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massive shift for our Club


southvillekiddy

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Feel like the departure of Jimmy to Villa (lets face it for REALLY silly money) is a watershed for Bristol City FC in terms of us showing we are truly committed to achieving success.

To explain : I had my doubts about Lee Johnson and was one of those that wanted Pearson or someone else of genuine pedigree. Also I was suspicious of Mark Ashton who initially seemed to be a suit full of jargon and BS. BUT in combination with Des Taylor we seem to have a formidable trio who are able to identify quality young footballers and persuade them that Bristol City FC is the place where they can achieve personal success and be part of a Club set-up with enormous potential in English football. Of course we have all known that latter to be the case for many decades but we have also been frustrated with the parochial attitude displayed by the people running our Club.

All this seems to have changed this season and Jimmy's departure is for me the biggest indicator.

Previously the Club might have been content with having someone like Jimmy or Nicky Maynard around to keep us in the hunt in League 1 or the Championship, scoring lots of their goals by their own initiative, with moderate to little true football going on in the team. In other words not having the level of football skills and football brains throughout the side to develop true team football of a high quality.

Maynard was a decent footballer without much quality service from his team-mates. I loved Jimmy because he had the tenacity to create goals on sheer determination but like Albert Adomah, also loved for different reasons by City fans, had little football brains.

On saturday we saw how Abraham, a striker who can score goals and has a football brain, could see that Joe Bryan was in a better position to score and supplied him with a sublime pass to do just that.

So we no longer need some one like Jimmy to sell season tickets because we are recruiting high quality footballers in all positions to create a foot-balling team.

PHEW. How we have waited for this time

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I would say yes OP is of course bang on. I see what ppl are getting at with regards season ticket and a star player, it just profile, hype, you know marketability- like "Galacticos" except with one tiny version of one.

This system seems best. I would add though, under Cotts we were starting out on this path I thought- before the disastrous summer 2015! Young players, sell on value, quite a talented squad we had in May 2015 and we were really justifiably looking forward to augmenting it, building on it after our brilliant double. Had we signed say Maguire and one of Gray or Gayle then who knows how last season would have panned out! Would als say that under Gary, we were at times approaching a footballing side- Hartley, Elliott, Sno- Maynard with Sabario- we were getting there in some areas, 09-10 had some decent potential as a footballing side but the late goals killed us a bit. Velicka as well from Rangers before his instant injury. Main  difference was that kinda thing, well it all eventually went wrong but for a good few months we looked that year I really thought so.

Yeah though, we are doing it properly now, lots of youth, talented young players- building on existing decent foundations and not costing the earth either. I am probably in a vast minority here but I would quite probably have kept one of Ayling and Williams, not both but one for depth, continuity, balance.

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8 hours ago, StGeorge said:

Do people actually buy season tickets on the basis of one player? Bizarre behaviour

I'd argue that in the past one of the Club's main season ticket sales-boosting gambits was buying a striker (mediocre or past their best a la Trundle), in the close season.

Hope those days are over. We are now buying quality defenders and mid-fielders in numbers.

 

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8 hours ago, StGeorge said:

Do people actually buy season tickets on the basis of one player? Bizarre behaviour

Some floating fans might - would be interesting to know whether there was an influx in the 2 days after Tomlin was confirmed - would not surprise me if there was a noticeable spike like you get on a shares type line graph !?!

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If anyone's read the Alastair Campbell book 'Winners' he interviews a number of top football people, not just managers but Chief Execs etc.. too and the things they talk about are the things that I think we're starting to see at the club.  Teamwork, desire, ambition, hard work are things that the club appear to be displaying not just on the pitch but now behind the scenes as well.

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The OP is of course spot on.

Things began to change when Keith Burt was taken on. To me appointing someone in that position with years of experience was a hugely positive step. It suggested to me that SL had finally realised that he couldn't run a football club without people who understood the weird and wonderful ways of the football business.

It didn't work out with Burt once Ashton took over but appointing MA was another huge step and clear sign that SL had seen the light.

Since then things have progressed in pretty much every way, not least the recruitment of players and culling of the dead wood.

Ashton recruited LJ very likely on SL orders and he certainly "bigged up" LJ on his appointment. With LJ (who so far has achieved bugger all in his managerial career) the jury is still out. With the impressive signings this summer the pressure is on him to produce results. Left's hope he can do it.

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