ashton_fan

We're not going to get promoted or relegated this season so although that late goal yesterday hurt like hell at the time it won't make any difference to the season's outcome. I'm sure Nige will have found an answer before next season starts, let's just hope we can hold on to our best young talent.

6 hours ago, sugarwray said:

Rock bottom was probably away at Rochdale in December 82. 0-1 defeat after a late, late goal saw us rooted in 92nd just three years after being in the running for a place in Europe. Things could only get better.

Perhaps from the playing point of view but by that stage the club wasn't in danger of going under, that was the worst thing when we played Newport the fact that it could be the last game

The difference between this and the Luton game is our defence looks ok

It was all a bit unreal how quickly things went downhill. I still blame the Board for the financial mismanagement after a coup in which Robert Hobbs (the Chairman) was overthrown after overseeing our successful seasons in Div 1. The new board got us relegated and then to make things worse sacking Alan Dicks due to a poor start in Div 2, if we'd kept him I think he could have turned things around. By the time we got to the Newport match we were at rock bottom and the board managed to focus on the AG8 as the issue to obscure their own failings.

3 minutes ago, BTRFTG said:

Revisionist history had no limits it seems. Amazing how the facts (sic) of the matter appear in the hands of those who weren't around at the time.

City owe nothing to 'The 8', unless that is you wanted City to go bust, which is nearly where they took the club. 'The 8' looked only after themselves, for which I don't blame them, but lest not forget the players immediately became free agents and later were paid around half of the outstanding balance on their contracts, so it's not as though they were left high and dry. Bristol Dockers who were being shafted at the time weren't so fortunate. Kids singing their stupid song might start by asking themselves if 'The 8' were such heroes then why were their testimonials so poorly attended? Answer, although one or two genuinely had been playing heroes most weren't and all their attitudes at screwing as much as possible out of the club didn't go down well with fans.

At the time the players, Merrick in particular, were filmed saying they'd never set foot in AG ever again. For several years Merrick also wasn't shy in describing his thoughts on the club's treatment of him, as many a person who's worked in the building trade will attest. How times (and facts) change.

And no, if there's a card on my seat dream on if you think it'll be held aloft, as those like me who thought my beloved club all but gone recall how the hard the PFA had to work to talk the players out of their demands.

City's sad chapter should be buried, not celebrated.

It wasn't the 8's fault that the club was bankrupt, that was down to mismanagement by the Board at the time, the contracts the players were given while in Div 1 should have had clauses regarding what would happen if the club was relegated. The players at that time weren't on the sort of wages being paid now and had families to look after, some were towards the end of their playing days. The club at the time focussed on them to stop people noticing that it was the Board's fault the club was in such a mess financially. This is not revisionist, I was there while it was going on.

Has been a great player at Championship level in the past so worth a punt. However has had serious knee injuries and can't run as fast since he had those problems. In the past we've signed previously good defenders with fitness issues and it hasn't worked out but I suppose Nige hasn't got many options at present so let's hope he can play a part for the rest of the season, our defence certainly needs some help.

Max should be still improving at his level of age/experience while Bents is probably at his best now, I think maybe Nige is giving Max a run to see if he can up his game given more minutes on the pitch, if it works then he can sell Bents either now or at the end of the season and use the funds gained on a needed CB. Max may come out more for crosses if he's given more coaching in that area, it's definitely where he need to improve. We have seen how Antoine is now adding goalscoring to his skills which he couldn't do until recently, young players have time to overcome weaknesses in their game. It hasn't helped Max that our current CB's are relatively inexperienced at Championship level with the exception of Kalas.

1 minute ago, stephenkibby. said:

If as it seems Pearson doesn't  fancy Bentley then apart from anything else we need a keeper for next season.

I think we'll struggle to get anybody better than the 2 keepers we already have. We could do with another commanding CB like Baker that's our main weakness against teams with tall strikers at the moment.

Our form there recently has been pretty poor, we did well to get a draw there last season but haven't won there since 2000. The record books show we got a 1-1 draw there in the Anglo-Italian Cup in 1992! I'll be happy providing we don't lose.

I'm expecting a tough game today, Cardiff have a decent away record it's their home form that has let them down, they recently picked a point at WBA and have had some tricky fixtures in the last few games, we'll need to be at our best to win.

The thing is with an experienced manager like Nige if the going gets tough he won't panic and will keep a level head, unlike a less experienced coach (like eg Holden). He has done well to bring on our academy players and we just have to survive this season (I think we will). I think next season should be better given our young (less experienced) players could be more like Alex Scott next year in terms of development, I can't see any benefit in changing managers at this point and I'm sure SL is thinking the same.

If Derby are kicked out of the league we'll lose the 3 points we gained from the recent home win. I suppose it would mean only 2 going down but since Derby are almost certain to go down anyway it would probably leave us in a slightly worse position than now'

Of the teams below us at present we'll lose 3 points to Hull and Cardiff and 2 points to Reading and Swansea based on their results against Derby. Birmingham, Peterborough and Barnsley will be in the same boat as us since they both beat Derby in earlier games.

2 hours ago, Sleepy1968 said:

I suppose it could still be the RobinsTV feed depending on how they distribute the video, but if your wifi & VM broadband are rock soild at all times then I'd say it's likely to be the VPN server getting overloaded. Can you change the server location in Opera? Try that. Also it doesn't hurt to get a back up VPN to try if the connection gets bad - I use windscribe. And I had to change the server location in that as the default one was getting overloaded. Good luck.

Thanks, in Opera you can only select continents eg "Europe", "America's" etc.. However I also have a VPN option in my Norton antivirus package so I'll try using that next time and see if it makes a difference. I looked online and there are a few comments re the VPN in Opera having slowed down recently so that might be it.

1 hour ago, Sleepy1968 said:

That must be down to your internet provider or VPN provider then because robinsTV was fine for me. What VPN service are you using?

I have always used the built-in VPN in the Opera browser for a couple of years and has been fine up until the last 2 or 3 matches, and we have Virginmedia broadband which is mega quick

The Robins TV stream was also poor frequently hanging/buffering, used to be ok but not now

I always used to like Greg Goodridge (Barbados), we also had another keeper during the Benny year, Bo Anderson who was a Danish U23 international at the time, I believe he got injured which limited his appearances and let in Steve Phillips for his debut

If it's affected most other clubs in the same way then if we get a points deduction so will many other clubs (apart from those with parachute money) so it will not mean automatic relegation, whereas if we sell all our best players we're almost certain to go down.

It was all about giving him more minutes on the pitch, without those he won't improve. At least he was in the right place for those two chances and he has already scored for the first team, he's our future whereas Wells probably won't be around beyond next season (if that). We're not going to win anything this season so it's a good time to give these younger players some game time, so long as we don't get down into the relegation mix (I don't think we will).

What's happening with Bakinson?

The side picked did a good job until their first goal, it was a gamble that could have paid off. I think Nige is looking towards next season when he realises some of our better experienced players will be sold to balance the books so he needs to get the young players involved now so they'll be ready when the time comes, he's already done it with Scott who is now an established first teamer but he needs more. I think this is why O'Leary's playing, he probably thinks Bentley will have to be sold before the start of next season (if not January). People on here thinking we're going to spend money on experienced players in January are living in cloud cuckoo land.

10 minutes ago, Mr Chappers said:

Reasonable question really, logic behind his signing is a mystery as he was not very good last season, on the short term deal. 

If LJ had signed him many of the opinions on here would be different

I also thought Max caught a couple that Bents would have punched which was a bonus. Based on last night's performance he has to keep his place, he'll probably have a poor game at some stage giving an excuse to bring Bents back but he'll realise he's got some competition next time which can only be a good thing.

1 hour ago, GrahamC said:

The answer is exactly what we are doing now, bringing in players from the lower divisions (Atkinson, Tanner) who even with a wage rise are going to be on far less than the Championship average, then a few experienced players (James, King) that the manager knows & trusts, plus keep playing & developing our Academy prospects.

Problem with this is that it is a slow (did someone say 3 year ) process, against sides with parachute payments & those who have run tighter ships than us in the past, so don’t need to cut back as much as we do.

Every time we lose a game there is an outcry on here from the usual suspects, plus the serial RB contributors (& podcasts) but unless you think there is someone out there with a better track record than Pearson, who is desperate to work in the South West, he is our best option.

If he improves our position year on year whilst implementing this policy he’ll have done a very good job.

This system isn't without it's faults, eg you haven't mentioned Simpson who was recruited as one of the experienced players who has contributed little and King is in and out of the side, it also relies on player sales coming from our best development players as the experienced ones have no resale value, and we have signed several players from lower league (eg Eisa, Schmodicz) who haven't made it into the first team and have been released with a loss. I don't think the old system was far off, we should have made the top 6 at least one of those seasons and had a shot at the Prem, probably LJ to blame while he was learning on the job rather than the quality of players available at the time. The current system is ok for attempting to retain our Championship status but isn't likely to get us promoted.

14 hours ago, cidercity1987 said:

The strategy of selling high and reinvesting partly in transfer fees but mainly in larger salaries to attract a higher base of players, has been a total and absolute failure.

So what's the answer then, while keeping within the FFP structure?

Looks like we'll have to consider offers for the likes of Bentley, Semenyo, Massengo etc to avoid penalties in the next couple of years which means relegation battles and forget about promotion for a while. Given our wage bill is only around mid-table for this league other clubs must be faced with similar dilemma.