Have you read these posts on OTIB?

[BobBobSuperBob]

4 minutes ago, Marina's Rolls Royce said:

The Op was a bit of fun and not "advocating" anything. My final paragraph sums up the OP.

But if your question is serious rather than rhetorical then I'll give you my twopenneth worth.

The Villa fan may have a point- two separate managers can't get the Championship's most expensively assembled squad to perform. The comparison which can be made with Lee is that we don't yet know if it's down to him, the players or both.

Bruce didn't assemble the squad ( to any great degree ) he has to work with 

LJ assembled cobbled together the squad that aren't playing for him 

[Marina's Rolls Royce]

2 minutes ago, BobBobSuperBob said:

Bruce didn't assemble the squad ( to any great degree ) he has to work with 

LJ assembled cobbled together the squad that aren't playing for him 

Two points on this

1) I really genuinely don't know who put the new squad together- was it Mark Ashton and the board? Was it Lee? Who actually makes the decisions as to which players we sign? Plenty of opinion on here about this but I'd love to know the  facts .

2) If any player is not playing whilst in a match because they don't like/ trust/agree with their boss yet are happily picking up weekly wages which many of us don't make in a year then that is just so wrong on so many levels yet some footballers seem to think this is ok.

[BobBobSuperBob]

14 minutes ago, Marina's Rolls Royce said:

Two points on this

1) I really genuinely don't know who put the new squad together- was it Mark Ashton and the board? Was it Lee? Who actually makes the decisions as to which players we sign? Plenty of opinion on here about this but I'd love to know the  facts .

2) If any player is not playing whilst in a match because they don't like/ trust/agree with their boss yet are happily picking up weekly wages which many of us don't make in a year then that is just so wrong on so many levels yet some footballers seem to think this is ok.

1) it's a fair question MM - We were told by MA that LJ would be majorly involved in the recruitment and would have the final say

Ive personally heard no indication from LJ that they are not his choices but of course that is a possibility

If that was the case LJ needs to grow a pair and either stand up to MA or walk away

I think SL and MA are beginning to draw major heat and scrutiny onto themselves , and their roles in this complete debacle

2) Totally agree with you - These players play for our club , not a head coach 

Sadly the over hyped egotistical animals that Footballers are , they will use any reason to excuse their pitiful performances and shift the blame elsewhere 

They will always win as you can't just change the majority of the squad - it's always easier to fire the manager / coach

I have a vibe that MA sees himself as a director of football with his post match debrief of LJ etc

If I was SL , besides getting rid of LJ I'd be mentally noting which players have been disruptive and as soon as I could they'd be out the door too

[Dr Balls]

26 minutes ago, Marina's Rolls Royce said:

Two points on this

1) I really genuinely don't know who put the new squad together- was it Mark Ashton and the board? Was it Lee? Who actually makes the decisions as to which players we sign? Plenty of opinion on here about this but I'd love to know the  facts .

2) If any player is not playing whilst in a match because they don't like/ trust/agree with their boss yet are happily picking up weekly wages which many of us don't make in a year then that is just so wrong on so many levels yet some footballers seem to think this is ok.

So Marina what would you do? You can't change the players any more. What we have now is all we have until the end of the season. Unless of course we loan out anyone abroad, leaving us with even less options.

Supporting the manager on some levels is admirable. However watching someone walk blindly towards the edge of a cliff, taking the club and supporters with him is inexcusable. You need to intervene before they fall over the edge. Hence the reason for so much written on here.

My biggest concern for our club is apathy. The lack of action by the club and any real acknowledgement of our predicament will lead to even hard core supporters questioning what they are doing with their Saturday afternoons. Many of us kept our season cards after the last relegation with SOD as there was at least there was some hope things might improve, and eventually they did just not under him.

I have already heard from long-time supporters that they won't bother with a season card next year. A return to League 1 is not an enticing prospect and now we have a 27,000 seater stadium it's not likely we are going to have many sell-outs except against the Gasheads.

That is the reality of the situation we face. And what do we hear from Ashton Gate? A predictable press response from LJ. Beyond that? A deafening wall of silence...

[NickJ]

46 minutes ago, Marina's Rolls Royce said:

I'm not looking through your posts again- it was depressing enough the first time round! From memory it was the one about your son going and you had enough of going after the Reading match.

But I think we're done here now- don't you? In my opinion I think you're overly negative about everything to do with BCFC in all your posts and ,imo, you feel it's all warranted which I don't. We're never gonna agree so let's just agree on that...

The fact is I didn't say I had stopped going mate so you misread whatever it is I actually said.

As for negativity, I can only repeat I was in a very small minority supportive of Cotterill and positive about him, from the start, so don't try to say I am negative for the sake of it. I was though also very critical of SOD early on, and said from day one that appointing Johnson was "hilarious" and "would end badly" (to quote my actual words).

Right, right and right, that's not negative its seeing through the bull.

I say it as I see it so while I applaud your positivity, if we all just shrugged our shoulders and said well some teams are just as bad as us, that would be carte blanche for the club to think it was ok to reflect our apathy in how the club is run.

[Marina's Rolls Royce]

1 minute ago, Dr Balls said:

So Marina what would you do? You can't change the players any more. What we have now is all we have until the end of the season. Unless of course we loan out anyone abroad, leaving us with even less options.

Supporting the manager on some levels is admirable. However watching some walk blindly towards the edge of a cliff, taking the club and supporters with him is inexcusable. You need to intervene before they fall over the edge. Hence the reason for so much written on here.

My biggest concern for our club is apathy. The lack of action by the club and any real acknowledgement of our predicament will lead to even hard core supporters questioning what they are doing with their Saturday afternoons. Many of us kept our season cards after the last relegation with SOD as there was at least there was some hope things might improve, and eventually they did just not under him.

I have already heard from long-time supporters that they won't bother with a season card next year. A return to League 1 is not an enticing prospect and now we have a 27,000 seater stadium it's not likely we are going to have many sell-outs except against the Gasheads.

That is the reality of the situation we face. And what do we hear from Ashton Gate? A predictable press response from LJ. Beyond that? A deafening wall of silence...

It's a question that makes me feel like the proverbial rabbit caught in the headlights. And my best guess is that Steve Lansdown may feel similarly.

Relieve Johnson of his duties and appoint Pemberton until end of season? As Pemberton was assistant to both  Cotts and Johnson who both have now proved themselves to be wanting at Championship level, I don't think he is the answer and possibly just change for change's sake. It's a flip of the coin and things can definitely get worse- after all we're not yet in the relegation zone.

Do we go for another head coach or Manager? Either way, who is going to take over a faltering side with no chance of new players and very few games left?

Who is actually currently available that would be suitable to take this club forward long term- whether it's in this league or L1? If we actually do manage to attract someone then is there yet another mass clear out of players and staff i.e. do we start all over again? If we go for a " until the end of the season" option- who the hell would want to take on that?

For what's it's worth and this could be me just having a "Smith" moment- if I was Mr Lansdown- I'd have a very confidential chat with Gary Rowett- who is available with a lot to prove( after his shabby treatment) and sound him out about taking over as Caretaker with a massive fat staying up bonus with the promise of a contract if successful. If he agreed, I'd remove LJ by the end of the conversation.

Trouble is if I were Gary Rowett, I 'd probably say No and wait for a job where I wasn't fighting relegation with someone else's squad.

[Dr Balls]

17 minutes ago, Marina's Rolls Royce said:

It's a question that makes me feel like the proverbial rabbit caught in the headlights. And my best guess is that Steve Lansdown may feel similarly.

Relieve Johnson of his duties and appoint Pemberton until end of season? As Pemberton was assistant to both  Cotts and Johnson who both have now proved themselves to be wanting at Championship level, I don't think he is the answer and possibly just change for change's sake. It's a flip of the coin and things can definitely get worse- after all we're not yet in the relegation zone.

Do we go for another head coach or Manager? Either way, who is going to take over a faltering side with no chance of new players and very few games left?

Who is actually currently available that would be suitable to take this club forward long term- whether it's in this league or L1? If we actually do manage to attract someone then is there yet another mass clear out of players and staff i.e. do we start all over again? If we go for a " until the end of the season" option- who the hell would want to take on that?

For what's it's worth and this could be me just having a "Smith" moment- if I was Mr Lansdown- I'd have a very confidential chat with Gary Rowett- who is available with a lot to prove( after his shabby treatment) and sound him out about taking over as Caretaker with a massive fat staying up bonus with the promise of a contract if successful. If he agreed, I'd remove LJ by the end of the conversation.

Trouble is if I were Gary Rowett, I 'd probably say No and wait for a job where I wasn't fighting relegation with someone else's squad.

Fair play. It would seem that we aren't all that far apart. The problem would appear to be that do nothing, and SL will be in the firing line. Better to have tried and failed than not do anything and be seen as clueless and ineffectual. Unfair? Possibly but if you hold the purse strings and ultimately call the shots then that's where the buck stops.