LondonBristolian

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.

There was a full back for Luton I felt sorry for when we beat them 3-0 a few years back. James Bree, I think. To be fair to him, had a decent career since which shows I can’t always judge on one game.

I’m calling it. We’re going rogue. Red with alternating purple and lime green circles. Purple shorts and lime green socks. The robin will be replaced with a tasteful picture of Mark Robins, to commemorate 22 years since our 2003 Football League Trophy win.

"Easter Lights" aren't even a thing. One gets the impression Lee Anderson is utterly ignorant of British traditions.

Bit confused by the original post. My understanding was Muslims were unable to eat pork for religious reasons and not unable to look at photographs of pork for religious reasons so it is rather confusing what point, if any is being made. What entertained me though was the person who replied complaining that the club hadn't put up a "Happy Easter" post, only for several people to reply linking to the "Happy Easter" post that the club had very clearly done. It goes to show the people who feign outrage about these things tend not to link their grumbles to objective reality. It's a bit like the people who complain about a lack of an International Men's Day in March but ignore International Men's Day in November...

I too find the Pearson obsession quite weird but perhaps not in the way you do. Pearson has not been mentioned on this thread once and the vast majority of posters who've expressed doubts about Manning have done so based on things like results, performances, lack of full benches, whether we're giving opportunities to young players and admittedly also his dour presentation style. There have been criticisms of the board and Technical Director around communication of the new manager but the vast, vast, vast majority of posters have given Manning a fair chance and judged on what they have seen. With only one or two people significantly harking back to Pearson. So my question is why you in this case - and other posters in others - suddenly bring up Pearson as though that is the reason for people's criticism of Manning even when nobody has mentioned Pearson at all? It feels frankly disingenuous to refuse to engage with people's points and proscribe a motive for those points that is very clearly not there.

I think Semenyo is the current player who'd add the most to the team.

Players are pretty candid too: https://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/sport/football/joe-edwards-gives-plymouth-argyle-9211591

That's only because Manning's not had a full season with Bristol City yet...

To give credit where it is due to Manning, he has now just about done enough for me to go from the "this isn't going to work" camp to "the jury's still out". Ten days ago I thought the end was inevitable and would be swifter than many predicted. I felt there would be a fair chance that we'd fail to beat Leicester, Plymouth or Sunderland and - had I been forced to place a bet on when Manning's tenure would end - I would have picked a seven day window from tomorrow until the day after Huddersfield as I thought that was the point was his position would become untenable. There is no doubt at all he has proved me wrong in terms of my sense that we were in an irrevocable downhill slide. There is still a fair bit to do to move me into a position where I'm optimistic about next season. Oddly the games against Blackburn and Huddersfield are probably far more significant to my judgement than the Leicester game. We already knew we could produce the occasional outstanding performance against top teams. What Manning needs to convince me of is that we can win those games against struggling teams that sit back and hit us on the counter. At the moment, I feel more positive than I did ten days ago but I also feel like I'm in danger of falling for the Lee Johnson bounce where a run of results at the right time masks a general sense of overall underperformance. 7 points in 3 is great but our results in general have not been and we still don't know what the "true" Bristol City is. We've now got five games where Manning has a chance to demonstrate he can get us performing consistently well and pick up points against struggling sides. It sounds a harsh assessment but, looking at what the fixtures are, 7 points or less from those 5 would maintain my sense of underachievement, 8 - 10 points would feel like "par" and only 11 or more points from the last five would make me start to feel like I could approach next season with optimism.

We’ll see him in early 2025 then…

Thank Christ our exit from the under-18s cup means our manager can completely ignore the academy for a totally new set of reasons. Major focus on the club’s annual under-18s table tennis tournament?

I do wonder if we are about to see a bit of a fashion change again with managers. This season has seen a number of clubs appoint managers into their first roles at this level. Rohl, Edwards, Duff and Foster all have not worked whilst the jury is out on Manning and Williams. Even Maresca - who may ultimately succeed - appears to be underachieving on his resources. I’d not be surprised to see a swing back towards experienced appointments for a while.