Steve Lansdown has explained the reasoning behind City's decision not to reveal the fee they paid to Hibernian for Ivan Sproule.
The City chairman was delighted to complete negotiations with the Scottish Premier League side yesterday, ensuring Gary Johnson could unveil his first outfield recruit of the summer.
Ivan signed a three-year deal after City paid an undisclosed fee to Hibs.
And chairman Steve told Bristol City World: "I'm delighted that we've got the first one (outfield signing) out of the way.
"It's taken longer than we expected and a lot of work has been going on. It's hard to put a timescale on how long we've been tracking Ivan, but he was a player we earmarked as a signing should we clinch promotion.
"When we did get promoted we made the enquiries and started negotiations. We spoke to Hibernian weeks ago and they asked us to keep it under wraps while they made a few signings.
"Keeping things close to your chest is the only way to do transfer dealings. We want the other clubs to respect us and we want to be able to keep our own counsel.
"If we start bandying numbers around about fees then they can get used against you in other deals. Unless the figure creeps out elsewhere or it is the right time to announce it, we'll keep the transfer figures to ourselves.
"We've paid a good fee for Ivan and he will be a good acquisition to the squad. Now we're looking to bring in a couple of other people as well if we can do so."
