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Good day everyone. Today feels like the most important match day thread I have ever written. It just does. This seems like 'D' day. I cannot recall a time in the decades I have supported City where so many new players have arrived and so many old ones left in such a short space of time. I refer to the last two transfer windows. Notwithstanding the need to substantially bolster following the disaster of last season’s recruitment the comings and goings have been nothing short of phenomenal. All parties involved deserve enormous credit. Sitting alongside that positivity is the disastrous record breaking run of 8 losses and 2 wins from 17 league games. Assimilating players is often not straightforward and doing so with such large numbers while departing players break friendships and on the field partnerships and formations makes for the disturbing possibility of a downturn in form, and so it has proved. But can it all be blamed on all of the above? Judging by the majority of OTIB fans on a poll ‘no’ is the answer; we have been asking for the removal of Lee Johnson to halt the inexorable slide toward the relegation threatened bottom three. Very few of us know if he is a bad coach. All we can go on and assume is that the owner of this great football club, along with the board, believe he is a good coach. Such remarks have been regurgitated over and over and no doubt will be again and again especially if the slide continues. The remarkable backing of Lee Johnson, including the deadline day signings of the contentious Matty Taylor and the returning David Cotterill, is illuminating to many in football. In the week when the club is back in the spotlight, following the 35th anniversary of the Ashton Gate 8 event, there will be renewed analysis of a club that is bucking the sack trend. It might turn out to be an absolute master stroke, partially because the owner and board are desperate to save face, partially because they fear it might make matters worse, which I would doubt. Today City face a team cast adrift at the bottom of the Championship. Anything other than a win for City will throw the club and the powers that be into a brain storming frenzy. Nobody would have thought it would even be needing of discussion; the vast majority of managers would have been sacked long ago and to even contemplate not doing so after losing to Rotherham would be unthinkable. Matty Taylor is the potential distraction the club was seeking as an insurance policy in case the worst possible result ensues this evening; win lose or draw and Lee Johnson will still be in his job, of that I now have little doubt. How big a demonstration there might be should City get hammered, as I felt we might before these latest two signings, is an unknown but I suspect rather muted. No City fan can nor should bother; It feels a bit like the Umbrella Movement before it started when one Chinese gentlemen said to me in Kowloon; “the young are restless, they feel that China is taking away their liberty by stealth and denying them freedom yet they are the wealthiest Hong Kongers ever. I suspect they will demonstrate but it will be futile”. It is not a very good analogy I know but it does give a little pause for thought. Change when things appear bad is not always going to result in a positive ending nor is change certain. I now think we might just scrape a nervy win today only because of the two new signings. I think they will add that extra 5% and take us over the line to victory. It may just turn out to be the most important result in the entire tenure of Lee Johnson when we look back on it in a few days, weeks or years; lose or win. Lose it and the club will be staring down the barrel of a Tsunami of tough away games. The Millers have to be taken down, it is as simple as that but they will be far from a straightforward task. What a bright day it would be if somebody, anybody, scores a goal for City in the opening few minutes and then the floodgates of utter frustrating open up and we see the opposition net bulging time and again. I am always the optimist, otherwise I tend to get acid indigestion and what is the point of that? And although I called for Lee to move on I genuinely hope today will not be his Waterloo. The only similarity he has with the French despot is his height. Long may that be the only thing. Enjoy the game everyone.

I'm listening to RB with the sound turned off .

Right. This is the one we've been 'waiting' for. We're going to absolutely batter Rotherham today. Were going to start turning those chances into goals, that domination into chances. I'm going for 1 nil. COYR.

A level 2 academy, not I remember walking my dogs over there and kids playing when the bar b q cooking I recall we called it a town green

LJ needs to be gone regardless of result today. This is absolutely dreadful and we've seen the same shit since October.

If we do somehow nick this, can we please not paint this as some sort of masterstroke? He's literally making it up as he goes along.

This became tedious a long time ago.

So....no ground gained on our relegation rivals, another poor performance, and LJ is still here. I've forgotten what winning feels like but I thought it felt better than this!

Im pleased as punch that we are winning but Johnson still has to go in my opinion

You were saying? Only joking, Glad the change has worked (and I'm no fan of LJ by the way, but he made a bloody brave call here).

His shit record only lasted for 3 minutes though!

have just got home after doing a round trip to Oakham leaving 5AM this morning, went past the King Power in Leicester, and wished !! 6 hour journey and I am 66, bit knackered but will be in my seat this afternoon, so lads if an old git can do a trip like that, please please pull that extra out and get us a long awaited win

I for one am feeling very upbeat about today's game, can see a City win and a good one at that. For the first time in months i'm actually looking forward to going to Ashton Gate today.

From me & the boy... cheers. (We both still think Johnson out though)

A win is a win and boy much needed but I can't help thinking we are still papering over the cracks.

But...but he knows more about football though...because he's an academic don't you know.

Get in! LJ is a tactical genius!

He's got nothing to moan about - he did **** all for 60 minutes

1,2 and 1,2,3,4 ...

Me stortz yardy and the northerner know he's crap,how in the hell people around him can't see it is beyond me,get him out of the game before he gets seriously hurt

I agree the squad is good enough to compete. We scraped a win, OK. But here is the bit that matters. We won. After such a terrible run of results it is common to see team go and get a scrappy win, the important part is the end product, not the means of getting there. We have played well and lost too many time this season and confidence will be low. Getting a win, however scrappy or narrow is the first step to building the confidence back up, and the better performances will follow.

I think we go through to the next round ,

This feels similar to getting laid, but only lasting 30 seconds. Mixed emotions.

We won at last, with a clean sheet, and a first goal for one of our new strikers, with what sounds like a promising cameo from another new striker. Not going to make any comment on the manager, just listing some positives to even up the debate.

A decent and confident team probably would. I think we are a decent team, but without a shred of confidence.

hang on, Londoner said Djuric was a hindrance, the 'academic' surely can't be wrong

Spilt my Coffee all over the cream rug ffs

Polishing a Turd

I'm sorry, this team was setup to not lose instead of going for the win. If we do end up losing this, Johnson has to go.

Or 6 games to have any raw talent coached out of him by LJ

The one new signing who could make a real difference this afternoon is Cotterill. He is what we have lacked all season - experienced at this level, fast, big, can cross and can score. As for the hype around Taylor, guess he won't start but may come on later. He is from a league below with only half a season at that level, and no experience at our level. He may set the Avon on fire but he may not, or he may need six or so games to find his feet. We will know the answers by teatime today

Reminds me of:- Bobby Charlton was asked how he thought the England team of ’66 would have fared against Iceland. ” I think we’d have won 1-0 ” he replied. “Only 1-0?” Said the reporter. “Yes,” said Bobby. “Most of us are in our 70’s now!”

Good question, to be honest I'm not sure. I guess he's been playing regularly so no problem with fitness as such, even though the game is quicker and more skillful at this level. I've no idea what sort of player he is, more of a box hanger I would imagine. He doesn't look overly tall so might not win much in the air. Defenders at this level will have a bit more about them than he is used to, also he hasn't had long to get to know his team mates, and to play him will we have to change formation and go 2 up top, and who do we drop? If we start him and then sub him off after an 'average' match without scoring people might see him as a flop, the Gasheads would love this too if we cared what they thought about OUR player. So better to have him on the bench, bring on around 60 minutes (depending on what the game is like). He's got a 30 minute taster of the lower end of the Championship, he would have been watching for an hour on the bench making him hungry for some action hopefully. So for me bench and then a used sub. You? Any other opinions anybody?

Condensed Version Rotherham: Welcome to D Day and Matty Taylor. Johnson out and lets hope he gets the train to Waterloo. Must win otherwise Havana literally gets the squits. 2-0 City

Do they really believe that an owner who hasn't spent a bean on transfers in the year he's owned the club is suddenly going to spring for £1.5 million per year to run a level 2 academy, not to mention the costs (2-3million) of building it in the first place?

The most 'must win' game that isn't actually must win (i.e. nothing is actually decided today or directly on the back of the result). With Sheffield Wednesday doing us a huge favour last night and halting Wigan's recent upturn in form, we must take full advantage and put six points between them and us, and equally aim to make up ground on the likes of Forest, Ipswich and QPR above us, in order to make this relegation fight more open. With a game in hand on many ahead of us after today, the scary run coming up over the rest of the month would be a little less intimidating knowing a chance win, or even a couple of points might keep us from getting cut adrift. The dark side of all this is that new signings or not, I'm still firmly of the mind that Johnson has to get a win today in order to retain any crumb of good will, and a shot at tuning things around over the rest of the season. It hasn't been mentioned much, but one factor about today's game is that if we fail to win (and yes; even if it helps us, I do not think a draw is enough to have LJ stay for any good reason) we'd have won just twice and drawn twice (or three times dependant on today) in 20 league games, and from looking at it, no team has survived at this level having had a run like that. Said it before; Rotherham or bust for LJ - I hope we start a come back today with nothing less than three points, otherwise I think his time is up.

Make no mistake. It is terrible. We should be attacking Rotherham, instead we look afraid of then. Abraham isolated. 1 up front in the circumstances is baffling. I'm really struggling to come up with a single positive from that half. Maybe Cotterill's set piece delivery but that's about it.

Has to be the formation and the way LJ is setting up the team and dictating how we play Just look at Birmingham who were pushing for the playoffs, sacked Howett and have not won in 10 games under Zola. It's the same players, just not playing as well with the way they are being told to play by the manager

Completely agree. Extensive borrowed time and huge amounts of cash. No more utter shambolic misuse of considrrable talent

Please please please can we have a proper manager/head coach.....

He's probably not reading this thread.

No doubt we'll get a spawny win against the division's worst team and that'll keep Johnson in the job for at least another month

Can only fit 18 in a match day squad cannot keep everyone happy !!

Mate, and I say mate because as a member of the footballing community we share a common interest that our clubs entertain and prosper; Please don't get drawn into the investment storyline. For the sake of your club keep pushing and asking demanding questions of your board, not get spoon fed bullshite (it's happened far too much over the years for you) Just Saying...

Not to mention that Sir Gerry is now running the midfield in a celestial eleven .

They didn't do 6 (SIX) - it would have to be 7 (SEVEN) Flint 90+4' (backside)

They are getting a tad excited that the 'gap' is now closing... staying in their shed of a stadium with some extra patio, bought a muddy field with nothing actually built yet compared to a £45M revamped stadium, top class training facilities, youth academy and so on.. Yes that gap is shrinking isn't it?! And they refer to Failand as Fail Land, those geniuses

He's probably borrowed the money and put the debt against the club. If any of you think you're going to get a cat 2 academy up and running in a matter of months you're way off. It cost us £3m to get it to cat 2 and that was upgrading. You're starting from scratch so that's probably 6-10 million and £1.5m per year to run. Good luck with that.

It's all I see.....