Magnússon on his way

[ExiledAjax]

27 minutes ago, ziderheadarmy said:

Are you claiming Ashton is on £25k a month? 

Which is £300k a year. Perfectly possible for a chief exec of a company this size.

[Alan Dicks]

Not good enough for championship football simple as that.

We will be saying the same about Pisano next season too.

Stick with British signings Mr J

[And Its Smith]

31 minutes ago, ziderheadarmy said:

Are you claiming Ashton is on £25k a month? 

How much would you suggest he is on? Sounds right to me.

[Olé]

7 minutes ago, havanatopia said:

Too much OJ this morning Olé?

It has run out!

I'm not angry at all though, certainly not about Magnússon leaving, but evidence is mounting up of a poor return on signings and it fills me with dread to think that all the same protagonists will be spending the money on replacements - even more so when other significant players leave this summer.

You're right that we don't have the facts, but we don't actually need any specific insight to recognise this as yet more "churn" in finding the right squad. Where does it end? Lower level, but the extent of Cotterill's churn was Gillett, and short term loan signings like Moore/Nosworthy/Barnett early on.

15 minutes ago, Port Said Red said:

He made the same type of mistake three times last season, getting caught in possession when he should have just got rid of the ball, if I was the manager I would be wondering if he is capable of learning from his mistakes and if so when

I agree - those mistakes have been very visible and are why people say he'd play well in a different system, a back 3, invited to play out from the back. But LJ I assume already asks the players not to hoof it, Magnússon is not unique, our midfield get caught in possession similarly under instruction to find a pass and also turn backwards all the time trying to hold the ball. The difference when Mags does it is he doesn't have the time or option to pass, but it is worth asking the question of whether in fact the opposite is true re: coaching and he is trying too hard to stick to requested football principles.

[GrahamC]

Been obvious that this would happen for a while.

Not rated or trusted by LJ, & he nearly left in January.

Kelly’s emergence means he became our third choice left back and even when Baker completely lost form/focus he wasn’t picked in his place.

Seems likely that the player and his agent instigated this, as I reckon we hoped he’d have a decent WC to boost his price.

Said last season that Moore, Engvall, Eliasson and him (over £8m worth of transfers !) would all eventually leave us at a loss, this is the first of these 4 to do so...

[Olé]

5 minutes ago, ExiledAjax said:

Which is £300k a year. Perfectly possible for a chief exec of a company this size.

City's annual accounts says our highest earning director is on £305k a year and since the Chief Executive is the only full time member of the City board besides John Lansdown, it's a fair bet that it is MA. 

When you say "for a company of this size",  FTSE 250 companies with £100m+ turnover have CEO's earning in the £300-400k bracket (PLC's declare the renumeration). In comparison MA does rather well.

I've assumed the inflation is to create some credibility when dealing with a workforce (professional footballers) who already earn in that bracket, so the number is not in question, just the performance of duty!

[1960maaan]

Timing seems odd , maybe Mags/agent/CSKA pushed it through. LJ was looking to offload before, didn't the EP report about a loan to Russia for a big fee?
I think there were signs that behind Bryan he would have made a solid left side.  Unfortunate his mistakes were very costly, but I think he will be a very good player. Add to that a complete lack of confidence in our scouting/recruiting to find and actually get better players in, confidence for the coming season (for me) is not high.

[Robin Ashton]

30 minutes ago, Port Said Red said:

... if I was the manager I would be wondering if he is capable of learning from his mistakes and if so when.

Meanwhile, some are wondering is the manager capable of learning from his mistakes and if so when.

[Lrrr]

13 minutes ago, Olé said:

It has run out!

I'm not angry at all though, certainly not about Magnússon leaving, but evidence is mounting up of a poor return on signings and it fills me with dread to think that all the same protagonists will be spending the money on replacements - even more so when other significant players leave this summer.

You're right that we don't have the facts, but we don't actually need any specific insight to recognise this as yet more "churn" in finding the right squad. Where does it end? Lower level, but the extent of Cotterill's churn was Gillett, and short term loan signings like Moore/Nosworthy/Barnett early on.

I agree - those mistakes have been very visible and are why people say he'd play well in a different system, a back 3, invited to play out from the back. But LJ I assume already asks the players not to hoof it, Magnússon is not unique, our midfield get caught in possession similarly under instruction to find a pass and also turn backwards all the time trying to hold the ball. The difference when Mags does it is he doesn't have the time or option to pass, but it is worth asking the question of whether in fact the opposite is true re: coaching and he is trying too hard to stick to requested football principles.

So keeping him around and losing him for nothing next summer would be a better idea? This way we pretty much make back what we bought him for, the same principle needs to be applied for all players 12 months out who won't be extending their time here. 

[Selred]

21 minutes ago, Alan Dicks said:

Not good enough for championship football simple as that.

We will be saying the same about Pisano next season too.

Stick with British signings Mr J

Diédhiou, Kodjia are two of our best signings in years. Naive to think sticking with British signings is the way forward. 

[BRISTOL86]

There’s a player in there somewhere but hardly grasped his opportunities (of which he’s had plenty) here.

Seen nothing in two years to suggest he’s anything better than distinctly average at this level.  

Good luck to him for the future. 

[chinapig]

Generally speaking if a player is largely approved of by fans the manager gets the blame if he doesn't perform. If the fans don't largely approve of a player he gets the blame.

Mags is unusual in that there seems to be a roughly 50/50 split between those who think he's rubbish and those who think he's the next big thing.

Which probably means he's an average player.

[Swede]

Like Bailey Wright, Mags has been played out of position.

I like him as a player. He has played at a much higher level abroad so is unfazed by pressure. Unfortunately he has cost us goals when at left back and is always a mistake ready to happen.

There is a lot more to come from him but he was close to a move last window so it is inevitable really.

[Olé]

2 minutes ago, hodge said:

So keeping him around and losing him for nothing next summer would be a better idea?

No - I agree with you on minimising the loss, the failure is not letting him go too early, it is signing him and players like him in the first place.

Our strategy I think seeks to sign players with potential who we can develop into assets that are successful for us and/or generate a profit.

That has now not worked with Magnússon. It is fairly obviously not going to work with a few other players signed in similar circumstances.

That is what I mean by a poor return on signings. It will quickly turn into a false economy - we'd lose less by paying more for a proven player.

So my point was not at all about clinging onto Magnússon, my concern is only for the people who continue to execute this transfer strategy.

[ExiledAjax]

21 minutes ago, Olé said:

City's annual accounts says our highest earning director is on £305k a year and since the Chief Executive is the only full time member of the City board besides John Lansdown, it's a fair bet that it is MA. 

When you say "for a company of this size",  FTSE 250 companies with £100m+ turnover have CEO's earning in the £300-400k bracket (PLC's declare the renumeration). In comparison MA does rather well.

I've assumed the inflation is to create some credibility when dealing with a workforce (professional footballers) who already earn in that bracket, so the number is not in question, just the performance of duty!

I work with companies far smaller than FTSE 250. I’m yet to see a CEO pay himself less than £100,000, regardless of market cap or turnover. Think the worst I saw was a plc quoted on AIM and turning over £2m...CEO paid himself £750k. Remuneration resolution scraped through at the AGM.

No comment on the performance of those CEOs though!

[And Its Smith]

6 minutes ago, Swede said:

Like Bailey Wright, Mags has been played out of position.

I like him as a player. He has played at a much higher level abroad so is unfazed by pressure. Unfortunately he has cost us goals when at left back and is always a mistake ready to happen.

There is a lot more to come from him but he was close to a move last window so it is inevitable really.

He has played 12 games at a higher level. Hardly constitutes playing at a higher level. 

Cannot count his international appearances or else you could say that about any player who happens to be born into a poor/small footballing nation

[And Its Smith]

5 minutes ago, ExiledAjax said:

I work with companies far smaller than FTSE 250. I’m yet to see a CEO pay himself less than £100,000, regardless of market cap or turnover. Think the worst I saw was a plc quoted on AIM and turning over £2m...CEO paid himself £750k. Remuneration resolution scraped through at the AGM.

No comment on the performance of those CEOs though!

My employers turnover £100m and the directors get paid anything from £250-500k before bonuses.

[Gazred]

Good player playing in the wrong country IMO. Never looked 100% comfortable in our side. All the best to him.

[Lrrr]

20 minutes ago, Olé said:

No - I agree with you on minimising the loss, the failure is not letting him go too early, it is signing him and players like him in the first place.

Our strategy I think seeks to sign players with potential who we can develop into assets that are successful for us and/or generate a profit.

That has now not worked with Magnússon. It is fairly obviously not going to work with a few other players signed in similar circumstances.

That is what I mean by a poor return on signings. It will quickly turn into a false economy - we'd lose less by paying more for a proven player.

So my point was not at all about clinging onto Magnússon, my concern is only for the people who continue to execute this transfer strategy.

Think you're picking the wrong transfer for this case if its the wider issue of the strategy, Mags definitely had the potential to be a player at this level and has played fairly well for us. But it hasn't worked for him with the chances he was given and we're making our money back at minimal loss in the wages/signing on fee. If we can largely make the money back on players we pay bigger fees for then sell a few on for big profit then the strategy will work. 

[Ryan_BCFC]

Hörður Magnússon - Out

Sam McQueen - In

 

[Leveller]

To my mind he’s one of those glamorous signings you WANT to do well - foreign, a minor international bought from a big Italian club, good looking, personable ....

So yes, I really wanted him to be good. But as a footballer, I think if we’d bought him cheaply from Cheltenham, we wouldn’t be giving him as easy a time as we do. He has been a bit disappointing and not an obvious first choice in a strong defence.

[CyderInACan]

He’s going to have to get up to speed on his written Russian pretty quick if he’s going to be as much of twitter hero over there as he was here! 

[The Bard]

9 hours ago, Septic Peg said:

Heard on the grapevine that LJ and MA not happy about it but have no choice. 

Can assume from that either order has come from above or from Mags himself.

I would hazard a guess at the latter. Sorry Mags. Can't blame you tbf.

LJ has a cheek then.  He constantly undermined the bloke.  No wonder he wants to leave.  He's in and out of an average Championship side and has the chance to move to a side that could be in the Champions League next year.  Seems a no-brainer.

[Alessandro]

1 minute ago, Olé said:

No - I agree with you on minimising the loss, the failure is not letting him go too early, it is signing him and players like him in the first place.

Our strategy I think seeks to sign players with potential who we can develop into assets that are successful for us and/or generate a profit.

That has now not worked with Magnússon. It is fairly obviously not going to work with a few other players signed in similar circumstances.

That is what I mean by a poor return on signings. It will quickly turn into a false economy - we'd lose less by paying more for a proven player.

So my point was not at all about clinging onto Magnússon, my concern is only for the people who continue to execute this transfer strategy.

Can I ask you a hypothetical question? Because I’m just wondering if people’s judgement is clouded by or over focusing on the fact we are signing more players from abroad. 

Would you say there is more chance of us signing a dud from the continent? 

Because there is the argument that you can get a better bargin abroad - maybe, maybe not. Or should I say, in reality, the equivalent player from the continent (an international for example) will be cheaper, generally, than bought from the UK? 

So what is the average % success rate of any signing? We expect some to work out, some to fail, regardless of where they come from, don’t we? 

I would guess that the majority of LJ and MA’s perm’s have been from abroad? So perhaps that has skewed the stats. Also it’s fair to say when LJ came in the squad was small and there was also a glut in signings the first few windows.

I wonder if the issue may not be as much about the signing of players abroad, but in the club’s policy of ‘adding value’? 

With this policy is the inherent risk that more signings won’t work out, in the pursuit that we get more Kodjia’s, Famara’s or Djuric’s. From home we’ve added value to Brownhill and O’Dowda.

So either the club are signing the wrong players to add value to or we as fans have to except that with this new policy comes greater risk?

It’s always going to be tough to measure as it’s always a long term plan. If we sell Famara or O’Dowda in a 2 years time for £30m, it justifies the plan of adding value?

So I guess the question is, £1/2m gambles from abroad or £1/2m gambles from the UK? Matty Taylor for example, we got him on the cheap I know, but his goal record would have justified that price tag. If we’d signed him for £2m (as was a fairer reflection of his value) I think we’d all being talking a lot more about him and the success of his transfer.

Also imagined we signed Leko or Kent for £2/3m - highly rated upcoming premier league players - wow, helps put Eliasson in a bit more perspective. 

You mention signing proven UK players, well we all know how tough that is. Peterborough asking over 6m for league one Jack Mariott for example.

FWIW - it does seem that the club have slowed a little on foreign signings, no doubt Engvall and Diony for example have burnt fingers - but I suspect that the club could value each player right now and the squad would be worth more than we paid for it, so what will change in the future? We’ll see.

 

[Glarster Red]

I think it’s a  bit cheap in today’s market As a LB I never felt comfortable that he wouldn’t make a mistake or switch off and he did a fair few times and it cost us but as a CB I felt he was pretty good and looked much more at home and was comfortable with it at his feel which worked well with a non playing CB like Flint or wright ,Bit worried that we could lose most of our defense in this transfer window.

[BTRFTG]

Talent, good attitude, woefully mismanaged. No wonder he wants out. Good luck to him.

Vynar a natural replacement ? Sheff U game, really?

WeeLee needs to pull some very good bunnies from hats real soon else what's already turning sour could become necrotic come Xmas.

 

[RedM]

This is quite weird as Mags loved it here, happy and settled in Bristol, loved the city and its people. Spoke to him after one winter match where he was so wrapped up warmly and he looked freezing, I told him he should be used to the cold better than us and he laughed and said he had spent too much time in Italy...and now if rumours are right he is heading to Moscow!!!

[BS4 on Tour...]

At least we won’t ever again have to endure the pathetic efforts to replicate that Icelandic clap thing whenever he took a throw in....’twas embarrassing and nowhere near even half right.....made I laugh...

[RedM]

Just now, BS4 on Tour... said:

At least we won’t ever again have to endure the pathetic efforts to replicate that Icelandic clap thing whenever he took a throw in....’twas embarrassing and nowhere near even half right.....made I laugh...

His song created an atmosphere though, and we did at least get the ball into the box with his throws. Another player we failed to get the best out of as far as I’m concerned. Failed him and Bristol City.

[123red1]

If Magnússon leaving means we keep Joe Bryan I'm all for it, if we sell Magnússon and Bryan and are relying on Kelly and the possible new signing of someone, then I am concerned.