Merrick's Marvels

On Pearson's instruction, he was moved to play as a wide striker for the reserves/underwhatevers. Whether that was to test his appetite for hard work in an unfamiliar role (see also Scott and Bell picked in unfamiliar positions for the first team) or that's where the coaches actually see his future, who knows.

Lifted straight from pages 32 and 33 of The Clash issue. With a little help from the relevant Woods book. £2 and 80 pages for that Clash issue - beats £4 for 32 into a cocked hat!

I do, personally, yes. But the owner talks about promotion to the Premier League as the aim. And we've got close once in his entire 20+ years at the club.

Respect! A quick but small (5'4") Outside Left. 43 games for Bedminster in 1899-90, scoring 15 goals. 1900 Bedminster and City amalgamate. 29 games for Bristol City in 1900-01, scoring 5 times. This was the team that earned us entry to the Football League - although he was released that summer. We shall draw a veil over him joining the Blue Few in Oct 1901 as it was only for 7 games! Deciding he'd had quite enough of that lot, he then retired - though it did make him only the 2nd ever player to play for both City and Rovers. He'd played, and scored, in the 1892 FA Cup Final for his hometown club West Brom and won the Southern League with both West Brom and Millwall. 20 goals from 70 games for West Brom 1891-94. 40 odd goals for Millwall from 100 odd games in 2 spells between 1894 and 1899. Top man.

Judging by the background noises off, it seems the locals took defeat with their usual good grace. What a lovely bunch.

Top result. Well played, City. And for those of us who stopped going away long ago, please can we play like this at home.

It didn't matter to Luton. No-one's denying that. No-one's saying there's been no progress at all.

Ok, will do ? PS. I bet the Luton owner hasn't put his kids on their Board!

No! But why then only mention luck and consistency when talking about Luton? Why not also say, they've recruited very well, are a difficult physical team to deal with, have appointed the right managers... and we need to do better at all that. A bit of honesty like that might give us all confidence he's on the right track and not some egotistical, geriatric bampot which, sadly, is how he comes across sometimes.

But what I would say to Lansdown, Spud, is that luck and consistency weren't the main ingredients in them getting there! Does he realise this?? Those ingredients were the right managerial appointments every time, laser focused recruitment of specific players for a specific style and consistently good decision making/leadership from their suits. And I don't suppose he wants to compare how we've done against those criteria! If Lansdown thinks it was just a case of a bit of luck, right time, right place and a few consistent performances... he's demonstrating yet again he really understands zilch about football. He might like to reflect on how the state of Luton's stadium, and I'll guess their training ground, demonstrates there is little correlation between money spent on bricks and mortar and success on the pitch. He also ask himself how many teams have got promoted by relying so heavily on youth - how many Luton players were "projects" or "ones for the future"? None that I can think of - just the right players to fit a specific system who can deliver here and now. If it's consistency the owner wants, going down the youth route is a funny way of going about it - unless you're prepared to be very patient. Which one minute he says he is, then contradicts himself. Muddled thinking wherever you look upstairs in the "Board" room which explains more than anything else why we languish where we are. Look in the mirror Mr Lansdown not at Luton, Brentford, Brighton and goodness knows who else next week.

Developed 2 players.... out of how many??? Played brilliant football (I agree) - yes, for 3 months. What did it achieve??? He's not the only City manager to have delivered a great Cup win - Russell Osman delivered a win at Annfield, for heaven's sake. Russell Osman! And with infinitely less resources, meagre resources in fact. Away wins, you say. As if no other City manager ever did at this level. And to what end come May every year - none. I've found myself agreeing with lots of your posts recently but this one's bunkum kid.

Thank you Lee. Or is it Gary, Uncle Pete, Steve or Mark? Talk us through why Lee was sacked and why our current manager has had to spend 2 years treading water because our wages and business model weren't fit for purpose? That's rhetorical btw, please don't.

Ted's in their heads! Gurt Ted's everywhere, innit. Yep and why would that be? And you're not the Blue Few for nothing, either. Been that way for nigh on 50 years. One of these days they'll be declared an endangered species.

No idea about a fly on the wall series but, if we were a TV advert, we'd be that one for Hamlet cigars with Rab C Nesbitt.

I thought your post meant you were concerned that Nige lied in a press conference and you think this is something he shouldn't be doing. My apologies if that's wrong. Presumably you posted out of idle curiosity. Fair enough.

If it's being lied to that you're worried about, I can think of more important examples to get worked up about. So out of interest, did you fire off an angry letter to the Telegraph about that fat prck of a prime minister we had not so long ago? Or perhaps you were on the Stop the War march before our illegal invasion of Iraq, way back when? Then again maybe such matters are a mere trifle, compared to what a football manager said to some hacks before a Milk Cup tie (or whatever it's called these days)? Fair play, if so. Wish I could be more like it.

What is Hull's pay structure compared to ours? What is their FFP position? Who knows. A good player but the wages he's got used to at Burnley may mean he's out of our reach, never mind the sort of loan fees Premier League teams ask for these days.

Don't get your hopes up. Acey is the same age as Scott. In round figures - the population of Guernsey is 60,000, 7% are aged 18 to 24 and assuming a 50/50 male/female split, that's 2,000 lads. Round figures. So I'd say the chances of Guernsey producing another player as good as Scott, in the same year, from a gene pool that small, are infinitesimal. The last top class player they produced was born 35 years before Scott, and is in fact the only other one they've ever produced, so it's statistically improbable that another one will be along any time soon, never mind be at Bristol City right now. We can only hope that, once he retires after a successful career, Scott doesn't turn into the dribbling, sh!t for brains mess that is Matt Le Tissier.

Wrong club, mate - that's Wolves.

Agree with all that, plus another CB. But I read it that we don't have enough headroom in the wage structure for all of those, all at once, right now. Irrespective of FFP, we've set ourselves a wage structure and will be sticking to it. So we pprobably need a few of the higher wages to drop off first, meaning the positions you mention will have to be strengthened gradually. James, Williams, Weimann, King all ooc at end of the season. Vyner too I think if we can't come to an agreement. I reckon there might be room for just 1 or 2 more, wage-wise, before this window closes.

I agree. Even if he'd stayed, we're not strong enough in midfield or wide forwards to be promoted. So we wish him well, take the money and use it to strengthen the squad as a whole - which will take time. Whether there's the patience for steady, incremental progress is another thing altogether, though.

Was with you, right up until you said "especially Brighton". Cos that's nonsense.

Well that's a cut above the usual platitudes and cliches.

Who's the manager of Chelsea these days?

The best GK and CM we can lay our hands on - and with a view to them being first choice starters, not back up. Summer 24, when the Alex Scott hype has blown over, we can refurbish midfield at sensible prices (King, Williams, James all ooc) - selling clubs are going to view us as stavros loadsamoney at the minute. Summer 25, upgrade the forwards - we need proper quality to support Conway, who will fire us to promotion (if he hasn't been flogged!). Rome wasn't built in a day. Not by us, at any rate.