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Most in the championship I think - or at least it was before his injury meant a few games out

I still think removing the free shirt unless you are in the Family Area would have been a good option.

He's looking to buy more than one I suspect

Nah, his brother

I certainly appreciate them, don't always have time to sit and watch the videos so reading a summary is very useful.

We are a top half of the table club (just) and finishing the season strongly. Promotion is possible next season, not probable, but certainly possible.

It feels to me that the amount of money in football these days has given all the advantages to the players. Any player that feels he is good enough to have clubs wanting his services is going to be better off letting his contract run down every single time. The only ones that will sign new contracts whilst still in one are going to be the mediocre ones!

If he has one year left on his contract would it not be in his own personal interest to let the contract run down and be a much more attractive proposition for clubs when there is no transfer fee required for him?

You just select it at checkout I think

I would agree that there have been some turgid displays under Manning, we are frustratingly inconsistent because when it is good, it is very good. It just confuses me a little that people say we should never have sacked Pearson because we were great, and it has become much duller under Manning, yet complain when a player suggests we have reverted to a more Pearson style. I get that people think we shouldn't have sacked Pearson, and I can agree to an extent as he did a fine job getting us through a very difficult patch and he should maybe have had a bit more time but it did feel like our progression had stalled under him a little. Whether Manning was the right replacement is also a topic for debate, and as yet I am on the fence but feel we have seen enough bright spots to think he will come good in the end. I also don't particularly like the constant references to 'Manningball' (usually used in a derogatory sense) as though the football he plays is somehow different to a lot of teams out there. And once again, we have already seen that when it is good it is very good. We just need to find some consistency is all.

I didn't read it, that's why I asked. If we have reverted to how we were playing under Pearson, why are people complaining about the dullness of the football? Reading this forum you would imagine that everything was whizzbangs and fireworks under Pearson, and the club is now on a deliberate campaign to find the most boring form of football possible and to inflict it on us for no purpose.

I presume this is something to do with you finding the football under Manning boring and that it is somehow a deliberate tactic? What did Sykes say to confirm that?

I have no stats or specifics Dave, I merely go along and watch the games and base my opinions on how I think it went. I just know that I was bored with the back end of the Johnson reign and all of Holden's. As for Nige, the beginnings of this season just didn't much feel like we were progressing, though that is very much with the benefit of hindsight as well. I am by nature optimistic, so am always going to see better things ahead, whether that is a rational feeling or not.

OK, more than a couple, but I do still feel we are moving in the right direction now whilst things were beginning to stagnate under NP. We are inconsistent and that needs sorting, but when we are good we are better than anything from the past 5-6 seasons. edit - I've been more active in the football forum than normal this morning, looking forward to my stalker coming along soon to facepalm every single bloody post!

A couple of games aside I really don't agree with this. I have been more entertained at Ashton gate under Manning than I ever was under the last couple of years under Lee Johnson, all of Dean Holden and a large part of Nigel Pearson's time with us.

I don't think it's a finance company involved, just Bristol Sport. There is no monthly interest or anything, just a £25 charge for paying in instalments rather than up front. The Direct Debits certainly show as Bristol Sport on statements

I don't think people's connection to the club is ever going to be what it was 20 years ago, and that is a general thing in football at the higher levels, although the contrast from what it used to be to now is greater for City just because what the club went through in the eighties created a very special bond for a fair few people. The way football is now, for clubs to compete in the top two divisions they have to become more businesslike and corporate, and that automatically reduces how much a part of the club the fans feel. I honestly believe that applies for just about every club at our level, and maybe even a few below but with ambitions. Personally, the time I felt closest to the club was the late nineties, the early days of City fans connecting online and City with Scott Davidson in charge. Once Steve Lansdown took over and we started on the path to Bristol Sport I felt the disconnect, and complained about it quite vociferously at the time. I like to think that I have now come out the other side from that, and can actually see the sense in what SL is trying to achieve with Bristol Sport and I actually quite like it. What helped to reignite my support for the club was bringing my young son and watching him grow into a passionate City fan. In recent times the club has certainly made mistakes. Jon Lansdown has been allowed influence above his abilities without doubt, and Tins as DoF doesn't sit well with me just because I know from personal experience that he isn't the brightest! Lovely bloke though. Pearson was maybe sacked too early, though you never know behind the scenes precisely what is going on so maybe the timing was perfect, but I do think our progression under him was showing signs of plateauing so maybe it was for the best. I also think people have been far too quick to turn on Manning, mainly because they are pissed off about Pearson, but I think some of the matches under him at home have been better than anything else we have been served up since the best days of Lee Johnson (the Man Utd match season in particular). Football fans are certainly fickle, and your passion for football/City may have expired, but keep at it and it will return, maybe just in a different way. I don't think we will ever feel a 'part' of the club the way it used to be possible to unless something goes very very wrong and I personally don't want that to happen.

Agreed, I would guess someone like Tom Ritchie or Ray Cashley might hold the consecutive appearances record for City but no idea really. A couple of years on from them, Rob Newman felt like a permanent fixture in my early days as a City fan.

I have always had a dislike for Liverpool for no real reason other than growing up in the seventies and eighties you were pretty much a Liverpool fan or you despised them. I was the latter. Klopp has conflicted me on that because he is just such a likeable bloke and the football he produces is unquestionably fun. Damned bloke has made me actually want Liverpool to win stuff! Looking forward to next season when he's gone and I can get back to wanting them to lose tbh.

That table will have Blackburn very nervous!

You're right, edited my posts out

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Thank you for the name of the tune, I now know what it is! It's been sung as a tune at AG for ages, probably around most football grounds. I would be prepared to bet that less than 1% of the people singing it are doing so because they like darts on Sky.