Kid in the Riot

2 hours ago, jambodinho said:

How was littleFrench @Kid in the Riot ?

Really good thanks. Could not fault it at all, in fact.

Group of 6 of us and enjoyed excellent service throughout the meal. Delicious Jersey rock oysters (with the Picpoul again!) Followed by the scallops in a beautiful buttery Source. The best course for me probably was the ox cheek, that was perfectly tender (pic below). Then finished with the chocolate mousse which lived up to the hype!

Also has sides of the hispi cabbage and the aligot, the latter of which is unlike anything I've had before really. 

Maybe my only complaint is that by the end I was stuffed, an inevitable consequence of so much rich and hearty food. Along with a fair bit of vin...

All the food was beautifully presented too, which isn't always the case with traditional cooking. 

When a place appears on a show called "Remarkable Places to Eat" you kind of fear the worst, but whilst "remarkable" is a very high bar to reach, it was certainly an excellent venue showcasing some very talented chefs and high quality ingredients.

I find it far more offensive when people write "Bristol Rovers" across the St George's Cross, if I'm honest. 

5 hours ago, GrahamC said:

I also read the comment when he resigned from his FA post over a personal matter that he was considered the best Chief Finance Officer the FA had ever had & was extremely popular.

Almost identical in his skill set to us, isn’t it?

And this is a club in League 2 remember.... 

21 hours ago, Midred said:

Apparently Aaron Taylor - Johnson to be the new James Bond. Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't the character die a horrible death at the end of "No time to die"? Then they drank a toast to him after. That's going to be a bit awkward for them in the next film. I know quite a few actors have played the character over the years but it will be the first time after death!

Prequels? 

21 minutes ago, jambodinho said:

That’s a shame. If Sam from pasture rates it then it must be decent. Got a roast booked in at pasture in a couple of weeks. Can’t wait.

littleFrench is my favourite restaurant in Bristol. Been 4 times. Love it in there. Enjoy. 

He does. Said the decor was lovely too, and the margaritas!

Best dishes at LF? I've heard good things about the chocolate mousse!

20 hours ago, jambodinho said:

How did Condesa go mate? 

Bloody babysitter cancelled last minute so didn't make it! I actually spoke to the owners of Pasture on Sunday though, and they went and said it was fantastic. So, I'm going to have to make an effort to go in the next couple of weeks.

17 hours ago, petehinton said:

Heading to TARE again next week for my 30th, any excuse!

Booked in for my first visit, also for my birthday, in May.

My first visit to Little French this evening. Have heard mixed things so we shall see how it goes....

5 minutes ago, Robbored said:

Was it? How do you know that?

A little birdie. 

One of those anonymous ones.

The same that told me Ashton was going to Ipswich before Steve Lansdown knew. 

3 minutes ago, Tomo said:

Interesting mate. If you are correct, I'm still not convinced that BT would be the source. 

If Ian has had previous knowledge of 'certain' inside information, it's more likely to come from someone lower down the chain imo...

Particularly if it was detailed info, it's unlikely to have come from Tinnion, who can only manage four of five words at a time. 

2 minutes ago, And Its Smith said:

Ian Gay’s 8 game comment could easily just be his opinion rather than something Tinnion has told him. The text didn’t say anything about sources and can be read as opinion if wished.  Think conclusions might have been jumped too here 

Either way, it's surely completely obvious that Manning does have 8 games to save his job?

8 hours ago, Robbored said:

If you remember after LJ was sacked it took Junior and Ashton literally weeks and weeks so-say doing interviews before appointing Dean Holden from in-house. SL obviously trusted them and had very little involvement.

As soon as DH was sacked SL got involved and appointed Nige on a short contract within 48 hrs.

Unsurprisingly I do remember it, yes. Whilst it's true they interviewed a bunch of candidates Ashton wasn't particularly impressed with like Cook and Hughton, ultimately it was SL that decided DH should be given a chance. 

Both Ashton and JL looked like a couple of hostages in that DH announcement presser on the pitch.

47 minutes ago, Robbored said:

DH wasn’t SLs appointment- that was down to Ashton and Junior. 

Utter nonsense. Holden was an SL appointment all day long. 

Next you'll be telling us Ashton wanted to appoint LJ too.

8 minutes ago, slartibartfast said:

Don't know much about the bloke, don't buy or subscribe to EP, what's his background ,is he local, a fan  ?

Originally from Hampshire and a Pompey fan. But has lived in Bristol for many years. Football journalist...

2 minutes ago, Street red said:

They've brought it on themselves be more professional and they won't be called out.

Absolutely. Sadly there is unlikely to be any improvement on that front in the near future though. 

4 minutes ago, RollsRoyce said:

I managed to tune into the last half hour. Some interesting points, and a few red herrings as well in my view.

But they did touch on the area where I believe, others will disagree, that the club is lacking. Leadership. When they removed Nige they left the club with the following 4 key people. Marshall, Tinnion, Jon Lansdown and Manning. In isolation you would question each of those people to perform their roles, but in combination it is in my view a recipe for disaster. There is no strength or depth of ability in that set up, so when you do have say a Manning type come in, who is learning on the job, the rest of the structure is not sufficiently able to support and carry them. This would be true of any young inexperienced coach coming in. I personally detest how Manning wants to play football, but that is about preferences, others love that type of game plan. But you cannot move Manning out, and for me he must go he is so out of his depth, but you have to also look a all 4 of those key positions. I do not believe those 4 people would not be on any other Championship clubs blue print for success. It is also worth mentioning that in recent years it has been shown that some of our better periods have been with experienced managers, GJ/SC and to an extent in terms of stopping a L1 return NP. Strong personalities all 3 of them. As there is no other leadership at the club, those people have had to fill a void. Removing NP, and at the same time all of his key team members was reckless and demonstrated a complete lack of understanding of what elements are required to create success. That did not happen at Brentford, Luton or Brighton. They all evolved along a similar path.

Manning has to go, the club is spiralling in one direction. But simply changing him for another young coach will risk the same outcome. 

Largely agree with you.

Though I'd wager Manning was on more Championship clubs potential shortlists for head coach than Tinnion was for DoF or Jon Lansdown as Chairman. 

5 minutes ago, bearded_red said:

Didn’t necessarily agree with everything he said, and he’s certainly more charitable towards Manning than I am, but I thought Piercey was an excellent addition, hope they use him more often.

His level of knowledge and insight is so much higher than anybody that has previously covered us for the post.

Yeah, he's bound to have more of a neutral view. In fairness, he did call out the clubs porkies on why Nige was sacked, which could land him in some hot water. So fair play to him. 

Think it's quite telling Gary and the presenter have opined they're very sure that Manning will be here next season, whereas James hasn't made any such commitment, and instead has talked about things "spiralling" and the situation being "overwhelming".

I think if we don't get anything  from Leicester and Plymouth then Manning is gone. 

Interesting debate on now...

30 minutes ago, ExiledAjax said:

Whilst we have two directors beholden to the ultimate owner, we will not have that. We have a de facto dictatorship and in my opinion within that set up every manager will either become subsumed by the miasma of mediocrity (Manning, Johnson), or he'll die trying to disperse it (Pearson, Cotterill, even Coppell).

Paragraph of the year!

4 minutes ago, Phileas Fogg said:

I’m not so sure - I feel like the club culture at Arsenal has been infiltrated by the reactionary YouTuber generation which has cheapened it. Highbury was a proper stadium, but the Emirates (like the Etihad) epitomises a soulless bowl.

Personally i’d find it very boring to support them. This season being an outlier.

I guess it depends what kind of supporter you are as well.

As someone that did lots of England away games and counts those days as some of the best of my life, I find the idea that a lifetime of Middlesbrough and Rotherham away being comparable to regular European trips to Camp Nou and Westfalenstadion, absolutely absurd.

12 minutes ago, Phileas Fogg said:

I think actually we’re fairly exciting - granted, success is rare.. but it’s not boring. I’d much rather support City than Arsenal/Spurs/Palace/Everton.. actually an awful lot of Prem sides. Even Man City.. despite all the success I imagine it feels a bit hollow.

I think it must be fun to support Liverpool under Klopp.. Rangers upon returning to the SPL.. Villa under Emery and initially Newcastle under current regime..  and smaller team that gets to the prem against the odds (Luton, Swansea).. I think on this front we’re ok. Our failure is always augmented by the idea that, theoretically, we could be a pretty big club with our catchment area.

Arsenal?! That's a ballsy shout. Sure things went stale in the latter Wenger years, but christ I bet their fans have had some amazing times over the past 30 years. 

Bruno Fernandes is absolutely pathetic. Talented footballer, but not hard to see why this Man U side lack so many of the basics like effort and fight with him as captain. 

21 minutes ago, ChippenhamRed said:

Genuine question - which club has been worse to follow than us of the last 40 years in terms of achievement versus expectation and potential?

Rovers 

18 minutes ago, Malago said:

True, but 15 of the last 17 have been in tier 2.

But that's part of the point, isn't it? How many of those 15 seasons can be described as exciting? 

We've progressed, very slowly. And there hasn't been much to shout about, and certainly no period of sustained success. 

13 minutes ago, Eddie Hitler said:

Surely the dull teams are those who are rarely promoted or have any cup runs.

Teams like Mansfield, Rotherham, Chester City / Chester.

 

Rotherham have won promotion five times since 2013.