BrizzleRed

14 hours ago, Kingston_Red said:

Wow so miserable, it must be hard when you are so negative to the club you “support”. Thankfully I’m a glass half full, try it sometime, you will be happier for it.

You seem very full of yourself, seeing as you’ve only been on here 5 mins.  

Been on here before under another name by any chance???

1 hour ago, Major Isewater said:

 

Bang on Major

Over the last couple of decades, we’ve had multiple changes of managers, head coaches, a huge churn of players, coaching staff and even multiple plans and even pillars! 

Only two things haven’t changed ……… our total inability to reach the Premier League and that man in the photo.  In my mind, they are both inextricably linked.

11 hours ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

I'm thinking it definitely plays a role, the greater number of identikit grounds.

Yet there are tough away games, plenty but in any given day more than as a whole bar a few clubs at the level.

On a side note, it could be counterintuitive or even plain wrong but 10-15 years ago say we had struck when the iron was hot in the GJ era. As an average it would have been tougher and more hostile for away sides especially pampered PL- East End albeit modernised, less gentrified, the stadium itself was s bit smaller and tighter- looked older. Even if less revenue streams, I think Ashton Gate in the rain, or wind and rain swirling with rain in mid winter back then- vs sides who are big therefore you relish taking down a peg, up for it would've been trickier than some of them would think.

I recall e.g. v Barnsley in that year chanting of Where's your caravan at the Atyeo end probably East End too at keeper with long hair..I expect that sort of thing even then would have come as a bit of a culture shock to some of the big boys.

Football is definitely far more comfortable now for sure.  Maybe it’s just my older years colouring my views, but it also feels to me that there’s been a big change in football culture.  

It feels like home fans go along to be entertained these days, rather than to do everything in your power to help your team, by intimidating and unsettling the opposition and especially the ‘keeper.  Nowadays, it feels more like a lot of home fans are behaving more like they’re just going to the theatre.

Not always the fans’ fault of course, as club directives and over zealous stewarding has also contributed to this blandness I reckon.

In contrast, away fans, who are usually the more hard core and passionate supporters, although greatly outnumbered by the home contingent, usually outsing them.  Maybe that change of dynamic has had an effect on the balace of home/away results too?  

1 hour ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

Feel free, all 24 Home records and multiple seasons back there.

https://www.soccerstats.com/homeaway.asp?league=england2

Think Home Advantage generally has frayed, or at this level anyway. It is a strange League, less vigorous home support due to changes in demographic of fans, regulations is one factor. More tactical gameplans, it is difficult to pinpoint a sole factor. Counterattacking gameplay another factor.

Divisional average of Home Wins 45% is rather low as a whole IMO! Lower than I thought it might be.

Probably a lot of factors involved as you say.  I do wonder if the general gentrification of football has taken away some of the home advantage and made games far less intimidating for away teams now.

41 minutes ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

7th best Home Record tbh. Albeit a big gap to 6th and above.

I don't think the Home Fortresses at this level for a lot of sides are what they were 15 years ago, let alone longer. When I have time I'll go through Average PPG at the level for Home sides and Win Ratio.

25 pts from 23 League away games, notably 15 from 16 under Manning looks a bigger concern ironically on some levels.

3 wins in those 16 Away games...3 in 7 under NP, despite those under NP including trips to Leeds and Leicester.

Sure, it’s a funny old league now, but I remember the days when losing 8 at homw was considered pretty poor.

I accept you’ve got to judge against current standards and not the past, but  I really can’t get too excited when we’ve lost over 1 in 3 of our home games.

As you’ve alluded to, fortress AG seems a long time ago now. and that’s probably not going to improve until we start really imposing ourselves on the opposition, rather than us worrying about them.

1 minute ago, Phileas Fogg said:

The Lansdowns are the common denominator in our under achievement spanning many years

We’re on the same page then PF

9 minutes ago, Phileas Fogg said:

It's fairly tricky for us to accurately assess success of his role, but from what we can see - whilst he's been there they've been promoted twice, and employed a fantastic manager. "Let’s not overplay what he’s done at Ipswich." seems a bit disingenuous based on this.

I know you nailed your colours to the mast on Ashton, so it's probably a bit of a kick in the nuts, but there's nothing wrong with giving him credit where it's due - and I think it's difficult to argue he's done anything less than a really good job based on what we can see.

So where do you think the problem is at City then, where during MA’s time, we were on the brink of ffp disaster?  Someone has to be the cause of that surely.

1 hour ago, ExiledAjax said:

"Dire Mebude has signed a three year contract".

...

But, jokes aside, this season will be remembered for events off the pitch rather than on it. An 11th placed finish with +2 GD and a decent home record won't live long in the memory at all. Pretty much a par result given wage budget, revenue, history, and any number of other metrics/indicators you could use. It's really been quite standard out on the grass.

But, obviously what will be remembered, what has been unusual, is the off the pitch stuff. The fallout between Steve Lansdown and Alexander in the summer, including both claiming credit for the biggest transfer fee we've ever received. Ditching the CEO role. The sacking of Pearson, replaced by Manning, the winter window that largely failed. Heavy losses, car crash interviews. It's just been a very poor season off the pitch.

But hey, we got to the semi-final of the U18 FA Youth Cup, so it's not all been terrible.

Shows where we are, when 8 home defeats is considered ‘decent’.

Definitely a season to forget for me and can’t honestly see that improving next season either.

42 minutes ago, TV Tom said:

Seems strange that i purchased tickets eight times for away games and renewed a season ticket and this "problem" only cropped up the once, oh how i wish i could just go down to AG and purchase what i want with good old cash. 

Sign of things to come I fear.

I imagine when we’re eventually forced to go completely cashless, the internet con merchants will have a field day and we’ll be like sitting ducks.

57 minutes ago, Street red said:

I don't know what the figure would be but going by what marshall said there is a certain amount and considering the south stand is sold out and the atyeo for away support that leaves the dolman and Lansdown stand,So would of thought there is a figure which it is capped at I can't see us getting 17k season tickets. I have a feeling there is a rise in child tickets again which ups the figure of sales so far.

Bear in mind the ST’s are only available in the South Stand to existing ST holders and you can bet there are a good few who haven’t renewed.  The whole idea was to keep as many seats as possible free in there for potd.

There’s a lot of spin going on from the club atm and I’m sure Marshall has bought into that.  The only way I can see a big need for potd is if we were pushing capacity most games.  A bird in hand is worth two in the bush as the saying goes, so I would have thought it appears here.  

I really can’t see why the club would turn down full payment for a ST before the season begins and instead, hope that seat gets occupied by various potd people for every game and only get paid gradually, on a match-by-match basis.

Being a bit of cynic about our board, I suspect it’s more likely the so-called ST limit would only come into play as an ass covering excuse, if ST uptake fell well below expectations.

2 hours ago, Street red said:

17k ? Have a feeling the cap will be 15k season ticket holders.

Sorry, why would we cap at 15k?  

That guff about potd supporters spending more money than season ticket holders just doesn’t hold water.  

Can’t see the club turning down money from someone paying for a whole season and instead, keeping the seat empty, in the hope it gets sold every match to a potd.  Just doesn’t make any sense.

7 hours ago, fisherrich said:

We will sign 2/3 and then sell 2/3 and around we go again. No progressive plan/structure in place and no ambition. Fact.

That's certainly my fear.  Depending on what happens during the summer, it'll become clear whether SL plans on progressing this club, or is just happy with us as a bang average, mid-table Championship club.  We'll soon be finding out.

1 hour ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

Do tend to agree, we have done heavy lifting hopefully SL will now do his bit to improve our chances (so long as not reckless of course).

It is a long innings for him, has been bit the Championship moves quickly- medium term it could change again with new proposed/speculated financial Regs but it feels like we are somewhere in the cycle where we should try to retain as many key players as we can and strengthen judiciously, with generous topups in cash flow to help with this.

Exactly, if you stand still you can very easily go backwards.

Agreed 

It just feels like we're reaching the point where excuses are running out for SL.   He's run a fairly steady, though generally pretty dull ship for over 20 years and it's feeling pretty stale now.  

All credit to Liam Manning on how he's now getting performances from the almost full squad and better consistency and results are following, so that's a definite positive.   What better time to build on the very solid foundations we have now.

Not wanting to reopen the old wounds of the pro and anti Nige battle, but Lansdown is the one holding the purse strings, and he chose to not back Nige when we needed strengthening in the same areas last summer.  That's his prerogative, but he also has to own those decisions.  We're now at the point that he has his own man in, so if he fails to back Liam Manning too, that confirms to me that SL has no intention of moving this club forward.

For me, he either chooses to back the club properly again, as there probably won't be a better chance, or admits he no longer has the will, or enthusiasm.   If it's the latter and he genuinely cares about this club, his best legacy would be to do everything he can to pass it over to someone with the ambition, vision and energy to breath some fresh impetus into us.  It would feel like a right kick in the nuts if he holds back again and blows another opportunity!

6 hours ago, Negan said:

I mean you say were going to sell players that we will look back on wondering what we would of achieved if we kept them... not being funny but we aren't losing any of our best players this summer as nobody has really stood out for a better team to come in for. If I had to name our 4 key players then it would be Dickie, Pring, Knight and Twine. We may not sign Twine but I'd imagine he's going to be top priority, other than that we're not losing a semenyo or a Scott this window who would be extremely hard to replace. Conway may leave but it's not exactly hard to replace a 10 goal a season striker. I think for the first time in a long time we just have a good solid team, rather than one being carried by 1/2 star players. It needs tweaking slightly, just looking at the table shows you we are 4 wins off from being a play off challenging team. We need to get better by 10-15 points which is more than doable. IMO we need a decent striker, Semenyo type winger, a keeper that can genuinely challenge Max and not just be a number 2, back up centre back and maybe another CM should we lose both Williams and James. Then providing we keep the squad fit the expectation should be top 6. Going to be an interesting summer. 

I understand what you’re saying and agree we haven’t got stand-outs like Semenyo and Scott atm.  

What do have is a rock solid defence and I’d argue that as a unit, they’re the best we’ve had in decades.  Take a couple of the likes of Vyner, Dickie, Atkinson, Pring. Roberts, or even Tanner out of that defence, it could make a huge difference.

I see Dickie as the biggest danger.  He was awesome at QPR, then had that dip and moved here and has recaptured his form again and is like a rock in the centre.  I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see a lot of interest in him for starters

So yes, I completely agree that prolific striker is needed and a Twine type, if not Twine himself.  Trouble is they won’t come cheap and we needed both those type of players this time last season too, but they weren’t delivered!

If we have a couple of other vital current players going out of the door as well, we’ll be back to playing catch up.  Knowing how

it works here, we’ll probably end up with another couple of ‘ones for the furure’ as replacements, so we’ll never get to that finished team who can actually kick on and we’ll continue being promised jam tomorrow.

3 hours ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

 

Is it a case of increasing his nest egg or is it more that it reduces the amount he needs to put in in respect of cash/equity each year?

I'd lean towards the latter. Seems more like that IMO..should we push a bit more bow we have done financial heavy lifting, yeah tbh we should've last year once Scott went but that us quite a different scenario.

The other consideration is that the much touted new FFP Regs that are due to come in should include Profit on Disposal of Players towards the relevant cost to Turnover ratio so there is that too.

Yes, you’re most likely right and the big player sales are reducing the amount SL is putting in, rather than adding to the pot.

My point is, after all our cutbacks over the last couple of years, we should be well placed to now use that to our advantage.  If SL want’s to impose his own new financial squeeze on us, we’ll be losing all that advantage.

At the risk of sounding ungrateful and to put it crudely, if he’s not going to sh*t, he should get off the pot.  If he isn’t interested in the club any more, then it’s best he finds someone who is.  If he’s just looking at his bank balance, that will only get worse, the longer he owns the club.  Selling is completely in his own hands and it all depends on what price he puts on the club.

We’ve finished the season really well, but we know that will mean zilch if the wrong decisions are made over the summer.  With the right retentions and additions, we could make some genuine progress next season, but only if he’s fully on board with that.  If not, we are stagnant at best, and could easily start going backwards.

53 minutes ago, SecretSam said:

The "nest egg" that results in a significant annual loss?

….. or the nest egg that it was inferred that some would be given back to help fill the gaps left after the departures of Semenyo and Scott!  

2 hours ago, Clutton Caveman said:

Hard to understand how he is increasing his nest egg when we are making a loss each year.

I don’t look at it as Lansdown’s nest egg, it’s the clubs, along with the debts we owe him.  We either invest some of the money that transfers like AS and AS bring in, or we go backwards, simple as that

As for losing millions, nobody with sny sense would expect to buy a club like ours and do anything else but lose money surely?

1 hour ago, robinforlife2 said:

I have a strong feeling that next season will finally be our year. The way we have finished the season, shows that pressing the trigger on Manning early, would have been wrong. We are bouncing and hopefully we will carry this into next season, especially as we have 2 exciting players to come in and I've no doubt we will sign 2/3 more in the summer. I've got a really good feeling about next season. Finally things are slotting in to place. 

I wouldn’t get too excited if I were you.  Credit to Manning on how he’s now starting to get the results and some consistency and he’s doing a very decent job.

Don’t forget that he isn’t the problem though.  We’re Bristol City and to bring in a couple of new faces in the summer, we could easily lose several of our top players to fund it, to avoid cracking open the nest egg.

We’re perenially mid-table for a reason, and I just can’t see past us in 12 months time lamenting the sale of players X,Y & Z and contemplating what we could have achieved if we’d kept them.

I’d love to be proved wrong, but I just don’t see SL resisting the chance of increasing the nest egg and I think that’s far more important to him than a push for the Premier League.

1 minute ago, Robbored said:

That’s my point Brizzle.

Exactly and as we were in the lower leagues, it was totally appropriate for our position.  

After seeing that Terry Cooper interview with him in tears of pride after us beating Bolton, I'll never doubt the value of that competition to him, especially when you look at the honours he enjoyed with Leeds.  That was us rising from the ashes of 1982 and there was nothing embarrassing about seeing the club beginning to find its way back to a respectable place again.  Whilst I'd never want to see us in that competition again, it was just what we needed at that time to give the club a huge lift and some self-belief.

Everyone to their own though. 

10 minutes ago, BigTone said:

There are many stupid people in this world

There certainly are BT and I guess all us City fans come into that category too.  How else can we keep coming back every year with renewed hope that this year could be the one when deep down, we all know what the reality with this club will be   

4 minutes ago, Robbored said:

Really?………

I used to find that being in it was a really embarrassing reflection on our club. It is and always has been a trophy for the also rans.

I’m delighted that City are no longer in it.

For teams in the lower leagues, it was great if you got to the later rounds.  Although crowds in the early rounds were crap, it got a lot more serious when a trip to the twin towers started to loom ever bigger.  

Let's be honest, that was the only way lower league clubs were going to get to Wembley in those days and I view those times with real fondness.  Ok, there was that element of standing on the Wembley terraces and looking out onto the  pitch, and wishing you were actually at the FA or League Cup Final, rather than the Freight Rover Trophy, but I certainly wouldn't have missed it, or the Hereford semi's  .......... that said, there's nothing that would have persuaded me to stump up £454 quid to by a ringer shirt purportedly associated with it either!  

4 hours ago, kmpowell said:

I doubt there will be any buyers remorse unless they stumble across this thread and see they've very likely bought a ringer.

Bidding history below. It looks like 5 people on the final day went up agasint each other, with the eventual winner coming in at around £183, and manually upping their bid several times against the others...

Bidder	Bid amount	Bid time
Highest bidder5***tFeedback score (115)	£454.00	25 Apr 2024 at 7:57:59pm BST
h***iFeedback score (1789)	£444.00	25 Apr 2024 at 7:58:04pm BST
This is an automatic (proxy) bid placed by eBay on behalf of the bidder.5***tFeedback score (115)	£301.01	25 Apr 2024 at 7:57:59pm BST
9***7Feedback score (4286)	£296.01	25 Apr 2024 at 7:58:03pm BST
This is an automatic (proxy) bid placed by eBay on behalf of the bidder.5***tFeedback score (115)	£203.00	25 Apr 2024 at 7:57:59pm BST
n***zFeedback score (61)	£198.00	25 Apr 2024 at 7:57:21pm BST
n***zFeedback score (61)	£188.00	25 Apr 2024 at 7:57:06pm BST
This is an automatic (proxy) bid placed by eBay on behalf of the bidder.5***tFeedback score (115)	£183.00	25 Apr 2024 at 7:57:59pm BST
n***zFeedback score (61)	£178.00	25 Apr 2024 at 7:55:35pm BST
This is an automatic (proxy) bid placed by eBay on behalf of the bidder.n***zFeedback score (61)	£175.00	25 Apr 2024 at 7:55:35pm BST
4***iFeedback score (73)	£170.00	25 Apr 2024 at 7:57:09pm BST
This is an automatic (proxy) bid placed by eBay on behalf of the bidder.n***zFeedback score (61)	£156.00	25 Apr 2024 at 7:55:35pm BST
4***iFeedback score (73)	£151.00	25 Apr 2024 at 7:51:50pm BST
This is an automatic (proxy) bid placed by eBay on behalf of the bidder.4***iFeedback score (73)	£147.00	25 Apr 2024 at 7:51:50pm BST
n***zFeedback score (61)	£145.00	25 Apr 2024 at 7:55:27pm BST
This is an automatic (proxy) bid placed by eBay on behalf of the bidder.n***zFeedback score (61)	£132.00	25 Apr 2024 at 7:55:27pm BST
4***iFeedback score (73)	£130.00	25 Apr 2024 at 7:51:04pm BST
n***zFeedback score (61)	£128.00	25 Apr 2024 at 7:55:14pm BST
This is an automatic (proxy) bid placed by eBay on behalf of the bidder.4***iFeedback score (73)	£122.00	25 Apr 2024 at 7:51:04pm BST
4***3Feedback score (28)	£120.00	18 Apr 2024 at 1:01:17pm BST
4***iFeedback score (73)	£120.00	25 Apr 2024 at 7:50:50pm BST
This is an automatic (proxy) bid placed by eBay on behalf of the bidder.4***iFeedback score (73)	£113.00	25 Apr 2024 at 7:50:50pm BST
4***3Feedback score (28)	£111.00	18 Apr 2024 at 11:41:45am BST
r***1Feedback score (235)	£110.00	18 Apr 2024 at 10:19:52am BST
This is an automatic (proxy) bid placed by eBay on behalf of the bidder.r***1Feedback score (235)	£107.00	18 Apr 2024 at 10:19:52am BST
4***3Feedback score (28)	£105.00	18 Apr 2024 at 8:55:00am BST
This is an automatic (proxy) bid placed by eBay on behalf of the bidder.4***3Feedback score (28)	£103.00	18 Apr 2024 at 8:55:00am BST
r***1Feedback score (235)	£101.00	17 Apr 2024 at 10:33:12pm BST
4***3Feedback score (28)	£100.00	17 Apr 2024 at 4:38:23pm BST
This is an automatic (proxy) bid placed by eBay on behalf of the bidder.4***3Feedback score (28)	£97.00	17 Apr 2024 at 4:38:23pm BST
9***o (private)	£95.00	16 Apr 2024 at 1:09:59am BST
This is an automatic (proxy) bid placed by eBay on behalf of the bidder.9***o (private)	£93.00	16 Apr 2024 at 1:09:59am BST
6***aFeedback score (159)	£91.00	15 Apr 2024 at 8:55:40pm BST
This is an automatic (proxy) bid placed by eBay on behalf of the bidder.6***aFeedback score (159)	£87.00	15 Apr 2024 at 8:55:40pm BST
9***o (private)	£85.00	16 Apr 2024 at 1:09:50am BST
This is an automatic (proxy) bid placed by eBay on behalf of the bidder.6***aFeedback score (159)	£62.00	15 Apr 2024 at 8:55:40pm BST
2***kFeedback score (920)	£60.00	15 Apr 2024 at 8:26:25pm BST
This is an automatic (proxy) bid placed by eBay on behalf of the bidder.2***kFeedback score (920)	£51.00	15 Apr 2024 at 8:26:25pm BST
5***pFeedback score (210)	£50.00	15 Apr 2024 at 8:26:09pm BST
This is an automatic (proxy) bid placed by eBay on behalf of the bidder.5***pFeedback score (210)	£49.99	15 Apr 2024 at 8:26:09pm BST
Starting price	£49.99	15 Apr 2024 at 7:58:07pm BST

Interesting.  

Looks like that winning bidder waited until the last minute of the auction and slammed a massive bid in.  All the bids after that were automatically getting blown out the water by that huge winning bid.  Makes you wonder what their top limit was?!

47 minutes ago, Robbored said:

Have I read the bids right? £454 for Mickey Mouse cup shirt? Surely it’s a wind up…………..

Obviously some people put a lot more value on the 'Mickey Mouse Cup' than you do RR  

4 hours ago, kmpowell said:

Such a shame that somebody out there, IMO, has been ripped off by a false description.

Just to show my thinking that this shirt is from the 1984/85 season, not the 1985/86 season, I dug out the team photos from the 2x seasons.

Note the position of the B.C 82 badge. In the 1984/85 season the B.C. 82 is stamped inline with the T in Hirerite (just like the bay shirt). In 1985/86 the B.C. 82 was stamped inline with the outside edge of the last E in Hirerite.

1984/85

1985/86

 

 

 

 

Yes, completely makes sense what you say.

I notice the seller amended their listing just after the discussion on here. They changed   the description to say it was a match worn shirt, but wasn’t actually worn in the Final.

I can’t imagine anybody bidding anything like that price for any old shirt of that era though, so either someone put on an early auto bid before the listing was amended, or they haven’t read the description well enough.

5 hours ago, Carolina Reaper said:

Insane final price, if bid genuine some people got more money than sense

Agreed!

4 hours ago, Carolina Reaper said:

Insane final price, if bid genuine some people got more money than sense

I was watching it at the end and it certainly looked like a bit of bidding fever going on.

There had to be at least two people who were desperate to get it, to be able to push the price that high.  

Wonder if there’s someone thinking ‘what the hell have I done’, when they woke up this morning.  Being super-competitive, or prone to getting bidding fever are the two most dangerous things in an auction.