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Lee Johnson on Radio Bristol


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2 hours ago, BS4 on Tour... said:

I had pretty much the same conversation with SC at David Lloyd in Long Ashton ... he really thought that with a bit more serious backing he’d have done better in the championship ...

Part of me agrees, part of me not.

In terms of the backing yes. In terms of the feasibility- that's where I am not so sure. Neither Gray nor Gayle at this time were feasible- remember the context?

Ground redevelopment still being built up, small squad- think TV money then lower than now- there was not a lot in our favour- Cotts should've been a bit more pragmatic IMO. Short term self sacrifice for long term benefits as our spending power and budget increase.

Where I do agree, and do take issue with our approach at that time though is we actually were in this League with a weaker squad than we came up with!

Tavernier- Gone

Cunningham- Gone

Elliott- Retired

JET- Gone

Fredericks- Came and went, not our fault.

Did nothing for cohesion and actually weakened our depth, depth which could have been utilised to steady the ship- thinking Tavernier/Fredericks, Cunningham and Elliott. Even JET maybe, an ideal replacement for with Kodjia could've been paired more often with Kodjia as and when Wilbraham or Agard not quite suitable.

The marquee signngs may not have been possible at that time- but to actually have the squad weaker than what we came up with? Pretty terrible IMO- transfer policy that summer was a shambles, wrecked a useful foundation. Except for Kodjia, he was great. Him aside, we got a clutch of loanees but they were a mixed bag.

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99 golden chances (whatever that means) throughout the season and a conversion rate of only 36%, the lowest or second lowest in the league.  I thought that was the one of the most interesting facts to come out of the interview.

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10 hours ago, Jacki said:

Yes Eisa. At the time there was a lot of talk if Marriott coming and plenty of posters wanted Eisa instead as a cheaper alternative. When he actually signed the vast majority thought it was a good signing. 

Not how I recall it - there were a few on here claiming he was a re- incarnation of Jimmy Greaves - most however, were somewhat more sceptical and dare I say, suspicious of the whole transaction.

And if you wish to bring up Jack Marriott v Eisa - which one could be plying their trade in the PL next season ?

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6 hours ago, RobintheRed Red said:

Yes unfortunately watkins got another year on good wages

  I may be getting confused, but I think a few weeks back someone posted that he was on a three year deal, if correct, he therefore still has 2 years left - I hope I am wrong!

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10 hours ago, slartibartfast said:

:clap:                           Got the impression that if they didn't it may cause him to re-think his position .

Well we say that players who aren't 100% committed can piss off so what's the difference with LJ ? 

We don't know if he's been promised anything by SL so if he's looking to change the goalposts he may find he's dealing with the wrong billionaire businessmen.

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9 hours ago, Robbored said:

And that attitude cost him his job.

Cotterill couldn’t do more with less, which is what LJ had to do last season. Unlike LJ though he made no secret of it and shouted his mouth off and upset the owner, so ultimately I guess you are right.

LJ is a much more intelligent manager in the way he goes about his business. I just read the article on the BBC site about his contract, I’m not sure if this was mentioned on the radio last night as I didn’t listen. He says he hasn’t managed to sit down and meet with SL yet but has every intention of doing so and doesn’t see himself leaving. This is clever, it has him holding all the cards as he is assuring the owner he intends to sign ( and no doubt be asking for an improved deal and more backing) but also makes the owner a bit uneasy as he hasn’t actually secured him yet and now other clubs are aware of the situation ( if they weren’t before). 

I say the situation is pretty even, but slightly in LJ’s favour. SL has backed him when many others would have been sacked and LJ  has responded by obtaining an improved league position this season ( again) whilst selling off the club assets. Now LK has been sold and maybe others. I’ve said before that if the remit has been to improve year on year then no doubt it will be in place again. So unless we are going for 7th spot the order has to be playoffs at the minimum.

So an improved deal with improved backing to try to achieve this?  ( I realise there are no guarantees) Or another season of hoping loan players come good, finding the next sellable player and keeping hold of him beyond January and thinking the Head Coach might also be thinking of looking elsewhere?

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6 minutes ago, RedM said:

He couldn’t do more with less, which is what LJ had to do last season. Unlike LJ though he made no secret of it and shouted his mouth off and upset the owner, so ultimately I guess you are right.

What really irritated SL was that interview SC has ‘bought in’ to SLs strategy of signing and developing youngsters and was consequently appointed but over time, despite doing pretty well on the pitch had failed to implement said strategy. He then tells SL that he had “got all he could out of the squad” and wanted to buy either Gayle or Grey..............that was enough to break the camels back and SC was sacked.

Its worth remembering tho that LJ was on SLs managerial shopping list and MA was told to go and recruit him.

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5 minutes ago, Loon plage said:

Well we say that players who aren't 100% committed can piss off so what's the difference with LJ ? 

We don't know if he's been promised anything by SL so if he's looking to change the goalposts he may find he's dealing with the wrong billionaire businessmen.

Using the player analogy, and the current example of COD.

If you read the O’Dowda thread, a common theme is that he’s not excelled here (good in patches) and needs to develop/ isn’t ready to move to a higher placed side. If he was, then I think people would be more understanding of why he felt (allegedly) it was time to move on. For example, if it was Josh in Callum’s shoes and angling for a move, there would be more understanding because he is a top six/lower prem based on what he’s shown to date.

Now take Lee. He’s proven to be a manager that can get sides in the last two years around the playoffs and with a good cup run. He’s shown undoubted potential to be better than our current level - so on that basis, more Josh than Callum. With that in mind, isn’t it reasonable to see if the clubs ambition matches his own?

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1 hour ago, ScottishRed said:

Not how I recall it - there were a few on here claiming he was a re- incarnation of Jimmy Greaves - most however, were somewhat more sceptical and dare I say, suspicious of the whole transaction.

And if you wish to bring up Jack Marriott v Eisa - which one could be plying their trade in the PL next season ?

I was, and still am.

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21 minutes ago, Loon plage said:

Well we say that players who aren't 100% committed can piss off so what's the difference with LJ ? 

We don't know if he's been promised anything by SL so if he's looking to change the goalposts he may find he's dealing with the wrong billionaire businessmen.

@SuperDziek great use of it here :whistle:

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8 minutes ago, Robbored said:

What really irritated SL was that interview SC has ‘bought in’ to SLs strategy of signing and developing youngsters and was consequently appointed but over time, despite doing pretty well on the pitch had failed to implement said strategy. He then tells SL that he had “got all he could out of the squad” and wanted to buy either Gayle or Grey..............that was enough to break the camels back and SC was sacked.

Its worth remembering tho that LJ was on SLs managerial shopping list and MA was told to go and recruit him.

I think once he got us promoted he realised he had to keep us there and didn’t have the players to do so, as he hadn’t developed them. I don’t think that was his skill or interest. So he had to buy success, immediate success and thought he had earned the right to do so. I doubt he was concerned about the fair play finances, he needed Gray or Gayle or similar and couldn’t understand why not. 

And yes, I don’t think any fan of the club didn’t think that one day LJ would be back here as manager. I was surprised it happened so soon if I am honest, I thought we had a ‘one more manager’ timescale before it happened, but who knows one of our rivals may have gone for him in the meantime, SL couldn’t take that risk.

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12 minutes ago, Silvio Dante said:

Using the player analogy, and the current example of COD.

If you read the O’Dowda thread, a common theme is that he’s not excelled here (good in patches) and needs to develop/ isn’t ready to move to a higher placed side. If he was, then I think people would be more understanding of why he felt (allegedly) it was time to move on. For example, if it was Josh in Callum’s shoes and angling for a move, there would be more understanding because he is a top six/lower prem based on what he’s shown to date.

Now take Lee. He’s proven to be a manager that can get sides in the last two years around the playoffs and with a good cup run. He’s shown undoubted potential to be better than our current level - so on that basis, more Josh than Callum. With that in mind, isn’t it reasonable to see if the clubs ambition matches his own?

I get what you're saying but to me, LJ has proven nothing yet and has encouraged the hype surrounding him. He has been a tinkerman at times, has been outcoached on occasion and has been involved in the acquisition of some lemons.Therefore, Like ODowda, I think LJ has been patchy and certainly not excelled.

That isn't to say he won't end up having a fine career as a manager (although I think we are as good as it gets for him personally), but I don't think he has done enough to be demanding the club matches his ambition yet.

You could even say that if the club really had ambition , it would bust the bank to get a proven manager and support team.

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10 hours ago, BS4 on Tour... said:

I had pretty much the same conversation with SC at David Lloyd in Long Ashton ... he really thought that with a bit more serious backing he’d have done better in the championship ...

He was backed...but he shot himself in the foot by telling said players they'd be on certain wages and others in the squad that they'd get improved contracts. None were achievable under FFP and what we had in the budget. Then more underhand things came to light. There is a reason our Financial Director chose to leave, especially considering he'd been involved in writing the FFP rules. SC shot himself in the foot...he went ferrell. Went totally against what was asked of him in how we wanted to run the club...like now...and was backed, just within wage budgets, not empty promises.

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24 minutes ago, Robbored said:

What really irritated SL was that interview SC has ‘bought in’ to SLs strategy of signing and developing youngsters and was consequently appointed but over time, despite doing pretty well on the pitch had failed to implement said strategy. He then tells SL that he had “got all he could out of the squad” and wanted to buy either Gayle or Grey..............that was enough to break the camels back and SC was sacked.

Its worth remembering tho that LJ was on SLs managerial shopping list and MA was told to go and recruit him.

Whilst that wouldn't have helped, you make it sound as if he was sacked because of that - Gray/Gayle turned us down in the Summer. Cotterill was sacked in January after a run of naff results, and on more than one occasion not naming enough subs (despite being able to pick players from the academy) to try and make his point of not having enough "depth or quality".

That, amongst other reasons behind the scenes, was why he was sacked.

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2 minutes ago, Taz said:

Whilst that wouldn't have helped, you make it sound as if he was sacked because of that - Gray/Gayle turned us down in the Summer. Cotterill was sacked in January after a run of naff results, and on more than one occasion not naming enough subs (despite being able to pick players from the academy) to try and make his point of not having enough "depth or quality".

That's why he was sacked.

Yep.

He persisted with a formation that wasn't working and tried to prove a point to SL to the extent that he would have taken us down so he had to go, which was a shame as I really liked him and he clearly felt let down, so perhaps he expected different from the owner perhaps ?

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2 hours ago, ScottishRed said:

Not how I recall it - there were a few on here claiming he was a re- incarnation of Jimmy Greaves - most however, were somewhat more sceptical and dare I say, suspicious of the whole transaction.

And if you wish to bring up Jack Marriott v Eisa - which one could be plying their trade in the PL next season ?

The one that made it clear he wouldn't come here as he wanted to be at FL's Derby County, who signed him for a lower fee than we offered.

P.S. I meant to add that in losing Mariott, Posh were keen to sign Eisa - the same Posh with a track record of picking up and developing lower league strikers like Marriott, Assombalonga, Boyd etc.

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4 minutes ago, Red Army 75 said:

Aye, time to review is later. (One minor point LJ did mention about possibly spending a club record fee tonight, but also mentioned about promoting an U23. Every option open).

Tweet from evening post reporter . Sounds exciting 

….think I heard we might be singing some bloke called Stewart this week, won't be cheap though. 

:) 

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12 minutes ago, Spoonbed said:

Ah Lloyd, you young, handsome, rich, premier league footballer, where did it all go wrong?!!!!!?

Whenever I read about footballers" punching above their weight" I always think back to the "not handsome in the conventional way" Peter Crouch's classic quote.

When asked what he would have been had he not become a wealthy, premier league footballer, Crouch answered, " probably still a virgin"

 

 

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18 minutes ago, Taz said:

Whilst that wouldn't have helped, you make it sound as if he was sacked because of that - Gray/Gayle turned us down in the Summer. Cotterill was sacked in January after a run of naff results, and on more than one occasion not naming enough subs (despite being able to pick players from the academy) to try and make his point of not having enough "depth or quality".

That, amongst other reasons behind the scenes, was why he was sacked.

SL revealed at Senior Reds in December that he was unhappy with SC by saying “I didn’t believe him” when SC had said that he’d got all he could from the squad.

We glanced at each other over  the table and one guy ran his index finger across his throat.......and early in the NY SC was gone.  

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22 minutes ago, Robbored said:

SL revealed at Senior Reds in December that he was unhappy with SC by saying “I didn’t believe him” when SC had said that he’d got all he could from the squad.

We glanced at each other over  the table and one guy ran his index finger across his throat.......and early in the NY SC was gone.  

Steve " Godfather" Lansdown.

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