Quick Point

[Nibor]

I understand that a manager can't (officially) meet a player until after a fee is agreed. However, GJ reversed his decision on both these players after he had recommended to SL that we sign them (and after the negotiations had finshed). Strange.

Not strange at all given the circumstances.

[Dynamite Red]

but why is strange when you have been given the explanations on the OS? Mifsud took the piss and brought in laywers once he had verbally/textually agreed - the egyptian played a game against manager's will. What is your point? where is this conspiracy?

Exactly, what is differcult to understand here, yes we agreed terms, thought both would be good signings but unfortunayely one player went against GJ wishes and played another game and another tried to re-negotiate the terms of the deal after initially agreeing terms. You can't blame GJ for questioning there commitment and desire to play for BCFC.

We have been unlucky with this happening twice in a row but its far more important to sign the right players than just "push transfers through" to appease impatient and over expectant fans.

[Seend Red]

dele's goal scoring record is respectable, trundles record is fantastic(albeit in a lower division!)i have every confidence should these be our ain strikers they will be good enough to score goals in this division. otherwise why would GJ have bought them???

I agree that Dele will always chip in with a share of goals but he certainly isn't going to score you 20 a season, we've already had a season with Trundle at Championship level and let's be honest, he struggled. Again I have no doubt he'll chip in with a few but he just dosn't have what need to succeed at this level to become a top striker.

Again you assume everything Johnson touches turns to gold which isn't necessarily true! Johnson is very good at putting together workman like sides who all graft and chizel out results but has he ever signed a striker that been a roaring success?

We need to go to the next level to get proven quality at this level or above but Johnson seems to to be having issues with these sorts of players, now why is that?

If you've attended any of the recent pre-seasons then you'll know how desperate we are for a decent striker or two.

[PhatWill]

Did you read http://www.bcfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,1...1343848,00.html ?

It states that we have signed Meteb. We then subsequently unsign Meteb. You call that acting with dignity and professionalism??? GJ stated that one reason he cancelled the Meteb deal was that he wasn't convinced he would settle in Bristol. Did he not think to ask this question of a foreign player at the outset? You call that acting with dignity and professionalism???

GJ states that the reason the Mifsud deal has been cancelled is that the agent and lawyer started asking things that he had never come across before. What exactly? Presumably GJ told SL about the Saturday text that Mifsud had sent him thus provoking SL to announce the signing for Monday at the Open Day. By Tuesday, the deal was off. You call that acting with dignity and professionalism???

I don't know any more than GJ is feeding us but I feel there is a lot more to this that we aren't being told. You call that acting with dignity and professionalism???

What the hell are you on about?

For one last time, it was Meteb and Mifsud (and their representatives) that acted unprofessionally and without dignity. I suggest you look up the meanings of those words as judging by the above you seem to be a little confused.

[maidenheadred]

Did you read http://www.bcfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,1...1343848,00.html ?

It states that we have signed Meteb. We then subsequently unsign Meteb. You call that acting with dignity and professionalism??? GJ stated that one reason he cancelled the Meteb deal was that he wasn't convinced he would settle in Bristol. Did he not think to ask this question of a foreign player at the outset? You call that acting with dignity and professionalism???

GJ states that the reason the Mifsud deal has been cancelled is that the agent and lawyer started asking things that he had never come across before. What exactly? Presumably GJ told SL about the Saturday text that Mifsud had sent him thus provoking SL to announce the signing for Monday at the Open Day. By Tuesday, the deal was off. You call that acting with dignity and professionalism???

I don't know any more than GJ is feeding us but I feel there is a lot more to this that we aren't being told. You call that acting with dignity and professionalism???

do you also think the moon landing was a fake and that M15 killed princess Di?

i don't think anything here is that hard to understand. Clearly i'm wrong, and for many it is...

[CodeRed]

do you also think the moon landing was a fake and that M15 killed princess Di?

But the moon landing was a fake,

and MI5 did kill Diana

surely everybody knows that?

CR

[norwichrobin]

"not johnsons sort of player, can cover a multitude of sins. seem to remmember a couple of our current squad not acting like angels a couple of seasons ago down town, but are now saints, one rule for one..........

Personally think eastwood was our man would knock his granny over for a goal, as long as they do there best for city on the pitch whats the problem? george best not our sort of player...........

devils advocate a bit lads and lasses but god I'm fed up with it all.

[Jimmy]

Bristol Boy;

"We are all entitled as paying customers.No arguments with GJ's record, however that doesn't make him omnipotent and as long as it doesn't turn into personal abuse, that focus and criticism goes with the territory."

Yes of course any paying customer is entitled to their opinion and yes of course GJ is not omnipotent, two things which should go without saying really. However there are a great deal more people who pay their money and are able to see 'the bigger picture' rather than merely working on the process of Mifsud is a striker, City need a striker, City don't sign a striker, let's take our frustrations out on manager, chairman etc.

It's not a matter of people not having the right to question a manager's decisions, it's a matter of why cant people see the fantastic job that the manager has done at this club before throwing their toys out of the pram because we havent signed a player who has messed us about.

"Then you must be able to see that the two things of whch you speak aren't, in any way, mutually exclusive."

Well of course, but arent you in affect arguing against yourself. No the two things are not mutually exclusive, far from it. Johnson just holds dear team ethos and getting in 'the right type of player' ahead of signing someone with perceived greater talent who is more likely to disrupt the character he has built within the dressing room. McIndoe would walk into virtually every team in this division and, not only that, but he has fallen out with GJ in the past. He still came here, he still viewed us as a 'step up' from a club widely conceived as a 'bigger' one, Wolves. There can be little doubt that first and foremost in his assesment was the ability and mentality of a manager who has risked public condemnation en route to bringing progress and success to a club who had stagnated to lower league perennial under-achievers.

[dezgimed]

you don't think having the "right" player is important? didnt we just get to within 90 mins of the prem with a team that basically performed well beyond the sum of their parts, and with a professionalism and 95 min fitness we've never seen before?

I didnt say that. I'm asking who is going to be the right player, as currently the supposed higher level players are all wrong.

[Portland Bill]

Meteab, Mifsud and Lita has too been mentioned...

Why arent they 'right'?

Is it because they're a level above what Johnson is used to working with?

We have an entire squad that is used to grafting hard to get places so have a decent attitude, but ultimately aren't Prem quality and have spent most their careers at a lowish level, so are we ever going to find a top end quality player who IS right for us?

The 2 we have now missed out on, could well have fired us to the Premier League. Would anyone really give a shite if they did and were a tad arrogant?

There's protecting your dressing room (which if is as strong as we're led to believe shouldnt be influenced by the minority), and there's being fussy for being fussys sake!

Tad worried about who is left for us now?

:noexpression:

But you don't have to MANAGE them for 3? years. The manager is STANDING up to these big time charlies and i am proud he is, i feel even prouder to be a City fan at the moment. Well done the manager.

[SecretSam]

Hmmm

As someone who's studied management techniques, I think GJ's a pretty shrewd guy - he'd rather have a team of players who give 100% but are playing at their full ability all the time, than a team of highly talented players who never give up their full potential.

I think his recent decisions are in many ways a risk, if we fail to do well this season he'll take all the flack for not making the right signings. But given last season's heroics, achieved with very moderate resources, I'd say we should trust him. He seems to be a man who is very much in charge of the dressing room, and that's the reason for his success. He won't take a risk of losing that respect and control for the sake of one signing.

I'm guessing underneath the cockney geezer front, Mr J is not one to be messed with.

Given what he's done with the club, I support him 100%. Let's not get above our station...last season was incredible, but I think this season will be more like reality: we'd better be ready to graft and accept mid-table. Consolidation.

I met a Derby fan recently who said the Prem was the worst thing that could have happened at that time, as they weren't ready. I don't want the reds to go the same way. I'd rather no signings and stability and solidity, rather than signings for signings' sake which de-stabilise us...

[Godzilla]

I haven't agreed with everything that GJ has done in his time here: I still think he could have got more out of Marcus Stewart and I still believe there have been times in the past when he favoured his son. So I'm not a GJ happy clapper. But...

Meteb knew he shouldn't play, but did. Mifsud said he was coming here to sign, then didn't.

Whatever the details (and reading between the lines it may have been a release clause that GJ didn't like with Mifsud) here are two players who broke their word before they even joined us. I can understand why GJ decided he'd rather not have them at the club.

I've also had my doubts about whether GJ's "my way or the highway" style would work with better players, who might have "attitude". But then I think about Michael McIndoe and Lee Trundle. LT in particular might have had attitude - own image rights , £1m fee etc - but I never once saw any evidence of him being stroppy and he always gave 100% on the pitch. It hasn't quite worked for him yet, but I'm still glad to have him at the club. And MM allegedly had attitude in the past - but I've never seen anyone as fired up on the pitch, wanting it as much. Ipswich away, 5 - 0 down, McIndoe sprints 60 yards to stop an attack. So GJ can work with these sort of players - if they're the right ones. "If you want to motivate players, find players who can be motivated" - like MM, like LT, like Marvin Elliott, like a few others.

So I trust GJ here. I still think we're a striker or two short, but I'd rather wait until August 31st if need be to get one who is good enough on and off the pitch, so that the team and the squad are stronger at the end of 2008 than they were at the beginning. I think they will be.

Absolutely 100% correct. Many people questioned the signing of Trundle as going against the 'Johnson way'. The same could be said for McIndoe. However, all season both have conducted themselves absolutely superbly.

Even now opposition fans despise Trundle, calling him a lazy, fat show-boater. Just like many of you did before he signed. Yet since signing his attitude has been first class. Don't get me wrong, on the pitch he still needs to do a bit more to justify being here. But he has always been a true proffesional at this club, and for that he has my full respect. At the end of last season he was superb; he got himself fit, he got himself in the team and then he got goals.

That just proves that there's almost always more to a player than meets the eye. It's nothing to do with working with 'big players' or 'star names', it's about working with people who have the right attitude to be here. We've spent two and a half years building this dressing room and it's brought us massive success... Why are people suddenly arguing against that philosophy? Because it's always easier to be negative and be proved wrong than it is to be positive.

The fact is, only SL, GJ and the rest of his staff can make those judgements right now. And so far they've been absolutely spot on. And that's why I trust them, and that's why you should too.

[maidenheadred]

yur right who is right for us...we should have brought in at least 5 top qual players I'm sorry but loyaty in football doesnt get you promoted..meteb was a good deal and should have gone through no matter what ..he was bound to want to play one last tiume why did we say he couldnt? trundle was right for us for 1m and look whatr he gave us?

wembley playoff final in our first season? Remember that?

maybe not so much Lee personally (although that goal against Palace...) but was part of a squad of proper professionals who collectively operating above the sum of their parts. That's what GJ has brought - and he's brought that by buying players "right for us".

how can you and fellow (no doubt champ manager playing) "sign someone now, at any cost" types cant remember 1998 is utterly utterly baffling to me. We had a great squad with a great work ethic - we signed loads of players on inflated fees and wages, destroyed the dressing room - and look what happened? were you a fans then? if so - how on earth cant you remember?

"if you want motivated players, buy players who can be motivated" is the sign in GJ's office. just THINK ABOUT THAT for a while. It's not hard.

[maidenheadred]

I didnt say that. I'm asking who is going to be the right player, as currently the supposed higher level players are all wrong.

that doesn't make sense.

[Portland Bill]

Did you read http://www.bcfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,1...1343848,00.html ?

It states that we have signed Meteb. We then subsequently unsign Meteb. You call that acting with dignity and professionalism??? GJ stated that one reason he cancelled the Meteb deal was that he wasn't convinced he would settle in Bristol. Did he not think to ask this question of a foreign player at the outset? You call that acting with dignity and professionalism???

GJ states that the reason the Mifsud deal has been cancelled is that the agent and lawyer started asking things that he had never come across before. What exactly? Presumably GJ told SL about the Saturday text that Mifsud had sent him thus provoking SL to announce the signing for Monday at the Open Day. By Tuesday, the deal was off. You call that acting with dignity and professionalism???

I don't know any more than GJ is feeding us but I feel there is a lot more to this that we aren't being told. You call that acting with dignity and professionalism???

So you trust the players/agents more than the manager then? if GJ thought signing them was right then they would be here now, he didnt. He knows ALL that went on......you don't. FACT.

[NickJ]

fully agree unfortunately........it's starting to get VERY concerning not to mention EMBRASSING

Yes its very embarrasing that we've gone from near relegation to the 4th division to almost in the Premier League in less than 3 seasons, very embarrasing that.

Or is it embarrasing criticising a to date very succesful manager before a ball has even been kicked in the new season?

Hmm...

[dezgimed]

that doesn't make sense.

Parlez-vous Anglais?

[Chivs]

What the hell are you on about?

For one last time, it was Meteb and Mifsud (and their representatives) that acted unprofessionally and without dignity. I suggest you look up the meanings of those words as judging by the above you seem to be a little confused.

So, to be absolutely clear, you think that signing Meteb and then unsigning him almost immediately was dignified and professional? I don't deny that maybe Meteb and Mifsud and their representatives potentially acted unprofessionally (we don't know of course except you seem to know...)

do you also think the moon landing was a fake and that M15 killed princess Di?

i don't think anything here is that hard to understand. Clearly i'm wrong, and for many it is...

As it happens I think you've provided bad examples Too many shadows for a start.

There's nothing hard here to understand. What are you struggling with?

So you trust the players/agents more than the manager then? if GJ thought signing them was right then they would be here now, he didnt. He knows ALL that went on......you don't. FACT.

I have no idea what the players/agents have said on this. Have you? GJ did think signing them was right. That's why we signed one and announced the signing of the other. He knows what he knows, and no more. We know what he has told us, and no more. There's always two sides to a story. FACT.