fgrsimon

Apparently an Ashton Gate 2024 Springsteen gig was on the cards at one point but it fell through for unknown reasons. I was told by a good source at a well known Springsteen-connected record shop in Cheltenham.

Corey Taylor's album last year was probably my favourite album of 2023. Excellent mix of punk, metal and Power Pop.

Nice side swip at Barton though "Well I needed somebody with experience of the championship and a dedicated, professional individual to be in the role."

Fair play to him, it was before before New Year's Eve too. That's some sort of achievement! Maybe still time for a third this season...

So 3 gigs in these accounts vs 1 in 21-22 presumably accounts for some of the increased staff costs?

Killers and Elton John in 2022 Only Arctic Monkeys in 2023 Not sure if all of these were in the 13 month period? I think none in 2020 or 2021 due to Covid

From a contractual / employment / legal basis I suspect there are many reasons why they couldn't say that, even if it were even partly true. For one NP would have to agree to it and if he didn't, it could have got very messy. Until NP writes his memoirs we will probably never know the complete story. In fact probably never will as I'm sure there will NDAs in place on both sides. Having been through redundancy recently, it's far more complicated if medical reasons are involved. I should say though, in my case I was more than happy with it as I was planning to quit by the end if the year and the process was very simple.

[Trainspotter Alert!] Physically it is now possible because the new Elizabeth Line (CrossRail) runs from west of Paddington direct to Stratford, it is connected end-on to the GW mainline and is built to mainline not tube dimensions. I doubt the GWR IEP trains would fit through the Elizabeth Line tunnels though because of restrictive clearances and curvature but they would be needed to get from Bristol TM to Parkway on diesel power. In theory I think it would be possible to run Bristol Parkway to Stratford using the new Elizabeth Line rolling stock.

Commentator "Bristol City are on the pitch... have a massive following from uh the South Coast" WTF

My mind is telling me 0898 12 11 76 but could be mistaken.

Me too! I've only just got the Alice in Wonderland pun. Growing old is a terrible thing. 10/1/2024 will be the 40th anniversary of my first game at AG. Notts Co in the FA Cup 3rd round replay 0-2. Amazingly Notts Co were a top flight team at the time.

Dale Vince at FGR knows more or less zero about football and it's finally catching up with him. His only method is throwing huge sums of money at it. Current squad size is 33 and he's talking of getting more than a few more in for January. The playing budget is reportedly Top 5 in L2, maybe even Top 3 and certainly much higher than say Notts Co for example. Currently 23rd in L2, 5 points from safety. CEO that came from Tennis NZ, DOF and 1st Team Manager with only U21 experience between them, core home support dwindling to about 1300. The only thing saving them from implosion is the lack of effective FFP in L1/L2.

Ha, yes that was me! Thought Ipswich would draw and Leeds win tonight but that's why I don't bet. But a long, long way to go yet, Leeds have already beaten Ipswich at PR and as we have seen here, things can change drastically after Christmas.

Yes he's always given the impression of the work experience boy who by some terrible mix up, has been given a powerful job. The new stand has been an absolute fiasco, he said it would take 2 months to build and would be ready for the start of the season.

I still think Leeds will hunt them down eventually this season. Bigger, better squad, more intimidating ground/support and every club will have a losing wobble at some point, Leeds have already had theirs (start of season). Yeah Lee Johnson lost 3-0, 3-0, 4-0 3-0 and 3-0 in last 5 games, it's officially a 'streak'! Next games v Peterborough and Pompey.... has a manager ever been sacked twice before Christmas?

By the way if anyone needs cheering up, check out LJ's last few post-match interviews at Fleetwood. 3-0, 3-0 and 4-0 in last 3 games. Plenty of BS Bingo as usual, 'Box Entries', 'Pitch Personalities' etc etc but he's also now started using 'aware' as a Verb! As in a player 'should aware us of the injury'. Still head and shoulders above LM

To be honest 12 months is probably an average time for a manager in the Championship at present. Michael Duff got 19 games at Swansea and they're 18th, which is about where I expected them to be this season.

Well Brentford seem to manage that perfectly well and Derby took a chance.

Yes very funny particularly after more than a few on there reckoned we were in meltdown after losing to Norwich. I mean things maybe a bit worrying here but pretty much their best 11 losing to Crawley Reserves, that's another level.

Insane. Is every club who aren't getting to the top 6 going to sack the manager? Alex Neill must be a dead man walking at Stoke. Warner would most likely have gone if we'd beaten Norwich.

Yes I'm worried, we're following Birmingam down the table for similar reasons (play stupid games win stupid prizes) and the bottom 3 corpses are now showing some signs of life. If we lose at Huddersfield then we'd be just two points ahead of them and could be behind Plymouth. Both teams that will be nearer the bottom than the top. Stoke are also in trouble. Next 3 games are pivotal, once you get sucked into the bottom 6 it's difficult to get away. Interesting footnote - since we and Birmingham sacked managers we've had 3 wins between us and 2 of them were home to Sheff Wed!

So they're all clapping themselves on the back for building a brand new stand that's inferior to the Atyeo (30 years old, dated and the worst stand at AG) in every single aspect... I look forward to comparing their new 'concourse' to what's underneath the Atyeo.

I think you've answered your own question there!

Surely having large solid pillars that close to the pitch must contravene safety rules? Thinking of the Bath City player recently who suffered a bad head inury after colliding with something pitchside.

Mark Aizlewood is another who was an alcoholic in his time at City and other clubs although it wasn't known at the time. Alcohol has been just one of many problems in his life but according to Wikipedia he could drink a bottle of brandy and 20 pints of lager in a session and stay standing! Genuinely shocking life story all in all. To be honest at the time I thought he was just a nutter. My Leeds supporting mate told me of the time he offered the whole stand out at Elland Road when he was a Leeds player and was getting some stick from the home supporters.