Bedred31

Please score again and shut Dublin up.

Please score and shut Dublin up.

I get the idea of Chilwell pushing up but his crossing is terrible.

There’s route one and then there was Beck. Most soul destroying football I ever watched. His tactic, actually, was to over water the corners, so that the ball would stop when the goalkeeper punted it forwards. The left/right back would invariably kick it into touch, whereupon Cambridge would produce a long throw into the box. That was literally it- big kick, splash, throw into the box. I liked Wimbledon but this was truly awful.

I think LJ was/is a talented coach and good a developing players. He has a good reputation in football as an intelligent innovator, which explains why he’s usually in work. But I think he’s poor at man management. Footballers are fairly straightforward blokes who tend to respond to a bit of fear as well as respect. LJ was never a great player and he’s still young. He never commanded the respect of senior players. Some of our current squad may not like NP but they know they can’t muck him about. It all came too quickly for LJ. If he’d spent 10 years as a coach I could see him managing into his 60’s. As it is, he must be running out of road. (Nb- texting at 7am because I’ve got a bloody awful Covid and haven’t slept for 2 days!)

I don’t think NP will walk, or fail to sign any half- reasonable new contract offer. He’s sounded in recent press interviews like a man who’s planning to retire sooner rather then later. He probably wants/ needs another 2 / 3 years max, and I would think that longer at City under any tolerable circumstances would be better than 6 months out of work, followed by a new start at a new club. If he goes, it will be SL’s decision. And in that respect, I think that SL has learnt enough over the years to have a fan acceptable replacement lined up in advance, which he can do legitimately as NP’s contract runs down.

‘Building up a nest egg for the longer term’ sounds suspiciously like ‘I’m confident NP will keep us up this season, allowing me to indulge my preferred successor next season’. I don’t think this is an entirely terrible strategy, actually, but for the likelihood that it will all go arse up, leaving us having to spend everything over the next 5 years in League 1 trying to get back to where we are today.

Practically every City player looked to the Lino there! Flippin blood pressure .

SL is 71 next week. That’s over a decade older than NP, who himself was talking last week about age, time and bucket lists.This will just be a number for many on here, but when your a bit older you have a profound sense of time and time running out. I’m sure SL desperately wants to see City in the top flight again, because like me he can remember 76-80 clearly. But if I were him, with probably a bit more active, healthy time left and 1.8 billion in the bank, I’d be looking to offload the hassle of City. Like a shot, frankly, given that I could still go to any game, anywhere whenever I want. I suspect that’s where SL has understandably got too.I think it’s to his credit that he appears to be approaching the sale ( because he’s publicly been open to offers for several years) carefully and without an obvious desire to sell to the first outfit, however questionable, that promises to protect his investment.

When you’re a selling club, one of the biggest achievements in any window is to get to the close without losing important players unexpectedly or at the last minute, or both. It’s not inconceivable that silly, left field offers may yet emerge for Pring or Vyner ( or conceivably something completely unforeseen, like Weiman or Wells). So priority one is not to lose anyone else.

But this, in a sense, is the problem. I don’t think anyone on here at present is really commenting on one match, or even the last few. It’s been pretty poor, on the whole, for the last 7/8 years. I’m not blaming anyone, or suggesting that continued survival in a v competitive Championship isn’t a real achievement for a club like City, because it is, but like most on here I’m genuinely - and often totally- emotionally committed, which means that in reality, for the last few years, I’m statistically more likely to be depressed than elated by Saturday evening. Unsurprisingly, this becomes tiring as the months turn to years. When someone tonight says ‘it was shit today’, they are as likely still reacting to to the traumatic aftermath of the record run of defeats under LJ and the Holden debacle etc. It isn’t really NP’s fault that he’s delivered 3 years underfunded averageness when he’s come in after 5 years of well funded mediocrity. And every boss since Cotts has had his best players repeatedly sold from under him. If I were SL, I’d be looking to try and break the psychological cycle with one-just one- eye catching, uplifting signing.

Agree pretty much with most of the NP/ LJ analysis/ comparison above. But going to raise that old chestnut of loans again. Look at LJ’s tenure after 2016 and ask what it would have looked like if we’d employed a no loans policy. I know they can be pricy and may impede internal development ( ie bring on academy players to sell on), but I’m simply baffled by the refusal to consider loan players in our present situation.

Agree that it’s starting to look like SL is deliberately starving NP in order to present his preferred successor with a war chest. As to a striker, Conway is that when he returns and Wells, if used properly and todays howler aside, generally knows where the net is. Think I would prioritise a bit of midfield experience/ creativity and some frightening pace on the wing, as both will likely be easier/ cheaper to get hold of. If we start creating more good chances, we should start to score more with our existing strikers.

I think irony may be wasted on OTB! Obviously- or so I thought- this is a pro- Pearson comment. And, frankly, if I was a part time supporter, I wouldn’t have stuck it since my first game at the gate in December 1972.

What we need, I reckon, is a promising young coach, no real experience as yet, but lots of potential, talks a good game and good with jargon and innovative training ideas. Give him £20- £30m to burn, overseen by an experienced but slightly tricky CEO, and jobs a good un.

Could be a positive wake up for SL? Spend some of the £25m well and quickly or this could be a relegation fight by the next window.

Matt Murray dragged out of the bar to report the red and opine that we’re not going to get back into this one.

Sky haven’t been to AG this half, while the guy at Wrexham will be seeking a pay rise.

View better in the Dolman- not least because I like looking at the splendid Lansdown.

Ultimately this is what failure on the pitch looks like. It isn’t missing out on away trips to Anfield, or features on Match if the Day, or not signing players for £25m, it’s constantly- season after season- losing you’re best players to small, crap outfits like Bournemouth, Brighton and Brentford. And being able to raid good clubs like Derby for their best players isn’t a consolation for me. Nor is knowing that City will likely be a strong Championship club decades after the likes of Bournemouth have been bulldozed for a new John Lewis. It just sucks, because losing a good player is so much worse than losing repeatedly, as the dream just fades.

And there’s the City reference- 84th minute. I love you Jonathan Pearce.

Strangely reassuring that England women seem to be exactly the same as England men.

Dreadful decision. Ref gave it. Can only be overturned if a clear and obvious error. It was a stonewall pen. Utterly shocking decision.

Key quote from the Wolves link is ‘£25m is a huge sum in the clubs current predicament’: which begs the questions, why should a buying club’s ‘predicament’ have any bearing at all on the price of a player a club really doesn’t want to sell, and why should a player be enthusiastic about joining a club with a ‘predicament’. But then Brum was the ‘workshop of the world’, so ‘appen the know something about business strategy that appears lost on me.

League as a whole looks a fair bit stronger than in recent years. Wouldn’t be surprised to see Leicester fall away and I think Southampton could really struggle. Don’t think any team will run away like Burnley last year, and I would be surprised if any team is seriously adrift at the bottom. Keep an eye on Coventry and Millwall, and Norwich and Stoke could bounce back. I genuinely think we could struggle with relegation or just as easily mount a real challenge. Championship next season is really everything a competitive league should be and I haven’t looked forward to a new season as much in years.