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I dont see the hate for lee Johnson, he clearly had a passion for Bristol city and football in general, gave us that great cup run, put bristol city in the spotlight as a nice attacking team which in turn got us some great loans and attract some good players. To hate him is very strange, you dont know him personally so why be so personal, you could say you didnt rate him as a managed but to be irritated by him as a person seems petty. I have met him many times and hes been friendly and always had time for fans.. He could of slagged us off by now but hes had great things to say about the club and rhe fans

I don't hate the chap. He's just not very likeable I'm afraid. Positively irritating - David Brent - obnoxiously full of himself. In his last 18 months or so he took the joy out of watching City for me. I find it amazing that others don't feel that... ...but we are all City fans. Nigel Pearson - who has managed only 100 or so games more than LJ but has achieved so much more - is a massive upgrade. Onwards and upwards!

When ever a ‘Blakey’ got on,we’d all promptly get off?

If you’re not biased by his playing time here / GJ nepotism then I think it’s because of: the way he came across (ala David Brent) that he got given huge resources that others didnt or possibly loyalty to Cotts. I mixed on him....but my first two bullets cover the negative side of opinion I have on him.

That would be impressive.

He wasn’t holding the book,let’s just say he’s got good balance

Can I attempt a consensus view: he did well to establish us as a top half championship club he was very committed to City and genuinely did his best his persona was a bit irritating he lost the plot eventually and had to go

One could argue that here it was not so much that over time the players saw through him as maybe that here he took over a team that were largely devoted to the previous manager who had brought them success. That was a strong unit to win over, not just for LJ but for players coming into the club. Successful teams often need breaking up as they can be resistant to change not just towards the manager but also from incoming players. Has Klopp now become ‘streaky’ with players that have enjoyed success? Is it that the players have seen through him or that a clique of players are more self confident and and less inclined to take advice and instruction. At Sunderland I suspect players who have not enjoyed recent success at the club would be more likely to respond positively to a new manager as ours did to Cotts when he first came in.

If you’d checked, you’d have seen that this whole thread was begun by the Lee Johnson Deprecation Society, also still going strong. 8 months after he was sacked.

Strong wrists were required just to hold that book. Good job you were in your teens and strengthening your wrists.

When I was in my teens I obviously read the omnibus edition of The Joy of Sex

On to Southmead.

For some reason this thread has turned in to bus route of yesteryear rather than Fewer baiting. Anyway, Rovers are gash. Also, does anyone remeber the Number 4 City Dart (or, shitty-fart if you prefer) that went absolutely everywhere, Frenchay, Hanham and a selection of hamlets, villages and backwaters?

the man on the suspension bridge used to like the "keep the ticket" one

The common practice in those days was to say to the conductor “keep the ticket” which meant you gave him half the price and he kept it. This worked if they were in the know but some new ones didn’t understand the process. There was also panic, by the conductor, if an inspector got on, as he had to rush around giving out tickets

CRASH OUT OF THE PLAY-0FFS 4 by Lee Johnson. CRASH OUT OF THE PLAY OFFS 1. 2016/7. In October 2016 City are 6th. Although Johnson still has two years to run on his contract, Lansdown extends it. This proves embarrassing for him, as City immediately lose 13 out of 16, including an unwanted club record 8 in a row. City just about avoid relegation, and finish one place higher than last season, 17th, but after spending 10 million on new players it is a disappointment of a season. CRASH OUT OF THE PLAY OFFS 2. 2017/8 On Boxing Day 2017 against Reading, City win 2-0 with a Paterson curler into the top corner and a goal from youngster Lloyd Kelly, making his home debut as a substitute. City are SECOND in the Championship. They then are 1-1 and 2-2 with the great Manchester City over two legs, and although they concede last minute goals in each leg to go out 5-3, it is a mightily impressive show against the best team in Europe. 6 Premier League managers ring Lee Johnson to ask advice on how to play Man City. The club say "We are a Premier League club in training." CRASH. Flint, Reid, and Bryan all say they want to leave the club and won't sign new contracts. City lose to Wolves and then 5-0 to Villa. City only win a pathetic FOUR league matches for the rest of the season and finish in a miserable ELEVENTH. CRASH OUT OF THE PLAY OFFS 3. 2018/9 City win 9 games out of 9 over December/January/February 2019. After a few defeats and draws they then beat Sheff Utd 3-2 away (Weimann hat-trick), Middlesbrough 1-0 away (Webster), and West Brom 3-2 at home (Brownhill, Weimann, Hunt). Team P GD Pts 1 Norwich 40 34 84 2 Leeds 41 26 79 3 Sheff Utd 40 30 77 4 West Brom 41 22 70 5 Bristol City 40 10 65 6 Aston Villa 40 17 63 7 Middlesbrough 41 7 61 8 Derby 40 5 60 9 Sheff Wed 41 -2 59 10 Nottm Forest 41 5 57 City are fifth with only six games to go. If they can beat Derby at home, effectively a shoot-out for 6th place, they only need 5 points from the other 5 games to finish in the play offs. But they lose to Derby at home, and only take 5 points from their last 6 games in total. They finish 8th. At this point a narrative sprung up that Johnson was improving City year on year, based on final league position; 18th/17th/11th/8th. This implies that City are not a play off team, but we are steadily improving year on year and are creeping up on the play offs slowly but surely. The truth is rather different. The truth is that Johnson had absolutely no difficulty whatsoever getting City into the play offs, it is just that we crashed out again. Now, we crashed out to a higher position than the season before, but so what? A miss is as good as a mile. CRASH OUT OF THE PLAY OFFS 4. 2019/20 In February 2020 City beat QPR away 1-0 (Fammy neck-busting diving header). It is their 5th win out of 6. They are 6th, with 50 points from 30 games. You know what is coming next. The next 11 games? Win 1 Draw 2 Lose 8. With only 5 games left of the season City have slumped to 12th, on 55 points. Not even the Lee Johnson party trick of pointing to an improved league position will work this time. Lansdown has had enough and fires Johnson. So I am pleased Lee Johnson is doing well at Sunderland. He gave his all at City. When asked whether he ever had a day off he paused and said "No." His wife elbowed him at 11.30 pm in bed for taking a work call. Dean Holden banned Lee Johnson from contacting him with new ideas between the hours of 10pm and 8am so that he (Dean Holden) could get some sleep. Can't fault the bloke's commitment. Hope he takes Sunderland up. But can he get them over the line and not crash out at the end? That remains to be seen.

Latest from Bristol band Glass Violet, another cracking anthem of a tune.

I lived in Saint Werburghs and the 19 was great, straight through to the Robins. Used to be really worried when the Inspector got on as we regularly only paid for half way ?

The Snake - Al Wilson

I’m a fishponds boy too, thankfully my dad is from Bishopsworth and had a season ticket, so I was saved from turning to the blue side... Did used to go to the speedway sometimes though. Don’t think there was any lasting damage!

From the lady at the club who I booked my CC and OD season card thru.

And its capacity is 8500 proving my point

Jesus christ, this is one reason why people don't like him - people get sick of hearing about him and their liking/tolerance of him drops a level. He's been gone 8 months or so and there's still people arguing over Lee bloody Johnson. He's gone, did ok on the whole but it was time for him to go. He got paid very well for doing a semi decent job, and would have been paid pretty well in compensation for doing a pretty crap job which lead to his dismissal! Good luck to him, but personally couldn't give a flying monkies nut what happens to him at Sunderland or wherever his next job may be.

I should add that if you haven't seen the Barkley Marathon film on Netflix, it is essential viewing for runners.

I used to make the same trip daily when I was out of work in the 80's. I took a car body repair Training Opportunites (TOPS) course in the area. The other two buses that were key in Bedminster were the 42, Hartcliffe to the City Centre and the 9 which went all the way to Hanham via the centre.

I don't see the issue with LJ. He did OK - not brilliant or terrible. No idea why the opinion is so polarised on him. At the end it didn't work out in terms of making the top 6 but he certainly didn't do a bad job. There were a lot of good other signings I think he made. Bentley, JD and Kalas are really good I think. He also had a hand in improving Joe Bryan although others were responsible too. You can debate some like COD, Fammy, Hunt, Nagy, Elliasson but certainly they aren't bad players. There were a lot of bad ones too for balance. The fact that City were a top 10 club for the last few years of his tenure suggests the signings and the squad assembled can't have been that bad. Then thing that annoyed me the most about him was the crap he talked which has been highlighted by even his biggest supporters.

We've spent years and years in that league and won it a grand total of once in 40+ years and often as a 'big' team in the league. To make out LJ should win it easily with Sunderland is foolish at best.

And I can't begin to understand the dislike bordering hatred for a chap who gave me some of the most memorable moments in my time supporting City and who established us as a top half second tier club for the first time in 50 years. I watch his career with interest, as I do many other players and managers who've left City. But I'm not that fussed what Sunderland achieve. So at least we agree on one thing

Wonder if Somerset social media will shut up about him now...

They lost to Shrewsbury and since won 9 games (including at Wembley) and drew 1. Surely that's more than just fine?

i for one wont hide could not stand him as a player or manager. Not a patch on cotts and miles behind Pearson, and up to now has not achieve a great deal. Yes he got Sunderland doing fine big team in tin pot league that we won at a canter, and getting the best out of charlie wyke and aden mcgaidy shame he could not do that with are centre forwards and Kasey palmer. Lets see what happens when they lose a game. The only time i will be a massive fan of lj is when they hopefully smash that lot in blue and white quarters then i will give him some respect for a few minutes only.

Arguably that's exactly what he's done. Sunderland were going through a couple of sticky results before this run relative to a club of their size in league 1 (hence the thread). His managerial honeymoon grace period period was over and a few fans were starting to get a bit frustrated after losing to Shrewsbury. Since then their form has been fantastic.

Ditto, I used to get the No 19 bus which went direct from Straits Parade, Fishponds to The Gate...cost about 6d each way.

LJ is doing well with Sunderland and I'm pleased for him. He tried his best for us and gave everything he had. It was right that he went when he did and I wouldn't swop him for Nigel, but he did deliver us 4 years of top-half championship football and an amazing cup run during his tenure, for which I thank him.

New stadium noise...in 1965! This explains so much about them. No wonder their fans are all doo-lally. I think I would be following a club that had let me down so much. So glad I grew up on the red side of town. I think if I was on the blue side, I'd have crossed the damn river by now and said 'goodnight Irene' for the last time. Nineteen-sixty-bloody-five. England has actually won the World Cup since then!

The quote "you can tell the players respect him" shows me that he's not been there long enough yet for his weakness to come to light. LJ is very forward thinking and has a lot going for him but we've all seen what happens when the confidence drops. I'll be interested to see how the players react to him when they begin to struggle and he starts messing with his tactics, making obvious mistakes etc as he did with us. They're still riding that positive air that inspires good run of form, let's see how they react to a run of poor results before we talk about how great LJ is.

Derventio Holdings wanted to buy Wayne Rooney’s Derby County but Morris was only prepared to see them Derby County!

Fantastic brand new music alert: just heard for the first time on 6 Music this delightful new single by Nubya Garcia. An extraordinary 12 minute epic, fusing jazz with a little Jamacan dub. Pretty much all you need for lazing on a sunny afternoon. When Mary Anne Hobbs put this on I literally had to turn my phone off, stop work and let it play out. Then went and listened all over again on YouTube. Love it.

It's amazing what is out there by obscure artists. Back in 2009 ( I looked this up and couldn't believe it was that long ago) I bought an album by a band called Orphans and Vandals, they were the brainchild of a guy called Al Joshua who is still recording music and is on Facebook if you are interested. The song that got me into them is this one below, when I heard it I played it to my daughter who would have been 19/20 at the time and I think it was the first time she instantly went "oh my god thats amazing". I don't think I have ever heard anything quite like this before or since. I struggle to understand why some bands go on to make waves and others fall by the wayside, but these days they can at least find an outlet via the internet I guess.

Just don’t cause a commotion Tommy.