immediately), do some decent scouting and go again in January with money in the bank.

 

I'm going to predict that we're talking about fullbacks as much as forward players come January...

[Guest]

Our new scoring sensation will not be here next season, would have preferred to keep Kod and add Adomah as villa have done; we would then piss this league; now its back to square one and a squad of newbies; who may or may not prove themselves and if some do then they to will be gone in the blink of an eye.

Are players and us merely cash cows or does someone actually want us to get in the prem. "push for the prem" yeah right same old same old as far as I can see.

[Alessandro]

I read today something like £220m was spent in the championship.

£110m of that was by Villa and Newcastle alone. It's a crazy market.

There are also several other teams out there with parachute payments and now we, little old Bristol City, are in the mix for the same players as them.

When people talk about 'who can afford....x player and y player' Bristol City are now above the likes of Reading, Cardiff and Leeds. 

Also worth saying that Norwich, Forest, Derby, Leeds etc etc etc were all after a forward and found the going just as tough as City.

[Port Said Red]

4 minutes ago, glos old boy said:

Our new scoring sensation will not be here next season, would have preferred to keep Kod and add Adomah as villa have done; we would then piss this league; now its back to square one and a squad of newbies; who may or may not prove themselves and if some do then they to will be gone in the blink of an eye.

Are players and us merely cash cows or does someone actually want us to get in the prem. "push for the prem" yeah right same old same old as far as I can see.

Please keep away from train tracks and motorway bridges, I am seriously concerned about your mental health. I am desperately trying to remember when you posted anything positive. Was it you who suggested that the Villa result didn't realy count because we started the game poorly?

[Guest]

1 minute ago, Alessandro said:

I read today something like £220m was spent in the championship.

£110m of that was by Villa and Newcastle alone. It's a crazy market.

There are also several other teams out there with parachute payments and now we, little old Bristol City, are in the mix for the same players as them.

When people talk about 'who can afford....x player and y player' Bristol City are now above the likes of Reading, Cardiff and Leeds. 

Also worth saying that Norwich, Forest, Derby, Leeds etc etc etc were all after a forward and found the going just as tough as City.

We already had a decent forward, at least 2 in fact Kod and Abrah, should have kept Kod and added Adomah i.m.o. then we would of kicked a few butts; back to sq one as far as I can see? too many newbies.

[downendcity]

2 minutes ago, glos old boy said:

Our new scoring sensation will not be here next season, would have preferred to keep Kod and add Adomah as villa have done; we would then piss this league; now its back to square one and a squad of newbies; who may or may not prove themselves and if some do then they to will be gone in the blink of an eye.

Are players and us merely cash cows or does someone actually want us to get in the prem. "push for the prem" yeah right same old same old as far as I can see.

I think the club would have preferred to keep Kodjia as well. However, if, as seems to be the case, he wanted to leave then what is the point of keeping him and even more so when offered such a huge fee by Villa?

He hadn't scored for us this season and if he had stayed and was unhappy to do so, there would have been a fair chance that he would come nowhere close to last season's scoring exploits and could have ended up being detrimental to this season's efforts.

As for our "push for the prem". Lee Johnson is on record as saying that we are 3 /4 windows away from the team he wants, so I don't think we have the finished article as far as the team is concerned, but still a work in progress. Perhaps what we have is a measured push rather than the bust a gut rush for the prem, as evidenced by Villa and Newcastle spending £50m + this window - we just can't compete with their financial resources.

 

 

[Guest]

1 minute ago, Port Said Red said:

Please keep away from train tracks and motorway bridges, I am seriously concerned about your mental health. I am desperately trying to remember when you posted anything positive. Was it you who suggested that the Villa result didn't realy count because we started the game poorly?

No it wasn't, sorry to disappoint; your memory seems shot.

[Marina's Rolls Royce]

10 minutes ago, glos old boy said:

Our new scoring sensation will not be here next season, would have preferred to keep Kod and add Adomah as villa have done; we would then piss this league; now its back to square one and a squad of newbies; who may or may not prove themselves and if some do then they to will be gone in the blink of an eye.

Are players and us merely cash cows or does someone actually want us to get in the prem. "push for the prem" yeah right same old same old as far as I can see.

Considering everything that has been going on at BCFC, the clever business and 12 new players, I find your post the most spectacularly negative, naive and I'm afraid to say- ignorant so far this season.

It's like the boy who got all the Christmas pressies he wanted and more but not the Action Man so has a tantrum.

[Alessandro]

2 minutes ago, glos old boy said:

We already had a decent forward, at least 2 in fact Kod and Abrah, should have kept Kod and added Adomah i.m.o. then we would of kicked a few butts; back to sq one as far as I can see? too many newbies.

In an ideal world, yes we would have kept Kodjia.

Reality is he wanted to move, he and his agent have been manoeuvring themselves all summer for this transfer.

We got a massive, MASSIVE, championship record fee for him. After 1 good season (and 0 in 4 this term). He got his move.

We had little choice but to sell.

Adomah? Well he went to Villa too, who as I say have spent £60m odd, we cannot compete with that.

[Redandy]

Stunned and very disappointed. All the great work that has been done in this window and then we sell our leading scorer for a record fee and fail to replace him when we have a load of money to do it.We are left with a far from prolific untried Swede , young Tammy and a striker in Wilbs who physically is not up to league 1 let alone the Championship. A couple of injuries and we don't have a strike force. It will need a change of formation and players playing put of position. I just cannot understand why or how this has been allowed to happen. Was it SL who felt he had spent enough and wanted to fill his bank account back up or LJ and Ashton not  getting their act together when the heat was on. Either way I think we will pay a heavy price for this.

 

[Port Said Red]

3 minutes ago, glos old boy said:

We already had a decent forward, at least 2 in fact Kod and Abrah, should have kept Kod and added Adomah i.m.o. then we would of kicked a few butts; back to sq one as far as I can see? too many newbies.

You would have seriously turned down up to £15m for a player that could have done(and was already starting to do) "a Maynard" on us?  I guess it's not your money,  it's easy to sit at our keyboards and demand the club keep spending money but not getting any back isn't it?

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, downendcity said:

I think the club would have preferred to keep Kodjia as well. However, if, as seems to be the case, he wanted to leave then what is the point of keeping him and even more so when offered such a huge fee by Villa?

He hadn't scored for us this season and if he had stayed and was unhappy to do so, there would have been a fair chance that he would come nowhere close to last season's scoring exploits and could have ended up being detrimental to this season's efforts.

As for our "push for the prem". Lee Johnson is on record as saying that we are 3 /4 windows away from the team he wants, so I don't think we have the finished article as far as the team is concerned, but still a work in progress. Perhaps what we have is a measured push rather than the bust a gut rush for the prem, as evidenced by Villa and Newcastle spending £50m + this window - we just can't compete with their financial resources.

 

 

Yes I understand all that, but selling our best goalscorer from last season and going back to sq one with the Swedish guy, as said may or may not come through then what? sell again then get another.

[Marina's Rolls Royce]

3 minutes ago, Redandy said:

Stunned and very disappointed. All the great work that has been done in this window and then we sell our leading scorer for a record fee and fail to replace him when we have a load of money to do it.We are left with a far from prolific untried Swede , young Tammy and a striker in Wilbs who physically is not up to league 1 let alone the Championship. A couple of injuries and we don't have a strike force. It will need a change of formation and players playing put of position. I just cannot understand why or how this has been allowed to happen. Was it SL who felt he had spent enough and wanted to fill his bank account back up or LJ and Ashton not  getting their act together when the heat was on. Either way I think we will pay a heavy price for this.

 

Comedy genius Well done.

[eardun]

Happy. Said this on the other thread:

I'm happy. Whilst Agard and Kodjia leaving plus Burns out on loan makes us look light up front on paper, in practice I think we'll be fine until next window.

LJ is favouring one central striker. If we had brought in a big name striker to replace Kodjia, presumably Tammy would be pushed to the bench. I'd rather see Tammy starting at the moment. We'll see how Gustav does, plus Wilbs will still have a role to play.

We do have good options now across the 3 behind the central striker. Arguably those options are more naturally suited to those roles than Kodjia was playing on the right.

In addition putting Burns out on loan may mean he has the sharpness to come back firing in Jan. 

 

[Alessandro]

2 minutes ago, glos old boy said:

Yes I understand all that, but selling our best goalscorer from last season and going back to sq one with the Swedish guy, as said may or may not come through then what? sell again then get another.

Don't forget Kodjia was just some 'French guy' last summer and he turned out well.

Lets see 'the Swedish guy' play first shall we?

He was on Stokes radar this year so must have something about him.

[GrahamC]

I think after a brilliant transfer window we have fallen short at the final moment.

I completely get the Kodjia deal and despite it making SL look a bit foolish for his "not to a Championship club" stuff, it makes huge financial sense.

However back when we sold Baldock we had already brought Agard in, so we all knew that was why we signed him.

We will probably never know the truth as to who we planned to buy with the Kodjia money (Grabban, Ashley Barnes, Joe Mason, another foreign player?) but the fact is that we got none of them and so unless we find a suitable free agent, now have to go four months with just three senior strikers, one of whom is 37 next month and the other two had not played a single English league game before this August between them.

Mark Ashton's negotiating ability cannot be faulted but I just think that LJ has been a bit too anxious to let too many players go too soon, meaning we end the window hugely in credit financially (who could have forecast that we would end up about £8m in profit?) but a forward light.

Overall we are stronger than we were before though and hopefully can now look at how to spend some of the Kodjia/Bolasie windfall when the window re-opens.

[Guest]

4 minutes ago, Marina's Rolls Royce said:

Considering everything that has been going on at BCFC, the clever business and 12 new players, I find your post the most spectacularly negative, naive and I'm afraid to say- ignorant so far this season.

It's like the boy who got all the Christmas pressies he wanted and more but not the Action Man so has a tantrum.

you said it all 12 new players ....a new team; I never liked Christmas either...a waste of money

[Marina's Rolls Royce]

1 minute ago, glos old boy said:

you said it all 12 new players ....a new team; I never liked Christmas either...a waste of money

Well thank goodness we didn't waste our money on the Action Man then.

[Port Said Red]

3 minutes ago, glos old boy said:

you said it all 12 new players ....a new team; I never liked Christmas either...a waste of money

You have just reminded me of this.......

There's an old joke.  Two elderly women are at a Catskills mountain resort, and one of 'em says: "Boy, the food at this place is really terrible." The other one says, "Yeah, I know, and such ... small portions." Well, that's essentially how I feel about life. Full of loneliness and misery and suffering and unhappiness, and it's all over much too quickly. -- Woody Allen - Annie Hall

[Nibor]

18 minutes ago, glos old boy said:

We already had a decent forward, at least 2 in fact Kod and Abrah, should have kept Kod and added Adomah i.m.o. then we would of kicked a few butts; back to sq one as far as I can see? too many newbies.

Keeping a player who had refused to play in the face of a £15m deal would have been unforgivably idiotic.  The only thing more stupid would have been to spunk the money on the wrong player in a panic. 

We've had the best transfer window for the 30 years. I've been following city and people are still whinging, it's unbelievable. 

[spudski]

Fantastic Transfer Window imo.

Firstly, we need to put things into perspective.

JK no longer wanted to be here. His head had been turned, and the thought of more money at a bigger club distracted him.

Regardless of his last season...why would you want to keep a player who was thinking about fortunes elsewhere?

We had to cash in this transfer window. He hasn't scored this season, and hasn't looked the player he was last season tbh.

Scenario...you hang on to him, he's not 100%, doesn't score and play as well...then he's worth a lot less and no offers come in January. He had to go.

The players we've brought in, as well as what we have, are more than capable of getting results in this league.

Imo, we will play with a very attacking 'midfield' and someone like TA or Engvall playing as the sole 'Striker'.

We will actually be a more attacking force playing this way, than a traditional 442...imo.

Can see another loan coming in and deal being worked out over the coming months for more signings in January.

I'm glad we haven't 'Wasted' that money on a signing that wasn't right and rushed into something.

[winterbournered]

Remember how we all felt this time last year. 

You have to be happy with this window. 

[Red Army 87]

We shouldn't really need more than 3 strikers if we continue to play 1 up top. Ideally Wilbs wouldn't be one of the 3, but he is still capable of contributing, even if it is from the bench mostly as we saw on Saturday.

What we severely missed last season was goals from midfield. That's where I hope that we have really excelled in this window. Tomlin, Reid and Bryan have scored already, Paterson scored 8 for huddersfield last season which is not bad at all for a winger in a struggling team.

The kodjia sale makes sense, he wanted to go and we got top money for him. With Tammy on form I was concerned by how we were trying to shoe horn both of them into the team, making us less effective.

Overall on reflection I think this is a much better window than I know I ever expected.

[samo II]

I'm happy.

We've got a significantly better squad than this time last year, and have already started better too.

Yes, we might be lacking another experienced striker to compliment the already very promising Abraham, this new lad and Wilbraham, but we are where we are, and I think we'll manage.

One thing to consider; since the start of season 14/15 Kodjia has played 81matches and scored 35 goals, while Engvall has played 80 games and scored 21 since the beginning of the 2014 season in Sweden.  Plus, Engvall is 6 and a half years younger than Kodjia and already clearly speaks more than decent English, which could very well help him settle quicker.

My hope this season was a top half finish, and I was cautious about that being a bridge too far.

But feel we've certainly got the resources for that, and just need the new boys to blend quickly- but that is what the international break is for.

Roll on Rotherham; excited to see us take to the pitch again.

COYR

[Bristol Rob]

Great window.

Sold a player for a record fee who clearly fancied a new challenge. Said player was a complete unknown when  he arrived as our marquee signing and have replaced him with a slightly cheaper model who happens to speak English and is younger.

Think this is a sign of progress.

[cityboy]

How anyone can be less than happy with this transfer window boggles my mind.