Andre Amougou: But Not As We Know Him

[Jordan Tansley]

I don't think anybody who saw him for Reading or Burnley especially in the prem doubts his talent, I think there is a perception about his attitude and I think that part of that is he probably believes he should be playing in the prem. i'll be happy if DMC signs him as well as long as he believes he can deal with the undoubted ego.

Again, I didn't see an ego when he was here... If anything there was a little frustration when either things didn't go his way or the players around him weren't on the same wave length.

Another accusation levelled at him from Burnley fans has been that he blames others for his mistakes, whilst here I saw him being very apologetic when he made a bad pass or was caught in possession.

I guess as Coyle was the man who paid a substantial amount for him he will come with a strong review to Derek.

I think the best description of him would be that he is an enigma.

[EmissionImpossible]

May be remembered as one of our best ever loan signings. I just don't think the club see him as a long term solution.

[TRL]

Again, I didn't see an ego when he was here... If anything there was a little frustration when either things didn't go his way or the players around him weren't on the same wave length.

Another accusation levelled at him from Burnley fans has been that he blames others for his mistakes, whilst here I saw him being very apologetic when he made a bad pass or was caught in possession.

I guess as Coyle was the man who paid a substantial amount for him he will come with a strong review to Derek.

I think the best description of him would be that he is an enigma.

He will be up there with the Bjorn Kristensen's Andy Cole's, Sieb Dykstra's and Mark Robbins' in terms of quality loan signings.

But still a no from me

[Jordan Tansley]

He will be up there with the Bjorn Kristensen's Andy Cole's, Sieb Dykstra's and Mark Robbins' in terms of quality loan signings.

But still a no from me

Fair enough, I understand all of the reservations that have been stated and can see both sides, as I said as long as we sign better or equal I don't mind whether we sign him.

On a separate note, I bloody loved Robins. If we'd got him a bit longer we'd have gone up that season. Best finisher I've seen (my first season being the one after Goater left.)

[TRL]

Fair enough, I understand all of the reservations that have been stated and can see both sides, as I said as long as we sign better or equal I don't mind whether we sign him.

On a separate note, I bloody loved Robins. If we'd got him a bit longer we'd have gone up that season. Best finisher I've seen (my first season being the one after Goater left.)

Robins did have a bit of class about him, very assured finisher. Far better finisher than the Goat, but the Goat had something you couldn't buy, a natural ability to get the ball over the line, by any means

Bjorn Kristensen was such a classy defender, far to classy for us, he was on another level to the players we had back then. I wish we could have signed him.

[REDOXO]

Shhh don't tell them he's good!

Exactly!

[Garland-sweden]

City didnt lose when he was in the defence. The attitude was good and he is hard to meet. A talks to the ref make fouls that the ref dont see. City need an very hard player at the back. Dont have seen McManus played but Im sure DM knows what to do. Looking forward to next season and it will be interestning which players DM takes in.

[Red-Robbo]

Plus James Wilson.

In a toss up between Bikey and McManus, I would choose McManus every time.

McManus, despite a very poor debut, seems much more solid, has better positional awareness, reads the game exceptionally well and seems more of a cultured defender than Bikey, who despite good performances for us, does get caught out and tries to be too clever with the ball at times.

Well, the entire defence got caught out over and over again when McManus was here. We shipped an average of two goals per game during his stay.

As for Amougou, if we listened to what opposition fans had told us, we'd never have got Elliott or a number of other good players.

Amougou put in solid performances where he showed the sort of strength not seen in our back 4 since Taylor's day, he got the ball out of our box time and time again, and was seemingly the only BCFC player able to win a header.

The only question mark over whether I'd want him here is his salary demand.

[Ashton1]

Well, the entire defence got caught out over and over again when McManus was here. We shipped an average of two goals per game during his stay.

As for Amougou, if we listened to what opposition fans had told us, we'd never have got Elliott or a number of other good players.

Amougou put in solid performances where he showed the sort of strength not seen in our back 4 since Taylor's day, he got the ball out of our box time and time again, and was seemingly the only BCFC player able to win a header.

The only question mark over whether I'd want him here is his salary demand.

I agree we need to negotiate the wage issue, but someone along the line we need to except the fact that players of that calibre rearly come on the cheap. Unfortunately cheaper options often come untried at this level and often don't cut the mustard. I agree we should invest in our youth and have little punts on promising lower league players, but should be filtered into a already strong experienced successful team, not a team struggleing at the bottom of the table waiting for an unknown 19 year old to get them out the shit. as I say, build the core strength first then play with youngsters, Amougou, Cisse, Pearson, stead would start to build that Spine for me!!!

[Whale Eye Beef Hooked]

I know 4 Burnley all of them had a similar view of him. A couple or three seasons ago I saw a live game against Preston at Turf Moor and he was awful in fact beyond awful, he moaned and argued with virtually all of his team mates throughout the game and was at fault for all of Prestons goals in one shape or form. Yes he looked great for us no doubting that, so perhaps a pay as you play scenario might be the best offer for me.

O dear.... Like the guy is going to come here on a pay as you play, i dont mean to sound rude but that is daft

[Esmond Million's Bung]

O dear.... Like the guy is going to come here on a pay as you play, i dont mean to sound rude but that is daft

O dear, I never suggested he would come here on a pay as you play, because that would be daft (the clue was the word 'offer'), but what I am suggesting is 'if you don't ask you don't get', in our present position his wages WILL BE A PROBLEM, in his position it will depend on whatever offers he receives and bearing in mind the form he displayed in his time here, I suspect his sights will be somewhat higher.

[Esmond Million's Bung]

Well, the entire defence got caught out over and over again when McManus was here. We shipped an average of two goals per game during his stay.

As for Amougou, if we listened to what opposition fans had told us, we'd never have got Elliott or a number of other good players.

Amougou put in solid performances where he showed the sort of strength not seen in our back 4 since Taylor's day, he got the ball out of our box time and time again, and was seemingly the only BCFC player able to win a header.

The only question mark over whether I'd want him here is his salary demand.

Your last sentence probably says it all and as I said on another post his form during his spell with us would have alerted other clubs of his value.

and as I also said on another post Mcmanus played his games with DJ in goal, enough said.

[chipdawg]

If McInnes decides to offer Amougou a contract it'll no doubt be based primarily on his experiences of the player and the man from his time here and from speaking to fellow managers and coaches (especially his pal Mr Coyle) about their opinions of him. It will almost certainly not be based on opinions expressed on the internet by Burnley & Reading fans about his personal character any more than it will be based on anyone on here's prior opinion of him from when they used to see 10 minutes a week of him on Match of The Day

The fact of the matter is that I doubt anyone on here watched him regularly prior to his spell with us aside from TV highlights and the odd match on Sky and certainly no one knows him personally. So where is the basis for unequivocal statements about him "Just playing for a contract"? Hearsay and speculation I would say and while I always enjoy the hearsay speculation about who we may or may not sign during the summer months, I think applying this to the personal character of a player there is a decent chance may be back here next season is a little bit too much. I think we can all agree that football and football fans are polarising; we have a tendency to either remember the good times or the bad without ever having a balanced view. I'm sure Andre is not the most consistent player; if he could play like he has for us these last 7 games or so on a consistent basis it is highly unlikely he'd have been available for loan or at a championship club for that matter. The question is whether he is a good fit for Bristol City at this time and I would say that he probably is, certainly compared to McMannus.

If I was to put some money on it, I'd probably bet on us not signing either of them

[TRL]

If McInnes decides to offer Amougou a contract it'll no doubt be based primarily on his experiences of the player and the man from his time here and from speaking to fellow managers and coaches (especially his pal Mr Coyle) about their opinions of him. It will almost certainly not be based on opinions expressed on the internet by Burnley & Reading fans about his personal character any more than it will be based on anyone on here's prior opinion of him from when they used to see 10 minutes a week of him on Match of The Day

The fact of the matter is that I doubt anyone on here watched him regularly prior to his spell with us aside from TV highlights and the odd match on Sky and certainly no one knows him personally. So where is the basis for unequivocal statements about him "Just playing for a contract"? Hearsay and speculation I would say and while I always enjoy the hearsay speculation about who we may or may not sign during the summer months, I think applying this to the personal character of a player there is a decent chance may be back here next season is a little bit too much. I think we can all agree that football and football fans are polarising; we have a tendency to either remember the good times or the bad without ever having a balanced view. I'm sure Andre is not the most consistent player; if he could play like he has for us these last 7 games or so on a consistent basis it is highly unlikely he'd have been available for loan or at a championship club for that matter. The question is whether he is a good fit for Bristol City at this time and I would say that he probably is, certainly compared to McMannus.

If I was to put some money on it, I'd probably bet on us not signing either of them

Agree 100% chipdawg, but if we did not speculate, give our findings from first hand experience, or what we have been told, there would be very little to discuss.

As for the two mentioned, well amougou is still relatively young, I expect him to go where the money is. McManus, well older, looking for one good last contract, or a decent length contract on lower wages to take him to retirement. Of the two McManus would seem the most plausible. But mcinnes has so far proved through all our idle speculation, that he picks players that were not even on our radar

[Port Said Red]

I know 4 Burnley all of them had a similar view of him. A couple or three seasons ago I saw a live game against Preston at Turf Moor and he was awful in fact beyond awful, he moaned and argued with virtually all of his team mates throughout the game and was at fault for all of Prestons goals in one shape or form. Yes he looked great for us no doubting that, so perhaps a pay as you play scenario might be the best offer for me.

I see this "pay as you play contract" suggestion a lot on here and I have to wonder how realistic it is. Maybe for older/fitness concerns type players it would be a goer but surely not for someone close to his prime playing age like Amougou? If you had a choice of a straightforward fixed wage contract or PAYP which would you choose? Also would you relocate/travel across a 1/3 of the country to train when you don't get paid unless you play on Saturday?

Anyway, back to Amougou himself, I think we can only judge him on the way he played for us, all players have poor spells at different clubs for different reasons. We have had players we didn't rate go on to do well elsewhere and signed players with good a reputation who haven't lived up to it.(we have one in Woolford right now). AA was woeful in the first game (although he did a good job of sorting out Foster when he was having a 'mare) and there was 20 minutes of the last home game when he looked like he had already gone on holiday, but in between he was a strong influence in our run in.

As some of you have already said, the question will be how realistic he is about his wages under FFP and whether he liked the west country as many seem to do, if he is realistic and wants to come then I think we should go for him. McManus did OK, but he didn't galvanise the rest of the defence in the way AA did which is surprising considering his pedigree. AA seemed to buy into DMc's philosophy and care what happened here, McManus seemed more reserved to me.

[chipdawg]

Agree 100% chipdawg, but if we did not speculate, give our findings from first hand experience, or what we have been told, there would be very little to discuss.

As for the two mentioned, well amougou is still relatively young, I expect him to go where the money is. McManus, well older, looking for one good last contract, or a decent length contract on lower wages to take him to retirement. Of the two McManus would seem the most plausible. But mcinnes has so far proved through all our idle speculation, that he picks players that were not even on our radar

Absolutely; in many of our recent seasons when there's been little to play for in the closing weeks, i always look forward to the baseless speculation on random Polish strikers or Guatemalen midfielders that someones found on YouTube that we will never sign in a million year as its more interesting than the football. However, I don't agree with speculation on the character of a player based on hearsay; especially when that player played a MASSIVE role in keeping us up this year

[Esmond Million's Bung]

I see this "pay as you play contract" suggestion a lot on here and I have to wonder how realistic it is. Maybe for older/fitness concerns type players it would be a goer but surely not for someone close to his prime playing age like Amougou? If you had a choice of a straightforward fixed wage contract or PAYP which would you choose? Also would you relocate/travel across a 1/3 of the country to train when you don't get paid unless you play on Saturday?

Anyway, back to Amougou himself, I think we can only judge him on the way he played for us, all players have poor spells at different clubs for different reasons. We have had players we didn't rate go on to do well elsewhere and signed players with good a reputation who haven't lived up to it.(we have one in Woolford right now). AA was woeful in the first game (although he did a good job of sorting out Foster when he was having a 'mare) and there was 20 minutes of the last home game when he looked like he had already gone on holiday, but in between he was a strong influence in our run in.

As some of you have already said, the question will be how realistic he is about his wages under FFP and whether he liked the west country as many seem to do, if he is realistic and wants to come then I think we should go for him. McManus did OK, but he didn't galvanise the rest of the defence in the way AA did which is surprising considering his pedigree. AA seemed to buy into DMc's philosophy and care what happened here, McManus seemed more reserved to me.

Pay as yo play has to looked upon against the backdrop of the new financial rules, obviously a big earner at Reading they were able to sell him on to newly promoted Burnley when they were relegated, Burnley were not quite so lucky, because the trend changed to season long loans of aspiring players, a cheaper way of doing business. if as reported he is on 15k per week, the question is this has he done enough in his time with us to alert a prem team into signing him?, probably not IMO, is their a championship side willing to pay him the 15k per week he is currently on?, very doubtful I would I have thought, be honest who would you rather have Bikey or Caulker for at least half the wages?, I can see many former prem players finding it difficult to find clubs willing pay them the wages they have become accustomed to. With a bit of luck the new financial rules will make it a buyers market and bring back a bit of sanity to the ridiculous wages being handed out currently to very average and less than average players.