NickJ

1 hour ago, Alessandro said:

Bullseye.

I just do not know , cannot fathom, what is going through his head at the moment. 

Clearly he’s ‘had enough’ with City and the fans and wants out - so why not just take a huge step back and let NP get on with it, as he was doing, until he sells up? No he couldn’t help himself.

The sacking smacks of jealousy of NP’s popularity - a spiteful act.

As a big advocate of his over the years, I cannot understand how a seemingly normal, intelligent and successful man has backed himself into this corner - like a child saying “well he hit my first” - it’s absolutely pathetic. What a sad man.

How on earth he, or anyone else cannot come out and speak to the fans now is beyond belief. 

You’re a guardian of our football club, something far greater than you, you’re not a god  - this isn’t one of your businesses - you’ve lost the plot mate. I never, never thought it would happen but it’s Glazier-esque stuff. Any good you may have done is being wiped away, your legacy tarnished. 

Lansdown you’ve shown yourself unfit of the honour and responsibility of being the guardian of a football club. 
 

And what is also astonishing, but somehow not surprising - is that there is no one around him, no one at the club saying…hang on, this just isn’t right.
 

The Lansdown’s are taking down everyone with them, every board member, every senior employee. They must be shitting themselves, but you reap what you sow - Gould, Ashton, Alexander, Pearson could also see through it and several got out before their reputations went down the toilet. NP went on for the fans, not for the board. 

But we see you now Steve - we see you.

It’s over.

 

 

 

Fairly sure we've had disagreements on here in the past, and I can't even remember what about, but **** me that is one of the best posts I've ever seen.

5 hours ago, The Journalist said:

I've been openly critical of the SC&T - as a few of you well know(!) - but this is a good statement. Well done.

FWIW, while I do understand where @Henry is coming from and it's exactly the sort of thing I've been critical of, given we can't control what's gone before let's not go down that road here. Now's the time to stick together.

This is exactly the sort of thing the SC&T should be talking about publicly and banging down doors about, so fair play to all involved. Spot on. 

(Hope you've sent it to all the local press and one of you is making yourself available for interviews, starting with an appearance on SOTC tonight!)

Are you a member of the SC&T? 

Until I realised that Lansdown has absolute power and so the SC&T is just a talking shop - and I mean no offence to the SC&T, who are incredibly nice people with nothing but meaning the best for BCFC - I was an enthusiastic member.

But if you have an issue with what they do, maybe you should become more involved.

21 minutes ago, BrightWhiteTrainers said:

Let me start of by saying that I haven't been following Bristol City very closely, so I can't comment too much on the job NP did whilst at your place. I did watch your game against Ipswich though, and was staggered that he has somehow got Andy King (A bit of a Leicester legend really) to be competitive at centre half, when we nicknamed him the 'Invisible man' here, as he'd not really do much all game but then pop up with a goal.

The reason I wanted to post was because I saw a couple of posts on Social Media about how this was 'Inevitable' because NP falls out with everyone, but from my experience, that's really not the case. He calls a spade a spade, no doubt, and that gets confused in the modern world as somehow being a negative. He never once fell out with our current ownership, and it's important to address the reason for his departure from our Club, he simply chose to back his Son and walk away from millions of pounds from his contract. There's no doubt his son was in the wrong, he along with a few other youth players were caught on camera, making derogatory remarks to a couple of Thai women that they were having sex with at the time. But he never 'fell out' with our ownership because of that, there was never a reaction from Pearson or our ownership that the outcome was indeed wrong. In fact, I think it was quite the opposite, Pearson respected that the owners had to do what they did (Demand the youth players including his son to be sacked), whilst our owners also respected that as a father, NP wanted to back and protect his son. During his time here, he had nothing but praise for our owners, and that has never changed even after he was sacked, for non footballing reasons.

He did fall out with previous owner, Milan Mandaric. But how is a manager supposed to react, when you've just won League 1 with a side, got them into the play offs during that first season back in the Championship, and whilst those play off games are going on, your owner is trying to convince Paulo Sousa to take his job for the following season? I think that's a perfectly valid reason to fall out with your owners. He also had incidents with certain players, he fell out with Matt Mills, because he believed he was a disgrace of a captain, and the fans shared the same view. But i've never heard a single player, come out with a legitimate reason as to why they disliked him, I've heard nothing but endless praise from every player or member of staff who have worked under him. What he did at our Club, is nothing short of miraculous. He was the man who signed Vardy, Mahrez and Kante, along with every other player who won the Premier League, with the exception of at most 1 or 2. He is responsible for building a side which won League 1, the Championship and the Premier League. I'm glad that the majority of your fanbase hold him in high regard, and could see that he was progressing the Club. Because that's ultimately what he does, if you let him. He will never get the credit he deserves from the job he did with us, because he's not someone who is willing to lie for personal gain. He values loyalty, and quite rightly, will not be told by non-footballing people, how to make footballing decisions.

I watched his interview, where it was obvious that someone above him had tried to influence his team selection, regarding the selection of Andy King. I'm sure you've seen it too, but I'd recommend watching the interview where Pearson gets confrontational with a Journalist and calls him an "Ostrich", as it goes to show why you need to leave Footballing decisions to footballing people. Ironically, it was Pearson who was and has been since, 'Ostracized' because of his comments in that interview. But it's important to understand the facts, that team Pearson had built, that the Journalist was questioning, went and won the Premier League the following season. The journalist, a non-footballing person, was made to look clueless, but unsurprisingly that was never addressed, and Pearson is still viewed as this man who just falls out with everyone for no reason.

All the best for the season, I just wanted to share a bit about a man who is responsible for one of the greatest stories in the history of our sport. How many managers have built sides to win three different domestic leagues at a single club? There will be some pro Pearson chants from the away end when we play later in the season as there were in the home game, the bloke is a god amongst most of our fanbase.

What a post, thankyou.

First, loved it when Leicester stuck it up the big boys.

Took my time to pass judgment on Nige when he came here, couldn't make my mind up.

Then I realised what he was doing, and what he's all about, and knew he's a goodun.

Our ******* owners couldnt recognize a proper bloke and a decent manager, because they aren't proper blokes and they aren't decent managers.

Hope to hear your lot loud and clear singing for Nige when we play you at AG, fairly confident our lot will join you.

2 hours ago, RedLionLad said:

When young Jon boy talks about Bristol City in future I hope he doesn't continue to use the word 'WE' because we want **** all to do with him.

The nepotism has gone too far, its a shambles, its a shitshow, and it makes my blood boil that a ******* idiot is apparently running the show.

3 hours ago, Davefevs said:

Although I could imagine Cotts wanting to come back, he wouldn’t ever come back under SL.

Guess what one word Cotts described SL as?

Cotts and Nige both shafted under Crayon Boy's tenure.

You could argue that unwittingly GJ was as well.

That's just the 3 best managers we've had in the last 20 years then.

Applications please to:

crayonboy@bcfc.co.uk

Strong minded individuals likely to be overwhelmingly popular, with an opinion and half a brain need not apply.

"Chairman" Jon Lansdown: 

“We all wanted Nigel to achieve our ambition to be promoted but, with our recent results, feel that now is the time to make a change to give the club the best possible chance of success.”

What a cretin. Four days previous we were one win away from top 6.

The only thing that could placate me would be if Crayon Boy ate humble pie, held out an olive branch, and asked Cotts back.

To stand half a chance Crayon Boy would probably have to get down on his hands and knees and apologise for how Cotts was treated a million times, but you never know.

And when the "Chairman" eventually sacks Cotts again, he can do the same with Nige.

Starting with "trust me on Tinns" for 20 years its been one major **** up after another, apart from the lucky appointment of Gary Johnson (on our door step at the time) and Cotts (when it was Dawe's turn to have a go, apparently).

1 hour ago, Kid in the Riot said:

Kin unbelievable didn't realise it had become a parody show.

Next time I'll drink 14 cans of Scrumpy Jack call myself Natch and shout the names of random old City players down the phone, for a guaranteed appearance.

Well you probably did do the first bit mate 

4 hours ago, Reefer Madness said:

I'm going to buck the trend and say good. I've nothing against him but we were not going anywhere under him either .

Those of you who want nothing more than perennial survival, i understand why you are upset.  But frankly I would rather we took a gamble on someone new.  If we go down, that's too bad.. but it's just a game. We'll come back. And if we get it right, we might just be able to push for something special

I wont be holding my breath, given that in August one of your 16 contributions was:

I'm glad we agree then that Spurs are finished as a top team

11 hours ago, robinforlife2 said:

All the others ?

Bentley - sold on, the club has faith in Max, and happy to have younger cover, so they don't see him as needing to be replaced, I personally disagree, but the club are/were happy with this scenario.

Kalas - Injured 90% of last season, so in theory, whilst Dickie could be deemed a replacement or McCrorie, he didn't figure much last season.

Baker - Was never able to be selected last season, so not relatable

Klose - Had deal extended, struggled and left, didn't really feature last season, so again didn't need to be replaced.

DaSilva - Generally considered 2nd best behind Pring, Roberts in as cover.

Scott - Can be argued Knight was signed knowing Scott was off. Scott in his interviews, made it clear he wanted to go and club knew at the end of last season, so I personally don't buy into the comments Knight was signed to play with Scott, I think that was just club talk, as they were harbouring the best deal possible for a player who was definitely going.

Semenyo - The progression of Bell, Conway, arrival of Mehmeti and Cornick, meant we had enough attacking options to cover his departure.

Martin - Bit part player, who was released as we had enough attacking options, didn't need replacing.

So, to answer your question, yes, the 7 players we have added to the squad, more than covered the players we lost and it was only really Semenyo, Scott and Baker who were key players, but we've added 7 players who were supposed to be first team players.

Now, we have been unlucky with injuries and there is every chance that the fans feel we need a keeper, another option at centre back, possibly an attacking midfielder and a natural finisher, but if that's the case, it can only be said the recruitment failed in its job when bringing in 7 players. Keeper aside, we have added to the other positions that many fans are crying out for. If we didn't have the injuries, we have a competitive side, the problem is, we don't have strength in depth, but the club are unwilling to expose the club financially and therefore, with a small squad, we are relying on the youngsters being the back up and the future. 

But to say, we haven't reinvested, or replaced players we've lost, sold or let go is untrue. The more apt question could be, have we replaced them very well, and the answer to that, is on the whole probably not. 

However you spin it, one of the richest blokes in the UK has been out performed over the years by Bournemouth, Wigan, Burnley, Brighton, Luton etc etc. 

Appalling appointments - of managers, chairmen, and other senior personnel- are the reason for that.
 

Micro analysis of one summers player transfers is not really the issue that needs addressing. 

18 minutes ago, glynriley said:

This is the best one

 

Yes, some embarrassing replies. 

Personally I took my time to jusge him and quickly realised how good he was.

Took a lot longer to judge NP, but came to the same conclusion.

Quickly realised SOD's man management was useless, obvious Holden wasnt up to it, and took 3 seconds to take the piss out of the appointment of LJ.

I wonder what they all think of each other.

42 minutes ago, Ghost Rider said:

That’s not how I remember it, sorry. The reaction was really negative about SC. Maybe  time has clouded my memory. I wonder if anyone could pull up the thread? 

The OP on this one was being ironic:

Majority against his appointment, majority got it wrong.

37 minutes ago, Red Army 75 said:

Just out

"Why bring more players in who are no better than what you’ve already got".

"We had a loan physio when I first came here, what’s one of them, what’s that all about? I’ve never heard of one of those!"

Quite. Whereas some managers like "more clubs in the bag".

1 hour ago, Riaz said:

Why would Robins leave Coventry?

18 minutes ago, Riaz said:

I'm sure he does - but why would Mark Robins leave coventry for a sideways move? I dont see the attraction for him?

You make very valid points for a change!!

Can't see it either.

58 minutes ago, nebristolred said:

The thing that baffles me is what exactly is the basis for letting him go? They might dress it up as a performance thing, but who in their right mind thought we’d be in the top 6 this season with the budget and squad we have?

And it will make it all the more perplexing if they do that, despite letting other managers perform far worse for far longer on higher budgets.

It all just looks like a manufactured smokescreen to hide the truth, but one that no one is buying.

8 minutes ago, spudski said:

So many factors to consider if you replace NP. 

Firstly...he isn't a Coach, he's a manager. A manager in the sense he man manages, gets the best out of people. He gets the respect, unites the Club, gets everyone working in the same direction, gets rid of those not on-board...creates a battling mentality. 

Secondly...he works with a team of Coaches, creates a way of playing, an identity, and drills that way of playing into the players throughout the Club. 

Thirdly...Players are scouted, analysed, that fit specifically into that way of playing. It's not an LJ ' Club for all situations ' scenario, it's planned methodically. 

And finally...recruitment is analysed months in advance. Any thoughts for the next two windows would be being looked at now. As to where we need strengthening, who's coming through from Academy, who's contracts to renew or not. 

So if replaced you have a whole lot of upheaval and change depending on who came in. 

Two years of planning and building a foundation with a plan...torn apart. 

And besides that...any new man would have to agree to the restrictions in place and the blooding of Academy. 

Couldn't agree more with both of those posts.

I reserved judgment on NP for a long time, until the beginning of this year when I got what he is trying to do and could see that he is doing it, and is an extremely good judge of footballers. I particularly liked his criticism of the ridiculous "buy young players to make them better and sell them at a profit policy", and his observation that he could be sacked but it wouldnt make any difference because the process would remain the same.

Nevertheless, all this criticism of Lansdown stalling on giving NP a new contract - for all we know there could be a grand master plan.

I'm hoping he's in talks with Cotts. 

1 hour ago, Silvio Dante said:

This is well worth five minutes of your time. It’s a bit of an insight into the mentality of the group and not typical “footballers” answers:

 

Thanks and yes agree. 
 

Based on that interview, really like him. 
 

Especially liked the comment nobody will out work or out fight us. That was evident today. 
 

I sometimes despair of modern football and modern footballers, people like him rekindle my love of football and City. 
 

And lastly signing players like that, shows what a great judge of character NP is. 

22 minutes ago, petehinton said:

Assuming chances of a decent stream are high then?

Not too bad where I am, just watched some of the Bham WBA highlights 

6 minutes ago, petehinton said:

Would recommend Timisoara. €1.80 a pint in the town square!

Quite a trek from Bucharest. 
 

Nice town though, flew in from Odessa and spent a couple of nights a few years ago, before heading north where it’s like going back in time a 100 years.

Thanks for the heads up NTTDS.

Im in East Africa, didn’t occur to me I’d be able to watch City, having carried out some research there’s a bar stool with my name on it at 5pm (2 hours ahead of UK).

2 minutes ago, Kid in the Riot said:

Looking back that opportunity was pre-FFP, and pre-middle eastern and American takeovers, back in around 2002-2006, when Steve was one of the top 10 wealthiest owners in all of English football. 

We were in L1 and had an owner worth more than most Premier League owners. 

Still, sadly that ship has long passed...

Exactly and my point has always been what benefit is a rich owner in Division 2 to a moderately rich owner in Division 2, a lot of people look at the stadium but I’ve said it before and will say it again, around 20 Years ago BCFC had planning  permission to build a 12,000 seater stand wrapped around the East End and Williams, at a cost go the club a fraction of what has subsequently been spent, half funded by the Football Trust, and the stadium would have still been owned by the fans.

Always struggled to see what there was not to like about that.

1 minute ago, sh1t_ref_again said:

How do you base we have not improved, when we have spent 14 of the last 16 years in the Championship, perhaps look at our record before then

I grew up late 60’s, 70’s, until 1984 never saw City in anything other than the top 2 divisions, never division 3.

2 minutes ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

Pretty complacent with respect IMO.

We could certainly habe if and when the club or group are sold, far more incompetent/reckless/stupid..loads.

777 it is questionable as to whether they would pass the Regulatory tests anyway, it's 13 pages long now a far cry from the recent past.

Technically we have had a higher average position than the prior 20 years I'm sure, but no not hit the top flight let alone won a major trophy.

Way I see it, 2 extreme ownership models.

One is owned by the fans, which in my view is how it should be, but slack controls over FPP means that doesn’t work.

So all football clubs have migrated to option 2, owned by a rich person or persons. You would think that rich persons are clever people and hence are the best people to run a “business”. But it’s illuminating how often that isn’t the case.

With all respect to Steve, you would think that had he really wanted to, and had the ability to, the 20th richest person in the country could have steamrollered us into the Prem.

He hasn’t, hence my comment, doesn’t really matter who owns us, it will just be a roll of the dice.

On 21/09/2023 at 13:31, Kid in the Riot said:

They are also a multi-club ownership investment firm, who appear to be particularly interested in securing assets

Not that much different to the current ownership then mate, the club and the stadium is no longer owned by the fans who baled the club out all those years ago, apart from investing in bricks and mortar to increase the property value, we haven’t really improved that much on the playing side, so I don’t think we should be too bothered who owns the club 

14 hours ago, Jerseybean said:

50 years ago today Ray Cashley scored for City, with a long clearance from his own penalty area, against Hull City on a very gusty night.

Were you there? 

Yes cold windy rainy night, Hull City, one bounce and straight over Jeff Wealands (I think) and history I think Cash was only the 4th goalie ever to score in a league game