Tin Soldier

No contest. Ashton the c*** has put this club back years.
Never has anyone conned the owner, board, fans and back room staff like Ashton. 
A bad human!

Fair play to Sunderland. Still playing a passing game.

1 minute ago, Kid in the Riot said:

Yep, massive club are Sunderland.

Despite the crap you read on social media LJ is currently very popular on Wearside. Doing a good job, but of course ultimately needs to deliver promotion. 

Agreed, easy to understand why Bristol is a bit of a backwater for many footballers looking for a club. Nice city, but not a football hotbed compared to some parts of the country.

Football is a religion in the N East. Had a massive Sunderland fan stay with us for a year.
He went back for every home game, even during the mid week home games. Drove back through the night, then went to work for 8am next morning. Used to stay up talking about football with him till the early hours regularly.
Come on you Black Cats!

1 hour ago, Davefevs said:

Unfortunately the club didn’t meet the ambitions of the players (Bryan, Flint and Reid) in 17/18.

Bryan allegedly had offers in the Jan window but club wanted him to stay to see if he could help get us up.  We tailed off badly as we all know, and all 3 left in the summer, plus Magnússon (and Djuric) netting us £20m+. We bought Weimann, Hunt and Webster, loaned Kalas and Dasilva, then Palmer.  It was the lowest amount in fees we paid in LJs reign, which was surprising with the amount brought in.  Re the 3 players that left:

I bumped into Joe Bryan at Cribbs just after our season ended.  There was all kinds of shit flying around that he was in Barbados (or somewhere like that) on a pre-booked holiday because he’d downed tool second half of the season and therefore knew we wouldn’t get to the play-offs.  Yet here he was chatting for about half an hour with me and (my) Joe, who he’d met several times at the Hospice, whilst waiting for his brother to pick up the wedding suits.  He was pretty open about his future.  Said he loved it at City, but needed a new challenge.  It wasn’t about money, he said he’d been brought up in a pretty privileged position.  It was obvious he wasn’t staying.

Flint, we’d managed to delay his sale by 12 months, again, a case of him wanting to do the best he could in a short career that started late for him.  I think it was play-offs or bust that season for him.

Reid was just a case of him having a stellar season and not being able to do anything about it.  Cardiff was a strange choice, but from the club point of view, you take the highest bidder.

So, yes, we should’ve built on that season, but the failure to get to the playoffs meant a mini-rebuild was needed.  In some respects finishing 8th (best finish under LJ) in 18/19 (we finished 11th in 17/18) justified it, but I think many would agree we weren’t the same team that season, we didn’t play great, but results kept us moving up the league (was it 13 unbeaten?), but having got into the top 6 we let didn’t win in 5, got a couple of results (West Brom (h) Sheff Utd (a)) before we didn’t win any of our last 5.  It was more boom and bust.

And then we lost Kelly (Bryan succession planning), Pack (the key to the system) and Webster.  Even Paterson going on loan to Derby had an impact.  In fairness to Johnson, he kept results going, but it wasn’t great to watch.  We didn’t really improve the squad, we just made loans permanent at a cost of £14m, and Nagy for Pack was a huge risk that ultimately failed and in part cost LJ his job.

So we lost 6 or 7 of our best / key players over two summers….then Brownhill.  I don’t think any replacement player, other than Webster for Flint, albeit, for 1 season only, has been an upgrade.  Couple that with the plethora of players that went this summer and it’s hardly surprising we are where we are now.

I can just imagine what LJ would be like if he had to deal with the current squad and it’s size.

It is a real shame.  What we need to do next (and are doing) is to continue to cut the wage bill and then recruit young, hungry players (like Ayling, Freeman etc) and develop our own.  We need to match the ambitions of the likes of Scott, Massengo (who has been up and down this season) and Semenyo, guiding them with signings like Wilbraham, Elliott and James.  We could actually have a very low cost squad in 18 months, that then gives us the opportunity to “go for it”.  It’s about getting through this season intact.  Feels like a waste, it is, but I don’t think there’s any other way.

Good overview that. Marlon Pack and Korey Smith were so important to that team. Never got my head around them leaving. I can see Lansdown trying to sell off/find new ££ backers for the football part of Bristol Sport at some stage soon. If City was run as a football club and not an accountants business model (Bristol Sport), some of those players would have stayed.
From what I heard, there was very little attempt to keep some of those players. It was all about getting ££££s in. In effect selling the family silver and buying brass.
Awful mistakes made. Put the club back 10 years.

5 hours ago, Finley_Smith10 said:

Fall from grace. What a squad that was

Agreed, what a squad. Still get quite emotional watching that video.

Most of that squad sold off by that **** Ashton.

Leeds fans throwing stuff at Arsenal players. Happens a lot.

Work in progress, get used to it. NP is doing OK. I can see plenty of progress.
Just sacking the manager is a rediculous comment when you see the shambolic mess he inherited.

Thought we played OK today. Some good positives within the team. There will be plenty more disappointments as far as results go but we are a rebuilding project this season. There will be plenty more pissed off City fans on here until the end of the season. Get used to it.

4 minutes ago, Lanterne Rouge said:

Ipswich have given all their fans flags to wave today. I wonder who came up with that idea.

Each flag has Ashton’s face on it also!!!

That Borland v Brooks match last night was simply brilliant. A must watch if you haven’t seen it.

Went to a football dinner function where Joe was attending as the main speaker in Bristol in the 80s. When they introduced Joe, the place just erupted. Joe and Terry Cooper just galvanised the club as one.

Look at it today FFS.

Remember Joe Jordan’s 1st home game at AG for City. He helped put on an extra 5000 on the attendance. City won if memory serves me right, we were on the road to recovery - and the rest is history. What a man!
The word leader is used too loosely, but he was City’s LEADER. Great memories.

My take on it was “keep spending your £s with Bristol Sport, whilst I try to sell the football club”.

At least he has finally given an interview (pointless one).

Scandalous. Just sums up the awful way this club is being run. Shove it.
Bristol Sport is killing this club.

Bakinson a gonner in January I reckon. Promises a lot but just never delivers much.

5 minutes ago, daored said:

 

@BcfcAllenive contacted the manager of the shop with the comments you’ve made - like with most people at the club they don’t reply.

Interesting @Dollymarieas nothing online 

Just another shambolic part of Bristol Sport.

Beryl’s club shop, what memories. Great lady, loved by everyone.

What a load of bollox.
We want the gas so that we can sort these ***** out (again). Fingers crossed we pull the ***** in the draw. Hate the ***** and always will. **** um. You *****.

Yep have to agree, City 1 Derby 2 for me as struggling to see how we will score more than 1. Derby have been playing some good football. Worried!

That was a great advert for the Championship, brilliant game to watch.

I used to leave City matches early back in the 80s. But usually I had a copper next to me!

12 hours ago, spudski said:

You could have a whole bunch of scouts watching games every day, for the cost ( nothing ) of someone in admin emailing the home club saying someone is in attendance...just need a club accredited badge or whatever it is these days and email to show on entering.

Many knowledgeable people attend games regularly out of choice, that could easily report back to the club for nothing...just the time to email, nothing more...why would they not use copious amounts of people watching, then send head scouts and check deeper.

Scouting is the cheapest form of finding gems at ground level, yet a dieing art it seems.

It now relies on number crunchers who watch games and put on data bases.  Football is like every other business...easily manipulated by other businesses looking to take a chunk out of them.

Example...

Top Club takes on a new direction in recruitment and technology. Finance (money) has a major influence on this. Others take notice and follow...then everyone follows. Follow my leader...whether proven or not.

MA used to bang on about being ahead of the curve...it was utter bollox...head of the curve means looking to be doing what the top teams are doing...who have technology but also soldiers on the ground so to speak. We didn't do both well. Neglected scouting properly at ground level.

The one thing I've noticed with this Club,is that it's become more and more closed shop. Less likely to look outside the norm. It has a fear. A fear of looking stupid.  

SoD was close to showing up the ownership. MA came in and closed shop so to speak.

Scouting and recruitment is a joke. Has been for as long as I can remember.

A well know OTIBer poster who used to post a lot (I think @spudskimay know him) used to be a part time scout for City. Some of the stories he told me about the running of the club made me realise that Bristol City has been badly run for many years, and still is. This is where IMO SL has been found out - he just does not know how to run a football club, relied on Ashton and the mistakes came one after another. And where are we now .......

Fit them all on one bus.