Simple to analyse what is wrong

[southvillekiddy]

1.  BCFC operate in an area which is a footballing backwater with 2 football Clubs in the Football League (as opposed to say an area like Lancashire which has 5 Premiership Clubs and 11 Football League Clubs – 16 in total). This has to mean that City have to pay above and beyond if they truly want to compete and be taken seriously nationally.

2.  We are stuck with a billionaire owner and I'm sorry but BCFC has become his plaything. He has spent millions but I'm unsure how much of those millions he will never see again as opposed to the average fan who stints himself each week supporting City and paying out a higher proportion of their income than SL will ever do with no return (apart of course for our enfeebled, desperate, dwindling hope for a better future for our Club)

He has made a fortune in business. I can’t believe he has done this by appointing yesmen and yeswomen but this is what he does with his plaything Football Club. Last season proves this in my opinion. Whatever he has said about Premiership football events show that he is happy to stay in the Championship.

3.  Last season was a revelation until January. Bristol City are playing pressing, attacking,skilful football and are second in the Championship. We have not been in this position with a genuine chance of promotion since GJs time. Many Championship Clubs, much more famous than our own, dream of being in this situation. In addition our best players attract attention through our brilliant Caraboa cup run.

What happens in the January transfer window? One of our yesmen announces that we are not really interested in Premiership promotion and we do not buy additional quality players. The style of football LJ has provided relies on fresh blood to operate it. As a consequence the steam goes out of our football, there’s evidence that our best players are understandably looking forward to joining Clubs that are ambitious and do not drop this kind of absurd publicity mistake.

4. In the close season we lose our three best players and do not replace them with equal quality. In addition we do not strengthen in the areas we already know we are weak, principally in goal-keeping, defence and signing a creative mid-fielder.

 

At best SL has appointed mediocre managers, at worst a novice. My belief is that unless he has a serious change of heart he will continue to appoint yesmen managers who do not threaten his set-up. Unfortunately only a forthright experienced manager such as a Warnock or a Pearson who have been there and done it have the kudos to attract the players to take us to the Premiership.

 

So there we have the paradox. SL is our benefactor and biggest obstacle.

 

Are you content, like him seemingly, to support a yo-yo Championship/League 1 Club?

[Aizoon]

Testify, brother! Exactly that 

[JBFC II]

4 minutes ago, southvillekiddy said:

 

1.  BCFC operate in an area which is a footballing backwater with 2 football Clubs in the Football League (as opposed to say an area like Lancashire which has 5 Premiership Clubs and 11 Football League Clubs – 16 in total). This has to mean that City have to pay above and beyond if they truly want to compete and be taken seriously nationally.

2.  We are stuck with a billionaire owner and I'm sorry but BCFC has become his plaything.

He has made a fortune in business. I can’t believe he has done this by appointing yesmen and yeswomen but this is what he does with his plaything Football Club. Last season proves this in my opinion. Whatever he has said about Premiership football events show that he is happy to stay in the Championship.

3.  Last season was a revelation until January. Bristol City are playing pressing, attacking,skilful football and are second in the Championship. We have not been in this position with a genuine chance of promotion since GJs time. Many Championship Clubs, much more famous than our own, dream of being in this situation. In addition our best players attract attention through our brilliant Caraboa cup run.

What happens in the January transfer window? One of our yesmen announces that we are not really interested in Premiership promotion and we do not buy additional quality players. The style of football LJ has provided relies on fresh blood to operate it. As a consequence the steam goes out of our football, there’s evidence that our best players are understandably looking forward to joining Clubs that are ambitious and do not drop this kind of absurd publicity mistake.

4. In the close season we lose our three best players and do not replace with with equal quality. In addition we do not strengthen in the areas we already know we are weak, principally in goal-keeping, defence and signing a creative mid-fielder.

 

At best SL has appointed mediocre managers, at worst a novice. My belief is that unless he has a serious change of heart he will continue to appoint yesmen managers who do not threaten his set-up. Unfortunately only a forthright experienced manager such as a Warnock or a Pearson who have been there and done it have the kudos to attract the players to take us to the Premiership.

 

So there we have the paradox. SL is our benefactor and biggest obstacle.

 

Are you content, like him seemingly, to support a yo-yo Championship/League 1 Club?

Agreed all the way up to the last sentence. 2 years in league one in the last 11 doesn't make us a yo-yo team in my opinion

[southvillekiddy]

9 minutes ago, JBFC II said:

Agreed all the way up to the last sentence. 2 years in league one in the last 11 doesn't make us a yo-yo team in my opinion

Point taken but we have not become a regular top half Championship team and unfortunately mate I can see us back in League 1 all too easily.

[slartibartfast]

12 minutes ago, southvillekiddy said:

1.  BCFC operate in an area which is a footballing backwater with 2 football Clubs in the Football League (as opposed to say an area like Lancashire which has 5 Premiership Clubs and 11 Football League Clubs – 16 in total). This has to mean that City have to pay above and beyond if they truly want to compete and be taken seriously nationally.

2.  We are stuck with a billionaire owner and I'm sorry but BCFC has become his plaything. He has spent millions but I'm unsure how much of those millions he will never see again as opposed to the average fan who stints himself each week supporting City and paying out a higher proportion of their income than SL will ever do with no return (apart of course for our enfeebled, desperate, dwindling hope for a better future for our Club)

He has made a fortune in business. I can’t believe he has done this by appointing yesmen and yeswomen but this is what he does with his plaything Football Club. Last season proves this in my opinion. Whatever he has said about Premiership football events show that he is happy to stay in the Championship.

3.  Last season was a revelation until January. Bristol City are playing pressing, attacking,skilful football and are second in the Championship. We have not been in this position with a genuine chance of promotion since GJs time. Many Championship Clubs, much more famous than our own, dream of being in this situation. In addition our best players attract attention through our brilliant Caraboa cup run.

What happens in the January transfer window? One of our yesmen announces that we are not really interested in Premiership promotion and we do not buy additional quality players. The style of football LJ has provided relies on fresh blood to operate it. As a consequence the steam goes out of our football, there’s evidence that our best players are understandably looking forward to joining Clubs that are ambitious and do not drop this kind of absurd publicity mistake.

4. In the close season we lose our three best players and do not replace with with equal quality. In addition we do not strengthen in the areas we already know we are weak, principally in goal-keeping, defence and signing a creative mid-fielder.

 

At best SL has appointed mediocre managers, at worst a novice. My belief is that unless he has a serious change of heart he will c1ontinue to appoint yesmen managers who do not threaten his set-up. Unfortunately only a forthright experienced manager such as a Warnock or a Pearson who have been there and done it have the kudos to attract the players to take us to the Premiership.

 

So there we have the paradox. SL is our benefactor and biggest obstacle.

 

Are you content, like him seemingly, to support a yo-yo Championship/League 1 Club?

Unfortunately, City are just like my other sporting love , Glos CC .

They are both playing at it, NOT playing it 

[Welcome To The Jungle]

I've seen saying SL is our biggest problem for at least 5 years now. The problem is that the vast majority of our fanbase, as we saw with the ST saga last year, are happy to play his game, rather than get real change. 

This is often based on the fact that he 'bails us out every season and keeps us from going bust'. People peddling this line never mention however that our loses have gone through the roof under his tenure, and when he does 'bail us out', he just transfers it into equity so he isn't actually any poorer for it. 

The man simply has to go

[JBFC II]

2 minutes ago, southvillekiddy said:

Point taken but we have not become a regular top half Championship team and unfortunately mate I can see us back in League 1 all too easily.

We are just too good for league one at the moment, Rotherham, qpr and Ipswich are all worse I reckon. 

Can see us being 20th, just staying up in last few weeks... 

[southvillekiddy]

1 minute ago, slartibartfast said:

Unfortunately, City are just like my other sporting love , Glos CC .

They are both playing at it, NOT playing it 

Yes and it cannot be hard to find out how to play it, given our resources

[chinapig]

2 minutes ago, Welcome To The Jungle said:

I've seen saying SL is our biggest problem for at least 5 years now. The problem is that the vast majority of our fanbase, as we saw with the ST saga last year, are happy to play his game, rather than get real change. 

This is often based on the fact that he 'bails us out every season and keeps us from going bust'. People peddling this line never mention however that our loses have gone through the roof under his tenure, and when he does 'bail us out', he just transfers it into equity so he isn't actually any poorer for it. 

The man simply has to go

What would that real change be though? An owner who will spend big on players and jeopardise the finances even more (a mistake SL himself has made in the past and which led to League One) and breach FFP?

I am convinced his main objective is to make the club self sufficient - though I doubt that is possible in the Championship - as shown by the big money we have made this summer.

It's going to be a hell of a job doing that and delivering success on the pitch that's for sure.

[BobBobSuperBob]

2 minutes ago, chinapig said:

What would that real change be though? An owner who will spend big on players and jeopardise the finances even more (a mistake SL himself has made in the past and which led to League One) and breach FFP?

I am convinced his main objective is to make the club self sufficient - though I doubt that is possible in the Championship - as shown by the big money we have made this summer.

It's going to be a hell of a job doing that and delivering success on the pitch that's for sure.

I said at the start of Steve Lansdowns philosophy / ethos

To succeed we need

 

An excellent scouting system

and

Excellent coaching / management

 

One Of Those Might keep us competitive 

We have IMHO neither

[chinapig]

2 minutes ago, BobBobSuperBob said:

I said at the start of Steve Lansdowns philosophy / ethos

To succeed we need

 

An excellent scouting system

and

Excellent coaching / management

 

One Of Those Might keep us competitive 

We have IMHO neither

I would add a Director of Football in charge of or supporting the head coach rather than a Chief Executive, who should stick to the business side.

[southvillekiddy]

10 minutes ago, chinapig said:

What would that real change be though? An owner who will spend big on players and jeopardise the finances even more (a mistake SL himself has made in the past and which led to League One) and breach FFP?

I am convinced his main objective is to make the club self sufficient - though I doubt that is possible in the Championship - as shown by the big money we have made this summer.

It's going to be a hell of a job doing that and delivering success on the pitch that's for sure.

As I said at the top. We need an owner who will spend big on a manager that knows what's what. He would attract the necessary players. This is the crux of it for me.

At the moment we have a Manager and scouting system that either waste money buying the wrong players or cannot manage them to our benefit.

The problems starts with SL

[chinapig]

8 minutes ago, southvillekiddy said:

As I said at the top. We need an owner who will spend big on a manager that knows what's what. He would attract the necessary players. This is the crux of it for me.

At the moment we have a Manager and scouting system that either waste money buying the wrong players or cannot manage them to our benefit.

The problems starts with SL

Would that kind of manager sign up to SL's strategy and accept being head coach? They tend to want total control, not to mention lots of money to spend.

And would they attract players if those players could get bigger money elsewhere?

It is a hard circle to square, though I agree that the strategy has not been well executed so far. Much of that goes beyond the head coach I think.

[Scrumpylegs]

Get a grip people ffs. We've played 3 league games and lost 1!! Not the end of the world as many of the above posts/posters would suggest. Some of the posts on this thread show an almost staggering level ignorance!!

[WestonRobin]

50 minutes ago, JBFC II said:

We are just too good for league one at the moment, Rotherham, qpr and Ipswich are all worse I reckon. 

Can see us being 20th, just staying up in last few weeks... 

I’m glad you can - I just can’t see where the goals are going to come from.

We are always liable to defensive mistake and impotent up top. A long hard season awaits.

Unless it changes there could be many 1-0 or 2-0 losses

[REDOXO]

The notion that a guy worth a couple billion is happy being the owner of a Championship club says a lot about those that actually think it. Particularly in view of what is around them every week!

I can go along with LJ being suspect, but the thought that some think SL lied when he says he expects a better finish than last year and obvious progress is seriously concerning

[BS4 on Tour...]

1 hour ago, JBFC II said:

Agreed all the way up to the last sentence. 2 years in league one in the last 11 doesn't make us a yo-yo team in my opinion

How about 13 seasons in the third tier in the last 23 years?

[joe jordans teeth]

1 hour ago, southvillekiddy said:

1.  BCFC operate in an area which is a footballing backwater with 2 football Clubs in the Football League (as opposed to say an area like Lancashire which has 5 Premiership Clubs and 11 Football League Clubs – 16 in total). This has to mean that City have to pay above and beyond if they truly want to compete and be taken seriously nationally.

2.  We are stuck with a billionaire owner and I'm sorry but BCFC has become his plaything. He has spent millions but I'm unsure how much of those millions he will never see again as opposed to the average fan who stints himself each week supporting City and paying out a higher proportion of their income than SL will ever do with no return (apart of course for our enfeebled, desperate, dwindling hope for a better future for our Club)

He has made a fortune in business. I can’t believe he has done this by appointing yesmen and yeswomen but this is what he does with his plaything Football Club. Last season proves this in my opinion. Whatever he has said about Premiership football events show that he is happy to stay in the Championship.

3.  Last season was a revelation until January. Bristol City are playing pressing, attacking,skilful football and are second in the Championship. We have not been in this position with a genuine chance of promotion since GJs time. Many Championship Clubs, much more famous than our own, dream of being in this situation. In addition our best players attract attention through our brilliant Caraboa cup run.

What happens in the January transfer window? One of our yesmen announces that we are not really interested in Premiership promotion and we do not buy additional quality players. The style of football LJ has provided relies on fresh blood to operate it. As a consequence the steam goes out of our football, there’s evidence that our best players are understandably looking forward to joining Clubs that are ambitious and do not drop this kind of absurd publicity mistake.

4. In the close season we lose our three best players and do not replace them with equal quality. In addition we do not strengthen in the areas we already know we are weak, principally in goal-keeping, defence and signing a creative mid-fielder.

 

At best SL has appointed mediocre managers, at worst a novice. My belief is that unless he has a serious change of heart he will continue to appoint yesmen managers who do not threaten his set-up. Unfortunately only a forthright experienced manager such as a Warnock or a Pearson who have been there and done it have the kudos to attract the players to take us to the Premiership.

 

So there we have the paradox. SL is our benefactor and biggest obstacle.

 

Are you content, like him seemingly, to support a yo-yo Championship/League 1 Club?

Who wants to buy this club in the football backwater as you put it,we all think city have potential because we are Bristolian but outside our world nobody would buy this club

[Welcome To The Jungle]

33 minutes ago, chinapig said:

What would that real change be though? An owner who will spend big on players and jeopardise the finances even more (a mistake SL himself has made in the past and which led to League One) and breach FFP?

I am convinced his main objective is to make the club self sufficient - though I doubt that is possible in the Championship - as shown by the big money we have made this summer.

It's going to be a hell of a job doing that and delivering success on the pitch that's for sure.

I have never said I want to spend big. I would much prefer we invested in youth football for the city of Bristol and our academy. Think of all the big money (1 million plus) flops or disappointments since LJ has taken over. Tomlin, Mags, Djuric and Engvall, with the jury still out on many others. A 4G pitch, that can be rented out and earn the club money, costs between 300k-500k. Instead of spending all this money on these players, we could have maybe 20 of these pitches across Bristol, perhaps some inside too. This would really help boost youth football in Bristol and aid us in producing more Bryan, Reids, Kellys and Vyners to truly make the club more viable. It would be like printing our own money.

In my opinion we should be looking to base ourselves on Athletic Bilbao. Not only are they in profit, but are one of just three teams in Spain to have always been in the top flight (the other two are Barca and Real), all whilst restricting themselves to only players born in the Basque region. Imagine a City team of all West Country players, with low ticket prices and a great club ethos. All whilst being fan owned and without a sugar daddy. 

That is my ideal and it is clearly possible if investment from selling the likes of Flint, Reid and Bryan, is invested properly in the future, and not spunked up the wall on over inflated player wages, transfer fees and agents fees.  

[ashton_fan]

9 minutes ago, BS4 on Tour... said:

How about 13 seasons in the third tier in the last 23 years?

SL wasn't in charge back then, remember Scott Davidson?

[chinapig]

12 minutes ago, Welcome To The Jungle said:

I have never said I want to spend big. I would much prefer we invested in youth football for the city of Bristol and our academy. Think of all the big money (1 million plus) flops or disappointments since LJ has taken over. Tomlin, Mags, Djuric and Engvall, with the jury still out on many others. A 4G pitch, that can be rented out and earn the club money, costs between 300k-500k. Instead of spending all this money on these players, we could have maybe 20 of these pitches across Bristol, perhaps some inside too. This would really help boost youth football in Bristol and aid us in producing more Bryan, Reids, Kellys and Vyners to truly make the club more viable. It would be like printing our own money.

In my opinion we should be looking to base ourselves on Athletic Bilbao. Not only are they in profit, but are one of just three teams in Spain to have always been in the top flight (the other two are Barca and Real), all whilst restricting themselves to only players born in the Basque region. Imagine a City team of all West Country players, with low ticket prices and a great club ethos. All whilst being fan owned and without a sugar daddy. 

That is my ideal and it is clearly possible if investment from selling the likes of Flint, Reid and Bryan, is invested properly in the future, and not spunked up the wall on over inflated player wages, transfer fees and agents fees.  

I wasn't suggesting you were advocating big spending just raising questions.

I largely agree with what you say, though the Academy is given far more priority under the current regime than before.

The approach you advocate will require a lot of patience, something that is in short supply around here. Alan Dicks was given years to achieve something similar, getting as much stick along the way as LJ, though without social media of course.

It is much harder now to do what Dicks did mind you, the financial gap to the big clubs being very much greater.

Sooner or later fan pressure will lead to LJ being sacked but the strategy won't change so his replacement will have the same challenges and constraints.

[BS4 on Tour...]

24 minutes ago, ashton_fan said:

SL wasn't in charge back then, remember Scott Davidson?

I wasn’t replying to a post about our owners, just our record in the second and third tiers, so your reply isn’t relevant....

[BobBobSuperBob]

4 minutes ago, chinapig said:

I wasn't suggesting you were advocating big spending just raising questions.

I largely agree with what you say, though the Academy is given far more priority under the current regime than before.

The approach you advocate will require a lot of patience, something that is in short supply around here. Alan Dicks was given years to achieve something similar, getting as much stick along the way as LJ, though without social media of course.

It is much harder now to do what Dicks did mind you, the financial gap to the big clubs being very much greater.

Sooner or later fan pressure will lead to LJ being sacked but the strategy won't change so his replacement will have the same challenges and constraints.

Somewhat off topic but

After (eventually) finding somewhere to park , as a I walked to ground I saw two of our Academy / U23 lads abandoning their car on the corner of a junction 

They were in a panic and clearly trying to get to the ground for a certain time

I did speak to them and pointed out as a couple of others who walked by that the car was likely to be towed so to be careful

Very polite , said they couldn’t park at AG and moved the car

Some minutes later both sprinted past me heading for AG

Not a massive point but It did have me thinking should we not be finding some parking facility for our (hopefully) future stars ratherthan reserving the car parking spaces for suits ?

[Robin Wood]

1 hour ago, JBFC II said:

Agreed all the way up to the last sentence. 2 years in league one in the last 11 doesn't make us a yo-yo team in my opinion

But next year might 

[chinapig]

6 minutes ago, BobBobSuperBob said:

Somewhat off topic but

After (eventually) finding somewhere to park , as a I walked to ground I saw two of our Academy / U23 lads abandoning their car on the corner of a junction 

They were in a panic and clearly trying to get to the ground for a certain time

I did speak to them and pointed out as a couple of others who walked by that the car was likely to be towed so to be careful

Very polite , said they couldn’t park at AG and moved the car

Some minutes later both sprinted past me heading for AG

Not a massive point but It did have me thinking should we not be finding some parking facility for our (hopefully) future stars ratherthan reserving the car parking spaces for suits ?

It is certainly extraordinary that players should be put in that position.

[JBFC II]

11 minutes ago, Robin Wood said:

But next year might 

The key word there is ‘might’

52 minutes ago, BS4 on Tour... said:

How about 13 seasons in the third tier in the last 23 years?

Absolutely zero point going back to 23 years ago, football was completely different then...

[ScottishRed]

1 hour ago, Scrumpylegs said:

Get a grip people ffs. We've played 3 league games and lost 1!! Not the end of the world as many of the above posts/posters would suggest. Some of the posts on this thread show an almost staggering level ignorance!!

‘Staggering level of ignorance ‘

Can you expand on that please?

[BS4 on Tour...]

6 minutes ago, JBFC II said:

The key word there is ‘might’

Absolutely zero point going back to 23 years ago, football was completely different then...

Zero point looking back 11 years, like you did....lots of things were different then too....

[BobBobSuperBob]

1 hour ago, Scrumpylegs said:

Get a grip people ffs. We've played 3 league games and lost 1!! Not the end of the world as many of the above posts/posters would suggest. Some of the posts on this thread show an almost staggering level ignorance!!

I agree 

Yours in particular 

[Kid in the Riot]

Footballing backwater yet Swansea, Cardiff and Bournemouth have managed alright...