BrizzleRed

20 minutes ago, eardun said:

I don’t have an issue with it either. What would be good though is if as some point City could launch a site where you could make your seat available to purchase by other fans when you can’t attend (as some other clubs do). Fans won’t always have a friend or family member who can go to the match concerned so the current forwarding option could not be used - a ticket exchange site would widen the pool of people who could take the seat. 

That single match sale of vacant ST seats is the perfect solution.  That would involve some extra effort from the club to make that possible though.  At present, they seem to prefer putting their effort into pointing a finger at non-attendees, even though the club have already been paid for that seat.

The only time these vacant seats really become a problem is on the rare occasions of a sell-out match.

Seems like a lot of noise from the club about nothing.

2 hours ago, Markthehorn said:

Suppose offside could just mean offside and maybe the semi automated system will mean we won’t need to see silly human drawn lines which obviously cause confusion and controversy.

What would be the ideal handball rule too ?

We've seen all sorts given and not given.

How can we make it easier  to apply when most of the time it's subjective and a lottery.
 

All this really could have been sorted out by those in charge before VAR came in.

As you say, it is a lottery and for all the guidelines, the officials often interpret stuff so differently.

The offside situation is getting silly now though, with the matter of millimetres being measured.  It's like those songs about 'Aguerro, your teeth are offside', or 'Ozil, your eyes are offside'!  Joking aside, nobody gains an advantage with a couple of mm, so should it really come down to such small fractions?   One of the  better suggestions I've heard is to say there needs to be clear daylight between the last defender and the attacker, maybe measured at the waist, being the centre of the body.  

Ok, that certainly gives the advantage to the attacking team, but the defending team may be less likely to be constantly playing the offside trap, because if they judge it wrong, that really hands a significant advantage to the attacking team.  We already see advantages given to keepers in any body contact at present, so giving advantages in the game aren't unprecedented.   Don't know how difficult that type of offside decision would be for a lino to judge, but it must already be difficult enough to judge these fractions at present.

The problem with VAR is, it seems to be the first point of reference, rather than leaving it to the officials to make a judgement first and leave it to them to ask for VAR if they aren't certain.   It just feels like VAR is becoming a massive hindrance to football at present and arguably, causes more controversy than before it existed.

1 hour ago, maxjak said:

100% agree...........Coventry were denied a superb victory by a toenail.  The offside law was never meant to rely upon such miniscule margins, there is no advantage for the forward being a toe in front of the perceived line of defence?.  VAR is ruining football, and I just wish someone would have the good grace to scrap it.   It is NOT the job of the Video Refs in their bunker to constantly interfere in the ongoing game?  It is their job to see,  and intervene when major errors occur that are clearly wrong and have been missed by the referee in charge.  If VAR is to remain, which i DO not want, but if it does..............it needs a massive overhaul, and consultation with ex players and officials, to point out the inconsistencies and contradictions which are slowly strangling our once great game.  In a nutshell.....I phecking hate VAR, and Everything about it.   PS . Man U's Anthony was IMO an embarrassing clown

Couldn’t agree more Max.  

In theory, if VAR was employed properly, it could possibly be a valuable tool, just like goal-line technology undoubtedly is.  

Sadly, the combination of crap offside rules and the completely flawed employment of VAR above the match officials, has actually made it a blight on the game, rather than a benefit.

Higher end football needs to sort itself out, before it actually destroys itself.

1 hour ago, Sleepy1968 said:

And specifically Jon Lansdown created a big differential in the central to wing block pricing about 4 years ago.

Good ol Jon!

I know it’s a delicate balancing act with supply and demand and income for the club, but the amount of gaps in the Lansdown particularly, tells me they’re priced too high.  

Could find even more gaps appearing there once potd people start moving to the SS..

11 minutes ago, phantom said:

That's is why I didn't specify who wasn't turning up, I do know %'s of non attendance but it is not for me to share this numbers

People want cheaper POTD tickets, these will be available again next season

Those who that wanted to move into the South Stand but now can't, on the basis that the vast majority could have renewed there would have been next to no availability anyway

We’ll have to see how it pans out.  

The prices for all stands are obviously set by the club, so they certainly aren’t forced to price the Lansdown and Dolman so high.  

Would be interesting to compare our current income to the sell ‘em cheap and stack ‘em high pricing structure at clubs like Bradford City, who apparently manage to average around 18,000.

1 hour ago, Dredd said:

Today's the day then for all those waiting till the last minute. Reminder that the deadline is 12 not end of the day!

Good heads-up and wonder how many are thinking it’s midnight tonight.  

I did mine a bit after midnigt this morning, as I don’t trust them to not have a website crash today.

Happy St George’s day folks!

Proud to be English and Bristolian

4 minutes ago, Numero Uno said:

It WILL happen. Football is traditionally reactive rather than proactive, doesn't really think things through and only learns it's lesson the hard way (i.e. no bums on seats and feet on terraces). This has always been the way. The game has really lost balance in terms of being corporate but what the corporates do not seem to understand is when Johnny on the Street has had enough because he/she is spending a hell of a lot of money to watch a product that is dull and stops going (and so do his/her mates) then a day out in a half empty stadium will be a pretty shite experience. The billionaires and corporates then take notice and pull out just as fast as they arrived, spending their dough on the next trendy thing, and it's back to a cheaper financial model and finding a way to get Johnny to come back.

Let’s hope so NU, as I’m running out of years left for it to happen!!!

8 minutes ago, Northern Red said:

Are you okay?

Apparently not.

The mere mention of Nigel Pearson in a positive tone seems to be a massive trigger!

5 minutes ago, Numero Uno said:

Football attendances are cyclical. Numbers will reduce in time, it's just a case of when not if, and at that point football will have to reinvent itself again based on the negative feedback before numbers go back up to recent/current attendance levels. Not only do you have the issues outlined above you now have managers who think that entertaining fans is for mugs and that their principles are not the most important thing, they are the ONLY important thing. They will get their answer in time because that's what has always happened.

Plenty of people were going to football pre-1980's and took a break (when attendances dropped like a stone) before giving it a go again in the 90's. The last major reset we had was the back pass rule in 1992 because people had a guts full watching teams like Liverpool make going back to their keeper an art form when leading 1-0.

3 points for a win and the play off’s were a couple of other notables that boosted entertainment and increased attendances.

At the moment, there’s loads of TV money sloshing around and clubs seem focussed on that and don’t appear to worry about providing entertainment.  If that TV money dries up, you can bet your bottom dollar that clubs’ attention will turn back to pleasing their fans and getting them through the turnstiles again.

14 hours ago, redkev said:

With the upturn in results over the recent weeks and some slightly better displays ( much better yesterday ) are some fans starting to see a future under manning . 
I have always maintained under both managers with a fully fit squad ( which isn’t often with city ) there is a team in there somewhere - The consistency of performances is my biggest concern when good we’re more than decent but when we’re poor we’re piss poor 

Definitely green shoots.  I wasn’t at all impressed when he first came in and immediately imposed a different playing style we didn’t have the players for.  At that point, he looked like a one trick pony.

He’s now shown he’s pragmatic and has adapted the tactics to something more suited to our current squad.  Although we still get the occasional stinker thrown in, he’s starting to play to our strengths and getting more consistency in our performances and results.  

Although we’re all well aware of some deficiencies in our squad, if we can strengthen over the summer, I’m certainly more optimistic that he can improve us than I was when he arrived.

Credit to him for showing some resiliance and self-belief and hope it continues.

11 hours ago, Cole Not Gas said:

Do what? What would have impressed you in any manager having to take over a Pearson (basket) case 6 months ago? The summer will go well because the club (ie owners & senior, respected managers will back Liam) so you have no reason to have a bad feeling. And what the hell do you mean by regression? Since when, since Cotts or since Johnson? There has been zero regression since Pearson lef; the players are happier, the cup run, we beat or draw with top teams, we smash poor teams etc etc - sometimes the negativity of you (and others) posts is simply baffling. What regression can you possibly mean?

I recently tried to have a sensible convo with you on here, in the hope that you actually possessed an element of common sense.

Won’t happen again after seeing this moronic, attention-seeking post.

4 minutes ago, maxjak said:

Frigging Man U..........i hate them with Enormous relish.... and i don't mean chutney Ha!   Their luck will run out in the Final, I hoping for 6-0?

I’ve got no love for Man City, but after seeing that today, I hope they totally humiliate United in the final.

Absolutely gutted for Coventry.  They can hold their heads high, but to go out like that is so cruel and another example of technology killing the spirit of football.

21 minutes ago, petehinton said:

I’d be amazed if it’s not in the loan deal that we pay a fine per each game he’s not on the bench. Theres no other explanation imo

Sounds very plausible.  

You just get the feeling that he could be the last person left on the bench and we’d choose to play with 10 men, rather than bring him on!

13 minutes ago, 1960maaan said:

I'm guessing he was known to be a real prospect from his academy days, the time at Westerlo could have been for many reasons . It may have been a punt . 
When he came in he was unknown to everyone , now he's been looked at he obviously isn't pressing for a start , but I wonder if it's just saving face by having him on the bench or just no one else to be there. I saw a Tweet saying yesterday was the first time we didn't have an academy player on the bench and we still didn't fill it. 
He does give an option at least.

Makes you think a bit more scouting was needed with this one, as it didn’t seem to take very long to make a decision on him once he arrived.

Must have had something about him to interest Rangers and Man City, but it’s looking like he could be one of those really promising kids, who doesn’t carry on progressing in the adult game.

Hope for his sake he gets back on track, but can’t imagine it being with us.

7 minutes ago, 1960maaan said:

The difference is Reid and Semenyo could be seen playing. We could see  Semenyo for Newport and Reid had played about 30 games before his breakthrough year . 
Mebude was brought in by the Manager who sees him every day in training, he has given him a couple of short run outs but doesn't think he's worth a run even in a game that's virtually over.
I think people are going to draw ( the obvious ? ) conclusions . 

This is the really odd thing.  

If he looks good enough in training to get on the bench, why is he not getting on the pitch.

If he’s just on the bench to just make up the numbers, why was he brought here in the first place and that really doesn’t reflect well on our U21 alternatives either.

As some have mentioned, it does make you wonder if there’s some contractural reasons for these bench appearances.  Whatever the reasons, this has certainly been a very strange loan and hasn’t benefitted either party.

57 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

@BrizzleRed great post, which I won’t quote because of its length.

I would add that to broaden this debate somewhat we still get the same rubbish trotted out by a few on here re Gary Johnson, whose record (so facts, not opinion) pisses over everyone else who has managed us since AD.

There are undoubtedly some strange ones out there.

So true GC and I suppose it takes all sorts to make a world.

23 minutes ago, Cov 77 said:

Actually see it differently most of the rabid posts on here coming from pro Nige / won’t have Manning camp , every good win is played down , every poor or even average performance savaged , I loved Nige and he did all you say , but like it or not some on here must move on and give this bloke a proper chance , as others have pointed out the negativity on here from some has reached a ridiculous state 

There’s always going to be differing opinions and that’s how it should be.  It’s the extreme opinions that totally ignore the facts that cause the issues I think and that goes for both sides.

I certainly sympathise with LM as he’s been set up by the morons above him.  That said, he still needs to actually outperform NP to provide any kind of vindication for Nige’s sacking and so far, he hasn’t achieved that, either in terms of performance, or results.

I still maintain sacking Nige was arguably the biggest **** up SL has made at the club, but that’s done now and can’t be changed and Lansdown can’t hide from that decision.  I think that’s why there are some attacks on people who appear to be BS employees, or Lansdown apologists and unfortunately, some of the fallout can then land on LM, which is unfair on him.

What does jarr is when some people get carried away and claim how much things have improved under LM, when the facts confirm they clearly haven’t.  That sort of thing is just stoking the fire.

Hopefully when this season is put to bed, we can all just focus on next season, but my concern is, there will always be comparisons being made between NP and LM, so I just hope Manning’s got enough about him to stand up well in those comparisons!

24 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Firstly, although Bristol Sport did sign up on here, I don’t think that’s the issue, although they are reading OTIB more and more (fact).

And apart from a small number of posters who are negative about everything, there is a small group of posters who cannot give Nige any credit / attempt to undermine / understate what he did here.

Hell, I’m “sack Manning” but I still find time to praise stuff he’s done.

I think it stems from a few places:

- the signing of Danny Simpson

- a run of awful home form in his early tenure

- the speaking out against the hierarchy publicly (and internally no doubt)

You can explain why you think differently, the context etc.  in some cases they’ll agree / accept that, then two posts later they’re back on the old agenda.

I guess OTIB would be boring otherwise, but I still find it bizarre.

Yeah, reckon you’ve nailed it there

4 hours ago, GrahamC said:

Yep, story I have been told since was they spent the majority of the time between the Portsmouth & Notts County games in the Baccy Jar in Whitchurch..

They certainly played like that against County for sure!  

11 hours ago, Davefevs said:

Fair play for your patient response @BrizzleRed.  I find it bizarre that it still needs spelling out, and just as bizarre that it keeps getting raised over 5 months after the bloke got sacked.  I also find it bizarre to talk of a bloated squad.  A squad is a squad.  It won’t ever contain 25+ players all of top 6 ability, unless it’s because we’ve been relegated from the PL! Hey ho!

It’s weird isn’t it?

I know there’s been a general suspicion that the anti-Nige views on here are generally being posted on by Bristol Sport employees.

It’s pretty clear there are a few guilty of that, but I’m beginning to wonder though if we actually have a significant element within our fanbase who just have a completely different and skewed view of reality.  It seems their negative views are so deeply entrenched that regardless of any evidence presented to them, they’re determined to view Pearson’s time here in a negative light.  

They play down or deny the restrictions he was working under, or the very real danger of us crashing out of this division, due to having to throw so many inexperienced youngsters in at the same time.  Their determination to view Nige maintaining our Championship status at a time of massive cost-cutting and squad upheaval as some kind of failure, rather than an undoubted success is really odd.  

Possibly they expected Nige to be some kind of miracle worker, who could wave a magic wand and instantly wipe away years of mis-management of this club and it just wasn’t happening quickly enough for them.  It’ll be interesting to see if they show the same degree of impatience with LM, particularly as most of the heavy lifting has now been done.

I still can’t get my head round how some fans can still hold on to such negative views about a bloke who somehow dragged this club out of some really deep shit, caused by the very people who eventually sacked him!

Prior to Nige arriving here, if I’d been compiling a list of the most potentially divisive managers we could bring in, he wouldn’t have been anywhere near that list.  

It’s a strange old world!!!

1 hour ago, Cole Not Gas said:

Well there you go, I agree with everything you mention above and would add a couple of comments which would upset others (i really dont care) but you would respect as my opinion. Many 'fans' on this forum are not sane (on, insane!) and would appear to not want certain managers to succeed, whether it is Lee, Mark A, Deano, Pearson or Liam. 

With respect, I really don’t agree there are many fans on this forum who don’t want certain manager/head coaches to succeed.  That’s an accusation thrown around far too readily and I just don’t buy it …… you just don’t support a club and want your manager to fail, so making your club fail too.

I’m sure almost all fans want someone to succeed when they come in.  I see it far more as some fans are less tolerant when they perceive a manager is failing and they don’t see them as having the ability to turn it around.  That isn’t WANTING a manager to fail and more that they want someone out who they feel IS failing.  Two very different things in my book.

We can make the argument about having patience and on some occasions that can pay off (Alan Dicks), but in cases like LJ, patience really didn’t benefit us at all. 

I for one wanted all to succeed and am the most disappointed with Pearson - lots of reasons but that's another story and based on the highest expectations, as well as the state he left us in.

I’d really like to hear the “lots of reasons” why you were disappointed in NP and I also wonder what you mean by “the state he left us in??”

Are you taking into account the  massive cost cutting he had to carry out, plus having a load of expensive players walking out on free transfers because the club allowed it to happen?  What I see he left us with is a club who now have an honest, battling mentality and whilst not the most technically talented bunch, they give everything and Pearson can take full credit for instilling that attitude.  

He had precious little money for recruitment, so what quality of player did you actually expect him to bring in under those restrictions?

I agree one has to be a madder optimist than me to see too many golden shoots so far with Liam and i 100% agree he will be off if he does well and a better offer comes along. A friend of mine reckons he will manage West Ham inside 2 years.

Yep, we agree on that one for sure, though not so sure about the West Ham bit.

Most important question is what he does to cull our bloated squad of players simply not good enough to get us to the Top 6, who he brings in to mould into 'his team (remember Pearson had 30 months and was fired without us having proven scorers) and how he continues to outwit coaches of the better teams; - ok, this may be 3 questions, sorry!

I’d certainly query your point about us having a bloated squad.  Sometimes we’ve struggled to get 11 out fit players on the pitch let alone have a full bench, so I wouldn’t consider that bloated!  

As for us not having proven scorers, do you really think Pearson wasn’t aware of that.  They don’t grow on trees and with the miniscule funds he was given, he had to concentrate on getting in relatively cheap, dependable players who would work damn hard and try to grind out results.  

You can bet, if he was given a bigger budget, his shopping list would have been very different from what he had to settle for.

In short, you say you were disappointed with what Nigel Pearson achieved.  I would counter that by saying, considering the massive restrictions and cost cutting under his tenure, imho it was a wonder he actually kept us in the division, let alone in the top half of the table!

I’ll be totally honest here and say I feel the club dropped a massive bollock sacking NP, rather than backing him.  In all fairness to LM, considering his lack of experience and so far, largely uninspiring football, he’s done ok and got us comfortably safe.

I don’t see the big problem as LM though, it’s the big man at the top and the incompetants he’s installed below him.  If SL doesn’t dip into that nest egg pronto, Manning will be battling with the same issues Pearson was, but without the massive football knowledge and experience to help him counteract that.  

If he does get some funds to strengthen the right areas, it’ll be interesting to see what he can do with it.   Unfortunately thanks to SL, there will always be questions about what could also have been achieved if NP was backed in the same way.

Anyway, thanks for the response CNG and good to have an adult conversation 

 

2 hours ago, Sleepy1968 said:

Ha, I never thought of that. The ones I'm referring to from the 70s are kids sizes. I remember my first being the coffer sports one when I was 12 or 13. I really don't remember whether I kept up with shirts, but I know I wore a white long sleeved sweat shirt with Wembley stadium printed on it when we were there in 86. I think it had the road to Wembley results on the back.

I never had a kids shirt, as I’m from the lethal wooden hand rattle era, so shirts weren’t on the menu!!! 

I’ll have to get my stuff out of the loft one day and check what I’ve got, but I think my first was probably the special Wembley ‘87 shirt.  

Probably just nostalgia, but they felt more special back then, but that could just be because of what happened in ‘82.  To me, out stuff now feels a bit cheap and nasty in comparison.

52 minutes ago, Sleepy1968 said:

Replica shirts were a thing in the 1970s, certainly around the promotion winning season. I don't know about before then as I was either too young or not yet born.

Cheers Sleepy
I think the first replica shirts were sold by Leeds around ‘76 and it was a while before other clubs picked up on the trend and only in kids sizes at first I think.

Maybe it was only the adult sized shirts that were introduced in the mid ‘80’s at City.  I always used to get the new adult sized shirts and I think the first one I got was around ‘86.  I definitely wasn’t aware of adult sizes being sold in the City shop before that, though I stand to be corrected on that.  

I’d always been under the impression that before the mid ‘80’s, if you wanted to get hold of a team shirt, you had to drag it off a player’s back during a pitch invasion!!!

27 minutes ago, kmpowell said:

I collect City shirts and IMO it's certainly not a shirt which was worn or taken to Wembley in 1986. IMO it's not even a shirt from the 1985/86 season!

The 1986 wembley shirt was totally unique, and printed for the occasion. The logos, printing, badges were different sizes to the regular season shirts, and totally unique to that day.

The main shirt style was used from Dec 1983 through to the end of the 1985/86 season (it was replaced in July/Aug 86 by a shirt which brought back the robin, and was in used for just 6mths at the very start of the 86/87 season, then the white band shirt was introduced in Dec '86), so it crossed several seasons, but there were subtle differences...

Player shirts (excluding the goalkeeper) from Dec 83 onwards in the 83/84 season, and also in the full 1984/85 season, had the B.C. 82 stamped inline with the T in Hirerite. In 1985/86 the B.C. 82 was stamped inline with the outside edge of the last E in Hirerite. Extra nerd points, but in the 85/86 season the player shirts also had a mix of old and new Bukta logos. 

The number on this specific eBay shirt is machine stitched, not hand-stitched as being suggested here, see below. In 1985/86 all player numbers were pressed on, along with badges, sponsors and logos.

If this is a players shirt, then there is a chance it something from the 83/84 or 84/85 season, but if I were a betting man then this is a replica 84/85 shirt with a number which has been put on ad-hoc with a sewing machine by somebody.

 

You’ve got a load of info there, so seem the perfect person to ask.  

I’ve always really liked this particular shirt design, but I can’t remember this design ever being available for fans to buy, because I would certainly have bought one myself.  I thought replica shirts first became available to buy from around ‘86 or ‘87, but do you have any info on that?

I’m guessing this ebay shirt was part of the batch supplied to the club and would have been numbered by the club when required.  

With the number being stiched, it won’t have been officially done by the club, but there must have been a few un-numbered spares knocking around at the club and this could be one that someone has acquired and numbered themselves, couldn’t it?

From what’s been discussed on this thread, it certainly isn’t one from the 1986 Wembley Final for sure.