Swede

I am less inclined to listen to his interviews probably because Nige told it as it is. LM has his buzz words and they are already starting to grate & given the way the club got "their" man in he is hardly likely to say anything controversial. Its the thought of yet another Bristol City re start or reboot that I am finding to be less enthusiastic about. Give it another ten years and we will still be a win one, draw one & lose one mid table Championship team, in fact there could quite well come a time when 23 of the Championship teams have experienced the Premier League, all apart from Bristol City, who have sacked their manager in favour of yet another new direction.

Bournemouth are paying us in instalments. I agree its all about clear communication which is sadly lacking from the top IMHO. We were led to believe that Scott was sold on our terms which inferred a sizeable chunk was to be paid up front so this would act as a springboard for more elaborate transfer dealings coming into the club. In reality Scott wanted to go & once he heard of their concrete interest & the close proximity to his Channel Islands family, that probably swayed it for him. All this has done is send out mixed messages and the raised expectations of long suffering fans have, once again, been extinguished. Its the same scenario with Pearson. An established high profile manager, the sort of manager the club have needed for such a long time to steady the ship. Which he did. He did all of the dirty work in reducing the wage bill, he managed the expectations of the players and also the fans. We could all see the steady progress that was being made with little funding. The murmurs of funding and the lack of a new contract showed there was something amiss. Then they go and sack him and replace him with someone who has never coached at this level, who is implementing a completely different way of playing MID SEASON. What could possibly go wrong. I am very concerned that this could horribly go wrong but the continued lack of clear communication from the club just isolates the fans even more and probably does more harm long term with renewal of season tickets than a new coach losing a few matches. We are a mid table rudderless Championship club going nowhere.

We'll have another slice of the Scott money to help play our hand early for transfers. The concern for me is that we were set up as a counter attacking team under Pearson with players identified who could play that way. Now we're looking to play a more posession based game with the exact same players. A totally different proposal and one that requires movement, technical ability and tactical awareness. I may know jack about coaching but I just don't get the dynamics in changing the whole team ethos mid season. Its either a very clever masterstroke and we have a genius in head coach or complete and utter folly. I know which side I'm tending to lean against.

That was pretty flat and turgid. I can see the players trying to implement Manning's ideas about holding onto the ball to try and work the opportunity and create the overlap but it is so passive. I am not sure we have the playing credentials to play like that. Only when Sykes and TGH broke the line did we ever speed it up and only then did we suddenly start to cause them problems. We'll never start on the front foot and dictate a game if we're playing side to side then backwards just to keep hold of the ball despite what Manning tells the press. He played Sykes out of position, then rotated him with Weimann which led to the goal only to switch again?!? Taking our two best players off in TGH & Sykes were decisions I cannot fathom & playing Sykes wide left where he looked completely lost reminded me of LJ playing players out of position. Even Mehmeti was playing wide right. I've never seen him play there. Some really strange decisions today. For the first time he looked out of his depth and I realise we are only a few games into yet another new Lansdown dawn. We've got some tough matches coming up and the pressure will ramp up quickly with more negative showings like that. If he starts blaming players not following his instructions then that's a sure sign he's feeling the pressure as the same players were pulling together and delivering under the previous Boss. What I find intriguing is that Pearson, with all of his experience and savvy stated we didn't need any new forwards, whereas Manning, with all of his experience at this level seems to think that should be high on the shopping list come January. Its a sad state of affairs but I've never felt so disillusioned and unattached from my club as I do at the moment.

That's a good shout. Bell & Mehmeti haven't done enough in my opinion. The Harry & Andi show then!

I'd start with Cornick in place of Tommy & Mehmeti in place of the out of sorts and predictable Sam Bell.

Interesting decision not to let any away fans in. I would have thought that letting them in would have given the police enough time to come up with a strategy to identify culprits and filter out the perpetrators to make arrests. However, considering the trouble they caused at a previous European match I am surprised they weren't prevented from travelling in the first place. Just think, if these were Chelsea or Liverpool fans in Europe, there would be mass banning orders because of the "English disease" I am sure the local residents around Villa Park were extremely happy to have a large Polish contingent running amok.

Exactly this. Pearson did the leg work and we are now a solid mid table Championship club. Nothing more, nothing less. The only difference now is that with the Scott part payments we should be able to complete our transfer upgrades earlier than most clubs. This is the masterplan from the club's hierarchy. So expect a striker from er, Oxford to be high on the shopping list come January.

I think Tanner is a steady player. First and foremost he's a defender and has been excellent value for money. He's not a bomb down the wing type of player. Pring had a tougher opponent today and they pressed us high up so it was difficult for him to get on the ball. You have to credit the opposition for that as I'm sure they identified him as an outlet. With Sam Bell, he likes to run onto the ball. He's less effective with his back to goal and being pressed. If this is the way we like to play now I can see that Memehti will benefit whereas it will be detrimental to Bell.

An improvement on the 5hitty hoops

Its all a bit meh for me. Changing a manager mid season is fraught with problems especially with one so popular [with the fans at least]. Primarily the new head coach needs time to adjust to his new surroundings and get to know the players which was probably why TGH didn't start last week. It will be a measure of his coaching ability if he can get the high tempo game he wants. With Boro always a tough nut to crack, I would happily settle for an entertaining 2:2 draw but wouldn't be surprised if we lose 3:1. Hang on, we've got a top six squad according to the hierarchy so its got to be a 4:0 home win with Harry Cornick scoring a hattrick and his song ringing around the ground. Something tells me I'm into something goooood!

Well, I hope we get to hear some news soon. He was much admired by a lot on here. There is a sense, with the right backing, what could've happened here.

I wince at the very thought! I was standing not too far away from him on that 5hitty terrace and could've put it in with me knob [it seemed like two inches from the goal line], it was that bad a miss

If I was to to name my worst City 11 donkey Baird would be the cherry on the turd.

I remember that time tiny penis had just signed ex gas Peter Beadle and teamed him up with Steve Jones for his home debut. One of them scored I can't remember who but the lack of fans celebration told its own story. It tells you the mark of the striker Beadle was as he quickly won over many fans (although you can never forget he played for the dark side) with his committed performances. Not many players play for City and the sags and held in the same regard.

That's easy, he already has a talented top six side according to JL.

Having run the line for my son's youth team and endured abuse in various forms, I really wonder why any referees do this job and not because of the small fees they get. Without the people to carry out these tasks at grass root level there would be no football. It all comes down to respect, but that starts at the top and if you see the top professionals / managers questioning the officials then we have no hope. Look at rugby & American Football as examples. We can learn so much from how they officiate games.

14 out of 15. Never went to Belle Vue!!!

I recall he had that much publicised Cheltenham races incident which didn't go down too well with our owners. We also had Mark Little at RB and Flint at CB, Korey, Wade & Marlon in midfield. Everyone knew he was a good player but nobody could decide on his best position. He's also a big Leeds fan so it suited all parties apart from the fee. That story is a little slanted and rose tinted.

As much as it seems justified, for me it just goes to show how football finances are absolutely ruining the game. If Man City, as an example, are found to be be in breach then presumably they are stripped of their titles/Champions League win? Does this mean that Arsenal or whoever are beaten finalists or runners up are retrospective champions & what a hollow feeling that would be for all concerned. It would be a complete and utter shambles.

After Rotherham, which is a tidy little club, a Championship club, going to tinpot rovers won't look good on his CV.

Don't you mean cheaper

Its really too early to give any judgement on the new head coach. I think its fair to say that the majority of fans still feel a little bewildered with the need to change the manager. Let's see after ten games.

ditto!

Astounded that TGH isn't starting! MOM last week. We will miss his creativity in midfield.