LondonBristolian

We shall see at the end of August. He had to force his way in last year and did so. I would have picked him but the fact is we were not good enough in midfield last season so understand the rationale for three new faces there. Weirdly, given our limited transfer business, Bentley and Vyner are the only two players starting that were regularly playing in our abysmal second half of last season. Shows how bad our injury crisis was that five starters are players at the club last season who Pearson could barely work with.

For some reason, I am expecting the friendlies to be a bit of a red herring and that the formation and team we use in the first game is one we will have been using in training but not in matches. This could, of course, be me talking nonsense.

I literally could not have made that up. It is a level of ridiculousness that goes way beyond my imagination!

To be fair, if Andy Rolls was directing Ashton’s performance, it explains a Hell of a lot. At least we now know why we were hamstrung by poor leadership…

Article in the Guardian today. Highlight is these three paragraphs: “Ashton scrolls through his phone and locates a picture of a placard bearing the words “Run towards adversity”, surrounded by signatures. He asked Ipswich’s players, a largely new team after a summer of sweeping change, to “sign it in blood” after a meeting last week. The phrase relates to the challenges faced by the firefighters and rescue workers whose contributions will directly fund the club’s ambition. “They have to run into burning fires, towards bullets, towards danger,” he says. “The only thing the pension fund have asked me is that, if you join this club, every time you go to work you run towards adversity and tackle the challenge head on. The players represent the fans and the community, but they represent those people as well. “After it was presented to them, one of the squad went up to my director of performance, Andy Rolls, and said: ‘I owe you an apology, my running stats were down yesterday and I didn’t put in the effort I should have. It won’t happen again.’” https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/aug/06/we-need-a-beating-heart-ipswich-town-takeover-set-to-be-game-changer?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Let's see how badly I do! Bristol City F.C. 1) What will be City's final league position? A pleasantly surprising 12th 2) How many points will City get this season? 60 3) Will City score 60 (or more) League goals this season? No 4) Will City concede 60 (or more) League goals this season? No 5) Who will finish as City's top scorer? Weimann 6) How many League goals will City's top scorer (whether the player named in Q5 or ano.) get? 11 7) Who will finish as City's 2nd top scorer? Wells ? How many League goals will City's 2nd top scorer (whether the player named in Q7 or ano.) get? 9 9) How many academy graduates will make their City debuts this season in League or Cup competitions? 3 10) Will Nathan Baker make 20 (or more) League appearances for City this season? Yes 11) Will Taylor Moore make 20 (or more) League appearances for City this season? No 12) Will Alex Scott make 20 (or more) League appearances for City this season? Yes 13) Will Adam Nagy still be a City player on the last day of the season? Yes 14) Will Tomas Kalas still be a City player on the last day of the season? No 15) Will City sign a striker either before the end of this window, or in the January window? Yes 16) Who will be City's player of the season? Atkinson 17) What will be the official attendance for the first home game against Blackpool to the nearest thousand? 16k 18) What will City's Official average League attendance be this season to the nearest thousand? 18k 19) In which round will City be knocked out of the F.A. Cup? 4th 20) In which round will City be knocked out of the Carabou Cup? 3rd 21) How many City players will be sent off in all competitions this season? 4 22) Who will be the first City player to be sent off this season? Simpson 23) How many penalties, in all competitions, will City be awarded this season? 7 24) How many penalties will City score? 4 25) Will any City player score a first team hat trick this season? No 26) Will Nigel Pearson still be City's manager on the last day of the season? Yes Young City players: Bell, Pearson, Conway, Britton, Scott, Janneh 1) Which of these 6 will make the most appearances for City, in all competitions, this season? Scott 2) Which of these 6 will score the most goals for City in all competitions? Bell Gas: ? 1) Final League position? 15th 2) Average League attendance, to the nearest thousand? 4k 3) Brett Pitman to score 0-10, 11-20 or 21+ league goals this season for Rovers? 0-10 4) Will Joey Barton still be Rovers' manager on the last day of the season? No Welsh Rivals, Cardiff & Swansea 1) Will any of Pack, Flint or Tomlin score for Cardiff against City? No 2) Who will finish higher, Cardiff or City? City 3) Will Korey Smith or Liam Walsh score for Swansea against City? Yes 4) Will Liam Walsh make 20 (or more) league apps. for Swansea this season? Yes 5) Who will finish higher, Swansea or City? City Lee Johnson's Sunderland 1) Where will Sunderland finish this season? Automatic promotion, promoted through play offs, play offs, lower? Play-off 2) Will Lee Johnson still be Sunderland manager on the last day of the season? No Ashton's Ipswich 1) Will Ipswich be promoted this season (with MA doing a lap of honour ) either automatically or through the play offs? No 2) Will Ipswich finish above Sunderland? No Steve Cotterill 1) Will Cotts lead Shrewsbury to promotion? No 2) How many points will Cotts' Shrewsbury take off LJ's Sunderland, 0,1,2,3,4,or 6? 6 Old Boys 1) Will Bobby Reid score 14 (or more) league goals for Fulham? No 2) Will Bobby Reid score against City? Yes 3) Will Josh Brownhill score 5 or more PL goals for Burnley? No 4) Will Matty Taylor score against Sunderland? No 5) Will Wes Burns score against Sunderland? Yes Championship 1) Which club will finish top of the Championship? WBA 2) Which club will finish bottom of the Championship? Derby

Not sure about his weight and fitness but the rest of it sounds pretty familiar from his time with us...

Where is your evidence of a substantial minority of French people making their views known? All you have posted to is one protest and some thugs trying to obtain their aims by violence and intimidation by setting fire to vaccine centres. Arson does not take a substantial minority to do. I agree with you that, if enough people object to a law, they can influence it. But, one thing we have seen with the vaccine take-up across over 40 age groups is that vaccine take up has been high and relatively few people have refused to have one. In under 30s, the evidence to date suggests the major obstacle to take up is people not prioritising having a jab, rather than strongly objecting to have one. France has much higher vaccine skepticism than the UK. I’m not convinced the rules the UK government have brought in this week are the best approach to take but I am far less convinced on either a) the argument they are unlawful and discriminatory (as long as the government makes adjustments for people who cannot have vaccines due to health conditions, which they have said they will do) or b) the fantasy of the plans being derailed by an uprising of anti-vaccine protests. People who are anti-vaccine are a much smaller minority in the UK than France or the US and, even when people oppose things, it is a far smaller minority again that actively go out and protest. If they try to enforce, most people will simply grumble for a bit and then get vaccinated.

Best wishes to him. Hope he makes a quick recovery.

I think I might struggle to make the date and time as am away on holiday with my Mum and my brother's family at the end of July. However I'm keeping an eye on this thread as would like run if I am around. I never met One Team in Keynsham and only browse this thread rather than post loads but I'm massively impressed by what has been started here and would like to pay tribute to a fellow red if I can.

Feel a bit sorry for Gilmartin and Joe Wollacott...

Am I the only one who read the thread title and assumed it was a device to enable you to write earnest and po-faced critically acclaimed theatre?

I think the massive frustration for me is the lack of movement and fluidity. It is not just that players stick wide and it's not just - although it is a large part of it - the massive gaps between midfielders and wingers and between wingers and forwards. It's the fact that whoever is in possession always seems to only have a range of statues to pass to, which inevitably means possession gets lost.

I think he easily could surprise us but so much can happen in a player's career between 21 and 23/24. Best recent example I can think of is Saido Berahino. At Semenyo's age he was on the fringes of the England squad, being linked the various big Premier League clubs and looked like a fantastic talent. At 27 he's on the fringes of a Belgian football club. And then you've got Connor Wickham. At 21 he'd just come good at Sunderland and was being touted for a place in England's 2014 World Cup squad. Seven years and multiple injuries later he's probably out at Palace this season and may struggle to find even a Championship side who'll take a chance. I think Semenyo, if he stayed, could be a key player next season. But I also think - with every young player for a Championship club - it is a balance between keeping them and gambling on them fulfilling their potential or cashing in at the right moment and, if we get it wrong, we could find we've a player whose annoyed that his chance at the top flight has passed and who - sometimes through injuries and no fault of their own - suddenly finds it is too late to fulfil their potential. I'd rather we kept Semenyo that sold him but I also think that, if we got £5 million and a generous sell-on clause AND if he had his heart set on a Premier League move, there are very valid reasons why the club might choose to sell.

I rate Semenyo and think he has potential but £5 million is a fair offer. It is a good price and there is no guarantee he will fulfil his potential. With the number of other youngsters coming through, I’d be okay with a sale. He could be the next Bolasie but he could equality be the next Ribeiro or the next Rolando Aarons... Re Bolasie, I thought he deserved more starts and felt he’d do well at another club but certainly would never have predicted quite how well!

The thing I've always found weird about LJ discussions - both in terms of him as a player and as a manager - is that he was basically just about okay in both roles. As a player he is never going to make my list of top twenty players I've seen in a City shirt but he's a world away from the worst twenty too. He played his part in our play-off push and was decent if not spectacular throughout his time at the club. As a manager, he had some very good and very bad moments but essentially managed the club steadily for four years, never took us into a relegation or a promotion battle at the absolute end of the season, and did a competent job without setting the heart racing. You'd obviously put his Dad, Joe Jordan and Steve Cotterill above him on your list of City managers but you'd also put Benny Lennhartsson, Tony Pulis and Brian Tinnion well below him. So what I find weird is how the Hell does someone who was basically competent but not spectacular whip up such strong feelings and cause so much controversy?

There's a legitimate chance of either that or KP's goal being my pick for "Champagne moment" at the end of the season...

I certainly cannot think of many at all. Could it be as low as two a season?

I’d agree with all of that. I think the other issue with Johnson is that he never had a good entire season and tended to end seasons badly. We played some lovely stuff at times in both 17/18 and 18/19 but the overriding feeling at the end of both seasons was one of disappointment and missed opportunity.

I think the problem is that people are naturally very selective with what they remember about managers. It's selective to ignore the utterly superb job Steve Cotterill did in League One, and the brilliant football we made, but it's equally selective to ignore the fact he was doing a very good job of taking us back there when he got sacked. Meanwhile Lee Johnson did a good job in parts - the League Cup run, turning a relegation threatened side into promotion challengers - but we had the dire losing streak in his second season and, as you say, we went through several awful spells in his last season. We were dreadful in January and February and then abysmal when we came back after the restart. There's no doubt at all that it was time for Johnson to go but we were very decent for spells under him. There is no doubt that we were brilliant in 2014/2015 underr Cotterill but we were dreadful in 15/16 and would have been relegated without a change of manager. People seem to feel the need to set up this slightly bizarre Cotterill fan vs Johnson fan rivalry where they wholly praise one and wholly trash the other but, with both managers, it was way more complex than that.

Deeply sad news. RIP.

At times when I've been working at the festival, I've wandered around the Glastonbury site on the Tuesday after it has all been constructed but before the crowds are allowed in. It's one of of my favourite things in the world to see it all constructed there just waiting for everything about to start. In some ways. I actually prefer the anticipation to the festival itself... Admittedly three years is going to be a ******* long time of anticipation, especially as I don't actually know if I'm gonna get to work it in 2022.

Yeah - I was waiting for the announcement really. Hoping some of the smaller festivals will take place later in the summer but I'm not convinced any of the major festivals will be confident they can go ahead in time for them to happen...

Such an awful situation to be in. Look after yourself and hope you find a way to cope as well as possible with everything going on.

With a lot of young players I'd agree but for me the key points are: a) He is already playing most games for us. and b) Rightly so. Whether or not he's scoring goals, I think he's in the team for a reason and adding more to our attacking play than most this season. At the moment, with our injuries, I feel he's easily within our best available XI and I'd have him down as a strong case as a starter if all our players were fully fit.