The Journalist

I like this idea - I think getting rid of replays makes a lot of sense, but from R1 onwards the team in the lower division getting to choose whether the game is played home or away would add an interesting element to it. If it’s two teams in the same league the tie just gets played as it was drawn.

Has anyone ever taken their shirt off to celebrate, ran around like a lunatic waving it above their head but have another identical shirt on underneath to try beating the system? Feel like that would be a mildly amusing celebration but surely been done already.

That’s clearly not what I said or even intimated, but also I think you know that. We’ve been good this weekend and Manning deserves real credit for that. Hope you enjoy the rest of your Easter Weekend after back-to-back wins.

Would agree with all of the above - but I maintain the biggest difference has been the intent. Playing 20 yards further up the pitch against Leicester, going after the ball, closing people down, putting tackles in, playing at pace... All far more important than any personnel or formational change IMO.

Well done all. That's much more like it. We've been dreadful in recent weeks - slow, ponderous and negative - and it's been really tough to watch. Loads of us have felt really disillusioned about the direction of travel and worried about the future under Liam Manning if that's the route he wanted to take us down. This weekend, however, we've felt much more like the Bristol City we've all been watching over the past year or two. Now I just implore us to stay along that path. Make the odd tweak, by all means, but we're a squad full of pace, aggression and running. Play to our bloody strengths and you'll get the best out of them - as this weekend has shown! One other thing... Liam Manning's subs in both games have also largely made a really positive difference. So much for not being able to have an impact during the game, eh?

Well done all. Forget about the results, two much more positive performances. That's more like it.

Missed the first half an hour, which was no bad thing by the sounds of it, but I've enjoyed watching us again today. Much more intent, much more pace and purpose. This is the Bristol City I remember from earlier in the season. This is the Bristol City Liam Manning needed to tweak, not rip up. Please keep going with this!

Unpopular opinion = Harry Kane is a far better player than Erling Haaland.

If we play with that intensity and aggression every game Liam Manning won’t have any problems. But we haven’t been. We’ve been powderpuff, we’ve been negative and we’ve sat off teams. Often poor teams and in front of our own fans. And our level of intensity and aggression has nothing to do with the opposition, that’s down to us. We won’t always get it right and that’s fine. But he has to learn from today. That is on him.

They're a Championship team and just a bit of fun, innit? I've already posted more than once in this thread about how well we're playing compared to recent weeks. Ultimately, this is an internet forum and you're swearing at people. Hope you enjoy the rest of the game and have a good Easter weekend. x

Excuse me?

Brian will be talking about this game for weeks.

Dare I say it, Manning's changed the game a bit here with his subs...

Posted this inside the first 10 minutes: "We're a much better team when we actually try to get the ball back off the opposition rather than just letting them have it. "Clearly playing about 20 yards higher up the pitch already." It was clear immediately there was a complete approach/attitude change to recent games.

We're a much better team when we actually try to get the ball back off the opposition rather than just letting them have it. Clearly playing about 20 yards higher up the pitch already.

And the worst bit is the big clubs are only going to keep getting bigger and the gap is just going to get wider. We'll reach a point where the elite women's teams are basically uncatchable just as they are in the men's game. And we'll look at back at this period and wonder why we didn't go for it. Standard stuff under this ownership, unfortunately.

Not at all, but obviously football clubs can get away with a lot more when things are going well and the fanbase is onside. I'm not talking about a couple of good results, I'm talking about when there's generally a better feeling about the place. Obviously results contribute to that, but it's not just about results. It's about perception and, to use the same word again, feeling. Just to use an example, if I'm still not being clear enough - Lee Johnson talking about bottles of wine with Jose Mourinho ahead of the Man Utd cup tie was lapped up and loved at the time because the fans were up and things were going well. If Lee Johnson gives an identical answer to that question during his final season ahead of the same cup tie but when fans are getting frustrated with how things are going and becoming bored of his David Brentisms the reception is completely different. Edit: Just to add, as @Silvio Dante says, the idea is a dreadful one full stop. But I still think *if* you're committing to it you can pick your moment.

I understand where you're coming from but if you really want to run with it, maybe just park the whole thing until the club - or Zak himself - is doing better? When there's a better feeling about the place? The broader point is as a club we're just absolutely horseshit at reading the room.

Surely nobody is actually outraged? It's just funny/weird. When you think about it... the team 14th in the Championship, off the back of losing six of their past seven games, have decided it's a good time to release a clothing range alongside a solid and reliable but not spectacular mid-20s centre-half. I mean... what?!

We're a bloody weird club.

Every time I see him talking about Gary Johnson in a thread I picture myself holding you back in a bar shouting "it's not worth it Graham, the bloke's an idiot".

I've had to put him on ignore. I just couldn't go through it anymore, so you're a better man than me.

I’ve never understood why they’ve not gone down the route of having dedicated City and Rovers reporters like most stations of a similar size. They’ve kept everything pretty comfortable for a long time now and, like much of BBC English Regions, are probably a bit guilty of the whole “we’re doing it this way because this is how we’ve always done it”. That said, working in local radio sport is bloody difficult. People almost become trapped in it because there’s simply no pathway or route to a bigger/better level, and subsequently no turnover of staff, which personally I think is really unhealthy. It’s basically the primary reason I got out of it within 18 months or so. I scratched the itch of commentating on Bristol City for the BBC - which was a bit of a dream come true - but sticking around wasn’t going to do much for my career.

I always qualify this sort of thing by saying many of you watch way more of us than I do, but this is one thing that's definitely stood out to me too. It was pretty obvious when he first came in he wanted us to be more patient/less aggressive both in and out of possession, but we've gone from picking our moments to press to actually just letting the other team have the ball and sitting in a lower block. I wasn't really convinced what he was trying to do from the outset really suited us, in all honesty, but what we've been for the past dozen games or so is so far away from the team he inherited. It's been a complete car crash. Has the squad surprised him? Is it not what he expected? Has he lost trust in the players? Or is the message just not getting across? Whatever it is, it's pretty major alarm bells for me when a manager goes down that sort of road - especially within 4/5 months!

Yeah - I’m not saying it’s a reason not to give it to King, just that it’s a concern. Bit what isn’t a concern with this lot?!