Oh Dear

[southvillekiddy]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/44030298

We're stuck with him. No surprises. Cosy old Bristol City

[Negan]

This is old news now, this Lansdown statement was made after the game on Sunday. 

[Phileas Fogg]

What did you expect Lansdown to say exactly?

[BRISTOL86]

“Club with highest league placing in a decade doesn’t want its manager gone” 

Shocker. 

However clear gauntlet laid with regards expectations for next season:

"We now have to learn from what we've done this year and go again next year and look to go a few steps further, get in the top six and vie for promotion at the end of the season."

So the expectation is a top six challenge. Let’s hope we shop in Waitrose and not Bargain Booze in the next window. 

[Nogbad the Bad]

2 minutes ago, southvillekiddy said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/44030298

We're stuck with him. No surprises. Cosy old Bristol City

That's 2 days ago.

SL says he'd like LJ to stay but there has been no approach, so we haven't turned them down.

It will only become interesting, and show how keen SL really is to keep him if there is an approach.

We all know SL sees LJ being City manager indefinitely but in the unlikely event of an approach from any other club the decision of course will be LJ's.

 

[BS4 on Tour...]

4 minutes ago, BRISTOL86 said:

Let’s hope we shop in Waitrose and not Bargain Booze in the next window. 

Wish we’d do the same with managers....

[GrahamC]

1 minute ago, BRISTOL86 said:

“Club with highest league placing in a decade doesn’t want its manager gone” 

Shocker. 

However clear gauntlet laid with regards expectations for next season:

"We now have to learn from what we've done this year and go again next year and look to go a few steps further, get in the top six and vie for promotion at the end of the season."

So the expectation is a top six challenge. Let’s hope we shop in Waitrose and not Bargain Booze in the next window. 

Surely it is not where you shop, but how you shop?

2 examples, Brownhill, a Preston reserve player, on loan at Barnsley, cost us around £200k, reckon he was worth it?

Engvall, signed on deadline day the August before last, cost us a rumoured £2m, yet to start a single league game, no clear idea so far as to why we signed him.

It is the right player, not where we get them from.

[Nogbad the Bad]

3 minutes ago, BRISTOL86 said:

“Club with highest league placing in a decade doesn’t want its manager gone” 

Shocker. 

However clear gauntlet laid with regards expectations for next season:

"We now have to learn from what we've done this year and go again next year and look to go a few steps further, get in the top six and vie for promotion at the end of the season."

So the expectation is a top six challenge. Let’s hope we shop in Waitrose and not Bargain Booze in the next window. 

There's no real sense of any sort of ultimatum there or any pressure on LJ to achieve top 6, and I don't see it as expectation either - just that's the aim.

LJ certainly won't be in any danger if we finish 10th for instance - barring a disaster SL ha s made it very clear he is looking at LJ being at the helm very long term.

I really doubt LJ being poached seriously comes into his thoughts because he knows it's so unlikely.

[Robbored]

4 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

Surely it is not where you shop, but how you shop?

2 examples, Brownhill, a Preston reserve player, on loan at Barnsley, cost us around £200k, reckon he was worth it?

Engvall, signed on deadline day the August before last, cost us a rumoured £2m, yet to start a single league game, no clear idea so far as to why we signed him.

It is the right player, not where we get them from.

Spot on Graham.

Like all managers LJ signs players that work out well and signs others that don't work out for whatever reason. It happens at every club.

Recruiting players is not an exact science.

[Coxy27]

5 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

Surely it is not where you shop, but how you shop?

2 examples, Brownhill, a Preston reserve player, on loan at Barnsley, cost us around £200k, reckon he was worth it?

Engvall, signed on deadline day the August before last, cost us a rumoured £2m, yet to start a single league game, no clear idea so far as to why we signed him.

It is the right player, not where we get them from.

Engvall is definitely what you'd get from Waitrose.

He's no better than what you get elsewhere, but he's dressed up nicely, and costs more.

I just hope we got a free coffee and a newspaper as part of the deal.

[BRISTOL86]

7 minutes ago, Nogbad the Bad said:

There's no real sense of any sort of ultimatum there or any pressure on LJ to achieve top 6, and I don't see it as expectation either - just that's the aim.

LJ certainly won't be in any danger if we finish 10th for instance - barring a disaster SL ha s made it very clear he is looking at LJ being at the helm very long term.

I really doubt LJ being poached seriously comes into his thoughts because he knows it's so unlikely.

Neither should he be really. As with everything context is important. If we have a fairly consistent season and place 10th without any alarming periods of awful form then that’ll be very different to if we’re top two for half of the season and then go on another incredible barren run. 

Its hardly any secret that SL wants a period of complete stability so not sure why this would raise any eyebrows (especially after what has ultimately been our best season in c. 10 years). 

SL clearly wasn’t happy with the fall away this season so I certainly don’t think it’s the ‘job for life whatever happens’ that people are so quick to portray. 

[BobBobSuperBob]

27 minutes ago, BRISTOL86 said:

“Club with highest league placing in a decade doesn’t want its manager gone” 

Shocker. 

However clear gauntlet laid with regards expectations for next season:

"We now have to learn from what we've done this year and go again next year and look to go a few steps further, get in the top six and vie for promotion at the end of the season."

So the expectation is a top six challenge. Let’s hope we shop in Waitrose and not Bargain Booze in the next window. 

Exactly my thoughts when I first heard it , and posted similar on Monday

Whatever my concerns and doubts about LJ I actually think top 6 is big ask for any head coach , and in all realitynIMHO , an unrealistic expectation unless we add to our better core players

As we are certainly going to lose some .... good luck with that

As you say , let’s hope we are shopping in Waitrose, or as Graham explained better , make some astute signings 

[old_eastender]

18 minutes ago, Robbored said:

Spot on Graham.

Like all managers LJ signs players that work out well and signs others that don't work out for whatever reason. It happens at every club.

Recruiting players is not an exact science.

Yes, but the MA/LJ combo has had too many "that don't work out" and not enough that do, spunking away a lot (for us) of cash in the process.

The loan signings have been particularly ill researched it seems; Woodrow, Leko, Kent , Diony. 

Of the Perms, right now you can only say it's Baker, Mags & Fammy that might be worth what we paid for them. Of course the likes of Walsh, Eliasson, Engval, Moore might come good, but the signs are not positive.

Much better due diligence needed and a higher proportion of signings 'working out' if we are to push on.

 

[Robbored]

3 minutes ago, old_eastender said:

Yes, but the MA/LJ combo has had too many "that don't work out" and not enough that do, spunking away a lot (for us) of cash in the process.

The loan signings have been particularly ill researched it seems; Woodrow, Leko, Kent , Diony. 

Of the Perms, right now you can only say it's Baker, Mags & Fammy that might be worth what we paid for them. Of course the likes of Walsh, Eliasson, Engval, Moore might come good, but the signs are not positive.

Much better due diligence needed and a higher proportion of signings 'working out' if we are to push on.

 

Brownhill is worth a mention OE.

Agree about the loans tho but in Kents case, being a young lad  he couldn't settle in a new area and certainly was homesick. That's not something that can be foreseen unfortunately.

[Kid in the Riot]

20 minutes ago, Nogbad the Bad said:

There's no real sense of any sort of ultimatum there or any pressure on LJ to achieve top 6, and I don't see it as expectation either - just that's the aim.

LJ certainly won't be in any danger if we finish 10th for instance - barring a disaster SL ha s made it very clear he is looking at LJ being at the helm very long term.

I really doubt LJ being poached seriously comes into his thoughts because he knows it's so unlikely.

Not an ultimatum, but for me there's definitely some pressure being applied there. Talking of having to learn and get into the play-offs, vie for promotion at the end of the season.

The disconnect is that in the same interview SL admitted we're not paying top 6 wages, reading between the lines we're probably mid-table payers. So, are we going to start paying better wages or is LJ going to be expected to overachieve in terms of league position as he has probably done this season? 

[BRISTOL86]

6 minutes ago, BobBobSuperBob said:

Exactly my thoughts when I first heard it , and posted similar on Monday

Whatever my concerns and doubts about LJ I actually think top 6 is big ask for any head coach , and in all realitynIMHO , an unrealistic expectation unless we add to our better core players

As we are certainly going to lose some .... good luck with that

As you say , let’s hope we are shopping in Waitrose, or as Graham explained better , make some astute signings 

Absolutely. That’s what people don’t realise. For the majority of clubs the land, they don’t achieve anything in any given season.

24 into 6 does not go. 

Even with all else being equal, it’s a 1 in 4 chance that any side make the playoffs. Then add in the severe financial imbalance from premier league failure money and the likes. Even adjusting for teams we’re bigger than, financially, I’d say realistically we’re one of the ‘second tier’ clubs in the league. 

There will be 4-6 teams with significantly better clout than us financially/better squads. Then we will be one of about 10 of the ‘best of the rest’. 

Odds are stacked no matter who the manager is. Big ask to consistently challenge for top six. I’d take a top ten finish without the peaks and troughs and call that a good season depending on recruitment/wage budget. 

[Lrrr]

43 minutes ago, BRISTOL86 said:

“Club with highest league placing in a decade doesn’t want its manager gone” 

Shocker. 

However clear gauntlet laid with regards expectations for next season:

"We now have to learn from what we've done this year and go again next year and look to go a few steps further, get in the top six and vie for promotion at the end of the season."

So the expectation is a top six challenge. Let’s hope we shop in Waitrose and not Bargain Booze in the next window. 

I just hope this quote doesn't come back in the wrong context next season like the club supposedly not wanting promotion this season some bandied about by misquoting. 

[BRISTOL86]

5 minutes ago, hodge said:

I just hope this quote doesn't come back in the wrong context next season like the club supposedly not wanting promotion this season some bandied about by misquoting. 

You can set your watch by that happening! It was so obvious when Ashton said what he said that it’d end up being deliberately twisted to suit a narrative 

[Jack Dawe]

4 minutes ago, hodge said:

I just hope this quote doesn't come back in the wrong context next season like the club supposedly not wanting promotion this season some bandied about by misquoting. 

If you want promotion, there's ways of going about it. How much did we want it, would you say? 

[Jack Dawe]

3 minutes ago, BRISTOL86 said:

You can set your watch by that happening! It was so obvious when Ashton said what he said that it’d end up being deliberately twisted to suit a narrative 

An interesting suggestion. Are you including SL/LJ/MA in this "narrative twisting" you mention there? 

[BRISTOL86]

Just now, Jack Dawe said:

An interesting suggestion. Are you including SL/LJ/MA in this "narrative twisting" you mention there? 

I don’t understand the question. 

I was referring to Mark Ashton when he said that the club were not chasing promotion and the fact that people are (presumably deliberately) misquoting it as not wanting promotion. 

It wasn’t the smartest thing to say but the underlying message was clear to anyone who listened to it.

[Lrrr]

5 minutes ago, Jack Dawe said:

If you want promotion, there's ways of going about it. How much did we want it, would you say? 

It wasn't a case of the club not 'wanting' promotion though, it was a case that promotion hadn't been outlined as the required target. Yet people were taking it as gospel that we wanted to remain in the championship as if the club wouldn't happily bank the £100m or so we'd get from a season in the prem. 

[Jack Dawe]

1 minute ago, hodge said:

It wasn't a case of the club not 'wanting' promotion though, it was a case that promotion hadn't been outlined as the required target. Yet people were taking it as gospel that we wanted to remain in the championship as if the club wouldn't happily bank the £100m or so we'd get from a season in the prem. 

Thanks for that. Would you like to answer my question now?

[milo1111]

I would be amazed if West Brom weer actually interested in LJ. If they took him it would be an amazing climb through the pecking order of the football league for a manager who is yet to achieve anything of any note bar taking us to the league cup semi. Certainly no promotions.

[BRISTOL86]

1 minute ago, hodge said:

It wasn't a case of the club not 'wanting' promotion though, it was a case that promotion hadn't been outlined as the required target. Yet people were taking it as gospel that we wanted to remain in the championship as if the club wouldn't happily bank the £100m or so we'd get from a season in the prem. 

It’s so ridiculous that we’re still having this discussion 3 months later. The full interview made the situation abundantly clear and yet months later one line - taken out of context and deliberately misquoted to boot - is what people focus on. 

Damned if you do and damned if you don’t......if we’d have spent big money on top players and not got promoted all the resident experts would be talking about how we should have stuck with what served us so well up until January and we shouldn’t have rocked the boat  

[Lrrr]

1 minute ago, Jack Dawe said:

Thanks for that. Would you like to answer my question now?

Surprised you need it answered now given how much it was done to death at the time. We had a squad that had gotten us to second. We had players returning from injury. We didn't want to bulk up the squad with signings who may not have featured once our injured players were back. We didn't want to go out and break our transfer philosophy and budget on players who 'might' have helped us. Jordan Rhodes being a classic example, cost Wednesday a massive fee and wages when they were chasing promotion and are stuck with an overpaid striker who doesn't deliver the goods. 

[Swede]

49 minutes ago, Robbored said:

Spot on Graham.

Like all managers LJ signs players that work out well and signs others that don't work out for whatever reason. It happens at every club.

Recruiting players is not an exact science.

Absolutely correct. According to quite a few on here its so easy being a football manager/coach and run a football club. Be careful what you wish for.

[Jack Dawe]

5 minutes ago, hodge said:

Surprised you need it answered now given how much it was done to death at the time. We had a squad that had gotten us to second. We had players returning from injury. We didn't want to bulk up the squad with signings who may not have featured once our injured players were back. We didn't want to go out and break our transfer philosophy and budget on players who 'might' have helped us. Jordan Rhodes being a classic example, cost Wednesday a massive fee and wages when they were chasing promotion and are stuck with an overpaid striker who doesn't deliver the goods. 

How much did we want promotion:

1. Badly. So badly, it aches.

2. Like a hole in the head.

3. If it happens: great! But if it doesn't: relax! It's gonna happen, happen, so chill! We know what we're doing.

[BobBobSuperBob]

30 minutes ago, Robbored said:

Brownhill is worth a mention OE.

Agree about the loans tho but in Kents case, being a young lad  he couldn't settle in a new area and certainly was homesick. That's not something that can be foreseen unfortunately.

‘homesick’

Are you for real

‘certainly was’

How do you know that Robbo ?

 

Had already spent spells on loan at Coventry ,Barnsley and Frieburg 

More that he didn’t fit in than miss his Mum and Dad I think more likely

[Red-Robbo]

1 hour ago, BRISTOL86 said:

 

So the expectation is a top six challenge. Let’s hope we shop in Waitrose and not Bargain Booze in the next window. 

 

Especially as Bargain Booze is going tits up!   http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-43580679