Steve Watts

6 hours ago, Silvio Dante said:

Thinking about it a city Irish XI is the stuff of nightmares.

GK - Gilmartin 

RB - Ryan McGivern

LB - Cunningham (good, but nob)

CB - ??

CB - ??

LM - O’Dowda

RM - Sproule

CM - Tommy Doc (he’d go mental in this company)

CM - John Burns??

CF - Andy Smith

CF - Andy Keogh (think he played on loan?)

Bejaysus it’s bad 

I can't believe you missed out Pat Hoban & Jimmy Keohane!  Such was their immense contribution while here.  There's another forward and midfielder for you! 

Actually there have been a fair few..

Brunt, Heffernan, Henderson, Rodnee Macaree(!), Brendon Maloney apparently played nearly 50 games for us in 13/14 and I have no recollection of him at all!!!!

7 hours ago, MichaelRobartes said:

Outrageous that Barry Corr and Rene Gilmartin aren't featured. 

They've split the message into three parts with the others to be released later today....I understand Rene will be in the foinal turd.

42 minutes ago, Wiltshire robin said:

Hopefully he doesn’t come across a pack of wild dogs this time 

Unlikely....I don't think he browses this forum!

1 minute ago, Robbored said:

Almost every City fan considered LJ to be a bang average midfielder who only got in the team thru nepotism. He rarely contributed anything meaningful. We all saw it (except you it seems) and that he was carried by the likes of Noble and Marv who both covered for his ineffectiveness.

In what reality is this true?  There's no doubt at all that LJ was a marmite player, and to argue the merits of him as a player is pointless as it could go on forever.   Marv was a different player when he didn't have LJ alongside him and that's a fact.  Another fact is that when LJ got injured we'd lost just 3 games in 21.  After, we lost 5 in 8.  You don't have to be a rocket scientist.  Surely even you can acknowledge that fact. Arguably GJ probably did rush him back too early, which saw him miss most of April as a result, but he rushed him back because our form tanked.

7 minutes ago, 1team said:

Good post. Age plays tricks on the older mind!

Age doesn't have anything to do with it.  It's stubbornness. To acknowledge the point I made, he would have to accept that we were fine margins away from GJ taking us into the Prem.  And there's no chance of that happening.

41 minutes ago, Robbored said:

That’s an excellent wind up Steve…………

In what way? LJ acted as a good foil for Marvs deficiency - i.e. his inability to make a pass of more than 5 yards.  LJ got injured against Watford and the form after that is stark.  All we needed was to hold on for the win against Stoke after leading at half time and we'd have finished 2nd.  Or if we'd won just two of the matches we lost we'd be looking at the same.  It was fine margins that season, but it derailed when LJ was out of the team.

10 hours ago, Robbored said:

Has he?  I don’t recall him throwing any player under the bus.

 

It has to be looked in context - remember he took over a shambles of a club with unfit players. Plus he’s been seriously hampered by injuries to experienced players all season 

The same could be argued for GJ.  If LJ hadn't picked up a bad injury we wouldn't have needed the play-offs to get promotion.  As it was, as soon as LJ was out of the team, Marv was largely ineffective, so it was like losing two players at a crucial point of the season.  (Unless time is playing silly bollocks on my memory and I'm getting the season wrong!)

10 hours ago, bristol red said:

It’s shite. We will lose our best players the end of season, get a points reductions and then get relegated next season. Dont  waste you well earned cash watching the shite!  Oh and I’ve been been watching city for over 40 years. I give up!

Won't we avoid sanctions if we lose our best players due to the money we receive in for them?  Potentially far more than we need to be stable in terms of FFP and therefore allow us some wriggle room to strengthen?  It's also a hope that Webster gets a big move, and possibly Brownhill too if Burnley go down.  He's been getting rave reviews for his performances this season, hasn't he?  Both being sold for a healthy sum would see us get a windfall.

Just read that Chelsea have already sold a handful of tickets before the sanction was placed on them.  Meaning the tickets were there to to buy and the fans simply....didn't! Many "big" clubs will sell out their allocation very quickly.  The fact that Chelsea didn't says a lot more about there fanbase than anything else.  

"Play it behind closed doors because our fans can't be arsed!"

Following that pattern, the Chelsea loving owner up the road could apply for all games at Milletts Memorial Stadium to be played behind closed doors!

1 hour ago, Bristol Rob said:

Think it's more a case of where does the revenue go.

Chelsea could - I would imagine - donate their share, meaning Boro and the FA still get their cut. 

Who knows.

It shouldn't make any difference.  Competition rules split the gate revenues 45/45/10 between the club and the FA. So whether Chelsea fans are there or if Boro sell out the entire ground just to themselves the same money would make it's way to Stamford Bridge....or whereever the FA decide it should go.  The decision to not allow them to sell tickets makes it all very murky when cup competitions come into play.

John, after some stunning photo's from Blackburn, could I make a special request for the Subbuteo goal replays to return?  They are greatly missed!

12 minutes ago, tin said:

I predicted an 18th-placed finish for us last August, and still think that’ll be roughly where we will end up. Anything else will be a welcome bonus, just like the progression of our youngsters. 

This is the key takeaway point for me this season.  Setting ourselves up nicely for the future.

16 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

We are out of it.  Same goes for relegation.  In fairness despite hovering around 16-18th for months we’ve never really been in a relegation battle either.

We are a few points down on where I thought / hoped we’d be, but having seen some of the issues we’ve had, in part exposed by a small, young (at times) squad, we’ve done ok to not get sucked in.  We’ve won games at regular enough intervals to ensure that.

I’m not sure where we will end up, but we are in a bunch of 5 teams, Stoke (46), Swansea (44), Cardiff (43), us (43) and Brum (41) vying for 15th - 19th.  Not glorious but ok in the grand scheme of things.  This was always gonna be a tricky season to negotiate.  There seems to be light at the end of the tunnel in my eyes too.

Lets hope we can build a bit of momentum between now and the end of the season.

Oh, absolutely.  But I just figured mathematical possibility would have been and gone long before now.  I'm not sure whether that's a reflection of how we've done or whether the overall quality in the Championship has been lower this year.

I know we're clearly not going to make the playoffs, but to get to 37 games and not be out of the picture mathematically represents a much better season than probably any of us expected.

12 hours ago, PHILINFRANCE said:

 

That seems fair enough, as he is managing a team pushing for promotion, either automatically or via the playoffs.

How is that fair enough?  If it was you in the dock for the same thing do you think the judge would delay the case for you because you were in the middle of a project? Not a chance.  Him being a(n alleged) football manager shouldn't factor into the thinking in any way shape or form.

Game's gone soft....

The answer is doors, but it sparks a hell of a debate!  Polo's and doughnuts do not count as wheels though! A wheel is something that is intended to be a wheel! Those other things are just round!  BUT! Where does a cog in a machine fit in.....?  It's purpose is to rotate.....

Graaaaaaarghhhhh!!!!  Think i might be joining you Pongo! 

7 hours ago, gl2 said:

 

Are they not climbing their div while we are descending ours? can you also not agree that if it were not for points deductions to several clubs below us then it is possible we could even be in the same div as them next season.

Yes we are way above in terms of players wages/transfers etc and we rent a much nicer stadium etc but the "mighty" do fall see Sunderland/Sheff Weds etc and non league teams do rise through the ranks see local FGR/Cheltenham.

We need to kick on next season from some really poor efforts lately.

You are either vehemently anti-Bristol Sport or have just outed yourself as a Sag in disguise.

1 hour ago, Baldyman said:

Sorry to spoil a bit of blind hatred Major but : yes he brought in an entire new first team BUT the guy did it with fifteen FREE transfers didn’t he ? If NP gets us anywhere near the top 10 next season with fifteen free transfers he’ll be hailed as the messiah ! 

15 players who, because there was no fee exchanged between Rovers and the club they were at previously, would have negotiated a higher signing on fee and wages.  Rovers certainly weren't holding out there caps saying "please sir, can I have some more?"

6 hours ago, One Team said:

Without question. Pretty much everywhere in Somerset is City apart from Yeovil and it’s immediate surrounding area. 

Yeah, but that's like saying that United are the biggest club in China!

It's presumably based on location of club and not fanbase...I say presumably because the resolution on the picture makes it look like I'm watching it on Betamax with dodgy tracking!

7 minutes ago, Redandproud said:

 Still looking

There's a reason for that....can you guess what it is....? 

Maybe I can help point you in the right direction.  In my post (quoted below), the word "thread" is a hyperlink to the thread that you created.  In that thread you also seemed to suggest that racial discrimination had only been going on for 2 years and only in America! I realise that's not what you meant, but it did highlight your apparent lack of understanding of what the gesture is actually about and why it has transcended borders.

20 hours ago, Steve Watts said:

For pity's sake, you made yourself look a big enough tit on your thread in August where you made this same claim.  That and some of the other utter tripe you posted in the thread. Give it up.  

 

2 hours ago, Miah Dennehy said:

Some would regard it as that, but I just view football very, very differently to how I used to. I don't worry about success as such, I just want to enjoy a good game and atmosphere, just have a good day out. I still want Rovers to win and City to lose, but **** getting stressed out about football any more. If we get n the play offs great, a couple of away days that might be fun, if we don't, we don't. I used to take football far too seriously, I'm glad I don't any more.

I agree with this sort of viewpoint really.  Whilst I want us to be successful, I don't get any more or less joy out of beating Middlesboro than I do beating Northampton.  Obviously in theory the higher up the ladder you go the matches should be more entertaining because of a higher technical skills level, but that doesn't always scan as we well know.  

I think more people than actually realise also hold this view though.  I'm sure if someone offered us Championship next season with a guaranteed repeat of last season under Holden or relegation with a guaranteed repeat of 2015 that many people would take the latter.

36 minutes ago, Sleepy1968 said:

Since odds are driven by the betting,  surely this just means that there are a lot of Gasheads with more money than sense

Millions of the buggers wanted to back them but all were locked out of their accounts......

53 minutes ago, HoldenBall said:

Is this a joke, they’re currently 9th in the basement division in a league where Forest green rovers have run away with the league.. they play complete piss teams every single game.. they should be in the top 3 at the very least 

another super difficult game for them this Saturday.. Harrogate town 

What do you base this on?  Genuine question as I don't think I could name one player in their squad....not sure if Little and Large (Mark and Brett) are still there?  I know so very little about the "quality" in their squad that I honestly couldn't say where they should be.

What I would say though is that I think they're in with a massive chance of going up.  They're hitting the play-off picture with momentum and we know all too well from 2008 what effect that can have.  Hull were in a similar situation to them at Christmas.  I'd have to grudgingly admit that if they win the play-offs they're probably the team that deserve it for the turnaround.  I only hope that they've peaked too early and begin to drop off, but it's not looking that way at the moment.

1 hour ago, Redandproud said:

As I understood it, the board of directors, insisted the players took to the knee,but that's another title, 

For pity's sake, you made yourself look a big enough tit on your thread in August where you made this same claim.  That and some of the other utter tripe you posted in the thread. Give it up.  

On 05/03/2022 at 20:11, Red Shadow said:

Any father with half a brain cell shouldn't need an announcement.

And therein lies the problem....

On 06/03/2022 at 07:51, Redandproud said:

I've noticed the father of these kids has not responded with a reply, embarrassed or ashamed maybe, after all the announcement was loud and clear, but he chose to ignore it,,

What makes you think he even reads the forum?

I think it's this....

Another company that...erm...went down was in Greece... Voukefala in 2012 were sponsored by their local brothel!!