City Set To Make Statment Today Regarding Meteb

[Seend Red]

'Blatantly disobeyed orders'?? This is a football club, not Dad's Army.

The club should be mature enough to be able to deal with this. It is utterly trivial compared to the difficulties that we would face if we made it to the Premier League. Johnson should be skilled enough as a manager to handle this situation and still have the player here. The suggestion that the deal might be called off just proves how far we still have to go in terms of maturity as a club and our ability to compete with the big boys. One misunderstanding and a player is sacked? Pathetic!!

I share your disapointment about Meteb not signing but lashing out at Johnson bang out of order.

Johnson as brought our club such a long way in a very short period of time, your frustration should be aimed at Meteb and Co, shouldn't it?

[Maesknoll Red]

Lets be sure about one thing. GJ cannot be seen to be losing face, weak or backing down to a player or club.

Premier League boardrooms will be watching how he handles himself on this international matter with great interest. GJ wants to be a Premier League manager and he cannot afford to be seen as weak kneed or indecisive.

The longer this charade goes on, the worse he looks. Can you imagine a certain Man U manager allowing this to happen ? No way !

Without knowing all the facts and how the player was advised by his agent and club, it's difficult to comment on the situation. But if the fact he played is the only stumbling block, it would be a shame if we couldn't resolve the issue.

As for Man U, the Ronaldo saga throughout the summer has hardly given the impression of a club in complete control of it's players and their behaviour.

[tandy]

I'm sorry, but this is nonsense! Johnston can only come out of this stronger if he deals with it professionally and takes the player anyway. That would be a sign of strength. Stamping your feet like Captain Mainwaring and cancelling the deal will only make him look weak and rather pathetic.

I can't imagine that Premier League boardrooms are the slightest bit interested in this.

No, I can't imagine Man Utd allowing the present situation to happen. They would not have allowed the situation to arise in the first place - they would probably have had a club official stuck to the player's side from the moment the deal was agreed to the moment he is fully signed up. Make no mistake, it is Bristol City who will come out of this looking stupid. We have the chance to complete one of the most important signings in the club's history, and it is in jeopardy because Gary Johnston cannot manage his way out of a storm in a teacup. All managers have to face this sort of situation, and the answer is not to sack the player. The club needs to grow up very quickly if you ask me.

I 100% percent agree with you. City have looked like complete amateurs over this matter. I would understand if Gary says no to this deal, although surely the club is bigger than him, and if we want to move forward then we must make these sort of signings. Our current strikers are complete tat, which was proved last season. Trundle is great in flashes, although flashes of brilliance in 4 games out of 50 is not a good return. Adebola is a target man, not a striker. Brooker unreliable etc.. We need proven goalscorers to complete in this league (just look at our goal difference last year).

One striker signing is definatley not enough, to shake up what we allready have. The club needs to be more agressive and act faster to ensure that players have time to settle with the squads before the season starts.

PS. I also believe we need another winger, although I wont start that thread here........

[Almondsbury_red]

I understand why people are saying they would sooner have mifsud than meteb but personally i would have meteb. clearly a very good player and could cut it in the prem otherwise boro wouldn't of been trying to sign him. Mifsud only scored 11 goals in the league that's not particularly great isit.

i would hope both of them sign as we need serious re-inforcement upfront and both players are better than what we've got.

[Big Nose]

If he signs permanently for us, he can play against who he likes.

Oh yea, I forgot:

He could play one last game against Zamalek!!!!

[potbelly]

Lets be sure about one thing. GJ cannot be seen to be losing face, weak or backing down to a player or club.

Why Not?

If GJ seriously thinks that he can take this club to the PL then he will have to face much bigger egos`s and clubs than this deal.

I`m starting to get a bit tired of this attitude.

It works ok with 20 yr olds from Div 2 clubs who think they are something special but we are talking about a highly rated International striker valued at 1.5m.

This is the type of player that we have dreamt of signing for the past decade and we seem to be happy to let him go on a point of principle?

Get real.

Personally i think this will backfire on us.

How will we feel if we still can`t score goals in a few months.

Will we be saying "We need to sign a striker in January"

Deja vu?

['Orns]

I agree el ahly take part of the blame but how you can say Meteb is the innocent party in all of this is wrong. Meteb agreed with Johnson not to play on Sunday, no one held a gun to his head and it appears from the reports coming out of Egypt that Meteb was more than happy to make one final appearance.

I'm sorry but Meteb has to take equal resposibility with el ahly, he's a grown man and knew what he was doing was the complete oposite of what he'd agreed with Lansdown and Johnson.

Would go along with pretty much all of this. However I don't think City are totally blameless. Meteb has been a silly boy, and as far as I'm concerned proved that he didn't want to play for us. As someone else put in the incredibly long thread about him - he wants to play in England, but he doesn't want to play for Bristol City. In that case we are correct in pulling the plug. Like rednready said, GJ needs to be seen to do the proper thing here, Prem chairman could well be watching, although hopefully he'll get there with us!

Sure the rights and wrongs will come out with time, but for me I think we've done the right thing here if the Meteb deal is cancelled.

[edson]

I 100% percent agree with you. City have looked like complete amateurs over this matter. I would understand if Gary says no to this deal, although surely the club is bigger than him, and if we want to move forward then we must make these sort of signings. Our current strikers are complete tat, which was proved last season. Trundle is great in flashes, although flashes of brilliance in 4 games out of 50 is not a good return. Adebola is a target man, not a striker. Brooker unreliable etc.. We need proven goalscorers to complete in this league (just look at our goal difference last year).

One striker signing is definatley not enough, to shake up what we allready have. The club needs to be more agressive and act faster to ensure that players have time to settle with the squads before the season starts.

PS. I also believe we need another winger, although I wont start that thread here........

That Angolan lad for Al Ahly looked ok the other night. Might be worth a cheeky bid.

[Rednready]

I'm sorry, but this is nonsense! Johnston can only come out of this stronger if he deals with it professionally and takes the player anyway. That would be a sign of strength. Stamping your feet like Captain Mainwaring and cancelling the deal will only make him look weak and rather pathetic.

I can't imagine that Premier League boardrooms are the slightest bit interested in this.

No, I can't imagine Man Utd allowing the present situation to happen. They would not have allowed the situation to arise in the first place - they would probably have had a club official stuck to the player's side from the moment the deal was agreed to the moment he is fully signed up. Make no mistake, it is Bristol City who will come out of this looking stupid. We have the chance to complete one of the most important signings in the club's history, and it is in jeopardy because Gary Johnston cannot manage his way out of a storm in a teacup. All managers have to face this sort of situation, and the answer is not to sack the player. The club needs to grow up very quickly if you ask me.

You say I'me talking nonsense, then set about agreeing in principal with my comments ?

[westy]

Why Not?

If GJ seriously thinks that he can take this club to the PL then he will have to face much bigger egos`s and clubs than this deal.

I`m starting to get a bit tired of this attitude.

It works ok with 20 yr olds from Div 2 clubs who think they are something special but we are talking about a highly rated International striker valued at 1.5m.

This is the type of player that we have dreamt of signing for the past decade and we seem to be happy to let him go on a point of principle?

Get real.

Personally i think this will backfire on us.

How will we feel if we still can`t score goals in a few months.

Will we be saying "We need to sign a striker in January"

Deja vu?

I think you are totally wrong - the actions have brought doubt into the equation and therefore more risk in the deal, i think it would backfire on us if we signed him for example when he gets substituted actions ala Ghaly & Mido!!

What would you do if it was your money and reputation??

Well done gary again on how he's handled the situation and also moving very quickly to capture Mifsud who i think will be a great signing.

[RedM]

Trouble is with this whole deal is that do we need/want Emad more than he wants us?

Ok he wants to play in the Prem and they aren't interested in taking him directly from Egypt (wonder why!), but we have invested a whole lot of time and money that we won't get back and still finish with needing to buy a striker at the end of it. We thought we had a great deal and that is why we have persisted whereas in the past we have walked away. Also it's not easy to judge a player who you haven't seen that often. Look at Carle he was the real deal in January only for things not to be as first thought.

[scrumpyhead]

I'm sorry, but this is nonsense! Johnston can only come out of this stronger if he deals with it professionally and takes the player anyway. That would be a sign of strength. Stamping your feet like Captain Mainwaring and cancelling the deal will only make him look weak and rather pathetic.

I can't imagine that Premier League boardrooms are the slightest bit interested in this.

No, I can't imagine Man Utd allowing the present situation to happen. They would not have allowed the situation to arise in the first place - they would probably have had a club official stuck to the player's side from the moment the deal was agreed to the moment he is fully signed up. Make no mistake, it is Bristol City who will come out of this looking stupid. We have the chance to complete one of the most important signings in the club's history, and it is in jeopardy because Gary Johnston cannot manage his way out of a storm in a teacup. All managers have to face this sort of situation, and the answer is not to sack the player. The club needs to grow up very quickly if you ask me.

Good shout, I'm with you all the way

[Chessels Chick]

This has come from my mate how works around the corner from AG. There are rumours that GJ is going to make a statment about Meteb today. rumours saying Mifsud is the replacement for Meteb.

Just wish he would hurry up and make this statement whatever it is going to say I now don't really care - just hurry up as this is doing my head in and need to do some work today!!

[bernie from barrow gurney]

Trouble is with this whole deal is that do we need/want Emad more than he wants us?

Ok he wants to play in the Prem and they aren't interested in taking him directly from Egypt (wonder why!), but we have invested a whole lot of time and money that we won't get back and still finish with needing to buy a striker at the end of it. We thought we had a great deal and that is why we have persisted whereas in the past we have walked away. Also it's not easy to judge a player who you haven't seen that often. Look at Carle he was the real deal in January only for things not to be as first thought.

"what doesn't kill you makes you stronger". It hasn't been time wasted. Tested our resolve, perhaps but City is a proud strong club and no player is going to change that whoever they are. All this has done is even better prepared the club on how to deal with timewasters and hopefully they will see these kinds of situations a bit further out than before.

Here's another proverb "Many things which first appear as too good to be true, usually are"

[Rednready]

Why Not?

If GJ seriously thinks that he can take this club to the PL then he will have to face much bigger egos`s and clubs than this deal.

I`m starting to get a bit tired of this attitude.

It works ok with 20 yr olds from Div 2 clubs who think they are something special but we are talking about a highly rated International striker valued at 1.5m.

This is the type of player that we have dreamt of signing for the past decade and we seem to be happy to let him go on a point of principle?

Get real.

Personally i think this will backfire on us.

How will we feel if we still can`t score goals in a few months.

Will we be saying "We need to sign a striker in January"

Deja vu?

The post was referring to GJ'S perspective, not BCFC's . Let me replay it for you, its a matter of GJ's ego or the the right player for the club. Fergie at Man U has a pile of money and can afford to walk over individual players. BCFC and GJ, who does work for us, have a limited budget and the chance of a class player at a good price needs to be taken.

As for your "get real" comment, perhaps it is a heated topic and I will forgive your rudeness.

[LoyalRed]

Purely speculation but I have a tendency to believe this is nothing to do with Emad Meteb but his agent's greed. I expect Al Aly asked him to play one last game even though Bristol City advised him he couldn't. Then they spoke to his agent and gave him some money to convince Emad that he should play in this game. Emad probably thought that Bristol City had agreed to let him play which is naive on his part to assume this but as most of the Bristol City officials were away in Portugal he wasn't able to contact them to check. There is no way Gary Johnson could work with a player that had an agent like this so the deal is dead.

[garlicbread]

Purely speculation but I have a tendency to believe this is nothing to do with Emad Meteb but his agent's greed. I expect Al Aly asked him to play one last game even though Bristol City advised him he couldn't. Then they spoke to his agent and gave him some money to convince Emad that he should play in this game. Emad probably thought that Bristol City had agreed to let him play which is naive on his part to assume this but as most of the Bristol City officials were away in Portugal he wasn't able to contact them to check. There is no way Gary Johnson could work with a player that had an agent like this so the deal is dead.

Folly on our part if there wasn't an official with Emad at all times

[redfred]

I'm sorry, but this is nonsense! Johnston can only come out of this stronger if he deals with it professionally and takes the player anyway. That would be a sign of strength. Stamping your feet like Captain Mainwaring and cancelling the deal will only make him look weak and rather pathetic.

I can't imagine that Premier League boardrooms are the slightest bit interested in this.

No, I can't imagine Man Utd allowing the present situation to happen. They would not have allowed the situation to arise in the first place - they would probably have had a club official stuck to the player's side from the moment the deal was agreed to the moment he is fully signed up. Make no mistake, it is Bristol City who will come out of this looking stupid. We have the chance to complete one of the most important signings in the club's history, and it is in jeopardy because Gary Johnston cannot manage his way out of a storm in a teacup. All managers have to face this sort of situation, and the answer is not to sack the player. The club needs to grow up very quickly if you ask me.

This isn't nonsense at all. Gary JOHNSON has every right to be wary of a player who shows so much arrogance that he blatantly put his own future at a new club in jeapordy. If Metab's like this now what's he going to be like when it comes to expecting him to return on time from International duty and pre season etc. He has classic 'i don't give a ###### about anyone but me' written all over him. I was 50/50 on whether i wanted him to return, but now i'd be happy to see the deal scuppered. And if it did go through, what message does that send out to the rest of the players, who Johnson has worked so hard to bring into line and subsequently foster such great team spirit? Not a good message i'd say.

Whilst this subject was always going to provoke adverse reaction, i don't think it's fair to criticise Johnson in what are exceptional circumstances. You can accuse him of not being able to handle Premier League players, but lets be honest, how many behave as appalling as Metab? Not many.....

[pdgifford64]

This statement can`t come soon enough. Hopefully this meteb fiasco can be put to bed, one way or the other. If we don`t sign him then it`ll be disappointing in that this lad is the sort of quality that would show just how far this club has come in the past few years. Worryingly though it does raise the question as to whether GJ could have kept a handle on his `off field` activities. This lad is an idol in Egypt. You only have to look at the multitude of youtube clips to see that. Anyway, thats not likely to be a problem now.

I`m finding it hard to get fired up about the likely signing of Mifsud. Can`t see how he can be classed as ` as good as meteb` so to be spoken about as the alternative is worrying, but, i guess with the meteb deal falling through it would have had to be someone pretty special.

The point i wanted to make though is this.

I have in the past and continue to be a staunch supporter of SL and GJ and even CS has his moments ( i think !!). It would appear that one of the few facts we know about this whole fiasco is that at no point during Metebs visit was there a contract signed, nothing, zilch put on paper. Now many of you would say ` but a verbal agreement was made ` etc etc. Well in todays world when you work in a business where £M are involved and in a case where, as it would seem, neither party seems capable of actually talking directly to each other (absurd), thats just plain naive. And i`m not bothered in saying that it shows a certain naivety on the part of SL, GJ et al in breaking the news and making a big song and dance about us signing him when probably the only thing he did sign was his hotel bill, and probably not even that.

As the summer has gone on, we have sat patiently, some more than others, waiting for news of who would sign and when. Repeatedly we are told that irons are in the fire, plates are spinning but we will not be told details for fear of jeopardising potential deals. So why oh why then was the decision made to go completely against the grain and have the interview, the photoshoot with the shirt....when all knew that nothing had been signed.

Surely the sensible option would have been to have continued to have kept quiet until such time as contracts had been signed and his registration had been cancelled with Ahly. If nothing else, it wouldn`t have mattered to us about him playing in that match, it wouldn`t have been public knowledge that GJ had requested that he not play in that match.

While the question of apportioning blame seems mainly to be directed at the agents, Ahly and the player himself, City haven`t done themselves any favours in this fiasco.

PDG

[LoyalRed]

Folly on our part if there wasn't an official with Emad at all times

True, but there needs to be an element of trust between Gary Johnson and the player. There can't be officials watching over every player when they go out for drink on a day off.

Anyway, I think it was the proposal of English Lessons that put him off...he didn't want to go back to school

[cidercity1987]

I find it hard to understand that GJ would pull the plug on signing his No.1 transfer target just because Meteb played a game of football.

In GJ we trust, but he's going to have to learn how to deal with ego's and stars if he wants to become a top top manager.

[BASSO]

It will be a disgrace if we don't sign Meteb at this stage in the deal. Prepare yourselves for some anti-Johnson statements from me if it is true.

[Jimmy]

Am I the only one thinking that allowing the transfer to go through now is actually a bigger risk that letting an International calibre striker slip from our grasp?

Gary Johnson has been a revelation for this club and I think he has earned our respect and trust. If he decides that this deal will undermine his authority, not send out the right signals, go against his methods or he just wants to pull out of the deal on principle, then I'm sorry if you think I'm naive but I fully back his judgement.

For me, pushing through with signing Mateab is a much larger risk than what we may lack without him in the team. I think we can safely agree that once you cross GJ you do very well to overcome that hurdle and it is now my fear that if the club go onto complete the signing of Mateab he will be under the microscope at all times. It would only take one drink too many or five minutes late and he may find himself frozen out of the first team in a new country, with a foreign language, with little to no support.

Of course you can question the way in which Johnson conducts his business but I fear that if Mateab were to sign he would already be walking a tight-rope at the club.

[frenchred]

I find it hard to understand that GJ would pull the plug on signing his No.1 transfer target just because Meteb played a game of football.

In GJ we trust, but he's going to have to learn how to deal with ego's and stars if he wants to become a top top manager.

Unfortunately this is his major downside. City also have not covered themselves in glory on this transfer and many other dealings in the past

[BITW]

Why Not?

If GJ seriously thinks that he can take this club to the PL then he will have to face much bigger egos`s and clubs than this deal.

I`m starting to get a bit tired of this attitude.

It works ok with 20 yr olds from Div 2 clubs who think they are something special but we are talking about a highly rated International striker valued at 1.5m.

This is the type of player that we have dreamt of signing for the past decade and we seem to be happy to let him go on a point of principle?

Get real.

Personally i think this will backfire on us.

How will we feel if we still can`t score goals in a few months.

Will we be saying "We need to sign a striker in January"

Deja vu?

Maybe its to do with th fact that he has completley disobeyed GJ before even kickng a ball for the club. Surprisingly enough, I don't think that is the kind of player Johnson wants in his dressing room. Of course we would have loved this signing to go through, but atthe end of the day if Emad thinks he's bigger and better than BCFC, he can bugger off.

[garlicbread]

True, but there needs to be an element of trust between Gary Johnson and the player. There can't be officials watching over every player when they go out for drink on a day off.

I think its v. unprofessional on our part. Why do the deal for such big money and let your prize asset back into the clutches of the selling club when they clearly wanted him to play...especially as there were probably no guarentees that he definately wouldnt be asked to play...Ludicrous!

Sounds like Meteb got blagged by Ahly as I doubt he would take instruction from us not to play and then decide to play.

[richie1]

does any one on here actually know for a fact whether it was the club the player or who ever id guess NO unless gj has a alias on here i really hope the deal would go thro but as usuall I BELIVE IN GJ BEST MANAGER OUTSIDE THE PREM so lets all trust in him AND ALWAYS BELIVE

[garlicbread]

does any one on here actually know for a fact whether it was the club the player or who ever id guess NO unless gj has a alias on here i really hope the deal would go thro but as usuall I BELIVE IN GJ BEST MANAGER OUTSIDE THE PREM so lets all trust in him AND ALWAYS BELIVE

What?? I cant make out what youre saying

[Taunton_City]

After saying "He is a Bristol City player" and having him holding a Bristol City shirt at Ashton gate we are going to be a laughing stock if GJ/SL do pull the plug......

[Jimmy]

I think its v. unprofessional on our part. Why do the deal for such big money and let your prize asset back into the clutches of the selling club when they clearly wanted him to play? Ludicrous!

I think it is more naive than un-professional.

Clearly in hindsight the club should have waited until after Sundays game to finalise the deal and go public. But i've never seen anything like this in football before and I cant imagine, on the day the deal was announced, that anyone truly felt a situation like this may transpire.