BRISTOL CITY: Robins boss Steve Cotterill speaks out on transfer policy Defiant Bristol City boss Steve Cotterill is adamant he won't be pressured into panic buying ahead of the new football season. With just eight days to go until the Robins launch their Championship campaign against Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough, last season's League One champions are operating with a first team squad that has been stripped down to its bare bones. French striker Jonathan Kodjia remains the only new recruit to surface at Ashton Gate and, as things stand, Cotterill barely has sufficient players available to field a bench. But City's manager insists he will stand b his principles and not sanction the kind of spending that plunged City into spiralling debt the last time they were in the English second tier. Speaking in the aftermath of last night's 1-0 pre-season friendly defeat at Yeovil own, Cotterill urged worried supporters to exercise further patience while he and director of football Keith Burt continue to work hard behind the scenes to bring the "right players" to BS3. Breaking his self-imposed silence on all matters relating to transfers, the man who masterminded last season's League One title and Johnstone's Paint Trophy double, declared: "We are in the market, we are looking and working very hard to get what we feel are the right types to come into the football club. "We are now competing with lots of very big clubs in the Championship and, even though we have been patient up until now, we may need to be even more patient while waiting for some of the right ones to drop for us. "There are a lot of big clubs now and the financial side of it is always an issue. When you think we got Jonathan (Kodjia) for £2.1million and I made another phone call about a striker and was quoted seven million pounds plus add-ons, you can see the difficulties. "That is the gap we must try and bridge at our football cub and we will bridge it. We will bridge it with honesty, team-work, passion, desire and a good bit of thought, work and patience. "If we don't get what we want, then we might have to wait for the loan system. At this moment in time, there is a spike in the market where prices are massively inflated. I feel as though that spike probably won't come down until the last couple of days in August." City have set their sights high and are targeting players aged 24 or under with Championship experience. Cotterill is also in the market for one or two more experienced players to supplement what is essentially a youthful squad. Should he miss out on his first-choice targets, then he will instead switch his attention to the loan market in search of shorter-term solutions. Cotterill added: "It would have been nice had we been able to pick off one or two at the back end of last season. That didn't happen for whatever reason and I don't want to go into the whys and wherefores of that. I don't to be political or anything like that. "It is a matter of trying to get the right people into the football club. That is important. We know we need a few more bodies, but we have to make sure they are the right bodies. "If not, then it is going to have to be short-term situations (loans) until we can get what we want. "I have seen it too many times in football clubs where they don't get what they want and then, all of a sudden, they end up taking players who are not going to enhance your team. "They buy them for back-up, but it is not back-up we want. We want competition for our first eleven." http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/BRISTO...erill-speaks/story-27520314-detail/story.html
* "They buy them for back-up, but it is not back-up we want. We want competition for our first eleven." * Short-term situations (loans) * Switch his attention to the loan market in search of shorter-term solutions. * The financial side of it is always an issue. * Exercise further patience . * We will bridge it with honesty, team-work, passion, desire and a good bit of thought, work and patience. All good sensible statements but we've heard it all before, honestly , we are not thick are we...?
People have been clamouring for him to say something and now he has, oh and look its exactly what we expected.
My thoughts exactly. He wouldn't say that unless there was some disagreements with others. My theory? We've spent enough on the stadium, and as a result the budget is tight until we see some evidence that attendances and income will rise. At this moment in time, I'm just eager for the season to start. I think we're no longer in a position to buy anyone, and we'll be waiting to see how the current team does in the first few games before we decide to dip into the loan market. Again, pickings will be slim as teams have already started signing some of the marque youngsters, but it is what it is.
The fan base is always impatient - that's how things are these days To be honest what he says makes sense - wonder who the £7m striker was?
Rickie Lambert? The idea of him joining us, scoring 30+ goals towards promotion with us, while Rovers go down is worth £7m to me.
Ipswich set to sign Denmark defender Ipswich Town are set to sign Denmark international left-back Jonas Knudsen from Esbjerg for an undisclosed fee. please log in to view this image MK Dons sign Real Madrid's Aguza please log in to view this image MK DonsDons sign ex-England defender Upson Nottm ForestForest net Spanish defender Pinillos Hull City sign Taylor and Clucas Burnley sign Agyei as Jones stays If these can all achieve signings, why are we so different?
Who knows? Perhaps Tinnion will come back with a Real Madrid signing of our very own. For all we know, he could be back on the plane now with Martin Odegaard on loan for the season. I'm inclined to agree. While there's really no excuses, the board have clearly defined who they want their money being spent on, and Cotterill has to land targets in that list of criteria. I'd rather not have Upson, and ultimately I don't think a lot of the signings mentioned are better than what we currently have.
We are struggling to pull players it seems,sad to say we are a very small fish in this division,seems we are in for a bumpy ride regards new faces arriving.
Tuesday, September 1, at 6pm http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/fo...-the-transfer-window-2015-open-and-close.html
If you want to play with the big boys then you need to get bigger toys. I fear the man doth protest too much.
I don't get this we should be signing x or y At the end of the day we have not been in the first/ prem league for 35 years. We are not considered a major club by players we are what we are and that's a 16k attendance Bristol City. Yes I've heard if we get to the prem we will be getting upwards 30k (bit hard with a 27k stadium) We are not a glamour club like a lot of the others in this league, any player wanting to come to us would expect to be starting 11 not back up not pushing for a place etc. SC has come out tried explaining the situation after loads on this forum alone wanted, and apparently it's not good enough. We want players regardless of cost, regardless of if they play or not we just want players. Here's a idea. Let's just see what's available come scrap end time and then players might be comtempt at coming to little old Bristol City who will fight for first team places. Let's wait to see the prem's players not deemed good enough yet, but worth holding onto in loan deals. But most of let's be realistic and not bankrupt the club or go back to 14 million a season loss at least. PS the 7 million player was Andre Grey I believe I read somewhere.
Clearly the last thing any of us want is for the club to break the bank on new players but there has to be satisfaction point on which we can settle. I don't whether I can subscribe to the scenario that all the dross left over at the end of this transfer window will have any more commitment than the rest. We will have to wait and see but the proximity to the start of the season is my main concern.
Also another point, we want players but haven't we just spent 2 million on one player, and had two rumoured 2-2.5 million rejections for two defenders, now a 3 million striker request turned down? Which shows the club ain't sitting on its arse, it is trying.
Fair point ROD, but history is written by the winners and we are down to danger status as far as our squad is concerned. i fear for our survival in the CC if we don't get a couple more decent ones
Sad to say a couple of injuries and we will struggle big time. This league ain't no league one it ain't so forgiving. I thought we would have had more players on board by now.clearly the type and quality we are after are going elsewhere. I am a firm believer that in most cases the way you start is the way you finish. Bad start and we will be up the creek.good start then some injuries and that will affect our standing. We need six quality players to stand a chance of top six area,we at present can only hope the first team stay injury free
