ALL Rumours for January Transfer window (Merged)

[ontariored]

5 minutes ago, pongo88 said:

Cotts has looked totally fed up with the transfer situation since the beginning of the season.  He's said nothing positive about signing new players and nothing to motivate the current players. If this was a non football job his boss would have a quiet chat with him and suggests that he either changes his attitude or leaves.  I don't believe Cotts wants to be here any more, but  hasn't resigned for one reason - money. If he resigns he gets nothing.  If he's sacked he gets compensation. If / when he's sacked he can blame everyone but himself

Agreed. We are a very ambitious club with big ideas but no follow through . We don't walk the talk, the Board leaves the team out to dry, I am sure because history repeats itself every day....

[yatesuperreds]

just saw medo kamara was let go by bolton maybe we will be in for him as we did look at him in september 

[reddogkev]

9 minutes ago, Esmond Million's Bung said:

What sign anybody out of 150 players?, yep I can just see the fall out when we discover how poor these 4 or 5 actually are.

As difficult as it is we still have to go for quality and not just numbers.

The bottom line is simple IMHO, SC now has little option either pay the clubs asking prices and pay higher wages with guaranteed escape clauses if we are relegated or be relegated anyway.

You're right with the bottom line, and it's not all that bad provided it keeps us in the league.

In my example, the players we need to sign don't have to be fantastic players, or even proven Championship quality anymore - the remit is now far more stark and troubling - they just have to bolster our squad so we can rest some of our first eleven and stop them burning out and collapsing.  I reckon our first team is good enough for this league - it's just that they are being stretched past breaking point due to the lack of options in the squad.

[REDOXO]

6 minutes ago, ciderup said:

He could also leave, that's another option. 

Kermogant to Reading :laugh:!

How on earth can we be here?...Its absolutely mind boggling that we can eff up this badly over an extended period. Top of the pile and flying to relegation favourites, who can sign no one apart from a kid from France. The people that have left is bad enough. The bloke that transited from Spurs to Fulham, the kid from Torquay, the winger to blackburn, they couldn't stand it here. The players we sent back who could not even get on the bench or get more than a cameo and now the 34 year old forward who would go anywhere except here.

Luckily Bolton and Charlton are bigger basket cases but we need to find one more....My God how could we have let JET and Cunningham go...What a bloody shambles....Wrong its beyond shambles its just a complete implosion that only city could manage....Bloody Hell, I am now really starting to think that despite everythng Cotterill is part of the problem...If Warnock or Moyes were here we would have contacts and players banging the door down to get us out of this mess!! 

[Esmond Million's Bung]

12 minutes ago, ciderup said:

He could also leave, that's another option. 

and be replaced with somebody who has been sacked by his last club for being shit?, IMHO the quality of viable managers is piss poor and  of the better coaches who would want come here for the same reason as quality players?.

[ciderup]

1 minute ago, Esmond Million's Bung said:

and be replaced with somebody who has been sacked by his last club for being shit?, IMHO the quality of viable managers is piss poor and  of the better coaches who would want come here for the same reason as quality players?.

So we do nothing and drop back to the crap league with nothing more than a whimper Es?

While I don't think Pearson (unfairly removed IMHO but the way Leicester are going justifies it I guess) or Moyes would come here, the likes of Steve Clarke are proven Managers at this level and more attainable.

I just don't want to be watching Rochdale or Bury (with all due respect to them) at the Gate next season TBH, I want to be watching the excellent teams in the Championship!

[Esmond Million's Bung]

4 minutes ago, reddogkev said:

You're right with the bottom line, and it's not all that bad provided it keeps us in the league.

In my example, the players we need to sign don't have to be fantastic players, or even proven Championship quality anymore - the remit is now far more stark and troubling - they just have to bolster our squad so we can rest some of our first eleven and stop them burning out and collapsing.  I reckon our first team is good enough for this league - it's just that they are being stretched past breaking point due to the lack of options in the squad.

There has to be some degree of either being as good as or better than, otherwise we will see a situation that started under Coppell and continued under Millen and DMC, far too many overpaid, under motivated players who will just hang on for the money.

[Esmond Million's Bung]

1 minute ago, ciderup said:

So we do nothing and drop back to the crap league with nothing more than a whimper Es?

While I don't think Pearson (unfairly removed IMHO but the way Leicester are going justifies it I guess) or Moyes would come here, the likes of Steve Clarke are proven Managers at this level and more attainable.

I just don't want to be watching Rochdale or Bury (with all due respect to them) at the Gate next season TBH, I want to be watching the excellent teams in the Championship!

Dream on only Clarke is viable neither of the other two would blot their copybooks here at the moment, Pearson is a bit weird for BCFC IMO, he cut the figure of man on the edge of breakdown with some of his interviews and actions last season and Clarke might be a good coach but my god he's dour in a SOD way.

As for the whimper you describe, that was certainly case for the last relegation, but at least squad looks as though it is actually putting in 100%.

 

[RedRock]

 

38 minutes ago, daored said:

 

The Club has just released a list of the its current transfer targets. 

[ciderup]

5 minutes ago, Esmond Million's Bung said:

Dream on only Clarke is viable neither of the other two would blot their copybooks here at the moment, Pearson is a bit weird for BCFC IMO, he cut the figure of man on the edge of breakdown with some of his interviews and actions last season and Clarke might be a good coach but my god he's dour in a SOD way.

As for the whimper you describe, that was certainly case for the last relegation, but at least squad looks as though it is actually putting in 100%.

 

Read my post again Es, I said I DON'T think Pearson or Moyes would come here and that Clarke could be attainable.

The rest of your post, I agree with.

[Esmond Million's Bung]

5 minutes ago, ciderup said:

Read my post again Es, I said I DON'T think Pearson or Moyes would come here and that Clarke could be attainable.

The rest of your post, I agree with.

Sorry my mistake, having said all of that offer Moyes the crown jewels and the ultimate overall vision and the promise of no further **** up's, I have always believed if you don't ask you don't get, with an escape clause as well.

But the general standard of replacements available IMO are poor.

 

[ciderup]

5 minutes ago, Esmond Million's Bung said:

Sorry my mistake, having said all of that offer Moyes the crown jewels and the ultimate overall vision and the promise of no further **** up's, I have always believed if you don't ask you don't get, with an escape clause as well.

But the general standard of replacements available IMO are poor.

 

It costs nothing to ask Es, as you said. I still don't think he would come to City, we're a basket case at the moment.

[REDOXO]

I don't agree vis a vis Moyes. I think he would come if approached and a suitable deal offered. The contacts he has would be excellent and being a former player it might be hard to resist. 

Either way The Board would have to gird their loins approach him in a subtle way and find out. 

What is for sure this mayhem has to stop and SL knows it. 

[Esmond Million's Bung]

1 minute ago, ciderup said:

It costs nothing to ask Es, as you said. I still don't think he would come to City, we're a basket case at the moment.

Well I don't agree with the highlighted portion we are just suffering from taking our eye off of the ball 12 months ago and being carried on a wave of emotion and loyalty, what it needed was somebody to actually say, 'we are going up, strengthen now in readiness and then do your summer business early" but sadly nobody saw that and whatever went wrong in the summer and by **** something did go wrong and we need some honesty about that eventually.

As for Moyes if I was asking I would say till the end of the season with a huge bonus if he keeps us up and then talk about it, that's if I was asking and i'm still not sure about that.

 

[samo II]

6 minutes ago, tommytank1985 said:

Just **** off!!! This deal surely should of been done months ago for January?!?!

Something is rotten in the state of Denmark, that is for sure.

I qas under the impression (though happy to be corrected, if wrong) that he was one of the few signings that the reliable sources on here identified as being close to joining in the summer?

Ah, well; we've got Arnie instead...

[Dave]

I am struggling each day to see how we think we are going to remain in the Championship, when we are not even able to fill the bench.

I understand our reluctance about paying excessive wages, but if this continues we will return to other clubs moaning about our spending power, in League 1.

[bcfcbs20]

What a mess near enough every player we've been in for has signed for another club. It's been said a thousand times but what a f@@king mess the summer was we     deserve answers to why we have thrown all of last seasons momentum down the sh@@er. We aren't going to attract good championship quality players that we've been linked with because of our league position. We should be going after the best players from L1 and L2. At least they would be more realistic and more chance of them signing. 

[Esmond Million's Bung]

3 minutes ago, bcfcbs20 said:

What a mess near enough every player we've been in for has signed for another club. It's been said a thousand times but what a f@@king mess the summer was we     deserve answers to why we have thrown all of last seasons momentum down the sh@@er. We aren't going to attract good championship quality players that we've been linked with because of our league position. We should be going after the best players from L1 and L2. At least they would be more realistic and more chance of them signing. 

Sadly that might not work either because most of the best players are playing for teams vying for promotion, it's pretty much now all about money nothing more, nothing less, we are going to have to start offering big money with escape clauses IMO.

[Lrrr]

31 minutes ago, tommytank1985 said:

Just **** off!!! This deal surely should of been done months ago for January?!?!

Presumably they were only happy to negotiate it after they got Grabban 

[REDOXO]

27 minutes ago, Esmond Million's Bung said:

Well I don't agree with the highlighted portion we are just suffering from taking our eye off of the ball 12 months ago and being carried on a wave of emotion and loyalty, what it needed was somebody to actually say, 'we are going up, strengthen now in readiness and then do your summer business early" but sadly nobody saw that and whatever went wrong in the summer and by **** something did go wrong and we need some honesty about that eventually.

As for Moyes if I was asking I would say till the end of the season with a huge bonus if he keeps us up and then talk about it, that's if I was asking and i'm still not sure about that.

 

Es you are a very charitable man. 

In many ways we were loyal, but it is clear we were trying to bring in multiple targets according to SL. We just failed universally in the summer.

However that would be my tag line to Moyes!

[Guest]

37 minutes ago, tommytank1985 said:

Just **** off!!! This deal surely should of been done months ago for January?!?!

Ask one question; why would anyone have committed before Jan? If he had an offer in any case this demonstrates why it would have been stupid for him to agree to join in January - his refusal is/was vindicated if this report is true  

I don't want to patronise but reading that, and what happened with Bennett, ought to explain why no deals were lined up; because we're a small fish (still) and because we are not of a size to mean that it's unreasonable gamble on receiving an alternative offer. Couple that with our likelihood of twitchyness as the window and season progresses throughout January it would have been amazing that any player would do a deal. 

[Esmond Million's Bung]

1 minute ago, REDOXO said:

Es you are a very charitable man. 

In many ways we were loyal, but it is clear we were trying to bring in multiple targets according to SL. We just failed universally in the summer.

However that would be my tag line to Moyes!

I don't think that I am being charitable, the basis of the present squad is good enough just not big enough and lacking in quality, but SC didn't want to be seen as disloyal to last seasons squad by bringing in new blood a year ago IMO and that has proved not only a huge mistake but very costly, we could have brought in some the best talent available this time last year and we didn't, I also personally believe the notion that SC and KB had deals lined up and between SL and Pelling they tried to be clever and now we can't even persuade old farts like Kermorgant to sign for us and an unproven kid decided that Bolton was still a better bet than us.

The summer was only part of the problem but the seeds were sewn a year ago.

[Flagon]

We've played Reading twice already, as long as he bangs them in against teams around us it'll be like having a signing. 

[deadredfred]

Not sure I buy into there being a lack of suitable replacement managers. 

Not that I have a comprehensive list of managers who are free and who would be interested, but a few spring to mind. 

But we're still a Championship side (for now), with a decent recruitment budget and a first 11 Inthink can compete in this league with the right setup and tactics. 

Transfer shambles aside; that for me is the most frustrating thing of all! I don't beleive for one second our players would struggle settling into a 4-4-2/4-1-3-2 formation that a new manager could quickly introduce and nail down within a week.

Not only is our "system" a poor one for this league (as proven by 4 in 28), but it's also what is limiting our transfers!

Everything we're told that Cotts is looking for severely limits our options. We have so many and such specific requirements, it's no wonder we're struggling to get anyone in. 

Must play the 5-3-2 system, must be young, must be better than what we have (because equal to is not good enough?!), must not want more than our wage cap, must be happy to join a team in the drop zone etc etc.

For all the nonsense about not being able to compete financially, it's all these self imposed restrictions and blinkered approach to team setup and therefore recruitment that is costing us. 

We're making a rod for our own backs and that's exactly why I think another manager could lift so much of this, and quickly. 

[Esmond Million's Bung]

3 minutes ago, deadredfred said:

Not sure I buy into there being a lack of suitable replacement managers. 

Not that I have a comprehensive list of managers who are free and who would be interested, but a few spring to mind. 

But we're still a Championship side (for now), with a decent recruitment budget and a first 11 Inthink can compete in this league with the right setup and tactics. 

Transfer shambles aside; that for me is the most frustrating thing of all! I don't beleive for one second our players would struggle settling into a 4-4-2/4-1-3-2 formation that a new manager could quickly introduce and nail down within a week.

Not only is our "system" a poor one for this league (as proven by 4 in 28), but it's also what is limiting our transfers!

Everything we're told that Cotts is looking for severely limits our options. We have so many and such specific requirements, it's no wonder we're struggling to get anyone in. 

Must play the 5-3-2 system, must be young, must be better than what we have (because equal to is not good enough?!), must not want more than our wage cap, must be happy to join a team in the drop zone etc etc.

For all the nonsense about not being able to compete financially, it's all these self imposed restrictions and blinkered approach to team setup and therefore recruitment that is costing us. 

We're making a rod for our own backs and that's exactly why I think another manager could lift so much of this, and quickly. 

Who springs to mind for you?.

 

[Tales From The Front]

59 minutes ago, Esmond Million's Bung said:

Well I don't agree with the highlighted portion we are just suffering from taking our eye off of the ball 12 months ago and being carried on a wave of emotion and loyalty, what it needed was somebody to actually say, 'we are going up, strengthen now in readiness and then do your summer business early" but sadly nobody saw that and whatever went wrong in the summer and by **** something did go wrong and we need some honesty about that eventually.

As for Moyes if I was asking I would say till the end of the season with a huge bonus if he keeps us up and then talk about it, that's if I was asking and i'm still not sure about that.

 

But there lies the problem we have always been to far loyal / sentimental as a club.  We shouted Junior , Junior, Junior for more years than was sanely acceptable.  We got to the Playoff final in 2008 and then remained loyal to the players that got us there and then fell away fairly sharpish.  As you say and I wholeheartedly agree, the time to strengthen in is when you are strong, not like now when we are quite frankly desperate.

I read something on here the other day that we would definitely go down if we sacked Cotts but MIGHT stay up if we didn't, what a crazy state of affairs. Until as a club and fan base we are more demanding of the people that represent it we will continue on the familiar spiral of our existence.  It's true, facets of our fan loyalty is a club strength, but when you look at the situation of other clubs in and around the division I can only think that Neil Lennon has a worse record and kept his job, and even then they tried on alleged misconduct that was unproven. 

Like Ward and Johnson before him Cotterill has etched himself in as legend status for getting out of the 3rd tier (all be it with a cherry on top) and for many that will suffice.  Such a shame that the territorial nature of the Robins means any thing less than full unconditional loyalty means that you should F off and watch the G*s.  When periodically (and last Saturday being a prime example) we show what we could be and with a bit more ambition, we could really go just that little bit further. 

[GrahamC]

2 minutes ago, Tales From The Front said:

But there lies the problem we have always been to far loyal / sentimental as a club.  We shouted Junior , Junior, Junior for more years than was sanely acceptable.  We got to the Playoff final in 2008 and then remained loyal to the players that got us there and then fell away fairly sharpish.  

This is one of the myths that gets repeated ad nauseam on here, we actually finished tenth and tenth again in the following two seasons. Unprecedented this side of 1980.

That looks like Champions League form compared to what we've achieved this season.

[deadredfred]

I just think fresh impetus would be as good as anything to lift the current squad. 

With regards suggestions - no different to those quoted to be honest. Warnock, Pearson, Clarke, Moyes...

I'm not jumping for joy at the prospect of any of them. But they all have something to offer. 

I really don't like Warnock but he does a job at this level. Listening to him talk makes me want to eat my own ears but I think he could sort us out.

Moyes - connections and club history, needs a job to lift his reputation so would give it a good go.

Pearson and Clarke - hmmm less interested in this pair but if they can recruit a player and sort the blind tactics then bingo, we're already making progress. 

Its all about controlling the controllables! Players not wanting to sign for personal reasons is not one of them. Kamikaze tactics, self imposed transfer target fussiness and a refusal to rest a tired team is. 

I'm concerned we've missed the boat already. But I've heard mentioned elsewhere a suggestion about a contract to the end of the season with bonus for staying up. 

I'd give Cotts the transfer window/until after Leeds. If nothing changes I think the risk of relegation is too big to continue to sit back and watch it all crumble. 

[Esmond Million's Bung]

5 minutes ago, Tales From The Front said:

But there lies the problem we have always been to far loyal / sentimental as a club.  We shouted Junior , Junior, Junior for more years than was sanely acceptable.  We got to the Playoff final in 2008 and then remained loyal to the players that got us there and then fell away fairly sharpish.  As you say and I wholeheartedly agree, the time to strengthen in is when you are strong, not like now when we are quite frankly desperate.

I read something on here the other day that we would definitely go down if we sacked Cotts but MIGHT stay up if we didn't, what a crazy state of affairs. Until as a club and fan base we are more demanding of the people that represent it we will continue on the familiar spiral of our existence.  It's true, facets of our fan loyalty is a club strength, but when you look at the situation of other clubs in and around the division I can only think that Neil Lennon has a worse record and kept his job, and even then they tried on alleged misconduct that was unproven. 

Like Ward and Johnson before him Cotterill has etched himself in as legend status for getting out of the 3rd tier (all be it with a cherry on top) and for many that will suffice.  Such a shame that the territorial nature of the Robins means any thing less than full unconditional loyalty means that you should F off and watch the G*s.  When periodically (and last Saturday being a prime example) we show what we could be and with a bit more ambition, we could really go just that little bit further. 

i'm not a million miles away from the overall thrust of your post, but also there is a part of me that says, we cannot twist every time there is a blip, because part of our overall problem is lack of continuity, Coppell ****** us up before even a ball was kicked in his short stay and Millen came in full of ideas that never worked and confounded the problems as did DMC, SOD had a vision but insisted that vision was implemented from day one instead of trying to fight against relegation and implementing that vision bit by bit.

[ciderup]

5 minutes ago, deadredfred said:

I just think fresh impetus would be as good as anything to lift the current squad. 

With regards suggestions - no different to those quoted to be honest. Warnock, Pearson, Clarke, Moyes...

I'm not jumping for joy at the prospect of any of them. But they all have something to offer. 

I really don't like Warnock but he does a job at this level. Listening to him talk makes me want to eat my own ears but I think he could sort us out.

Moyes - connections and club history, needs a job to lift his reputation so would give it a good go.

Pearson and Clarke - hmmm less interested in this pair but if they can recruit a player and sort the blind tactics then bingo, we're already making progress. 

Its all about controlling the controllables! Players not wanting to sign for personal reasons is not one of them. Kamikaze tactics, self imposed transfer target fussiness and a refusal to rest a tired team is. 

I'm concerned we've missed the boat already. But I've heard mentioned elsewhere a suggestion about a contract to the end of the season with bonus for staying up. 

I'd give Cotts the transfer window/until after Leeds. If nothing changes I think the risk of relegation is too big to continue to sit back and watch it all crumble. 

Isn't that too late? I appreciate any new incumbent would have the loan system but they would have no chance of making a permanent signing.