Say Basso Doesn't Go Anywhere...

[Dave Youell]

With all the talk of GJ saying he's not in our plans right now and it's hard to see him coming back, even if he withdraws his transfer request.

He hasn't said it's impossible.

So, what would it take for you, as supporters to forgive and forget (assuming that no one comes in for him and he has no other options)

A full apology?

Sign a new 4 year deal with no pay increase

A pay cut?!?!

Anything?

What would it take for you?

[kachina]

Personally don't think he has done anything wrong. He wants to better himself. he hasn't said he doesn't want to play for Bristol City, he has said he would like to have the chance to play at a better level if someone wants him. It's apparently clear no one wants him, so I'm sure he could focus his sights on proving he can cut it in a league above. The chances are we won't get promoted this season, but just because someone wants to better themselves doesn't mean you stand in their way. By not playing Basso doesn't achieve anything, no one will buy someone who isn't playing or getting a chance to prove their worth. He is the best keeper we have at this club at present, and therefore he should be between the sticks. If he wants a Premier League more he is more likely to try harder than ever to prove he's worth it, than not try and all scouts and managers think he is rubbish.

Until someone better is brought in, Basso should be in the squad. But that's just my opinion.

[Kingswoodactor]

Signing a 4 year extension on minimum wage @ £5.73p per hour and a written apology to me and all my family.

[cider head]

Simple.

Sign the generous deal that was offered to him at the age of 34 get your head down in training and be 100%

committed when playing between the sticks if not, ta ta, thanks for the memories.

I can understand the ambition to play in the prem but he stands a better chance trying with city than a transfer

and sitting on the bench with someone else.

[Frome Red]

Personally don't think he has done anything wrong. He wants to better himself. he hasn't said he doesn't want to play for Bristol City, he has said he would like to have the chance to play at a better level if someone wants him. It's apparently clear no one wants him, so I'm sure he could focus his sights on proving he can cut it in a league above. The chances are we won't get promoted this season, but just because someone wants to better themselves doesn't mean you stand in their way. By not playing Basso doesn't achieve anything, no one will buy someone who isn't playing or getting a chance to prove their worth. He is the best keeper we have at this club at present, and therefore he should be between the sticks. If he wants a Premier League more he is more likely to try harder than ever to prove he's worth it, than not try and all scouts and managers think he is rubbish.

Until someone better is brought in, Basso should be in the squad. But that's just my opinion.

I think why most people don't want him now is the fact that it's all about money he would move to another championship team for more money so that's not exactly improving yourself just your bank balance for him. i would be happy with a full apoligy to the fans and squad and a new contract on current salary but neither ain't going to happen

[Pederho ll]

As long as he is being paid by BCFC, he and Gerken are our best goal keeping options and GJ should be working with him to ensure he is ready to face Preston NE either in the starting line-up (very unlikley of course) or more probable on the bench! I can see why GJ is trying to distance him from the team and to a degree I agree, but not to the detriment of our results.

[SE23Red]

Personally don't think he has done anything wrong. He wants to better himself. he hasn't said he doesn't want to play for Bristol City, he has said he would like to have the chance to play at a better level if someone wants him. It's apparently clear no one wants him, so I'm sure he could focus his sights on proving he can cut it in a league above. The chances are we won't get promoted this season, but just because someone wants to better themselves doesn't mean you stand in their way. By not playing Basso doesn't achieve anything, no one will buy someone who isn't playing or getting a chance to prove their worth. He is the best keeper we have at this club at present, and therefore he should be between the sticks. If he wants a Premier League more he is more likely to try harder than ever to prove he's worth it, than not try and all scouts and managers think he is rubbish.

Until someone better is brought in, Basso should be in the squad. But that's just my opinion.

I'm sure all of our players want to better themselves. At least I hope they do. There is a huge difference between wanting to play at the highest level and handing in a written transfer request two weeks before the season starts. Basso will have known exactly what to expect when he did so. If handing in a written request was treated as no big deal players would be doing it as soon as they were dropped, as soon as they were linked to a bigger club in a tabloid, or as soon as GJ had anything bad to say to them in the dressing room. It would be chaos.

Basso has taken a huge risk and as the days go by it seems it was an unnecessary and misguided one.

[BCFC_Dan]

I don't think it is all about money. I think he desperately wants to play in the Premier League and doesn't feel City will manage it before his career ends so he's gambling.

We all assume that all players want to be playing football for as long as they can but maybe some of them really don't want to. Maybe Basso would be happy to retire from football but is going to have one last go at getting a place in a Premier League squad before he gives up. If he stayed at City he might deny himself that chance forever and perhaps he would be happier to know he's tried everything than to have played a few more seasons in the Championship. Pure speculation of course but everyone is different and has different motivations.

As for having him back, if he can satisfy Gary Johnson he wants to play for Bristol City then he's satisfied me.

[CtyBird]

Personally don't think he has done anything wrong. He wants to better himself. he hasn't said he doesn't want to play for Bristol City, he has said he would like to have the chance to play at a better level if someone wants him. It's apparently clear no one wants him, so I'm sure he could focus his sights on proving he can cut it in a league above. The chances are we won't get promoted this season, but just because someone wants to better themselves doesn't mean you stand in their way. By not playing Basso doesn't achieve anything, no one will buy someone who isn't playing or getting a chance to prove their worth. He is the best keeper we have at this club at present, and therefore he should be between the sticks. If he wants a Premier League more he is more likely to try harder than ever to prove he's worth it, than not try and all scouts and managers think he is rubbish.

Until someone better is brought in, Basso should be in the squad. But that's just my opinion.

Good point, well made. I also have no objection to Basso wanting to better himself at all, but I feel he has had ample opportunity to do this when the season finished and not now, it's the ill timing of it that has left me a bit narked.

Good luck to him in his ventures, but he should bear in mind that the grass is not always greener.

[kachina]

I think why most people don't want him now is the fact that it's all about money he would move to another championship team for more money so that's not exactly improving yourself just your bank balance for him. i would be happy with a full apoligy to the fans and squad and a new contract on current salary but neither ain't going to happen

Where has publicly been said it's about money ????

Johnson stated at the time the request was made, he didn't want to sign his future to Bristol City as he wanted to play in the Premier League. Johnson has never indicated in anything I have read that it's money orientated.

[bringbacktherobin]

If handing in a written request was treated as no big deal players would be doing it as soon as they were dropped, as soon as they were linked to a bigger club in a tabloid, or as soon as GJ had anything bad to say to them in the dressing room. It would be chaos.

As Johnson said, he has never had a written transfer request before. If a written transfer statement isn't a sign you don't want to play for the side then i dont know what is.

[kachina]

It's down to Johnson to tell Adriano now, that there has been no offers, withdraw your request and see out your contract here and fight for your place. You never know, come January if we are in the top half he may consider extending his deal.

Personally I feel the problem is Johnson, not Basso. They issue contracts with deadlines to sign, it must have been prior to the start of this season they were asking him to extend, otherwise he could have left it a few months and requested in January having assessed the situation.

You can't ask someone to commit with a year left on a deal in football, as if he signed a 4 year deal and we got relegated, he would then struggle to get another team, as the contract they would have to buy out would result in a fee you wouldn't pay for a 34 year old.

Trying to tie players down will always bring up these conflicts, especially with players who want to progress but maybe fear this club has progressed all it can.

For me Johnson is partly to blame for this scenario. He should have given Basso until the end of this season to sign the deal. Failing to do that, has led to Basso making a decision he was probably forced into, if he does have that desire to play in the Premier League.

[sunningdalered]

A written assurance that he will stop dropping the ball and giving away soft goals would be a start...................

[Pete1975Legend]

For me still the best keeper on our books, so until a transfer fee comes in IMO he should start,

ohh basso ohh basso!!!!

[kachina]

As Johnson said, he has never had a written transfer request before. If a written transfer statement isn't a sign you don't want to play for the side then i dont know what is.

So your telling me that if you were in a job and you thought you could get a better job, you wouldn't hand in your notice ? The reason you wouldn't is because in most people's jobs you can take interviews and arrange other jobs whilst you still have one.

If Basso went behind the clubs back to look for another club he would be heavily fined by the FA, however signalling a transfer request states that you are available if the right offer comes along. So happens the right offer hasn't come along as of yet, but I would have thought of Basso much less if he just didn't sign a deal and walked at the end of the year with no clues of doing so, then giving the club the opportunity of selling him, making it clear to the club he would like to move to a bigger club.

[The Dolman Pragmatist]

Personally I feel the problem is Johnson, not Basso.

Sorry, but I can't let that pass. Basso was offered the best contract ever offered to a CIty player; he indicated he would sign and then changed his mind. How does that make Johnson the problem? This is about as clear-cut as it gets. The club, including Chairman, Chief Executive and Manager, has done everything it can to keep him but he's said he is determined to leave. The problem, my friend, is Basso.

[Guest ashtonyate]

Its if Johnson wants him back that's the thing, if he did want him to keep playing if it was me I would invite him to a meeting.

I would say well Adreano sp it looks like no one has come in for you how do you view your future now.I am willing for you to withdraw you transfer request if you are willing to carry on and finish out your contract then see if you can get a club then.I need to know now what your answer is and wait for a reply?. Johnson would be in a strong position to make sure we had a fit Henderson to replace Basso by the end of the season if he is good enough.

[cheese]

Personally I feel the problem is Johnson, not Basso. T

Perhaps you should tell us what your beef is with Johnson? Most of your posts try to find things in what he says so that you can have a dig. Did he throw you out of a press conference? Or, did he ruin your career in football perhaps?

[downendcity]

It's down to Johnson to tell Adriano now, that there has been no offers, withdraw your request and see out your contract here and fight for your place. You never know, come January if we are in the top half he may consider extending his deal.

Personally I feel the problem is Johnson, not Basso. They issue contracts with deadlines to sign, it must have been prior to the start of this season they were asking him to extend, otherwise he could have left it a few months and requested in January having assessed the situation.

You can't ask someone to commit with a year left on a deal in football, as if he signed a 4 year deal and we got relegated, he would then struggle to get another team, as the contract they would have to buy out would result in a fee you wouldn't pay for a 34 year old.

Trying to tie players down will always bring up these conflicts, especially with players who want to progress but maybe fear this club has progressed all it can.

For me Johnson is partly to blame for this scenario. He should have given Basso until the end of this season to sign the deal. Failing to do that, has led to Basso making a decision he was probably forced into, if he does have that desire to play in the Premier League.

Sorry Kachina, I think this is all about Basso.

From a practical and common sense point of view , pretty well every club will try and negotiate a new contract when the player has about 1 year left on the present contract. This is to avoid to avoid the player running his contract down and leaving on a Bosman and then p[icking up a decent signing on fee. The contract we offered would have made Basso one of the highest paid players at the club and his agent was begging him to sign it some time ago, so I guess it gave Basso a good degree of security and also reflected the confidence Johnson had in Basso as his number 1 keeper for some time to come.

The biggest problem for older players is that Managers aren't prepared to give them longer term contracts, and that is why we lost Adebola. I don't know the term of the contract we offered Basso, but if it was 4 years, then for a 34 year old that would be unbelievably good. As for not knowing whether we would be relegated at the end of the season, well, that argument applies whenever a player signs a new contrac and what woudl a player want - a no relegation clause written his contract?.

If you want to blame Johnson, then blame him for not giving Basso a deadline. That he had to sign his new contract before the players returned for pre-season. If he didn't, then Johnson could have installed Weale as number 1 keeper for the coming season, as I am sure Weale only left because he wasn't getting regular first team football. By not doing so, Johnson lost Weale and once he had gone, then Basso thought he had the club over a barrel regarding his wage demands, thinking the club would have to give what he asked for, as they had no other keeping option.

Basso has manipulated the situation, and I think that for once, Johnson has been left in the lurch because he didn't take the hard nosed approach he normally does - was he too trusting of Basso, and believed he would sign his contract?

As for what it would take for Basso to play again. With the way Johnson is probably feeling over this incident, the only way I can see is that every other available keeper goes down with a virus the morning of a match, and Basso is the only keepeer left standing. Mind you, If Johnson thinks that McCoombe could do a job between the sticks, even that is not a certainty!

[SE23Red]

So your telling me that if you were in a job and you thought you could get a better job, you wouldn't hand in your notice ? The reason you wouldn't is because in most people's jobs you can take interviews and arrange other jobs whilst you still have one.

I have done so and got exactly the same treatment Basso is getting now. Away from football they call it gardening leave.

If Basso went behind the clubs back to look for another club he would be heavily fined by the FA, however signalling a transfer request states that you are available if the right offer comes along. So happens the right offer hasn't come along as of yet, but I would have thought of Basso much less if he just didn't sign a deal and walked at the end of the year with no clues of doing so, then giving the club the opportunity of selling him, making it clear to the club he would like to move to a bigger club.

Firstly Basso has an agent so should be well informed on who is and isn't interested in him. Secondly if he wanted to he could tell the club he intends to leave in a years time and let them decide how to deal with it. He wouldn't have to do it secretly. And finally if Basso is such an honourable man what is now wrong with the contract he was happy to sign that takes him up to the end of this season?

[CodeRed]

GJ has said a couple of times that Basso is chasing the money "that he thinks is out there" and by implication Johnson has inferred that the sort of money Basso wants is only payable by a Premier club.

Basso seems to have made serious error of judgement and made himself look stupid - by handing in the written request and then no club coming in. Most players would have simply asked their agent to discreetly call a few managers and see if there was any interest before requesting a transfer.

I can see why GJ is so annoyed,

firstly the timing - if Basso had it in his head that he was going to try to get a move why wait until AFTER Weale had left. I'm sure GJ would have tried harder to keep Weale had he known and Weale would have stayed as he would have been the No 1 which is what he wanted.

secondly - by handing in a written request he's forced GJ's hand. GJ stated that Basso could have signed the new deal and "if" a premier club dad made an offer during the window GJ would have let Basso know anyway as his policy is not to stand in a players way if they get an opportunity for a Premier move and the fee/deal is right for BCFC.

So now he's got Basso on the wage bill but not playing and GJ has to now sign an additional keeper who's wages he hadn't budgeted for - this could even impact (wages) on GJ's attempts to sign a striker.

No wonder he's so annoyed. I doubt we'll see Basso play again. As far as GJ is concerned he's in the same category as Marcus Stewart, Phillips, Showumni (after he turned down the Leeds move), and also now Trundle (after he turned up overweigth for pre season). We've seen GJ's stance when players cross him (Meteb/Mifsud), no second chances.

Wouldn't be surprised if GJ ships Basso out on a season loan somewhere to offset the wages cost of another keeper.

CR

[Redhyde]

We'd accept him back immediately I believe. My god we accepted Steve Jones back after he ripped off the club for years. As long as he played well we would have a collective blindness over this whoe incident.

But Gary won't and that's the key IMO,

[garlicbread]

For me still the best keeper on our books, so until a transfer fee comes in IMO he should start,

ohh basso ohh basso!!!!

No way can you have him anywhere near the team if he wants to leave. Plus there is clearly conflict going on...so the worst thing would be to have a half-arsed goalie in the nets.

Different story if he withdrew his transfer request and publicly commtted himself to the club.

[CliftonCliff]

Thought we were done with this, but it won't go away will it?

Said it before; I'll say it again. Sometimes it's not what's done - it's how it's done.

Just about everyone who's posted has made it clear that as football followers we all respect a player's ambition and right to try to further his career, regardless of whether the primary motivation is money or a desire to play at a higher level - or both.

Basso's problem is there is a widespread and persistent suspicion that he is guilty of a certain degree of underhandedness in the way he's gone about this. Whether this is actually true is something that the average supporter is never likely to know, and in any case is partly a matter of perception rather than just plain fact.

The most unfavourable interpretation (to Basso, that is) is that he has (a) been petulant and threatened to leave whenever there has been any suggestion that he might not be immediately restored to the team after missing games for whatever reason, even though Weale might have done nothing wrong in his absence; (b) deliberately waited until he's successfully seen off his closest rival for the jersey, and until the new season is about to start, before handing in a written request at a time calculated to put the manager and chairman over a barrel in regard to contract negotiations.

The best guides we have, and are ever likely to have, as to the accuracy or otherwise of this version of events are the reactions of Johnson and Lansdown. Neither man is a mug and neither is likely to cut to cut off his nose to spite his face by letting a good keeper go over some minor spat. Both appear to be terminally peed off with him and one can draw certain conclusions from that.

The most recent comments I've seen from Johnson on the matter (on BBC Sport website) clearly indicate that Basso has burnt his boats with City. I think he's played his last game here and I am among those who think this is the right course of action now that things have reached the stage that they have. Reinstate him, and what message does it send to the rest of the squad? That you can take the mickey and get away with it? I don't think so.

I know the unexpected can happen in football and you never say never, etc. etc., but I really do think we've reached the end of the road. Let it go.

[kachina]

Perhaps you should tell us what your beef is with Johnson? Most of your posts try to find things in what he says so that you can have a dig. Did he throw you out of a press conference? Or, did he ruin your career in football perhaps?

No qualms with Johnson, he is a very good manager who has done very well for this football club. I just feel the way he treats players who are surplus to requirements is wrong. If I owned a car and wanted to sell it I wouldn't say it sometimes start and its sometimes doesn't and occasionally it leaks oil would I !!, publicly slating your staff is not a good way forward in my opinion.

Never had dealings with Johnson before, I don't cover this club or this division.

[Laner]

You can't ask someone to commit with a year left on a deal in football, as if he signed a 4 year deal and we got relegated, he would then struggle to get another team, as the contract they would have to buy out would result in a fee you wouldn't pay for a 34 year old.

Never heard of Relegation Clauses then?

[Dave Youell]

No qualms with Johnson, he is a very good manager who has done very well for this football club. I just feel the way he treats players who are surplus to requirements is wrong. If I owned a car and wanted to sell it I wouldn't say it sometimes start and its sometimes doesn't and occasionally it leaks oil would I !!, publicly slating your staff is not a good way forward in my opinion.

Never had dealings with Johnson before, I don't cover this club or this division.

He's not slagged Basso's skills off at all, only that he wants to leave and the reasons for him wanting to leave.

He's hardly going to say that his player is rubbish if there's a chance there's some money to be made from his sale is he?

[bully]

He's not slagged Basso's skills off at all, only that he wants to leave and the reasons for him wanting to leave.

He's hardly going to say that his player is rubbish if there's a chance there's some money to be made from his sale is he?

A bit off topic but GJ hasn't made Trundle sound too attractive to the marketplace recently has he?

I can see why GJ is annoyed at Basso though - the timing says it all to me, and it would be wrong to give him another chance unless he was the only option we had.

[Lack of Action Man]

Personally I would keep circulating his name to as many clubs as possible and accept the best offer if and when it comes in. I have confidence in whatever path Gj takes though.

[Simon79]

Im not sure he has done anything to forgive.He has long stated that he wants to play in the premiere league and GJ has said that Basso is convinced that a premiere league club will come in for him.I still believe he would give his all if picked.I agree totally with the dissapointment in the timing and to me this is the worst of what has happened.I wish him all the best in the future,i just fear he has made a big mistake.I just hope it all works out for everyone concerned.As soon (or should i say "IF") as he runs out with a city top on,he will have my support,simple as!