Gert Mare

Correct

That's the one. It was called Rovers Port

No, just an illegal circus. They tried roulette but all ended up as skint as the original supporters club shop after that woman kept sticking her hand in the till. The problem with the roulette was that they point blank refused to stick any chips on 'Red', so it was black or green only and the banker cleared up! Oh, and then there's the illegal Santa's Grotto conducted in a condemned Portaloo. So many gifts!

His style of play. Plenty of matches where we were happy to knock it across the back four without trying to attack. It was an absolute bore fest.

@Miah Dennehy Was this the one? ?

I agree that winning against Mourihnio went to LJ’s head in terms of his ego.

Fair play. Football is all about opinions. LJ was forced to sell key players, but if my memory serves me right it wasn’t in the cup run season, although we also failed to strengthen in the January transfer window that year which was barmy considering that we were in the top 6 at the time. I think LJ’s biggest mistake was trying to over complicate football and in the end it seemed to be more about possession than end product and the amount of sideways passing during some games almost sent me into a coma. At least now we try and have a go in games. We lack creativity at times, but we appear fitter under NP. LJ did well to keep us up when he was first appointed and when we played Man U I felt we could have kicked on and reached the Premier League. I suppose that there will always be pluses and minuses during any managers tenure?

Au contraire.......You celebrate 'Coming For Us' and then drop a bollock of some kind. It's bloody hilarious. When we then take the richly deserved piss Gasheads are nowhere to be found. All gone back to hide and lick wounds until they win a game and then they all crawl out from under their stones and start giving it the biggun again and hence the cycle continues. That's why you are the gift that KEEPS ON giving.

I can't see where I singled out LJ for criticism. I included LJ and DH as they were NP's predecessors. I do think that had NP been at the helm when there was money around that we might not have choked and missed out on the playoffs....but we'll never know. How we went from top of the league and semi-finalists in the Carabao Cup to missing out on even a playoff spot following the Wolves game is something I have never been able to work out. We certainly had the talent to compete, but something went wrong mentally with the players and LJ was unable to put that right. LJ certainly talked utter drivel during his post match interviews. I did switch those off. DH was doomed from day one and thrown under the bus and that was down to MA. I think Nigel calls it out like it is and doesn't hide behind smoke and mirrors. You can't legislate for individual errors no matter how much you work on it in training. I like his interviews personally.

I'll hold my hands up that I didn't fact check, but I do know we had a losing streak under LJ that was the worst in the clubs history. The specific point that I was making was that it isn't boom or bust under Nigel Pearson, just indifferent.

@Harry We are suffering the effects of the Ashton era and the pandemic. What grinds with me the most on the Pearson debate is that fans love him when we win and have ‘had enough’ when we lose. It was clearly evident when Nige joined the club that a lot of things needed changing. Nige eluded to this in one of his very first interviews. He had little time to prepare and we were still in the grip of the pandemic so he contacted players who he knew he could trust and hoped that their quality and experience of playing at the highest level would have helped to steady the sinking ship. Simpson was a straight up failure. Nowhere near Championship level. That was a punt that turned out to be a negative, but Nige hoped he could reignite the players passion after it was known that other clubs wouldn’t touch him because of what he had done in his personal life. Mentally I think that Simpson was shot and I feel sorry for Nige on that one. Where King was concerned I thought it was potentially a good signing at the time. This was a player who could score goals and who also was a City fan which was an added bonus. King hadn’t been playing to the standard of Championship level football but he has a great attitude and Pearson felt he would inspire the younger players in the team. Unfortunately King has ended up on the treatment table for a long time which is just unfortunate. Had he stayed fit I think we would have seen his influence as the season progressed and he became fitter. Matty James (although blighted a bit by injury) has proven to be a good addition. Although he’s not the quickest he is a good playmaker and his reintroduction to the team recently has helped us to create a few more goal scoring opportunities. Personally I think James was a decent signing. Rob Atkinson - Another decent signing in my opinion. Hit by Covid when already trying to get up to speed in the Championship, but who is a player that can bring the ball out of defence with his feet and in recent games is beginning to show the quality that Nige stated that he had. George Tanner - A young committed player who was sadly struck down by a long term injury. Just sheer bad luck on that one. Nige has struggled to plug that hole ever since. Andi Weimann - A pricey resign but also a priceless one. This is a player who earns every penny. Fitness and work rate is bang on. Nathan Baker - Potentially a great defender when fit, but will he ever remain fit? I doubt it. Again, this was a risky punt which has ended up backfiring as he ended up back in the treatment room for an entire season. The rest of the squad is what Nige inherited. Not ‘his own’ squad as many fans keep saying. Getting a consistent tune out of that mob is pretty much impossible. Quite a few will be shipped out when possible but that isn’t going to happen overnight, so when fans start questioning whether Nige is the right man for the job every time we lose a game they need to remember that a lot of these players won’t ever consistently cut it at Championship level. Someone said it was down to Nige being unable to motivate players. I’ll argue all day that if a player isn’t up to it standard wise then that fault doesn’t lie at the manager’s feet (unless he signed them in the first place). Ian Holloway managed Hanham Boys and they finished 4th from bottom. He took Blackpool into the Premier League. Motivation is just a piece of the jigsaw. We no longer win a few then lose 12 on the bounce like we did under Johnson and Holden. We have pretty much the same squad so there is a big shift in how we perform over all and at least we don’t spend large parts of the game passing the ball sideways across the back four waiting to get dispossessed. Massive improvement. SL/JL have a clear objective. Invest in the academy and get them into the first team for sustainability. Nige is following this objective. Blooding more youngsters in one season since Danny Wilson. Agents are self serving parasites who will bankrupt a football club by getting as much money as they can for their players. Once a player is paid handsomely their mindset is shot and you are managing egos. These players think they are too good for Bristol City and we don’t get our money’s worth. Bottom line is that we have to invest in our scouting network for young talent and we need to be operating in the lower leagues to find potential within a more realistic budget. However frustrating the structure of the club may appear we are lucky just to have a club to support at all. 1982 is the reason why we are still here, and without SL we wouldn’t have the improved facilities that we have today. Avoiding League One is where we are right now and clearing up the Ashton mess is going to take time. I hope that Nige gets the backing he needs in the summer to help us build on what we have. Hopefully once some of the dead wood has been shifted we will improve our position in the league. Nige is the most straight talking sensible man manager we have had since Alan Dicks. I’ve yet to see a single interview with him where I feel he is talking utter bollocks. If we keep him at the helm longer term I feel we will definitely improve (and within budget).

Agreed. Also, don’t sign them from PL clubs as they have already been paid ludicrous wages for not even breaking into the first team. As great as Kalas is he isn’t worth the fee or salary that was paid for him. Compare him against someone like Shaun Taylor for example. You are paying the money because it’s Chelsea who is the parent club, not a lower league team. Blackburn warned us about Kasey Palmer, starts like Pele and turns into Tony Dinning. Nahki Wells never wanted to come here. That is well known, so we pay over the odds for and ex Bradford City striker and he is played out of position and is happy to take the money. We are far better off investing in our scouting network and pick up hungry players from lower league football, and find the best young talent we can, even in and around Bristol where our better youngsters have always seemed to end up at Norwich or Southampton. The Bosman ruling has given too much power to players. The old system was wrong, but also holding clubs to ransom and then leaving for nothing is also wrong. Clubs should expect to get at least 50% of the original fee that they bought a player for rather than nothing. There needs to be a complete overhaul of finances in football full stop, otherwise players salary demands will eventually send clubs into liquidation. Football as it is today is unsustainable whatever model you put in place.

I think he has given certain players plenty of opportunities to make amends and has protected them up until now, but they haven’t learnt so he’s done with them. That in itself says that they are not up to it. Eddie the Eagle was motivated but it didn’t make him good enough. Some of our players are simply not up to the required standard and will never be up to it. If motivation was all it took then we could possibly have a team full of Messi and Ronaldo’s with the right man at the helm. If only it was that easy?!!!

The third was a result of an initial mistake by Alex Scott. Vyner was then nutmegged. Right from the off Swansea’s wide men had too much time and space down the flanks. Wolf picked up the ball and went up against Vyner and Vyner was in knots. Pring wasn’t tight enough on the other side either. No surprise that 2 of the Swansea goals came from balls in from out wide. Why do we allow wide men so much space and time? Not just today but in general?

I agree. I actually felt ok with Max being given an opportunity but worryingly for me the more he has played the less convincing he has become. He doesn’t command his area and seems to come half way off his line. That is a worry. He looks lost in the mix whenever there is a corner. If Bentley is going as is being suggested I don’t think Max is the answer.

Sadly more of the same today. Just not up to this level of football. Doesn’t have a clue where his man is. Looks like he’s watching the game from the stands.

He meant Horsepunch

I needed a single sticker to complete Panini 84. Never bothered again!

Remember Oldham? ”He headbutted the window the spaz”

Our defending is woeful and embarrassing. Seen enough today. Losing to a club that was in League One last year.

He’s not a magician, but what he has done with this squad is clearly evident. He has created genuine competition for places and he is instilling a sense of purpose into the psyche of the players. Yes there are frustrating mistakes but you can see the shoots of improvement. If only he had money to spend….. We have definitely got the right man in charge. He talks complete sense when it comes to football too, unlike his predecessors.

There’s 20 50+ two teeth Neanderthal knuckle draggers from Kingswood running towards us stinking of Natch. Let’s get the **** out of here!

I remember this well. There was a lot of cheering between the penalties that day. I was only a teenager at the time and loved every minute of it! ?

In my opinion he is not up to this level. For a big chap he doesn’t use his body strength to his advantage. Positionally he is poor, he switches off, ball watches and plays aimless long balls which fail to find a man. He is also flat footed, so once he’s been turned he’s done.

Our fans can be like that. Loads would sack Pearson before he has been given any money to spend. Ludicrous! I’m not surprised Johnson had been sacked though. He is the master of inexplicable results, thinks football is a science and bamboozles everyone with utter tactical nonsense and drivel, thinks possession and passing sideways for 80 minutes is important and gets out a tombola when it comes to substitutions. I give him credit for turning Bobby Reid into a striker but as far as game management was concerned he was totally clueless. People harp on about beating Man United but we were fortunate to have some decent players at the time and it doesn’t take a lot for a team to get fired up to play Man United! We’ve got the right appointment now, talks sense and I believe that if we had had Pearson in charge during that Carabao Cup season we wouldn’t have totally capitulated, we would have gone up. If a team at the top of the league gets thrashed 6-0 then there is something seriously wrong with the way they are being managed. Johnson could do nothing to stop the flow of goals because he hasn’t got a clue when it comes to in-game management. He just stands there like a muppet. Some people need to take off the rose-tinted specs when it comes to Johnson’s reign.