ciderwithtommy

1 minute ago, Glen hump said:

I don’t know if they get on with each other, but he’s been involved with city for a very long time, hasn’t always been a agent if that’s who you mean 

Yep that’s him I would think. All I’ve heard is academy related as opposed to senior - was hoping his remit was kept there. 

2 minutes ago, Glen hump said:

1 agent of a current player a coach in the academy and a scout.

Can also confirm from people inside the club. Had hoped it was just nonsense. Is the agent the one who BT really doesn’t like to work with?

@Bcfcshags hugely appreciate your insight, what a sad state of affairs. One thing I would love to know is how involved / how Nige and BT have been getting along? I’ve heard a few things about BT that aren’t quite as rosy as I would like to hear (what a player he was for us), intrigued to hear your view…

Luke Williams - ticks all the boxes (SL’s boxes, no one else’s)

Amazed that Pearson didn’t mention/or maybe see how far offside they were in the first phase of the attack. The lino was so far in front of our back 4 he clearly had no idea what had happened, the guy was about 5 yards offside. 

3 minutes ago, Gabriella said:

Why would John Eustace or Gary Rowett be a joke to entertain? 

Why would they be better? Why entertain the risk? 

Two things stand out for me:

1) if you appoint someone senior and they leave inside 12 months then it’s on the employer, simple. You didn’t get the right person. Ideally someone at the club with some humility would own that and explain but that’s doubtful

2) if you are say, a billionaire chairman, and appoint a C suite to lead the company, your role becomes a figurehead.  Cutting ribbons, nice interviews, community work, aspirational stuff. You wouldn’t and shouldn’t be a day to day person, that’s what you employ people to do. If you find yourself getting “hands on” perhaps in fact you are still to some extent an active C suite member yourself in all but title, which is far from ideal, and leads to a lack of clarity in the business itself. 
 

neither of these points are specific to our club, but resonate to me. 

It’s not a sitter, no way. But it’s a “should score” for a forward player at this level. Certainly nothing to kill him over. 

Pretty certain when Nige arrived he openly advised that the incumbent strategy of selling your best players every year meant success, I.e. promotion was impossible. With that logic I would assume  he and SL had hatched a cunning new plan that didn’t include selling our best players unless we needed to. Roll on 24 months and we are in fact, selling our best players when strictly we don’t need to (LJ did). I would imagine that is why contracts are running down in our management, as simply the strategy has changed, which is the owners right. Comparing the 2 is always skewed by the difference in backing they have received. 

What I found interesting was his drop off in fitness, visible even in the first half. It’s interesting because he was in the team at WBA prior to moving to us, so you would expect him to be match fit - evidently our pre season and fitness regime does seem to create fitter players then our rivals. That will become more important as the season matures of course, but hats off as we do look full of energy 

Explain to me how when Swansea have possession with their player down he allows the game to go, we win the ball back and it becomes a head injury and stops the game? 

This place when Vyner leaves to a team in this div for more money will be a sight to behold. 
 

As soon as it becomes “them and us” at a senior level the relationship in any business is done, you don’t come back from it. Lansdown of course stays, so it will be a young coach who knows his place incoming and likely another “rebuild”. At least we have the basketball 

1 hour ago, bcfc01 said:

Agreed.

SL has pushed the boat out before and it seems a bit strange that he's now adopting such an austere stance when the club are not threatened by FFP and has around 35m to go into the accounts.

The only logical explanation is that there is serious interest in the club and he wants to make it as attractive as possible to outside investors. The other explanation is that he is gearing up to get rid of NP, but I don't really want to contemplate that scenario as it will cause some mayhem imo.

Not certain that your final two points are exclusive of each other - balanced books and the opportunity to bring in your own management with no compo to pay is pretty enticing 

17 minutes ago, sh1t_ref_again said:

Like I said many with the wisdom of hindsight have claimed to have not wanted the spending back then (although a very small minority did question it), but it was very much part of a plan of developing the level of the squad with player trading, which in the early days appeared successful, I can remember the number of posts on here how great MA was at the deals he done (although not many would want those dug back up now), SL put the trust in what could be deemed football people to spend his money, but yes he now covers the cost. 

The irony is how many posts on here wanted rid of SL as he is not backing NP with money to go and buy players, without having a clue how the Scott money payments are structured, or even when we get the 1st payment and how much, it could be 5m per over the next 5 years with the 1st payments deferred to a future date for all we know, 

I seem to be in the minority, I don’t want SL out nor did I cheerlead us spending crazily - or maybe I’m not in the minority! Middle ground for me is he is covering the cost of his own decisions, which does make him better than most owners of clubs in the UK, but not one that I feel indebted to. 

26 minutes ago, sh1t_ref_again said:

Fans were quiet happy, when getting excited about new signings under LJ / MA and the money being spent, that got us into the mess, very easy to say it was wrong now with hindsight, then again I can win the lottery every week with hindsight, so not that clever really!

Lucky we have SL who digs into his pockets and covers the spending / mistakes

Spending at a rate that would cripple us never got me excited. Many city fans know how close we came to losing our club 40 years ago, so don’t throw us all under the bus. Wanting the club to be run well does not align with your metaphor of winning the lottery, although finding fit and proper owners probably does. 

Lucky we have a guy who covers his mistakes by digging in his pockets. Fixed that bit for you. As I said, this isn’t an attack on SL as such, but it’s his decisions that have led to him putting more money in. 

It’s a funny situation / attitude to read at the moment. It feels like, as fans, we should be thankful for everything SL has done (and spent!) and there is a huge amount of logic to that. However, did I (or you) ever ask for the club to spend over 100% of its t/o? I certainly didn’t, so not sure I should feel so indebted for a decision I never wanted or would have made. 
 

If I was a person looking to sell a club, i would lower the wage bill and balance the books for sure, it’s the smart play…

Hi Steve if you are reading this, Luton didn’t “get lucky”, that’s a crazy statement and a sign of someone who doesn’t get it. They built steadily with manager(s) and scouts that stuck to a plan, and then crucially when they were in sight of the promised land held on to their talent to get them over the line. 
 

could it be that rather then luck, you give the current staff a pat on the back and give them as much as you can to get us where we want to be.

luck, and hope, aren’t strategies 

He leaves with my my best wishes, it will be tough to hear bournmuff fans rave over him, and they will, but this should secure us financially now for the next 3 seasons, we can be competitive in the transfer market and be on the front foot. 
 

Genuinely believe we are only 2/3 players away from something special, but on the other hand only a couple of further academy departures from a rebuild. Interesting times.

Football is and always will be cyclical for all teams barring one or two clubs. When Bournemouth, with their “fairytale” promotion which breached FFP, and their 7k stadium see their bubble burst, and it will, I will raise a glass to their demise. 
 

good luck tho Alex, wish him nothing but success - a true star in the making. 

Hmmm - i would assume that bornmuff and wolves have spoken to his entourage and a) he would leave if the bid is accepted and b) he can agree terms (which probs are already done). It does feel like it’s got to be this week or never for wolves, as they will have to move some players in pretty urgently and certainly don’t have unlimited funds.  I have no inside info, but my take is it will happen this week, and that we have probably maximised his value by playing really hard ball. However I would love to see him here until Jan. 
 

If Scott goes, which right now does feel unlikely (that feels odd to say), I think you will see weimann central with the long term project of mehmeti playing in the pocket. If we get big money, a standout CB and GK would be the best use of money in my opinion, and it would be ruthless to Max and may be Zak, but maybe that’s what we need to get to the promised land.

Meerholz ahead of OTC - the academy is creating some culture - brilliant 

Kadji as well I have heard