Alex Scott - £25m to Bournemouth- Confirmed

[petehinton]

If the same people don’t let Pearson bring anyone new in that also signed off Marley Watkins and Engvall then we may as well pack up and go home.  
 

He’s waded us through a load of shite. We were virtually at rock bottom before he came in. Back him.  

[Kid in the Riot]

5 minutes ago, Psychopomp said:

Another in the long line of Bristol City self-inflicted mess-ups. The owner spent over £100m trying to justify why he thought LJ was a talent. We now have a decent side where you need some magic to define your credentials for promotion, and yet he pulls in the funding. It is a classic BCFC self-imposed cluster duck. We move from promotion hopefuls to also-rans. It is an idiotic decision, in line with a 25-year run of other idiotic decisions. There are times when you need to hold back, and times when you need to hold firm or expand. In these areas, we have been found continually wanting. There is no understanding of timing. 

So you ask a manager to decimate the wage bill, not spend money, and develop youth, and the one thing he asks is to keep the special talent, so we can get promoted. But no, you cannot spend money and we will sell anyone decent. There is a good reason why BCFC has never threatened the Prem. We expect to now do it by not spending money and selling any decent talent. Oh, and if we sell anyone, we cannot spend the money. 

This was THE season to keep Alex Scott, at least until Jan. There is a good reason why 52 , maybe 53 other clubs have been to the Prem and BCFC not. 

Don't recall a similar post from you when LJ picked up a crocked Webster for a couple of mill on £12k pw and sold him to the Prem for over £20m?

Or Kelly for £14m plus add ons?

LJ sold his best players too.

Nige will get some cash now. Let's hope he recruits well eh. There doesn't seem to be a plan?

[luke_bristol]

49 minutes ago, RedRock said:

Fear, if he does go, we’ve little time now to negotiate the 3 players we need a quality keeper, midfielder and forward  - although a loan for the forward might give us a bit more elbow room time wise. If we don’t move in this window, we all know January isn’t a great time to do business. 

Apart from the Conway injury saga, at least we now know why Nige was in a mood earlier - although that may be ‘an act’ to prise as much as he can from Steve’s pockets to fund incoming transfers.
 

 

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”.

[formerly known as ivan]

5 minutes ago, Not Banksy said:

Did I see somewhere (NP said it in an interview back along maybe) that even with the 20/25 million coming in we can’t go out and get who ever we want as we are near the wage limit… and can’t imagine AS was on too much wage wise 

 

something to that effect..  can’t quite remember the wording or what was exactly implied

I don’t get this wage bill limit rubbish, but then again I don’t run a football.

However, if £20/£25m doesn’t allow you to change that wage bill I would be amazed!

[Bris Red]

7 minutes ago, petehinton said:

If the same people don’t let Pearson bring anyone new in that also signed off Marley Watkins and Engvall then we may as well pack up and go home.  
 

He’s waded us through a load of shite. We were virtually at rock bottom before he came in. Back him.  

Indeed. Time to back the manager now, he has earned that.

[Mr Popodopolous]

23 minutes ago, petehinton said:

If the same people don’t let Pearson bring anyone new in that also signed off Marley Watkins and Engvall then we may as well pack up and go home.  
 

He’s waded us through a load of shite. We were virtually at rock bottom before he came in. Back him.  

Absolutely this.

Pearson. He has earned the right, he has more than earned the right.

Edited August 9, 2023 by Mr Popodopolous

[fgrsimon]

Can't turn down £20/25 million unfortunately. He could get an career threatening injury in the next game and that would be that.

Just echoing others in that it's annoying that it's bleedin' Bournemouth (again)! For most of my life I've considered them on a level, at best, with the Gas for God's sake! It still seems more odd to me Bournemouth and Brentford being in the PL than Luton, who I've actually seen in a top flight game plus remembering David Pleat dancing on the pitch, winning League Cup etc.

 

[Kid in the Riot]

9 minutes 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”.

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

[Shauntaylor85]

13 minutes ago, Kid in the Riot said:

Don't recall a similar post from you when LJ picked up a crocked Webster for a couple of mill on £12k pw and sold him to the Prem for over £20m?

Or Kelly for £14m plus add ons?

LJ sold his best players too.

Nige will get some cash now. Let's hope he recruits well eh. There doesn't seem to be a plan?

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. 

Edited August 9, 2023 by Shauntaylor85

[luke_bristol]

Just now, Kid in the Riot said:

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

Agreed, hopefully NP doesn’t have a redline against using loans and we can bring in some quality.

[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. 

[Kibs]

I think regardless of what NP said, the clubs preference was always to sell in this window. Better that it’s sorted now than on deadline day. 

What will be interesting is to find out just how well prepared the club were for this in terms of replacements - and we really do need to replace him. 

[Guest]

1 minute ago, Nugget said:

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. 

quote from NP "better chance of success if we keep our best players" dont think he said better chance of success if we sell AS then try and get someone better for less money, yet again a king pin at this club has been sold off.

Note; All players contracts are running down from the moment they are signed, we 100% would have been better off with AS this season than without him, and to suggest his head aint here insults his pro status. We cash in under the cover of building better...AGAIN.

[JoeAman08]

We shouldn’t have put a price out there. 25m good money for sure but we’d have been fine ffp wise without the sale this season. We’d still have got 12-15m next summer for him anyway which would still be good money. 
 

It does seem to me that we are too quick to sell when momentum seems to be picking up. Webster coming off our best season in 10 years. Scott now that NP has gotten a side built in his vision. 
 

We will see what the plan is the rest of the window. Pass judgement then I guess. However the timing ain’t great. We don’t spend and falter the fanbase will turn pretty quick I think. 

[Engvall’s Splinter]

22 minutes ago, wtf said:

 

 

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.

Better chance, yes. Only chance, no. 
 

Didn’t Luton lose their player of the year Kal Naismith and then get promoted? 

[Guest]

6 minutes ago, Kibs said:

I think regardless of what NP said, the clubs preference was always to sell in this window. Better that it’s sorted now than on deadline day. 

What will be interesting is to find out just how well prepared the club were for this in terms of replacements - and we really do need to replace him. 

See bit in red really, not to sell = ambition; always to sell = lacking ambition and belief to progress.

This is not a one off its what we do.

[Lrrr]

Just now, wtf said:

See bit in red really, not to sell = ambition; always to sell = lacking ambition and belief to progress.

This is not a one off its what we do.

Essentially you’re otherwise saying by not selling him this summer we’re sacrificing what is essentially a years worth of losses in the hope we have a good season, particularly where 3 strong teams have dropped down from the premier league making it all the harder. I think if we were genuinely in and around the play offs last season there’s a different case to make but off the back of a lower mid season finish it’s hard to make 

[Shauntaylor85]

1 minute ago, JoeAman08 said:

We shouldn’t have put a price out there. 25m good money for sure but we’d have been fine ffp wise without the sale this season. We’d still have got 12-15m next summer for him anyway which would still be good money. 
 

It does seem to me that we are too quick to sell when momentum seems to be picking up. Webster coming off our best season in 10 years. Scott now that NP has gotten a side built in his vision. 
 

We will see what the plan is the rest of the window. Pass judgement then I guess. However the timing ain’t great. We don’t spend and falter the fanbase will turn pretty quick I think. 

SL talks about the PL all the time, as does all of our PR. Reality is can you really see us getting there under him? Luton, Blackpool, Brentford, Bournemouth, Barnsley have all done it, all smaller clubs than City. 

He invested far too much time in the Johnson family IMO, then made the Fawthrop, Millen, Tinnion mistake again with Holden. Didn’t back Cotts after all he did that season prior to get the board out of the mess from the previous champ era ending, he finally has someone at the club who knows how to build for success and you just get the feeling we will throw it away. 

I know well that in 2016 after we sacked Cotts, Warnock wanted the City job, I was at Charlton and my heart sank when I heard LJ had been appointed. Warnock went to Rotherham, performed a miracle and then did the same at Cardiff next year with a 2nd placed finish spending half of what LJ had at City. Had we appointed Warnock we would for sure had been promoted by now, or at the very least a couple of play off finishes. The point I am making is the Nige and Warnock’s of the world know how to run a club at this level to achieve success, but for our board you seem to get the impression to be too outspoken. 

[Simon bristol]

Does anyone else consider that this already at the top of our wages budget is a smokescreen? We are hearing multiple examples of football club “statements” about swollen knees, i dont know how much the final bid is, etc etc, where clearly nige is putting out a line for the media,, and i dont have a problem with him doing that… but then we are having to take some things has gospel truth at the same time. They said months ago there are 2 transfer lists, one if scott goes and one if he doesnt, and while that may also have been a white lie, clearly that would make sense?

[Northern Red]

Running a football club is evidently a piece of piss.

[bpexile]

8 hours ago, slartibartfast said:

Hope NP doesn't do an erstwhile Wolves boss, and walk !

Or a Coppello 

[Midred]

At the end of the day Scott has got the chance of more game time with a team like Bournemouth than going to a "big club" where he may get to play in the second team or be loaned out.

[westonred]

2 minutes ago, Midred said:

At the end of the day Scott has got the chance of more game time with a team like Bournemouth than going to a "big club" where he may get to play in the second team or be loaned out.

Thats what they said about Semenyo

[Super]

If he isn't involved this Saturday may well make his debut at Anfield the following Saturday.

[mozo]

8 hours ago, petehinton said:

If the same people don’t let Pearson bring anyone new in that also signed off Marley Watkins and Engvall then we may as well pack up and go home.  
 

He’s waded us through a load of shite. We were virtually at rock bottom before he came in. Back him.  

I'm guessing Phil Alexander will have the most input re how much we can invest?

8 hours ago, formerly known as ivan said:

I don’t get this wage bill limit rubbish, but then again I don’t run a football.

However, if £20/£25m doesn’t allow you to change that wage bill I would be amazed!

You'd think so!

[JBFC II]

4 minutes ago, westonred said:

Thats what they said about Semenyo

To be fair, Scott is in a different league to semenyo right now

[RedRoss]

48 minutes ago, wtf said:

 

 

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.

So that's definitely how it works everytime does it?

Brighton always sell their 'best' players and better the next season with new recruitment. Kal came to us after being Lutons best player and look what happened with them. Also you seem to neglect that Alex has his own aspirations, I'm not saying he would of been less professional but thats not the point. He clearly wants to play prem football like most players in the world and his head will have been set on that.

Good luck to Alex, arrived on a free as a boy. Smashed the last couple of seasons with us and grown into a very good player. Credit to him and our staff for basically creating £20+ million for our coffers and I'm sure a nice sell on if he progresses as we expect. Hope he smashes it!

[rednotblue]

I have been surprised by the lack of firm offers for AS from PL clubs. Perhaps the club are too?

[W-S-M Seagull]

1 hour 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

We have a better squad having sold Semenyo and it sorted out our ffp position. 

Edited August 10, 2023 by W-S-M Seagull

[johnheadbcfc]

This isn't fm , it's not as simple as we want player we keep player until he magically forgets he's been linked with prem clubs and inter Milan. You force him to stay when he's got the chance to play Premier league football and also more than quadruple his wages then whos to say we won't have another massengo situation.

[Open End Numb Legs]

Maybe the reason Nige is a but grumpy is we turned down offers just below this one weeks ago when there were possible targets available for him to go for as a replacement? Perhaps those players went elsewhere.

Maybe this is about timing. Just guessing.

[Chrizzler]

39 minutes ago, JoeAman08 said:

We shouldn’t have put a price out there. 25m good money for sure but we’d have been fine ffp wise without the sale this season. We’d still have got 12-15m next summer for him anyway which would still be good money. 
 

It does seem to me that we are too quick to sell when momentum seems to be picking up. Webster coming off our best season in 10 years. Scott now that NP has gotten a side built in his vision. 
 

We will see what the plan is the rest of the window. Pass judgement then I guess. However the timing ain’t great. We don’t spend and falter the fanbase will turn pretty quick I think. 

Completely agree, it's always one step forward two steps back with us. 

[johnheadbcfc]

The club does not stand in the way of talented players getting their big move, if we did then we wouldn't get those players. Pros and cons of the business model

[Crimson Crayola]

40 minutes ago, wtf said:

quote from NP "better chance of success if we keep our best players" dont think he said better chance of success if we sell AS then try and get someone better for less money, yet again a king pin at this club has been sold off.

Note; All players contracts are running down from the moment they are signed, we 100% would have been better off with AS this season than without him, and to suggest his head aint here insults his pro status. We cash in under the cover of building better...AGAIN.

Yawn, if you cant see the potential behind  spreading Alex's value across 2-3 signings that bring the quality of the 1st 11 up, then i give up.

[Johnny Musicworks]

I tend to think that the plan A (If Scott stayed) and plan B (if not)was a bit of a smokescreen. We knew that it would always be plan B but didn’t want to go public with it. The purchases in January and recently are getting plan B in place so we didn’t pay over the odds for replacements. I’m not saying that we won’t fund another player now but I reckon plan B going forward meant holding on to Pring, Conway, Bell etc, at least for this season and having some financial clout if necessary in January for a push.

[italian dave]

8 hours ago, Fuber said:

If he seriously couldn't see the impact of the inflated wages and what that meant for liquidity and FFP - then that's his problem. He outed that he had sign off on transfers. More than once.

Comparatively, NP has multiple times quoted the proviso of bringing parity of wages across the squad and the way in which it eases squad and player management, and the financial implications.

Anyhow - I won't derail this thread getting back unto the LJ/ MA critiques. The benefit here is we have time to resolve. Let's hope Tinns et al have targets lined up, still time to get some business done.

As I’ve said before on here, I don’t believe LJ’s objectives were around the finances. That sat elsewhere. His were around finishing top 6. And the Board’s failure to align those two became a real problem.

Plenty of people in football ‘out’ things that are probably convenient half truths - witness this past weekend on this thread!

What p…s me off is just this narrative that manager a is all good and overcomes every adversity and manager b is all bad and has none of the problems. All managers have their strengths, their weaknesses, and most of them have to contend with much the same set of problems. And, at a club like City, losing your best players is one thing that any manager is going to have to face. I’m sure NP is fed up to have lost Alex, but it can hardly have come as a surprise and presumably he buys into the reality of that situation too.

As you say, let’s hope we’ve got some targets lined up and can use the time available. 

[frenchred]

9 hours ago, Barrs Court Red said:

I’d love to know who in the club is making these decisions…

Only one.person, it's his club remember he told us

[JoeAman08]

I think the frustration is we have never really seen the club “go for it.” When have we had momentum and push on? Been here almost ten years and lucky enough my first season watching city was promotion and JPT. 
 

We had a young and hungry squad coming of massive success. Did we back that and make it stronger? No

We then solidified our position in the league for a couple seasons. Nothing wrong with that. 
 

Then we had a strong season where we flew through the first half of the year. We didn’t seem prepared for January and while we got players in, we ultimately fizzled out. 
 

That summer, we sold two top players for us but with that we strengthened a bit. We had a really good season and sustained it right the way through. Finished 8th I think? Good position to build on, right? Well we will just sell arguably our best player after only one season. Ok wasted the opportunity to get better with the money. 
 

Then few years of struggle after a pandemic. Ok, we sort the wage bill out. Bring through academy players. Start building a squad and a big part of that is this gem we developed. Financially we are ok. The squad hasn’t been this strong in years. He has two years left on his deal. What do we do? Sell our best player again going into what should be a season of success(whatever you think that is). 
 

For me, we sell at the wrong times for the most part. We also rarely get the right players with the money. I’d like to see us actually hold firm for once and say no, we want to see where this goes. 
 

Maybe we’ll be better for it down the road. That said just always feels like it is next season. 

[42nite]

26 minutes ago, Super said:

If he isn't involved this Saturday may well make his debut at Anfield the following Saturday.

Exactly this.

In a contact sport like this....his career can end at any time.

AS is playing his cards right. He will be set for life when he signs that contract. He will be playing in the top league with the big boys. If he proves that he can do it at that level...consistantly, they will then be banging on Bournmouth's door...and he will be off again.

Who on here would honestly refuse that chance?

Fair play to him, I wish him well.

[the1stknowle]

8 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.

Completely understood, but some silver linings:

1. Crazy good money in the bank for a championship player and, if he fulfills potential, I assume we have the chance to make another really good sum down the road.

2. Another high profile sale to the prem. Our reputation in that area builds. Promising players want to come to us because they see a pathway. Youth players want to develop here for same reason. That means more gems down the road. We have already signed some.

3. Related to 2, and the biggest silver lining for me, we now seem to have a recruitment operation that knows what a promising young player is and our transfer business and known targets are always really exciting now. Never trusted the football side of City so much as I do today. If Tinnion/Pearson say a player is class and I think he's onions, I know that I'm wrong. Even if they can only spend a fraction of that money over next few windows, I'm excited to see who they bring in. 

4. I know this isn't universal, but for me, there is a massive element of pride in seeing a youth team player achieving like this. I'm not on board with the 'just Bournemouth' stuff. Hope he smashes it in a fun Bournemouth team and is in the England squad in next few years.

5. Players want to play in prem and history says you have to take your chance or you could miss it. Short career that can be over in one tackle. One day, we will be in that league, and we will have a chance to sign the best players from much bigger Championship clubs and their fans will be shouting 'why Bristol City?' and we will love it. 

[johnheadbcfc]

Think the doom and gloom should wait until after the window closes. Pearson and Tinnion have been on the ball for a while now