Jacki

I think this is spot on. Tinnion is very good with the academy from what I’ve heard. I understand he can be pretty ruthless, which is hard as a parent especially if your lad has been released, but his knowledge of the players and the way he is with them is generally very positive. If you asked him (for example) who the left backs are in the U13s and what their strengths and weaknesses are, he would know. He knows all the boys by name and chats to them around the place and makes them feel part of it. He seems to be very good at that part of his job. As I’ve said in another thread though, that’s not the main part of his gig anymore. He has to oversee the playing philosophy of the whole club, hire and fire managers and support them while they’re here, manage the recruitment team… it’s impossible (imo) for anyone to do all that and be as involved he still is in the academy. And there is no evidence that he is in any way cut out to have the ‘keys to the kingdom’ to the extent that he has. The last few months have seen everyone with experience of running a successful Championship club get sacked or leave the club one way or another. We’re now back in a situation where people who don’t know the level and how to succeed within it are all powerful at the club. It’s really hard to see it ending well.

Interesting thread, this. Personally, I wish Manning well. As others have said, none of this is his fault and the board have put us in the position where the only sensible course of action is to get behind him and the players. However, I remain completely confused and frustrated at the way Nige was treated and the complete nonsense that was spouted by the board when he went. This is not a top 6 squad or anything close to it. Pearson had an average group of players playing to their strengths and being in and around where you would expect an average group of players to be. Possibly even above where you’d expect them to be, given how the family silver was sold and not replaced. We were never going to go up under him with this group of players, but we weren’t going down either and the spirit and culture at the club seemed to be as strong as it’s been in years. Making the change we did was fraught with risk. The players we have, even if all fully fit, we’re never going to get us finishing above about 10th because they’re just not good enough. By bringing in someone like Manning, who seems determined to tinker with everything, the danger is that the average squad plays below its collective ability and plummets down the league. I have seen lots of posts saying that performances have improved and we are not having more shots on target etc., and I respect those opinions because some of the people talking about that know a lot more about football then me. The bottom line, though, is results and ours are in free fall. To hear the new man taking about ‘sticking together’ this early worries me a lot. We were solid defensively under Pearson this season and we are really not now. I also accept what others are saying about Pearson having been on these runs before. Of course it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows. But we knew what we were going to get with his teams and he always got us out of it. My biggest concern with all of this is that we now have nobody on the football side of the club who has any record of success in the Championship. We have Tinnion who, for me, just has way too much on his plate. He’s done a great job with the academy but he’s still involved with that as well as hiring and firing managers, signing players and everything else he’s expected to do. It’s way too much for one person, and his record as first team manager would call his suitability as technical director into question in any case. We then have a board with no footballing CEO, and a ‘Head Coach’ with no history in this league at all. It’s a huge risk, and if the form carries on as it is I would really worry whether we have anyone with the slightest clue of how to fix the problem.

I know a fair bit about the academy and have been around it for a number of years now. I see a lot of the lads coming through and there’s no doubt there are loads of talented boys. We compete well with most of the clubs we come up against, beating the likes of Plymouth, Exeter and Swindon and having cracking games against Swansea and Cardiff. Same applies when we play the likes of Southampton and Villa. It gets more difficult when we come up against the Chelseas and Arsenals of this world but even then the games are usually competitive until their quality and fitness shines through at the end of the games The boys develop at different rates and there are one or two outstanding players in our age group. Those aside they all step up and look excellent at different times, with one or two exceptions although that view is subjective of course Overall (although I fully acknowledge I am biased) I would say the quality of player we have is good, and City is an attractive place to play given the opportunities the young lads are getting these days. They’re not going to get recruitment 100% right but I do think it’s improved in recent years and we’re not missing out on local talent to the likes of Southampton and the midlands teams as much as we were in the recent past. The experience and coaching is generally good… all I would say is that boys are treated like young professionals very early on and it would be nice to see them be allowed to have a bit more fun at times… it’s a huge time commitment it’s all very serious. I guess that’s inevitable but they’re kids at the end of the day and seeing them have a laugh and enjoy it more often wouldn’t do any harm imo.

That was an incredibly frustrating watch. The last 20 minutes were like an attack v defence drill and the attacks were all pretty much identical. Sideways and backwards passing followed, eventually, by a floaty cross with nobody in the box to get on the end of it. It was so easy to defend against it’s not true. As for the winner, I really hope we’re not going back to the Vyner of before last season. His OG v Boro was comically bad and he’s been caught in possession numerous times of late which could have led to more goals. The winner today was really, really bad. I was furious when Nige went and I’ve seen very little since to make me feel any better about the whole situation.

Who wants Manning out? I’ve seen a few posts of frustration but I’ve not seen a single one wanting him sacked?

Completely with you @CliftonCliff. I fully expect it to be someone mediocre, and to be completely underwhelmed. And the cycle of disappointment of being a passionate fan of BCFC to continue unabated. God I feel cheerful this morning

Such a sad and needless situation. Pearson was and is exactly what this club needs and I have a horrible feeling we’ll really miss him. Christ knows who we’ll get to replace him but they’ll be hard pushed to achieve anywhere near the level of popularity that Nige has with the fans here.

This is exactly the kind of appointment I expected when Pearson was sacked. Lower league man who will toe the line, not rock the boat, and tell everyone what great owners the Lansdowns are at every opportunity. Very underwhelming and pretty depressing… at least the Lampard stuff was amusing for a while.

This nonsense just gets better and better

Not sure about everyone else but I’m finding this whole thing absolutely hilarious. I’m still in mourning for Nige and think I’ve reached the delirious stage of grief now

Lee Johnson?

I’d be amazed if this happened. Can we really see SL paying the money someone like Lampard would need? And is there any way Lampard would want to put his currently battered reputation on the line by joining a club in the midst of an injury crisis who won’t spend any money on players? And be told what to do by Tinnion every step of the way? I just don’t see it.

Was chatting to a Blues fan earlier who knows his stuff and he absolutely loved Eustace, said we should be delighted if we get him. I’m far from convinced, and would have Nige over him every day of the week, but it sounds like we could have done worse based on what my mate said.

I’m told that Tinnion was up at the training ground yesterday watching the academy so it’s very possible he was present.

I think there’s every chance we could be sucked into trouble. If and when we get most of the injured players back we should be fine, but as others have said there’s always a club that drops like a stone during a Championship season and that could easily be us. I’ve said this on another thread but there is absolutely no top end Championship experience at the club right now. There’s not even any football league experience to speak of, other than Tinnion who seems to have been made kingmaker now. The board behind it all are clueless so bringing a Head Coach type in rather than a manager is a huge risk as they’ll need a ton of support to get us going, and I can’t see where the knowhow is that will give them that support. It will all depend on who we bring in but I think there’s every chance we could really struggle. And it will be no more than Lansdown deserves.

I find this whole episode utterly depressing and I’m at a point where I have had enough, until Lansdown departs at least. We’ve all seen this coming for the last week or two but it’s a disgraceful decision and it’s been handled terribly. The incremental improvements made under Pearson may well be lost over the coming months, and whoever the new man is has very little chance with all the injuries we currently have. The players were playing for Nige in close to impossible circumstances. Even now the dust has settled for a few hours, I am still disgusted with the situation. It’s a mess and the only experienced football man we have at the club now is Tinnion, who is fantastic with the academy but unproven at best as a ‘Technical Director’. As others have said, the fact that we’re looking for a ‘Head Coach’ rather than manager is very telling, and points to a typical yes man style appointment. I’ve got my season ticket and will be there on Saturday, but I will be loudly voicing my disgust at this whole debacle. I won’t be renewing while Lansdown is still here either. We will never achieve anything tangible while he owns the club. His ego and his complete lack of ability to stop meddling and accept criticism has held us back for years and I for one have had enough.

All the best Nige. You saw what was wrong with this football club and set about fixing it. Lansdown doesn’t like home truths and here we now are. You did a great job with both hands tied behind your back - all the very best to you and your family. You deserved better.

It’s laughable, all of it. I’m absolutely disgusted. Bewildering.

I’ve been saying this ever since Bentley left. O’Leary is a decent goalkeeper and a perfectly serviceable number two but the situation we find ourselves in with no competition at all for him is ridiculous really and a very good barometer for where we are. If he got injured we’d be in all sorts of trouble and it’s so blindingly obvious but we never did anything about it…

Properly depressing to lose to that scum but given the side we had out it was a worthy effort from us today. Just hope we can get one or two back in time for next weekend… Sheff Wed is a game we really need to be winning.

Agree with this. Nige didn’t sound at all impressed with a player ‘limping around’ and said that he’d be fit for Saturday. Got the distinct impression that he’s not a big fan of Roberts based on that, and him being hooked early in the game at the weekend.

According the the article in the Post, Nige’s prognosis is still uncertain to there has been no operation yet.

Great report… not sure I completely agree with it though! I do agree that Rotherham were comfortably the better side before the break but, despite how poor and lacking in ideas we were on the ball, I thought we at least put bodies on the line and showed resilience to stay in the game. We also should have had a clear penalty. After half time, it was still a poor game of course but we had a lot more of the ball and I felt we at least matched them. It’s not a high bar but I didn’t think we were outplayed in the period at all and we probably had marginally the better chances. And, of course, we had a trump card to come on in Conway who showed us just what we’ve been missing. Overall I’d say we lacked quality for long periods. But, their goal aside, we battled hard to keep the ball out of our net and at least showed some fight and commitment. I could easily see us having lost that game in previous season. Oh and I would also say that was the best I’ve seen Dickie play for us. He was outstanding at times last night. COYR

Conway is pure class. Two great finishes, we’ve really missed him.

It’s amazing how we all see the game so differently. I thought the subs made perfect sense…. We’d lost our intensity, especially on the press, after they pulled one back and the subs all put in a massive shift to help us get that back. With us having 2 more games this week, it all seemed sensible to me. Of the players that came on, Cornick had the best game I’ve seen from him and Weimann gave us the energy that you’d expect from him. I agree with others who say that Yeboah just isn’t quite ready to affect a game of that magnitude yet. He’s full of running, power and pace but is miles off being an effective championship player in my opinion. Ultimately I thought we deserved to win the game but for some dreadful defending. It was incredibly frustrating to watch.