Shauntaylor85

30 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Vigoreux?

Egan-Riley?

Obafemi?

Some good options. I hope Nigel was bluffing yesterday. Hopefully the adrenaline and nerves of deadline day take us back in to the market.  

20 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

For once, I’d consider what pool of players Burnley have.

Twine would have been the one. Surely a £1M approx fee for Massengo enables a loan or two! That’s approx £20K a week. 

11 minutes ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

Weimann and Wells renewed on much lesser terms I thought so not sure about that.

The fact that both are 32/33 respectively means we should be looking to use the Scott cash to replace them now! Not wait. 

Ashton Gate is a problem for us. As much as it’s a great day out off the pitch, on the pitch it’s so easy for an away side. I sort of miss the old sheds we used to have! Felt we were a tougher proposition! 

1 hour ago, Tomo said:

We need cover at GK, CB and CF...

The simple summary is...

Mr Lansdown is not showing any intent to support Nigel Pearson, whilst we all know that we need cover in these positions. I feel for the manager especially when we have sold 35 Million of talent recently in Semenyo and Scott. 

It's a poor move by our owner not to support him. We are not talking about spending huge amounts of money to get that cover in, whether that's loan or permanent signings. It must be so frustrating for NP, when he knows that Little Lee had a open cheque book (which was the wrong thing to do clearly). 

I don't think Nige has a reputation of wasting money at any of his previous clubs and whilst he was aware of our financial position when he was appointed, there must be an air of frustration creeping in now, in view that we have sold 2 of our most valuable assets. 

I think it's naughty of SL not to give him some kind budget to get the cover in those key positions. For example, if we get injuries to players like Max, Vyner and Nahki, (alongside our other injuries), we are going to be struggling imo. 

Tomo   

Great post and one which should be send recorded delivery to the boardroom at AG! 

Didn’t see the game last night but heard good things around Yeboah. Are we seeing him as more of a right sided option or central striker? It’s clear as day even before Tommy was injured that we needed a powerful CF. 

11 minutes ago, Tomo said:

We need cover at GK, CB and CF...

The simple summary is...

Mr Lansdown is not showing any intent to support Nigel Pearson, whilst we all know that we need cover in these positions. I feel for the manager especially when we have sold 35 Million of talent recently in Semenyo and Scott. 

It's a poor move by our owner not to support him. We are not talking about spending huge amounts of money to get that cover in, whether that's loan or permanent signings. It must be so frustrating for NP, when he knows that Little Lee had a open cheque book (which was the wrong thing to do clearly). 

I don't think Nige has a reputation of wasting money at any of his previous clubs and whilst he was aware of our financial position when he was appointed, there must be an air of frustration creeping in now, in view that we have sold 2 of our most valuable assets. 

I think it's naughty of SL not to give him some kind budget to get the cover in those key positions. For example, if we get injuries to players like Max, Vyner and Nahki, (alongside our other injuries), we are going to be struggling imo. 

Tomo   

It appears from afar that the owner or board has never really showed much love for Nige, let’s be honest. Just get that feeling. Aside from Gould who I thought built a positive relation, his leaving is a bigger blow than we thought. PA came to the club with a strong PL pedigree, we have not heard from him, JL as chairman or SL since the season commenced. SL each year did an interview on RB as did the CEO with Geoff T, none of that is happening now. It can’t be because Geoff has retired and was the one pushing it!

The fans were pushing hard for the Nige appointment at the time and overall he has retained much support from the fan base because we can see what a tough rebuild he has had on his hands. The fact he developed Scott and Semenyo to £35M approx of sales and is doing the same with other talent like Vyner, Pring etc, he is ticking the box of having to coach better as quoted by our owner in the past and also utilise the academy depth which he has done more than any other manager. Indeed look at the amount of talent LJ loaned out and pushed to one side to instead buy the likes of Marley Watkins and Gustav Engvall!

He’s done what was required wage bill wise and now I think they are content to see what happens knowing they can make a change at end of the season with the contract or low risk to do it before.

We know as a fan base that if backed by Friday to bring in one or two in the final third, we can have a reasonable season of success. Failure to do so leaves a bad feeling and has the hallmark of a relegation battle which I fear could end in the wrong management change (eg return of LJ or a Nathan Jones!) and a disaster on our hands to undo all the hard work of last few years. 
 

Plus…..we are still charging non members £44 a ticket!

1 minute ago, myol'man said:

Go in 1-0 down at half-time, get Max to throw the ball in the net 6 times in the second half. SL pulls the trigger. 

It's happened before, ask Tins

It worries me that he is also very close to the owners and we know what happened with DW’s exit years ago. 

Do we need to consider letting or or two go to bring in better? For example some of the higher earners? Williams is the standout for me, we could trade him for a more creative midfield player which we desperately need! Maybe we also need to accept Cornick/Wells to be sacrificed for a better forward player until Tommy returns. 

2 hours ago, pl00peh91 said:

Is this guy not very good, low on confidence, struggling to adapt to a new level or what?

He seems very much a confidence player struggling with his decision making at the moment. It’s a shame as he was transferred with much promise in January and was supposed to be a main target this summer, so he’s had an extra six months to get up to speed ready for this season but it doesn’t seem to have worked.

He’s still young so hopefully in time he will flourish, could use that sooner rather than later though as we are struggling for goals at the moment!

Remember Alan Nixon calling Mehmeti as his champ signing of the Jan window. He looks like the player from Woodford Town. 

When your manager’s surname is Johnson, this happens in one season. It’s embarrassing SL! The overrated golden boy’s signings ended to all leaving the club for £0! Yep, £25M plus of fees spent to really back LJ, high wages and zero return! Nige has spent approx £8M by my reckoning in 3 years!!!!

£3M on Massengo

£4M on Wells

£3.5M on Palmer

£2M on JD

£2.5M on Nagy 

£8M on Kalas 

£2M on Bentley 

£1M Afobe loan deal 

#BackOurNige!

17 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

It’s the bullshit that must drive him mad.

SL saying he could spend what he raised, comments from the club that we have a top half budget.

I’d really like to know who is earning that then.

13 gone since January, only 7 in & loads of high earners off the wage bill & £35m brought in by way of fees.

At least if SL was honest & admitted Ashton & LJ had him over I would respect him more.

I really don’t think Pearson is the type to walk but he’s been put in a very tough position by an owner who as his truly embarrassing Luton comment showed, really doesn’t understand football at all.

Yep. Totally this. We need change in BS3 and it’s not the management, Nige is the best thing to happen to BCFC, at least now we have players who are hungry for the shirt, on a reasonable wage and fit. He just needs a helping hand to bring in some quality at the top end. 

1 minute ago, Fordy62 said:

I’m so scared that SL may bring LJ back. Please reassure me. 

It is the most obvious SL move…..

This feels to me that we don’t plan to work with him long term. I wouldn’t be surprised if a bad defeat at Swansea sees it all come to a head. It is nothing short of disgraceful from the board to not back him with what he needs. I have a horrible feeling that the return of LJ is around the corner and then watch the cash being splashed….and wasted as before! I just feel the board don’t see the progress that we see as fans. SL comment on Luton summed it up for me. Feel really sorry for Nige. 

To be honest time has come for change IMO. The current owners have had their time and for the most part it’s been disappointing. Their name deserves to be associated with the stadium of course and the infrastructure, but the investment made into the former manager’s son and a certain former CEO which was the downfall and why we ended up in this mess, as were the crazy decisions over the years to appoint likes of Holden, Tinnion and Millen. However when you see the success the former CEO has had at another fellow club, you do wonder if again too many decisions are made by the owners without being football people. As much as I love our former players too still at the club, I sometimes feel we create too much of a cosy culture because of that and think that new fresh eyes would shake things up a bit. I’ve said before that I think the best DoF for this club is Nige with a progressive Head Coach under him. He has a true eye for a player and how to build a successful culture, I just feel he isn’t given the chance to fully let loose. 

5 minutes ago, Bris Red said:

Indeed. Shameful and disgraceful that we wasted so much money.

Palmer was way more than £2M. Don’t forget £2M for Bentley and the Massengo fee same summer plus a big loan deal for Afobe. The wages and cash spent by LJ for £0 return. Crazy, hence why he and Holden fail elsewhere. 

Where are any of them. No SL interview on Radio Bristol first game either, first time in a decade or so. 

An incredibly upsetting situation for both the player and club. I was very much looking forward to seeing his high energy approach. Really hope it isn’t overly serious and the rumours are not true re season end. 

1 hour ago, Davefevs said:

Why would you loan a 21 year old who’s spent a season in the match day squad.  Like @Silvio DanteI’m not a huge fan, but he has shown flashes of why you keep him around.  What trading value are you gonna get for him…not enough to bring a player in that’s bette, for sure.  There is little / no value to loaning him.

Williams is playing pretty well.  Again, who is gonna loan him and pick up his tab to create funds and make trading viable.

Bell is rapid….but without the ball.  He has little skill to take on his man.  Even if he tries to knock it 10 yards past his man and run past him, any defender worth his salt at this level, will stick an arm across him and negate his pace through strength.  Matty Pearson (Huddersfield) did that last season.  His pace comes into its own when he’s running onto balls like Naismith early passes last night (opening 5-8 mins).

Assombalonga was onside anyway when the ball was passed, just by the time Moore headed it he was 20 yards wrong-side.

Williams isn’t playing that well, funny how we all see things differently. He doesn’t effect the game enough, is one of our higher earners and is out of contract next summer. We need to improve in the final third, I would be circulating his name this week to replace with better. The point on Bell is that whilst he is in the squad, many don’t believe he is ready for this level. I haven’t been convinced in him from day one, Conway and he were supposed to be a similar level, Conway is way ahead, our prized asset now arguably. If there wasn’t the association to the great Mickey, then I don’t think fans in general would be so accommodating. Look at the critique Cornick and others receive. 

14 minutes ago, 2015 said:

Absolutely deserved the point. I think this game highlights that if you give our side space then we can play a bit. Preston and Birmingham gave us no space at all in the two home games to play our stuff.

Knight, Naismith, Vyner, Pring and Sykes all had great games last night. Great to see Pring back to his form from last season, couple of great crunching tackles in the 2nd half especially, I do wonder if maybe the contract situation may have been on his mind for the first few games?

I love the way we play from the back when Naismith is in there, despite the fact he is prone to the odd mistake and error, we just play with much more fluidity when he is in the team.

Only negative is I don't think Sam Bell should be starting matches at the moment he's too slow in his decision making.

Overall a positive night and should have really won the game on chances created.

I agree on Sam Bell, he isn’t for me yet good enough at this level and a season loan to L1 could be a good trade off. I actually think Bell and Williams could be traded for a couple of attack minded players this week. It won’t happen, but if I could think of two players who are the weak links at present it is them in my opinion. Sam has a good burst of pace, but he lacks the positional sense and strength to play at this level. We have fast tracked him, he’s just not at it. Nowhere near the level of Conway who will play PL football without a doubt. Love to be proven wrong, just don’t ever feel he will deliver when he gets into good positions, falls over far too often. Hard to say as think he’s a great lad and his dad was the best penalty taker in club history. 

Genuinely feel a return to 3.5.2 will see a more positive return for goals. Naismith, Dickie and Vyner has a nice feel to it possession wise. Whatever happens Naismith needs to be in the team (even if in goal!! ). He gives us so much and is the best footballer at the club, wand of a left foot, I would argue the best we’ve had since Tinnion in that respect. So much better last night, albeit again feeling the loss of Scott and Tommy. I really hope we can try for one more attacking player at least this Friday, dare I say if we need to trade that we consider Williams, higher earner and despite his commitment and likeable approach, he offers us very little. Is definitely the weakest of the CM. 

9 hours ago, Davefevs said:

All fair RR, we all view things different, different tolerances, different measurements of expectations, etc.  kinda what keeps this forum going.

I don’t think you’re response comes across as entitled either.

It depends if you are a local fan or not I feel. I travel 6 hours round trip to every city home game, every game is therefore an away game which doubles the frustration rather than a 20 min drive back to Clevedon. 

22 hours ago, Simon bristol said:

As we go in to the next game with only 1 senior keeper, and 1 fit first choice centre back, and according to nige no space in our salary budget to bring anymore in, is there anyone that we can realistically move out, even on loan, to bring 1 or 2 more in?

bearing in mind contract lengths plus what I presume to be a higher earner, williams and weimann would be 2 that presumably would clear up some space?

im not sure how many more seasons wells is likely to be sticking around either, but with conway out there are no alternatives… any others we can move on to free up space?

Cornick. We just need to accept we got that one wrong it appears. 

37 minutes ago, Cannybluff said:

I'm on the fence this season. Was optimistic but when I was at the opening game it was clear that we had more depth, but had ultimately swapped Scott for Knight and Kalas for Dickie and that was about it from last season. If someone asked me if I'd like to swap back I'd definitely take it. 

I conclude that I see what Nigel has brought in terms of stability through FFP post covid but can't say I'm overly impressed with progression in terms of performances yet. 

Highly unlikely we beat 14th again, just cannot see it. Goals win games and at present just cannot see where they are coming from. Happy to be proven wrong. What happened to pre season comments of a plan with Scott and a plan without?!

It’s really interesting speaking to football fans outside of the club. All feel Pearson is on last chance saloon with us. They don’t see the whole picture, but it does feel we are coming to a moment. Genuinely believe the owners will be thinking we are better than results show, where as fans can see the deep lying issues. I called out before that when I heard LJ was appointed in 2016 I walked away from the outside concourse at Charlton, I was livid. I knew and I STILL maintain that had we gotten over ourselves from the goal that never was, we would have now been a PL club, at least for one year only, with Warnock in charge. LJ was a crazy decision, probably the most marmite player in our club history.