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The irony of SteveL paying two managers


NickJ

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12 minutes ago, LondonBristolian said:

Assuming that's a reply to me, I definitely don't put you in that category.  There are plenty of supporters who gave LJ a fair crack of the whip but who have an understandable frustration with the way things have gone.  I get the impression you are one of those and that is utterly fair enough.  What frustrates me is certain posters who were pretty much invisible when LJ was doing well but, the moment things have gone pear-shaped, have crawled out the woodwork to remind us how smug they were about LJ's appointment, whilst simultaneously ignoring the fact that, had we stuck with Cotts and his form to that point had continued, we'd currently be trying to navigate our way out of League One again. 

 

Speaking as a City fan, I've sometimes been pleased about decisions we've made and sometimes been skeptical but I cannot for the life of me get how anyone can post on here and take pride in the fact that their prediction that a manager would not work out has paid off.  Christ knows we've been appointed managers I've been skeptical about, sometimes with good reason, but the simple fact is that when the manager does badly the club does badly so I want every manager to succeed and I support them until they are no longer manager of the club.  The fact another supporter can take pride in the fact they are right about how badly the club are doing utterly turns my stomach. 

I think in fairness, and correct me if I'm wrong, your greater belief in avoiding relegation this time around is probably down to the squad and the quality contained there in, rather than the leader at the helm. 

As we've all accepted, I'm not sure anyone suggests the return of Cotts with any degree of seriousness, but I'd rather have him in charge of this squad now, than I would LJ. 

In response to those who seem to take pleasure in further defeats, that can't surprise you surely? "I told you so" will always rank much higher for some than 3 points. 

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6 minutes ago, Fordy62 said:

I think in fairness, and correct me if I'm wrong, your greater belief in avoiding relegation this time around is probably down to the squad and the quality contained there in, rather than the leader at the helm. 

As we've all accepted, I'm not sure anyone suggests the return of Cotts with any degree of seriousness, but I'd rather have him in charge of this squad now, than I would LJ. 

In response to those who seem to take pleasure in further defeats, that can't surprise you surely? "I told you so" will always rank much higher for some than 3 points. 

In terms of the first paragraph, absolutely.  I make no bones about the fact that I think LJ has reached the end of the road.  I feel we've a squad good enough to finish in the top half of the table and it infuriates me we are not showing that on the pitch.  That said, what I would add is that it felt that by the end of his reign SC had become a block to making further signings and I do think that, if LJ went tomorrow, which I think he should but don't expect he will, we'd actually have time to save ourselves AND a much stronger squad than a year ago so, in that sense, I don't think LJ's tenure will necessarily have been a disaster.

Regarding your last paragraph, it certainly doesn't surprise me but nonetheless I still get frustrated by the piety of people who lecture other fans whilst tacitly admitting they care far more about their own ego than whether we get results on the pitch.

17 minutes ago, Fordy62 said:

If you mean he was being interviewed for the post, it isn't exactly the best kept secret. 

Good luck to him.  I don't want him back but he did a great job in his first season and a half and I'd love to see him do well elsewhere. 

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I am getting less and less frustrated by those type of 'fans'....I found the 'ignore' option.

Quite happily have debate on here with those that can debate and see the other side, even if they disagree with it.  I only tend to use :P rather than:grr: these past couple of weeks.

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9 hours ago, JHAGa said:

The best manager we've had in years (I was happy to be wrong, I was critical of his appointment) and our board completely let him down and left him out to dry. Shame on them.

And fair play to you for saying that, nobody likes to admit they were wrong.

Unfortunately, too many of those who were very vociferously critical of his appointment, and him as a person, on here, and went quiet when he was massively successful, were only too pleased to come back on here when it began to go wrong - even though as you infer, the start of the demise was the sabotage after we went up.

I'm pretty sure that made it easier for the board to sack him.

 

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Players give up trying because they're having a hissy fit. Personally, I reckon SC did the managerial equivalent of that, possibly after falling out with the board - why else would he refuse to fill his bench? I don't think the poor run of results was down to his ability. If Cotterill is out of his depth in the Championship, Eden Hazard is out of his depth in the Premier League.

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9 minutes ago, NickJ said:

And fair play to you for saying that, nobody likes to admit they were wrong.

Unfortunately, too many of those who were very vociferously critical of his appointment, and him as a person, on here, and went quiet when he was massively successful, were only too pleased to come back on here when it began to go wrong - even though as you infer, the start of the demise was the sabotage after we went up.

I'm pretty sure that made it easier for the board to sack him.

I was also totally against his appointment but delighted he proved me wrong through winning the double. 

What I liked was clear identification of players who would improve us in 14/15, quick, clinical acquisition of those players and their deployment in an effective and entertaining system. I've never seen a City team as fired up for revenge and ruthless than that Swindon home game. Was so satisfying and I believe his personality and management helped galvanise that. It also led to an absolutely vociferous Ashton Gate which is all too rare in recent times. Most teams would've struggled here that night.

I'm no insider but other than tit-bits that we get on here, I don't know much about what happened in 15/16 summer window. On paper, Gayle/Gray/Maguire would've been great acquisitions and who knows how we'd have done with them and our momentum. I'm not totally sure of the timeline that summer and whether we beat Burnley etc to those players.. I can understand why the likes of Gray would choose Burnley over us though and felt they were very ambitious targets for a newly promoted side competing in a big pond.

I felt that it was right to get rid of him last January, and in my opinion he helped sign his own dismissal papers through not filling our bench with a youth player and playing with 6.. persevering with a system that clearly wasn't working.. shouting at our own fans in the Atyeo stand.. I would've been intrigued to see how we would have got on if he'd managed to get those deals over the line in summer 15/16.

I felt he could've bought himself more time and his actions didn't help prolong his stay during a tricky run of form. In my opinion it was time for fresh ideas.

I remain behind LJ, I really want him to work here but it's a tall order now. Anything less than a win tomorrow night though and I think that'll be it.

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4 minutes ago, AshtonGreat said:

Players give up trying because they're having a hissy fit. Personally, I reckon SC did the managerial equivalent of that, possibly after falling out with the board - why else would he refuse to fill his bench? I don't think the poor run of results was down to his ability. If Cotterill is out of his depth in the Championship, Eden Hazard is out of his depth in the Premier League.

I suppose he could always have put a player on the bench who he had no intention of using.

Trouble is, we didn't have Engvall back then.

:whistle2:

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