Betty Swallocks

10 minutes ago, formerly known as ivan said:

Cus you offer him what he wants, much like why he is signing now

You’re looking at it the wrong way. 
 

Max Bird could have ran his contract down and took a bigger signing on fee in the summer. Instead he’s committed himself to Bristol City.

1 minute ago, formerly known as ivan said:

Ok, minimal fee then…

Do you think we are paying less now than they would get in the summer?

That would depend on the fee. If we have paid around £1.5m then it wouldn’t be much less in the summer. 

1 minute ago, formerly known as ivan said:

Then wait to the summer and pay nothing then given that’s when we will have him anyway?

I don't mean to sound like a broken record but we wouldn’t have been paying nothing in the summer. 

Just now, RedRock said:

So we pay £2.5 million for a player we could get for free in the Summer? Take the risks of injury, loss of form etc.

Am I missing something? His agent wouldn’t take off £2.5 million from his players wage demands to compensate. 

Bonkers. 

So, basically, it seems we go with what we had at the start of the window. Ideal. Top 6 here we come, whereas I thought we were going to push the boat out on transfers to clinch one of the auto places. 

We wouldn’t have got him for free in the summer.

I’d be taking the £2.5m rumours with a huge pinch of salt.

11 minutes ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

Not really no.

He is 23 so a good age yet with reasonable room for growth.

He has League One plus solid Championship experience.

I've been a critic of the current structure but this could be an impressive addition.. Bird and Knight back together another positive.

Derby a Category One Academy too, all helps.

The best way to look at it is, we’ve identified Max Bird to be Matty James’ successor, succession planning is good and something that should be praised.

Derby were happy to risk waiting for the summer when they would have received a decent compensation package. 
We wouldn’t have been able to get the deal without the loan back being included so rather than risk losing someone that we clearly rate to a rival in the summer we’ve done a deal that suits both us and Derby. 
Had MB gone elsewhere in the summer, we could have ended up having to fork out more trying to get someone else to replace MJ. 

Just now, cidercity1987 said:

A weird one on every level

We pay a fee for a player we could get for free in the summer and then loan him back so he doesn't even play for us in the period he's cost so much? WTF,  monumental waste of money and don't forget 5 months ago, I am sure we were one attacking midfielder away from a play off challenging team. Pearson denied the money.

 

From the players perspective Derby could get promoted and then he has to leave his boyhood team of 13 years?

WEIRD WEIRD WEIRD

Only winners are Derby here 

We wouldn’t be getting him for nothing in the summer. 
 

The amount of games he’s played already, Derby would have been due a hefty compensation sum.

Smart recruiting, getting in ahead of everyone else in the summer. 

2 minutes ago, A Horse With No Name said:

At the Forest game there were dozens stood in the aisle between S23 and 24 at the back meaning people sat there couldn't see. Got very heated until a row of stewards came up and simply stood with them, making the situation worse. I can't understand why they didn't demand to see their ticket, to determine where they should be sat, and then hoiked them out of S23. 

They were checking tickets but as with anything there are work arounds. 

9 hours ago, A Horse With No Name said:

Don't you think the hundreds stood at the back of the Dolman could be from the SS as there sure as hell ain't any empty seats in the Dolman. 

.

There and section 82. There’s definitely a lot in there who have season tickets in other parts of the South Stand. 

10 minutes ago, W-S-M Seagull said:

Basically City have to pay for all the tickets for whatever allocation we have. So if we ask for 4.5k tickets and only sell 3k then City still need to pay for the 1.5k tickets that are not sold. 

Yes thats really annoyed me. 

A Forest fan in one of the group chats I’m in seems to think this is a SAG/police decision. 
2800 was all Blackpool were offered in round 3 as well. 

12 minutes ago, RobImps said:

 

Also needs addressing why we’re being hit for £17 when they had it as a tenner.

That will because City decided to charge £10 for season ticket holders to attend while Forest have decided on £17, it’s as simple as that.

A Friday afternoon off work to have a pub crawl from town down to the ground, what’s not to like?

Wouldn’t want it every week but happy to have 3/4 home Friday night games over the course of the season. 

10 minutes ago, richwwtk said:

Is there any possibility of a 'reminiscing about how football was better with violence involved' subforum where people can boast about how hard they used to be without the rest of us having to put up with this brainless mush?

No one’s forcing you to read it. 

2 minutes ago, alexukhc said:

No replays…

4th round still has replays. It’s only from round 5 onwards that games are decided on the day. 
 

I think from next season it will be from round 3 onwards. 

1 minute ago, redkev said:

Apparently lots a family bar with women & kids , well it certainly wasn’t when we walked past before the game 

They definitely got what they deserved that day. Bullies trying to pick off City fans walking past in their 1’s or 2’s, weren’t so big when up against a bit of force. 

Heard the £10 ticket offer hasn’t been taken up in large numbers so they are now offering a free ticket with every out of date bottle of Fanta purchased. 

5 minutes ago, Engvall’s Splinter said:

I thought though that our “top 6 squad” would be supplemented by the next batch of youngsters that were supposed to be “even better” ? 

The next batch of highly rated young un’s are currently around the 17/18 age bracket. 
 

The signings of Stokes/Murphy could well be to bridge the gap. 

1 minute ago, Adge's Cider Mug said:

But what size were his shorts?

In his big shorts! 

11 minutes ago, Silvio Dante said:

Welcome Frank Sidebottom.

I’ll be saddened if it’s not the case that when it all goes well and he plays his first Premier League game, if he rings his parents on the Sunday and his first line isn’t “guess who was on match of the day”

10 minutes ago, brady bunch said:

I think it may have sold out? as it was only offering hospitably on the website when I looked earlier? (I have 3 sons, so the posh dining option is not an option, even if I could make it to the game, which I can't!)

Some blocks left plus unsold season ticket holder seats about to be released at midday.

2 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

From what we are led to believe, his early weeks here will be about getting him up to speed physically, so he will be spending a lot of time inside the HPC.

Given his season finished in October, would it be fair to assume that he’s doing his own mini pre-season plan? 

10 minutes ago, brady bunch said:

Hi All,

Its sold out and I heard that it is not on TV? and assume as its the cup, it will not be on Robins TV !

Anyone know how I can watch or stream it, happy to pay a subscription, but I just would prefer not to be scrambling around looking for dodgy steams that drop in and out and have tonnes of adverts for even more dodgy websites?

Thanks in advance for any help given (BTW - yes I am a season ticker holder, but also an exile away from City and cannot make it to the game!)

The game hasn’t sold out yet. 
 

Edit - Apologies, I totally missed the last sentence. 

11 hours ago, REDOXO said:

 

It is highly unusual to have an unannounced loan back already in place as he would have had a medical and a fee agreed and unless we have a further secret agreement with Aldershot not to announce the sale it is highly (I can not emphasize this enough) unlikely that has happened! 

Or am I way off base. 

There could be a few reasons why it’s not been announced before but it does sound like the deal was done and dusted on Friday. 

32 minutes ago, REDOXO said:

Do you think? Are you reporting we have an unannounced loan back deal and he is still registered with the FA as an Aldershot player?

It could be all done and dusted and we are just waiting to announce it or it’s all sorted bar the signing of the deal. Either way, him playing yesterday won’t have any bearing on if he will be a City player or not. 

On 20/01/2024 at 16:06, REDOXO said:

Playing for Aldershot and scored today! Sorry Ian

It pains me to stick up for Ian Gay but Josh Stokes playing for Aldershot yesterday doesn’t have any bearing on if he has signed, or not.