Big C Posted July 30, 2015 Report Share Posted July 30, 2015 Why assume that our preseason hasn't gone to plan just because we haven't had a bucketload of signings? People are seeing a lack of activity as some sort of Armageddon for all we know things could be running smoothly. Ok from an outside point of view it is disconcerting but its not us running the club. I will start to get concerned that things haven't gone to plan when we front up at Sheffield and Cotts is forced to play himself in goal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Selred Posted July 30, 2015 Report Share Posted July 30, 2015 I'm pretty sure that the likes of Kelly morel harper and o'leary will be fine on the bench while we continue to try and find the right players, How often did cotts make a sub before the 85th minute, if he didn't trust the 11 on the pitch to win the game they wouldn't be selected, The situation isn't ideal but it's far from a complete disaster that people are making it out to be, My main concern is it only takes a slight knock in training, or a illness on the morning and we are stuck playing El Abd, Reid or Burns as we have no-one else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
numbeast Posted July 30, 2015 Report Share Posted July 30, 2015 I understand some of the frustration because like many others I check the Web site several times a day hoping to see a new first team signing or two (I even find myself on that font of no knowledge rumours site). But what tempers that frustration is the memory of the last time we found ourselves looking forward to playing in the Championship after a break. Then we panic bought and failed to find either the quality or the balance we needed. Several lessons, it would appear, have been learned. Firstly Steve Lansdown is looking to get value for money. That isn't to say he will be cheap when it comes to transfer fee as Kodjia's signing has shown. Secondly and without wishing to be too critical of Gary and Pete Johnson the combination of Cotterell & Burt seem to research potential signings better and refuse to make signing just for the sake of it or to keep supporters happy. And finally the squad is quite strong to begin with in my opinion. The likes of Freeman, Ayling, Williams, Bryan and Smith to name but a few are Championship quality. Therefore strengthening the squad with players that will go into the starting 11 is going to be both harder to find and expensive. I think we'd all agree we don't want to be spending good money on bench players. Wade Elliot a Tinman should be able to find us youngsters with enough quality to fill out the bench given they are on a recruitment drive for the U21s. I'm sure we will see more new faces before the end of August and, given SC & KB's track record they will be an improvement on what we have. But let's not forget how far team spirit got us last time we were promoted and last season showed there is an amazing spirit in the squad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monkeh Posted July 30, 2015 Report Share Posted July 30, 2015 My main concern is it only takes a slight knock in training, or a illness on the morning and we are stuck playing El Abd, Reid or Burns as we have no-one else. What if we sign McGuire Britton and Zamora tonight and they all take knocks and out for the season? Knocks will happen and may well hasten things but you can't plan on or for ifs and buts, The thing is this pre-season is the sort of thing this club has needed because those who think we will be up there with the big clubs pushing for the play offs needed to come back down to earth (we will still win the league ) This season is about establishing our selfs as a championship club and that should be the only aim and while the squad is short on numbers it is full of young and hungry players wanting to prove themselfs at the next level, a lot of people have been calling for that but now it's suddenly not good enough because we aren't competing with Brentford (how much have they spent? 6-7 million?), I see the club as trying to work with what they got and looking at it we may finally see youth players being brought through (again something people are scream out for but when we do it it's suddenly not good enough) As super says the club and the management deserves our complete trust at the moment with what they have achieved they have earns that and if they say the current crop of youngsters and first teamers are good enough then they are good enough and unless you can see into the future you can't not say otherwise Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LondonBristolian Posted July 30, 2015 Report Share Posted July 30, 2015 I am starting to get slightly concerned. To say we can go into the season with a squad of 15 (if everyone was fit which they are not), with 3 of which were surplus to requirements last season in lge1, is barmy. That said we are looking for players for the next 2,3,4 years not just for 9 days time. So if our our recruitment policy has not worked out we will need to bolster the squad with short term loans rather than sign just anyone on 3 years deals. It's certainly not ideal preparation but it's not for the want of trying or funding. A sensible, balanced post. I do think that, whilst the OP is over the top, certain posters on here are in denial about how difficult it would be to go through a season with the current squad, or the fact that we're really not what the board or manager would have wanted to be at this point in terms of signings. I don't believe any one of SC, KB or SL expected us to have only one signing or so few players availability one week before the beginning of the season. I find it bewildering that anyone thinks everything is going to plan on that score because, if that was the plan, the plan would be terrible. At the same time panic buying is not a solution. The club need to remain patient, remain calm and keep trying to get quality. My one concern is that it's very well saying at the moment how great it is that we're not panic buying but what will we do if we're in this situation come next week, or the 30th of August? I think we'd be kidding ourselves if we thought the panic buys wouldn't start. So time is of the essence. But one can work quickly without panicking and that's what the club now need to do. I trust the board and I trust the manager and I believe they will get it right. But I also believe they will know as well as anyone the squad is too thin and, without reinforcements, we lack depth and will be in for a season of struggle... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LondonBristolian Posted July 30, 2015 Report Share Posted July 30, 2015 What if we sign McGuire Britton and Zamora tonight and they all take knocks and out for the season? Then we'd still have 15 players we can pick. If it happened to three players and we hadn't signed those then we'd have twelve. That's precisely why you need a big enough squad to sustain injuries. You're making the opposite argument to the one you think you are... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monkeh Posted July 30, 2015 Report Share Posted July 30, 2015 Then we'd still have 15 players we can pick. If it happened to three players and we hadn't signed those then we'd have twelve. That's precisely why you need a big enough squad to sustain injuries. You're making the opposite argument to the one you think you are... The point I was making is injury scan happen anytime to anyone, it's how you react to them and who steps up, If Elliot didn't get injured last season pack wouldn't of got a new contract this season Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LondonBristolian Posted July 30, 2015 Report Share Posted July 30, 2015 The point I was making is injury scan happen anytime to anyone, it's how you react to them and who steps up, If Elliot didn't get injured last season pack wouldn't of got a new contract this season Of course they can. As can fatigue and lack of form. Which is precisely why no club can sensibly go through a season with 15 senior players. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BCFC Jimmer Posted July 30, 2015 Report Share Posted July 30, 2015 sorry u must be the English teacher You don't have to be a teacher to have a basic understanding of the English language. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spike Posted July 30, 2015 Report Share Posted July 30, 2015 Oh dear......another one on the panic wagon. Although the reaction is a little drastic I can understand anyone panicing. The Squad IS weaker as a whole even if the first 11 is stronger and there is only 9 days until our first match, which is not an easy one. I am a little concerned now, even if we sign four players today we're still going to need to get all of them settled and as it stands I do not see us making four signings any time soon. I really wish the club would just come out and say "we plan to add players" because even though we all know they need to and know they know they need to it would calm a lot of people to hear them say they're on the case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monkeh Posted July 30, 2015 Report Share Posted July 30, 2015 Of course they can. As can fatigue and lack of form. Which is precisely why no club can sensibly go through a season with 15 senior players. I would be really worried if lack of form and fatigue effect a team in the first month of the season Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SARJ Posted July 30, 2015 Report Share Posted July 30, 2015 sorry u must be the English teacher Actually that should be: "Sorry, you must be an English teacher" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Selred Posted July 30, 2015 Report Share Posted July 30, 2015 The point I was making is injury scan happen anytime to anyone, it's how you react to them and who steps up, If Elliot didn't get injured last season pack wouldn't of got a new contract this season But last season we had a lot better cover. No-one doubted that Pack could step up to a decent league one level. Reid, Burns and El-Abd are doubts to step up to Championship level. The club in my opinion do not have the young players who can step up. Only 5 youngsters came to Portugal; O'Leary can be cover fine, Reid can cover Freeman yes. However on my viewing out there Burns was no where near good enough, and Kelly/Harper are too lightweight still. I wouldn't trust Kelly playing CB against top strikers, and it's not fair to throw the lamb to the slaughter. If Cotts really believed in these youngsters why didn't he give them some game time in league one after we had promotion? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeAman08 Posted July 30, 2015 Report Share Posted July 30, 2015 That's what happens when you go up!!! Your squad has to adapt to the league. Of course we need cover and competition, everyone knows that but to start the season and get us to September, this squad is just fine. We must do more business and I'm confident it will get done and be deals that we can live with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Im_over_ere Posted July 30, 2015 Report Share Posted July 30, 2015 Another thing to consider is soon Premier teams will be releasing players who are not making the squad or will be looking to loan out players to get some playing time. I would imagine that SC and KB have a list of potential players from premier teams that they can pick up or loan in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BristolBEAT Posted July 30, 2015 Report Share Posted July 30, 2015 Is it not Cotterill's problem not ours? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LondonBristolian Posted July 30, 2015 Report Share Posted July 30, 2015 I would be really worried if lack of form and fatigue effect a team in the first month of the season Poor form can happen at any time so I'm not entirely sure why you think it won't happen first month of the season. As for fatigue, you've got players who've not been playing football for several weeks who start doing a period of intense training, and then play two or three times a week in friendly games as there's not the squad number to rotate as much as you'd like. And then start playing two games a week in several weeks in August. Players getting over-tired or exerting themselves too much and picking up injuries isn't rare in those conditions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sniper Posted July 30, 2015 Report Share Posted July 30, 2015 Yes it is worrying, but it's not like nothing is going on behind the scenes! The frustrating thing is we haven't got a Scooby Doo what that is. We've seen a few things in the papers i.e. Maguire and Lees for example but have we heard anything concrete from the club with regards to those 2? No unless I've missed it! The deadly silence is what is driving everyone round the twist, and the frustration on here at the moment is like a bucket full of PMT Possible scenarios; We're being patience waiting for the players to be come available or for them to weigh up their options as anyone half decent will have several clubs after them. We've not met the asking price. We have met the asking price but the player isn't interested in signing for us i.e. up root and move 200/300 miles? We have met the asking price, the player does want to sign, but wants too much of salary. I'm sure they are many other things that can cause transfers to balls up, and being in with the big boys who can pay the huge asking prices, and pay the big wages, we are obviously finding it more difficult then we first thought! The main thing is we have most of the starting line-up from last season and IMO when these players were bought last season they were also bought in mind of being Championship quality, so in a way we have bought some players for this season, but we got them last season if that makes sense! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monkeh Posted July 30, 2015 Report Share Posted July 30, 2015 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted July 30, 2015 Report Share Posted July 30, 2015 Everyone making assumptions that the club are doing this and doing that, the one thing that has not happened is an explanation of progress on our transfer strategy. Today we are playing our last pre season friendly with a weaker squad to play in the Championship than we had in League 1. Supporters surely deserve some explanation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big C Posted July 30, 2015 Report Share Posted July 30, 2015 Supporters surely deserve some explanation. No we don't let them get on with the business of running the club instead of pandering to panicking supporters Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sargent Pepper Posted July 30, 2015 Report Share Posted July 30, 2015 I can't quite fathom what people want to hear from the club. "This is not where we wanted to be"? "Everyone is turning us down"? "We are now panicking & are about to sign anyone"? Would that make you feel better? Would "We are working hard to secure the players we want" placate you? I doubt it. So let's just let them get on with trying to do their jobs as they have been trying all summer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
downendcity Posted July 30, 2015 Report Share Posted July 30, 2015 I've been reading posts left, right and centre over recent weeks with posters all knowing exactly what the club should be doing, as though SC and his management team haven't got a clue and are happy with the current situation , as far as squad make up is concerned.. Is the manager happy with the total number of players he currently has available in the squad? Definitely no. Has the manager been sunning himself on a beach through the summer, leaving it until a week before the start of the season before flexing his muscles in the transfer market? Definitely no. Will SC and his team have earmarked a number of targets ( first choice, second choice etc) probably at the end of last season, and have they been working hard behind the scenes in pursuing those targets? Definitely yes. Will SC and his team want to publicise their transfer activity and targets, in order to keep fans from becoming suicidal, but with the danger that this will alert other clubs or make the job of signing the players they want even tougher? Definitely no. Do SC and his team have a far better idea of what they are doing, in terms of team and squad management, and knowing the right players to bring in for the long term benefit of the club, than all of us herberts posting on OTIB? Absolutely. If we had been getting regular bulletins from the club, identifying the various players we were after, but kept seeing those players going elsewhere or rejecting us, then I'm pretty sure OTIB would be full of posters criticising the club for publicising our transfer activity and thereby costing us signings. Sometimes the club just can't win as far as fans are concerned. P.S. If the answers to all of my questions are the other way around then Cotts out! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashton_fan Posted July 30, 2015 Report Share Posted July 30, 2015 People are talking about 15 players but there's also the under-21's. I think Cotts may think two or three are ready for a place on the bench if required and would rather do this than sign second or third choices out of desperation as we've done in previous years. It's important that the good spirit in the squad is retained at all costs, it only takes one bad signing to ruin it. The transfer market's open till the end of August then there's loans which we could afford to gamble on. I think the club's playing the long game here not a 'quick fix', we're not looking to get promoted this season, hopefully we'll be comfortably mid-table and can build the squad for a challenge next year when all the stadium building is out of the way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KeepUpLino Posted July 30, 2015 Report Share Posted July 30, 2015 Could someone let me know when pre season starts please? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spudski Posted July 30, 2015 Report Share Posted July 30, 2015 I've been reading posts left, right and centre over recent weeks with posters all knowing exactly what the club should be doing, as though SC and his management team haven't got a clue and are happy with the current situation , as far as squad make up is concerned.. Is the manager happy with the total number of players he currently has available in the squad? Definitely no. Has the manager been sunning himself on a beach through the summer, leaving it until a week before the start of the season before flexing his muscles in the transfer market? Definitely no. Will SC and his team have earmarked a number of targets ( first choice, second choice etc) probably at the end of last season, and have they been working hard behind the scenes in pursuing those targets? Definitely yes. Will SC and his team want to publicise their transfer activity and targets, in order to keep fans from becoming suicidal, but with the danger that this will alert other clubs or make the job of signing the players they want even tougher? Definitely no. Do SC and his team have a far better idea of what they are doing, in terms of team and squad management, and knowing the right players to bring in for the long term benefit of the club, than all of us herberts posting on OTIB? Absolutely. If we had been getting regular bulletins from the club, identifying the various players we were after, but kept seeing those players going elsewhere or rejecting us, then I'm pretty sure OTIB would be full of posters criticising the club for publicising our transfer activity and thereby costing us signings. Sometimes the club just can't win as far as fans are concerned. P.S. If the answers to all of my questions are the other way around then Cotts out! Agree with this....can also add ....SC said towards the end of last season, that him and KB had already started lining up potential signings for this season. Just because other Clubs have made announcements of their signings, it doesn't mean we haven't signed anyone...we may not have announced them for various reasons. A lot of signings made by Championship Clubs have been Free Agents....the ones we've got lined up might not be. A lot of deals get finalised towards near the beginning of the season...not ideal....but Clubs are bartering amongst themselves....this is the nature of the 'Transfer Window'. We were just very fortunate last season, that signings got done early. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LondonBristolian Posted July 30, 2015 Report Share Posted July 30, 2015 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big C Posted July 30, 2015 Report Share Posted July 30, 2015 Just out of interest doesn't a lot of contracts expire on 31st July? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marina's Rolls Royce Posted July 30, 2015 Report Share Posted July 30, 2015 Steve Lansdown has been quoted as saying he won't be bullied/blackmailed into paying silly prices and this no doubt plays a part. At some point fees/contracts will be agreed but not because we're desperate. It's because it's the right player at the right price. I think that SL/Board will have spoken to SC and KB in some depth and asked if the team which won us the double can hold its own in the Championship at least for the start of the season and SC would have believed that it would. John Pelling, in his BBC tv interview, warned fans back in May not to expect any signings until late on as they would be identifying very specific targets who would be more difficult to bring in and would not pay over the odds. It is also the case that SL has a vision for BCFC and is building very carefully for the future. I'm actually pretty excited that the players we eventually bring in will, imo, be of a quality and potential most of us haven't seen before. I have no doubt that this involves SL/SC having balls of steel and none of us truly know the extent of how far along we are in signing players but it is a fact that they'll be working night and day to secure the players they want. But for the OP to title it "piss poor" and others with the old "down by christmas' nonsense is , quite frankly, piss poor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bristolcitysweden Posted July 30, 2015 Report Share Posted July 30, 2015 Another nervous break down Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.