That Swedish lad...

[Major Isewater]

7 hours ago, Eddie Hitler said:

Engvall doesn't actually exist; there were lots of calls to sign another striker in the summer and to appease the fans the signing of a new striker was announced.

We've employed a local semi-pro who looks vaguely Swedish to run around at training games and appear in photo shoots. He's actually called Steve, is from Bradford on Avon and was working as a plasterer and mobile karaoke host before the Engvall gig.

His contract runs until the summer at which point "Engvall" will go out "on loan" to a Botswanan club without an internet site and Steve will go back to his karaoke.

Source ? 

[RedM]

56 minutes ago, pongo88 said:

If City was desperate to sign a striker before January, it could do "a Warnock", and sign someone currently unattached. In theory a player not attached to a club should be rubbish, but this plan works, in the short term, for our friend Neil. I'm sure he would be happy to give LJ a few suggestions (for a small fee)

Yes in theory we could 'do a Warnock' and sign a unattached player, but I had alarm bells giving me a blinding headache when I heard more about these players he signed.

At least one ( sorry I forget which one) had been holding out for a premier league club to come in for him, no doubt he had offers he turned down then, suddenly he signs for Cardiff in the relegation zone! Well either Cardiff are going to have one hell of a season and the player will get his wish or they are paying Premiership wages, I know which one it is. 

Another of his signings , might be the same player,  was waiting for Colin to get a job so he would sign him on again. So even if we had wanted this player then the 'linking up with an old boss' factor would have undone us anyway.

I realise we these players are only signed until January and are as much putting themselves in the shop window as helping poor Cardiff out. And I do realise we spent big in bringing in Odemwingie and Tomlin in at the time we needed help, but as a rule I don't want us going down that route of doing these type of deals. Yes in Tomlins case it worked out as he made a difference and we signed him, but did we really get good value from Odemwingie, assuming we were paying quite a bit more than our players were on. 

 

[Aaron-Bcfc]

32 minutes ago, RedM said:

Yes in theory we could 'do a Warnock' and sign a unattached player, but I had alarm bells giving me a blinding headache when I heard more about these players he signed.

At least one ( sorry I forget which one) had been holding out for a premier league club to come in for him, no doubt he had offers he turned down then, suddenly he signs for Cardiff in the relegation zone! Well either Cardiff are going to have one hell of a season and the player will get his wish or they are paying Premiership wages, I know which one it is. 

Another of his signings , might be the same player,  was waiting for Colin to get a job so he would sign him on again. So even if we had wanted this player then the 'linking up with an old boss' factor would have undone us anyway.

I realise we these players are only signed until January and are as much putting themselves in the shop window as helping poor Cardiff out. And I do realise we spent big in bringing in Odemwingie and Tomlin in at the time we needed help, but as a rule I don't want us going down that route of doing these type of deals. Yes in Tomlins case it worked out as he made a difference and we signed him, but did we really get good value from Odemwingie, assuming we were paying quite a bit more than our players were on. 

 

Hard to say whether we were paying Odemwingie anymore than anyone else, we could've only been paying 50% of his wages. I think he was well worth it though, didn't play as much as he probably should but showed his class in his goals against Rotherham and Bolton, and did well at games like Fulham away when he came on.

[Big C]

1 hour ago, RedM said:

Yes in theory we could 'do a Warnock' and sign a unattached player, but I had alarm bells giving me a blinding headache when I heard more about these players he signed.

At least one ( sorry I forget which one) had been holding out for a premier league club to come in for him, no doubt he had offers he turned down then, suddenly he signs for Cardiff in the relegation zone! Well either Cardiff are going to have one hell of a season and the player will get his wish or they are paying Premiership wages, I know which one it is. 

Another of his signings , might be the same player,  was waiting for Colin to get a job so he would sign him on again. So even if we had wanted this player then the 'linking up with an old boss' factor would have undone us anyway.

I realise we these players are only signed until January and are as much putting themselves in the shop window as helping poor Cardiff out. And I do realise we spent big in bringing in Odemwingie and Tomlin in at the time we needed help, but as a rule I don't want us going down that route of doing these type of deals. Yes in Tomlins case it worked out as he made a difference and we signed him, but did we really get good value from Odemwingie, assuming we were paying quite a bit more than our players were on. 

 

I agree with this. We don't need to do a Warnock and sign a journeyman unattached player. We done this the last time we were in this Division. Its not like we need to panic either as we are not languishing at the foot of the table as  Cardiff are and in need of a quick fix. We are doing things the right way and building a squad. It's a shame that we couldn't get another forward other the line before the window closed in August but hopefully this will be sorted in January. We don't really want to fill the squad before then with a possible high earning free agent which may scupper our budget and thus miss out on a target come January.

 

[Major Isewater]

No , the other Swedish lad .

[Lorenzos Only Goal]

He had a knock when we bought him, he was getting fit played a game for us went away on international training camp got another injury.

[1960maaan]

Rhodes would a massive outlay for no chance of getting your money back, one thing you can expect with most of the signings we've made , plus wages would be astronomical.

 Wes would not be a natural to lead the line, but might be another option, although I did think there was no recall to the loan.

As for Engval , with the business we've done lately I would tend to trust our scouting set up, LJ,MA and the rest , to have a decent idea of a player.  They must have seen something in him, so I'd tend to be patient and see what comes when he's fit.

[PHILINFRANCE]

8 minutes ago, 1960maaan said:

Rhodes would a massive outlay for no chance of getting your money back, one thing you can expect with most of the signings we've made , plus wages would be astronomical.

 Wes would not be a natural to lead the line, but might be another option, although I did think there was no recall to the loan.

As for Engval , with the business we've done lately I would tend to trust our scouting set up, LJ,MA and the rest , to have a decent idea of a player.  They must have seen something in him, so I'd tend to be patient and see what comes when he's fit.

WB can be recalled in January if need be, although I doubt this will be the case.

Otherwise, I agree with your comments concerning Rhodes and, especially, Engvall.

[GrahamC]

7 hours ago, RedM said:

Yes in theory we could 'do a Warnock' and sign a unattached player, but I had alarm bells giving me a blinding headache when I heard more about these players he signed.

At least one ( sorry I forget which one) had been holding out for a premier league club to come in for him, no doubt he had offers he turned down then, suddenly he signs for Cardiff in the relegation zone! Well either Cardiff are going to have one hell of a season and the player will get his wish or they are paying Premiership wages, I know which one it is. 

Another of his signings , might be the same player,  was waiting for Colin to get a job so he would sign him on again. So even if we had wanted this player then the 'linking up with an old boss' factor would have undone us anyway.

I realise we these players are only signed until January and are as much putting themselves in the shop window as helping poor Cardiff out. And I do realise we spent big in bringing in Odemwingie and Tomlin in at the time we needed help, but as a rule I don't want us going down that route of doing these type of deals. Yes in Tomlins case it worked out as he made a difference and we signed him, but did we really get good value from Odemwingie, assuming we were paying quite a bit more than our players were on. 

 

The one waiting for a Prem club was Hoilett, think Bamba was the one waiting for Warnock to get a job.

Good as the latter was against us, he does have a track record of starting well then going downhill rapidly, just ask Leeds fans..

I think that anyone currently still without a club as we approach November is worth avoiding, personally..

[Lanterne Rouge]

34 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

The one waiting for a Prem club was Hoilett, think Bamba was the one waiting for Warnock to get a job.

Good as the latter was against us, he does have a track record of starting well then going downhill rapidly, just ask Leeds fans..

I think that anyone currently still without a club as we approach November is worth avoiding, personally..

It was the other way round I think mate but valid points nonetheless.

[formerly known as ivan]

8 hours ago, Shtanley said:

Engvall is only 20, chill. 

So does this mean we are in a position both financially and in terms of the squad  to spend £2m on a player who may develop?

Didnt expert him to walk into the starting 11 but thought he would at least be in the squad.

Get he has been injured as well but how good was his medical that he has been out of action since we signed him? Why not come back to him further down the line?

[pongo88]

1 hour ago, formerly known as ivan said:

So does this mean we are in a position both financially and in terms of the squad  to spend £2m on a player who may develop?

Didnt expert him to walk into the starting 11 but thought he would at least be in the squad.

Get he has been injured as well but how good was his medical that he has been out of action since we signed him? Why not come back to him further down the line?

In addition to Engvall, we have O'Dowda, Brownhill and Moore who should develop into good Championship players in time, but don't look like first team regulars now. Plus Joel Ekstrand who may, or may not, regain full fitness. The future may be good, but we're a bit thin in key areas now, particularly if Tammy gets injured 

[Judda]

None of them have had a proper run in the team so we can't say if they're championship quality or not....

[pongo88]

1 hour ago, Judda said:

None of them have had a proper run in the team so we can't say if they're championship quality or not.

The fact they haven't had a run probably means they're not Championship standard at present. As for the future?

[Phileas Fogg]

6 hours ago, formerly known as ivan said:

So does this mean we are in a position both financially and in terms of the squad  to spend £2m on a player who may develop?

Didnt expert him to walk into the starting 11 but thought he would at least be in the squad.

Get he has been injured as well but how good was his medical that he has been out of action since we signed him? Why not come back to him further down the line?

Maybe it was an opportunity that was too good to miss. We know he's had some premier league interest in the past, maybe we were made aware we could get him for a relatively cheap price compared to his potential.

I think financially arguably we are in a position to take a few risks and make long-term investments. We've had a very profitable summer financially and for once are in the black. 

I think with his injuries he was just about to be fit again when he got injured with Sweden so it's a bit different.

People need to give our recruitment the benefit of the doubt, they clearly recognise a talented player, let's wait and see. Not every single young player is going to reach the level of championship football as quickly as Magnusson or Abraham.

[Garland-sweden]

I dont understand why Gustav was with the Swedish team in Estland, if not fit. Why did City allow that he Went there. He picked up Another injury there. Not hopeful about this. Hope Im wrong.

[Robbie_Turner]

On 18/10/2016 at 22:03, Full nelson said:

There's a decent striker over the river which needs to be bought with part of JK's money in January. 

Indeed, especially as my proper name is Matt Taylor and I'm sick to the back teeth of him scoring for them !!!!

[1960maaan]

On 21/10/2016 at 02:02, Phileas Fogg said:

Maybe it was an opportunity that was too good to miss. We know he's had some premier league interest in the past, maybe we were made aware we could get him for a relatively cheap price compared to his potential.

I think financially arguably we are in a position to take a few risks and make long-term investments. We've had a very profitable summer financially and for once are in the black. 

I think with his injuries he was just about to be fit again when he got injured with Sweden so it's a bit different.

People need to give our recruitment the benefit of the doubt, they clearly recognise a talented player, let's wait and see. Not every single young player is going to reach the level of championship football as quickly as Magnusson or Abraham.

I think I'm right in saying we have almost broken even over the last two proper windows (ignore the farce of the middle one). I know this doesn't take into account of wages etc , but purely on fees alone our outlay hasn't been Huge thanks to selling players at a profit , a rarity when talking about City.

SL has not been shy in signing cheques before, and now with a real plan in place and the right people in the important positions he can feel more comfortable in spending that sort of money. All the players we have signed, with a year in the Championship , would make money if sold on . Engval is the one with question marks at the moment simply because he hasn't got any time on the pitch, but if you go through all the signings I think the early signs are we can trust the scouting system and decision makers to spot a player. I agree @Phileas Fogg , the transition to English 2nd tier football can take different times for different players. Mag's was not that impressive in the first game but has picked up fantastically well , JK split opinions and yet got 20 goals.  Most of the players signed are young with potential, and potential profit which is massively important to a club of our current size.  

I would say we are ahead of the game concerning LJ's 3 windows quote, but at the same time we are light up front and over dependant on Tammy. Whether Engval (when fit) will be able to take some of the responsibility from Tammy, no one can possibly know yet. Plus rumours are already starting about the Jan window. I think if we are in the same League position come January money will be available for possibly 2 strikers as unless we go up Tammy will not be with us next year, even then he may not. Every signing is a risk, even proven players may not gel, but Gus Gus(as I will now call him) is 20, from things I've read and heard LJ likes to watch a potential player himself so I will give him time to get fit and settle as we've not put a foot wrong with players in or out for some time.

[JamesBCFC]

2 hours ago, 1960maaan said:

I think I'm right in saying we have almost broken even over the last two proper windows (ignore the farce of the middle one). I know this doesn't take into account of wages etc , but purely on fees alone our outlay hasn't been Huge thanks to selling players at a profit , a rarity when talking about City.

SL has not been shy in signing cheques before, and now with a real plan in place and the right people in the important positions he can feel more comfortable in spending that sort of money. All the players we have signed, with a year in the Championship , would make money if sold on . Engval is the one with question marks at the moment simply because he hasn't got any time on the pitch, but if you go through all the signings I think the early signs are we can trust the scouting system and decision makers to spot a player. I agree @Phileas Fogg , the transition to English 2nd tier football can take different times for different players. Mag's was not that impressive in the first game but has picked up fantastically well , JK split opinions and yet got 20 goals.  Most of the players signed are young with potential, and potential profit which is massively important to a club of our current size.  

I would say we are ahead of the game concerning LJ's 3 windows quote, but at the same time we are light up front and over dependant on Tammy. Whether Engval (when fit) will be able to take some of the responsibility from Tammy, no one can possibly know yet. Plus rumours are already starting about the Jan window. I think if we are in the same League position come January money will be available for possibly 2 strikers as unless we go up Tammy will not be with us next year, even then he may not. Every signing is a risk, even proven players may not gel, but Gus Gus(as I will now call him) is 20, from things I've read and heard LJ likes to watch a potential player himself so I will give him time to get fit and settle as we've not put a foot wrong with players in or out for some time.

I agree with the point you are making, but can I just flag the comment on Magnusson. 

He was shocking in the first half against Wigan, but in the second half, last 30 particularly he was just a class above. 

[bristolcitysweden]

I think LJ only looks after Engvall. After his injuries he is still not comfortable to get stuck in and if anyone knows how a crowd can react to that it's LJ