ChippenhamRed

2 minutes ago, 2015 said:

Decided thats enough for me this season. Seen too many boring, uninspiring games.

Culture of the club is in the bin.

I’m a member not a STH. Absolutely zero motivation to part with my money at the moment.

Just now, TomThumb84 said:

Could not make the ground today so watched on RobinsTV.

I am not sure what you are all on about listening to the commentary.

I mean, I was miserable with this borefest display, the lack of any goalmouth action, the weird formation and sideways passing, the inability to pass properly, Manning, Tinnion, Lansdown x 2, tepid crowd, Joe Williams getting dominated for the goal, Pearson going, the January transfer window, the “top 6 squad” underperforming, 2 defeats to bottom 3 sides, no Alex Scott replacement, but then…..

the commentator reminded me of “the impressive cup run under Manning”.

I immediately told myself off for my selfish ambitions for my football club and immediately remembered the 1 win in 4 matches, and 3 goals in the Cup, which ultimately ended at the 2nd hurdle, in the 4th round and reminded myself to stop being so ungracious.

Happy Saturday (again) fellow Reds.

“The impressive cup run”.

We got through one round.

2 minutes ago, cidercity1987 said:

Bang on

I just think there is zero point aiming the anger at Manning. He's as much a victim (albeit a wealthier one) as the rest of us at the hands of Tinnion and Lansdowns

Without a doubt the anger should be mostly directed at the board. But they all need to go, Manning included.

Yep. Shite. No point getting excited about the good wins because a crap defeat is only just around the corner.

The good wins are starting to look like they happened despite Manning, not because of him. If you can’t get the team performing to a consistent standard, then you’re failing.

2 minutes ago, RedEyez said:

He’s completely out of his depth sadly . Tinnion needs to go too .

Take away Tinnion’s time as a club legend on the pitch and you’re left with a thick sounding bloke with nothing interesting to say, no leadership skills whatsoever, and a terrible managerial record.

He shouldn’t be anywhere near running the club.

Correction. Tinnion and Jon Lansdown have. Manning has just helped a bit.

Utter shite. How do we go from Southampton to three straight defeats against poor teams?

I try to be pragmatic and say Manning needs time, but that’s inexcusable. He can go.

5 minutes ago, Ivorguy said:

Three more years of this.  I am beginning to lose the will to live

Hang on, wait. I’ve been watching this for 40 years. Are you saying we’ve only got 3 more years left? BRILLIANT! I was wondering how much longer.

Just now, luke_bristol said:

Pronounced “Ung”, or my mate with that surname pronounces it that way, though ironically his nickname is “N.G.”

Cheers. Not a fan of commentators using nicknames!

1 minute ago, Redrascal2 said:

Well that certainly hasn't been the case in the past. There used to be a cracking atmosphere both home and away. And it meant a lot to players and supporters. But the effect of Manningball is like  an anaesthetic. No fire , no passion on the pitch.

I see we have already reached the stage where we are shoehorning in criticism of Manning into every discussion point. How long until Gaza is his fault?

Robins TV calling Ng “N.G.”. Surely that’s not how you say it?!

1 minute ago, Barrs Court Red said:

Behave.  Up until the early naughties nothing had an edge like this one. The centre took on an almost oppressive air to it. 
 

Post rebrand, yeah, it’s certainly not what it was. 

You might be right. I was only a teenager then so don’t particularly remember anything prior to the 2003 play off games, which certainly were big - but then any play off game would be. I was in the home end for the first leg!

But certainly in more recent times, it doesn’t seem to match the hype. The games don’t sell out at either stadium. In reality, the Swansea game matters a lot more to them and a Rovers game would matter a lot more to us. If we were playing them today, the atmosphere would be a world apart from this.

The amount of empty seats in the sold out South Stand today is just ridiculous.

Cheapest seats in the ground, rarely available to members or infrequent attendees. Club need to do something about it.

6 minutes ago, And Its Smith said:

Modern football…..no sign of this being a derby match whatever from players or fans 

It’s always been overhyped as a derby I think. The fact that the fixture almost never sells out tells you how much it really matters.

32 minutes ago, Dredd said:

It's not just kids football I reckon, our league finish date has been extended to cope with all the fixtures that now need to be rearranged. Artificial pitches are generally the only way to get a game on at this time of year but the cost for them is nuts. For example a 90 minute game on the 4G at Imperial is £160! Compared to £100 at Frys which are generally some of the better pitches in Bristol when not under water. 

£160 is crazy, I had no idea it was that much. That feels like a bit of a piss take!

Agree Fry’s pitches are lovely, my lad played there back in the autumn and they were like bowling greens. I also remember that day because I had a complete brain fart and absentmindedly walked across the middle of another pitch while there was a game in progress!

37 minutes ago, Barrs Court Red said:

Every school seems to have them now. 
 

My assumption is that most grass roots clubs will look to develop facilities like this as a way of raising income (potentially).  This has two obvious flaws in that 1) it leaves them at risk of chancers looking to use the club as a vehicle to make money and 2) it probably needs grass pitches to be sold off to raise the funds. 

That’s my point though - clubs shouldn’t need to raise funds like that. There is so much money in the game already!

8 minutes ago, Open End Numb Legs said:

I heard a rumour that there was a 2nd 3G planned for Stanley Park in Chippenham? Is that right?

Yes I’ve heard that too, I’m fairly certain it’s happening.

16 minutes ago, Spoons said:

The answer is not to have Astro pitches at schools. The one where I live is now at end of life ( 13 years) , been rarely or poorly maintained and completely out of reach of local community. 
Fact the local junior Fc has spent over £80k over last 7 years with the “ charity/school “ that manage the Astro pitch! 
Absolute disgrace. The answer is a community use agreement which must open up these facilities to local groups for the benefit of the kids and inhabitants of local towns.

A not for profit football club spending 75% of its annual budget on Astro fees at a local school is wrong! 
 

The amount of money in football is crazy and I agree more Astro pitches are needed for kids especially, however it’s not just a case of building more pitches. They need to be accessible and maintained correctly.

 

As a chair and current fixture secretary of a local club the weather has caused absolute carnage this season.

Really good points. We also have a couple of shocking “all weather” pitches in schools near here - old school hockey type surfaces. Absolutely terrible! Although to be fair they are at least made available outside of school hours.

One much better example is Stanley Park here in Chippenham. It’s a fantastic community facility with beautifully maintained grass pitches and top class 3G. Forest Green also train there. During the school holidays, they make the 3G available for “turn up and play” - my son goes down there with his mates, they pay £3 each and stay literally all day. Wonderful! We need more of that sort of thing.

My 13 year old’s match tomorrow is off again because the pitch is waterlogged. He was due to play twice last weekend and both were lost to rain. He is also due to play on Sunday and that’s in the balance.

I’m sure plenty of others here will be in the same situation.

It’s got me thinking. British football is awash with money thanks to the Premier League - but far too much youth football is lost every winter to bad weather and pitches that can’t cope. When they do happen, invariably a poor quality pitch affects the standard of the game. Games on 3G almost always produce a better match.

Surely there needs to be a more urgent push to greatly increase the number of 3G all-weather pitches across the country?! It just seems obvious - and there is no lack of money.

It’s incredibly frustrating to see kids who love the game missing out on so much football - and the exercise, team building and socialising that goes with it - because of our notoriously bad weather. I dare say climate change is making it worse, too. We complain about kids being on screens all day, but it strikes me that we could be doing an awful lot more to stop that happening.

Ripped from another thread because it's also applicable here: -

Pearson at City:

P131 W42 D32 L57 (32% win%)

Manning at City:

P23 W7 D7 L8 (30% win%)

Mitigation for Pearson:

- Inherited a mess, Covid, financial restrictions, player sales, substantial injuries

Mitigation for Manning:

- Not his squad yet, no summer, lack of time, change of playing style

So, overall, very similar records for both managers and mitigating circumstances in both cases. It looks to me like two managers getting roughly the same from the squad - mixed, mid table results with a mid table squad.

This is not a defence of the sacking of Pearson nor is it particularly a defence of Manning. But it doesn’t suggest Manning is the total disaster some seem keen to make him out to be, when his record compares very closely with Pearson who is widely regarded to have done a good job.

Once again the recency bias of two poor results seems to be preventing the forum from making a more objective analysis. Eight days ago we were speculating about a play off push. And even now we are in the top half. We also shouldn’t let the “top six” comment from the board distract from the reality. Manning has been stitched up by that comment, but that’s not his fault.

I can’t see the point of making a change and expecting much better from anyone else when all the other fundamentals at the club remain unchanged. Especially when we are in the relative safety of 12th position.

3 minutes ago, FNQ said:

Mate, we ain’t going upwards. The conversations have turned from top 6 to bottom 6.. At this rate, in the next year or two the gas wont be coming for us, we’ll be coming for them.

The conversation has turned in 8 days and 2 results. People are obsessed with the last 10 games but it's also 2 wins in 4. We are a mid table club doing mid table things, we're 12th in the Championship and people need to get a grip. What the hell would be the point of getting rid of a manager whose overall record after just 23 games is about par for the squad (and very similar to Pearson), if all the other fundamentals at the club remain unchanged?

25 minutes ago, Bristol Oil Services said:

 

I wouldn't say exactly I would say "a bit like" in that, whilst the "deckchairs" are forever being re-arranged, we're not as things stand about to plummet into the icy depths of L1 albeit neither are we going to make it to New York any time. Instead, whilst the deckchairs are moved hither and tither, we have dropped anchor and are going nowhere, and soon will watch as the "Good Ship" Wrexham and "HMS" Portsmouth - currently not in sight to the rear (although, what's that: is it HMS Pompey? It could well be) - both sail past us - anchored; marooned - and get to New York.

I suppose we should be grateful - it’s a lovely, revamped "ship" - and forever careful what we wish for - we could, like, go too fast and hit the "iceberg" of a ffp points reduction or a dodgy foreign owner - but it gets a bit dull just .... stuck here, in the middle of the ocean .... when we could be in New York where the streets are paved with parachute payments ....

Etc, etc, and so on ....

At least with all those empty seats in the South Stand, there should be enough room in the lifeboats

Pearson at City:

P131 W42 D32 L57 (32% win%)

Manning at City:

P23 W7 D7 L8 (30% win%)

Mitigation for Pearson:

- Inherited a mess, Covid, financial restrictions, player sales, substantial injuries

Mitigation for Manning:

- Not his squad yet, no summer, lack of time, change of playing style

So, overall, very similar records for both managers and mitigating circumstances in both cases. It looks to me like two managers getting roughly the same from the squad - mixed, mid table results with a mid table squad.

This is not a defence of the sacking of Pearson nor is it particularly a defence of Manning. But it doesn’t suggest Manning is the total disaster some seem keen to make him out to be, when his record compares very closely with Pearson who is widely regarded to have done a good job.

Once again the recency bias of two poor results seems to be preventing the forum from making a more objective analysis. Eight days ago we were speculating about a play off push. And even now we are in the top half. We also shouldn’t let the “top six” comment from the board distract from the reality. Manning has been stitched up by that comment, but that’s not his fault.

I can’t see the point of making a change and expecting much better from anyone else when all the other fundamentals at the club remain unchanged. Especially when we are in the relative safety of 12th position.

Just now, Kingswood Robin said:

I feel much the same, can barely be bothered to contribute any more. Unless fundamental change happens at the club (cosy amateurs moved out and professionals moved in) all this talk seems a bit like re-arranging the deckchairs on the Titanic. 

Exactly that.

I just can’t be arsed with any of this any more. 8 days ago we were talking about a possible play off push, now we’re calling for the manager’s head.

We win a few, we lose a few, we draw a few. Sometimes we manage to win a couple in a row, and we’re all talking us up. Then we lose a couple in a row and it’s all doom and gloom. Right now we are 12th in the table; the very definition of mid-table.

People pick a run of games to support their argument; currently it’s fashionable to pick the last 10 games, because it’s poor and supports the idea that the manager is failing. If you pick the last four, we’ve won two and lost two. Average. If you look over 34 games - the entire season - there are 12 clubs doing worse than us, and 11 doing better. Probably about par for the squad.

It all amounts to quibbling over the details, while the reality is: we are a mid table club, with a mid table squad, getting mid table results.

None of this is a defence of Manning, nor is it an attempt to justify the clearly-unjustified sacking of Pearson. Tinnion and Jon Lansdown clearly don’t have any leadership skills or any natural air of authority to inspire confidence. The “top six” claim is a noose around their necks.

I don’t really know where I’m going with this. But I’m just tired of the constant cycle of vague optimism, then inevitable disappointment and the equally inevitable calls for the manager’s head. Somehow we need to break out of this cycle because it’s so tedious and it’s been the same for years. Pretty much my entire 40 years on earth, in fact.

I don’t really have a point here! I’m just a bit fed up. But I’m really not convinced that yet again blaming the manager is the answer for a club that’s been serving up generous lashings of bang-averageness for decades now.