Poll: how would you feel about LJ leaving?

[Up The City!]

58 minutes ago, Phileas Fogg said:

Surprised that this is a 45/55% split of positive/negative reactions if he left - amazing really considering the year on year progression.

I really think he'll never truly win some people round, which is a shame. 

Those same people have disliked him since his playing days. If we lost it was always his fault.

These fans are usually the ones who seem to get enjoyment out of us losing/not winning. You dont hear from them when we are winning, I guess as we are not losing many they have taken the opportunity of not winning at home against a top 6 side to come out of the woodwork to have a moan. The reaction to Saturday's game has been pretty pathetic tbh.

[Mr Popodopolous]

7 minutes ago, BRISTOL86 said:

They also have excellent wing backs who are great at both sides of the game, which is what you need to make the system viable and something IMO that we don’t have. We are putting square pegs in round holes.

They also have creativity in midfield which we completely lack.

We have a squad that’s ideally suited to a back 4 and wingers IMO yet he won’t set up that way. Which begs the question why recruit those players if you’re then going to play a system that doesn’t suit them and say ‘they don’t play because they don’t fit the system’.

It’s your system and your recruits! 

Remember too though, we're being wrecked by injuries this season- and have been for a couple of years on and off.

                 Bentley

       Moore Kalas Williams

Hunt Nagy Brownhill DaSilva

               Palmer

        Weimann Afobe

5 of these were unavailable Saturday! Five- this makes a major difference! I think that back 3 would be best suited- Sheffield United also have the overlapping centre backs which perhaps is something we lack- this enables them to avoid being overrun in 2 v 1 scenarios in a defensive phase and helps them attacking wise as well as generally throwing the opposition quite significantly. The overlapping CB's in a back 3 is very rare though! Williams would be the third in that shape IMO but his age means that a high line is perhaps less suitable.

For me though, when all fit I'd be quite keen to see:

             Bentley

Hunt Moore Kalas DaSilva

 Brownhill Nagy Smith/Massengo

              Palmer

       Weimann Afobe

OR- if Afobe isn't available for ages.           

             Bentley

Hunt Moore Kalas DaSilva

Brownhill Nagy Massengo Eliasson OR O'Dowda

              Palmer

            Weimann 

Could always have that CM 3, and a very fluid front 3 of Palmer, O'Dowda and Weimann floating about.

The injuries are mental however.

[BRISTOL86]

5 minutes ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

Remember too though, we're being wrecked by injuries this season- and have been for a couple of years on and off.

                 Bentley

       Moore Kalas Williams

Hunt Nagy Brownhill DaSilva

               Palmer

        Weimann Afobe

5 of these were unavailable Saturday! Five- this makes a major difference! I think that back 3 would be best suited- Sheffield United also have the overlapping centre backs which perhaps is something we lack- this enables them to avoid being overrun in 2 v 1 scenarios in a defensive phase and helps them attacking wise as well as generally throwing the opposition quite significantly. The overlapping CB's in a back 3 is very rare though! Williams would be the third in that shape IMO but his age means that a high line is perhaps less suitable.

For me though, when all fit I'd be quite keen to see:

             Bentley

Hunt Moore Kalas DaSilva

 Brownhill Nagy Smith/Massengo

              Palmer

       Weimann Afobe

OR- if Afobe isn't available for ages.           

             Bentley

Hunt Moore Kalas DaSilva

Brownhill Nagy Massengo Eliasson OR O'Dowda

              Palmer

            Weimann 

Could always have that CM 3, and a very fluid front 3 of Palmer, O'Dowda and Weimann floating about.

The injuries are mental however.

Completely agree. But surely that just means you adopt a different system - one that suits the available players - to overcome it? Rather than stick square pegs in round holes just to maintain the system. 

Football’s a pretty simple game made ridiculously over complicated at times.

Pick a formation that best suits your available players to me is ‘Football 101’. 

If LJ is so adamant that 532 is his system then why were players like Eliasson and Palmer recruited as they have no place in that system. 

[Mr Popodopolous]

4 minutes ago, BRISTOL86 said:

Completely agree. But surely that just means you adopt a different system - one that suits the available players - to overcome it? Rather than stick square pegs in round holes just to maintain the system. 

Football’s a pretty simple game made ridiculously over complicated at times.

Pick a formation that best suits your available players to me is ‘Football 101’. 

If LJ is so adamant that 532 is his system then why were players like Eliasson and Palmer recruited as they have no place in that system. 

However yes, I agree- but this list of injuries isn't even the worst, we were until not long ago stretched to the limit.

Agree and disagree. It is a fairly simple game and yes, traditionally speaking but the way it's evolved means it is becoming less so- negating the opposition, tactics- it's why older school 4-4-2 is less common and becoming less common still, the higher you go.

I'd quite like to see Eliasson in a 4-3-3 maybe, he would need to come inside more than he does now though. I think Palmer could play a role in a variant of 3-5-2 tbh.

If the defensive side is a major worry in that variant, 3-5-1-1 for Palmer behind Weimann is one way to look at it, or 3-4-2-1 with O'Dowda and Palmer as the '2', but not wingers as such.

[JamesBCFC]

4 minutes ago, BRISTOL86 said:

Completely agree. But surely that just means you adopt a different system - one that suits the available players - to overcome it? Rather than stick square pegs in round holes just to maintain the system. 

Football’s a pretty simple game made ridiculously over complicated at times.

Pick a formation that best suits your available players to me is ‘Football 101’. 

If LJ is so adamant that 532 is his system then why were players like Eliasson and Palmer recruited as they have no place in that system. 

That wasn't the system we used when they were recruited.

We changed to a 3-5-2 this season because of all the injuries we had at the start.

Even in preseason it wasn't the main formation used.

[Red Exile]

I'm always amazed that LJ's dedicated supporters have such difficulty understanding his critics. So often they seem to believe that anyone thinking beyond the Lee Johnson era must hate the bloke. Truth is that unless something rather extraordinary happens he will be gone in a few years time...and we'll have another manager.

I can only speak for myself. I see City stating that their ambition is to get the Premier league in the near future. I see a manager who not only has never achieved promotion to the Premier League, but has never achieved a promotion of any sort. He's done a good job steadying the ship at a time of massive investment on and off the pitch. Is he going to do any more than that?  

He has - by City's historic standards - a stellar squad. If I was in SL's position I'd be looking, in the near future, to appoint a stellar manager who knows what promotion looks like. I can't imagine that no one at Ashton Gate is thinking the same way.

I accept that, as oft stated, SL would very much like Lee to be the man. But to question whether he is the man isn't the same as loathing him, or to be impatient, or to be wanting to mess with the club's ethos, it is simply to look at the club's stated ambitions and the managerial team in the dug out and question whether the two are aligned. They don't look to be to me.

[Mr Popodopolous]

10 minutes ago, JamesBCFC said:

That wasn't the system we used when they were recruited.

We changed to a 3-5-2 this season because of all the injuries we had at the start.

Even in preseason it wasn't the main formation used.

What was it again- the main system.

Thought we played a 3-5-2 v Derby in pre season too?

[Prinny]

I don't get upset when we replace players for not being good enough, so why any different with a manager? I don't think he's proven not to be good enough yet.

Replacing him right now would be utterly ridiculous unless like I dunno, Eddie Howe got fired. The entire squad is his, and the big failing of it is that we don't have that striker who makes a difference. Except we do, but he got hurt. So I'm willing for at least January and next off season to get the right couple of players in and really mount a more serious challenge.

If we can asset flip Brownhill/Massengo/Diedhiou and the squad players into a line stretching forward and ball playing central defender I honestly think we're good to go. Good enough to go up.

Why people wouldn't wait for that I'm not sure. There are frustrations, but I think most of the frustrations revolve around the failure to have the players I've outlined. Put Webster and Afobe in this team and we're easily 5-6 points better off. We just didn't have time to fix these issues this off season. LJ's shown he can sign good players. We've replaced so much talent and improved year on year.

Our target is play offs, we're currently failing to meet that target. By 1 goal difference. And a whopping 0 points off 4th place. With a host of injuries to key players. And with 29 games to go.

[City oz]

5 minutes ago, Red Exile said:

I'm always amazed that LJ's dedicated supporters have such difficulty understanding his critics. So often they seem to believe that anyone thinking beyond the Lee Johnson era must hate the bloke. Truth is that unless something rather extraordinary happens he will be gone in a few years time...and we'll have another manager.

I can only speak for myself. I see City stating that their ambition is to get the Premier league in the near future. I see a manager who not only has never achieved promotion to the Premier League, but has never achieved a promotion of any sort. He's done a good job steadying the ship at a time of massive investment on and off the pitch. Is he going to do any more than that?  

He has - by City's historic standards - a stellar squad. If I was in SL's position I'd be looking, in the near future, to appoint a stellar manager who knows what promotion looks like. I can't imagine that no one at Ashton Gate is thinking the same way.

I accept that, as oft stated, SL would very much like Lee to be the man. But to question whether he is the man isn't the same as loathing him, or to be impatient, or to be wanting to mess with the club's ethos, it is simply to look at the club's stated ambitions and the managerial team in the dug out and question whether the two are aligned. They don't look to be to me.

You saying no one is not wanting promotion. I keep posting 7th in this league is not bad. You must be one of the critics that are demanding top two spot each week. Every one at the club and everyone with OTIB want promotion. If LJ is not the man than no other manager would be this year as we quite simply are not ready. Every one has their point of view but negative comments are not supporting the club 

[Alessandro]

Undoubtably LJ has done an excellent job here. We are without doubt in a better position than when he arrived, the progress overseen has been pretty remarkable.

I guess the question marks are there for some for a number of reasons, fair enough. Firstly, he has had unprecedented financial backing. But it’s fair to say he has recently “earned” a fair chunk of that wedge himself. Secondly, he has had unprecedented backing from the chairman through some tough times. But clearly the chairman rightly saw, behind the scenes, that he warranted sticking by. Thirdly, something I think is underestimated, we have witnessed, and still are, the development of LJ. Just as with a young player, undoubtably mistakes were made. Some still hold those against him, others can accept it as part of the journey. 

The question is, has LJ over or under achieved with the resources available to him? Would a ‘realistic option’ manager come in and, consistently, achieve more from this squad? 

I can see the football has at times been frustrating, but frankly from watching the championship week in week out, I think our football is fairly reflective of the league as a whole. 

Ultimately you don’t go out into one the toughest leagues in the world and only lose 2 in 17 if you don’t know what you’re doing. I for one enjoy the fact that LJ has made us tough to beat, even if that has sacrificed the sexy football at times.

I think it’s very common for fans to feel there is something more available, that someone better is out there to ‘take us to the next level’. Arsenal fans thought that for years. There is also the old be careful what you wish for.
 

The question I’d be asking if we don’t finish top 6 this year is, have Bristol City taken LJ as far as he can go, or has LJ taken Bristol City as far as they can currently go? The answer will no doubt be somewhere in the middle ground but I for one am enjoying the continuity of this period in our clubs history and advocated for that all through the tough times. 
 

I wouldn’t cry if he left but I’d know that he would have left a hell of a foundation for an incoming manager who’d have no excuses not to get us promoted, anything else would be an underachievement.

[Red Exile]

1 minute ago, City oz said:

You saying no one is not wanting promotion. I keep posting 7th in this league is not bad. You must be one of the critics that are demanding top two spot each week. Every one at the club and everyone with OTIB want promotion. If LJ is not the man than no other manager would be this year as we quite simply are not ready. Every one has their point of view but negative comments are not supporting the club 

I'm neither negative nor entitled. Decades of watching City in the lower leagues knocks that out of you. However as of now, this season the club - Steve Lansdown, Mark Ashton - state that promotion is their objective in the near future. They are investing on a scale unknown in City's history. I'm simply explaining why some, myself included, might conclude that if that is the objective Lee Johnson, a manager who has won nothing, might not be the man to deliver it, and why if someone with a proven track record came in I'd not be shedding any tears.

[pillred]

2 hours ago, aa_bcfc said:

Dear me those advocating LJ being replaced need to be careful what they are wishing for. We’re sat 7th in a tough league, lost just 2 games, established in the championship, have stability and have a decent squad of players just lacking a top striker who might have been Afobe. When we lost him we also lost the creative spark of Palmer.

Previously  I was not LJ’s biggest fan but I suppose I’ve been converted and as long as we continue to show decent signs of progress as a club I’ll stick with what we have. 
 

We do seem to have plateaued as a club though albeit around 6th to 10th will be interesting to see where we finish this season, would you be happy with nearly making the playoffs again? as the last couple of seasons we have been in a great position only to fade away towards the end, to me this is a very important season for Lee finish in the playoffs and it's progress fail to do that and maybe it will be time to look to somebody with fresh ideas. 

[BRISTOL86]

26 minutes ago, JamesBCFC said:

That wasn't the system we used when they were recruited.

We changed to a 3-5-2 this season because of all the injuries we had at the start.

Even in preseason it wasn't the main formation used.

I don’t see what injuries we have that are necessitating a 532 right now. It’s in defence we are light right now so to me it’s madness to be persisting with such a negative setup at home. 

Look at the offensive talent we had on the bench on Saturday - there was hardly a creative player on the pitch. 

Nagy was running the show in midfield and wanting to get forward constantly, yet was completely overlooked time and time again by Williams and baker playing bloody keep ball amongst themselves.

All very pretty but with Kalas and Moore out on Saturday it was the ideal opportunity to take a body out of the back 5 and accommodate a more creative player somewhere. 

[Mr Popodopolous]

36 minutes ago, Red Exile said:

I'm neither negative nor entitled. Decades of watching City in the lower leagues knocks that out of you. However as of now, this season the club - Steve Lansdown, Mark Ashton - state that promotion is their objective in the near future. They are investing on a scale unknown in City's history. I'm simply explaining why some, myself included, might conclude that if that is the objective Lee Johnson, a manager who has won nothing, might not be the man to deliver it, and why if someone with a proven track record came in I'd not be shedding any tears.

2 year time frame I reckon.

We've given ourselves significant headroom with all the sales- reinvesting a bit more of it as we have seen, but the headroom is there to a point. This 2 year period feels like a possible window for clubs who may not be among the traditional contenders.

@BRISTOL86 Is 3-5-2 a negative setup though? Not necessarily IMO- can be though.

Plus, I'd actually argue that if there was a 2 year timeframe which would seem sensible- given the influx this summer, then we're ahead of schedule- remember how long it took for things to click last season.

That's before we even get onto the rolling injuries!

[NOTBLUE]

I’m not a LJ hater,l don’t even dislike him,but jeez our home performances have been mind numbingly boring for quite a while now. I can understand being cautious away from home as it seems to work,but for goodness sake let’s at least start a home game on the front foot,all too often we let teams dictate the pace of the game from the start and then we struggle to impose ourselves,we then attempt to go for it in the last twenty minutes.

[Alessandro]

6 minutes ago, pillred said:

We do seem to have plateaued as a club though albeit around 6th to 10th will be interesting to see where we finish this season, would you be happy with nearly making the playoffs again? as the last couple of seasons we have been in a great position only to fade away towards the end, to me this is a very important season for Lee finish in the playoffs and it's progress fail to do that and maybe it will be time to look to somebody with fresh ideas. 

Plateaued?! 

I honestly find that view pretty fascinating and IMO anyone who thinks that underestimates what it would have taken to get us to the excellent position we’re currently in and quite how tough it is to get out of this division. 

I think people look at the likes of Sheffield Utd and think, well if they can....but for every Sheff Utd is a Leeds, Forest, Birmingham, Derby, Middlesbrough, Hull, QPR, Sheffield Wednesday....I could go on. 
 

I think it’s far too over simplistic of some to say a new manager with a proven track record would just waltz in and get the job done. 

[JamesBCFC]

3 minutes ago, BRISTOL86 said:

I don’t see what injuries we have that are necessitating a 532 right now. It’s in defence we are light right now so to me it’s madness to be persisting with such a negative setup at home. 

Look at the offensive talent we had on the bench on Saturday - there was hardly a creative player on the pitch. 

Nagy was running the show in midfield and wanting to get forward constantly, yet was completely overlooked time and time again by Williams and baker playing bloody keep ball amongst themselves.

All very pretty but with Kalas and Moore out on Saturday it was the ideal opportunity to take a body out of the back 5 and accommodate a more creative player somewhere. 

I think its down to the LB position.

I know Jay would push on and was a very attack minded fullback, but he was a fullback rather than a wing back.

With Rowe as LWB his starting position is further forward than a traditional LB, and closer to his more familiar midfield position.

But when playing with wingbacks you need a third CB to cover the extra room further back, so if the opposition counter with both WBs caught upfield, the CBs can position themselves the width of the penalty area and they have enough room covered to either defend or slow down the attack long enough for players to get back into position.

 

Secondly 3-5-2 isn't a negative formation. This was proven under Cotterill, not just in League 1, but before he was sacked as he continued the gung ho mentality to almost no position effect whatsoever, also proven by Sheffield United.

[JamesBCFC]

30 minutes ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

What was it again- the main system.

Thought we played a 3-5-2 v Derby in pre season too?

Same as last seasons was the one most used in pre season I thought.

[cider-manc]

We are 7 points better off than we were this time last season. If we had those 7 points last year we would have been comfortably in the playoffs. 

I understand it's not been the most scintillating of football so far and we have drawn far too many games but the injuries and circumstances need to be taken into consideration. 

Basically i find it bizarre that that people would still be happy if LJ left and i can only assume that it is due to his playing days or the awful losing streak he took us on still being held against him.

 

[Red Exile]

11 minutes ago, Alessandro said:

I think it’s far too over simplistic of some to say a new manager with a proven track record would just waltz in and get the job done. 

I agree with you...that would be far too simplistic. I'm not sure many people are saying precisely that.

Sill, 'waltz in...job done' would make it a lot easier on those of us watching from the stands!

[Red Exile]

8 minutes ago, cider-manc said:

We are 7 points better off than we were this time last season. If we had those 7 points last year we would have been comfortably in the playoffs. 

I understand it's not been the most scintillating of football so far and we have drawn far too many games but the injuries and circumstances need to be taken into consideration. 

Basically i find it bizarre that that people would still be happy if LJ left and i can only assume that it is due to his playing days or the awful losing streak he took us on still being held against him.

 

I think you'd be wrong to assume that. I would be perfectly happy if he left, for reasons which have nothing to do with either his playing days or his losing streaks, so I wrote post #128 in this thread. I wouldn't consider my position 'bizarre' but I appreciate that people don't share it. 

[Mr Popodopolous]

21 minutes ago, NOTBLUE said:

I’m not a LJ hater,l don’t even dislike him,but jeez our home performances have been mind numbingly boring for quite a while now. I can understand being cautious away from home as it seems to work,but for goodness sake let’s at least start a home game on the front foot,all too often we let teams dictate the pace of the game from the start and then we struggle to impose ourselves,we then attempt to go for it in the last twenty minutes.

Ideal shape, setup?

[BS4 on Tour...]

1 hour ago, BRISTOL86 said:

Well actually it is, you’ve quoted me partially on purpose  to make it seem as though I’m stating facts when I’m actually giving an opinion. You couldn’t resist that urge to nit pick my comment and try and make some smart arse comment because it’s what you do to everyone.

Allow me to rephrase though for your benefit:

”Every player I’ve heard discuss Johnson’s coaching is complimentary about his ability” 

Better?

And I’m not accusing you of anything, just putting my view across that it’s incredibly tedious to see you pop up on every other thread nit picking people’s spelling/grammar or fact checking everything they write versus Wikipedia to pull someone up on minor errors. 

Some of the stuff you correct people on you’d have no way of knowing rote, so you’re clearly looking it up online after they post so that you can do your ‘actually that’s where you’re wrong’ thing. 

It’s incredibly tedious. Seemingly.

Thanks for the response. You obviously believe everything you read and lap it up as fact - I can’t see why simply correcting blatant factual errors is so tedious to you.

People constantly make stuff up and present false info as ‘fact’ - not just here but all over social media. You obviously believe everything and get annoyed when the actual facts are pointed out.

And you assume I know nothing and look everything up - you’d be surprised at how I know things ... my work, and contacts through that, has exposed me to lots of info relevant to posts on this forum.

And I don’t constantly correct spelling and grammar ‘on every other thread’ - that’s a desperate exaggeration - and it would be a full time job on here! 

But, as I said, cheers for the reply and have a nice day.

 

[NOTBLUE]

2 minutes ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

Ideal shape, setup?

Certainly not at home it isn’t

[RedLionLad]

13 hours ago, FrozenRobin said:

thoroughly agree, temporary option though?

I wasn't agreeing with you, I was taking the pi$$

Why would you get rid of someone who is exactly the same as the one you want to replace him with? Steve Lansdown has put faith in Lee Johnson and he's doing the job perfectly well, despite what some here might say.

[Red Exile]

33 minutes ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

2 year time frame I reckon.

We've given ourselves significant headroom with all the sales- reinvesting a bit more of it as we have seen, but the headroom is there to a point. This 2 year period feels like a possible window for clubs who may not be among the traditional contenders.

@BRISTOL86 Is 3-5-2 a negative setup though? Not necessarily IMO- can be though.

Plus, I'd actually argue that if there was a 2 year timeframe which would seem sensible- given the influx this summer, then we're ahead of schedule- remember how long it took for things to click last season.

That's before we even get onto the rolling injuries!

I wouldn't argue with a 2 year time frame...but the prospect of that window closing puts the pressure on...

[BRISTOL86]

38 minutes ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

2 year time frame I reckon.

We've given ourselves significant headroom with all the sales- reinvesting a bit more of it as we have seen, but the headroom is there to a point. This 2 year period feels like a possible window for clubs who may not be among the traditional contenders.

@BRISTOL86 Is 3-5-2 a negative setup though? Not necessarily IMO- can be though.

Plus, I'd actually argue that if there was a 2 year timeframe which would seem sensible- given the influx this summer, then we're ahead of schedule- remember how long it took for things to click last season.

That's before we even get onto the rolling injuries!

The way we play at home, yes, I do think it’s implemented negatively. See my comments previously about the amount of times Nagy had acres of space around him, completely unmarked, and Baker and Williams choose to go backwards and sideways instead. 

Contrast that with how Hull played when they were down by 2 and Boro went down to ten men. They could and should have won the game, whereas we could barely register a clear attempt in half an hour against ten men.  

38 minutes ago, JamesBCFC said:

I think its down to the LB position.

I know Jay would push on and was a very attack minded fullback, but he was a fullback rather than a wing back.

With Rowe as LWB his starting position is further forward than a traditional LB, and closer to his more familiar midfield position.

But when playing with wingbacks you need a third CB to cover the extra room further back, so if the opposition counter with both WBs caught upfield, the CBs can position themselves the width of the penalty area and they have enough room covered to either defend or slow down the attack long enough for players to get back into position.

 

Secondly 3-5-2 isn't a negative formation. This was proven under Cotterill, not just in League 1, but before he was sacked as he continued the gung ho mentality to almost no position effect whatsoever, also proven by Sheffield United.

The formation itself isn’t negative per se. Our implementation of it, especially at home, is. 

Look at the expected goals table. We don’t create chances. 

[JamesBCFC]

5 minutes ago, BRISTOL86 said:

The way we play at home, yes, I do think it’s implemented negatively. See my comments previously about the amount of times Nagy had acres of space around him, completely unmarked, and Baker and Williams choose to go backwards and sideways instead. 

Contrast that with how Hull played when they were down by 2 and Boro went down to ten men. They could and should have won the game, whereas we could barely register a clear attempt in half an hour against ten men.  

The formation itself isn’t negative per se. Our implementation of it, especially at home, is. 

Look at the expected goals table. We don’t create chances. 

Not disagreeing about our mentality not being overly attacking as it were, but no formation is inherently negative.

4-6-0 at Fulham the season they went up, no real striker, but it wasn't a negative set up.

 

Talked about this on another thread.

Go back a couple of years and we were too attacking at home and the result was a lot of narrow defeats.

LJ has tried to address this and it has worked in terms of the results, however he has probably overcorrected it a bit.

[Kid in the Riot]

1 hour ago, Red Exile said:

I can only speak for myself. I see City stating that their ambition is to get the Premier league in the near future. I see a manager who not only has never achieved promotion to the Premier League, but has never achieved a promotion of any sort. He's done a good job steadying the ship at a time of massive investment on and off the pitch. Is he going to do any more than that?  

Dean Smith had never won a promotion before last season when he got Villa to the Premier League. Daniel Farke won the league with Norwich last season with only two promotions to his name in semi-pro German football. From last season's successful managers only Chris Wilder has multiple promotions to his name and three of those four were at Conference, League Two and League One level respectively. Had never done it from the Championship; he is proving to be an exceptional manager though imo and Sheff U are very lucky to have him.

1 hour ago, Red Exile said:

He has - by City's historic standards - a stellar squad. If I was in SL's position I'd be looking, in the near future, to appoint a stellar manager who knows what promotion looks like. I can't imagine that no one at Ashton Gate is thinking the same way.

LJ knows what promotion looks like from his playing days, he knows what a Championship play-off final looks like too, so it's not like he has no relevant experience at this level. And as I've demonstrated above, having experience at winning promotion as a manager from the Championship is not a required attribute given the number of managers without that experience that win promotion.

Yes, he has a stellar squad, which he has played a significant part in assembling but by historic standards he's also managing in an extremely tough, competitive league that is awash with money that has filtered down from the Premier League.

I doubt SL is looking at replacing LJ, not even on his mind. He has a manager that has improved our league position with each season he has been here. He's developed players including homegrown talent and sold them for tens of millions. He's beaten more Premier League teams than any City manager since....??? Semi-final of a major domestic cup competition, fifth round of the FA Cup for the first time in 20 odd years. 

1 hour ago, Red Exile said:

I accept that, as oft stated, SL would very much like Lee to be the man. But to question whether he is the man isn't the same as loathing him, or to be impatient, or to be wanting to mess with the club's ethos, it is simply to look at the club's stated ambitions and the managerial team in the dug out and question whether the two are aligned. They don't look to be to me.

The managerial team in the dugout are doing very well, improving, and are desperate to win promotion. They are aligned with the vision and aims of the owner, and won't be going anywhere anytime soon. 

[Chappers]

Doing a decent enough job, team is generally playing well, unlucky with injuries and we are punching well above our weight.
If only it was as easy as “Hire a Big Name coach, get promoted”!