Gary needs to wheel & deal

I am a Bristol City season ticket holder and was totally surprised with last season's achievement.

At the start of the season I told friends a top-12 finish would represent a good season.

The teams in the Championship are much stronger this time round, and most of them have worked out that if they match City for effort and workrate, we will struggle.

As with last season, a lack of goals is proving costly. The following statistics also show why we are in our current position:

Six wins from 20 games have come against clubs whose positions in the league are, as I write, 16th, 18th, 19th, 21st, 22nd and 24th.

We have played 11 games against teams higher than 16th, and out of a possible 33 points we have only picked up five points, scoring three times and conceding 21 goals.

We have no natural cover at full-back on both sides, and the same applies to our wide attacking players.

There is no pace in midfield and we badly need a creative midfielder (eg: Ben Watson of Crystal Palace).

Gary Johnson has done a great job over the last three seasons, but January is going to be a big month for him, as we must get in four or five quality players.

Mike Solway

Austen Place

The Ridge

Shirehampton

I can understand Gary Johnson's thinking with regards to Bradley Orr but City have not got a good enough replacement.

This was proved in the Preston game. Although City played well enough, one error by Brian Wilson, getting sucked in and not winning the ball cost City the game as up to then they were in charge of it.

Orr is one of the most improved players and, no doubt,seeing players earning more than him on the subs' bench, wants a better deal.

Louis Carey had to leave City to get a better deal, why can't City sort out Bradley? He deserves it, now he has grown up. Why has his contract been left until a few months ago when Garry Johnson's contract was sorted out in the summer?

In the Preston game City still continued to struggle to score. The wingers did not get down the flanks to pull the ball back for the forwards to run on to.

Everything was down the middle with the wingers cutting inside. Gary needs to look at the midfield. If he's going to play 4-4-2 as the midfield he's playing is too lightweight.

I would like to see Trundle or Noble in the centre of a five in a free role supporting the striker. Perhaps Mr Lansdown will buy Gary a sat-nav for Christmas as he is losing his way.

Chris Hengrove

Via e-mail

JED SAYS: The recent run for Bristol City has been less than impressive and, if they are going to compete and attempt to match the efforts of last season, you would expect new players to be brought in in the transfer window. However, Gary and the club did receive plenty of criticism when they did not delve into the transfer market last January. It turned out that that criticism was unwarranted as City finished the season strongly until the play-off final. This time they are not in such a good position going into the new year and the need for fresh blood does seem even greater. But, the case is always the same, that City must be able to bring in players who are better than those they already have. Loan signings may be the answer. For my pains, I have recently seen a couple of Cardiff games. They are a club of a similar size and standard to City and have brought in the likes of Routledge from Aston Villa and Chopra from Sunderland, very fine players indeed. Gary does not seem to be a big fan of the loan system but players such as these can sort out any problem in the short term while delivering long-term gains. If players of this calibre are happy to spend time at Cardiff then there is no reason why they wouldn't be interested in coming to Ashton Gate.

I'm worried about Rickie

With Lennie Lawrence this week admitting that Rickie Lambert is to be the centre of fevered transfer speculation, I worry how the club will fare without him. The main rumour seems to be that Bolton are planning to table a £1 million bid for our top goal scorer and I feel it is going to be difficult for us to hold out if the offer does materialise.

Obviously we would not want to deny any player the opportunity to play at the top level, especially someone like Rickie who has done so much for the club in recent times.

It does seem though that a fee of £1 million does not represent good buisness in a transfer market where players prices have become greatly inflated.

As a club we have to face up to the fact that at the present time Rickie is one of the club's main assets and though we don't wish to deny him the chance to play Premier League football, we do need to hold out for a fair price.

I am well aware that big clubs have always and will always poach from smaller clubs, I do though urge the Rovers board and management team to stay strong on this issue.

If we let Rickie go in January for a fee that does not represent his true value, then we will have undone some good work the club has put in over the past few years.

James Moore

Via e-mail

JED SAYS: Not many would disagree with your sentiments. Rickie has been superb this season and without his goals you wonder where Rovers might be.

But money is money and clubs like Rovers need cash to survive. They are not one of the few clubs with a super-rich benefactor and need the input of cash from the sale of their assets.

It's simply the way of the world of League One football, save for the likes of Leeds and Leicester. Having said that, I would hope that Lennie Lawrence is on the lookout for players to replace Rickie with, if they agree to sell him in the first place. £1 million could be invested in two of three good replacements, thus improving the squad overall. The club should also be considering their own player as well and judge his ambitions carefully.