Phileas Fogg

In an alternative history scenario whereby we hadn’t had a very divisive spell with Lee Johnson and the Holden disaster - it would be very intriguing to see how a Manning appointment would be received.

I think, understandably, the recent history has created a bit of a hangover.

1 minute ago, beaverface said:

The weird thing is, even in a total fantasy, I cannot think of a candidate that I'd find exciting??!

Keegan, Dalglish, umm, Pep? Can't think of any others

Unless it's a player manager, like Ronaldo !

Aside from perhaps Lampard I don’t think any of the betting market is that ‘exciting’.

It seems very unusual for a manager to take training and do media stuff if an appointment was as imminent as suggested.. 

1 minute ago, cityred2000 said:

Funny you say that, this actually popped up on my Twitter not long ago. Anyone know if this bloke is on here at all? Imagine it's all BS but thought it's worth posting.

Well, if it’s good enough for @BendSinister86 it’s good enough for me - who could it be!

I don't know enough about him really to have a strong opinion one way or the other.

I can see the rationale behind this appointment, but they've really made it hard for him by sacking a popular manager in almost universally accepted unfair circumstances by the supporters.

As others have said, it is in-line with what JL stated regarding new manager a few days ago - but does feel like yet another lurch towards a completely different direction after almost 3 years of a more typical autocratic football manager type in charge.. and it's a strange time of the season to do such an about face.

If there was an understanding that Pearson was to leave at the end of his contract, you'd think the idea of Manning joining now with Pearson effectively taking on a DoF role for a few months would give a bit of continuity and seems logical.. but that impacts Tinnion's autonomy and then the obvious issues the board had with Pearson as a person.

This appointment has to work for the Lansdowns, as otherwise I can see their position becoming completely untenable.

3 minutes ago, cidercity1987 said:

Yeah, they were in the relegation zone with 15 points from 20 matches

And they are MK Dons, not Leicester or Watford...

Still no context - that’s the issue.

I don’t know enough about Manning to have much of a view one way or the other - but to simply look at a table position is misleading. 

And no, the club in question isn’t particularly relevant. A sacking is a sacking - all depends on the context. 

10 hours ago, W-S-M Seagull said:

His record is very good?

He got sacked from Milton Keynes cos they were shite under him. 

 

Pearson was sacked from several jobs, but that doesn’t take into account any context.

Do you know all the circumstances for Manning’s sacking at MKD?

I’d rather be in a situation where we have no idea than an inevitable trickle of news reports leading to Ali Durden confirmation that we are appointing Gary Monk 2 days before it happens. At least we have some suspense.

Just now, Dastardly and Muttley said:

Not necessarily. Maybe his pre match presser rubbed people up the wrong way. BT and JL may feel that Hines and Cisse can manage for the remaining five weeks of this vigorous search.

If they were that petty they’d have got rid before the weekend.

7 minutes ago, RedRaw said:

The other thing to consider is the rumour that CF has already gone…..if that is true then surely somebody will be coming in today

Good point - the thing that’s surprised me most about the idea of today an appointment being made is no firm rumours in the press.

Usually, we’ve known at least 24 hours before. I think that’s been the case at least since Gary Johnson.

9 hours ago, JP Hampton said:

Well there’s one thing for sure, whatever you or I think or feel about the potential appointments being mooted on the forum, it doesn’t matter one jot. 
 

We’ll get what we’re given and will have no more say than that. I have no idea who’d be a good fit for the club, some managers do well at certain clubs, despite fans thinking otherwise. 
If a manager/head coach does well at one club, doesn’t mean they’ll work in the same way at another.  Given all the variables,personnel, financial, the culture, the players etc. there’s no real way to know until they’re here and doing the job.  
So let’s hope everything clicks whoever it is

Is this a Robbored alt account? If you'd changed "jot" to "iota" I'd be convinced. 

If we are to take the two recurring themes from the main rumours going around..

• Appointment today
• Someone fans will be excited about

Given that there are 0 firm rumours circulating naming this imminent appointment - that would make it less feasible that it's

1. someone in work
2. a bigger name

A couple of caveats to this is that theoretically, it could be someone in work at a smaller club (Luke Williams?) who are happy to keep things under wraps as we are paying them decent comp or a foreign coach with representatives that don't move in the same gossipy UK agent circles.

When you add in the "someone fans will be excited about" - that also narrows it down. That statement implies fans "excited" at face value which probably rules out someone like Manning.

Assuming both of these themes are true... that effectively rules out almost all the names in the current SkyBet odds either by being too high profile for the information not to leak, in work (which usually leads to leaks) and lots of the smaller name managers due to not being "exciting" enough.

I think this may end up being someone completely left field that hasn't come on the bookies' radar - anyone checked PULA aircraft flight movements recently?!

20 minutes ago, Gillies Downs Leeds said:

Can't see anything being announced tomorrow. Just heard back from a mate who is a trader with one of the big betting firms. His words were "the leeches haven't come forward yet". 

By leeches he means agents and a like who always top up their earnings with a little wager (although you can't get much on in these markets). But all agents / regular winners on these type of markets accounts are flagged up when they bet. 

His company haven't seen any bets from these accounts yet so wouldn't think anything is done yet.

Perhaps adds more weight to the theory it’s a foreign coach then

It’s an interesting suggestion but perhaps as with the transfer forum we could put ‘suggestions’ into the larger head coach thread rather than their own one?

14 hours ago, Shauntaylor85 said:

Heard some anti JL songs but our fans don’t sing when 4.0 up or losing so hardly surprising. Sheff Wed fans just saying to me on way back it’s a great stadium but worst atmosphere in the champ

Our board are more than happy for this to be the case, and have actively enabled it through their stadium plan. Yet another reason why I can’t wait to see the back of them. 

Gifting away teams a marginal gain in a ridiculously competitive league by allowing them to have their support en-masse behind one of the goals is sheer madness. To add insult to injury, they put our vocal fans physically as far away as possible which is terrible for atmosphere. 

A board who is competent would’ve recognised this. Multiple former managers have questioned the logic of it. 

If you extrapolate silly decisions like that across the entire club - it’s easy to see why we’ve underachieved with this lot in charge. 

Just now, Jose said:

I wasn’t talking about that ex Chelsea player ……

Adrian Mutu?

Just now, Jose said:

He known to Frank………

It’s Jody Morris. Lampard was spotted at HPC because he gave Jody a lift. 

12 minutes ago, phantom said:

No. 

Monday 

Is the correct person being discussed on the forum or is it someone who hasn’t been? 

Just now, eardun said:

Must admit I knew nothing of Manning until I read his bio earlier. Having read that, as you say, he does sound like the type of person that would fit the bill for the owners based on what they have indicated they are looking for. So I wouldn’t be surprised if Manning was appointed. 

He’s the sort of appointment Brentford, Brighton or Swansea of a few years ago might’ve made in the Championship based on his profile.

I don’t know enough about him to have a particularly strong opinion - but if they do go for someone like him at least they're being consistent in following their messaging from earlier in the week. 

If Manning was coming here having coached 2 lower league sides from the continent, I think people would be pretty excited about him as an option.

Had a read just now and he’s got a very interesting profile. Obviously nowhere near as glamorous as someone like Lampard, but could be very shrewd.

8 minutes ago, Red-Robbo said:

Uninspiring would be a massive understatement.

If they appoint any of those names mentioned above, attendance will drop off a cliff and I think there’d be a lot of momentum behind boycotting stadium based food/drink. 

2 minutes ago, Tafkarmlf said:

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/24607473/frank-lampard-chelsea-bristol-city-manager/

 

Here's the report in case anyone is interested 

No new info there, just quoting the Post article which is based off speculation from here/twitter. 

17 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

I’ve intimated similar this season.  A combination of factors have pushed SL down and Nige up….and you know I’m a Nige fan, but I do think some of his popularity has come by SL becoming less popular.

I think it’s also due to the Pearson sacking nicely summarising most fans’ issues with the current ownership in one sacking.

- failure to deal with more difficult personalities

- wanting his own people in positions of influence 

- the ineptness of video statements from 2 people who meet the above criteria

- poor comms throughout with inconsistent messaging including about the entire club-wide approach to ‘identity’

- trademark aloofness and the perception of arrogance and disdain for fan wishes

- appearing to never learn from previous mistakes

- selling assets and not allowing the manager to replace them

All of these factors are present in the perfect storm of the Pearson sacking. And it’s amplified by the fact Pearson was always so frank with fans in contrast.

1 hour ago, Iron Acton Red said:

I think Lansdown would invest in players if he likes the manager. Remember how much money junior got to spend during his tenure here after Cotts got the push.

Exactly. If we appointed Mark Robins suddenly the purse strings would loosen.

Same would apply for Lampard.. and probably an any other appointment he wants that the fans are unsure of.. Williams for example.

Lampard is exactly the sort of appointment the Lansdowns would make

On 30/10/2023 at 16:34, Davefevs said:

Jon Dolman

he blocked me on Twitter.

I forgot about him! 

Genuinely laughed out loud at the video, it’s like a parody.