So following weeks of speculation, our club has today started the complete re-build of the playing squad with the aim of achieving Milan Mandaric’s vision of being back in the Premiership within 3 years.
It is open to speculation, who played what role in signing both Bruno N'Gotty and Jimmy Nielsen on 2 year deals for Leicester City. Certainly Bruno (a fans old chant is about to be re-awakened) spoke in his first interview about the conversation he had with Milan Mandaric, and Bruno’s potential signature was in the media long before Martin Allen’s name featured in the press list of potential new managers.
The third person to join the club today, Sports Director Don Mackay, having previously carried out extensive scouting overseas, may have identified Jimmy Nielsen’s talents, although Nielson was first linked with our club when Craig Levein was in charge in 2004.
A more detailed look at our new signings…
Bruno N’Gotty is a 6ft 2in French defender with 6 full international caps to his name. His 36th birthday is approaching in July, however the club has judged his fitness level worthy of a 2 year contract.
Although signed from Birmingham, N’Gotty is mainly known in the UK for his 5 years at Bolton, being signed in January 2002 for £500,000 following a successful loan spell.
N’Gotty’s first team appearance record in the last 3 seasons was:
06-07 Birmingham Played – 27 Goals – 2 Yellow Cards – 2 Red Cards – 1
05-06 Bolton Played – 39 Goals – 1 Yellow Cards – 2
04-05 Bolton Played – 41 Goals – 0 Yellow Cards – 4 Red Cards – 1
His full career details are:
| Club | From | To | Apps | Goals |
| Birmingham | 06/07/2006 | 04/06/2007 | 27 | 2 |
| Bolton | 07/09/2001 | 06/07/2006 | 162 | 7 |
| Marseille | 01/07/2001 | 28/01/2002 | 32 | 0 |
| Venezia | 01/08/1999 | 01/12/1999 | 16 | 0 |
| Milan | 01/08/1998 | 01/01/2000 | 34 | 1 |
| Paris St-G. | 01/08/1995 | 01/08/1998 | 81 | 7 |
| Lyon | 01/08/1988 | 31/05/1995 | 237 | 13 |
Jimmy Nielsen has played for his hometown club Aalborg for many seasons, completing 398 appearances and rarely missing a game. The 29 year old 6ft 3inch keeper is a former U21 international and has been voted keeper of the year in Denmark in 1998 and again in 2004.
Nielsen has been linked with a move to the English game for several seasons, the most recent being only a couple of weeks ago, when one football rumours website had Alex Ferguson lining him up as Edwin Van Dee Saar’s replacement.
The Betinfo website had Nielson valued at €2.5m at the beginning of last season.
Further articles on new signings will appear as the squad building progresses.