Bat Fastard

It may just be a question of DNA. Maybe Liam's a the wrong sort?? Or in the view of JL, maybe the fans have the wrong DNA?

In my nearly 6 decades of supporting City we have seen worse! Much worse! Do you all remember the dreaded Pulis? City have not lost this particular fan, but I am cheesed off with the way we are playing and that we sacked Nige, who was a leader and strong character and a real manager, and replaced him with a wimpy coach who might be better suited to working under a manager. When Manning first joined I commented on his lack of confidence and force or personality and this seems to have been a correct analysis. A good manager would use the playing assets that he has to get the best results and change the staff over time if he wanted different qualities. I believe that we have some very good players and the fact that they are currently below par is due to lack of leadership and motivation. With the difficult run of fixtures in the next few weeks, we may well find ourselves flirting with relegation and the Lansdowns may be forced to make a change again. First rule of management is to not reinforce a failure - but when have they taken any notice of the rules of management?

The players seem to have managed to absorb something from Manningball. They can pass across the back and the players must be on a bonus for possession figures because we keep passing the ball to the back line where we can show our greatest ability. Sadly, the coach and players don't seem to have much idea about what should come next. The passing across the backline does not seem to pull defenders out of position but simply lets the opposition defence get into a nice tight set up so that we find virtually no space to create really decent chances. Manning confirms this by playing a lone striker! He does not seem to expect us to score goals. Even when chasing the game we spend too much of the dwindling time on the clock passing back and across the back line. If the ball spent more time in and around the opposition goal area, chances would appear more often. Manningball is poor to watch and this has nothing to do with the owner or technical director other than the fact that they should have kept Nige and let Manning stay in League one, where he seems to belong. I have the spooky old feeling that the rest of the season may be very long!

Aghhh! I forgot Rushden and Diamonds. Thanks for the reminder. I just looked through the league tables for reminders, but Rushden and Diamonds lost their ground when they imploded. I recall that they had some sort of link with Doc Martens footwear, or maybe my memory is faulty in this respect.

I went to Leicester Uni and spent many happy hours in Filbert Street. It always felt odd watching a team in blue though.

That is a great list. You must have been to the old Wembley as well.

Like Wimbledon/MK.

Charlton was a redevelopment I think.

They were also at some hockey ground before moving into their current stadium. Add that to my list as well.

Do you recall when Northampton and Doncaster changed grounds? You are a hero!!

York is one I am not sure about. I say Cheesley score a hattrick in a 1-4 with there and guess that must have been the old stadium. Maybe that makes my list 23, but that needs checking.

I think that it was the new ground that I visited. I recall that the police were very unpleasant.

I just looked through the league tables for the top 6 leagues in the country and counted 22 grounds I visited that no longer exist. That counts Tottenham, which may be cheating a bit! These were: ManC, Arsenal, Tottenham, Brighton, West Ham, Brentford, Leicester, Southampton, Hull, Cardiff, Millwall, Rotherham, Oxford, Rovers, Shrewsbury, Reading, Milton Keynes, Colchester, Forest Green, Chesterfield, Barnet, Weston-s-Mare. It would be interesting to see who else has visited old grounds and, I'm sure there more that others can add to the list. Sadly I missed visiting Ayresome Park and Roker Park.

Another promising career being kindled by Brian Tinnion!

I do "get it". I just don't agree with the suppositions that are involved in what appears to be a bit of a witch hunt.

Not really. I think that I have laid out a fairly cogent explanation in all the various replies that I have made. I would further suggest that my "theory" is every bit as cogent as all the other stuff on here from people who claim to be "in the know". In any case, you may be pleased to hear that I am running out of steam on this issue. I hope that I have tried to defend Tins because I think that he is a decent chap.

Nige had a few months left on his contract and could not work very effectively due to his back issues. I have no idea about the length of contracts outstanding for the other gentlemen. Lower league replacements on three years contracts could be a huge saving as long as they do not have to be sacked to save the club from relegation.

The question must be to ascertain if they asked Tins if they should sack Nigel and his team or how could they replace them with lower league (and cost) alternatives. Did Tins spark the sacking or react to orders from above. The compensation issue would have been dependent on the length of their unexpired contracts and the terms of that contract. The difference in wages for the two newcomers and the four outgoing people would have also been weighed in the decision - and I would suggest that Tins was unlikely to have been involved in that calculation.

Well I will defer to you on that subject.

You make a good point. Tins is clearly happiest working behind the scenes and appears to lack the necessary communication skills to be the front man. That does not mean that he is not able to wield football influence within the club as technical director. It appears that the skinned out executive is another economy measure and you and others are right to point out that we are not stronger as a result.

I think he is involved at all levels and seems to be at most of the games. His brief now encompasses academy and the first team squad as well as the pathway between the two.

I believe that Steve, Jon and the FD are all chartered accountants. Nigel and his two coached departed as well as Rennie. Given where Rennie had moved from, I doubt if he was cheap and Nige would have been paid according to his status as a senior manager brought in to do a difficult job. Their replacements were a lower league manager and his coaching buddy. Now, I think it seems to fit that 4 expensive types out and two cheaper types in, seems to suggest that economies were part of the agenda. The three accountants did not seem to weigh the importance of experience of the sort they lost when Nigel departed. Maybe you think that Manning and Hogg were more expensive in which case, if you are right, then I would be shocked and surprised.

It seems likely, but I have no idea if it is the truth or not. The bits of the jigsaw seem to fit though.

The very same. Inspired by the two directors and owner, all chartered accountants.

Probably not - but they are accountants who judge a business on cost before performance. They were badly stung in the Covid period and have developed a cost effective way forward. It may be that the only way we can progress is if the academy stumbles across three or four players like Scott at the same time. It is also the way we managed to get promotion into the old first division.