Steve Watts

In fact, West Ham have double form for this.....clickety click part 2 in 2008, 7 years before their last one.

With their current sponsors being Betway, they will be lost at the end of the season too due to the gambling rules...7 years after the last one.  Whoever thinks about sponsoring the Hammers in 2029 need to be reaaaaaaaally wary!

West Ham as recently as 2015. clickety click

Luton ended their shirt sponsorship for this season in January due to JB Development not fulfilling contractual obligations.  Presumably this is finance related.

4 minutes ago, Loco Rojo said:

I wonder if this is a first for a Football team to have a shirt sponsor within the active season that no longer exists?

Got to be a stato on here that would know?

I can't imagine it would be the first.  So many companies went bust in the global crash in 2008.

3 minutes ago, tin said:

I was disappointed at the time that we didn't make Tavernier's loan with us permanent. I thought he was class in the second half of our double-winning season and was a good age at the time (23) with scope for improvement, and so it's proved. Good on him. 

Completely agree. Would've been a great signing of we'd pulled it off. Not sure if we tried to or not, mind.

I said to someone last night that Tins is possibly our most important signing of the last decade.

I was telling my lad on the way out that I'm not disappointed by that tonight. In my opinion we're safe. And we're not going up, obviously. Meaning that performance is far more important than the result right now. And that performance left me proud to be a fan of this club.  I couldn't pick out a single bad performance from anyone wearing red tonight. Absolutely outstanding across the pitch.

The energy, enthusiasm, intelligence and confidence of our young players leaves me very optimistic about next season. In a perverse way, the mistakes are a good thing. Gives them something to learn from and should allow them to grow their confidence without cockiness.

The next transfer window is so important, but not so much who we buy, but who we keep. The experiences gained from this season will stand us in good stead for next. What an advertisement these kids are for our club, our academy and the pathway for youngsters. 

One very proud City fan tonight.

7 minutes ago, Show Me The Money! said:

Thought it was bang on myself. The push was a yellow then Wolves had an advantage as they were on the attack so you let play continue then he commits a second yellow offence so I think the ref was spot on. I’m not getting into whether it would have happened against Liverpool or Man United players etc. The decision was the right one I think.

Especially as there was no VAR interference either

I don't think VAR could have interfered.  I think it's straight reds only.  As it was two bookings VAR don't get involved is my understanding.

Notwithstanding that, it was absolutely the correct call to make and Oliver should be applauded for making the decision that other refs would have bottled.

1 minute ago, cidercity1987 said:

This is up there with 'Matt Smith is awful'

In 2 years time, when Semenyo is banging them in at the top of the Prem this could look like the most stupid thread ever

Definitely a contender for the Classics forum...

47 minutes ago, 054123 said:

None of it makes sense.

Wrong years, wrong division. Promotion to Div 3 in 83-84. Promotion to Div 2 89-90.

Yep... Luckily it wasn't printed on a humongous wall for all to see.... Oh.... Wait

Only at City could we get facts about our own club wrong.... And on a mural reminding everyone that we shouldn't forget that period of our history. 

obviously I should pay more attention as I forgot our promotion season of 1985...!

2 hours ago, Silvio Dante said:

Which again, is why I think we go for it. Not by overspending, but retaining and adding sensibly. @Steve Watts will tell you I called Scott’s value months ago. He’s £20m. Easily. It’s chicken feed for some prem clubs for an 18 year old in the international setup with (what he will have) of 40 games and combined double digits assists/goals at Champ. That’s Spurs catnip. And it will be in a year. 
 

But if we retain him for a year that value doesn’t drop. And FFP is still not a problem. So we go for it next year, as opposed to selling. It’s totally set up for that.

I've no idea what you're talking about.  You told me just before Christmas that Scott would never make a footballer as long as he had a hole in his arse....  and followed that by getting all excited to learn that Neil Kilkenny is still playing and may be tempted away from Western Union to return home......! 

I was having a convo with a Reading fan tonight.  They're absolutely spitting fire at the manager for saying that "Apart from the four goals, we played well" after their hammering by QPR today.  I told him that I can understand what the managers saying....unless they really were shit.  We shipped 6 at Fulham and we were all praising the overall performance.  A mad 20 minutes of defensive capitulation in the first half, (which could've been different if the pen had been given for the foul on Dasilva at 3-2 instead of them going straight up the other end to make it 4-2) was bookended by a really good, if wasteful, performances where we really took the game to the best team in the league.

Whether it's a measure of how bad we've been for the last few years, that we're getting all giddy about playing exciting football for once, or whether we're genuinely just recognising the potential for this to be the start of something very special remains to be seen.  But I can't see many fans around the country being so happy with what they're seeing after the last two results. 

It really does feel like it's all beginning to come together.  It's just the small matter of getting to the root of the defensive problem.  Sort that out and a play-off push is no longer the stuff of fairy tales, but a genuine possibility.

18 minutes ago, Mihai said:

Go over it. It is a positive defeat in fact. Our team tried to score another one instead of wasting time. Our team gets better game by game lately. 

Wait? We lost?

29 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

It could  quite easily be the case that Klose’s wages are lower than what we are getting from Hearts.

Just throwing made up numbers out there, but say Moore is on £12k p.w (remember the new contract he got?) of which Hearts are contributing 50%, it’s conceivable that we might be paying Klose less than £6k p.w.

There’s also the intangible that him staying at Hearts might mean we shift him in the summer (to Hearts or whoever), saving £600k in wages next year and a small amount of amortisation (about £40k).  We might even get a fee too.

Plus there’s also the other bit that Nige doesn’t think he’s good enough…that’s probably the most important factor!

 

(Personally I don’t think he’s as bad as made out on here, but that’s immaterial)

I agree.  I'd like to see if he could iron out the errors if he was given the opportunity that Vyner's been given.  At the end of the day, he hasn't had a run in the team.  He's shown flashes of potential, but admittedly been error prone.  But for me, he's a better defender and footballer than Zak and I think his errors could be coached out of him.  Like you say though, Nige obviously doesn't agree, so it's all immaterial.

1 hour ago, Merrick's Marvels said:

The truth is, he's always been a cosy Lansdown appointment.

Under Pearson, there's no room for cosy any longer. And rightly so.

These two statements contradict each other massively then considering his appointment to Director happened on Nige's watch!

The truth is that none of us know what is on his job description. Since he returned he's helped a hell of a lot of players progress from his careful loan placements.

The truth is also that due to our financial situation we're can't simply pay she loss of money to someone with 20 years experience running an academy. 

9 hours ago, Merrick's Marvels said:

Not sure that Tinnion adds much these days but agree with everything else. Given time, Pearson will have us in better shape than we've been in for decades. After all, he's about the best qualified manager we've ever appointed. 

Curious as to why you think that?  I'd say that the many of the young players have benefitted from the moves he got them as Loans Manager.  Now as Academy Director, he surely has even more responsibility to bring to the table, doesn't he?

Not sure if it will be "Stop paying transfer fees" as opposed to "Sell academy products and reinvest wisely" as a means to refresh the squad.  The key word there of course is "wisely".  We have sold to spend before, but had run out of saleable assets until this season. Unfortunately he who shall not be named just spunked the cash for fun to feed his ego trip.  With Gould at the helm I would hope that we will be far more sensible.

It's a shame that we didn't approach Biff before he left Man City for West Ham.  The emotional pull might just have been enough to tempt him here.  Now that would have been an ambitious signing.

1 hour ago, spudski said:

In theory...but when it's freezing cold and raining heavily, or extremely windy, the chances are, most won't walk any distance. This is the problem...That's British weather in a nutshell. No one these days wants to stand soaking wet and shivering whilst watching a game.

Parking won't make much of a difference in that situation right now as 2/3 of the ground is uncovered anyway.  Obviously covered terraces change that somewhat, but at the moment the club aren't there.  Would be great for them to see some sort of success, for sure.  The cup run showed the potential.

5 minutes ago, Silvio Dante said:

I’m saying nothing.

There's a reason I changed my wording from "us" to "the fan base" before I pressed "Submit Reply"!!!

32 minutes ago, spudski said:

The plans for new stand, gym, pitch, sports bar etc etc sound great. I understand one stand will be similar in principle to the Carol Embry suite at FGRs, where it will be two tier, top section behind glass. Certainly what's planned looks great for the local community. Open 7 days a week, sports pitch and gym, electric car power points, sports bar, even allotments etc...all will bring extra revenue to the Club.

They are miles off ever being League...however, they are punching big time this season. With games in hand, and a bit of luck they could even make top 2. 

If a miracle ever did happen...the new proposals with housing would make the club land locked so to speak. With really no further room to expand. Very limited. I guess the new park and ride could be utilised for visiting supporters in future if attendances increased.

As with everything these days, parking is the issue. Double yellows on the nearby trading estate. The council doing everything they can to stop street parking. The same happening in near Sodbury. Proposal for is it 750 new homes...yet they want to make Sodbury high st, a car free zone, with no parking. It's full to busting already with local residents cars, and car park generally full each day. 

It's not practical or feasible.

The park and ride will only be a 10 minute walk from the stadium, however, which would help. And most residents will live within 3 miles, so the younger/fitter among the fan base are in walking distance.

1 hour ago, Silvio Dante said:

It would, however, be a fantastic laugh to see Yate beat Rovers in a League 2 or Conference match!

Would be even funnier if it were to happen in a Southern Premier League South match!

Nige did throw him under the bus a little after the Huddersfield match though.  Can't remember the exact quote, but he was speaking about Ayman and said something along the lines of "he had to cover when the left sided defender wasn't doing his job".  It seemed a very pointed comment at the time.  Must've been a press interview as it wasn't on the official site.  He did mention in that interview that the range in individual performances week on week was too wide.

2 minutes ago, Oh Louie louie said:

Matt hewletts nickname was very apt.

Bambi.

Fluffy Slippers was another nickname I seem to recall!

He always had the technical ability, but always seemed like he could do with bulking out massively every pre-season.

How have Matty's Bryant and Hewlett not had a mention yet?!?

3 hours ago, sinenomine said:

Must be struggling for Bristolians if 88 year old Johnny Watkins has made the shortlist.

Would still be more mobile than Chris Brunt ever was for us!

1 hour ago, Harry said:

Whilst I don’t think anyone would advocate smashing this Cov fan about, the point being made is actually a fair one. 
The question really is, when did it become acceptable to wear a rival team’s shirt in the home area of a football ground? 
I accept that we weren’t playing Cov, so essentially the colours were neutral, but it should also be accepted that this is a rival team in our division. 
If I walked into Cov’s ground last week versus Millwall, dressed in a BCFC shirt, I’d be expecting the stewards to refuse me entry. 
Is the fact that this person was allowed entry based on the fact that she was a female? If it was a male, would they have been allowed in? 
As said, I wouldn’t advocate smacking people, but it’s odd that someone is allowed to sport non-BCFC colours in the home section. 

Hang on, last month you were moaning about people having freedom of choice stripped away with entry to the ground and now you're trying to say what people should or shouldn't be allowed to wear?  If it's a neutral team, then why should it cause any problems? Bizzarre....

It's almost as if we don't see United, Chelsea, Arsenal etc shirts in the ground every home game.