handsofclay

I feel like I am a bully picking on Liam Manning as I inevitably do. If you are reading this boss, it's nothing against you personally. I just simply think, in fact I know, you are not up to the job. I am not blaming you. You were put into this situation by the Lansdowns and BT. Don't trust them to ever run a crèche, they'd be getting the kids to play in water dangerously way out of their depth. I have been going to Ashton Gate since 1970. The Pearson sacking was the worst dismissal and most unwarranted of a Bristol City boss in all those 54 years. Prior to that I would say the John Ward departure was the highest own goal in terms of how that was handled and then subsequently panned out, but the Pearson sacking usurps that. (Although the kind of constructive dismissal of Cotts is up there too.) Having lived quite a few years now I am no longer surprised that certain members of the elite just don't have their fingers on the pulse. They live detached, privileged lives. They didn't like a mainly popular Bristol City manager and believed they were all powerful and could dismiss him as it is their club. Not that of the thousands upon thousands who pay good money and invest their money and HEARTS in the club and its fortunes. So they sacked a popular manager and mentioned top six squad and the need for front foot football as a means, they thought, to win the backing of these strange fans who liked the bloke they despised. In his place they have installed someone who just isn't up to the job. Once again, I call upon my experience of following Bristol City and from the outset LM was a totally uninspired appointment and it is evident that not enough effort was put into checking him, his suitability for the job as manager of the highest profile club in the West Country or his achievements and ethos. He had a few months of relative success at MK Dons followed by a terrible slump and a few months of success at Oxford. That is it. As others have said it made LJ's record when he was given the post look greatly experienced by comparison. Two of the trio in charge have no nous in football. They are like you and I, except they have money. Indeed, we have something they clearly don't, a grounding in following a football club and knowing what the masses think without feeling entitled. Is it any wonder it has gone so wrong. The sooner they acknowledge they made a massive balls up of the dismissal of Pearson and foisting this emotionless novice upon our club the sooner Bristol City can get back on track. Until that happens I am afraid the Express to the Promised Land has been derailed for some considerable time to come.

They agreed to lift the ban if he mentioned Southampton.

I don't remember that exactly. All I recall is that he played against us several times while in our starting XI

A friend of mine used to obtain seasonal work as a Santa Claus in a store in Norwich in the early 1990s. He remembers Liam Manning very well. He said that he was the only 7 year old he's ever encountered who when asked if he was looking forward to Christmas replied that he was looking forward to it as much as any other day of the year, for to raise his spirits over that period would inevitably result in a feeling of depression once the euphoria had been exhausted and consequently would impact negatively on his ability to learn how to read and comprehend the tactical jargon and nuances contained within the six thick coaching manuals, without pictures, his Uncle had given him last Christmas. When asked if he had enjoyed meeting Santa, Liam said that he had found the encounter far from pleasurable, indeed, rather alarming as nothing he had read in the manuals provided any indication as to how to stop anyone in a red and white kit giving away so many presents.

Basically he has admitted that we would love to be playing front foot football but it's difficult because we are up against tough opposition in the Championship. We are in a very tough league. Sunderland have lost six on the bounce. That's how tough it is. Strange why they sacked Pearson then he was nowhere near losing six on the bounce.

It's the only way we get to see young local lads on the pitch now Manning is here.

Obviously Bristolians must love their mothers much more than Brummies. The Aston Villa v Spurs match kicked off just 30 minutes later and from pictorial evidence the stadium looked fairly packed.

I was gutted when Cardiff didn't buy him in the January transfer window. Mainly, in fact exclusively, because when Cardiff had their first corner last week against us Ng would have totally wasted his journey into the box.

I was very relieved we got the win today. That was the most important thing. But it's so obvious things aren't working with the new manager and are unlikely to do so and that win most probably secures LM the post for next season. That is very worrying on what we have seen so far. I recall under Holden we took a quick two nil lead v Huddersfield and were then battered for the remainder of the game. How we came out 2-1 winners instead of losing 2-6 was baffling. Fortunately, lots of posters on here pointed out how fortunate we were and articulated their concerns, despite some flak from those who rejoiced at the win and thought that was all that mattered. We soon entered the losing streak that cost Holden his job, but it was so evident in that win. The same applies today, unfortunately. I fear Manning will be given funds to bring in his type of player in the summer and we will become like Swansea were today. Lots of possession, but precious few chances created that aren't executed and the fans at home especially will be bored senseless. If you are reading this I hope you do succeed, Mr Manning. I would love nothing more than to be proved wrong. But presently I have little confidence in that happening.

I thought the very same thing.

I think he meant Manning will be pleased City are still at nil nil after being so poor. He also said that Bristol City haven't had a single shot in the first half and that the Bristol City players don't seem interested!

If we continue like this nil nil will be the best we can hope for. Nearly a third of the game gone and we have done diddly squat as an attacking force.

You're being kind

Will be interesting to see the official attendance. The stadium looks half empty at best.

There was one mention, Nogbad told us yesterday on the transfer forum.

This is the nub of the problem. You have both highlighted a MAJOR defect in LM's experience. Very few football managers let alone successful football managers have no career as a footballer to fall back on and earn the respect of their charges. The very few, such as Jose Mourinhio, who do succeed manage to do so by force of an incredible personality that masks that defect. Liam Manning, as we and the players have sussed, has very little to boast about in the personality stakes. I've yet to see a spouter of coaching manuals top the billing at the London Palladium.

That's ridiculous. The first part season Nigel Pearson was here his aim was to save us from relegation. The next two seasons his aim was to drastically cut our wage bill while consolidating our position in the league while utilising our academy and playing decent, fast counter attacking football which wasn't by any means spectacular. It was next season 2024-25 that his aim was to produce brilliant football and be elevated to God status. That's why the Lansdowns got rid because they only had enough room at Ashton Gate for the new basketball arena. They simply couldn't shoehorn a Temple to the Cult of Nige into the plans.

Sad news for anyone who remembers Scott Hendy the ex Mangotsfield United centre back. He has passed away aged 45 at a pub in Pilning. Head injuries and apparently someone in their 20s has been arrested.

Quite agree, it would make Manningball somewhat more palatable.

Plus, I forget when it was, I think it was under GJ, where at Forest City kicked the ball out so a player could get treated. The ref gave them the ball to kick to our keeper and they kicked it into touch near the corner flag. From the resulting throw they got the late winner!

When you wrote 'Sorry for being crap letter in the post' my heart skipped a beat. I thought you were Liam Manning for a moment.

Yes, to be fair, he did actually look like a footballer today, albeit he didn't pose any threat in the few minutes he was on. So he didn't look at all out of place in our team.

This is spot on. The majority of us felt like we were all in it together. We had a manager who treated us with respect and was honest in his assessments and made us feel a part of the processes in moving the club gradually forward. We all knew the constraints he was under and accepted setbacks as part of the journey and felt proud that so many academy lads were progressing to our first team. Indeed BT himself used that as a USP in signing promising young players to our club. But those in power evidently didn't like the fact the supporters felt a greater affinity to the club. It was, after all, their club. Not the popular manager's. So they found the appropriate moment to fire him and show us that they know better by bringing in a bright new spark who'd fire us, via the front foot, to a higher level. Instead, they have again shown themselves to be a bunch of incompetents. Manning is clearly out of his depth and is destroying all the positivity diligently created since Holden's departure.

Something I have noticed under Manning is that in most games when the ball is as it were bouncing around in our box we always seem to have a moment where a City player could put his foot through it to clear the danger, but they always hesitate and seem to want to retain possession. It then, inevitably, creates further danger, or results in the ball being presented to the opposition still in the box or just outside it. It happened yet again today. Iirc, it then led to the corner Cardiff scored from.

This makes it seem like LM was totally oblivious to the situation he inherited. I would give him enough credit to assume he would know that Pearson was reasonably popular with the fanbase and had achieved a cohesion at the club despite very trying circumstances and constraints. He would surely thus be aware of the publicly stated reason as to why he had been dismissed (not challenging for the top six). I would like to think, therefore, that even if it wasn't stated in the approach that was made to him to obtain his services as head coach here that he would have, at the very least, the intelligence to realise that the fans and his employers would be ultimately judging him on his ability to produce this outcome and that if he didn't, indeed, if his tenure seen City's position slide even further from the play offs that his job could well be in jeopardy.