LondonBristolian

Yeah - I thought that as well. For context, Wagner is asked his personal opinion and gives it. He certainly in no way implies he is speaking on behalf of the club and I'd agree that he isn't.

Watched the press conference and Wagner is in favour. Essentially the person who made it has got confused - it should be Norwich in favour and not us.

Yeah - I'm not sure anything has fundamentally changed since January. He presumably knew we were a mid-table Championship club when he signed and we're a mid-table Championship club now.

I've got mixed views on this. On the one hand, I suspect most managers - including in the Championship, League One and League Two - regard replays as a bit of a pain in the arse and there are probably a lot of fans who'd appreciate getting a result on the day. On the other hand, replays are a fantastic income generator for small clubs and there's a certain magic in smaller teams forcing major sides to a draw and an extra game - even if they ultimately lose in the replay. I feel like the main result of this will be more bigger clubs going through to the later stages and less opportunities for smaller clubs to get a money-spinning second fixture.

I’ve definitely started watching a lot less (non-City) football due to over-saturation. I don’t have any issue with the amount on - people can watch it if they want - but I definitely watch quite a bit less of other clubs than I used to. That said, I suspect the fact that we have not had a promotion or relegation battle for several years probably affects my excitement for football in general.

The only thing is that he’s maybe not done what they hoped he would with either Hull or with us. I wonder if that will shift their expectations of what impact he could have for them next season.

Thanks @phantom!

For me, the first two are very clear front runners and then there's a few I could consider after that: 1. Dickie 2. O'Leary 3. Tanner has been consistent and performed over-expectations. 4. Vyner possibly deserves to be above Tanner but I don't know that he's excelled by his own standards to the same extent. 5. Knight is a little bit less consistent but has definitely added something else. Not much between those 3 and James, Williams, Sykes and Pring

I've noticed this post on the events page from a Rovers fan planning to wear a City shirt on Saturday to raise money for the Children's Hospital. He's put it in a place people won't see it so thought I'd highlight it. @Moderator- is there any way to convert his event into a thread on the board so it gets a bit more attention as people might want to contribute.

As someone calling for Manning's head four games ago then my answer is that you can only make a decision based on the evidence available at the time. After West Brom, I'd have 100% have sacked Manning if we'd lost the next couple and I couldn't see it turning around. I'm delighted that there are huge signs of improvement but I still think calling for his sacking was an utterly valid call based on the info available. Right now, there's really positive signs and he obviously deserves to see out this season, rebuild over the summer and show what he can do next season. It might be we get ten games in and are challenging for promotion and, if so, the board and Technical Director will deserve praise for a brave call in sticking with him when the fans were turning against him. On the other hand, we could revert to poor form again and it'll turn out in hindsight that his appointment does not work out. We don't know. But, if we end up sacking him in October, the people who are praising him for the last four games are not suddenly "wrong" for their opinion at this moment in time, in the exact same way that nobody was "wrong" to feel he should be sacked after two extended winless streaks.

I agree with your post but, in fairness, I think often it's not about anyone deliberately leaking things. It's just that people have a frustrating meeting and then vent a bit to someone they trust - maybe another colleague at the club, maybe their best mate or a family member - and either someone overhears or the person they sounded off to mentions something to someone else and all of a sudden it's public knowedge.... (EDIT: Obviously occasionally our Technical Director DMs confidential info to others on social media too but hopefully that's a rarity!)

You could be right. Being completely honest, I didn’t know their name during the game. I think I remember someone telling me it was Bree after but it could be that either I misremember or whoever told me the name got the two confused.

I really don’t get why people find it so implausible that there are people on these boards with contacts at the club and that they occasionally hear info that isn’t in the public domain. I also don’t really get why people find it wildly implausible that - after a run of bad results and poor performances - the players took a view on that or that the Technical Director had words with the manager. That strikes me as what would almost certainly happen, whether anyone heard about it or not. What I would say is that, if either the players or Tinnion had views on what was needed to improve, I think Manning deserves credit for listening and taking feedback on board rather than being stubborn or defensive. A lot of people don’t engage with or learn from feedback and it can be a real flaw.

The best bit will be the off-season where there will be no results to base anything on but we’ll all carry on anyway!

Problem is - win or lose - there’s always a small number of people keen to shout “I told you so” and provoke other posters into a response. Last night was a great result. And I’m ignoring Blackburn “looking poor”. Plenty of teams look poor without anyone scoring five against them and often teams look poor because their opponents are forcing mistakes. So it was a great result and nothing should be taken away from that. And, over the last four games the manager has confounded my expectations. I’m still conscious we have had false dawns or brief periods of form before and I can’t say Manning has absolutely laid my doubts to rest but a good performance and win Saturday will go a long wait to convincing me we can not just play well but do it consistently and I might just start to get excited about next season. Problem is I’ve got excited only to be disappointed so many times before that it is hard to tell if things will be different this time.