TDarwall

Things tend to change very slowly at the bottom, by this stage of the season, teams are there for a reason. If you're battling for the top 6 every time you don't won its points lost at the bottom if you don't lose its points won.

I just said elsewhere, it's pretty much the perfect opponent for us. Early in LMs reign I would have been confident but we have clearly regressed somewhat reverently.

Like pegging, but sharper??

It depends exactly how ill she is. Where travel insurance is in place, insurers will do absolutely everything to get someone back to the UK because the cost of transport is nothing versus medical fees incurred abroad. Some sort of private ambulance might be a solution. A terrible situation for all the family.

I'm OK with us giving Manning more time. Not because he's wowed me so far, but he's young, it's not impossible he'll learn & improve. There have been good things but admittedly far more bad things. We could have sacked a young Joe Jordan after his 1st full season in charge, he'd taken us backwards (reached the POs the season before) & possibly only survived because of the cup run.

@Silvio Dante Snap!

The only thing is, we massively overperformed for 2/3rds of that season. Some games defied gravity the way we clung on to a lead or grabbed a late winner. Some will say we choked, but I just think thr season caught up with us, whisper it, but we missed LJ when injured & we'd used all our good fortune pre Xmas really. I think Byfield was top scorer with 8, which says a lot.

We went thru a spell under GJ when we seemed to concede a late equaliser every game. I can't make the game on Sun, so that gives us hope as my absence normally brings a goof result.

Is Naismith still a bit stiff? City recovery times are like dog years.

Really disagree. We were ok v Hull, just lost out in a very tight game.

They should get Manning on to challenge you to a live, on air, "Office" duel; your spreadsheets versus his presentations, 1st one to get blue circle of death loses.

Irrespective of anything else, getting 2 porcine ear references into a single post is to be admired.

That's the kicker isn't it, this is entirely self inflicted.

I think there is genius at work; we can't beat teams below in the league, but do better against teams above us. The deeper we plummet our chances of playing someone below us gets less all the time.

Really it's impossible to compare managers across different era's & divisions. It's probably easier to get us promoted in League 1 than make is competitive in the Championship. Its clearly deeper than the manager though, in a parallel universe where we gave Gary O'Neil the job, he'd have probably been sacked by now & is trying to rebuild his reputation at a lower league club.

Thanks everyone for the advice. Unfortunately it was a total disaster as we only missed the 1st 10 mins. In the end I parked in the Long Ashton P&R & walked to the ground. I'm sure you're not meant to do that but I didn't see any signs to the contrary, & going on the queue to get out, it wasn't just us.

On 1 of LJs dismal runs, weren't we 2 up at half time, only to lose 3-2 to a last minute Pilkington screamer???

I am going to be late today & will probably only make the 2nd half (see drunken son for details). What are the parking restrictions in Sainsbury's- if I leave the car there for 2 hours is that likely to get me a ticket? Normally walk from Bemi Down but looking at any time saving options.

I think the issue (with most communication on line) is that the extremists (at both ends) shout louder than the moderates. You are right, in 2 games we've gone from "best we've played in years" & "top 6 is in our own hands" to "he's lost the dressing room" & "we might go relegated". The truth is as ever far more dull, top 6 was never in our own hands & the chances of relegation are slimmer than slim shady on the slim fast diet.

It did feel he'd ran out of gas. I liked him immensely & we could so easily have beaten Hull in the final. Sadly the more players he was allowed to buy, the worse we became. I think his brother was the full extent of the scouting team! Our purchases from Solvakia & Costa Rica were somewhat disappointing but the latter had locks to rival Russell Martin! None of it mattered as we appointed Steve Coppell & the rest is history.....

Have you seen the traffic in Bath ???? 0

Relax - Frankie Goes To Hollywood.

Personally, don't disagree with a word of that. However I don't think the timing or the opposition this weekend lend themselves to experimentation. 2 games ago some said it was the best we'd played in years. Now he's lost/confused/bored the dressing room. A big loss to Cardiff isn't going to help him.

It is pretty clear they fell out with Nige. I really like Nige but it's not uncommon for him to fall out with his employer. Lansdown struggles with "spikey" types. It was an accident waiting to happen really (but we're fortunate Nige got us in much better shape before it did).

I don't disagree in principle but I'm not sure Manning explaining to the fans that getting trounced by Cardiff was ok as it gives him a clearer idea of what we need for next season is going to play out very well. Hopefully we can have a half decent run of results, & then he can experiment for a few games if he chooses but in a less febrile atmosphere.