Alex Scott - £25m to Bournemouth- Confirmed

[W-S-M Seagull]

19 minutes ago, Kid in the Riot said:

@W-S-M Seagull what was it to sit at the table again?

Muppet.

25 million guaranteed which is what we've got. 

Why you insulting me? 

[fgrsimon]

25 minutes ago, Fordy62 said:

I’ve never been to Bournemouth but I can confirm you’re 100% correct. 

The players don't have to live in the town/city itself though. Middlesbrough (a genuine shithole if ever there was one!) players live somewhere like Yarm which is very nice. There are lovely places within easy commute of Wolverhampton.

[Slack]

Just this time believe in the process, we've sat here and had all these kind of players paraded by the likes of Johnson and Ashton.. most of us fans didn't question at the time we lapped it up. 

Nige has a plan, hence the quick early business in most windows. If Scott goes I bet we strengthen! 

It's easy to say patience but has Nige not seriously earned some credit in the bank, with all of the hurdles he's had ? 

If not each to their own but I'd bet we will go for it this season and silence some critics 

[Ska Junkie]

I wish AS well but I'm in the FFS camp along with many others judging by the last few pages.

When will it be our turn? Sadly, I don't see it coming as we have to sell our best. The money and wages we cannot compete with, I understand that.

Im not anti Bournemouth but pro City.

Gutted, again. Shit week which sounds mad after a 5-1 win but fear for our club if we always have to sell our best.

[Supersonic Robin]

15 minutes ago, Kid in the Riot said:

Other clubs, who finished above us, seemed to utilise it OK last season. 

I actually really like Pearson's stance on loans.

IMO, they're only worth using if you think the loan will help you to either finish inside the top 6, or avoid the bottom 3. They're a last resort to 'get you over the line'. 

Otherwise, as Pearson says, you're investing a lot of money and development time into players from other teams who won't be your assets at the end of the season (loans with option to buy are slightly better).

[Mr Popodopolous]

3 minutes ago, Ska Junkie said:

I wish AS well but I'm in the FFS camp along with many others judging by the last few pages.

When will it be our turn? Sadly, I don't see it coming as we have to sell our best. The money and wages we cannot compete with, I understand that.

Im not anti Bournemouth but pro City.

Gutted, again. Shit week which sounds mad after a 5-1 win but fear for our club if we always have to sell our best.

I like to think we've built up headroom to avoid this for a while now SJ, I think we all had a feeling that Scott would likely be off.

The headroom with that and our discipline on costs for 2 long years means sell any of Vyner, Pring, Bell, Conway? No need is there.

Perhaps even seek to extend all of these but how realistic is the question.

[Fuber]

59 minutes ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

GK, CB, some kinda Central Player.

Then maybe a striker of sort of we deem fit.

Honestly, between Dickie, Vyner, Pring, Roberts, Araoye, and Naismith able to cover? Think we should be OK until Rob is fit circa (hopefully) November, if similar time frame to Benarous for rehab.

Think we need more options on in the middle. Not enough strength in the middle with Massengo gone and now Scott, assuming McCrorie is to challenge Tanner for RB. Add in competition for O'Leary to then allowing Wiles-Richards and Bajic out on loan and to be sold respectively.

I'd see if we can get a striker on loan to Januray to cover for Conway, or compete for the season, would be ideal.

So GK, DM, CM, ST?

Off the top of my head (of players made available for transfer or mooted on here previously) examples of each position would be the likes of Matej Kovar (linked with Hull, United looking for fee, or loan with obligation), Callim Styles (linked with Watford, but nothing has materialised), Tim Iroegbunam (linked with a move out of Villa), then possibly someone in the mould of Andi Zeqiri perhaps on Loan? (Basel last season on loan, apparently only 70% of £15kpw wages, with minimal (£300k) fee). We should be able to fit all within wage structure utilising signing on fees where needed. Note that I'm not saying all of the above at the same time are realistic, but just the first players for each position popped into my head, from browsing socials - we likely wouldn't quire have the amount available for the above suggestions.

Would take the hit on wages this season slightly, but whoever we get in we can offset with a portion of the Scott funds and have players ready next season to hopefully transition into the squad from the academy or having been out on loan (Taylor-Clarke, Sebastian Palmer-Houlden, Araoye, Knight-Lebel) for those whose deals run out end of season (Vyner, Williams, King, James, Weimann), so depending on which of the latter are released, we'd then be bringing wages more back into parity next season. Would also allow us to, where needed, evaluate deals on those whose contracts expire, including NP, towards the second half of the season.

Interesting time to be a City fan. Will be disappointed if we're not able to turn this situation around as a chance to strengthen moderately.

[S_C]

Know it’s different when theory becomes reality but really not seeing the fuss.

Yeah, of course, Scott going is a shame from a footballing perspective. But it’s been said (somewhere, by someone who appears to know what they’re talking about…) that he wouldn’t sign a new deal and the club WANTED to sell him in this window. Perfectly understandable. Now, there’s clearly a big difference between what a club balancing the books and a manager appreciating the books but trying to win matches wants. Perhaps Pearson has been kept out of the loop and is grumpy about it, I don’t think that’s clear from his par for the course post-match persona but it’s possible and would be a shame if its caused friction, but he can’t be shocked that the club have accepted an offer. The real concern would be if he was.

The bottom line is Pearson came in to clean up the mess of those before him and, realistically, it was always likely to be the manager after him which had us looking up rather than down. Don’t get carried away by pre-season play-off sound-bytes. Look at Southampton. Look at Leicester and Leeds. Middlesbrough, Sunderland, Millwall, Norwich. We were played off the park at times by Preston a few days ago. Could we? Sure. Why not. There’s pieces here and a manager who’s done it before. Bluster aside though, midtable would have been a success having kept Scott. Without him, even if we went out and signed a starting GK, ACM and ST, are we suddenly finishing higher than those clubs listed above? For me, no.

The absolute last thing the club should do, and I’m sure they won’t, is throw money at the first XI in some vain attempt to punch so clearly above our weight, chase and overreach (again…), and undo any of the sound work Pearson and the club themselves have done to right the ship.

Edited August 9, 2023 by S_C

[Supersonic Robin]

8 minutes ago, Ska Junkie said:

I wish AS well but I'm in the FFS camp along with many others judging by the last few pages.

When will it be our turn? Sadly, I don't see it coming as we have to sell our best. The money and wages we cannot compete with, I understand that.

Im not anti Bournemouth but pro City.

Gutted, again. Shit week which sounds mad after a 5-1 win but fear for our club if we always have to sell our best.

Every club has to sell their best players (perhaps bar Real Madrid and Barcelona).

• We have to sell to clubs like Bournemouth
• Bournemouth have to sell to clubs like Newcastle
• Newcastle have to sell to clubs like Man Utd
• Man Utd have to sell to clubs like Real Madrid

The important things are how we sell, and how we replace.

Realistically, we've probably sold at the right time here. We managed to keep Scott at the club for a season longer than many feared we would, and have sold at a time where his value has been maximised.

The big question now is how we use the money to improve. Brentford are a great example of this - in their promotion from the Championship, they had a few years of losing their best players and replacing them excellently. They sold players and continued to progress. Hopefully we can do the same.

[Wanderingred]

We all knew Scott would be leaving us this summer. It’s a shame it’s to such a tin pot non entity of a club, but we really need to put that aside now and focus on developing the assets that we do have.

[downendcity]

A few thoughts on AS's situation.

Firstly, I don't think we were overvaluing him at £25m, as he is a prodigious talent with huge potential. However, we have been a bit unlucky with the glut of midfielders that have been available this summer, Top clubs would rather spend £30-40m for a premier league experienced player than £25 on the likes of AS, no matter his talent and potential.

Secondly, many are mocking the rumoured Bournemouth bid, as it is not the "£25m gets a seat at the table" that we had been looking for. However, it could just be that Conway's injury has changed things a little , Suddenly in addition to targets that NP and Tins might have had in mind with the Scott money we might have to look at a striker. If so, then Bournemouth's £20m up front might look a lot more sensible and appealing than, for example,  a club offering say £27m, but payable by instalments over 4 years.

Also, for those now suggesting that Pearson has been "dumped" on by the owner over Scott's sale, I am sure Pearson has previously said that he was planning fir life with, and without, Alex, so the sale will not have been a surprise. If the sale allows him to bring in a striker, in addition to reinforcements already planned, I would have thought NP would be relieved rather than disappointed, although we all know that Pearson would have preferred Alex to stay at the club, as would we all.

As for those suggesting that Bournemouth is somehow a bad move for Scott, For his career's sake, he needs to be playing at the top of the game and against the best, and to be doing so now. It's probably become clear to him the Bournemouth is the only show in town, so once they made a bid acceptable to the club of course he was going to take the chance. With endorsements he will probably make £5m+ over the next 3 years , so will be set up for life. If he continues his progress then I cannot see him staying at Bournemouth and then the sky's the limit, including international recognition.

 

[REDOXO]

37 minutes ago, downendcity said:

A few thoughts on AS's situation.

Firstly, I don't think we were overvaluing him at £25m, as he is a prodigious talent with huge potential. However, we have been a bit unlucky with the glut of midfielders that have been available this summer, Top clubs would rather spend £30-40m for a premier league experienced player than £25 on the likes of AS, no matter his talent and potential.

Secondly, many are mocking the rumoured Bournemouth bid, as it is not the "£25m gets a seat at the table" that we had been looking for. However, it could just be that Conway's injury has changed things a little , Suddenly in addition to targets that NP and Tins might have had in mind with the Scott money we might have to look at a striker. If so, then Bournemouth's £20m up front might look a lot more sensible and appealing than, for example,  a club offering say £27m, but payable by instalments over 4 years.

Also, for those now suggesting that Pearson has been "dumped" on by the owner over Scott's sale, I am sure Pearson has previously said that he was planning fir life with, and without, Alex, so the sale will not have been a surprise. If the sale allows him to bring in a striker, in addition to reinforcements already planned, I would have thought NP would be relieved rather than disappointed, although we all know that Pearson would have preferred Alex to stay at the club, as would we all.

As for those suggesting that Bournemouth is somehow a bad move for Scott, For his career's sake, he needs to be playing at the top of the game and against the best, and to be doing so now. It's probably become clear to him the Bournemouth is the only show in town, so once they made a bid acceptable to the club of course he was going to take the chance. With endorsements he will probably make £5m+ over the next 3 years , so will be set up for life. If he continues his progress then I cannot see him staying at Bournemouth and then the sky's the limit, including international recognition.

 

We only know what we’ve read on a tweet, anecdotal comments on here and probably a load more press based upon that tomorrow morning.
 

Supporters/no one knows what we got on any level outside of what information the clubs have agreed gets into the public domain

 

 

Edited August 10, 2023 by REDOXO

[Lrrr]

2 hours ago, luke_bristol said:

NP was so critical of using loans when it was brought up last season that it wouldn’t surprise me if he wouldn’t entertain a loan signing in virtually any circumstances. He put it as something like “no point investing time and effort in other clubs’ players”.

Pearson has never been ‘anti loan’ he’s been ‘anti getting a loan where all the parent club care about is getting a big loan fee and wages covered’ if the right loanee came up for the right cost then he’d be for it 

 

1 hour ago, Shauntaylor85 said:

Difference is LJ rarely made a good signing and spent the majority of what we brought in, hence the disaster of the past two years moving them out. 

Really the only two signings we know LJ was 100% behind are Brownhill and Webster, you can probably add Kasey Palmer but was given him later than he wanted him. Every other transfer has a question mark of whether it was LJ or Ashton. There are some transfers you can say with certainty were Ashton signings like Szmodics where it was publicly stated that it took serious work to ‘convince’ LJ he should be signed. As for someone’s comment saying LJ said he authorised all transfers, yeah what else is he going to say publicly ‘nah I didn’t really want this player but we’ve spent millions on him over the course of his contract so oh well’, LJ needed the perception of how much power he had. People need to stop taking managers and head coaches so literally to what they say, they lie to the press and public all the time 

[Davefevs]

3 hours ago, steviestevieneville said:

The club have decided on a budget to keep to . If they were to break that now then what was  the point in knocking £10m+ off the wage bill. I’m not saying we won’t get a player in , but we won’t be splashing big money because of the wages that go with it. 

3 hours ago, Finley_Smith10 said:

Just said on Bristol live Pearson is waiting to see if the club are giving him any funds to invest in the squad or not. So I guess some money will be available to get a couple signings

I really do believe that despite being pissed off that he’s losing his star player, that there’s no way you earn £20m+ profit for Alex, on top of the £10m for a Antoine, the slashing of the squad and it’s ridiculous costs…and are then told, you can’t spend any of it.

Budgets change.  A cup run can change budgets for example.

Do I expect us to do a Coventry or an LJ of Summer 2019?  Nope, because that isn’t how Nige operates (as part of the team).

But I do expect us to try to recruit one or two…not necessarily a direct replacement for Scott.  There might now be budget for a goalkeeper and a centre-back for example.  Personally I’d get a CB and a CM, and keep my powder dry on a keeper for now.

If Nige was told - no, you can’t have any of it, I think he’d be considering his time here.

I think despite his pissed off tones, he and Tins will be working on stuff.

[Davefevs]

3 hours ago, AshtonRobin21 said:

Nige knows what he’s doing. He’s sending a direct message to the board. 

Nige is very clever in the way in which he uses the media/journalists.

He’s already got us talking about how frustrated he seems. 

I mentioned the other day about how we shouldn’t believe everything that he says to the press.

Within a matter of days we have lost our key striker through injury, and have now agreed to sell our best player. 

Nige will ensure that the message gets out about needing to spend money, and that the fans back him.

I think he’s trying to paint a picture to selling clubs too.  We were pretty canny with Knight and the fee paid.  He’s trying to avoid “Scott-tax”.

As someone else said (Silvio I think), he said similar stuff with Semenyo and had Cornick and Mehmeti ready.

3 hours ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

Subject to FFP I'd give him £10-15m.

Inclusive of fees, wages, agents fees and signing-on fees.

You know as well as anyone that getting £20m+ in now means the amount you suggest spending above causes no FFP issues whatsoever for two / three seasons.

Personally I think we will be shopping in the sane market as the summer recruits.

[Davefevs]

22 minutes ago, Lrrr said:

Pearson has never been ‘anti loan’ he’s been ‘anti getting a loan where all the parent club care about is getting a big loan fee and wages covered’ if the right loanee came up for the right cost then he’d be for it 

 

Thanks.  The myth about loans and Nige continues.

Hey, didn’t we try to loan Jake O’Brien in January???

Yep, right player, right cost, etc, etc….just like any transfer.

[Son of Fred]

7 hours ago, Better Red said:

Let’s hope NP can reinvest at least £5m of that.

 

Wage bill - we are I'm told, by the more financially aware on here that we are at (or close) to our altitude ceiling....

Apparently even removing Scott's wage from this will leave little room for manoeuvre.

[Son of Fred]

3 hours ago, Ian M said:

I’m not so sure the Lansdowns are as big fans of him

Situational awareness,  not exactly their strong suit to be honest!

[Guest]

A real stab in the back for Nige if the fee is below the much quoted  £25M.

Once again we sell our prized asset against all the pointers that keeping him could have given us a real shot at a top six place.

The bean counters are happy, Steve doesn’t have to cover the losses from the small change in his pocket this season, Jon can continue paying his designers for cutting edge work on the kit, which will probably be delivered sometime around January.

All is normal at Bristol City.

[Guest]

"Tinpot" Bournemouth dont always sell their best players = the difference between us and them. 2 of our best in a year must be a record even for us though?

Sadly NP can expect very little of the fees to strengthen our weakest positions,

We are building f all while we continue to sell off our prized assets and continue to go around and around while other tinpot clubs with ambition pass us by.

We didnt HAVE TO sell AS we could have showed some balls, for a change and gone for it this season, could write a list of prized assets plying their trade in the prem but cashing in is what we do, which is why we are still here going around and around

[Crimson Crayola]

12 minutes ago, wtf said:

"Tinpot" Bournemouth dont always sell their best players = the difference between us and them. 2 of our best in a year must be a record even for us though?

Sadly NP can expect very little of the fees to strengthen our weakest positions,

We are building f all while we continue to sell off our prized assets and continue to go around and around while other tinpot clubs with ambition pass us by.

We didnt HAVE TO sell AS we could have showed some balls, for a change and gone for it this season, could write a list of prized assets plying their trade in the prem but cashing in is what we do, which is why we are still here going around and around

Name me any other champ club without PP that wouldnt have to sell such a mecurial talent such as AS if the right bid didn't come in? We'll progress if the overall standard of our team grows, not on the back of one or two prized assets. People need to wake up.

[Loosey Boy]

At the start of the summer, the club indicated that we had a transfer plan if Scott was to go and a different one if he was to stay.

On the basis that we appear to have been planning for him to stay, I now hope/expect us to implement the “Scott gone” plan (despite us having made the signings we have) and reinvest some of the money received. City will I’m sure, have one or two lined-up as there was always the potential for him to leave later in the window.

Let’s hope so anyway as, as @Davefevs says, if this wasn’t to be the case, I think Nige would consider this position.

Lets see what happens, if/when Alex has gone.

[FNQ]

3 minutes ago, Just8 said:

Name me any other champ club without PP that wouldnt have to sell such a mecurial talent such as AS if the right bid didn't come in? We'll progress if the overall standard of our team grows, not on the back of one or two prized assets. People need to wake up.

Alex Scott would have no doubt wanted this move… not worth keeping him here at any price if he doesn’t want to be here..

[Phileas Fogg]

6 hours ago, Ska Junkie said:

I wish AS well but I'm in the FFS camp along with many others judging by the last few pages.

When will it be our turn? Sadly, I don't see it coming as we have to sell our best. The money and wages we cannot compete with, I understand that.

Im not anti Bournemouth but pro City.

Gutted, again. Shit week which sounds mad after a 5-1 win but fear for our club if we always have to sell our best.

I’m not sure what people were expecting - he was obviously always leaving this summer. The stage we are at as a club means we don’t tend to keep hold of potential future England midfielders.

The key is what we do with incoming funds - if we recruit well, it could leave us stronger.

I had a chat with Pearson just over a year ago - and I asked him about Scott/Semenyo. He said ‘if they go, we will reinvest the money and be a better squad as a consequence” - so let’s hope the board assist him in that.

[Engvall’s Splinter]

8 hours ago, cidercity1987 said:

Just seen Pearsons club interview after tonight. Scott wasn't mentioned but it's clear the bloke is absolutely fuming, he's ready to fight 

Pearson’s not silly. It was highly unlikely we’d have Scott at the end of the window. He’s had time to get used to it so it isn’t a shock. I would suspect he continually gets frustrated answering the same questions over and over. 

[Red Billy]

The transfer market is like the food chain and whether we like it or not we are not at the top of it.  As others have said Bournemouth are to us what we are to the likes of Derby. Size of gates and supporter base doesn’t give you a seat  at the top table but your position in the league and spending capability. Whilst we would all love to keep our best players I am confident that the team is in good hands with Pearson and Tinnion to go and find another player who in two years time we will be having this same outcry about not keeping hold of them as Bournemouth once again come in and make an offer we can’t refuse.

[Crimson Crayola]

8 minutes ago, FNQ said:

Alex Scott would have no doubt wanted this move… not worth keeping him here at any price if he doesn’t want to be here..

Absolutely. People seem to forget their is a player in equation all to often, and when you mention it they spout the same old 'contract' bull. Well good luck getting promotion off the back of one star player (that despite his professionalism) has had his head turned to some extent.

[Fontaineofallknowledge]

There is no way we haven't planned for this scenario-it would be complete negligence if we don't have a list of targets ready to go. I fully expect some short term cover for Conway, an advanced midfielder who can handle the ball and create and maybe a left sided CB to be signed this summer.

Nige is pretty canny-he has sent a message to selling teams that we aren't splashing the cash and he's sent a message to the board that he expects some of the funds. I also hope anyone that believed that Scott was injured feels pretty embarrassed!

It's these same naive people that thought we would keep Scott! It's a no brainer and we will be stronger at end of window than we were at the beginning with zero FFP issues!

 

[Guest]

17 minutes ago, Just8 said:

Name me any other champ club without PP that wouldnt have to sell such a mecurial talent such as AS if the right bid didn't come in? We'll progress if the overall standard of our team grows, not on the back of one or two prized assets. People need to wake up.

 

5 minutes ago, Engvall’s Splinter said:

Pearson’s not silly. It was highly unlikely we’d have Scott at the end of the window. He’s had time to get used to it so it isn’t a shock. I would suspect he continually gets frustrated answering the same questions over and over. 

 

11 minutes ago, Phileas Fogg said:

I’m not sure what people were expecting - he was obviously always leaving this summer. The stage we are at as a club means we don’t tend to keep hold of potential future England midfielders.

The key is what we do with incoming funds - if we recruit well, it could leave us stronger.

I had a chat with Pearson just over a year ago - and I asked him about Scott/Semenyo. He said ‘if they go, we will reinvest the money and be a better squad as a consequence” - so let’s hope the board assist him in that.

Quote NP Bristol live; "Planning to keep him" "Better chance of success if we keep our best players" now which ever way you cut it we wont get as good players for less than what we recieved for them, maybe you should think why clubs like Bournemouth take our best players ? wait I know........they are prem clubs we never will be while we continue with our mindset; bottom line WE DIDNT HAVE TO SELL SCOTT and wont replace him with better even if we spend every penny we got for him.

Please get it, we cannot continue to sell off our prize assets and hope to progress under the belief that we are building some awesome powerfull squad, for the simple reason when we do get anyone awesome we sell them off, that is not progress its going around in circles.

[Nugget]

Could be an interesting few weeks of the window left. The club will surely wanna soften the blow of another AS going, look how the Semenyo money has been used. A real shame but like others have said if his head has been slightly turned (maybe even disguised as a knock whilst he mulls things over?) then cashing out at max value to a club he will leapfrog from vs keeping someone who’s contract is running down / not 100% focused makes this probably the right thing for all.