NcnsBcfc

15 hours ago, handsofclay said:

Sad news for anyone who remembers Scott Hendy the ex Mangotsfield United centre back. He has passed away aged 45 at a pub in Pilning. Head injuries and apparently someone in their 20s has been arrested.

A guy has been charged with GBH (prior to SH's death) and is in Court this morning.

Given that Scott passed away last night, the charges will probably be upgraded in due course.

OK own up who put the comment 

"Ian is such a k##b" in the chat feed live on the podcast.

I read it and proceeded to be in floods of tears for the last 5-10 mins of it.

The look on his face....

5 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

To be fair mate, sometimes I shout at the linesman instead..

@GrahamC

I've seen they are flashing up the number for the abuse line right in front of us now.

Coincidence?

I believe they have your number

Good pod today to take part in. Almost went into 2 hours ( probably too long, apologies to @Curr Avon's wife....

Thomas and I were on our way back from the Sheffield game, so couldn't be on the previous week. I'd heard from @headhunter that it got a bit heated and David doubled down with the F bomb today .

I hope we came across as passionate, but measured and with the ability to make comments based on factually correct statistics.

Thomas is still in rehab after his ankle operation in late November, but from being in an Academy himself is able to not only relate to the coaching methods on show, but also potentially the lack of man management taking place.

As I said on the Pod, the Swansea game is a crossroads for me. If we can get a performance and 3 points it'll be massive. Lose the next 2 and then WBA away and Leicester at home; whilst probably being 3 points or less off 22nd. Tough times and I haven't seen anything from Manning yet that he is up for the fight.

The time for banal phrases and words is over. We need to see action on the pitch. Over to you Manning and Hogg.

Just now, GrahamC said:

Who don’t employ sycophants & incompetents but people with a track record elsewhere.

Said in another reply to @Harry Pat Mountain is the only person at the club now who has ever fulfilled his current role at another Championship club.

Manning’s predecessor employed Rennie, Fleming & Euell, so not only Pearson but all of them had CVs you could look at & say they know what they’re doing.

We are corner shop.

Why we have the goalkeeping coach as our set piece coach is beyond me?

Do we expect PM to train defenders in the art of defending and attacking corners and free kicks.

Compared to other Championship clubs we don't really seem to have much of a coaching set up at first team level at the present.

1 hour ago, petehinton said:

@NcnsBcfc Scott Bartlett being a ******* whopper again I see…. Imagine my shock!!!

 

 

Yes mate, my first team manager was fuming.

We booked the 3g next to Weston's ground to play Keynsham. We've only played 7 games in 4 months at County Prem. My reserves haven't played at all since 27th Janz due to postponements.

Weston's game at Chippenham was called off and they literally kicked us off as they wanted a training game.

Some poor woman had to phone my Chairman and offer a full refund, but that isn't the point. It was a 2pm game and they could have trained afterwards or tomorrow?

An absolute w##ker.

1 hour ago, 38MC said:

Seems we are in the minority but I too think he’s walking the green mile. You never know how things play out in football, but I think 2 losses or even a loss and a draw would see him gone - unless they were strong performances. 
 

There are obvious reasons why you’d start questioning his position but the part for me that in my head says ‘he’s gone’ is the post match presser today and last week. He’s supposed to be an ‘on-the-grass’ coach. Well last week he trained the team perfectly and they were shite, and this week he claimed the team were coached to defend a corner of the type Cardiff scored from. 
 

so not only is he not living up to his front foot football, not only is he chucking players under the bus, he’s now admitting what he coaches can’t be put into practice by the squad - so you’re calling yourself out as a poor ‘on-the-grass’ coach then aren’t you? 

his last two post match and this weeks pre match he’s basically talked himself into the only conclusion that he’s just not very competent. 

Whilst I think that sort of ‘appraisal’ of his words would be beyond JL and BT’s leadership, I think SL will see it. 

Dean Holden went after 6 straight defeats and we were in 13th.

We play 3 of the top 5 on our next 4 games, the Swansea game is massive now for Manning.

2 wins in 13 and 9 points out of 33 have been masked by the 1 Cup win (when West Ham had their best 6 attacking players out Bowen, Paqqueta, Antonio, Kundas, Fornals and Alverez by the way).

Watching the interviews after the game did anybody actually feel "This is the man to get us going again and out of a potential relegation battle"? I'm sure I'm not the only one who witnessed a manager who didn't have any answers and was looking to "get back to basics yet again".

We all enjoyed the first half at Middlesborough (not the 2nd) and the Southampton game for sure, but the campaign is over 46 games, not 1 and a half and we have been poor since the Watford away game on Boxing day.

The club can't afford to go down to league 1, by next weekend we could be 3 points off 22nd if Stoke pick up a win.

Lose to Swansea and I think we'll be forced into action personally.

8 hours ago, petehinton said:

It will be yep as they were at that level for years before the old owner decided to pull the plug.  One of my best mates is manager, will be heading down there as much as I can until the end of the season!

@petehinton Alex has done a great job with my ex first team manager as an assistant and my goalkeeper, centre back and centre mid . 

They've pumped the budget up, but are still one of the lowest I  the division.

14 minutes ago, sh1t_ref_again said:

Why? although I guess Tins or JL are to blame and should be hung out to dry for sanctioning a loan of someone that LM knows and maybe can provide a bit or creativity that we lack, who has been fit and played well for Hull all season and got injured playing in his 1st game for us.

Because before the window ended LM was bemoaning the playing schedule and the pressure it would put on the squad.

In the window we technically "bought in 5". 2 were straight away loaned back to their clubs, leaning 3 left. 1 of them has injury problems already (Murphy), 1 has been injured since his first game (Twine) unfortunate, but typical City. The last (Mebude) had a total 3 senior  appearances and was a real gamble based on his PL2 performances from a year earlier. Add in Weimann leaving for TGH permanent and that was that

Even if Mebude and Twine had worked out, neither would have added to a squad depth really. The injuries to Atkinson and Bell has exposed the lack of depth even more.

BT went on RB to extol it as a magnificent window. The Twine injury is unlucky, but otherwise how is the window magnificent for this window?

The lack of  the available number 9 that BT described (so not TC), could have been alleviated by a loan signing of that description. 

If we are saying that even a loan signing of that description wasn't available I raise you a certain loan signing at Sheff Weds, a Mr Ugbo.

All I'm looking for with the game tomorrow is some form a reaction from either the team or the management in regard to the formation played.

I travelled up to Sheffield last week, hoping for the above after the QPR game and what we got was a formation in which LM had previously got "0" league wins and a serious lack of commitment and attitude that if it happens tomorrow I'll be calling LM out on the FBC podcast on Sunday morning.

I can deal with being outplayed (Leeds), but QPR and Sheff Weds to me outlined more serious issues at play.

I think we all know when this is going with Twine.

A "only out for a couple of weeks", followed by 6 weeks out.

Then a "should be included", then a "still feeling a twinge or some pains".

Cue "needs surgery" and will be out for the season.

What a cluster this January window has been for so many reasons.

I'm guessing Tins isn't going to be going back onto Radio Bristol anytime soon extorting it as a "magnificent window"...

On 29/02/2024 at 14:46, petehinton said:

Not a good enough pitch or facilities for the level, so wouldn’t be allowed 

@petehinton is the Hand OK for Southern League?

The Clevedon team are there or thereabouts for promotion this season.

53 minutes ago, Carey 6 said:

Bit of a weird statement from Bridgwater when announcing their returning player. 

 

@Carey 6 when did Sam Hedges leave Bridgwater?

Remember him at Clevedon Town before he fell out with Alex White.

He's one of @TomSutton's tutors at SGS now...

I think the Radio Bristol interview by BT demonstrated to anyone listening that the club as well as I'm sure Tommy's future is away from City.

"We're looking for a big 6ft 2in, physical forward, that is quick and strong and can run the channels. He has to have 200+ league games etc etc"

I'm paraphrasing here a little, but the gist of course, is it's not Tommy.

Cue a move for a couple of million (all he's worth in the current climate unfortunately) to a club like Burnley, who will utilise his skill set properly, rather than trying to turn him into some form of Harry Kane.

19 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

Imagine setting up accounts to defend a particular decision.

Can’t imagine anyone ever doing that for our club.

The club have Ian Gay

1 hour ago, REDOXO said:

How do you post the texts. It’s my first live go on you tube. 

@REDOXO

There is a chat bar under the live feed on YouTube, it's easier than Twitter for me.

22 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Imho he put a shit game-plan on the table and after 15 mins should’ve realised either the players weren’t executing it or it was a bad game-plan.  I can guess from the above he thinks it’s poor execution.

But even if it is a good game-plan, it wasn’t working, then do something about it.

@Davefevs was up at Sheffield today amd on long way home now.

Why does Manning persist with Wingbacks? None of his 6 league wins this season have been playing this formation.

The trio of Conway  Mehmeti and Sykes (who looked awfully rusty) were powderpuff physically and after the Ref turned down a few 50/50 physical challenges, they basically gave up the physical contest.

Pring didn't look fit and was holding his knee a bit and Sykes looked like he could have done with some Under 21 games in rehab.

My point is, Manning took until the 70rh min to change things (Wells sub) when it was clear it wasn't working at HT. He merely bought two subs on for a like for like (I don't see McCrorie as a wing back either.

He looks like a novice at this level at the moment, worrying times.

Just read one of the Bristol Post's Rovers articles, it's actually "18" not "14" either OOC or returning to their parent clubs.

When are they going to realise that they need to set up a proper Academy and at the very least a Under 21 team that will provide players for their future 1st team.

Using us as an example (something they are very keen to do constantly), where would we have been over the last 4 seasons without the Academy players during a period of enforced austerity? I dare say, it would have been L1...

Without a firm foundation to the club (through an Academy) their policy of short term contracts and journeymen is doomed to failure in L1. It works in L2, where money pretty much guarantees promotion (with 4 going up). It certainly doesn't work the higher up you go in the football pyramid where a need for continuity and development is more essential. 

16 minutes ago, Peter O Hanraha-hanrahan said:

“More importantly most of the people who support Rovers do so through love, family tradition or supporting the team that plays in their community..”

How the **** is that any different to us? 

We don’t have bigger crowds because our fans are toilet trained and manage not to shit all over the floor like they clearly do at the Mem, we have bigger crowds because our fans purchase 15k STs every season no matter how mediocre the previous season was.

That’s called passion.

They should try it sometime instead of constantly making excuses about why they can’t fill their little stadium.

I think the thing with Rovers is they have a massive inferiority complex about us. We have been in a higher division for 23 years, with better facilities and almost 3 x times their crowds.

As such they constantly try to drag out some element of individually that potentially makes them relevant to the City of Bristol.  Hence why on any given statistic they don't rate themselves in relation to the other clubs in L1, it has to be against us; as if we are a club that they should be rating themselves against ( i think our turnover is almost 500% more than them year on year alone).

It's almost like that younger brother that is somewhat in awe of his older sibling and feels that he has to prove himself all of the time. It's getting really really pathetic now isn't it? "Our passion, is bigger than your passion etc etc", "people like us more than you blah blah blah". Even when their new manager took over, it was "We have the potential to be the biggest club in the city".. err ok?

Everytime they get taken over, their only hope is not to get up a division or get into the Premier league, it's to be bigger and better than us. I wish they would realise now that the vast majority of us consider them completely irrelevant to our future hopes and aspirations as a football club.

I only delight in their constant ability to completely cluster every decision/plan that they have. Leading to them having a non-league stadium and 14 OOC or loanees going at the end of the season and having to start the whole process over again.

I see our old Andy Llewelyn (top postman... ) has been put on "gardening leave" by Bridgwater Utd. It was never going to end well was it?

That club is an absolute cluster....

Bristol Rovers respond to 2024/25 season ticket price criticism with new deal for families - Bristol Live (bristolpost.co.uk)

Well that didn't take them long to realise they'd made a massive mistake with their pricing for next season.

I have to say that if I was a Rover's fan i'd be a bit concerned about the ownership at the moment. That open letter to the fans spoke a lot about hope and aspirations without any real financial committments.

In the Jan transfer window they pretty much had to wait until the Collins money had come through for first Conteh and then the other 3 loanees to come onboard. Testament I think to their being no new money for new players.

With 14 players either OOC or going back to their clubs from their loans, it's going to take a hell of a lot of money to either rebuild that team, let alone try and get an Academy team up and running at the Quarter. Would be easier ( and cheaper) to open up an Academy in Kuwait (hmm...)

1 hour ago, Silvio Dante said:

But…again..you’re working on an assumption which is different to the clubs assumption. You believe the south stand would sell out if the club got rid of U12 season tickets.  The club don’t believe that (or don’t believe the admin costs to manage it outweigh the lost income). It’s a really simplistic argument, and I think the clubs stance (take the lost potential income but take the actual income which may be less) is the right one commercially- if not morally - here.

I suppose this is a difficult balancing act.

We've got 3 x STs in E32 and 1 x E28. If I was looking to pay as you go to games and forced to pay to go into E32 (at £39 per game) and then looked over at the "sold out" SS at £27 per game I would be a bit peeved. 

As I mentioned in previous posts, the £ per seat will come into.the equation at some stage. Obviously theatres don't do kids tickets for that same reason. The Gas are going down that same route as well (will have to see how that pans out for them of course).

I can see an obvious bump up in price for under 12's and under 19s in the SS to the same level as the Dolman coming. With a caveat of keeping the price in the upper lansdown lower for under 12s. Thus people will have a choice and it won't impact in the POTD person who wants to buy a ticket as they can't buy in the kids area without a child ticket.

In that way, either the club makes more money from the SS seat or it frees it up for a POTD punter.

What this season has shown is that more and more people are wanting to come and see us play (which is a great thing of course). But I think the pragmatic element that @Silvio Dante describes will in time start to fall by the wayside.

3 hours ago, Sleepy1968 said:

Neil, do you take the short route to/from the ground, or do you walk around the metro (which is only about 5mins longer BTW).

I've noticed the pavement (what there is of it) has been particularly muddy of late.

The 3/4 of us always walk down to the gate and back from the park and ride.

A wee but muddy of late, but nothing too bad.

50 minutes ago, Carey 6 said:

Isn’t the Atyeo sold to away fans on an unreserved basis? 

We were told in S25/S26 a few years ago, that due to it being unreserved, the club have to leave 10% of those seats unsold.

This is why a few years ago again, we were told this section is no longer unreserved & you should sit/stand in your allocated seat so the club were able to sell that extra 10% (people still go wherever, just unofficially) 

 

@Carey 6 I also think that home game to Swansea when it all kicked off a few years ago (yes I know the policing around that day left a lot to be desired) contributed to us limiting the numbers given to away fans.

No surprise that the areas kept clear are those close to the gates, closest to the Lansdown and Dolman stands.

2 hours ago, spudski said:

The park and ride isn't 24/7. 

From memory the times don't often suit night games..

There is little logic with our councils. Not fit for purpose. 

Coming from Clevedon via Failand, I park at the Long Ashton park and ride. It's open until 22.30 Mon-Sat. I then walk down to the ground. I think it used to be 22.00, but they've extended it.

The only problem is that it is shut on Sundays and Bank Holidays, which means that I park outside it.

Generally been doing this for the last 5 years without any problems.