Marina's Rolls Royce

My favourite was my son at 6yrs old telling everyone that the fans were singing: "The referee's a whacker"

Exactly. I thought they were singing " Pie gel's fearsome wider sarnie" which I thought odd at the time.

Dunno but Birmingham have had four separate Managers since NP joined City who is the second longest serving Manager in the Championship. Bristol City have had 3 managers in coming up to 8 years which is one of the lowest managerial turnovers in the EFL/Premier League. For all the criticism that can be aimed at SL, trigger happy is not one of them.

Jan 2023 Mehmeti on his move to BCFC : “This is a club with Premier League stature and I want to impose my mentality and work ethic and have an influence straight away. I’m a creative player, I like to make things happen, score goals and most importantly I want to win.” Sky Sports top 20 football league young players in 2022/3 included Conway, Scott and WW's Anis Mehmeti. Bucks Live said 'The 22-year-old joined the Robins on Transfer Deadline Day [January 31], for a club-record fee for the Chairboys. The figure is undisclosed, but it is expected to be between £1m and £5m, which will include performance-based add-ons.' The Athletic wrote "Anis Mehmeti makes things happen. Mazy runs, goals and assists are the forward’s bread and butter, so it is little surprise that he is considered one of the EFL’s most exciting attacking talents. It is why, amid plenty of interest, Bristol City moved so quickly to bring the 22-year-old to the Championship by reportedly matching his £1million release clause from Wycombe Wanderers in January after a stellar start to the 2022-23 season saw him net nine goals." “Anis is a very talented footballer,” said Pearson to the official club website’s channel Robins TV. “He has a hunger, which is very evident when you speak to him. “He wants to be successful and wants to go to the top. So it’s important that we try and harness that type of ambition in players."

One of the great things about this forum is the divergence of opinion. I don't think , for example, LJ was a poor manager. He got us out of the relegation zone and fighting at the right end of the table yet no cigar. The Holden appointment was as surprising as it was underwhelming yet he did ok in really difficult circumstances. Then he brought in Nige which is a generally popular appointment. The appointment of SC was generally greeted with disappointment yet he gave us a season that will stay forever with anyone who was there to witness it. Bringing in an LJ "type" may prove to be what is needed next time there is a vacancy depending on what you define as type. The bottom line is that nothing is fact until it happens and NP is , for the immediate future, still the man in charge.

Stop drinking

I think we'll fight like lions and very possibly sneak a win against a very good side.

I genuinely don't recognise this as fact. IF (and it's still if) Nige leaves then I think anyone coming in will benefit from Nige's legacy. The club has gone through a transition which NP has been very much part of. However, the Academy which is an undeniable shining light for BCFC is not down to Nige, it's been a work in progress for many years and this progression will not change as a result of a new Manager. As for the next head coach/manager( whatever the incarnation is) being 'extremely underwhelming' this is and will always be subjective until such time as they prove you right or alternatively exceed most supporter's expectations as SC did.

These are your made up words not a quote from me! I clearly stated that I thought it best to continue with Nige if he is willing and able. I also stated that I thought it ridiculous to suppose that NP was the only manager capable of taking the club forward on the pitch. As for the 'chill out' bit. Yes- I think that's precisely how I feel. I just can't feel the same sense of righteous indignation/ 'I'm not going to support City anymore'. as many on here suggest. Something Tom (otib website manager) said before he left /stopped working with OTIB really struck a chord with me. He said something along the lines of " if it all gets a bit much and you get too wound up then just take a break for a while". Wise words. As far as the fortunes or otherwise of a club I have always supported are concerned, there are too many other situations in this world which matter far more to me than the manager or the owner or even results. If we do well then it's great and if we don't it's pretty much same old same old. I've had my Nick Hornby Fever Pitch period and am much the better for coming out the other side!

Surely this is a two way street in that in the last 20 years no Manager has had such a rich resource of realistic first team prospects from the Academy? Nige has been excellent at utilising this resource sometimes through pure necessity but more often because he has chosen to based on merit.

It's an odd one- the impending change of Manager seems to be mainly 'a thing' on OTIB yet nowhere else other than from Nige himself stating that he was irritated by his lack of job security (new contract). The idea that the club "destroys" three years of foundations seems , imo, overlooking all the work that the likes of Pearson, Gould and even SL have put in to create better foundations. If Nige leaves due to health/sack/choice then the work he has done will not have been 'destroyed'. Last season 15 Managers were sacked in the Championship with Wigan,Watford and Huddersfield sacking two. Nige is the second longest serving . Football clubs constantly have to reinvent themselves and it's an ongoing challenge.If Nige had been more successful ( or becomes so) and poached by a bigger club would that destroy three years of foundations? Surely the whole point of foundations is to ensure the club is not reliant on one individual to get results both on and off the pitch?

So many good realistic points sensibly written.

Thoughts: NP should carry on unless he can't. SL is right not to offer a new contract until the season is all but over. It then may be time for a change as it proves the case with the majority of Championship clubs but any change guarantees nothing. The relationship between employer and employee may have been broken beyond repair but there are no doubt two sides to this situation which no one on here knows fully beyond speculation, rumour and agenda. Just because there is a current swell of fans wanting Nige to succeed doesn't mean he can or will. OTIB does not always exactly mirror the rank and file of ST holders/regular fans who do not frequent these pages. I thought it slightly ironic that there are calls to sing NP's name throughout the match tomorrow after two and a half years of very very rarely singing his name. The premise from some that NP is the only manager who is right for City is ,imo, ridiculous. Those saying he is the 'best Manager since Alan Dicks' are measuring NP on some weird scale likely based on rebuilding/inheriting a mess which would make him the best Manager since Sean O'Driscoll using that same scale. It also does a disservice to Gary Johnson, John Ward, Joe Jordan and Steve Cotterill and Terry Cooper in particular who all actually won something- some of whom had no better circumstances than Nige. People are quick to forget that Lee Johnson was the only Manager given seemingly unlimited resources albeit that his best players were still always sold. I don't see BCFC as the basket case depicted by others. I don't see Nige as the only person on the planet that can take City forward yet any change ,however calculated, is always a roll of the dice.

Thanks- it's entirely brightened the mood. The idea of actually having a succession plan in place is great news. Spending a couple of months interviewing external candidates only to appoint the assistant Manager or a player coach doesn't seem to do very well at this club. Heyho- we go again.

In my entire time on OTIB I have never witnessed more bedwetting based entirely on echo chambers and conjecture. SL may or may not move on, NP may or may not move on. Either event is just another bump in the road. Most of us will stay- BCFC will prevail. This is not 1982 or remotely similar.

Members 2.3k bexhill reds Posted 9 hours ago Worst display so far this season, looks like a Sunday morning pub team picked on the morning of the game on the basis of who’s rocked up with only a reasonable hangover Funny old game is football . Funny how the fans make it funnier.

I guess if I get to 124 yrs old and have 4 pints then I'd see that as a good result in any port irrespective of the weather.

If that's ok after four pints for you then I respectfully suggest that you may wish to clarify (save face) and confirm that you meant Vodka.

Poor old Rob Atkinson- he doesn't make our own top ten pages either. McCrorie wades in at page No9 so we interested a tiny bit whilst Benarous is slightly more interesting at page No6. Vyner is slipping down the charts but Lee Johnson remains incredibly interesting over 100's of pages.

Well- a little bit of him still is. If he has a big impact in the Prem then things change - it's also not as if Bournemouth found him - that was down to BCFC as was his coaching. Bournemouth will reluctantly sell him on and BCFC benefits. Either way I'd love him to do well.

Yep- that just about sums it up. Another Unan moment.

I'd largely agree. I believe that the performances have now definitely improved under Nige but this doesn't yet translate into consistently improved results or even any suggestion of a sustained tilt at promotion. I think Nige will eventually run out of road which is equally likely to result in him deciding to leave as it is SL deciding for him.

BCFC are an established Championship team. Starting a thread " Proud" when we just got beaten by another Championship team following a defeat by Leicester, a game totally thrown away v Stoke and a last gasp victory in the 96th minute v a relegation likely Rotherham is an odd concept imo. Perhaps "good but not good enough" or " close but no cigar" or " another bump in the road" may be a better OP? But I guess if people think we are punching above our weight in the Championship then maybe we should feel proud that we only lost 2-1 at the mighty Leeds, only 1-0 at Leicester and managed to be 2-0 up v Stoke prior to collapsing. I struggle to remember many matches against teams in our own division where I have felt proud in defeat. Funnily enough- I certainly didn't feel proud that we beat Rotherham - just delighted about and for TC.

Typical- you miss Reading - in the Premiership a few years ago. If you think our club has been a joke club for decades then I pity you.

I struggle to see how we have been a joke club in recent years and unaware that everyone laughed at Bristol City -a club with superb facilities and ground, no relegation and a brilliant record of youth players coming through - yes, also financial problems like about 60-70 other league clubs. Are you confusing us with Reading, Swindon or rovers etc?