Phileas Fogg

Stupid and pathetic? Feels inordinately strong wording.

Where is there any indication that these people are a) involved in football violence or b) an ‘embarrassment’?

Exactly - not sure why the ridicule. If that’s how they want to dress then whatever.

The Lansdown stand is horrible for atmosphere. It’s enormous and filled with non-singers. That, plus the away fans being as physically far away from vocal home fans as possible = poor atmosphere. It’s such a shame because those in the corner do try. The club had opportunity to get this right - the way to do that was to put away fans in the closest blocks to the Atyeo in the Lansdown or Dolman.. and give the entire Atyeo to vocal home fans. I’d bet pretty much anything that if they’d done that and allowed the culture to grow in the home end - the atmosphere would be unrecognisable. I believe that ‘the club’ don’t really want that though. They believe that atmosphere, or at least the more typical terrace culture atmosphere, = trouble. The club want families and more of a rugby clientele.. people who will drink at the ground and buy from the club shop. I think most of us know that positive home atmosphere contributes to the likelihood of good results. It’s such a shame the club have never really agreed.. and dragged their feet the entire time.

What’s the story behind that song? It’s so specific - there must be a reason

I did not expect him to end up in Spain. If he’s still the same player, enormous coup for Getafe. Will be interesting to see how he’s received.

It does feel very similar to the Cotterill situation. The board making things tricky for the manager who is popular, but is probably not their choice in terms of someone to work with. I would not be shocked if someone like Russell Martin is our manager this time in a year.. and miraculously has more money to spend.

A complete straw man argument.. but you know that.

I’ve always found him very difficult to warm to as a person.. which is odd because he’s clearly a well intentioned guy. I know it may seem a bit unfair - but I’d get rid now if I was the FA. I just can’t see us actually winning anything with him.

The owners have never really wanted AG to be loud and vociferous. In all the time I can remember, they've done the absolute minimum to aid fans in improving the atmosphere. The current "singing section" in the corner is just a token gesture. It's physically as far away from the away fans as possible so you don't get that interaction which acts as a catalyst. The group in there gives it a good go, but it is a losing battle in that location. Most serious clubs don't do this, they support fans who want to develop a home atmosphere. The owners want to encourage a family atmosphere at AG, and that's clearly their preferred customer. That's fine, but there's room for both. The big mistake was the redesign - that was a brilliant opportunity to totally reset AG and cater to everyone. As mentioned earlier, the obvious thing to do was move away fans into the Atyeo end corner of the Dolman/Lansdown and have the Atyeo as a proper home end. I have absolutely no doubt that if that was implemented at the time, with encouragement and support given to that group thus allowing them to develop, the atmosphere would be incomparably better.

I've noticed on social media that lots of the clamour for his return seems to be coming from United's global fanbase rather than UK based fans. Natural I suppose as this sort of thing is viewed differently in different parts of the world, but probably a consideration for United.

They’re actually one of the only good barometers in terms of club size and situation. Affluent city, large catchment area, new stadium etc.

Robbored can’t quite grasp the analysis in Dave’s post - so in retaliation hijacks the entire thread with some basic point about long throws. Great stuff as per.

I imagine the strategy there, assuming it’s a play, is not to give the impression to other clubs that we’re going all out to spend big on replacements.

Agreed but I think that’s a separate point - in both instances Pearson is playing the game with the ultimate goal of creating the best outcome for the club.

That’s a good point. I’d be amazed if, in the 2.5 years Pearson has been here, he would tolerate a culture whereby he’s in the dark about a potential record sale. I just can’t imagine that happening. That’s not how he works and he’s not an appeaser.

Noooooo this will be like catnip to @Mr Popodopolous !!

I’m not so sure. The signings and managerial appointment Bournemouth have made are forward thinking. Neither are the appointments of a club aiming to survive and nothing else.

Agreed. It’s clear the Lansdowns have a preferred type. I can see someone like Russell Martin being more up their street.

Statements like that are all smoke and mirrors though. If Pearson indicated we were planning to sell for the right offer, it lowers our bargaining power. If we’d have kept him, we’d be gambling. The contract situation means he’s probably at his peak value we could sell him for right now - perhaps with the exception of this coming January if we were top 3 and things were tight. We’re not the only club in the world that sells our best players - it happens at every single level, even with the superclubs to an extent where only really Real Madrid can't be gazumped. Is it likely we will replace Scott with a player who has as much potential? No. Is there a chance the squad can be strengthened from the funds (thus making us a better side)? Yes. I am a bit surprised by the naivety on here by some - I guess it’s partly because it’s difficult for some to fathom Bournemouth being able to buy our best players. It’ll be a shame to lose him, but it’s a huge amount of money, potential add ons and improves our reputation as an academy and club. It wasn’t that long ago people were bemoaning Southampton and even Cardiff dominating in youth development whilst we were producing Jennison Myrie-Williams, Dean Grubb and Craig Woodman. In the last few years, relatively speaking, we’ve outperformed most clubs in the country in that field. Success stories like Scott, and even Bryan/Reid, make us an attractive option for the best young talent.

I’m not sure what people were expecting - he was obviously always leaving this summer. The stage we are at as a club means we don’t tend to keep hold of potential future England midfielders. The key is what we do with incoming funds - if we recruit well, it could leave us stronger. I had a chat with Pearson just over a year ago - and I asked him about Scott/Semenyo. He said ‘if they go, we will reinvest the money and be a better squad as a consequence” - so let’s hope the board assist him in that.

Also can’t wait for the inevitable over the top self indulgent 5 minute long montage video the club put out like they did for Reid and Bryan.

More concerned if there’s been yet another situation where the manager has been hung out to dry (think Cotterill in 2015) once again than Scott leaving. He was obviously going this summer, but if this causes issues with Pearson through negligence then that’s a worry.

It’s incredibly unlikely they weigh the same. It would be very odd if Wikipedia had up to date info on that also.

A very touching tribute to a certain controversial social media influencer with that ink.