Silvio Dante

Coppell always struck me as a man who wasn’t necessarily in love with football, but when he was invested, he was all in. I think that was one of the issues here - as I understand it SL pursued him and pursued him to a point where even though SC had reservations he said yes. There were major red flags though - IIRC he was to take over in the summer but rather than watch his new team he instead took in a Reading game. It was a job he didn’t really want to do to start with, then when SL (and probably for the right reasons as he wanted to show us going for it) signed James over Coppells head it started getting even worse. We then have the horrible signings of Stewart and Hunt. It was an awful appointment - not because of the manager, but because the manager didn’t want to do it. A part of me also thinks this is what has led to SL appointing lesser “names” other than Pearson subsequently- he got his fingers burnt. Maybe he feels we’re just not big enough to “buy” success to an extent and that’s driven a part of the strategy since.

Well somebody’s already asked the obvious:

Yeah, probably where I’m sitting. As I said the other day though, desperate situations (Liam needing to save his job) can lead to good outcomes. We saw it under Nige when there was an adjustment post WBA. He’s earnt the chance to take us into next season but the first 10-12 are massive - if he reverts to “pre Easter” type then he’s gone. And that’s again, not in results but in “intent” which has been the key thing over the last month. Attacking the post not the poster, this post is mental. Pearson didn’t leave a basket case - whatever side you sit on the debate the view is that we had a decent platform and the main contention is whether Liam needed/should be given the time to reshape the squad. The board said he could progress this squad. I think that was nonsense based on his style as opposed to the squad, but that doesn’t make him a bad coach with a squad set up for him or Pearson a basket case. It means they talked shit. We know this. It’s now about how Liam manages the resources that he has.

Oh oh woh oh oh, oh oh woh oh oh, oh oh wow oh oh…

I did see a couple of reports linking McKenna with them in the summer. Obviously would rely on Ipswich not going up as you’d imagine he’d want to finish the job there, but in the clubs current state and better jobs like Bayern and Liverpool being available Man U aren’t attractive to a Zidane or similar at the moment. They’ve tried everything else and he (ahem) knows the club from recently - it’s not totally fanciful

With a towering header just to take the piss.

Mental scenario. The team finishing 5th gets a bye to the semi finals while the team finishing 4th has to play an additional game. Efl have turned down Gateshead potential membership due to lack of security of tenure at their ground for the next 10 years, but even that seems odd when other clubs have moved having been evicted from stadiums (Cov) and kept membership. How many EFL clubs lease their stadium (and how many have less than 10 years till a break clause?)

What would be really embarrassing if we’d agreed a clause saying he had to be in the squad or we’d be penalised financially, then also agreed a clause saying we’d have to make the deal permanent if he was in more than 10 squads….

Bit harsh. Hes not been great at times but giving him that nickname is OTT

Quoting myself - 528 at Yate yesterday. Weather, local game, City being miles away and Rovers dead rubber may impact but a great attendance and shows the potential.

Realistically we won’t get a better opportunity to do so. I’ve been banging the drum of performance over results for some time, and although I didn’t watch yesterday, glad to see that we by common consensus played very well - and at this stage I’d rather that than a grubby 1-0 win. As for Rotherham, although they may be a side of that nature, results to date indicate that they’re not the best at it. If you want to “learn” how to play against a team of that ilk at this level (notwithstanding the Evans factor) there won’t be a better opportunity to do so.

Yeah - this. I didn’t see yesterday (so can’t say if he was unlucky not to get on)and there is clearly a bit of ensuring we get results as opposed to trying those who “may” be ready to see if they are, but even with that consideration in mind, for DM not to touch the pitch for as long as he has can’t benefit anybody. If we sign him, unless it’s a free and for the U21s, everyone’s going to be sceptical on the value of that deal. And even then, if Westerlo are happy to lose him on a free it adds more questions. It’s been a bad deal for all parties, and the way we’ve handled it with him on the bench and having no chance to get on in reality hasn’t been a great stance for us. We get out of this deal in two weeks, but the damage to DMs career long term may be bigger. We should have let him go back at Easter, or played him in the U21s as a “shop window” for other clubs.

Yate get about 230-250. Of the Bristol area clubs below National South, and I know I’m biased, they’ve probably got the highest ceiling. Manor Farms ground is better currently but they’re hamstrung by proximity to City and the size of the Creek. Yate you’ve got the growing population, it’s enough outside of Bristol that you don’t lose huge fans to City/Rovers on a whim and it’s got decent space to expand. Could see them NLS with the right plans in 10-20 years and a favourable wind.

No idea. And for balance, Yate were an equally poor watch earlier in the season.

Inherently were just biff-bang football today. 9 huge blokes trying to smack the ball up field as soon as possible but a bit shirty when they didn’t get their own way. Horrible team, not in kicking people but just in you couldn’t watch that on a regular basis.

Bizarre old game at Yate. The Bluebells by far the dominant side from 1-90 and at 90 minutes led 3-1 after great finishes (and questionable keeping) - English-Brown and McCootie (2) with the goals. Then it turned to ratshit. Two very scrambled efforts in injury time gave Cribbs an undeserved 3-3 overall and ended Yates slim playoff chances. Can’t see Cribbs going up if that’s the normal standard, and positive signs for Yate next season if they keep the likes of the goalscorers and Guest.

Incorrect Phants. The 21s are 9th in their table and have as much chance of winning the league as Rovers do of theirs. The U18s lack of development at higher levels has been cached as trying to win their league which is just batshit crazy

Again, penny for his thoughts today. There is an argument which has been gone through over not playing him last week but the fact remains that instead of playing someone who had been on the bench for 30 games when a vacancy arose in his position, the head coach decided to move several players around and make us far less effective. That had to make him feel like crap. Fast forward to today and he’s not involved full stop. The only way I can rationalise it is if he’s knocked on LMs door and said he’d rather play in the U21s than warm the bench and not get on. If that’s not the case then - at face value - it looks a horrible piece of man management of a young player. And don’t get me started on Tinnion recalling Araoye as opposed to him finishing an excellent loan spell just to play in an irrelevant U21s game!

#Pathway

I thought you were next - we need a rota system! Only left one comment in - that feels a touch of a bizarre decision if RA isn’t going with the first team as cover in view of defensive injuries. If Yeboah learns more at Bath than playing U23 games then I’d have thought the same would hold for Raph, particularly as WSM had the pressure of the Taunton game which would have been great for experience

For myself, I’ve been away all week with work so have only been dipping in and out of the forum and didn’t see much traffic. I assumed it was end of season malaise.

Amended.

Hang on - youre saying if we didn’t have replays, Tinnions goal against Liverpool wouldn’t have been immortalised? And by extension, he wouldn’t have been portrayed as a club legend and engineered his way into a role on more than one occasion where he could bugger the club up from the inside? Ive changed my mind. **** replays.

Depends on the stage of the sales tbh. I’ve got no idea when bears went on sale / priority periods end but if it’s still in week 1-2 I’d expect few emails then activity to be ramped up as it gets nearer deadline day - all that’s happened here is names on a database and automated mails. Bears activity will ramp up as it gets nearer deadline day But, once more, that still means they know if you’ve renewed to not send you a reminder mail so not releasing figures is bizarre….

The most bizarre thing about this is that AFAIK there are still replays in things like the preliminary round. On a realistic basis, if you get something like Yate vs Mousehole going to a replay, there is every chance teams lose money based on travel costs, appearance fees etc vs gate receipts - it’s not like Southern League games will generate massive crowds. Add in the mass fixture congestion this year and the sensible thing to do would be to do away with replays but before the final qualifying round - this would mean grassroots clubs have more chance of completing their seasons on time but don’t lose the chance of multiple paydays as they go through.