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Interested to learn that it wasn't just the men's team that Ashton neglected during his tenure at the club, but that it also extended to Bristol City WFC. Apparently he paid little or no interest in the WFC, which contributed significantly to their decline and ultimately relegation at the end of last season. I was told by someone that would certainly know that, and I paraphrase, "the WFC is in need of a complete rebuild outside of the Super League and it is likely to take 2-3 years to get back into the top flight and sort the entire structure of the club out". Now, where have I heard similar to that before? He wrecked the women's team as he wrecked the men's team. Now some people may have cynically seen those pictures of Pearson at the WFC game a few weeks back and thought he'd attended the game either for a photo op and good bit of PR, or because he was bored. Not so, he has in fact been quite instrumental in helping out and providing advice to the WFC. So much so in fact that he recommended the new Head of Operations Grace Williams to the WFC, with whom he had worked with at Watford. He considers the WFC to be part of the Bristol City FC team and project, just like he considers everyone that works at the football club to be part of the project, from the ticketing team, to the media team, to the changing room cleaners to the bus driver. How encouraging and refreshing to have somebody in charge that takes such a keen interest in all aspects of the club. A far-cry from the previous regime.

Pearson just isn't the man for this. It's easy to blame Ashton etc but this team, the way we play and the mentality is ******* dire and doesn't seem to be improving. I wouldn't be too upset to see him gone anytime soon

What happened to all the conversations on these boards in pre-season about the fact the best we could realistically hope for this season was painfully slow progress? Why does everyone tip us to struggle and then shit the bed when we draw at home to a resilient side?

Good day fellow Reds. Might need my hard hat after this appears. Tonight at 745 pm it’s Luton Town under the lights at home. The match day programme is here: https://robinstv.bcfc.co.uk/digital-matchday-programme/ Those with Sky Sports can watch live on the Red Button. The first of four consecutive games, in two weeks, against teams in and around London. Luton is in Bedfordshire and about 37 miles from London. I know it’s somewhat old hat but our unenviable failure to win at home now stretches to 13 matches. For the record, and in anticipation of winning tonight, between 26 January to today, there have been 232 days, that’s 7 months and 20 days. The performance against PNE was IMO a bit underwhelming, however, NP (who seemed pleased by our application on Saturday) has hinted that there are not likely to be any changes. I would like to see Wells starting and if he does I think we will see a cap-tivating performance from him. Luton Town Football Club was founded in 1885 and moved to Kenilworth Road in 1905, they are nicknamed “The Hatters.” If you are, by any odd chance, interested in the history of the hat industry in Luton then English Heritage have published this: https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/hat-industry-luton-buildings/hat-industry-luton-and-buildings/ They reappointed Nathan Jones as their manager in May 2020, just 16 months after he’d left Luton to join Stoke City. Stoke sacked the Welshman in November 2019 after he’d won just six of 38 games in charge. Their assistant manager Mick Harford (who played for us in the early 1980’s) is a Luton Town legend, he is currently fighting prostate cancer, which is the most common cancer in men, but most men with early prostate cancer don’t have symptoms. For more on this including a 30 second prostate health checker see: https://www.lutontown.co.uk/news/2021/july/mick-interview/ Currently we are both on eight points with both teams recording two wins, two draws and two defeats, we’ve scored seven they’ve notched eight and we’ve conceded seven while they’ve let 10 in. The head-to-head stats are equally close, both teams having won 22 games and there have been 17 draws. Based on this a draw seems the most likely outcome. However, although I don’t expect a hatful of goals, I’m going for a 2-1 home win with Nahki Wells scoring our winner oh and just saying, Luton have scored twice this season in the 98th minute, so at the end of the game I hope we are not eating our hats, much prefer us to be taking our hats off to NP and the team. Luton may well be forced into changes with Allan Campbell, Admiral Muskwe, Fred Onyedinma, Amari’i Bell and Jordan Clark probably rated as doubtful. Elijah Adebayo missed the Blackburn game due to illness but my have recovered enough to take part this evening. To cap it off here’s some (kind of) related quiz questions; hats off to you if you get them all right. 1 What substance is associated with the phrase ‘as mad as a hatter?’ 2 What was the name of the UK gents outfitters which started by selling hats? (It was founded in 1887 and ceased trading in 1996.) Clue, the Bristol branch is now a Costa Coffee. 3 What accent did the Mad Hatter have? 4 What hat do you associate with the comedian who was on the Board of Luton Town in the 1970’s? 5 Which sport first coined the term ‘hat trick?’ 6 What was the Luton Town record released in 1973 called? 7 Complete the following words which all start with Hat - A model of car - A tool used for chopping wood - Baby birds 8 Who wrote the song ‘You can leave your hat on?’ 9 Which sort of hat is associated with Che Guevara? 10 Panama hats are made and originated in which South American country? 11 What is the origin of the expression ‘throwing your hat in the ring?’ 12 A classic chef's hat has how many folds? Will post the answers after the game. And finally a dad joke involving a hat. I was in a bar in Texas, when a man walked in wearing a paper cowboy hat, a paper shirt, paper jeans, paper socks and paper boots. In next to no time the Sheriff burst in and arrested him for rustling. COYR!

We have a mismatch of players that don't fit a single system. Hes working with what he's got. This isn't his squad by an stretch. He signed two players that started in the squad today. Luton have a settled squad and on that display could easily be top half this season if they're more composed. They are not a bottom half team. Can we not have this every time we drop points against a team people perceive as weaker than us?

Gamon has a very short memory or is very young. Do you remeber the Cup run, beating Man U, giving Man C a harder game than most prem clubs do and LJ taking us to the heights of the Championship when we expected to win every game? We have gone downhill since then and no single coach, player (nor MA) is to'blame' for that. We all know SL found MA to be the first person in football he could really trust and in your personal world one should think about that. Most people on here seem happy to criticise MAand for some reason are happy to ignore and forget the good players he brought in and the great deals he did selling players for good money to fit the business model. Complaining about an ex boss at the club has become one of the biggest yawns on here. Let's get this terrible home run under NP sorted out before forgetting where we were at pressing the top of the Championshi See you tonight? CoYRS

Rubbish. He’s doing better than we did last season and has taken the massive step of getting rid of a lot of the dead wood. He’s also blooded some of our younger lads and made some astute signings without big fees. I for one am happy with the direction we are going in although it is slow progress

I'd imagine that what he says publicly is somewhat poles apart from his private view.

It's interesting that people wait for the first genuinely rubbish half to proclaim that they see no improvement this season, ignoring the games that clearly have been.

This knee jerk reaction is getting more boring than the football. The fact is the majority felt this would be a season of transition and the general feeling was we would be happy to stay up without getting dragged down in to a relegation fight. Look at the table. We are exactly half way. Four points from the playoffs and four from the drop zone. FFS some of you need to grow up and try and get some perspective.

Predictive text?

Now isn’t the time for flaky fans

Why is it every time i read one of your posts i find myself shaking my head?!

Another genuinely atrocious post, keeping up your 100% record.

People calling for Pearson’s head ?? Chris Houghton will be available tomorrow!

Oh come on Bas. At least get the ruddy analogy right...

We've lost two in seven. Last season we lost 25 in 46 games.

No. No it isn't.

Bentley doesn’t make an error very often. It’s only for him that we were in this game at all. So I’ll politely excuse myself from the Bentley slagging fest.

That long throw needs to get in the bin. It completely derails our momentum every time we get in their half and leaves us open on the counter. You’ve literally got Kalas on the wing and Baker stood on their touch line and the throw is barely past the half way line. Absolutely ridiculous

We've played 7 games and have got 9 points, with a neutral goal difference. Tonight was another game we would have 100% lost last season. Yes we rode our luck at times, but the results and the performances are much better than last season. I know we're only 7 games in, but most fans would have taken 12th at the start of the season, considering the capitulation at the end of last season. Let's just see where we are nearer Christmas before we start even considering that Nige isn't the man for the job.

Anyone over 55 must wonder if they will ever see a home win again in their lifetime.

I think most will recognise MA’s skill as a negotiator and his ability to secure some eye watering fees for player sales. However, I think you are interpreting SL’s sustainability strategy a little to generously in Ashton’s favour. SL recognised that we could not continue as we had been, with the owner just pouring more of his money into the club to cover losses, resulting from recruiting journeymen pros on big wages and impossible to ship out easily.. Not just that, but the introduction of ffp meant that he could not continue to do that without penalties resulting. As I saw it, the strategy, as far as player recruitment was concerned, was in 2 parts. 1. The academy, in which ffp allowed SL to invest, would be a focus for our own young players able to develop into first team players and in so doing saving the club money in terms of transfer fees and inflated wages necessary for more experienced players. If, as in the case of the likes of Bryan and Kelly, they developed well enough, but had the chance to move to bigger and better clubs, then we would secure a profit with transfer fees received. 2. Focussing on younger players, costing initially less in transfer fees and wages, able to compete for a first team place but if they developed and wanted to move to bigger and better, could be sold for a profit. Both options would help reduce the wage bill and transfer fees received would help reduce losses and provide funds to further develop and enhance the playing squad. The majority of Ashton’s spectacular sales successes came from players he didn't bring to the club. The success we are now seeing with players coming through the academy ( Pring, Scott and more to come) can hardly be attributed to Ashton - although I suspect he would claim full responsibility and credit for the academy’s success. Had we continued buying and selling as we did with Flint (replacing him with the cheaper but better Webster), then we wouldn't be having this discussion. However, under Ashton’s watch, he garnered a bloated squad , with too many average players, too many midfielders that we pretty similar to each other and, crucially, a bulging wage bill. The latter meant that profits from player sales were then needed to stem growing losses. Instead of being a means to an end, selling players for a profit become an end in itself in order to keep losses within ffp limits. I agree that it now seems that SL invested too much trust in MA ( and whatever he might say publicly, I suspect in private he feels let down). However, in the longer term I think the club is better off without Ashton and the “family and friends” employment agency he seemed to be running while here. In Pearson we have a manager with experience who is moving us forward in the right direction, a new chief exec who is neither seen or heard, but gets on with his job and a medical team that is keeping players on the pitch, rather than in the treatment room.

I think you are right to raise / debate what you have above, it ain’t black and white is it? I will always try to present a balance in my “arguments” for and against, might not feel an even balance. In Mark Ashton’s case, the view is grey, but imho it’s dark grey, rather than light grey. Others may see it the other way, that’s when good discussion can be held. I think we hit poor discussion when posters can only look at it from one side. It is fine to disagree with the other side but try to explain why is helpful. FWIW, we did stay within FFP, so you can rightly argue that he only spent what he brought in. My side of this debate is that with a diminishing squad in terms of asset value, the ability to sell players to cover the costs was trending towards coming to a head. Covid has sped that up, Covid is not the root cause, “reckless” spending is the root cause. That spending has been the focus of mine since the window of Jan 2018. My analysis over the months since reached a conclusion that the trend did not look good. Rising costs, less players / less value to offset costs with player sales. I think Mark Ashton saw that happening and bailed on us (and his responsibilities too). He rode the good times and was a busted flush here as the going began to get tough. He’s jumped ship to a club about to ride a big wave of investment. He’s an opportunist is a polite way of putting it. Just to follow up on your point RW this summer’s signing - the reason Nige has spent a few quid on transfers is because: he’s cut the wage bill (Bristol Post suggesting by a third - no mean feat, I’m not sure it’s quite that high from my estimates) he’s cut amortisation millstone going forward by about £6m p.a for the next two seasons, and another £5.5m in 23/24 Mark Ashton loaded the accounts with future costs. It looks great to make £25m net in player sales in the 19/20 season, but if you spend £25m on fees plus all the other associated costs, you load costs in over future years. Under MA with LJ and DH (even though DH wasn’t given much in way of transfer funds) they retained a large playing squad at a huge cost, disproportionate to income, and therefore the only way of staying “in budget / FFP” was to sell players. Early days indeed, but not unreasonable to say we might well be getting more for our money with Nige in charge.

Thanks, Mark.

The most important part of this superb post.

After ploughing my way through all this, I just wish that all the posters that are jumping up & down & calling for NP's head would **** off & support the blue few, then they will really have something to cry about. This was never going to be a quick transition from the dire position we found ourselves in, NP has to be given the time & adequate funds when they become available. In the meantime please stop acting like spoilt clueless brats

Yep. And a watched pot always boils.

You sure? Only twice?

I genuinely thought they were the same person…. Posting on one account when drunk and posting on the other when even more so.

How the **** they only scored 1 is a real mystery

Give it a rest and go to bed you absolute tool.

Exactly, patience is required but a tiny minority haven’t got the bollocks for it.

Extraordinary . Just who do you think wants to get involved with the total mess that is our club ? You think it is a 5 min fix ? Our problems run deep. The continued ignorance of some fans is mind blowing. Pearson may or may not be the ultimate solution but there are few maybe no one of note that would have taken on our shambles. Who do you want Holloway ? Pearson gets 1.5m and some free transfers and gets 8 months in your view yet LJ spent 50 m plus wages and got 5 years . This year is transition, and to avoid relegation.

Yes you are right. Its time. With two defeats in 7 this year, after the start of a rebuild we have not seen the likes of since the great man Terry Cooper led us out of the darkness, it is clearly time. How we are not 100% at this stage, and smashing teams 3-0 every week is a disgrace. In fact I will be glued to this forum all night without any sleep expecting Nigel Pearson to do the decent thing and resign. In fact he should never manage a football club again after dropping points this season with the abundance of riches and strong core club mentality he inherited. Give me strength.

Pring and Massengo both very good tonight Bentley seriously needs to cut these mistakes out. It undoes all the good work he does elsewhere Chris Martin was absent. Guy needs to be played sporadically I think. Dasilva played well when he came on, a real talent

Yeah but you can’t break an omelette without making a few eggs

Excellent post. Yes, that was probably the worst performance so far this season. But the sad fact is we are 18 months or so behind being a settled outfit like Luton, so why people think we have a divine right to win these games - especially in a transitional season - I don’t know. As galling as Bentley’s clanger was, that was a good point tonight.

Where were you after Cardiff?

**** this team and **** Nigel Pearson

Vyner isn't very good...

I reckon Scott Wells Kalas King Simpson Martin Janneh Vyner Bentley Dasilva Baker Classic big man little man up top.

Oddball.

Seems like a lifetime ago he was getting virtual pats on the back for getting £20m for Webster. The Ipswich takeover and his move there would of taken months and months of work. He didn't just jump ship at the last minute. In a year where the club needed to be stronger together, he's busy lining up his next venture. I honestly don't know too much about Richard Gould but from what i have seen and heard so far he seems the polar opposite of MA, thankfully.

I mean, his car just came 1st and 2nd in the very last race just 3 days ago

Thing is, it's being discussed still, purely because of the consequences its had on our football club. It's set us back years, so of course we're still going to discuss it, as it's one of the most important things that's happened to our club in recent years. LJ/MA spent an absolute fortune on players, now we barely have a pot to piss in, but we've got an absolute class manager in (finally), so it's all going to be talking points still, one that I think brings in good discussions.

Move on

He was chairman of the WFC board! So it was absolutely his remit to oversee it. Richard Gould has now taken on that role, and is unsurprisingly bringing much-needed enthusiasm to the job.

As I understand it, Ashton was the CEO of the entire club - including the women's team - and ultimately he should have been overseeing everything. A CEO might choose to delegate things (indeed Ashton probably should have delegated many aspects recruitment on the men's side) but still needs to have oversight of those things and be ready to proactively intervene if those things are not working.

But I don't think it was an open secret when Pearson joined. My post regarding Ashton/Ipswich was made after Pearson had joined. The timeline of events subsequently, and admittedly taking a fair bit of rumour and hearsay into account, suggests that the Lansdowns had no idea Ashton was planning a getaway until my post, and then when it was picked up by The Athletic four days later. That would explain the alleged legal threats against OTIB, and that allegedly far from being allowed to carry on as normal in post, Ashton was placed on gardening leave almost immediately. I've subsequently posted that Ashton had been courting the Americans as far back as City's pre-season tour in Florida in 2019, a full 18 months before the story was eventually outed. It's business and these kind of informal talks and deals happen, but the Lansdowns must still feel played and massively let down by Ashton.