Phileas Fogg

By his own admission, as long as it's being gone about in the right way with respect for fellow supporters, there's nothing he can critique as he claimed they were his only issues with it. I am pleasantly surprised that the organisers are liaising with the club. I had a bad feeling they wouldn't and things would abruptly fizzle out. Good for them.

For someone who dismisses "wild speculation" this is quite a bold statement. I do believe though, he created problems for himself through recruitment of characters (Tomlin) who were too challenging to manage. Having someone that disruptive and problematic in the dressing room is always going to cause issues that don't need to exist. I completely understand why he wanted to recruit Tomlin, but it didn't half make things more challenging for him.

That point about Stoke is a bit of an odd one. I’d understand if we were talking about a big club that’s genuinely underachieving like Derby or Sheffield Weds.. but Stoke?!

How come you direct it at Johnson specifically? I know the rationale, broadly because he was given backing Cotterill wasn’t, but surely that’s more the fault of the board and the likes of Ashton?

One in the eye for the knockers whose latest stick to beat them with was whether it’s being done in the right way. What will they use to criticise it now?

I’m nothing to do with it, when I attend I sit in a totally different part of the stadium! I just think your sniping is a bit petty and needless.

Just be transparent then - at least allows a bit of discussion. I don’t see anyone disagreeing that there needs to be a process?

If you say so.. I suspect that really the thing that bothers you is your perceived implication that those who want to actively support the team and make noise are "worth more" than those who are happy to sit quietly and passively support. This ties into the whole situation whereby you believe those that want to make that end of the Dolman vibrant are happy to push existing ST holders out without any consideration about how they might feel. If you were prepared to actually discuss that, rather than snipe with a degree of plausible deniability - you'd probably get a better discussion.

Seems like a convenient excuse to me. You were already knocking it before those issues arose last week. If it was really just that.. I doubt you’d be so persistent. People can see through it so you might as well be honest - what is it really?

Let’s call a spade a spade here - it’s obvious it bothers you for some reason. Any opportunity to subtly knock it you’ll take. I appreciate you may have concerns about whether people are going about it in the right way re: current season ticket holders.. but that just seems a convenient excuse. What is it *really* that’s bothering you so much?

I think he'll probably be off this window unfortunately. As KITR said, all factors mentioned indicate this is moving along well. It's a shame because I've really enjoyed his development in the last 18 months. With the right coaching and in the right team, I think he could develop really nicely. His ceiling is a bit higher than most 23 year olds because his development as a teenager wasn't through a conventional academy so he's still pretty raw. Not sure if Bournemouth is the best move for him given they look likely to come back down. Provided he plays regularly it could be a good next step up as even if they get relegated you'd expect them to challenge at the top of this league next season. The key will be replacing him. He's pretty unique stylistically to what we have, so it's not as easy as just saying Sam Bell because they're totally different styles of player. We'd need someone mobile, strong and athletic to replace him. Hopefully we've already identified a few. Pearson has had a good eye for a forward throughout his career so I'm fairly positive about potential replacements.

I agree re: the majority of our ex-managers. The ones that were here medium to long term, (Gary J, Cotterill, Lee J), in particular. As a fan base, we tend to prefer managers with big personalities who cause a bit of a stir. I think this was one factor as to why people were pretty apathetic towards SO'D (context of where we were as a team also a big factor) and also to an extent Coppell. Pearson is obviously a big personality too and it's a similar situation with him. I think there may be a bit of psychology behind this. We're in a fairly unique position nationally in that we're probably the biggest City that hasn't had a Prem team in recent history. We've always felt a bit side lined (the irritation of being called "Bristol" and the novel enjoyment of Jonathan Pearce shoehorning in City references wherever possible). As a fanbase we want a big personality to take pride in our club and bring us the success we feel we deserve given the size of the City and potential catchment area. All of GJ, Cotterill, LJ and Pearson are proud and have big personalities. All of them tend to rub a % of supporters, whether they're ours or opposition fans, up the wrong way and divide opinion. Compare that to someone like Holden, not as much of a big personality, where there seems to be a consensus opinion that he was a nice guy that was out of his depth. There are still debates some 15 years later as to whether we did the right thing in the 2008 January Transfer window.. and a discussion as to whether Cotterill was adequately backed in 2015 or whether Lee Johnson's tenure can be described as a success would still reach 3/4 pages. Whether you liked them or not (Pearson too) I think I've felt the most engaged with watching the club when we've had a manager who caused a stir at the helm.

Thanks for that ?

The Secret Footballer book is an interesting read on Cotterill at Portsmouth. I think his emotive personality, and arguably a bit of insecurity, is a blessing and a curse. Like Pearson, must be great to play under when things are going well.

I've met Pearson and he's exactly the same as he comes across in interviews. He's clearly tough, intelligent and gregarious. Works the room like an old school comedian or actor. I like that because it makes him authentic. He's clearly a bit marmite, but I can imagine he's great to play under provided you 100% buy into him and his philosophies. Absolutely not someone you'd want to get on the wrong side of though, as Marley Watkins found out.

Ex-City of course so I’m sure many will feel the same, but I do really like Cotterill as a guy. He’s clearly mad as a fox, very intense and emotive - but he’s someone I’d really like to succeed.

Graham Potter is another one. Think it may have been a mistake to take the Chelsea job, especially with their transfer approach and owner, but obviously a hard opportunity to turn down. I’m certain he’ll succeed there given time though.

Good one - until Newcastle I wasn’t sure I rated him that much but he’s proven me wrong. Despite the money they have, the expectation that comes with it would’ve made it a challenging 12 months.

Who are the managers of other clubs that you like? Whether that’s their ability and/or personality. I was thinking about this because I’ve really warmed to Jesse Marsch at Leeds. Seems like a very good man in clips and interviews I’ve seen on him. I’ve also always liked Mourinho - great character. Klopp is another one, don’t always enjoy his complaining - but when things are going well for Liverpool it must be great fun to have him as a manager. I also like those slightly madcap enigmatic managers like Bielsa and Sarri. Lastly Neil Warnock. I really recommend his book. If you see past the attention diverting panto villain stuff, you can see he’s a good guy. Who are yours?

May be completely wrong - but I believe he and Lee Johnson weren’t on fantastic terms, partly why he ended up at Saints. Could be Chinese whispers but I get the impression there was also some issue around the way he broke the appearance record that he wasn’t exactly enamoured with either.

Despite that being a fairly generic template, we actually sing it in a unique way through the final syllable going up in “City”. Not many clubs sing any version of that template full stop, so I personally quite like that one.

He’s naturally quite shy so I’m not sure if he’d be captain material, but great to see him progressing. I never really thought much of him and would have been happy to see him sold last summer so I’m delighted to have been proven wrong.

No idea really, would just be speculating. My instinct is the club have always been a bit uneasy about it and it’s not their preferred customer.

Thanks for pointing out that obvious typo rather than actually responding with anything of use. That said, I haven’t seen @BS4 on Tour...for a while, someone needs to fill the void I guess.

To expand on the general point I’ve been banging on about for years - most clubs tend to design their stadium around the ‘home end’. If Liverpool were to move, the new ground would be developed with The Kop as the centrepiece. The same at United with the Stretford End. Obviously those are two massive clubs, but the principle is the same. And it’s how the club should’ve approached the redesign. We were lucky in that we redeveloped the ground rather than moved, so there’s an opportunity to improve rather than completely change the culture of the ground. This may upset a few, so I want to emphasise the point that this is just my opinion, but pound for pound I believe vocal supporters who audibly back the team make more of a difference to the side than those that don’t. (I say that as someone who doesn’t sit in a very vocal area!). The club should’ve given that element of support as much emphasis as they gave the impressive corporate facilities and those for young families. The S82 area is a poorly thought out solution and a bit of a token gesture. It’s great they were open to such an area and implemented safe standing, but the location is all wrong. The club should’ve really given the stadium logistics the thought it required to suit all ‘types’ of supporter.