TDarwall

Pearson was doomed from the start really. As with Cotterill he's not Steve's cup of tea so it was only ever a matter of time. Sometimes I think SL can't cope with confrontational characters or it might be he's more comfortable dealing with corporate types that he's built his successful career out of. As many have said, he should have got in the best people he could afford to run the club & got out of their way.

It was oft said that LJ preferred working with younger players as they were more malleable & less likely to question him. I think you can apply that to the next level too, the "board" prefer someone grateful for the opportunity at this level who is less likely to rock the boat.

It is odd that post Cardiff, he's never really been given that role again.

I actually feel a bit sorry for Mehmeti. Came here with a really good reputation & it (so far) hasn't worked out. Hopefully he's not Smozdic v2. Personally I don't think he's been as bad (overall) as some make out, but clearly he has been underwhelming. Thing is, look at the team yesterday, you basically have a keeper, 9 strong runners & Mehmeti. Other than him, who is going to beat someone & create something (feel free to insert your own punchline that he doesn't do that either). We're incredibly predictable to play against so I can understand persisting with him because at least there is the chance he may do something different (think he may have had our only shots on target v Leeds & QPR. How's this for a sliding doors moment - I think Anis & Harry C made their debuts in the same game, Cornick is thru wide right, if he squares it to Anis, HC gets an assist om debut, Anis gets a goal, the fans are happy & both players get a lift. Obvs what happened was Harry went for goal & it was a routine save.

I think the last 4 demonstrate that it's hard to predict.

That's the danger of looking at 1 game in isolation. Yes we played well that night but Saints were at the start of a slump.. almost lost to Hudds the Sat before & have been in poor form since. Sometimes in the immediate aftermath you don't know which team the result says most about.

Been going the Gate since the early 80's. In all that time a very small no. Of opposition players have got standing ovations when subbed off. JET did, he destroyed us for Donny that day.

If I hear that Kidderminster have a penalty, I'll jump in the car. By the time I get to the ground JET will be about half way through his "run" up.

And Stones ..... Blue Aeroplanes.

Not ITK but reliably told that Nige wanted them discounted, but Manning wants 50% price hike but more cheap kids seats in South Stand.

When Manning was appointed I joked that if it goes wrong we'll flip again & appoint a gnarly seasoned old manager (which as you say is usually more successful!). I think what is clear post Cotts & NP is that the Lansdowns don't want to work with a bombastic type, so to an extent NP (who has a history of falling out with people) was doomed from the beginning.

I always think recruitment is "relatively" easy for us in LG1 - we're a big draw at that level. That's not to diminish what the likes of Jordan or Cotterill achieved but at Championship level there's far more attractive options than us.

Re entertainment value, I think it boils down to the 2 golden rules of football: 1) the result is everything 2) never forget rule #1 As City fans, we claim to be purists but we'd soon take to a long ball merchant * if they got us promotion. * not Warnock, that's a step too far.

I think that's fine Nogs, there are numerous ways to "consume" Bristol City, none of them are more or less valid than any of the others imo. The bit I really agree with in the article is I thunk people have over stated the change in styles between the ex & current manager. On the whole, I'm not coming away more / less entertained or happy than I was previously. It was pretty middling, it remains so & expect it will be for the near future.

Just typed & lost a long reply due to iffy train wifi. I think this comes down a bit to confirmation bias; if someone. wants to big up Liam they include the cup games, if someone wants to talk him down, they exclude them.

In terms of due diligence, unless you're a top manager who will have the best choice of jobs, I don't think many perspective managers do much due diligence at all. I think they would just look here & see a regime that is "generally" supportive of managers & think that'll do for me.

I'm confused, I thought the elephant in the room, was the big thing, everyone was thinking but not discussing. Turns out, it's the thing we discuss at huge length after every defeat. Having said that at 3pm on Sat I didn't think top 6 was in our own hands mind. I'm amazed anyone could go "all in" either way. I don't because things develop over time, LJ was terrible/great/terrible/great. Cotts was fantastic..... until he wasn't. Some of the criticism I find really odd. Questioning his integrity because he made (on paper) a good career move. Managing a football club isn't like working for an insurance firm, there are relatively few opportunities for progression & you need to take then when you can. Had he turned us down & Oxford had the mother of all injury crisis & their form dipped, he could have been out on his ear with little chance of managing at this level again. The game mgmt theory is interesting, but is he getting his game mgmt right when we win or is he lucky that the opposing managers game mgmt is even worse? Why does he so often get outfoxed by Championship managers but across 4 games, not once by a Prem manager?

Suspect Device - Stiff Little Fingers

Yes, I thought it was an optical illusion from the South St! Luckily, Nahki saw through their ruse to tempt him to go for the far side of the goal (opting instead for the far side of the moon!).

Cos they produce just a bit more than the average man!

To be fair you have to go all the way back to Tuesday night to have an example of this.

Sheep - The Housemartins

I can confirm the rules around writing insurance in Belgium are quite complex due to the Central Banks enhanced "Know Your Customer" rules. If the Central Bank write the rules for Belgian footy transfers that might explain.

One bit of good news, the space weapon Russia have developed was knocked out of orbit by Nahki's free kick. I've got loads of time for Nahki but has he ever taken a free kick for us that hasn't been awful.