Shauntaylor85

27 minutes ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

I think we can net off top 2 tbh. Realistically the best we can hope for under the current model of football finance distribution aligned with financial regs IMO is playoffs.

I'd argue though that £10-15m should be put back in of the Scott money.

The manager doesn’t have a surname of Johnson. Amazing really how such a poor coach was given such a crazy amount of cash to waste. I really feel Nigel P has had to deal with so much and just feels little respect is shown in return. Whatever happens I will stand and applaud Nige the day he goes. Saved the club from inevitable relegation back to League One. Just feel disappointment that we haven’t backed a proven manager at this level enough. 

3 hours ago, Ivorguy said:

This situation is painful to watch

An absent and, on present evidence, disinterested owner

An excuse for a Board led by another disinterested family member

Owner desperately seeking a buyer - but for what?  City or Bristol Sport

What annoys me most is the total disregard for the fan base, which will still be here, come hell and high water.  Anyone worth their salt would make a full statement on the present and future of City.

I feel ashamed on behalf of City for the way the enormous effort put in by NP to sort the mess out on the football side is ignored by the owner and Chair.  I, for one, believe he is one of the best managers I have seen in over 70 years of following City.  How he keeps optimistic is a mystery to me, so from one older fan, Thanks for everything Nige, but above all thanks for giving us hope.

 

Took my wife and kids to the game last week (she is a season ticket holder at a top PL club). £44 it cost us for a seat in the Lansdown to watch an average champ game. All I will say is she came away saying surely we are all ready for an ownership change. It’s same old same old.  Great legacy, not being ungrateful, but it’s time for new blood in BS3 and I’m not talking about the management who I think are the best we’ve had in some time, but will be made scapegoats. 

2 minutes ago, ORANGE500 said:

Yes given your negative outlook you should give up there must be something in life that makes you happy because it sure isn't following Bristol City.

Why can’t I show disappointment as a season ticket holder of over 30 years that we are not investing and maximising an opportunity whilst other clubs are. I don’t think we are a great side to watch, early days but with Conway out and Scott gone, the squad is lacking creativity and goals. We needed a striker before Conway was injured.  

May as well give up to be honest. What a joke if this is true. The current squad will not finish in the top half, if anything I struggle to see three worse sides with our lack of goal threat. Big worry, starting to envy Birmingham and their new era. 

Welcome and fair play to Piercy, he is very ITK, more than Gregor! 

1 minute ago, deadredfred said:

3 games in 

I agree but it’s been so underwhelming. Scott and Conway are a massive loss as is Semenyo and we haven’t replaced any of them. 

2 hours ago, Davefevs said:

Hopefully he’ll get 45-60, to test his heel, and be ready for Friday.

Are we better off going back to how we played with Andi before in a 3.5.2? I think we will score more goals in that shape and potentially retain a solid shape. 
 

                                   Max

                  Vyner         Dickie     Pring   
 

       Sykes         James        Knight     Roberts 

                                   Weimann

                         Wells          New striker/Conway 

Just now, Shauntaylor85 said:

Are we better off going back to how we played with Andi before in a 3.5.2? I think we will score more goals in that shape and potentially retain a solid shape. 
 

                                   Max

                  Vyner         Dickie     Pring   
 

       Sykes         James        Knight     Roberts 

                                   Weimann

                         Wells          New striker/Conway 

 

Pring or Naismith 

38 minutes ago, Finley_Smith10 said:

We need quality if we want to get top 6. Not another one with potential to grow

We aren’t getting top 6. Nowhere near! Be lucky to avoid bottom 6 at this rate. 

It is what it is, let’s see what happens by the end of the window. If we don’t address the core issues of the squad then I seriously question the management at board level and the recruitment team. 

5 hours ago, Davefevs said:

I deep down wanted Paul Cook, but I think whoever came in was on a bit of a hiding to nothing under the set-up we had in place.  I thought Cook (like Cotts) had a good eye for a player, and maybe he’d have brought Leam Richardson with him too?

Thats why I wanted LJ to call it (the set-up) out, if anyone had SL’s ear it was him.  I’m looking forward to reading his books, because if there really is at least “three books worth”, then he did himself a disservice and us fans too by not sorting it!  Many will disagree with me.  Enough digression about LJ though.

Cook for me was a bit like Gary Johnson (those bloody Johnsons!!!), had earned his spurs and think he needed a club like us to show his ability.  It makes no difference that he bombed at Ipswich, just like it makes no difference that Hughton didn’t set the world alight at Forest.  Each club is different.  I think City was the natural progression for Cook.

I believe he (Cook) was interviewed (more than once) and I think he saw the problems.  The story is he pretty much removed his interest during the interview with JL and MA.  No surprise they (Cook and MA) clashed at Ipswich.

Neil I never quite wanted, probably bias around his cynical teams.

An LJ book? I cannot think of something I would sooner use as fish and chip paper! A load of nonsense no doubt! As I said, wouldn’t welcome him back to BS3 ever in any capacity. 

3 minutes ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

How would you have gone summer 2020 with all the uncertainty as it was out of interest?

I've mixed views. We may have gone up or maybe we would have ended up in a bigger financial mess that would have actually proved quite insurmountable.

We were quite bullish reportedly in terms of opening up early or pro getting the ground etc open..had we appointed a bigger name and given it a go, combined with a season under lockdown and no commercial revenue or next to none-and not gone up we would have been in an almighty mess.

We would have had to come up in 2020-21 or 2021-22 at the latest.

It was the progressive appointment interview on Talksport followed by the six week vigorous process to appoint someone who should never have been in the running. I would have gone for a proven manager as did many at the time. Even Alex Neil would have been a better option. 

1 hour ago, tin said:

SL uses deflection very well; he’s never taken any responsibility for his own cock-ups in more than two decades. I would put money on him telling Nige privately something like you can only have 10% of the Scott cash but they have to fit in our wage structure, only to blame him when the shit hits the fan despite Nige always saying he will only sign players who are better than we’ve got. Classic SL.

I lost respect for the owner when he did the Tinnion and Millen mistake again with Holden. Still getting over it now! He’s been great for the infrastructure of the club but football decisions on the whole have been poor. Cotterill another who was let go too soon and not backed. Someone else who inherited a mess. LJ was given so much backing it was unreal! He should have been sacked for finishing 11th after being 2nd in the January. 

It wouldn’t surprise me if pal Lee is back in charge next summer. Or we end up with Tinnion having his second spell! We need change, and it’s not management. 

3 hours ago, petehinton said:

I think this is the point where it really highlights just how ****** we were when Nige came in. All those players gone or revised, and we’re still probably not in the greatest of places. 

SL doesn’t see it like that though does he. He appears to think we should be doing better, JL said the same last season. However it wasn’t Nige fault that the previous regime threw money at average players who all ended up going for £0!!

50 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Dunno Harry is the honest answer.  But even in that Williams clip (1m15s) above you see Roberts drift inside, Williams goes wide, J.James tracks Williams, Sunjic tracks Roberts….basically they’ve swapped their designated men.  But then Roberts “re-verts” and with J.James still tracking Williams (infield) and Williams now on the ball, Sunjic has to follow Roberts, out of the centre.  Neither get tight, a bit unsure of each other’s position, Roberts receives, feeds Mehmeti and we are over the half way line.

Its pretty simple stuff.

I wrote this pre-season:

 

The successful sides at elite level play with the inverted full backs. Look how good Man C and Arsenal used this last season.  A lot of Arsenal fans prefer Tierney offensively but Zinchenko was a key part of their midfield playing inside. I am convinced we signed McCrorie and Roberts for this reason.

Commands his box very well. Legend from Carlisle away. 

Just now, chinapig said:

Despite the fact that Nigel has made it clear that that's what he wants they seem unwilling or unable to do it.

He was critical of them after the Preston game and hinted at the same yesterday. Who'd be a football manager?

Pring and Tanner have been so poor so far. Pring is a quality player but something is missing. Roberts deserves to start. I’d go with Sykes over Tanner or even a return to 3.5.2. 

We need a number one GK, creative mid and a striker, then defensive cover. We need to attack the loan market IMO.  

6 minutes ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

£10m for Bellingham sell-on iirc and the younger Bellingham also by association probably by association £1.5m initial fee although some of their fans seem to think that they will also get the same percentage of the add-ons too?? That sounds unusual if so.

Some of their fans also quite bullish about income saying they forecast a rise of £5m this year being conservative, even £10m..hmm. Their ground redevelopment and repairs should be done by October/November time but who knows.

Scott and Semenyo sure would have made a difference yesterday but that's all in the past.

This is it. You take Conway out too and we have lost 3 excellent players at this level and not replaced them (appreciate Tommy is injured and you’ll never realistically get a like for like for the other two). Big 10 days or so ahead, will define the future of Nige. Miyoshi was a class act, Dembele looked dangerous too and always rated Bacuna. Just felt they had a good balance and surely these are sort of players we could do with and could have had an ability to bring in. 

Just now, Glen hump said:

The owner no **** all about football 

I will always respect what SL has done for this club, Ashton Gate (aside from the Atyeo) is a class stadium now as are the facilities at the HPC, but I feel we are a club that needs a fresh impetus and almost overhaul. Chatting to the Birmingham fans on way back they are buzzing with Brady and having new ideas and investment. Makes you wonder if anyone has made a serious play for us. Just feel we are stale at present, it’s same old, same old and fans won’t keep paying £40 to sit in the best seats to watch average football. 

Not convinced we need to spend the wages on him, we have Pring and Naismith who can slot in next week, a couple of good academy players coming through, the wages need to be invested in our toothless attack and woeful midfield. 

14 hours ago, formerly known as ivan said:

… to get:

Goalkeeper - MOL is a liability. Gets an easy ride as he came through the youth team. In reality he is not good enough to start championship football week in week out. Distribution is shocking, put us in trouble a number of times today. A myth that be commands his box. We need an upgrade asap

Scott replacement - We all knew he would leave for big money. Plans for his replacement surely must have been under discussion months ago. Knight was not Scott’s replacement. If anything he was HNM. We cannot create anything and have three identical midfielders starting.

Striker - Bell is not a striker as shown today. Wells is three years past being anywhere near the standard needed. An option off the bench but should not be starting. Conway’s injury was bad luck but he will be out for a while.

We have a squad barely capable of competing. Pinching 1-0 wins here and there will cover over cracks, not fix them.

If paying fees are out the question then NP needs to swallow his pride and look at the loan market for quality.

Max is an OK keeper, he did well yesterday with some deflected strikes, but his playing from the back and overall ability to command his box is questionable. He isn’t a keeper who is going to get you up the table, it is probably the weakest we have been at GK for many years. Surprised we haven’t acted on this. The Forest keeper on loan at Luton last year would be perfect. Cardiff also did well to get Runnarson, highly rated by Arsenal coaches. 

In over 30 years as a season ticket holder I bemoan the same issue year after year. We are so weak in ineffective in midfield. We have always had decent keepers (aside from current), quality left backs and strikers who have gone for millions, but midfield? We may as well not play with one, I was always desperate to sign Graham Kavanagh, Robert Koren, players who create and score goals, yet same issue now! We’ve got the Skuse, Burnell, LJ, Kilkenny type players, ineffective! Create absolute zero! When was last time our midfield put forward an exquisite through ball for one of our players to run through on goal? Even Scott struggled for goals and assists, but aside from him, Tinnion and Brownhill (and yes I didn’t rate Hartley, couldn’t get that one), I can’t think of any midfielder in the past 30 years who has really dominated and put us on front foot. 
 

It needs sorting now. Come on Tinman, you know it’s a weak spot for us. 

20 minutes ago, Reefer Madness said:

I'm going to say again .. what did people expect of this season!?

 

Look at the squad. It just doesn't have the quality.

Tell the club PR channels that….promotion push, a squad capable of challenging, our owner even says our squad is better than Luton Town! When you look at it, we lack anyone who can take the game by the scruff of its neck. 

My wife said to me last night ‘why are you all still Pearson in, he doesn’t get results and you’ve given other managers more grief!’ Another mate text me saying ‘time for Pearson to go?’ I’m a big Nige fan but when you look at this season so far it’s reminiscent of Pulis ball so can understand why people outside of the club are asking. When you see clubs like Brighton, Brentford and Luton you do have to wonder if we are just cursed as a club!