Steve Watts

43 minutes ago, bearded_red said:

Both of these also took over terrible teams in dire situations, while they both proved incapable of improving matters (although I do think O’Driscoll did good work behind the scenes but that’s a different conversation), nobody could argue they inherited a decent team and made them significantly worse.

Manning took an over perfectly decent mid table team with a lot going for it, not world beaters, but organised, spirited and athletic. The speed in which he has turned that team into one that plays the worst football since Tony Pulis and takes 12 points from 14 games is staggering really. He also seems to have deprogrammed the players into never being able to do anything at pace, never showing any confidence, ambition or imagination and frankly looking like the broken shells of professional footballers. You can almost see them all constantly second guessing themselves.

Almost absolutely spot on. And I agree with S'oD laying the foundations for what followed.  Also a really interesting manager to read an interview with, even if he was dour to listen to.

The only thing I'd disagree with is that for my money the football is even worse than Penis.  And yes, that does take some doing, but for my money he's somehow managed it.  

11 hours ago, Cole Not Gas said:

Manning is our coach, Tinman is our (super) academy leader and the Lansdowns own the club - none of this is news either. Let's start some current topics FFS and let the dark ages of Warnock's failed job interview with SL and Pearson's lies in 2021/22/23 all be water under the bridge.

 

Tinnion is not our academy leader. We were far better off when he was.

As for "current", as much as I'd hate Warnock anywhere near our club it's a discussion about replacing the manager who is currently failing miserably at his job. So as boring as you find the threads, they ARE current.

Seeing as you're happy with how things are going I wait with bated breath for you to start an invigorating thread on current topics...

1 hour ago, AshtonGreat said:

 

I'm prepared to give him the summer and maybe the first dozen games of next season. If there are no real signs of improvement/progress by then, I'll accept that he isn't right for the job

But by then he'd have spent a chunk of the nest egg. So this is a manager you already have doubts over being allowed to spend money on players the next manager possibly won't want... Seems a risky strategy that...

No, no and thrice no!

And also, echoing the question as to what the point would be.  He's not a long term option (I hope) and we should just about have enough to avoid the drop, so he's not saving the club from anything.  Would much rather have Mannings permanent successor in place for the run-in to allow him to assess the squad ahead of the summer.

I've always said that he'd be the reason I wouldn't renew my season ticket and that remains...though it already hangs in the balance with this plum in charge as it is!

54 minutes ago, AG City said:

I think nothing will happen now until the end of the season.  We have home games against Blackburn, Rotherham and Huddersfield next month and I think that will be the litmus test for me if we can see any green shoots or whether to call it a day. 

Two major sticking points for me are...

1. Who on earth do we go for next to replace Manning.

2. He will have a  3 year contract to pay off (god only knows why we gave him 3.5 years)

 

As I've said elsewhere in this thread, I doubt very much that his contract would need to be paid up in full - my guess is there'll be provision for a year severance pay in the event of dismissal due to poor performance.

1 hour ago, One Team said:

I agree mate but really depends how the Leicester game goes. If we win, great, maybe it’s a stay of execution or even a turning point. If we are losing, especially badly, it could be really bad especially with the Nige/Leicester thing. You can, for example, easily see a scenario where there are chants against Manning and for Nige if it’s a heavy defeat. 

At least if we beat Leicester they'll shut up about Southampton!

1 hour ago, Monkeh said:

James won't make a difference, nether would foden and haarland on loan,

The players aren't the problem, the system they are being asked to play is the problem

Sounds like a West Country Erling Haaland tribute act!

13 minutes ago, TheJudge07 said:

Manning has shown that he is not an intelligent coach and he has been unable to work with the players effectively. But what did people expect - he has managed Milton Keynes and Oxford. He has hardly pulled up any trees and is still a rookie. His coaching experience is good but in clubs which have more stable foundations.  His in-game management has generally been poor and the lack of creativity is a concern. I dont think he has made a single player any better and if I were him, I would have taken some of U18s out and given them a run. They can be no worse than what we have seen. What has happened to the players in the U21's - they have fallen off a cliff.  Instead of seeing what the players had done under Pearson he has tried to implement a completely new style on players who simply cannot play this way. They are not technically good enough. He has also tried to do it mid-season which was crazy. To have persisted with that approach is the most surprising aspect, when it clearly does not work and it is actually alienating the fan base. A good coach would revert to a system he knows the players are more comfortable with and then re-evaluate it in the summer. He should stick with 433 as that was the most effective formation and system for this group of players. I am not sure that he will be sacked. If he was there man "4 months ago", I dont think they will throw in the towel yet. Remember some idiot gave him a 3.5 year contract.  I reckon he will be given the summer to sort it out.   The Autumn of 2024 will be the defining period for Manning. If we are in relegation trouble at XMAS he will be sacked.  To be honest, I hope he is successful. No one surely wants to see the team lose. The board will need to back him in the summer to the tune of 6 or 7 players if he has any chance of being successful. A new manager would only inherit the same problems.....

I wouldn't put too much stock in that, as I doubt his contract entitles him to the remainder of his contract being paid up in full, especially in the event of performance related dismissal.  Probably a year I'd imagine. (Though this is a guess, admittedly).

1 hour ago, Graham76 said:

You can bet your bottom dollar Tinnion is already in the ear of Jon Lansdown throwing Manning under the bus.  

Manning would be safe if thrown under the bus... There's a whole team that he's thrown under it for the bus to get past before it reaches him.

As for Tinnion. I'm sure he was quoted recently as admitting that going into management was the wrong career path for him. I'd be surprised if he manoeuvred himself into that role. 

The worry for me is that Manning resorts to more Nige style of play and keeps his job before reverting to type next season and getting sacked after spending all of the nest egg over the summer.

17 hours ago, Roe said:

No time off. They're all working really hard don't you know. In at 7, out at 7

14 hours ago, Phileas Fogg said:

It would be quite funny if the crowd started singing various songs about previous managers - I wonder how obscure we could get?

Would be a real achievement if the crowd starting singing in appreciation of erstwhile caretaker manager Steve Wigley.

Ignoring the maths, but "One Three Amigos, there's only one Three Amigos..."  

33 minutes ago, exAtyeoMax said:

Nigel pearson’s cider army?

No. Absolutely not. Not because sacking Nige wasn't the worst managerial decision in decades, because it was. Arguably it's been superceded by the appointment of Manning. The trouble with singing this is that they will take it as sour grapes and only being sung because we liked Nige. 

They need to realise that it's because of how things are going NOW, under the new guy. If Nige was replaced by someone who took us to that next level then there absolutely wouldn't still be this level of anger, but he wasn't. And we can all see that we're sleepwalking to relegation in a years time. All, that is, except those with the power to do something about it.

Leicester will be toxic, of that I'm sure. The "hierarchy" will be hoping that the international break gives them some breathing room so we can all remember that we beat Southampton.

19 hours ago, Phileas Fogg said:

Toney has done well imo. He’s also one of the few in the squad who I feel has a genuine winners mentality.

I’d probably want him on an important penalty ahead of anyone else in that squad. 

I bet you would....then again, he'd probably bet you would as well....

6 minutes ago, Sir Geoff said:

They did.

I hope they take this on as well and that I'm Mannings final call of the day. What better way to beat insomnia and get a good night's sleep?

6 minutes ago, Selred said:

What I love is currently you cannot buy tat for points, merely enter competition to have the chance to win tat.

You mean to tell me you don't feel rewarded?!?

6 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

Even better would be if Corberan & Manning lined up both first team squads & then took it in turns to pick a player*, firstly it would improve our chances of a point & secondly we might actually fill the subs bench for the first time in ages.

* takes me back to junior school, circa 1973..

Mannings first pick would be Mehmeti!

One of my all time favourite players.  That season with Murray's goals in particular he was ridiculous.

But....he's worn away all of his credibility since taking on this role.  Guilty of treating the fans with no respect whatsoever and thinking he's omnipotent enough to pull the wool over our eyes with blatant falsehoods.

He showed on Monday in particular how unaligned the board are with the feelings of the fans.  He thinks we're so simple that we look only at results and decide if we're happy based on that.  Absolute epitome of a fallen idol. 

On 09/03/2024 at 14:33, cityal said:

 

These two posts sum up their mindset and the reason the gap is in the 20's. They can easily claim they would "do better" with the same resources we have had.

BUT because they have had crap crowds for 2-3 generations they don't have that kind of money. If their fans actually started turning up at home and selling out their little ground they might progress.

I'm confused - they have had far better resources available to them....  I explicitly recall someone commiserating us on being smaller and worse than they'll ever be because they were the sixth richest club in the country...."Unlucky da shit" I believe was the phrase he used.....

21 hours ago, 38MC said:

In terms of subs I don’t give him much credit though. Anyone that picks cornick on the right when playing a false 10 with Knight with Sykes on the bench is an eejit in my eyes; and it’s even worse because Sykes is ex-Oxford. No wonder we look better when Sykes comes on and why you putting cornick out right in any case?

Just on this, what is the significance of this comment?  Sykes never played under Manning at Oxford.

20 hours ago, phantom said:

I completely agree, but I think we all need to be a bit more realistic and realise we've got a future of watching bang average games ahead of us just like we've watched in the past 

Phants, we're used to the underwhelming, but I honestly do not remember being as bored as I am now when I'm at a match.  We've been poor, we've been clueless, we've been hapless, but never boring.  The last few months seem to have fostered an awful amount of apathy among the fan base with regards to the matches, the likes I've never seen before.

19 hours ago, Kid in the Riot said:

Absolutely.  But the idea a coach wants his side to deliver those kind of outcomes is clearly for the birds... 

But he persists with his methods even though it results in these kind of outcomes.  Didn't they say that was the first sign of madness? (I always thought it was "Hey you, don't watch that watch this.....!")

2 hours ago, NickJ said:

Fixated? I've mentioned it (thats not fixated) because it's a known fact that club employees have signed up on here, masquerading as fans, to defend club positions, which is quite sad and a tiny bit sinister.

As I say its odd that your first ever posts are to be very vocal in defending such a negative approach from our manager. Very odd, as is the fact that you have taken such an agressive stance on the issue with some of your replies.

I dont see how anybody could argue that yesterdays game was mind numbingly boring and the tactics of our manager - as stated by him - was a large part of that.

A fundamental problem is that you are interpreting criticism of the boring style of play as meaning that we expect City to win every game.

 

Nick, a wise man once advised to never argue with an idiot.  They'll just bring you down to their level and beat you with experience...

1 hour ago, exAtyeoMax said:

Coincidentally, I'm just watching a video about the Bristol Hum…

The recent increase in the volume of the Hum has been linked to 16,000 people snoring on a weekend in BS3!

On 06/03/2024 at 13:39, westonred said:

We only seem to play well when were in front of the TV Cameras strange that

Did you even see the Leeds match?!?  Yes, they were a class above, but we rolled over and had our tummies tickled live on TV.

4 minutes ago, Red Skin said:

What's this got to do with being Irish?  Enlighten me.

I think possibly the bit where he's repeated the same phrase multiple times.  I had to read it twice...to be sure, to be sure....

29 minutes ago, Curr Avon said:

Only if you pass the Rene Gilmartin test for Irishness.

For example:

Goalscoring zone: final turd.

Implement used to hurl the ball into the final turd: long trow.

Honest pass into the final turd: true ball

 

 

That's foinal turd, thank you very much!

6 minutes ago, Natchfever said:

After having spunked whatever transfer budget was available ?

Not for me personally.

I can feasibly see us going down even if a positive spin of stats and history say otherwise the way we are heading.

I genuinely believe we have the worst "manager/coach in the division but typically the club would replace him with the **** wit Tinnion short term.

If we stay up reward him with the sack.

Momentum is a powerful force and ours is going the wrong way.  I am absolutely not sitting comfortably waiting for the season to end.

2 hours ago, red panda said:

Only 34 posts so far that explicitly mention Nige (I didn't pick those where the reference was only implicit, even if it was obvious)

I'm waiting with baited breath for a point to be made........

3 hours ago, Shauntaylor85 said:

Manning is another LJ. All about him and throws players under the bus rather than take responsibility. He needs to go, hes not good enough for what we require and as DaveFevs said is going against what he said were his fundamentals at the outset. 

He doesn't throw the team under the bus at all.  I know this because he tells us he's not doing this......usually just before throwing the team under the bus...but he's assured us he's not doing that......

5 minutes ago, TV Tom said:

I'm happy to give Pearson plenty of credit and am fully appreciative of some of the things he did under difficult circumstances but after two and a half years i think the time was right to go, again this is only my opinion and i appreciate fully and i understand why some people have the opposite opinion

Whether the change was needed or not it was absolutely not the case that the time was right for him to go.  It was either too early or too late, but to sack him when they did was wrong on all levels.

51 minutes ago, Monkeh said:

Have you actually spoken to him or met him or know him personally?

 

Don't be silly.  Books are always judged by their cover apparently.....!