CliftonCliff

Yes, perhaps, and well done to BR for getting another important goal today, but the other way of looking at that would be that if Pack played (especially away from home) we might not have to score three to win a game - or keep having to fight back from being a goal or two behind for that matter.

Like the subs on 70 mins again from LJ. Should help see the game out with Wilbs and Agard defending from the front, as in the previous match.

Good post. Valid points, and well argued. Hard to disagree wth any of that.

Interesting to read some considered and intelligent views about the resurrection of the five pillars rhetoric. Have to say there's a lot I agree wth there. Yes, the ideas contained in the blueprint are essentially sound, but frankly they are no more than old-fashioned, down-to-earth common sense and you'd hope they'd be the basic principles on which any competent bunch of directors would attempt to run a club of this size. They ought not to even need stating. The fact that they are reiterated like some sort of master plan devised by jolly clever, switched-on guys in suits only serves to emphasise the directionless muddle that preceded them. What makes people cynical is not that the core ideas aren't right, but the silly, overblown and self-important corporate twaddle in which they come wrapped. That, and the fact that the board have yet to demonstrate that they have the resolve to stick to the strategy long-term and not collectively soil themselves, panic and throw the whole philosophy out the window when in a tight corner and an ability to hold one's nerve and maintain a steady course is called for. In the end you get judged on actions, not words. If we're still consistently implementing this approach in three to five years then much of the understandable scepticism here will have evaporated, but based on recent experience I'm not holding my breath and the occupants of the boardroom still have a lot to do to convince supporters that they can walk the walk and not just talk the talk.

Rovers a goal down, if it's any consolation.

Good. A draw would suit us - if we win...

Laid up in bed with an absolute sod of a virus and quite unable to get to the game. Was really looking forward to this one after all the transfer activity, so degree of pissed-offness registering about ten on the Richter Scale. Only Radio Bristol to console me and we all know what they're like, so relying on otib to keep me in touch with what's really going on. Keep those updates coming, lads. Cheers, CC.

At least four times first half, apparently over-hit passes have been played into the space between and behind their left back and central defender. All have run out harmlessly for goal kicks, making it look like poor passing, but it's happened so consistently I'm wondering what's going on there. Both Korey Smith and Pack have done it and neither are particularly given to giving the ball away that carelessly as a rule. I can't make out whether they were looking for the ball inside the full back for Fredericks to use his pace (before he switched to the left, obviously) or if they were looking for Kodjia to make the run into that inside-right channel and he isn't quite on their wavelength yet. Be interesting to see if there's any repitition of that second half.

One thing all seem to be agreed on and that is that Blatter is clever. It's no surprise he hasn't been arrested. In fact given his "Teflon" track record I'd have been amazed if he had. He's much too cunning to have left any concrete evidence linking him to dirty money. However, for those of us who hate this man with a passion - and believe me, I do - it's a little early to despair. This day has been a long time coming and I'm taking nothing for granted. The first thing is that these charges have to be made to stick. The arresting authorities seem very confident this time and there certainly appears to be a huge weight of evidence judging from initial reports. It will take forever, because legal procedures (especially on this scale) always do, but if convictions are secured, certain other things surely must inevitably follow. It seems to me that Blatter must eventually be condemned, if only by his own evasion of responsibility. If the little I've so far read is correct, these charges relate to fraud going back 20 years. The stench of (hitherto unproven) corruption has hung over FIFA throughout that time - and it's all happened on Blatter's watch. There are only two possible conclusions. Either he's in it up to his neck, which is what 99% of the football world believe, whether they're saying so or not at this stage, or - and this would stretch credibility to breaking point - he knew nothing about it, in whch case he would have to have been spectacularly incompetent to have been blind to wrong-doing on a massive scale within his own organisation over two decades of his presidential reign. Either way, he's screwed, finally. If convictions are secured, Blatter is either a crook himself or he's so stupid as to be unfit to hold the post. He may survive the imminent election or he may not, but he won't survive the fallout if these bastards are found guilty and banged up. I will open a bottle of very expensive champagne the day his head rolls. As previous posters have intimated, the other things that must follow will include a forensic examination of the voting processes whereby two future World Cup tournaments were awarded to Qatar and Russia. Up to this point I would have said the chances of either of those decisions ever being overturned are vanishingly small. This development may, however, prove to be a game changer. If it can be shown beyond all doubt that there was extensive bribery and corruption involved, then the decisions are fatally flawed and invalid and there will be huge pressure for the ballot(s) to be re-run. In any other circumstances, given the level of investment that's already taken place in, for example, construction of new stadia, one would have said a reversal of the decisons was unthinkable, but if the whole process was fundamentally founded on criminality, then I cannot see that the governments and football authorities of those two hosts can have any defence if FIFA subsequently withdraws the tournament from them. It couldn't happen to two nicer countries...

No injury related changes, then. Were the fitness doubts genuine, or was Cotterill indulging in a little mind game-playing, perhaps...? (Unless the two players affected were among those intended for the bench - the above post doesn't say which subs have been named*.) *Edit. Just caught up with that.

Just noticed on BBC Sport website that Cotterill says two players have minor injuries and are to be assessed before the game, but he does not identify them by name. So, there may possibly be changes to the expected starting line-up.

Cheers. Thanks for that.

As a matter of interest, does anyone happen to know the rules of this competition with regard to substitutes? I'm wondering if teams are restricted to five, or whether that's all we can muster. If it's the latter, then the injury list and lack of cover in what is now a very small squad are becoming quite alarming.

No they haven't (shown some balls, that is). They've done the exact opposite - bottled it. And contradicted everything they've been saying in the process. As for making sure it's for the long term, wasn't that what this was supposed to be about? If ten months in the job is long term, then God help us. The chaotic state of things at the top is now truly frightening. There has been a leadership vacuum ever since SL took a big backwards step (which he's entitled to do - I'm not criticising him for that). We also lost Colin Sexstone soon after. I wasn't his greatest fan, but he was a very experienced sports administrator and a strong personality. In their place we have have SL's inexperienced son (and I'm afraid I would have to question SL's judgement on that one) and the invisible Keith Dawe. To cap it off, they've now dispensed with a very experienced manager who was very slowly beginning to produce signs of improvement in what was effectively a completely new team this season. Too slowly for some, obviously. This is a panic move - precisely the sort of thing we've been blaming our current plight on. More of the same. If you were worried before, frankly you should be soiling yourself now.

What's interesting is the level of criticism of the board and the support for SOD which that implies. What's been more prominent on the forum for much of the season is anti-SOD sentiment, until now. It tends to confirm what many people have said in the past - that moaners are by far the most noisy section of the forum membership and the fan base in general, whereas there is a substantial but largely silent majority who see the sense in retaining SOD and in the overall, long term strategy. I haven't been this despairing or as furious with a City board since Les Kew allowed Joe Jordan to leave without putting up a fight to hold on to him, an episode that preceeded a slow, inevitable decline that it took years to reverse. Lansdown & Co have done the exact opposite of what they've been preaching all season. It indicates an alarming lack of nerve and susceptibility to fan pressure. It bodes ill for the future of the club.

Yes, it's true: I've also just received the email from Lansdown. They've got it wrong yet again in my opinion and caved in to the pressure and negativity from a section of the fanbase. Stupid, stupid, backward step and another indication of the weakness at board level. This will cost more money the club can ill afford and cause more upheaval and discontinuity. Further evidence for me of the dysfunctionality at the heart of the oprganisation. They had better get the new appointment right or this will disrupt everything we've been trying to do and could be as likely to take us backwards as forwards. Well done to all the moaners: you've got your way. You'd better hope it works. I won't be holding my breath.