Red-Robbo

On 28/04/2024 at 22:46, Nugget said:

Went with my girls, been to a few games,  atmosphere is very different, much more friendly vibe, but feels a bit like a pop concert at times, but for the youngsters in the crowd it seemed to get them going.

 

My first experience of live woman's football on Sunday. Went with my girls and a couple of their mates.  Despite the result, I enjoyed the experience and will go again. 

It's a different thing from following the men's team. My Saturdays there are about the guys and the pints! This was a family outing and reflected that. Even non-sporty Robbette #1 enjoyed it though. 

5 minutes ago, Derby Boy said:

I'm under the impression you kept possession without creating chances where we tended to launch ineffective crosses into the box giving possession away.

Certainly you'll see us fail to break down the more stodgy defensively minded bottom-of-the-table sides. Slooow build up was indeed the problem. 

14 minutes ago, Derby Boy said:

Quality is a bit subjective, whilst Warne had recieved critism for the style of his football it has generally been effective. His teams have trouble breaking down teams and most of the stick he's got has been follwing games we were unable to break down "lesser" teams defending in depth.

This sounds awfully familiar, Derby Boy....

1 minute ago, W-S-M Seagull said:

Jon said a lot about getting the message out there. 

The message was very clear. The expectation was not to stand still. It was to progress. Standing still isn't progress. It's not a positive. If you do not meet your expectations it's a failure. 

If people are changing their expectations based on how the sesson has gone. Then that takes away any credibility.  

I was very very clear in pre season that I expected us to get closer to the play offs by way of points. That expectation did not change throughout the season. 

So there is no bending out of shape here because weve not done that. 

I find it a hard concept to understand why another Bristol City has an issue with a fellow Bristol City fan being annoyed that their pre season expectations were not met. You are free to go back and check my pre season expectations and you'll see that the expectation for Pearson were the same as I have now. 

You can dress it up however you want. But in my opinion we have at the very most stood still. 

You may consider us to have made a tiny improvement, that's cool. I don't agree. I think you're trying to say that to validate the decisions the club have made. But the reality is all of us expected real progress this season following the reset and that has simply not happened. 

We'll have to differ because I do see progress - and it's measurable. I didn't (and still don't) support the sacking of Nigel Pearson, but I am not going to claim that we'd be definitely challenging for promotion if he was here.

It's been a steady improvement since the Holden season. No great leaps forward. IF Manning is learning as he goes along, maybe next season - depending on incomings and outgoings - maybe that'll be the first time for yonks we may genuinely have a chance of Top 6. 

This season I certainly didn't think we did, nor did most Otib members who were polled at the start of 23/24 and - I suspect - Jon Lansdown didn't think it either. But if you get asked "what's this season's target?" comfortable survival isn't the inspiring answer to give. 

2 minutes ago, W-S-M Seagull said:

Based on all the various interviews that was given by various people. The right end of the table is considered to be the play offs and above. Only you will know why you're trying to downplay that. 

He didn't say the ending of the season was broadly positive. He said the whole season was broadly positive which does not marry with his previous comments. 

We've broadly stood still and Jon sees that as a positive. 

I think in one interview in the close season Lansdown Jr said Top 6 was the target. That's what pretty much all chairmen say and most managers too. It doesn't mean "we are guaranteed to be Top 6 and anything else is a failure".  Personally, I don't think we have the squad for it nor did we under the last manager.

However, it does seem to bend you out of shape that we ARE finishing higher up than before, potentially 4 places, and we had a short but lucrative cup run plus various underperforming players now look better under LM than they did before.

We await to see what the summer brings. Steve Evans thinks we're 2 or 3 players away from being contenders. I think he's right. 

31 minutes ago, W-S-M Seagull said:

 

In last night's interview, despite us not competing at the right end of the table and Manning not getting the best out of this really good squad, Jon described this season as "broadly positive" 

He's all over the place with his opinions. 

What's the right end of the table? We're finishing in the top half of the table - best 9th, worse 12th and have beaten a number of the Top 6 sides, not to mention a PL club.

He might talk shite for much of what he says, but he's correct in that it's ending "broadly positive", with very good form and more than one player stepping up and playing very well. 

As to whether anyone would finish higher than 9th with the same squad, that's total guesswork. Pearson had us at 8th at one point, but didn't hold that position. We just don't know where we'd be if he had stayed. 

1 hour ago, The Humble Realist said:

My chronology might fail me but I would think that list possibly is 2nd tier ? Surely adebola didnt make all those appearances post the rebrand as he wasnt young when we signed him.

He was at third division Crewe for the first part of his career. 

8 hours ago, Kid in the Riot said:

Not so nice when I went there, got beaten up just outside Mollys Fair City Irish bar

Blige! I was there only a few years ago. Just before Covid. No problems, but there were 4 of us, 2 attractive women, and it was early to mid-afternoon.

Were you there on a football-related journey?

1 hour ago, SirColinOfMansfield said:

Rather than go for an open-top bus tour to celebrate the end of the season, they have decided to go for a simple plaque instead ...

Babestation on again?

8 minutes ago, Colemanballs said:

I haven't seen the possession stats but, from watching, I'd be gobsmacked if we didn't comfortably have the lion's share. Is this the first win under LM where that is the case?

71% and tbh it looked like more!

3 hours ago, 1960maaan said:

While I don't remember having too many reasons to shout at the Ref, I imagine Rotherham fans would. For years we haven't got Penalty decisions , seems we are getting them all now. I know some say there is contact and the Ref gives it straight away, I have my doubts about the Pen. Happy to take it mind, but if I moan about ones not given I feel it's right to mention when I think we've been lucky. 
It looks harsh, the Ref nor Lino have a really clear view and we have had many more blatant ones not given.

Then the free kick , that's easier. It looks soft , but they are the sort that are given and Twine forces the Refs hand by grabbing the ball . TBH Rinomhota doesn't moan too much. 

We only talk about them because they lead to goals , over all I thought he was OK and those decisions mean little now. I just hope we get those next year in our title challenge. 

 

 

It was as straightforward a penalty as you'll see in my opinion. 

Roberts has really stepped up after some rather tentative early performances. You'd want him keeping his place next season. Great skill. 

1 hour ago, Davefevs said:

And still young, with growth.

You saying he's a fledgeling player? 

45 minutes ago, Graham76 said:

Disagree about the decent atmospheres. The atmosphere has been really poor.  This is isn’t a LM thing, as it’s been crap for years now, but the sacking of Pearson didn’t help. 

Dunno what you want from a home game if you think the atmosphere was poor v Blackburn?

By modern Ashton Gate standards, that's as good as it gets. 

6 minutes ago, 2015 said:

I've been keeping tabs, watched a couple games on iFollow, but my heart isn't in it as much as it used to be. 

This isn't LM or NP related really and nothing to do with how we perform solely on the pitch, it's the whole package for me that I've had enough of and need time away from.

I don't doubt that we have improved over the last 6 weeks, results will also tell you that but it hasn't change my thoughts.

Cardiff at home was my last straw. It's a performance we've all seen at home about 23 times in the last 5 years and it really made me think why do I even bother.

So I figured the best way to voice my anger with the club is by not renewing my ST and not attending as many matches. 

Ultimately the sacking of NP was probably the last straw for me with SL, JL and BT. I'd lost total respect and support for them.

With you on the last line. I want them gone - and let's face it that could happen; the club's for sale.

I really can't tell how next season will turn out though. I'd find it very difficult to do a final placing prediction for 24/25. Far too many ifs and uncertainties. 

3 minutes ago, 2015 said:

 

We have a coach in who likes slow and patient football, which to me just adds to the sterile atmosphere at AG which is like a morgue most weeks. By the way I do hope LM does well and the club is successful because after all it is still my club.

I feel really detached, haven't watched much of us the last 6 weeks, I just feel we're going around the same old cycle again. Get in experience, sack them when they cut costs then employ inexperience... Rinse and repeat.

 

If you haven't watched much in the last 6 weeks then you've missed some decent matches with decent atmospheres. 

I think the point with Manning, and a major reason of why he was an unnecessary gamble - we weren't going nowhere with NP and Liam wasn't a guaranteed winner - is that he's a relatively young manager, learning his trade at this level. He can and does adapt to circumstances. 

This isn't me saying everything is great and we'll shoot up the table next season. It's just you turned off watching perhaps at Manning's worst, and we have experienced some tempo-led, going-for-it games. I don't think Manning has yet established a settled "style" at this club. 

16 hours ago, The Gasbuster said:

 

Her Dad was absolutely brilliant on kids TV; his programs were very educational. She is just a talentless bint, awful on TV and awful on the radio. 

IMO

Sadly, he turned into a bit of stereotypical baby boomer conspiracy theorist in his dotage.  "Nothing wrong with more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere"; "CRB checks are an invasion of freedom" etc etc. 

Although he worked on programmes to do with science and maths, he personally knows little about the subjects he presented, as his social media pronouncements show. He's basically an ex-Butlin's Redcoat with two O'Levels.

I recall reading that he's now got dementia, so perhaps that explains some of the post-TV career inanity he's come out with. 

Well I liked Barcelona and found Madrid unpleasant.  In touristy cafes on La Ramblas you get junkie beggars, but TBH I have seen that in my years in London. Try eating outdoors around Soho in the summer. Same rules apply.

However, overall Barcelona has a much lower crime rate than London - and many other UK cities. As does most of Spain.

Stats show Bilbao (don't let it put you off, it's well worth a visit) and the Canary Islands have the highest rates of property and crimes against the person in Spain. 

1 hour ago, Northern Red said:

Sammie Szmodics... 

Whatever happened to him?  

17 minutes ago, Numero Uno said:

I said it would end up at hundreds rather than thousands not renewing and that’s where we are heading. However the club should consider that fortunate and make an effort to engage with fans and not antagonise or bullshit them in future. Liam found a run of form at just the right time for both him and the hierarchy. We go again next season now.

TBH - and I can only speak for me - I'd have renewed even if he hadn't. I've renewed after relegation seasons and disasterous managers. 

You just hope they'll be gone soon and we move on to better things. 

Remember Andre Blackman? Signed from Portsmouth academy and did this RB interview where he said he was "fast, strong, with good vision" played one League Cup game looked none of those things,  then we had to sack him off for being a wannabe gangster. Had umpteen unsuccessful trials at various clubs - more trials than Joseph Barton - and then played in Scotland before dropping to non-league in his late 20s. Now at Dulwich Hamlet. 

30 minutes ago, Glen hump said:

Don’t think Donald’s a die hard 

Wish he would bloody die.... 

[I mean Donald, not Judd]

19 minutes ago, Swede said:

I've renewed my ticket. Its a 50 - 60 mile round trip for me and I still work so I can't make all of the games especially some midweek games.

By renewing my season ticket I am supporting the club whether I attend all of the matches or not, its my choice. I really can't understand all of the fuss with people not attending and leaving seats empty. There's usually other areas not occupied so what's the problem? Non attendees are counted in the attendance anyway and if its a high profile match them I'm sure the non attendees would be minimal.

My view as well. It's supposed to be an entertainment option, not being in the fricking Army!  If you can't go, you can't go.

I missed three home games this season and haven't had any away days - which is very unusual. But work, holidays, family, comes first.

I've renewed. I always do. My dad had a season ticket for almost 50 years and I hope I will too. 

4 hours ago, RoystonFoote'snephew said:

It's coming up to the end of the season and I was musing about the summer and friendlies while thumbing through past community match programmes when some familiar but not so familiar names got me thinking again about poor signings. Every team ofcourse has made poor signings, and we're certainly no exception, but the 2016/17 programme for our match with Bristol Manor Farm contained a City squad with no less than 3 players that we'd signed (not loaned) who were never to wear a 1st team shirt in a competitive fixture, namely Tin Plavotic (now with Austria Wien in the Austrian Bundesliga), Paul-Arnold Garita (now with Al-Faisaly in the Saudi 1st Division) and Diego de Girolamo (now with Buxton in National League North). None of these players were blighted by injury just (presumably) deemed not good enough. I wonder how many other signings, not loans, there have been. 

The Austrian Bundesliga is not a bad standard, Uefa ranks it 10th in Europe, just below the SPL. but Plavotic has only played one game there and seems to have spent most of his career in the Austrian 2nd tier - not a good standard.  I think it's as well Tin got canned here. 

3 hours ago, 1960maaan said:

Thinking of taking a short trip in May. Any must sees, places to visit or recommendations ?
Is the beach area or Town better to stay ?  

Any ideas would be appreciated .

I stayed in the Gothic Quarter...

Seriously, while there visit the Boquaria market off the Rambla. I ate at the famous restaurant El Quim there - because I have a juvenile sense of humour. 

While there have a paella. The people of Valencia claim they invented paella, but the Catalans dispute this. At any rates, it's tops in Barcelona.

From the shoreline, take a 30 minute walk and you can climb Montjuc, a hill that overlooks the city and holds a castle (with a nice military museum in it, if that floats your boat) plus the various installations of the 1992 Olympic games and a motor racing track. Oh and it's got a funicular railway up to it, which sometimes even works. 

For beaches, I'd say forget Barca's minute, although very walkable, shoreline and take the light railway (it's cheap and easy to work out) out to one of the Costa Blanca beaches just north of the city; we went to Tossa Del Mar. Because I have a juvenile sense of humour. Sitges, to the south, is said to be nice but is also reputedly the gay capital of Spain. Not that that should put anyone off!

Oh and visit La Sagria Familia and Nou Camp (if the latter has reopened to tourists), because, although it's sooo touristy, you'll kick yourself if you don't.