Flood money gets Ade

Last updated : 04 January 2007 By Tony Scholes

Steve Cotterill - has thanked new director Brendan Flood for making the Ade Akinbiyi deal possible

Steve admitted that we needed a new striker at the club following the injury to Andy Gray at the end of November. “With the loss of Andy Gray we have struggled to win a game as hard as we have tried and another striker was therefore a must,” he said.

“Some of the prices that have been quoted for some of the younger strikers out there would be unbelievable and certainly something we couldn't get into. We have got someone who is 30-plus, but Ade didn't do too badly the last time he was here and he was 30-plus then.”

Has there been much negative reaction to bringing a former player back? If so, the manager has the answer. “Only the pessimists will say you shouldn't go back. The optimists will be delighted and won't even think about spelling the word pessimist,” he said.

But how have we funded it? We know we are losing money heavily each week. New director Brendan Flood hinted on his appointment that he would do all he could to help Steve Cotterill should we need to strengthen and it looks as though he's done just that.

“We were working on the deal for probably five or six days solid but I don't think we would have been able to bring Ade back without Brendan coming on the board. He's not only a fan, but a big fan of Ade's and I think he was quite pleased with how his money was spent.

“I have thanked him personally for that and I would like to go on record to thank him.”

There were lots of rumours, both before and at the time of his appointment to the board, that he would be funding the strengthening of the squad. And yesterday Chief Executive Dave Edmundson couldn't rule out further signings during the next month.