Leaderboard

A manager who deserved more than he got. Followed by a manager who got more than he deserved. And here we are.

I disagree Our momentum into the Championship , with that trim and talented squad , was the hottest it’s ever been Burt and SCs recruitment was fantastic , even the loanees and the plan to bring in some quality to add to that squad was IMO absolutely the right one McGuire and Gray were not unrealistic at that point in their careers , and it was IMO the right plan to maintain the momentum SL has made two massive mistakes , amongst many , during his ownership , in not backing managers at the right time #1 Not backing GJ post Plymouth ( I would have backed GJ and told the players if they wanted out , they could do go ) #2 Not recognising the job SC had done , and his and KBs record on recruitment , right before his eyes , and the momentum and golden opportunity we had It was a time , particularly for a ‘intelligent businessman’ , to put aside any personality differences and back , and ride , on the back of what SC was doing - It was time for Bristol City to show some ambition and push the boat out We actually have dabble with ‘pushing the boat out’ at times , but regularly the wrong times When there was a shining bright ‘right time’ we didn’t and ****** up. Ive said on many occasions , the **** up and breakdown of relations with SC , and the subsequent appointment of LJ as a Personal Project , (And the gradual stall and subsequent decline to our current state) rather than a astute footballing one , was The missed opportunity of an era For SL , The Club , and for all of us fans

https://youtu.be/wu4aAteLWGc When you consider the relevant positions of the teams and what was at stake, surely this was one of the best performances ever by a City team and for any team at that level. So often teams needing to win to obtain promotion exhibit nerves and stumble across the line, but this group were at it from the off.

Impressive to jump a few age groups regardless of Canada’s talent pool size

Stopped reading after the suggestion that Danny Simpson was on 15k a week. I’m sure the rest of your post was brilliant and I’m missing out.

Yes, but I can’t remember - either because I was too young then or too old now!

My own thoughts above: I honestly don’t expect you to agree with me, I’m not trying to change you opinion either, I’m just giving you my honest view. There have been some disappointments, but overall I’m pretty happy with how things are going in context of the wider issues in the club.

To some people, all our mistakes and failings on the pitch are STILL the fault of Mark Ashton and Lee Johnson. 'Sir' Nigel can do no wrong; when things go right he's brilliant and when things go wrong it's all down to LJ and MA - REALLY??? Lets look at some of Nigel Pearson's bigger decisions in more detail: He let Pato and Fammy leave on a free, but didn't replace either of them - to 'save wages' apparently. Ok, fair enough - we WERE skint - so what does he do? He goes and signs Simpson - on £15k per week.......... He refused play our most expensive 'assets' (Wells and Palmer) - or his own purchase, Simpson - which is fair enough if he doesn't think they are good enough (apart from Simpson - why sign him if he's ****?), ...... but then at the same time won't allow Wells to go to Cardiff or Swansea - who were both interested on taking him on loan, which would have saved us his wages AND put him in the shop window. Why? Maybe he was scared that he might start playing a tune under a different (better) manager who actually PLAYS him?!! The official line is that Nigel didn't want to let Wells go to a Championship rival. IF Wells had been allowed to go and play in Wales - and gone on to score shedloads - it would have raised his stock and we would have been more likely to be able to offload him. Loans often turn into permanent moves and it could have been good for everyone. We were virtually safe at the time - and Nigel wasn't playing him anyway - so the risk to us was minimal. None of the above makes common sense for a regime supposedly strapped for cash - we can't bleat on and on (blah blah blah) about money wasted by MA and LJ, when he goes and does this. Kalas is another example of bizarre management - he had a GREAT Euro tournament for his country and has been one of our most reliable players for years - but Pearson dropped him from our first 11. Bizarre. This smells of a dressing-room fallout to me - a clash of egos maybe? At a time when we needed all the defensive firepower we could get. At least Weimann is playing well though - thank Christ. ALL the above have been MANAGEMENT decisions by 'sir' Nigel - and bloody poor ones. Nothing to do with LJ or MA - or even SL/JL Nigel Pearson has been a poor manager so far. I'm extremely disappointed. I didn't expect promotion - I expected a period of 'settling down', but I did expect it to be better than this. I can't even describe what Nigel Pearson's 'style' of play is. No I still don't want NP sacked - yet - believe it or not, it IS possible to criticise the manager without wanting him replaced - and besides - it's only worth sacking someone if there is a better replacement available. However, I don't buy any more of this 'he inherited a **** squad' bollocks any more. He did his bit to CREATE the current '****' squad, so if the squad really IS '****' then it's partly of his own making. To be fair to Nigel, it's just some of our FANS who are saying this, not Pearson himself. He needs to do the job he's paid to do - lets not forget that he's being paid more than ANY other manager in the history of our club - EVEN MORE THAN LEE JOHNSON WAS!! Some of his decisions defy logic and he really needs to step up. I'm really beginning to wonder if he is a 'one hit wonder' (with Leicester) - like Wilson was (with Barnsley). I seriously hope NOT - for all our sakes, but he's certainly NOT the messiah.

I disagree with both statements but I posted this to cheer people up, not to rake over the coals of a long dead argument.

Jesse Lingard presumably? Obvious in hindsight but it started to go badly wrong in the following close season, apart from signing Kodjia no one else arrived until the season was upon us & rumours of interference by Pelling (who left not long after) in done deals, was a disaster. I like Cotts a lot, wish he had been better backed but would also acknowledge that his record at Championship level across a number of clubs isn’t great. The point about Wade Elliott is spot on, next time someone says don’t sign a bloke well into his 30s, just mention him & Wilbs, one size definitely doesn’t fit all.

Too early for most on here (except maybe 1 or 2) Rest Easy Sir. https://www.bcfc.co.uk/news/con-sullivan-1928-2022/

Barcelona, Lyon , and a Russian Warship all sinking on one evening....... ???????

What did Cotts come into? SOD had already signed Flint, Pack, Williams, Fielding, JET, Wagstaff — all of whom went on to be parts of our promotion side, plus Cotts had Keith Burt in the background as far as recruitment was concerned. Cotts had far more players, support, and cash available than NP’s had so far — and he made the most of all that.

If you think other clubs will let it go then you are mistaken especially if there is a major tax reduction- can see significant pressure by other clubs on the EFL to put them under a strict business plan and yes if one bit of the Insolvency is out of place then -15 is a must. The Agreed Decision I would suggest the EFL can use to tighten those strings. I'd sooner Derby went bust than the EFL's Insolvency and out of administration requirements were compromised in all honesty. If things get complex and Kirchner doesn't like the requirements, tough. It's not a personal dig at Derby, more a longstanding view that the EFL's requirements are more important than any one club. No club has a right, or an automatic right to League membership. There is reference to a cross-class cram down. That would 100% bring about a further deduction. I'm being a bit deliberately inflammatory but the point is the EFL need to apply without fear or favour in full force. The EFL have a lot of leverage at their disposal, for the integrity of the game it is imperative that they don't waver.

Mary Whitehouse, she didn't. The Archbishop of Canterbury at the time, the Right Reverend Robert Runcie, he didn't enjoy it. Cliff Richard, another one. Two of 'Pans People' said they did not enjoy it. Percy Thrower, he didn't enjoy it. The 'Blue Peter' BBC team didn't like it, and recorded a short film to tell the children of this country that this was no way to behave, and Little Billy Bremner is sorry and would not ever do it again. Every rugger bugger in the country at that time scoffed at it. And Jimmy Hill, he didn't enjoy it. Oh, and one of 'Smash & Grab,' can't remember which one, he didn't enjoy it.

Yep, it’s really that simple ... after all, NP isn’t operating under any restrictions is he? He’s not trying to mop up the mess left by the reckless regime of LJ and MA is he? He has free rein to do whatever he wishes doesn’t he?! Good grief, the lack of awareness amongst some of our fans is frightening ...

Personally am okay with us finishing one place above relegation, if that’s allowed us to work further towards getting our financial (and hopefully cultural) house in order. One manager in 116 years has taken us to the top division in England, so NP hardly the exception. Maybe it will turn out that NP wasn’t the right fit, but here and now, for me, results aren’t all that matters, it’s future results that matter. Don’t believe any manager would have got us close to play offs with the current squad, so therefore survival and maximum rebuild are the two main priorities for me. Lower the wage bill, develop youngsters, change the culture. The first of those has happened (more to do), think most would agree the second has as well (even if you give 100% credit to the players themselves) and the third is pretty much subjective. However, totally get that I/others in the ‘NP stay’ camp are taking a jam tomorrow view, which may not come to fruition, no guarantees. My view is based on thinking the jam today would be pretty unappetising (gooseberry?) whoever was managing, therefore jam tomorrow is less of a risk and I like the progress made on the 3 themes above. None of this is to say NP is doing the perfect job - it does appear that Shakespeare/Walsh (think we could do with Stowell as well to help the keepers, albeit suspect Leicester a marginally more attractive proposition…) would be handy additions to assist where NP is less strong/more stretched. As an example, even as an ‘NP stay’-er, it’s still very clear defensive set up in open play and from set pieces leaves a lot to be desired and think more progress should have been made. But whilst a manager staying or going is binary, his performance is unlikely to be all good or all bad, NP is doing enough given my priorities (which realise will be entirely different to lots of supporters) to stay. A lot of this is stars aligning - Nathan Jones’ 16% win record at Stoke was hardly a sign of a tip-top young coach, but he appears to fit like a glove at Luton with his 48% win record. Maybe he was solving problems in the background at Stoke for others to build on?!? I’m still unsure if we’re Leicester in progress or OH Leuven. Without the band of 3 mentioned above, Leicester probably unlikely, but maybe the things NP is good at will make the job of our Ranieri (/Cotterill) figure much easier. Eventually NP will leave and if it’s soon, fair chance we’ll all be able to say we were right: NP out folk if replacement has a better record “see, NP was rubbish”, NP in folk “see, NP sorted the mess for the next in line”. Oh well, all fun and games (sort of).

Whilst wearing your "I'm not @Mr Popodopolous" tshirt!

Do the right thing and form a protective shield around @Mr Popodopolous?

I miss Wade Elliot. Remember his goal vs MKDons? I think the closest we've come to fill his boots was Brownhill. Also I have absolutely no idea why we didn't sign James Tavernier after his loan here.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/61103586

Out of interest, who? The only one I can think of is Dwight Gayle. Gray and Maguire weren’t unrealistic, they were allegedly done deals. That season we signed PL Baker, L.Moore on loan. We signed Fredericks from PL. Later in the season we signed Tomlin and Odemwingie on loan. We had momentum. Those signings showed the others that didn’t happen weren’t unrealistic.

I’m a forum where we very often fall out, the above brings a lovely ‘warm inside’ feeling. You can be proud of yourselves there boys. Anyway, I’m back off to the “on this day in 2015” thread where I’m undoubtedly gonna fall out with some over Cotts/LJ. ?

Yes and again I like the fact that he isn’t focusing on the short term ‘me, me, me’. He sees his role is to improve the club for the longer term - even if the ultimate achievement comes after his time, he will have played his part in that success. It is no surprise that a lot of Leicester fans recognise his role before their Premier league win and give him a lot of credit.

here you go: Nahki Wells £35,000 Tomáš Kalas £2,000 Kasey Palmer £50,000 Andreas Weimann £1,000 Danny Simpson £35,000 Daniel Bentley £400 Matty James £1000 Joe Williams £40,000 Nathan Baker £7.50 Callum O'Dowda £400 Chris Martin £820 Source: Bristol City 2022 Wages | Player & Team totals (imakethingsup.com)

Due to the cat kicking moron they've got, and West Ham's response by playing him immediately after the incident, rather they get stuffed every week tbh.

Off to France tomorrow for Easter. In-laws all OL supporters, some have season tickets. None of them have any idea who Craig Dawson or Jarrod Bowen are. They will have by the time i leave ?

Showing my age now but I saw him play before his transfer to Arsenal. Think I'm right in saying that Tony Cook took over as goalkeeper.

The Walshy shuffle...Biff creaming them in from 30 yards...memories. Massive racism, awful facilities, appalling pitches, ever-present threat of violence...not-so-great-memories.

I will raise and remind , for the umpteenth time Johnsons first full season , despite the various signings , and Tammy goals We got safe in the penultimate game with a surprise away win at promoted BHA So this, regular posted myth , needs to be put to bed

The trouble with male footballers is they're too emotianal.

I wish a couple of players could!

Personal view is he must stay. I cant think of anyone out there who would want the job knowing no money to spend and maybe a couple of our best leaving. NP has resingned himself to that.

I think the reason we’re viewed as a “strange club” is that inherently there is a heck of a lot of potential which just doesn’t seem to be realised, so people look for an underlying reason. The catchment area for City is huge. There aren’t competitors in the south west of any comparable size. So, you’re outside looking in - you say why are this team, which is significantly bigger than anyone else around them and has clear potential to be in the premier league, not kicking that door down? Previously you could have said Stadium - now you can’t Previously you could have said fan base - now you can’t Previously you could have said financial backing - now you can’t Previously you could have said lack of appeal to players - now you can’t So, outside looking in - everything is geared to the top level. Pre our FFP hiccup, you had a well funded squad playing in a new stadium with capacity in line with small prem, an owner who’d write off debt and 20k turning up each week. The only reason, outside looking in, that people think we aren’t kicking on is - why don’t they want it enough? And that means we are “strange”…

The accounts for Derby to June 2018 do show £81.1m in the cash flow but the accounts for Gellaw Newco 202 in 2019 and 2020 seem to show a lot of cash due. Never could square that circle.

True, the guy throwing the head butt from 10ft was funny though?

If you want to stand sit at the back if you wanna sit down come down the front

Yep, JET, Albert, even Scotty have broken my heart over the years. I stil never learn.

It always makes me smile when the commentator states the obligatory “no one wants to see this”. I do. Very entertaining.

I certainly didn’t get that impression from watching today’s press conference. He seems very much up for the challenge.

Typical from someone born in Somerset - bloody Wurzel nonsense! Some of us are urbane, urban, metropolitan sophisticates, dontchaknow.

Bristol City Fans - our players are stealing a living, the board haven’t gotta clue Nigel Pearson - some of our players are passive, the club is passive Bristol City Fans - how dare you criticise the players and club ??? ???

Yes he did. And as someone who's prepared to support Pearson for a good while longer yet, ie. the coming summer transfer window at the very least, I agree it was rude. Just as some of his other replies to media questions have been. But, seriously, who gives a funk? Seriously. "Oooh I can't stand him cos 'es so rude". Get a funking grip.

Firstly… …you are completely entitled to your opinion on NP. There are some very good debates going back and forth. I don’t think there’s any posters on here who think he’s the messiah, there are some that think he’s done well enough to not deserve a “results-based only” criticism. There are some on the NP-negative side that put together well founded arguments as to their view. It is this type of debate that makes OTIB a very good forum. Secondly… Re the numbers, there have been many, many posts over the past few years quoting websites like Sportrac, who promote their salary info as FACT. It’s not not difficult to look behind these figures in terms of other media news, football manager websites, club quotes etc, and see that although some will be in the right ball-park, others are a combo of made-up / guesswork and out of date guesswork too. For info, probably the most trusted ITKer on OTIB said Simpson’s re-signed contract in the summer was basically a coaches wage plus appearance money (or words to that effect). Kid has given us some pretty good insight on player salaries. That’s not to say he’s right, but he has historically had good contacts. Re Weimann, the “story” is that he pretty much halved his wages to get 3 years. Other clubs (Stoke we think) only wanted to give him 2 years. Pearson actually stated words to that effect. Silvio’s explanation re Weimann is a good example of how to debunk the Sportrac stuff. Re Baker, the “story” is he took quite a chunk off his wages and has a more “performance related” deal for his 2 year re-signed contract. He was OOC in reality, tried the market and found out he couldn’t get what he thought he was worth. Pearson backed up the lower wage bit, the other bit about “performance related” is conjecture. But it’s pretty likely he’s no on the £18-20k p.w. he allegedly was on when he moved from Villa, having taken a relegation cut at Villa from a £35k p.w. PL deal. The bits above aren’t me saying “I know” either, just me using what’s been reported / said to poo-Pooh those pesky websites. I’ve not seen their contracts, nor have Sportrac! Its up to you how much you want to take them at face value.

Good man Nige

"Gibson was better than Yashin"

Simply we are awful to watch, probably one of the worst sides in the FL. I would back a decent L2 team to beat us at the moment

To be honest we’re hardly a good watch to anyone who’s actually invested in the club, why would any neutral be interested?

Why people are "gutted" or "feel sorry" for Chelski is beyond me. A club who's success has been built on dodgy, laundered money, stolen from the Russian people, by a Putin ally. And whose money has been a significant cause of the sanitisation and excess of the Premier League. No, #### Chelski. I'm glad they are out of Europe. I hope Palace beat them at the weekend and all.