LondonBristolian

I'm not going to particularly critical of the Mebude signing.

The rationale was sound and loans sometimes work and sometimes don't. I'd be quite surprised if we made the deal permanent based on what we've seen but that's always the gamble. 

54 minutes ago, ExiledAjax said:

I'm quite surprised that this thread isn't getting more engagement.

This is the pinnacle of our season. Our appearance in the semi-finals of the U18 FA Youth Cup is the apotheosis of 20+ years of investment and planning from the Lansdowns. 

This is what everyone at the club has sacrificed everything for this season. This showdown, this festival of football, it's what it's all about. Win this and we're in with a chance of hosting the final and capturing the attention of literally three football journalists.

I simply cannot wait to be vaguely aware of what's possibly happening on Pitch 14 of the Etihad Campus and will absolutely have this on in the background when I do the boy's bedtime tonight, and when I'm washing up after supper, and when I'm out for a run.

But don't forget this is what Man City have been working to all season too. Although I do suspect the tall blond Norwegian kid they are fielding up-front is lying about his age. 

It seems from this thread like it's going to be fairly unanimous voting in the main men's categories this year. The only player I seriously considered other than Dickie was O'Leary and, whilst Conway's not had a vintage season, he's the only one in that category you can really make a case for. 

13 hours ago, Major Isewater said:

Top pro who must question his move to our club. 
 

I'm not so sure on that.

He was obviously having a good season on loan at QPR when he joined but he was nonetheless at a parent club that didn't want him and we offered him a permanent move. Since then, he's had spells in and out the team but he has played more games than he's missed and his managers seem to find him positive, happy and settled. 

I'm sure any striker wants to be first on the team sheet and banging in 20 goals a season but the move to Burnley did not work out for him at all and QPR moved for him on loan a second time rather than signing him permanently. I suspect he doesn't see the move as a disaster. 

4 minutes ago, Roadrunner said:

I was thinking the same thing or they must have someone lined up as the timing is unbelievable.

It's the DoF and first team coach for the rest of the season. 

This is what we want. Unfortunately Manning has put himself in a position where he needs to rebuild trust and good will with a lot of us as fans. This weekend is a start. Hopefully the next six games can build on it and leave us feeling positive about next season.

1 minute ago, steviestevieneville said:

I haven’t read past the post I responded to so apologies if it’s been covered. Every team needs a Matty James . You can’t have a Scott twine (who won’t be with us next season ) creating if you haven’t got a player like Matty . He’s not a defensive midfielder as such although I don’t like the modern fixation with pigeon holing players , especially midfielders . He moves players around . He’ll drag opposition players out of position by his subtle movement . He’s very good at finding space. It’s no coincidence we’re a poorer side when he’s not available & he’ll be a massive loss on & off the pitch next season . Players trust him . He’s a 7-8 out of ten every week . Take just 5 minutes of our next game to just watch him . I did against West Ham . He makes us tick 

I think the one genuine question mark for me is to what extent Max Bird is being brought in to replace James' role in the team. (For clarity, I've not seen loads of Bird so they could be completely different players but, from what I've read and the little I've seen, I get the impression Bird plays a similarity role for Derby). If there is a genuine belief we're signing a younger player who is a genuine upgrade on James then I can see why the club might not extend the contract given he is a high earner. But that's the only possible argument I can see against given an extension given his value to the team. I don't even see James' age as a major concern - 32 is not that old for a a player who keeps himself in shape and James' game isn't based on lung-bursting athleticism in any case. 

New to this site. Don’t go to many games now but have been to many over nearly 50 years. Would love to see city in the top division again but it has to be done without risking the existence of the club. Steve lansdown has given the club a sound footing but why should he spend all his money chasing the premier league. As I say I’m new here, see a lot of negativity to Bristol sport. Why is that?

EDIT: Rats. Wrong account!

1 hour ago, ORANGE500 said:

75 games in the championship 17 goals( quite a few penalties included) under 2 different managers would suggest that he is exactly what he looks very average. I expect the forward line and also the midfield will look somewhat different in August and won't include Tommy Conway, I would sell for as much as possible which ids probably a couple of million at best.

We shall, of course, see. I think you are right that we will struggle to get as near as much as many of us would hope for Conway given he has one year on his contract and has struggled this season. But, when he does move on - as I suspect he will - we will find out whether he is “very average” or whether our tactics and approach have held him back.

I know which of those I think it is but time will tell.

4 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

They truly won’t give a **** but this is the bit of me that doesn’t want them to go up.

I still think they’re a pretty arrogant lot, maybe not a couple who have posted on here, but for a side that bumped around in the third tier for 4 years lacking in any sort of humility.

Mind you, for a sense of entitlement it’s hard to beat the Leicester fans yesterday, giving their team pelters at the final whistle.

I agree on the arrogance but I think it is true - and even more so - for the entire current top six plus a few other teams in the division like Boro and Sunderland. There is a large bunch of teams with a big section of fans who feel entitled to a place in the Premier League despite - Leicester aside - a long and undistinguished track record of doing absolutely nothing once they are up there.

3 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

100%.

The other thing is if they didn’t have Ashton & his history with us, we would all be saying what an incredible achievement.

They really didn’t spend that big last summer, they have gone toe to toe all year with 3 sides who possess a ridiculous advantage over the others & at present are in pole position in what now looks two from three to go up automatically.

You can already hear the fans of the sides who get out of League One this season saying they’re looking to do an “Ipswich” next season, completely failing to understand this only happens around once every ten years.
 

And in fairness, Ipswich fans told us they were going to do exactly what they’ve done in the summer and most of us - or certainly me, anyway - felt they were being arrogant and deluded.

Even with Ashton, I’d probably rather Ipswich made it than the three relegated teams going straight back up. Certainly I’d take an Ipswich promotion over another of the boring yo-yo clubs like West Brom or Norwich.

8 hours ago, formerly known as ivan said:

Let’s follow the Ipswich blueprint! Step one, recruit Mark Ashton…

Also, isn’t it time to change the title of the thread? Believe this was set up to mock Ipswich when they appointed Ashton. Fair to say the joke has long gone!

To be honest, I set this thread up to share a David Brent-esque quote from Mark Ashton in an interview. I never thought for a minute it would last three years and get to 87 pages! 

13 hours ago, redkev said:

On another point for next year are the Murphy stokes & Bird first teamers or yet more for the future 

To be honest, I’m currently waiting for someone to show me definitive evidence that Murphy even exists. I’m starting to fear that St Pat’s created an AI player, CGI’d him into some highlights reels and we fell for it hook, line and sinker…

Conway has a year on his contract and is playing for a manager who lacks the tactical flexibility and adaptability to get the best out of him. The club aren’t the ones making the choice here.

15 hours ago, BCFCGav said:

I said to my dad I think the bloke has Vardy pyjamas. Couldn’t wait to give them decisions. 

Is this the real reason for the Zak Vyner range?

As we discovered under Lee Johnson, “Detailed work on the opposition” is always a nuanced thing. It can be great for bespoke plans to stop a top of the table side but strip you of identity and make you reactive when you do it each week, against everyone. And it gets a bit farcical when you’re so busy reacting to the tactical nuances of the bottom of the table side that you cannot beat them at home.

The actual dilemma for Liam and the club at the moment is why the plan is for James not to be renewed and whether it should be re-evaluated in light of his value to the team.

It is a good result and one that should put to bed any lingering worries about relegation.

However what it doesn’t do is answer the overriding questions which are:

1) can we win consistently?

2) can we play well consistently?

3) can we produce our results and performances against the top teams in the division and Premier league teams in the cup against so-called “weaker” teams?

4) how do we square the desire to play possession football with the fact we get better results with less possession?

5) was this a genuine new dawn or simply another good performance on TV?

I’m happy to credit Manning for the win but, if it fair to give him credit when we do well then it is fair to give him criticism when we play badly.

Today’s result makes it very likely Manning will be here next season but he now has seven games to try to get the fans to feel confident with him at the helm. For me, he still has a long way to go.

On 17/03/2024 at 07:22, nebristolred said:

I'm not sure why this needs to be the case. This might show a big age difference between users here, but even as far back as the supposed heyday of the 2000's I think there have been headliners who potentially weren't known by 70% of the population.

Would 70% of the population have known Moby? Travis? Basement Jaxx? In 2009 would all the kids know who Neil Young is (I certainly hadn't heard of him at that age even though he's a legend!). Arcade Fire in 2014? Big names, but 70%+ of the population?

I think the lineups these days are more a symptom of the music industry than a sign of a 'poor' lineup. Access to music is so much easier and wider, and is less siloed to a finite number of tv and radio stations, so musical interests are far more fragmented and niche. I think for that reason, people who are less interested in music and only see the 'big' acts shout every year about how lineup's are going downhill, despite the fact that attendance numbers suggest the complete opposite.

Gone are the days where most had heard of almost the entire lineup, there is so much more variety now. Guitar music is in a bit of a rut, but there is so much great stuff in the other genres being pushed now.

I agree with your general point but I think it's easy to forget how ubiquitous Moby and Travis were at the time of their headline slots. Travis were all over pretty much every radio station from commercial to alternative and songs from Moby's Play appeared in loads of films, TV shows, adverts etc. I reckon pretty much everyone would have recognised Moby's songs - even if they'd not known who the artist was.

Your point about fragmented music is totally bang on. Now that we're in an era where no radio station, music TV show or publication reaches mass audiences in the way they used to, there simply aren't acts who are known to 70% of the population. Even the biggest acts - Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish or Adele for example - are incredibly easy to never hear songs by if you don't go out of your way to listen to them. 

I'm relatively indifferent to the actual clothing range - it's a bit surreal but I'm not upset or angry about it.

What I find frustrating is how the tone of our comms and social media totally misunderstands where fans are. There's always a bit of a feel good factor after a win and a bit of frustration after a defeat. We've just had one win in six the mood from the fans is pretty toxic. If you want to launch a clothing range based on a player, fine, but it seems pretty damned obvious that you hold off on launching the clothing range until after a win and at a point when the mood has lifted a little. 

Far too often, our comms team simply don't seem utterly disconnected from the mood of the fans. The timing of this is totally off tonally but that feels a regular occurrence.

On 25/03/2024 at 17:28, Sir Geoff said:

Two places available on the bench. Give Liam a call.

Worth flagging that those places are for over-18s only...

My impressions from the game:

1. I'd never watched Toney in the flesh and his off the ball work and pressing was much better than I'd realised. I think he's put himself in pole position to act as second striker

2. I really can't work out what I think of Jarrod Bowen. In some ways, he was the liveliest player first half but I'm not sure he's got the quality ultimately.

3. At times it reminded me of watching Bristol City, albeit with a much faster tempo. Lots of passing but occasionally over-passing leading to a defensive mistake or attacking position squanded.

4. None of the back 4 made a great case for themselves and the lack of depth there is a bit of a worry. 

5. Mainoo is being slightly over-talked up as it was his debut but he certainly looked decent. 

Great news on Benarous.

As an aside, I don't massively follow the U-21s but how are Thomas and Leeson getting on? It feels like both of them have had slightly tricky seasons after getting a bit closer to the first team over the summer but is that a fair assessment? 

15 hours ago, GrahamC said:

It is also the first thing that crops up if you Google it…

I swear there are loads on here who have no idea what a search engine is.

Do you happen to know where I could find a definition of a search engine?

Not convinced by the slogan. Pretty certain that if my Mum, brother, Aunts and Uncles played against Manchester City, my family would not come out on top...