SydneyCity

Currently doing well in the SPL under Derek McInnes at Kilmarnock. Sitting in 4th which, given their budget, is a minor miracle.

I’d said in another thread that now the season was effectively over, I wouldn’t mind having Yeboah back in the squad. Have him come on for the last 20 or so, and create a bit of unpredictable physical chaos against teams that sit back and nullify our predictable play. Break their concentration, comfort and structure by being a raw, fast, physical nightmare. My hope was regular 20 minute slots of unpredictable chaos would evolve into more regular moments of class as his experience and confidence grew at this level. Oh well. I don’t think it’s a terrible idea to loan him out if he’s not going to play, but surely if seasoned pros are being overloaded with information, it would make sense to get the edge case younger pros more accustomed to it by having them around.

I listened to a podcast of ex-pros yesterday and the conversation turned to Michael Beale. Some had inside knowledge of his time at certain clubs and I thought there were likely similarities with Manning: Players genuinely enjoyed his sessions Players learnt from his sessions Putting on sessions is the easiest part of football The key to a good session (besides good football knowledge) is ensuring that you're coaching for the players, not for yourself If you coach for yourself, not your players, you're going to fail Being a coach is very different from being a manager Management requires infinitely more complicated interactions and a bit of needle It's easy for a coach to be friendly and "one of the lads" on the training pitch, as they can avoid making the tough decisions (they just need to put on good sessions) If it's clear that you're not going to manage (make the tough decisions and keep the players in line) then the players will see that and break ranks Beale was a terrible man manager and this is the key to success Beale is a "shadow manager", someone who works best behind a bright manager With a couple of failures and payouts, he'll go back to being a good behind-the-scenes coach I don't know if it's like for like with Manning but I can imagine some of the above applies.

It looks like next season really will be one of “no excuses”. - The club will be better placed for FFP. - The new structure will be wedded in. - Manning will have had a pre-season. - His players will have been recruited. - O’Neils will have had a suitable production cycle. - The club shop have a local supplier who can deliver to demand. That’s a lot of pressure and, to be honest, I’m pretty pessimistic about it all. Hopefully I’m wrong but, good or bad, it does feel like it’s all coming to a head.

My take on this is that League 1 and lower have quite a few players who, for whatever reason, have dropped down well below their ability. If you can put together a team of these players, you have a team that can outplay others and bring success. Cotts did this, and Manning looked like he was was doing it. In comparison, the Championship is ruthlessly contested; with almost every player and manager being evenly matched. It's not so much simple or complex for me in this league, it's having something different.

I mentioned on another thread that for our current style to work regularly in the Championship, we need to break the opponent's concentration through moments of skill and/or drawing contact and getting physical. The trouble is, hoping for moments of skill from our current crop isn't a reliable plan, so we'd need to splash the cash on a couple of consistently creative players - which the club seems reluctant to do. Manningball would also never condone an emotionally charged, dark arts, approach (although William's did a phenomenal job of winding up West Ham to great effect) and would instead ask the players to trust the process and patterns regardless of what's happening on the pitch. We're stuck between a rock and a hard place. As a side note, I'd actually like to see Yeboah back in and around the squad now we're more or less guaranteed safety. He's a big, fast, physical player who can bring moments of unpredictability and break defender's concentration. Regularly put him on with 20 to go, winning or losing, and hopefully those moments of unpredictability would turn into moments of skill as his minutes grow.

It’s a gamble, and not one I’d take. The most annoying part is we had the foundations in place, then tore up the designs. Regardless of how it plays out, we’ve got a building site for the next couple of seasons. To really drag the analogy out, it will be interesting to see how many of the squad down tools from here on in. Nothing to play for as a club and, as you pointed out earlier, a few likely looking for a move, plus a few already knowing that they’re moving on whether they like it or not.

Maybe a bit harsh, but I don’t think Manning has his own style of play. He has “modern football 101”, which is why it’s so predictable and easy for other teams/managers to work out. They’ve all read the same textbook. He needs to develop his own tweaks to the system to make it effective. This could come with a few years of real-world, fan facing, experience but I think he’s jumped up a level a few years too soon. I don’t blame him for this, but he should have spent a few more years honing his own style in leagues that are less tightly contested. Modern football 101 will be occasionally successful against some of the Prem/Parachute teams but will ultimately fail due to those teams being able to outspend and out quality us. The rest of the Championship will just disrupt our predictable play. My fears are, we’re paying for him to develop his own style, rather than getting someone in who has already been on that journey. Best case, we honour his contract but don’t really progress beyond mid-table to just outside the playoffs. Manning leaves on mildly amicable terms and goes on to have a decent career having got to tinker with his system at City. Worst case, we fail miserably next season and are left rudderless with a bunch of players who don’t fit any system.

Total wins is clearly only one way of looking at it, but it’s quite telling that the most recent manager on their list was at the club 20-24 years ago.

Club: We’re bringing someone in to spend more time on the grass Someone: We don’t spend any time on the grass

We need to break their concentration by being fast and/or physical. Drawing contact and winding them right up. Semenyo type players - fast and strong Chris Martin type players - ridiculously strong and can get in an opposition’s head. Scott type players - move it fast through the middle, or do something skilful and unpredictable.

It must be. There’s a thing over here in Australia with swimmers. You could be the fifth best swimmer in the world, but nobody will ever know because you’re not the fourth best swimmer in Australia, and will never make an international squad. Regionals, yes. But no Nationals, no Commonwealths, no Olympics, even though you could still beat almost everyone in the world given the chance. Keepers are a rare breed.

Keeper is an insane position. You could be one of the best keepers in the league but still not play as you’re not THE best at your club. I rate Max a lot… but for all we know Bajic may be even better. Someone in France felt he was the best at his age - and the French know football. Hopefully he’s providing solid competition for Max. Let’s be honest, we were all a little bit doubtful when Max stepped in for Bents, but he’s done very well.

Genuine questions based on conversations around the introduction of the Splat badge… How are we allowed to wear this? It will be our third badge of the season. Are there exceptions for historical kits?

Fantastic team performance. A big round of applause for McCrorie on the third goal as well. He showed what a huge difference looking up and around before passing makes. Beautiful ball and lovely finish from Cornick.

I always remember a song from when I was a kid, against West Brom. I thought it was hilarious at the time and was very disappointed when it wasn’t sung at the following season’s fixture. In fact I haven’t heard it since Oh I do like to be beside the seaside Oh I do like to be beside the sea Oh I do like to stroll along the prom, prom, prom Where the brass band play “**** off West Brom”

Waynee Waynee, Waynee, Waynee Allison. Oh, Waynee Waynee!!!

I’d support this sort of thing as an end of season competition. Never going to happen but as a kid I used to love the inter-club “who’s the fastest” sprint races, five-a-side games etc… I propose one weekend in the close season, at Wembley, a Championship decathlon - sprinting, penalties, keeps-ups, crossbars, head tennis and more!

My educated guess based on the description given… It’s a ball hitting a sheet that’s been hanging on a washing line . It reflects the sculptors childhood memories of playing as Atyeo in his back garden. Scoring a goal and likely getting told off by his mum, but the thrill of it was worth it.

The City Group is to blame for a lot of this. They are a business, whose business is to hoover up all manner of young playing talent through their academies, then make money by selling them. They teach this talent how to play the City way, and pump a tonne of cash into Man City to show that it works. The managers/coaches who go through the City Group are taught the same City way, before going out into the world and using their City Group connections to buy players who have been taught the City way, thus ensuring that the group keeps making money by selling young talent. It will be interesting to see what happens if/when Man City aren’t the success story they currently are.

I agree with this too but also wonder if there’s an element of King not wanting a role due to who he’s learning from. This is a bit simplistic but, from a professional development perspective, he could have been guided by and learning from a very real-world experienced Nige; but would now be guided by and learning from Manning. With all due respect to Manning, he’s probably learnt modern, front foot, football 101 while doing his badges and has more practical knowledge of its application. He’s an absolute legend at Leicester, so my prediction is he’ll end up there, coaching within a Prem set-up. It’s a shame for us though.

Mehmeti is skilful with the ball but hasn’t got the mental side of the game required for Championship and above. I’m not sure you can teach that at this stage. Bell, I am confident, will play in the Prem at some stage in his career. Not necessarily star in the Prem, but play in a similar to Joe Bryan sort of way.

Listened to a podcast with Stephen McGinn yesterday. He told a story about coming down to Watford from the SPL, when Watford were in the Championship. When he was about to make his debut, Sean Dyche - the assistant manager - asked him how many times he’d played before in the SPL. Stephen told him, around 90 times in the league and 15 times in the cup. Dyche replied: “So this is your first professional appearance then!” and walked off laughing. By his own admission, he found the step up from SPL to Championship to be very big.

Great finish! I was listening to a podcast with Stephen McGinn yesterday. He was asked what the drinking and socialising were like during his time at Watford. He said there was a key group who would often be joined by Danny Drinkwater and Andi Wiemann, describing both as an unbelievable addition to a night out! I wouldn’t have guessed that.

“Lansdown out” has been on here every day for the past ten years at least. Those in favour of it have always been very vocal and wouldn’t have changed their view based on one FA Cup win. For the record, I agree with the original poster - Manning ball is boring and I’ve become disengaged to the point of not watching any 3pm kick-offs or any of the pre/post match. I only watch the 7:45pm games as it’s on when I get up. I’m not yet in the Lansdown out camp as I do appreciate everything Steve has done in terms of finance and infrastructure. I don’t know him but you have to respect him as a businessman and everything he has achieved. For me, this sentiment is increasingly changing with John at the helm and I would prefer to see a football business run by football professionals, not nepotism. I’m also a fan of the Bristol Sport model in general - despite not caring one bit about the rugby or basketball. I put this down to having been as far away from Bristol as you can possibly get for a very long time. I probably over emphasise and glamorise everything Bristol. In terms of where the Lansdowns go, ideally as far into the background with their hands off as possible. I don’t care that I don’t hear from Steve and wish I heard from John less.