NcnsBcfc

49 minutes ago, Erithacus said:

It's quite clear to me that there are different types of supporter at a match, which will necessarily include those who do nothing but moan and berate. I agree that they must have some sort of problem elsewhere and find football a release mechanism to vent or disipate their negativity. In that respect football is a form of therapy, not available on the NHS and perhaps effective enough. You often find they will shout things at distant players/officials/opposing fans that they would not dare to do so close up. Maybe this is football's gift to the wider society.

Also agree with the fact of permanent seating causing some unrest among groups. We recall how the new development of all-seater stadiums after the Taylor Report caused the atmosphere to drop in many cases. Having to spend a whole season sat next to some knuckle-dragger will certainly dampen the enjoyment.

Every game there are people that confuse E31, and E33 with E32; and the constant Mike Reid " Ru, Ru, Runaround " takes place before the start of every game.

That allied to the "We don't normally go to live games" brigade. Who stand up when we are attacking, and celebrate every goal scored (before checking that the linesman hasn't already flagged 5 seconds beforehand); leads to somewhat tiring yo yo experience at times....

1 hour ago, Davefevs said:

@NcnsBcfc is he referring to you!

Thomas and I ST's are in the Dolman (E32).

Even though the climb up to row 32 gets a little bit harder, and the leg room just a little bit smaller each season, the delights of listening to @Graham c's abusing of the officials behind me means that the move to the Lower Lansdown has been put off for another season.

19 hours ago, Kodjias Wrist said:

Bannan was still a very good championship player when he was last there. 5 years ago is a slight exaggeration IMO, would have been a great player the last couple of seasons.

For me, Bannan got badly found out in his last championship season with Weds.

Teams got tight, and physically dominated him. Not allowing Bannan the time or space to show off his undoubted passing skills. Weds still pursued the plan of using him to dictate their play, which ultimately was one of the factors that led to their relegation in my view.

The quality between the Championship to League 1 is vast. You only have to look at Mehmeti's show reel for Wycombe this season to see the difference in quality of the defending from L1 teams. That has allowed Bannan to shine in a team that was already one of the best in the division. It will be a far different proposition if they were to get promoted of course

So now, 2 years older, with probably even less speed, mobility and athleticism than he had last time he played at this level, Bannan for me would one again struggle to make an impact in the Championship in 23/24.

16 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

James is some player, that pass for Weimann’s header first half was sublime.

So important to us, we’re a far better side when he’s available to play.

Probably a bit like Brownhill before he left.

He wasn't at his peak level, and we thought we had got a great deal from Burnley, but boy did we miss him, and that ability to break through the forward line with his runs.

Scott has the potential to do that (WBA Cup game), but still doesn't really get in behind like Josh did.

6 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

1st half summary:

Shaky start where we cleared balls straight to them, and let Brown, Laurent and Campbell run into the channels unopposed.

Didn't really concede any chances, defended corners well.  But ultimately a bit passive in the closing and marking, so Stoke popping it around easily.

Was OTC a contact injury, challenging Campbell?

Then we grew into it, Dasilva doing well to be composed on the ball and setting Bell free...who unfortunately failed to deliver chances from great positions.  How Pearson escaped a yellow for the foul on him, wasn't even given.  Than Wells and Weimann's chances.  Weimann's - if only he could've looped it over Bonham.

Then of course the sucker punch.  Doesn't matter whether it was Pring or Vyner, one needs to lead the other there, decide who's marking, who's covering Tanner....assume Brown beyond Pring too???

Need to up the tempo all over second half.  Can get back into it, but need to want to also.

King bringing a bit of composure to our passing.

We've been poor in front of goal for 2/3rds of the season now (31 goals in 32 games). Still can't believe that the media/Pearson believe that we have an abundance of options in the forward position. Yes we have the numbers, but not the quality unfortunately.

1 hour ago, Eddie Hitler said:

 

That isn't what the club has said in earlier statements.

The swap is they give the developer all of the Memorial Stadium site, in which the developer will build and sell houses and flats, and in return they will receive a, presumably smaller, piece of land on the fruit market site and the developer will build them a stadium.

It isn't a freebie, the aim is profit on selling houses on the memorial ground land exceeds or at least reaches the cost of building the new ground and the value of the land it is built on.

This is similar to the UWE / Sainsbury's deal as the new ground is being funded by the sale / swap of the existing one.

As with that one though there is no guarantee that it will happen.

The core of this plan will be building properties for sale on the fruit market site, the new Rovers ground is in there in the hope that it will make obtaining planning permission easier and maybe add some additional profit for the developer if the new houses on the Memorial Stadium land sell well.

It could all go ahead with Rovers entirely cut out, they are not going to be a core part of the plan.

 

 

Exactly @Eddie Hitler

Really strange way of funding a new stadium.

Both City, and Luton as another good example have secured the other areas of land that can be used through development to fund a new stadium (in City's case the AV and subsequent Sports Village).

Why Wael isn't looking to do the Fruit Market proposal himself is indicative of the complete lack of funds he actually has available. 

If all of this comes to fruition, the Gas will end up with absolutely no fixed assets at all (similar to Coventry's nightmare), and will be beholden to whoever their landlord is.

At some stage that landlord will change, and they will find themselves at a huge disadvantage trying to renegotiate new terms. It's got disaster written all over it.

Why give up your ownership of your own ground? Why haven't Rovers done a planning application for the Memorial ground themselves for either ground redevelopment or housing. If the housing was granted (like Lansdown' s was for the Sports village) you could always sell the proposal to another developer or do it yourself.

Just seems like a really lazy option that they've taken, allied to in financial terms a massive premium being paid to being part of the Fruit Market development (which in essence they are piggybacking on).

4 minutes ago, The Gasbuster said:

Are this Conygar outfit going to build a stadium, and then GIVE it to the 15ers ?  

I don't think so.

Where is the MONEY coming from Wally ?

Basically the whole funding of this scheme is dependant on the Memorial ground being redeveloped for housing, and all the funds going to Conygar. They will use that to build the Fruit market, as they have no funds either.

Cue uproar from residents of Horfield when any major housing development planning application comes in. You only have to look at the fun and games Luton have had with a similar proposal, and they actually own both sets of the land.

As it stands the Gas are celebrating a new stadium that has no submitted planning applications or even funding. It's just an agreement to explore the potential together.

I know they played rugby at AG last night, but the pitch is looking somewhat cut up.

I get the 22 yard lines, but what are the crosses and worn patches across the middle third? Looks like somebody has left a load of containers on it overnight.

A shame, as normally our pitch is one of the best in the division.

1 minute ago, Davefevs said:

As you know I have conscious bias on Manning, he’s halfway to being a similar p r I c k as Cunningham, so I can’t bring myself to suggest him as an option.  He is a good player, and ordinarily he’d feature in my thoughts.  But I also don’t think we get someone like him and then say, you’re fighting it out with Cam Pring…not on the wages he’d expect either.

What do you mean by the bit in bold?

Wilson played right back most of his career before his RWB season at FGR.

So, I don’t see RB as a priority at all.  Tanner will continue to grow imho.

I have no issues with playing lop-sided.

(Sykes has had a good season overall, he will improve his delivery too)

I think that’s why my earlier post suggested a two pronged approach.  I think Neil is kinda right with it’s unlikely to be someone who’s played 200 games and not got picked up, think Tins might not need to be taken quite as black and white as that.

I do see some business being done early, but not sure whether that will be the young up and coming players or more established players.

It would be much easier if Nige and Tins just told us who they are after!

With the phrase "hit his limit for the season", I meant like a number of the young players their performance level has dropped off in the last few games. As NP said in his post match after Swansea, the physical and mental demands of the Championship are unrelenting, and take their toll.

I like Tanner, and fully support the new contract. But like NP said earlier on in the season, he needs to improve from an attacking perspective (I know RB should excel at defending first). He has said himself, that he is still learning his trade. If we were looking to improve the squad as a whole, do we think Wilson can be a second there? Feels like an area of the pitch where we could do with a bit more experience (I'm not talking about another Danny Simpson either )

4 minutes ago, AG City said:

I’ve said it before but there is an OOC Lucas Joao down the road at Reading who has a record of 40 goals/104 appearances who at 6ft 4 would make a great addition with loads of champ experience.

Plus Ojaria at Reading who has lost his way a bit and available who has always looked decent against us. 

Whilst Joao is a quality player when fit, isn't he on ridiculous money at Reading? With going OOC, you can see him going overseas to maintain that kind of salary.

Ejaria is a strange one. Always looked quality (obviously bought from Liverpool), but had a bust up around the covid times, and unlike Wells( who never had a bust up, but of course had his own views on vaccination) never seemed to get back into the team afterwards. He's either been not in the squad or injured since 8th November, which doesn't exactly scream a progressive signing for me.

1 minute ago, Davefevs said:

I’m quite enjoying it…I see a plan being executed, carefully, methodically whilst we get out of the mess.  This summer will be the first one we can be proactive in the market.  Having said that I don’t see recruitment solving everything in one window either.  But continued progress excites me.  And progress isn’t about points this season per se either.  Circumstances and all that.  But we are on the right lines.

Bizarre isn't it, that we are probably going to finish in or around the same points as last season (55), but this campaign feels more than about points. We've reduced the playing budget, managed the transition of a large number of Academy players, shifted players that either don't want to be here, or we can't afford, whilst getting £10+m for a player that could easily have done a Fammy on us.

Whilst all of that has been going on, our crowd average has gone over 20k for the first time in a long long time. There are positives, but as a squad it still feels that we are a long way off being around the top 6 places.

3 hours ago, Davefevs said:

@spudski and @mozo I think we are all thinking similar things.

Think there are a couple of avenues for me:

(firstly I think we have all the seniors we need, so I don’t see us getting a James or Naismith or King again)

- bringing in genuine ones for the future, who aren’t far off being ready.  That might be Jake O’Brien or Jack Currie types.  See George Tanner also, joins from Lg2, within a few weeks is actually starting.  Unfortunately got injured twice, now making his way again.

- bringing in those that are ready, and fit where we are trying to go.  They may or may not be playing Champ football now, but we can be a relative big fish.

If I take two Barnsley players:

- Mads Andersen (25) tall, aerially strong CB, over 200 appearances, more than half at our level, can play a high line.  One year left on his deal, we can bully Barnsley financially.  Has been part of a playoff team at this level.

- Jordan Williams (23) right or left back, I prefer him as a LB where he cuts in onto his right.  Technically v.good, around 150 career appearances, half at our level, been part of a play-off team.  Same bullying reasons as Andersen.

If they don’t get promoted, they’ll struggle to keep them.

So, that’s too players, likely to be sensibly priced that don’t blow any wage profile either.

A couple of other LBs to throw in the mix.

Lee Buchanan (22 - Werder - ex-Derby) - barely played out in Germany, could we bring him home.

Sam McCallum (22 - Norwich) - Champ loans at QPR and Coventry, but can’t nail down a first team place, even less so under Wagner.  One year left on his contract.

Those two would’ve been out of range last two summers, but we are now much healthier and don’t have log-jams of players (Dasilva going).  Good ages too, years of growth in them.  Of course other teams will be interested, but we saw with Naismith we can attract.  In a perverse way, Cam Pring’s form makes bringing anyone in a bit more difficult, although most players will know there are no guarantees of starting week-in week-out.

So, in summary, I think it’s possible to get the right types to kick-on next season and it not become a constant churn around the mid/lower half of the table.  But recruitment is key.

@Davefevs what do you feel about the side in the RB position at present as a whole?

Tanner seems to be our only real RB, but has probably reached his limit for the season. Otherwise Wilson is a wing back really, Sykes a wide midfielder (who can't cross for toffee), and then we are into the kids, or at times Weimann. If we are to progress, then surely we need potentially more quality in that area, so we once again don't go so lopsided in an attacking sense.

6 hours ago, spudski said:

Yes indeed...James, King, Naismith, Kalas, Wells, Weimann all contribute masses of experience, Premier, International, higher Champ etc. Martin gone, Klose gone...both age, legs gone, desire etc. 

All the above are now past their best, in their autumn/ winter years. 

Even if our youngsters and new low level signings mature...they are only going to mature and have experience at this level right now. 

The old heads' will be gone, the talented youngsters sold, replaced by more inexperienced players...ready to develop. 

Surely some older more highly experienced players will have to be replaced with like eventually? 

I'm all for the ' plan'...but imo I'm happy to lower my expectations of mid table, rather than promotion contenders any time in the next few years. 

What is the likelihood of finding another Scott and Semenyo? And if we did...keeping them? 

Having to sell our best players, and not have highly experienced older heads, and purely relying on academy and league 1 gems to gain experience at this level is imo, not a formula to gain promotion. 

Keeping our best players, adding a fewer older highly experienced heads to replace those past it, and keeping our developed academy and league 1 gems that have a couple seasons under their belt at this level could possibly work. 

I guess the magic formula would be a scenario where you've kept the likes of Semenyo and Scott... James, Wells and Naismith at this/ last season's age, and the likes of Tanner, Sykes, Pring, Williams, OTC,  Conway, Bell and Mehmeti etc with a couple years experience at this level under their belt. 

Otherwise after a few seasons your left with a squad of Vyners and DaSilvas 

 

I think what we've seen in the last few games is the mental and physical toll of Championship football taking it's toll on a number of the younger players, and older ones (King for example) who are either in their first full season at this level, or played more games than before.

There's quite a few contract decisions to also be made around players that are in the last year of their current contracts. Weimann, Williams, James, Pring, Atkinson (option years on those last two of course), are just some of the players that are OOC. Jury is out for me on new contracts for Weimann and Williams. William's availability has obviously been better this year, but are we looking for better? Weimann seems to be on  somewhat downward trajectory after last season's heroics. The summer may be the last time we can achieve any fees for either of them. Not sure we would want to give Matty James a new 3 year contract to be fair, maybe 2 at best ( would be 34 by then).

Whilst not wanting to block the pathways of the academy players (where would we be without them this season), we certainly need 4-5 seasoned pro's that are going to take the whole squad forward. It really it about quality rather than quantity for me. I'm not sure some player who's played 200 games in L1 or below ( ie will be around mid twenties, and for some reason has not already been picked up by PL/Champ teams) will be the type of player to improve the squad as a whole.

There are players out there for around the £2m mark still ( Morris at Luton, and Flemming at Millwall being 2 good examples). You don't have to pay massive money to get a differential player, but our recruitment as a whole needs to be a hell of a lot better than the last time we had some money to spend.

9 minutes ago, Charlie BCFC said:

He’s certainly performing better than I’d say atleast 4 of those midfielders but he’d get more game time with the U20 which would only improve his progression. Also that U20 squad is largely the same that won the U19 Euros so does make sense

Disagree, think it’s very strong. Lewis, Gibbs-White and Colwill all had shouts of being called up to the seniors with Smith-Rowe called up in the past. Balogun only two goals off Mbappe in the Ligue 1 scoring charts (4 more than Messi), midfield is very strong even without Scott and plenty of prem experience aswell as players in form

@Charlie BCFC not quite sure you understood my point

The players you have mentioned would all be in the starting 11. My comments were for the players outside of that obvious 11, none of which would fall into the "plenty of Prem experience" category.

Very few of them in fact getting any minutes at all in the Prem. Hence why Scott should be viewed as being worthy of a call up to the 26 in my opinion.

3 minutes ago, Silvio Dante said:

Thought there might be a chance that AS hit the squad today but not involved. Looking at the midfielders there, you’d argue performing better than McAtee and Doyle at this level, and two of those from prem clubs (Garner and Jones) haven’t really got huge game time this season.

Likely staying with the U20s due to the World Cup this summer in part I’d guess, but feels a touch unlucky.

 

 

Whilst Rico Lewis is going to be some footballer, and was absolutely superb down the gate, that has to be one of the weakest U21 squads for a long time.

Outside of an obvious first 11, the rest of the squad depth involves players with barely any game time at all this season.          

For me the Vyner story is almost akin to the Bobby Reid one. A player that was on the road to leaving the club, before coming our player of the year.

For a player that was so derided by the fanbase (myself included) to rise phoenix from the flames like, to become arguably our most consistent defender is perhaps unheralded in my 45 years of watching City.

Fair play to you Zak, something has clicked. The standard catastrophic error(s) that characterizes your gameplay seem to have been cut out, and you are playing with a maturity and confidence that belies everything that went before.

I get the feeling even Pearson didn't see this transformation coming.

6 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

They’ll be home on August 12th, because that’s the weekend of the balloon fiesta & we never are home then.

Said this before, if they were really serious then they could develop the Mem one stand at a time, in a smaller version of what we did.

They don’t have the money to do so, though.

Or the motivation of their Billionaire owner to fund it either....

The same Billionaire that Barton has to reign in from spending on Uber transfers for the club 

Ultimately Wael wants someone else to do all the hard work for him by the looks of it.

9 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

 

Some goal that to be fair to them

32 minutes ago, Marcus Aurelius said:

Sounds a bit like us with MA.

How many followed him to Ipswich in the end?

It's taken 2-3 years to effect change at the club. 80% of clubs in this division wouldn't have given NP the time, and he would have gone well before now.

10 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Yes.

Probably why Idehen is getting a chance with the under 21s again

29 minutes ago, City until i die said:

Naismith back in few weeks. Kalas in for now. Just hope for no more injuries now!!

From my viewpoint up in the gods today, you could see we missed Naismith in the centre.

James , and to a lesser extent Williams were excellent, but their collective distribution can still be a bit too slow. Scott has to come and get the ball, turn, and then drive the pace.

With Naismith back in the middle, the pace of passing to both wide men increases, alongside releasing Scott a bit more.

Great to see Kalas back, and he was solid. But it was obvious that Pring was under instruction to cover for him on the left hand side, and generally played 4-5 yards deeper than he would normally do.

We also miss Atkinson's breaks forward, something that Kalas has never been wholly comfortable doing.

I suppose the natural replacement on the bench would be Idehen (played ok there against Huddersfield last season for 25 mins). But i'm not sure NP trusts him at the moment, as he's working his way back with the under 21s.

I would keep Kalas there, and then have Naismith back into midfield again for the present. King on the bench can be cover in case of emergenct again (like today). 

The difficulty is if Scott or Williams gets those yellow cards and are out for a couple of games. Then King is the cover for both CM & CB.

All fun this isn't it.

Roll on the summer had getting those much needed squad replacements in.

14 minutes ago, Carey 6 said:

I thought Araoye looked decent in the very limited minutes I’ve seen of him though. Left sided also I believe.

I think he's injured isn't he?

6 hours ago, Marlborough Red said:

Always amazed to see so many empty seats in the South Stand despite none available on the ticket website when I try to buy . Always looks half empty on TV 

Find it hard to believe that these seats are not used by ST holders if this is the case. The Norwich match was a good example with a sell out on the website but literally hundreds of empty seats. Seems to me Adults are buying ST and a child at a special price and simply not using them. Bet this doesn't happen for the Man City game ! Perhaps the number of special child seats can be limited next season to allow the South Stand to be packed for every game.

 

Also amazed how many fans leave their seats at least 5 minutes before half time and don't return until 5 minutes into the second half.  Again particularly noticeable at the Norwich game where the ground was half empty for the last 3minutes of the first half and the start of the second. If this happens for the televised Man city game the optics on TV will be awful.

I wouldn't be surprised if a load of people have bought the cheap seats in the South stand,  then gone and then sat in an empty seat in the Dolman or Lansdown instead.

After game has started/about to start, nobody is going to check tickets.

Bizarre highlights from Sky on the game.

Missed both of the city chances that hit the woodwork.

Instead showed the easy Max save, and the backheel from Cornick to Weimann that came to absolutely nothing.

I've had to wait until the official youtube video from the club before seeing Scott's header, and Mehmeti's cross shot again.

All a bit weird on Sky's part.

11 hours ago, pongo88 said:

You can’t blame Keith Stroud for only 4 minutes being added. The time is decided by the 4th official on the touch line. Imagine if Keith Stroud had ignored the 4th official and played a few minutes more and Wigan had scored the winner! Result - meltdown on the forum 

He actually played 5 mins 30 seconds (i always put the stopwatch on ). Allowing us to have that last wasted free kick.

He was fine for last night. Only took 80+ mins for Mclean to get involved.