Cotts Been Fortunate?

[redcherryberry]

Mciness had funds to spend he just didn't use it wisely.

The reason why we are suddenly signing class players at this level is simply because the Kilkenny, Fontaine, Elliott and Pearson wages have cleared up a huge amount of cash.

It's as simple as that.

 

Exactly.

 

This summer's budget is far greater than last summers due to the reason Corleone states. More money avaliable means better players coming through the door. SC knew this prior to taking over.

 

That being said every manager needs to spend their budget wisely & I like the way SC has gone about his business thus far.

[Kid in the Riot]

Both had spats with Sexstone in the papers about money and not being able to sign players. Macauley and Billy Jones seem to be the ones from memory. And that's been the only time afaik where hands have been tied. Del also had to cut Wages by half

 

Hmmm...that might of been a stated aim but the facts (in the form of the annual accounts) don't bear that out. He had to cut no doubt, but not as severe as was stated.

 

The problem for Del was for whatever reason he did not feel well supported by the board and the scouting system while he was here was pitiful. Some say "the job was too big for him" - well it doesn't help when the supporting structure around you is so poor.

[Pickle Rick]

SL has always backed our managers with funding. Nothing new there.

Difference now is that SC has clearly done a lot of planning, scouting and work to identify who he wants and who will improve the team, rather than just add numbers to the squad.

SL clearly likes and trusts him.

 

I think the likes of Keith Burt & Brian Tinnion don't get enough praise on here.

 

Good link from his time at Forest: http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/19563071 It links well with what's going on with us in the market - and has been for a while.

[Nogbad the Bad]

Wasn't it more the case that West Bromwich Albion are just a hell of a lot more attractive than Bristol City in this case? If we have a limit then we stick to it. What's the point of trying to match a Premier League club?

 

Heard Del on talksport saying he cut wages in half, I'd love to know how he managed it, because I'm pretty certain he couldn't have got anywhere near doing that. I liked the bloke, and was obviously desperate for him to succeed, but lost a bit of respect for the guy after hearing the interview

 

I think Del said he was under orders to cut wages by half, and like Monkeh says, he was about 70% of the way there. So, in a relatively short time he made great progress in that respect.

 

With the rapid turnover of players over the last few years it's sometimes difficult to remember which expensive dead wood left under which manager, and it would certainly be interesting to see a list of exactly which players we managed to shed under McInnes.

[Super]

Just out of interest has Marv got another club? Surely he would be a great signing for a Div 2 team.

[spudski]

I think there is nothing wrong with talking about the history of our Club.

 

We've made loads of mistakes in the past, and I believe previous managers that have been here, have found it quiet a difficult job, a lot of it to do with the basics and infrastructure of the Club.

 

However...whatever has happened...is now in the past.

 

It feels like a new Dawn...a new era. The past few seasons, since 'that playoff', have not been enjoyable....pretty much down to various mistakes.

 

I feel very positive at the moment.

 

We've made some astute signings...there is a feel good factor around the Club.

 

I hope as a team we Gel...and if we don't do it straight away, then I hope as fans, we don't do as we usually do, and get on everyone's back.

 

Because of the 'feel good factor' and the signings...our expectations have risen. Talk of promotion...all very well...but it puts tremendous pressure on our new team to perform and gel quickly.

 

I'm feeling quietly confident...but won't be expecting anything.

 

It is nice to have a 'feel good factor' back though.

[PHILINFRANCE]

Just out of interest has Marv got another club? Surely he would be a great signing for a Div 2 team.

I may be wrong, but I thought there was some talk of him going back to Millwall.

[Nogbad the Bad]

Just out of interest has Marv got another club? Surely he would be a great signing for a Div 2 team.

 

Not heard anything about Marv.

 

In fact have any of the players we released, or the loanees we sent back at the end of the season (except Wade Elliot) got new clubs?

[Monkeh]

I think there is nothing wrong with talking about the history of our Club.

 

We've made loads of mistakes in the past, and I believe previous managers that have been here, have found it quiet a difficult job, a lot of it to do with the basics and infrastructure of the Club.

 

However...whatever has happened...is now in the past.

 

It feels like a new Dawn...a new era. The past few seasons, since 'that playoff', have not been enjoyable....pretty much down to various mistakes.

 

I feel very positive at the moment.

 

We've made some astute signings...there is a feel good factor around the Club.

 

I hope as a team we Gel...and if we don't do it straight away, then I hope as fans, we don't do as we usually do, and get on everyone's back.

 

Because of the 'feel good factor' and the signings...our expectations have risen. Talk of promotion...all very well...but it puts tremendous pressure on our new team to perform and gel quickly.

 

I'm feeling quietly confident...but won't be expecting anything.

 

It is nice to have a 'feel good factor' back though.

yea your posts have taken a better tone recently, I still think play off myself but the believe and postivie thinking of SC seems to be rubbing off on the players which in turn seems to be getting to the fans,

 

If we hit the ground running its going to be hard to stop the momentum, but with city things are never easy, when we have a good attack our defense is shit when we have good defense our attack is shit and we always seem to be weak in the middle in recent years

 

Lets all hope it clicks and we all enjoy the coming season

[spudski]

yea your posts have taken a better tone recently, I still think play off myself but the believe and postivie thinking of SC seems to be rubbing off on the players which in turn seems to be getting to the fans,

 

If we hit the ground running its going to be hard to stop the momentum, but with city things are never easy, when we have a good attack our defense is shit when we have good defense our attack is shit and we always seem to be weak in the middle in recent years

 

Lets all hope it clicks and we all enjoy the coming season

I believe my tone has changed, because I actually believe we may have learnt from our mistakes in the past, and that we are trying to rectify them now.

SC's actions are speaking louder than his words...which is great.

I don't want to get ahead of ourselves...but if we were to gain promotion, the biggest test will be to come, and will show up whether we have learnt.

My hope is for us in the next 5 to 10 years, is to be a settled Championship side, pushing for promotion, playing attractive football, in a revamped full Ashton Gate. Always looking ahead...rather than looking over our shoulder and regretting mistakes.

[TETBURY MASSIVE]

I believe my tone has changed, because I actually believe we may have learnt from our mistakes in the past, and that we are trying to rectify them now.

SC's actions are speaking louder than his words...which is great.

I don't want to get ahead of ourselves...but if we were to gain promotion, the biggest test will be to come, and will show up whether we have learnt.

My hope is for us in the next 5 to 10 years, is to be a settled Championship Premiership side, pushing for promotion Europe, playing attractive football, in a revamped full Ashton Gate. Always looking ahead...rather than looking over our shoulder and regretting mistakes.

Fixed it for ya.......   

[hortonred]

It seems to me that Cotts has been provided with a big budget this summer after bringing Freeman and Ayling ( possible ) but also was given money to spend on Elliot, Nosworthy and Paterson. All very high earners I'd imagine.

Do you think SOD had his hands tied a little? Granted he brought in JET but that was a swap deal for Anderson. He might have brought big players and still been unsuccessful but I still think it's interesting.

SL must have faith in Cotts, that's for sure.

I think SOD was one of the most dismal managers we ever had.I am still surprised that people talk about the bloke in the same breath as SC.SC brought passion and belief and is simply a lot better than SOD.You earn your own luck.SC took over a team in terminal decline and turned it around by what he did.

[spudski]

Fixed it for ya.......   

I hate the Premiership...would much prefer being a good Championship side.

 

The Prem is like Andrex.... Soft and Expensive.

[red panda]

...

 

I feel very positive at the moment.

 

....

 

Time for a name change? 

[spudski]

Time for a name change? 

haha...I tried changing it a month back...computer says no.... I have to wait a year...doh!

[BCFC_Dan]

I believe my tone has changed, because I actually believe we may have learnt from our mistakes in the past, and that we are trying to rectify them now.

SC's actions are speaking louder than his words...which is great.

I don't want to get ahead of ourselves...but if we were to gain promotion, the biggest test will be to come, and will show up whether we have learnt.

My hope is for us in the next 5 to 10 years, is to be a settled Championship side, pushing for promotion, playing attractive football, in a revamped full Ashton Gate. Always looking ahead...rather than looking over our shoulder and regretting mistakes.

 

I hope there's some learning going on, but what I've seen so far is familiar, not new. Cotterill reminds me very much of Gary Johnson in the way he goes about his business. He's a motivator and when signing players he's been taking into account how they will be motivated. Like Johnson, he's building a squad of players that he believes he can take to the next level. For me, so far, this is all much the same as the summer of 2006.

 

As I said above, we'll get to see if there's been any learning when we reach the next stage. Repeating the early part of Johnson's reign makes perfect sense. If they repeat the later part we'll know they learnt nothing at all.

[Red-Robbo]

I think there is nothing wrong with talking about the history of our Club.

We've made loads of mistakes in the past, and I believe previous managers that have been here, have found it quiet a difficult job, a lot of it to do with the basics and infrastructure of the Club.

However...whatever has happened...is now in the past.

It feels like a new Dawn...a new era. The past few seasons, since 'that playoff', have not been enjoyable....pretty much down to various mistakes.

I feel very positive at the moment.

We've made some astute signings...there is a feel good factor around the Club.

I hope as a team we Gel...and if we don't do it straight away, then I hope as fans, we don't do as we usually do, and get on everyone's back.

Because of the 'feel good factor' and the signings...our expectations have risen. Talk of promotion...all very well...but it puts tremendous pressure on our new team to perform and gel quickly.

I'm feeling quietly confident...but won't be expecting anything.

It is nice to have a 'feel good factor' back though.

Blimey DoD you may have to change your name!

Haha. Beaten to that thought

[Negan]

SOD signed a fair few players mind

 

Fielding

Parish

Richards

Moloney

Flint

Osborne

Williams

Dunk

Shorey

O'Connor

Wagstaff

Pack

Wynter

McLaughlin

Gillett

JET

Harewood

[WolfOfWestStreet]

Cotts hasn't been fortunate, he's just done his job (to date) very well.

SoD doesn't belong in the same breath right now, let's enjoy this season without the ghost of Sean ODriscolls corpse rotting through what might just be a very special year.

[Betty Swallocks]

I hate the Premier League...would much prefer being a good Championship side.

The Prem is like Andrex.... Soft and Expensive.

Agree with this but as someone who is too young to have watched us in the top division last time out I wouldn't mind watching us have a couple of years in the Premier League.

After that I'd be fine being a more than established 2nd division side.

In fact if I was to put together a top 10 of favourite away days I'm pretty sure most of them would be games we played in the league we are currently in.

[jambodinho]

McInnes - Had a mammoth task. Did well to keep us up to begin with. Most of the squad was considered overpaid deadwood. James, Hunt and Maynard leaving would have significantly cut the wage bill. He made a couple of dodgy signings in foster and pearson. Ultimately, the job he had to do was so huge that many managers would have struggled with it.

SO'D - he seemed happy enough to take us down. Kept blabbering on about 'performances' being more important than results and I think a lot of fans ended up convincing themselves that going down would probably be best for us to rebuild. He made some decent signings on paper in JET, fielding, pack and when maloney came in he looked like a solid addition. We still had high earners and a fair bit of deadwood in fontaine, marv, pearson, Damion stewart (I think?). The squad was beginning to get there in terms of size, wage bill and quality, but SO'D failed big time tactically and couldn't stop us spiralling down the league.

Cotts- straight away he managed to get some confidence into out players and fans again. Results got a lot better and performances were a lot easier on the eye. It stopped becoming a chore to go watch city. This was done without much change to the squad. SO'D already had the deal for Osbourne in place. Wade Elliott came in with Cotts commenting that he hadn't seen him play and wasn't sure if his legs had gone. His first home game he was dragged off at half time with the fans questioning if cotts had a clue (recruitment wise). In came el abd who was quickly dubbed el bad, plus Tyrone Barnett. Wade Elliott soon started to show that he still had it at this level but the other 2 were both terrible for us last season. The season ends on a high, the last of the deadwood in Carey, Marv, Pearson and Fonts are gone straight away as their contracts are up. Freeman is possibly the most exciting signing we've made since Baldock. The squad is finally starting to look strong in all positions.

In summary, all 3 managers made decent additions, all 3 got rid of some deadwood and as time has gone by, the job has gotten easier for the next manager. As much as we wanted them all to succeed SO'D's era was so depressing for everyone but we are starting to see light again. I felt for McInnes because he's clearly a decent manager but the job at hand was just too big for him at the time. I think if we were all managers and all got offered the city job when these 3 were offered it, we certainly would be happier to take it when cotts did rather than when either of the other 2 did.

[Mike Hunt-Hertz]

Cotts IS fortunate....to not be some dreary,Dingle pseud who mangles his verbiage and tries to blind us with bloody "science". Football is a simple game FFS!

[Bar BS3]

[Ian M]

[Bar BS3]

If we are fortunate enough to go up this season we will have a different set of FFP rules to play under. At the moment we only have to keep wages down which leaves us free to spend what we want on fees. If we go up we have to minimise any losses or face a transfer embargo.

In my mind we are spending fees on decent young players we feel will develop into Championship players ahead of any promotion so that we can adhere to the different rules without spending a whole lot once we are there. With that in mind if we happen to be sitting pretty in january, I fully expect us to spend on some more good young players in that window.

It's a gamble of sorts but a gamble our billionaire owner is allowed to make at this level & less able to make at the level above.

True, although simple TV revenue makes a massive difference to turnover in the championship, compared to L1, plus all the commercial aspects. It is all fairly relevant really. Even more so now with FFP.

[Aizoon]

McInnes - Had a mammoth task. Did well to keep us up to begin with. Most of the squad was considered overpaid deadwood. James, Hunt and Maynard leaving would have significantly cut the wage bill. He made a couple of dodgy signings in foster and pearson. Ultimately, the job he had to do was so huge that many managers would have struggled with it.

SO'D - he seemed happy enough to take us down. Kept blabbering on about 'performances' being more important than results and I think a lot of fans ended up convincing themselves that going down would probably be best for us to rebuild. He made some decent signings on paper in JET, fielding, pack and when maloney came in he looked like a solid addition. We still had high earners and a fair bit of deadwood in fontaine, marv, pearson, Damion stewart (I think?). The squad was beginning to get there in terms of size, wage bill and quality, but SO'D failed big time tactically and couldn't stop us spiralling down the league.

Cotts- straight away he managed to get some confidence into out players and fans again. Results got a lot better and performances were a lot easier on the eye. It stopped becoming a chore to go watch city. This was done without much change to the squad. SO'D already had the deal for Osbourne in place. Wade Elliott came in with Cotts commenting that he hadn't seen him play and wasn't sure if his legs had gone. His first home game he was dragged off at half time with the fans questioning if cotts had a clue (recruitment wise). In came el abd who was quickly dubbed el bad, plus Tyrone Barnett. Wade Elliott soon started to show that he still had it at this level but the other 2 were both terrible for us last season. The season ends on a high, the last of the deadwood in Carey, Marv, Pearson and Fonts are gone straight away as their contracts are up. Freeman is possibly the most exciting signing we've made since Baldock. The squad is finally starting to look strong in all positions.

In summary, all 3 managers made decent additions, all 3 got rid of some deadwood and as time has gone by, the job has gotten easier for the next manager. As much as we wanted them all to succeed SO'D's era was so depressing for everyone but we are starting to see light again. I felt for McInnes because he's clearly a decent manager but the job at hand was just too big for him at the time. I think if we were all managers and all got offered the city job when these 3 were offered it, we certainly would be happier to take it when cotts did rather than when either of the other 2 did.

 

OMG! Someone talking sense about football now

 

Must be on the wrong forum