pongo88

Yes, the conversation is about how much SL wants for the club, so whole point is what he’s trying to sell. He’s trying to sell a mid table Championship club with the potential to be a yo-yo club between Championship and the Premier League. Thus the point I made in an earlier post about the size of the ground is relevant - ie lots of yo-yo clubs have similar size grounds. I agree with you, the price he’s reputed to be asking is ridiculous

City being a yo yo team between the Championship and the Premier League would be absolutely fantastic compared to the last 50 years. In reality it’s the best City could hope for in the foreseeable future. Look at Burnley, for example. New American owners, investment in players, good manager but after walking away with the Championship last season they are now in the relegation zone. Some teams who are promoted to the Premier League survive but most come back down in a short time

The difference between you and Steve Lansdown, apart from the odd billion or two, is staying in your house won’t cost you anything apart from paying the butler, maid, gardener, chauffeur etc. With SL retaining ownership of City / Bristol sport means he has an annual expenditure of tens of millions of pounds. Admittedly this is loose change for him but as he’s from a financial background he might be fed up with spending money on something he’s not really interested in.

The size of the ground and lack of opportunity to expand is often quoted but is it really a problem? There are quite a few Premier League teams and Championship teams, with recent Premier League experience, that have grounds similar in size to Ashton Gate or smaller - eg Palace - 27k: Brentford 17k: Burnley 22k: Bournemouth 11k: Luton 10k: Norwich 27k: WBA 27k: Watford 22k: QPR 18k: Swansea 21k As for expansion it is technically possible, though difficult - ie expand the Atyeo end. The difficulty is, of course, buying the houses though would it be worth it? SL once said he considered this, during the planning stage of the redevelopment, which would have increased capacity to 35k. He said he thought it wasn’t worth it as there would only be a sell-out against the big teams and the real money comes from TV in the Premier League. Whether he was right or wrong is a matter of opinion. Obviously Ashton Vale would be a better selling feature but you can sell anything if the price is right. The fact that SL has been trying to find a buyer for some time, without success, indicates that his valuation (£140k?) is adrift from reality

An interesting case of how to sack a manager was when Gary Johnson left. They did a joint press conference

Perhaps he’s a fan of Morecambe and Wise - all the right notes but not necessarily in the right order

There was a thread created a few days ago entitled “What do we need for top 6”. There were a few options such as forward, midfielder etc but the answer is simple, assuming it refers to this season, - a £20m+ transfer budget in January and a total revamp to the internally imposed wage budget. It’s not going to happen, for obvious reasons, so Nigel has to keep working with young players and “bargain” lower league signings. That’s the difference between City and the top teams. Maybe, in a couple of years, if the academy produces some more players, if Nigel gets a contract extension if we get lucky with the bargain signings , if the wind blows in the right direction the miracle might happen

Please may he survive

Our head-to-head record is hopeless (@Pongo88 won’t be at all surprised)! Won: 8 Lost: 25 Drawn: 9 I’m not worried about this as there is one match that matters. I remember it well

I’m sorry, but saying they haven’t built anything permanent in the last 100 years is a slur on the good name of Bristol Rovers. Have you forgotten Santa’s Grotto?

Further to the other replies, due to financial problems, Rovers sold the ground in 1940 to the greyhound company for £12k which was well below the market valuation of the land. The Rovers board member who masterminded this was also on the board of the greyhound company! The site was enormous with a large car park at either end of the ground. Just right for a modern stadium. Later in the 40s the board tried to get Harry Dolman interested in joining them. All went well until he told them that not owning their own ground was a bad idea. The response was basically “with ideas like that you’d be better off at Ashton Gate”. The rest is history.

Exactly - doing this match means Sky can show both teams they don’t want to show in one hit.

It is poor, but how do you make Rotherham v City sound interesting to people who aren’t supporters of either team? Sky are going to put their C list presenters / pundits on a match like this.

Ref the balance of the subs, how many fit defenders can Nigel find who are likely to get on the pitch?

As they say, “when the moon shines on the cowshed” . I think a few too many pints of Black Rat have been imbibed

The match day threads are often a bit disappointing, but not due to @Jerseybean’s efforts. It’s because of the head to head record - ie against Rotherham it’s: Won: 22 Lost: 24 Drawn: 10 Having this sort of record is a reminder of City’s life of mediocrity over the last 100 years, interspersed with the few seasons of hope

I like that (I suggested the same in a post a few weeks ago). It might surprise a few people to suggest moving a left back to left wing but players changing position isn’t unusual. As an example Clive Whitehead moved in the opposite direction, for City, when he went from the wing to full back. Donnie Gillies moved from centre forward to full back. Bobby Reid moved from midfield, where he was average, to a central forward position, where he was excellent. If you want to take an extreme example Ray Cashley started out as a full back and then had a good career for City as a goalkeeper!

I was about to make these comments about the left back / left side problems as I’ve always thought that Pring would make a good left sided midfield player. If he moved to left midfield with Roberts at left back it would strengthen the defence when the opposition attacks and give an added bit of energy in midfield when City attack. As for Naismith, he obviously has skill but, IMO, he lacks the pace, physicality and mentality, to produce a consistent performance. He looks good when not under pressure but when the crunch comes I’m sure he gives a lot of supporters the collywobblefications

Did you know that The Wiser Older Elf is my twin brother? He works for Father Christmas at the north pole. He is "more clever" than the Wise Old Elf. He is an arctic elf.

Don’t blame the fans for the player’s’ performance

This illustrates the problem NP is working with. There was a lot of effort, and running around, in the second half but unfortunately not that extra bit of class and creativity. Class and creativity costs money and City don’t / can’t want to spend

I had the same problem. I turned the auto off and then turned it on again. Todays ticket appeared immediately. That the problem with modern technology - it often doesn’t work properly, but the old off / on trick sometimes works

It may take you some time to understand the obsession with photographs of black bins at away matches

We'll be in the Premier League by then so we'll be used to stange kick offs

This is a steady job for him. He'll get paid, help out in training but, unless some catastrophe happens, he'll never havr to play a game