Come on all, get a grip...

[PFree]

Okay, we are all disappointed Alex is gone, but:

1) Every player wants to play at their highest possible level, you can forgive Alex and any other player for that.

2) Alex will get a massive pay rise on what generally is a short career, why wouldn’t he snap their hand off.

3) Perhaps with the exception now of Man City and Newcastle all other clubs are selling clubs.

4) We lose loads of money every year and have no option but it regularly sell to help stay afloat.

5) This is a sign our policy of bringing youngsters through and selling them on is working.

6) The only time this will change is when we reach the promised land...and even then we will still be a selling club, it is part of being a footy fan sadly!

BUT, we have  a much stronger squad, and some of this money will be used to strengthen us further.

COYR 

 

[REDOXO]

11 minutes ago, PFree said:

Okay, we are all disappointed Alex is gone, but:

1) Every player wants to play at their highest possible level, you can forgive Alex and any other player for that.

2) Alex will get a massive pay rise on what generally is a short career, why wouldn’t he snap their hand off.

3) Perhaps with the exception now of Man City and Newcastle all other clubs are selling clubs.

4) We lose loads of money every year and have no option but it regularly sell to help stay afloat.

5) This is a sign our policy of bringing youngsters through and selling them on is working.

6) The only time this will change is when we reach the promised land...and even then we will still be a selling club, it is part of being a footy fan sadly!

BUT, we have  a much stronger squad, and some of this money will be used to strengthen us further.

COYR 

 

Yep. It’s a sad day but there we are the facts of footballing life are thus. 

[Negan]

Regarding the last bit. Aren’t we pretty much at our wage cap at the moment? Scott would have been fairly low wages too so not completely sure how much wiggle room we have. With AS going, Conway injured and no decent option in goal other than Max, still think 3 more need to come in. Honestly think losing Alex will hit us hard. Same happened when Brownhill left. Any hope of a top 6 push went when AS did. Should still be a very good season though. Interesting few weeks ahead in the window for us you’d hope. 

[And Its Smith]

It’s like Brexit. Being told to get over it within hours. 

[LondonBristolian]

Agree with this. It’s not so much about whether we sell players - all clubs have to if the offer is right - but what we do next and how we replace them.

With Brownhill, Webster and Kelly, we failed to use the resources to strengthen the club. With Scott going, the club needs to invest in the areas which will make us stronger on the pitch.

[phantom]

We've been here before and we'll be here again 

Bristol City continue regardless 

[Gazred]

It's all true but it's also OK to be sad. He's a special player, the like of which many of us won't see come through the ranks again.

As long as we keep producing and investing in young talent it's all good.

[redkev]

Sad - as I stupidly thought that a deal with whoever would have been done earlier , the longer it went on the more hopeful I became - how wrong I was

[eardun]

I also look at it from the perspective that we did very well to bring Scott in in the first place. The club should take credit for that. Without that, we wouldn’t have had the pleasure of watching him.

[Robbored]

17 minutes ago, PFree said:

Okay, we are all disappointed Alex is gone, but:

1) Every player wants to play at their highest possible level, you can forgive Alex and any other player 

 

Are we all disappointed? ………..…

We’ve down this road many times before with losing our better players. City have have been a selling club for as long as I can remember and losing yet another is no big deal as far as I’m concerned. We’ll get over it as we always have.

Good luck to AS - however I am surprised that he opted to move to lower level PL club. Another half season and he could have gone to a more high profile PL club.

[RedRock]

2 minutes ago, eardun said:

I also look at it from the perspective that we did very well to bring Scott in in the first place. The club should take credit for that. Without that, we wouldn’t have had the pleasure of watching him.

Yep, and I suspect if Steve didn’t live in Guernsey and had our Club develop a relationship with local sides, he more than likely would have gone under our radar.
 

Don’t think we had that many scouts in the Channel Islands. Indeed, I don’t think we have many/any on the mainland!

[ChippenhamRed]

7 minutes ago, eardun said:

I also look at it from the perspective that we did very well to bring Scott in in the first place. The club should take credit for that. Without that, we wouldn’t have had the pleasure of watching him.

We also wouldn’t have £25,000,000 sat in the bank.

An incredible return on our investment.

[Fordy62]

17 minutes ago, And Its Smith said:

It’s like Brexit. Being told to get over it within hours. 

It’s different. You don’t have to be stupid to see Scexit as a bad thing. 

[And Its Smith]

2 minutes ago, Fordy62 said:

It’s different. You don’t have to be stupid to see Scexit as a bad thing. 

Scexit  

3 minutes ago, ChippenhamRed said:

We also wouldn’t have £25,000,000 sat in the bank.

An incredible return on our investment.

And with internet rates constantly on the rise there’s no better time to have £25m in your current account 

[phantom]

11 minutes ago, Robbored said:

Are we all disappointed? ………..…

We’ve down this road many times before with losing our better players. City have have been a selling club for as long as I can remember and losing yet another is no big deal as far as I’m concerned. We’ll get over it as we always have.

Good luck to AS - however I am surprised that he opted to move to lower level PL club. Another half season and he could have gone to a more high profile PL club.

Ditto 

I'm pretty MEH about all this now 

The last player to leave I was really gutted about was coming back from Glastonbury to hear Scott Murray had signed for Reading 

[eardun]

2 minutes ago, phantom said:

Ditto 

I'm pretty MEH about all this now 

The last player to leave I was really gutted about was coming back from Glastonbury to hear Scott Murray had signed for Reading 

Yep loads over the years. Starting with Gerry Gow for me. That said, the most I have ever been gutted was due to an injury rather than a sale - Paul Cheesley. 

[nickolas]

5 minutes ago, phantom said:

Ditto 

I'm pretty MEH about all this now 

The last player to leave I was really gutted about was coming back from Glastonbury to hear Scott Murray had signed for Reading 

Well this is good as he didnt stay long and came back……!!

[Bristol Oil Services]

18 minutes ago, And Its Smith said:

Scexit  

And with internet rates constantly on the rise there’s no better time to have £25m in your current account 

Inflation nibbling away at it as we speak

[Bristol Oil Services]

37 minutes ago, phantom said:

We've been here before and we'll be here again 

Bristol City continue regardless 

Continue what though?

[And Its Smith]

1 minute ago, Bristol Oil Services said:

Continue what though?

Mid-low table champ. 

[phantom]

3 minutes ago, Bristol Oil Services said:

Continue what though?

Kicking off at 3pm every Saturday 

[Red Exile]

2 minutes ago, And Its Smith said:

Mid-low table champ. 

...if we're lucky!

[Lordofthebling]

I like this thread, it's like counselling.

I think its easier as talk of him leaving has been since Easter, if not before. But with the season started, I guess it was the hope of 'one more year'

[formerly known as ivan]

1 hour ago, PFree said:

Okay, we are all disappointed Alex is gone, but:

1) Every player wants to play at their highest possible level, you can forgive Alex and any other player for that.

2) Alex will get a massive pay rise on what generally is a short career, why wouldn’t he snap their hand off.

3) Perhaps with the exception now of Man City and Newcastle all other clubs are selling clubs.

4) We lose loads of money every year and have no option but it regularly sell to help stay afloat.

5) This is a sign our policy of bringing youngsters through and selling them on is working.

6) The only time this will change is when we reach the promised land...and even then we will still be a selling club, it is part of being a footy fan sadly!

BUT, we have  a much stronger squad, and some of this money will be used to strengthen us further.

COYR 

 

Agree with all of this other than having a stronger squad. Quantity doesn’t equal quality. With the exception of Dickie and Knight on Saturday it was the same starting 11 that struggled last season. Knight instead of Scott isn’t an improvement, Dickie over Atkinson remains to be seen but I dint think for one second we are stronger. It’s a myth!

[Fuber]

34 minutes ago, phantom said:

Ditto 

I'm pretty MEH about all this now 

The last player to leave I was really gutted about was coming back from Glastonbury to hear Scott Murray had signed for Reading 

Webster.

[Bar BS3]

1 hour ago, PFree said:

Okay, we are all disappointed Alex is gone, but:

1) Every player wants to play at their highest possible level, you can forgive Alex and any other player for that.

2) Alex will get a massive pay rise on what generally is a short career, why wouldn’t he snap their hand off.

3) Perhaps with the exception now of Man City and Newcastle all other clubs are selling clubs.

4) We lose loads of money every year and have no option but it regularly sell to help stay afloat.

5) This is a sign our policy of bringing youngsters through and selling them on is working.

6) The only time this will change is when we reach the promised land...and even then we will still be a selling club, it is part of being a footy fan sadly!

BUT, we have  a much stronger squad, and some of this money will be used to strengthen us further.

COYR 

 

Especially as we all knew it was happening - it's not like we've been taken by surprise with an unexpected deadline day offer we can't refuse....

He's been gone in my mind since the end of last season & it's been inevitable since then.

Good luck to him & all we can hope for now is that he does well & gets a massive money move again to net us some extra sell on clause money.

Been a pleasure to watch but that's football & we have new players who can hopefully fill the void left.

 

[And Its Smith]

With Kelly, Semenyo and Scott there I assume Bournemouth are everyone’s second club now…

[Northern Red]

4 minutes ago, And Its Smith said:

With Kelly, Semenyo and Scott there I assume Bournemouth are everyone’s second club now…

Stop this.

[And Its Smith]

Just now, Northern Red said:

Stop this.

Come on lad, up the cherries!  

[MelksRed]

Bye Alex......right, let's hold on to Hayden Roberts.....he's mustard. 

[Mr Popodopolous]

9 minutes ago, Northern Red said:

Stop this.

Where's that aubergine emoji when you need it eh.

Edited August 10, 2023 by Mr Popodopolous

[City Rocker]

1 hour ago, And Its Smith said:

It’s like Brexit. Being told to get over it within hours. 

Totally different. City have sold our best players countless times over the years and we've always got over it. Nearly all clubs do. 

But we've never sabotaged our entire future and sold our kids down the river forever. Only one nation has ever done that to itself

[steveybadger]

All we can do (given where we are in the financial non-prem food chain) is:

1. Hope said player behaves with a bit of dignity, tries their best when here, doesn’t openly agitate for a move and says the right things when they do go.

2. We get at least the price we want for the player.

So in terms of Kelly, Semenyo and Scott it’s tick, tick, tick.

These 3 add to our growing reputation for developing players (both our own and other team’s) and selling them on. So I’d say we should be happy with both the model we have and how successful we are becoming in putting it into practise.

[ILikeCheeseOnToast]

Players I’ve been really upset about leaving. 
Cole to Newcastle.
Goater to Man City.
Murray to Reading.

Reid to Cardiff - anyone but.

Webster to Brighton - he was the start of great things.

With Scott it was inevitable - we have maximised profit on someone who has cost us absolutely nothing and could have left in January - I genuinely through of life this season without him so am not surprised. 
 

we dust ourselves off, we move on and we be thankful for an academy that is producing quality players. 

[Cornacix the Druid]

1 hour ago, Fordy62 said:

It’s different. You don’t have to be stupid to see Scexit as a bad thing. 

Did you not think Alexit would've worked better?

[Fordy62]

9 minutes ago, Cornacix the Druid said:

Did you not think Alexit would've worked better?

Yes. Much better. But I’ll never admit it. 

[City Rocker]

36 minutes ago, ILikeCheeseOnToast said:

Players I’ve been really upset about leaving. 
Cole to Newcastle.
Goater to Man City.
Murray to Reading.

Reid to Cardiff - anyone but.

Webster to Brighton - he was the start of great things.

With Scott it was inevitable - we have maximised profit on someone who has cost us absolutely nothing and could have left in January - I genuinely through of life this season without him so am not surprised. 
 

we dust ourselves off, we move on and we be thankful for an academy that is producing quality players. 

Collier to Coventry?

The answer - of course - is to sign them all up to 10 year contracts. Pretty sure nothing can possibly go wrong there. 

[Reefer Madness]

2 hours ago, PFree said:

Okay, we are all disappointed Alex is gone, but:

1) Every player wants to play at their highest possible level, you can forgive Alex and any other player for that.

2) Alex will get a massive pay rise on what generally is a short career, why wouldn’t he snap their hand off.

3) Perhaps with the exception now of Man City and Newcastle all other clubs are selling clubs.

4) We lose loads of money every year and have no option but it regularly sell to help stay afloat.

5) This is a sign our policy of bringing youngsters through and selling them on is working.

6) The only time this will change is when we reach the promised land...and even then we will still be a selling club, it is part of being a footy fan sadly!

BUT, we have  a much stronger squad, and some of this money will be used to strengthen us further.

COYR 

 

 

You had me convinced until point 6

 

Please explain how we have a "much stronger squad".  

 

I cannot see a justification for this claim

Edited August 10, 2023 by Reefer Madness

[YorksRed]

28 minutes ago, ILikeCheeseOnToast said:

Players I’ve been really upset about leaving. 
Cole to Newcastle.
Goater to Man City.
Murray to Reading.

Reid to Cardiff - anyone but.

Webster to Brighton - he was the start of great things.

With Scott it was inevitable - we have maximised profit on someone who has cost us absolutely nothing and could have left in January - I genuinely through of life this season without him so am not surprised. 
 

we dust ourselves off, we move on and we be thankful for an academy that is producing quality players. 

Whilst it’s always a kick in the teeth to lose your best players, being pragmatic and thinking about the overall health of the club and what Nigel and Tins might otherwise have had available to invest, the ones to be really upset about are:

- Diédhiou

- Massengo

- Eliason

- Kalas

- Dasilva

Can’t be bothered doing the maths but it will probably be a similar aggregate amount of fees paid for them which we have not had any sell on in return as the amount we have received for Alex Scott, who didn’t cost us a penny. 

[downendcity]

1 hour ago, And Its Smith said:

With Kelly, Semenyo and Scott there I assume Bournemouth are everyone’s second club now…

Will the club shop be selling half'n half scarves?

[robinforlife2]

I don't get all the negative fall out. He's been hot property for 12 months now and the club had even said he had a price they would sell him at. I think every level headed person, expected him to leave this summer, but hoped we may keep him for longer. 12 months ago, many were worried about the squad, our position with FFP etc, now fats forward 12 months, we have multiple promising youngsters and a good wealth of experience on the pitch, as well as no FFP problems and money in the bank, which can be utilised to build for the future. There's nothing to be upset about. 

[Marina's Rolls Royce]

Come on all......get a grip

 

But the money's so good
Just get a grip on yourself
But the money's so good
Just get a grip on yourself
And you should know.......

[Mr Popodopolous]

11 minutes ago, City Rocker said:

Collier to Coventry?

The answer - of course - is to sign them all up to 10 year contracts. Pretty sure nothing can possibly go wrong there. 

The ecosystem of Football economics is so different now as to make such a calamitous crash improbable I suspect.

Not that I'm advocating 10 year deals obvs!!

Edited August 10, 2023 by Mr Popodopolous

[Open End Numb Legs]

As I think I said on another thread, we should be able to judge this better at the end of the season, not just on league position but also with any replacements and in how the existing squad step up and take on the role.

In the meantime, well done the club for producing such a fine player.

[The Gasbuster]

1 hour ago, And Its Smith said:

With Kelly, Semenyo and Scott there I assume Bournemouth are everyone’s second club now…

Are they **** !

[City Rocker]

10 minutes ago, Marina's Rolls Royce said:

Come on all......get a grip

 

But the money's so good
Just get a grip on yourself
But the money's so good
Just get a grip on yourself
And you should know.......

Stranger from another club, welcome to our hole

Just strap on your guitar, and we'll play some rocknroll... 

[PFree]

21 minutes ago, Reefer Madness said:

 

You had me convinced until point 6

 

Please explain how we have a "much stronger squad".  

 

I cannot see a justification for this claim

When I look at the recent signings and Saturday’s team sheet, perhaps with the exception of a keeper, we seem to have more competition across several positions - I don’t feel we have had players challenging for positions over the last couple of seasons..

[Ciderhead433]

2 hours ago, And Its Smith said:

It’s like Brexit. Being told to get over it within hours. 

Does this mean you will still be moaning about it in 7 years time 

 

[Mr Popodopolous]

6 minutes ago, PFree said:

When I look at the recent signings and Saturday’s team sheet, perhaps with the exception of a keeper, we seem to have more competition across several positions - I don’t feel we have had players challenging for positions over the last couple of seasons..

Injuries permitting of course but yes agreed.

[phantom]

5 minutes ago, Ciderhead433 said:

Does this mean you will still be moaning about it in 7 years time 

 

and bringing the subject up in as many unrelated threads as possible? 

[ORANGE500]

1 hour ago, formerly known as ivan said:

Agree with all of this other than having a stronger squad. Quantity doesn’t equal quality. With the exception of Dickie and Knight on Saturday it was the same starting 11 that struggled last season. Knight instead of Scott isn’t an improvement, Dickie over Atkinson remains to be seen but I dint think for one second we are stronger. It’s a myth!

Knight will score far more goals and get more assists than Alex Scott did so that is an improvement; he doesn't at this time effect the game enough consistently and the stats of 1 goal and 2 or 3 assists clearly suggest that £25 million is ourstanding business.

[Marina's Rolls Royce]

1 minute ago, phantom said:

and bringing the subject up in as many unrelated threads as possible? 

Exactly........

Whatever  happened to the Lambert money?

[MarcusX]

2 hours ago, And Its Smith said:

Scexit  

And with internet rates constantly on the rise there’s no better time to have £25m in your current account 

In your current account would probably be the worst place for it!

[Chivs]

2 hours ago, RedRock said:

Yep, and I suspect if Steve didn’t live in Guernsey and had our Club develop a relationship with local sides, he more than likely would have gone under our radar.
 

Don’t think we had that many scouts in the Channel Islands. Indeed, I don’t think we have many/any on the mainland!

I've always thought of Steve as a 2-bit capitalist grubbing for a few pounds extra in saved taxes by residing on a remote, far away, piece of land the size of Weston.

Turns out he was scouting for us!  Nice work. Steve!

[RedRock]

14 minutes ago, Chivs said:

I've always thought of Steve as a 2-bit capitalist grubbing for a few pounds extra in saved taxes by residing on a remote, far away, piece of land the size of Weston.

Turns out he was scouting for us!  Nice work. Steve!

Mind you, Arnold Gartia is not someone I would wish to have in my ‘scouted’ portfolio. So in Steve’s case you win some, lose some. 

[Ivorguy]

I still believe promotion for us will come only through luck, ie a season when our top player decides to stay for one more season, our cheap lower league buys all work out, and the youngsters brought in hit their potential immediately.  Plus few injuries

in the great scheme of things for all those to come together in one season is almost next to wishful thinking.

 

of course, all might change under new owners

[Mr Popodopolous]

Just now, Ivorguy said:

I still believe promotion for us will come only through luck, ie a season when our top player decides to stay for one more season, our cheap lower league buys all work out, and the youngsters brought in hit their potential immediately.  Plus few injuries

in the great scheme of things for all those to come together in one season is almost next to wishful thinking.

 

of course, all might change under new owners

We don't strictly speaking need to sell anyone we do not want to now, not for a year or maybe 2 IMO.

[Red Cloud]

3 hours ago, And Its Smith said:

It’s like Brexit. Being told to get over it within hours. 

considering the EU has been in deep recession for the last 6 months, God bless Brexit!

[formerly known as ivan]

35 minutes ago, ORANGE500 said:

Knight will score far more goals and get more assists than Alex Scott did so that is an improvement; he doesn't at this time effect the game enough consistently and the stats of 1 goal and 2 or 3 assists clearly suggest that £25 million is ourstanding business.

Another one who only sees football as stats!

[maxjak]

3 hours ago, Robbored said:

Are we all disappointed? ………..…

We’ve down this road many times before with losing our better players. City have have been a selling club for as long as I can remember and losing yet another is no big deal as far as I’m concerned. We’ll get over it as we always have.

Good luck to AS - however I am surprised that he opted to move to lower level PL club. Another half season and he could have gone to a more high profile PL club.

He will.........in a season or two's time B'mouth fans will be experiencing exactly what we are going through now, and they will be making the same remarks and be just as disappointed as we are at present?  He will move on up from the South coast, and i predict looking at my crystal ball's..........it will be somewhere Oooop North?

[Gurney]

1 hour ago, YorksRed said:

Whilst it’s always a kick in the teeth to lose your best players, being pragmatic and thinking about the overall health of the club and what Nigel and Tins might otherwise have had available to invest, the ones to be really upset about are:

- Diédhiou

- Massengo

- Eliason

- Kalas

- Dasilva

Can’t be bothered doing the maths but it will probably be a similar aggregate amount of fees paid for them which we have not had any sell on in return as the amount we have received for Alex Scott, who didn’t cost us a penny. 

I think, without exception, all of these left for less than we would have liked as a direct result of COVID & the financial implications. Without it, most likely we would have gotten decent fees for or kept each of them.

[And Its Smith]

1 hour ago, MarcusX said:

In your current account would probably be the worst place for it!

Yeah 

[StGeorge]

3 hours ago, And Its Smith said:

£25m in your current account 

They can't be that daft.....................can they?

[Mr Popodopolous]

34 minutes ago, Gurney said:

I think, without exception, all of these left for less than we would have liked as a direct result of COVID & the financial implications. Without it, most likely we would have gotten decent fees for or kept each of them.

Played a part, how much more is debatable but 4 left for free.

I certainly don't see it as any great excuse but we would have got more than £0 for Kalas, Dasilva, Massengo and Diedhiou yes.

Edited August 10, 2023 by Mr Popodopolous

[downendcity]

Last season a series of injuries exposed our lack of real depth in the squad with all and sundry being co-opted to play in various defensive positions.

For all that we would all have wanted Alex to stay at the club, his leaving could be a blessing in disguise. 

Firstly, it goes without saying that he is a unique talent and is able to do things that no other of our players can. Imagine he stayed but then suffered an injury like Conway has.There is no one else in the squad able to replace AS like for like and without his sale proceeds we don't have the money to go out and by anyone remotely able to fill his role. 

We've already strengthened in a number of areas and it is likely that we will do so further having banked Scott's fee. Scott is brilliant, but we wouldn't want to be /become a one man team. Daft as it might sound, by being stronger right through the team we could be a better team without Scott than we were with him.

£25m will give us a massive buffer against ffp for a few seasons. That could be important to avoid what so many fans are critical of over Scott's sale, i.e. the club selling it's best assets, the inference being that we show no ambition. Money in the bank, and having no ffp concerns, means we are in a much better position to hold on to our upcoming talents ( Vyner, Conway, Bell, Pring and the rest coming down the line) and it could well give us a bit more wriggle room if we want to offer better contracts to hold on to players.

Scott is just the latest, but perhaps the best, advert for our academy. the pathway to the first team is now well demonstrated, as is, through Kelly, Semenyo and Scott, the pathway to the premier league. I'd imagine that we are looking ever more attractive for the very best youngsters looking for an academy to join.

[Davefevs]

2 hours ago, formerly known as ivan said:

Another one who only sees football stats as goals and / or assists!

Just a tweak!

[Wanderingred]

We lose our best player

We’re sad to see him go

We wish him all the best

He could have done much better than (insert club name here)

We shouldn’t stand in his way if he wants to play at a higher level.

If he doesn’t want to play for us, let him go.

Lets invest the money well

Cliched sound bites we’ve heard countless times before, and will do again. Across the world, it’s probably been said thousands of times during this transfer window this year.

It’s part of football, surely we’re all used to it? All I’m thinking about is Millwall tomorrow. I’m excited about hopefully seeing what Roberts can do. Got a great feeling about him. Maybe we’ll be having this conversation again in a few months when he goes to Bournemouth? Life always goes on… Talent comes, talent goes… Enjoy them whilst they’re here.

Edited August 11, 2023 by Wanderingred

[Guest]

We have managed 15wins in each of the last 3 NP seasons, we have slightly improved in that time from a lowly 19th to a mediocre 14th;

prev season with D Holden finished 12th with 17 wins; LJ even had 19wins and finished 8th both sacked...not good enough,

So the selling off our assets over the past 5 seasons has got us from a 8th place finish to 14th last season, maybe its not us that should get a grip but the powers that be.

(wins and finishing positions taken from transfermarket so blame them if wrong)

[Engvall’s Splinter]

19 minutes ago, wtf said:

We have managed 15wins in each of the last 3 NP seasons, we have slightly improved in that time from a lowly 19th to a mediocre 14th;

prev season with D Holden finished 12th with 17 wins; LJ even had 19wins and finished 8th both sacked...not good enough,

So the selling off our assets over the past 5 seasons has got us from a 8th place finish to 14th last season, maybe its not us that should get a grip but the powers that be.

(wins and finishing positions taken from transfermarket so blame them if wrong)

The selling off of assets as got us to a position to financially tread water. 

[Oh Louie louie]

Couldn't agree more with downend, all the homegrown talent , excellently handled, patience, everyone one of them gave a more than decent account of themselves last year,