Nigel Pearson certainly wasn't lying when he told supporters not to expect much business in January and on transfer deadline day in particular.
Just one new signing arrived through the door in Timm Klose and despite offers for a couple of players, in which Pearson could only shake his head at the offers on the table, no senior player headed for the Ashton Gate exit.
Cardiff launched two loan bids for striker Nahki Wells while also submitting an offer for Kasey Palmer which were all turned down as the club were only open to letting them leave on a permanent transfer.
It will come as no surprise with Pearson clearly stating he has no interest in strengthening a league rival particularly by allowing his players to leave temporarily.
Although he kept tight-lipped on the identity of the club who attempted to raid City, Pearson revealed with a smirk: "There were approaches for some of our players that I actually just shook my head.
"One club hadn't got a clue who they wanted but they wanted somebody. So it was quite reassuring to know that we do have a plan."
City were handed an early shock on Monday after receiving an offer for star man Antoine Semenyo from rivals Nottingham Forest.
The Robins had no intention of letting him leave especially as the bid fell well below the club's £20million valuation.
When asked on whether an offer had come in for Semenyo, Pearson suggested that the deal didn't even make it to his office door.
"If they did receive offers I wouldn't have known about it," he added. "I didn't have any intention of doing anything. I'm not bothered to be fair I had no intention of him going."
So that was another offer that quickly bit the dust.
Interest in City's rising superstars including the likes of Semenyo, Alex Scott and Han-Noah Massengo are all inevitable with the trio boasting sky-high potential to reach the very top.
There was no danger of them leaving in January and Pearson reiterated his intention to build the squad around the homegrown players although issued a warning that one or two may have to leave in the near future to help balance the books.
That could be as soon as the summer for Massengo with his contract expiring in the summer of 2023. If they can't agree to tie him down on a new deal, City will be forced to cash in to avoid losing him for nothing.
They have a little more security in Semenyo who also has a contract until 2023, although the club have a 12-month extension option while Scott's on a deal until 2025.
The club's bleak financial state is no secret after posting losses of £38.4million.
Pearson revealed: "We've said on many occasions you will be aware of what our owners would like and that's to create a team with as many homegrown players as possible and of course, we will need to get the balance right between managing the financial situation we're in and as well as keeping our best players.
"We have no intention of putting them on the market, we're trying to reshape the squad in a way which is sustainable and that's going to take time and compromise.
"I don't expect everyone to stay here indefinitely, maybe the necessity is at some point to sell one of our talented players for us to negotiate our way through this next period of time.
"The intention is not to sell them categorically. I don't think our fans want to hear any more knockbacks than we've already had. We've already had to come to terms with the fact that we are in a situation where we have to be very careful over the next few years and manage our way and negotiate that in a sensible way.
"That doesn't mean that we won't do business. I'm very pleased we got Timm in. Whether that turns out to be enough, we'll see."
It's no surprise that free agent Klose wasn't accompanied by another fresh face to the squad with the necessity to offload before bringing in.
But that doesn't mean Pearson and his staff made a fruitless attempt to lure in another player but remained blunt in his response whether any other deals were close to being completed.
"No, not really," was his three-word answer. "Players that we may be interested in either weren't achievable or available.
"The one deal we did do is a sensible one for us so, we are where we are now.
"We're going to need everybody that we have onboard at the moment, there's no escape now."
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