Johnny Musicworks

It’s now time for the Nimby’s and dog walkers to make their cases re the housing sadly so this could be a long one. Hopefully the unanimous decision on the stadium site plan (and those councillors knowing that the housing is needed to enable that) will get this plan through too. What a process it is indeed for anyone wanting to improve South Bristol without first consulting with the bats and badgers etc though.

All of our central defenders like to attack but tend to then leave us exposed. QPR worked an excellent game plan with pressing all 3 centre backs into mistakes as well as outpacing them with balls over the top when they moved forward. My concern is that teams have now worked out that we just don’t have a defender who primarily concentrates on defending. When you then add the absence of a ball-winning midfielder and 2 wing backs who are stronger offensively than defensively then we will struggle especially if our front 3 (or at least 2 of them in Conway and Weimann yesterday) are off their game. Yesterday was probably a bit of a reality check for those of us who thought we may have a go for top 6 as QPR look more of a team by some distance who could do that. As others have said when James is out of midfield then Williams does not give the same solidity. I struggle to see what Williams gives us as he seems too error prone (like Naismith) and frankly does Alex no favours when alongside him. Apart from Scott and Wells and later Semenyo I am struggling to think of any player who did themselves justice yesterday.

With a fresh black eye and smashed nose according to someone who saw him get off the team bus

Todays North London derby attracted a record crowd of over 47,000. With the rapidly increasing interest in Women’s football then Football clubs must be realising the potential of a relatively new but potentially lucrative major revenue stream. No doubt our women having several games at Ashton Gate underlines this. In what are financially troubled times for many football clubs the chance of a significantly increasing revenue stream emerging has to be good news. If our women’s team get back into the top division then how long before they could need a larger venue than the HPC for their games ? I imagine SL must be already considering potential options.

Two defenders called into the squad tonight because of injuries so probably not going to happen for Tommy now.

Steve Clarke has said he will not be calling anyone else up until after tomorrow’s game but may well do then for the other 2 games.

In my experience even a man who is only 10% Scottish is more attached to his Scots heritage than his English one so wouldn’t be surprised to see him choose Scotland.

Probably true but at least his value will be rocketing. Hopefully we can keep him a while but knowing that we are producing such quality young players now can only help us in the long run.

The other thing that’s been reported with Antoine is that he is switching agents with his father becoming his agent. As nobody has reported that it has yet been completed then probably safe to assume that Antoine will not be wanting his old agent to be grabbing a sizeable wedge from any imminent transfer rather than waiting until the next window when daddy can get a nice few £££’s out of any deal.

In Antoines position he probably doesn’t want to rock the boat before the World Cup. He knows that he is in their (Ghana’s) plans and doesn’t need the distraction of moving clubs and house before then. Yes playing in the Premier League could push his case, but adjusting to the standard might cause a dip in form so why risk it. Now in January after a potentially successful World Cup showing his value could rocket as could the interest of bigger clubs than Palace and Bournemouth so it’s a win win for us and him.

All the best to a man who always gave 100% on the field and the sort of defender we really need right now. Health comes first though and it was a pleasure to have watched him play. Good luck for the future Nathan.

The improvement has been immensely satisfying. The addition of Naismith, the continued progression of Scott and now Conway, the re-emergence of Wells and the return of Semenyo have been a big part of that. Patience may be needed with Sykes, Wilson and Tanner before we see the best of them. It’s just that ongoing vacancy for a dominant centre half and defensive midfielder holding us back now. Hopefully we don’t have to sacrifice either Semenyo or Scott to achieve that. A week from now we will have a better idea of what we can expect for the season. It promises to be a nervy few days which I think will determine whether a play-off challenge or a mid-table place is realistic.

It seems to me that the mess is largely being cleared up and IMO that is what Nigel (and Gould) were brought in to do. It’s no coincidence that MA conveniently moved on soon after. Financially as other have said the MA/LJ era got us into that mess. Ironically really after failing to back Cotts. Forget the sound bites’Premier League in 3 years’ because as we now see that is not likely nor feasible. Gould came in to steady the financial ship rather than plan for a cruise into the Premier League and it seems that he is doing that. If we take a points deduction then it will be part of the ‘steadying strategy’ where a limited hit could be manageable. Nigel has probably come in with the same ‘ship steadying’ philosophy along with several targets and I doubt that promotion is high on the list. His job involves getting rid of the deadwood which is progressing nicely. At the same time reducing the wage bill, now down to under £20m pa so also progressing nicely. Having shipped out the deadwood then it’s to then find bargains (ie Sykes, Naismith, Wilson and hopefully Bajic) and to improve the Pathway from Academy to first team. Not going bad either on that front at all. With all this the key ingredient is not promotion but maintaining Championship status and if that is seriously threatened then no doubt plan B is Nigel gets the bullet. If we avoid relegation and achieve the rest then what do we have ? We have a Championship club just possibly moving towards a profit making situation in a couple of years (the real 3 year plan) and a much more attractive prospect for investment or takeover. Being a similar age to SL I know thoughts turn to legacy. SL has probably realised Premier League football is unlikely to be his legacy now and let’s face it even if we did make it then relegation and another restructuring would probably follow 12 months later and that involves several more years commitment. Instead his legacy will more likely be a fairly strong business model with excellent stadium, training ground and Academy. That is where I believe we are at. Not so much a mess as preparing for the next owners to pick up the baton in the next couple of years.

And neither would most OTIB critics call us a decent Championship side either. We even played a player who some said should never play for us again. We beat what was in front of us so let’s just enjoy the moment. The next excuse for negativity will be along soon I’m sure. We are Bristol City after all !

So many of the negative comments (headless chicken etc) are similar to those applied to Andi a couple of seasons ago and he was 29 and a vastly more experienced player. Andi took time to find his position, his form and how to play within our team set-up. He was however played consistently which Han has not been. With his contract situation (his own fault) he is not helping his case but defensively he always seemed to struggle mentally to adapt to teams with differing styles in the Championship. Personally I think he needs to play further up the field so mistakes are less costly and where he can improvise more to make things happen. Running at players with the ball rather than chasing them after he has been by-passed. Will it happen here ? Probably not and probably not in England

Sadly it appears that all the things people got depressed about last season haven’t changed either

Assuming that he has a good season, whether with us or out on loan then he would have been entering the last 12 months of his contract at the end of this coming season. From the clubs perspective better to extend now than having to negotiate then when clubs may be looking to swoop.

The boy’s arrived a couple of weeks ago but still waiting on mine.

Went in earlier so my son could get the new home shirt. The new designs tees/hoodies/training tops all looked good albeit imo expensive. The shop is way too small (which we all know) and hopefully when the new development happens there can be more of a superstore size rather than a corner shop feel. I had to show the season ticket (last years of course) which seemed pointless as no money carried over and no discount for season card which is disappointing. We also went in the coffee shop now devoid of soft furnishings (bar a few high benches alongside the uncomfortable and not very user-friendly high chairs. No regard for disabled customers whatsoever. The other furniture also hard and uncomfortable and maybe designed to stop customers lingering. All in all a downgrade from when it first opened

A courageous and brave young man who can be a role model for young people and be an inspiration for many other players who have until now been fearful of coming out. It’s been a long time since Justin Fashanu and there really shouldn’t be a stigma in these times we live in.

Bringing on Vyner to replace him was a bit of an indictment in itself. He looked badly exposed yesterday against the worst team in the league. We have too many average players already. Our 3 centre backs yesterday looked incapable of bringing the ball out resulting in aimless punts to the overworked Martin. Their only excuse for not bringing the ball out was probably that giving it to any of our midfielders was effectively conceding possession anyway.

Donny Gillies forward to defender and Keith Curle

3 Points from automatic promotion so may well not need the play-offs on current form.

Joe sorted me a couple of tickets for Wednesday so I will get my midweek football fix

It certainly feels that we have turned the corner even if results may take a little longer to evidence that. There is an identity as a team now emerging which can be credited to Nigel but also I think correlates to the appointment of Fleming and the departures of Simpson and Downing. Maybe I do them a disservice but I find it ironic that replacing two coaches experienced at working with young talent with Fleming has coincided with so much of our young emerging talent starting to grasp the requirements and demands of senior football. The rapid development of players like Antoine, HNM Max and Pring all who were clearly not fulfilling their potential under the previous regimes suggests something has changed in their approach and our expectation. The departure of Britton could be another example of higher expectations now in place. Several of our more experienced players such as Martin, Kalas and Weimann also seem to have rediscovered their best form of late. That we now have a CEO who appears to quietly get on with efficiently doing his job without trying to take credit for every little step forward could be another factor in recent improvements. There is a much clearer definition of roles now which I’m sure Nigel appreciates and can work with. MA seemed to be rather too comfortable with a young manager and young Chairman who he could ‘influence’ and oversee. As a club we may have finally come through the stormy waters of recent seasons. We are nowhere near where we want to be but maybe, just maybe we are witnessing the dawn of a new era. Hopefully it will not be another false dawn.