Mendip City

Umm not the first… surely the man before him not only worked on the health of the club but kept it alive and there’s no way Jordan would have come anywhere near Ashton Gate without Terry Cooper being here.

He took the job, he knew the expectations…. It’s all their faults. Manning cannot be excluded. We all know it’s not a top end squad. We all know Manning isn’t experienced enough…. but he didn’t have to take a job employed by deluded owners or a job above his experience level. They are all to blame.

With the charisma of SOD

Ahhh maybe that’s the Manning plan? Get us into freefall ready to bounce back!

That reminds me… where’s our new manager bounce? I think I missed it.

I’ll bet! He could easily damage his career. He’s jumped around a fair bit already.

And worse still he’s damaged us defensively…. he inherited a solid side defensively… call me old fashioned but isn’t that still the starting point of building a good team?

Exactly. Massive challenge for manning. Can he adapt his philosophy to meet this squad’s ability/strengths? I don’t understand why, having inherited a squad not struggling, he chose to immediately completely change the style of play rather than evolve it over a period of time. Oh hang on Brian and Jon told him to.

Me too. Got a really bad feeling. From his post-match interview he looks startled and like he doesn’t want to be here. Bitten off more than he can chew?

Agree with all that. On the MK Dons point, I’ve heard lots of people (not you) say he was unlucky to lose his best players and that shouldn’t really count against him… which I understand to an extent but we’re Bristol City, Bournemouth’s feeder club. He’ll have his best players sold here… so another reason he’s not a great fit for us.

He’s becoming an horrific combination of Lee/SOD.

He is to blame, they all are. He bought into the idea we were under performing… the remit was to improve us. He must have believed it was possible otherwise why take the job? If he’s only realised we’re mid-table squad after arriving then he’s done a very poor job of researching us. Brought in to take us forward. So far he’s taken us backwards and softened us up - how many goals are we conceding now?

Good job we’ve got a top end squad. I don’t want to go too long without hearing from him.

I think they’re having too much time off…. By the way, where is JL? Thought we were going to see improved communication? Not heard anything from him, Tinnion or anyone senior.

Before experimenting with a young up and coming video disc….

Do you have any evidence of that? Don't tell me, give it time, 3 or 4 transfer windows, maybe a relegation (where he’ll be nice and experienced). Then we’ll eventually get back to where we were 6 weeks ago! I’m fed up with trainee managers, sorry head coaches, at Ashton Gate. We’ve tried them plenty of times and not one has achieved anything.

Could be

It’s really changed a bit recently. I find us apathetic by and large. Willing to take almost any old rubbish on the chin. Hard to see where it goes from here, in the old days it would have been “sack the board” chanted behind the grand stand after the game. Not really an option now! If it turns poisonous, the Lansdowns may be encouraged to get a move on with any sale. They’ve talked about it for ages which has coincided with a real stagnation on the field.

Less than 3 points (in total) from these next two games and I dread to think what the atmosphere will be like at Ashton Gate.

But that’s that point. LM has bought into whatever they have said. If you felt the squad was mid table at best (as I do) would you take a job where your boss has told the world the squad is much better than that? LM is surely not that naive? Is he?? Whatever anyone thinks JL and BT’s cowardly way of sacking NP (blaming results) has set an expectation on them and their new man. Ashton Gate is going to be an angry place in the New year if we’re playing dead rubbers and not challenging at the right end of the table.

Spot on!!!!! By the way listening to LM, to me, is exactly the same as listening to LJ…. All the buzz words. Only difference is that Lee had a bit of charisma/personality about him. This guy is robotic by comparison.

With respect, I think it is on Manning… Surely he read the press release after NP’s sacking? Surely, at interview, he asked about it and what the expectations are?? We have to assume he’s completely bought into the JL / BT thinking/project (top end squad now etc). If he isn’t bought in, he’s a fool and will fall foul of the hierarchy. If he didn’t get clear direction of the objectives at interview then he’s a fool. I don’t believe he’s a fool. I do think he’s jumped at a job up the pyramid and I also wonder whether he’ll regret it and regret leaving Oxford so early. Massive gamble on his part coming to a club that’s not achieved more than this in 40+ years and with significantly restricted resources/commitment from on high.

Great post. Taking NP out of it slightly, one of my biggest frustrations is the inevitable amount of ripping up of this good work we will see. You can bet your life the squad will be bigger soon… no doubt not increased by players better than we have but by squad fillers. In turn, there will be fewer opportunities for young players (which has already started, where’s Yeboah gone? Not filling the bench with kids but choosing to leave spaces…. Strange).

Agree about Sykes but presumably you meant “long term signing…. for Bournemouth”???

I’ve a feeling Liam could be our Liz Truss…. Has he done 40 odd days yet??? I’ll pop out and get a lettuce later