The Journalist

What’s genuinely interesting is the vote at the bottom - more than 10,000 people, a decent sample size, and an absolute overwhelming majority think it should be introduced.

8 minutes ago, johnbytheriver said:

The problem was not hard to spot.Despite all the so-called sophistication of modern football,when in a desperate last-grasp situation,you revert to 1950's 60's 70's etc etc football,you pump the ball in the box at every available opportunity (Ask any league 1 league 2 manager.)That what real did,up to the moment they scored they had not had a shot on goal! Contrast that with what man ciy did! Trying to walk the ball into the net.Stirling was particularly guilty of that,always trying to beat yet another man and then losing the ball in the process.After conceding those 2goals i thought i was watching our lot!

Really? I thought part of City's problem in the last 10 minutes was they suddenly started pumping the ball long and went against everything they stand for. They couldn't have looked less threatening during the second half of extra time.

Their heads went completely and collectively - from manager through to players.

I think there's a real player in Pring (and I think Nigel does too) but he simply has to get fitter and more durable IMO.

The season definitely caught up with him and the more tired you are the worse your decision making gets. We absolutely saw this with him at times.

Career-defining summer coming up for him.

4 minutes ago, KegCity said:

The only reason I can think of is that they're still trying to shift as much remaining stock as possible for this year's shirt. Why bother buying it if next season's is out?

Fair comment - I guess to bring that 12-monthly cycle forward you're going to take a bit of a hit on older stock.

I wonder how much in the way of current shirts etc they're still shifting?! Even with reductions they're still expensive and just feel a waste of money to me by this point, off the back of an unmemorable season that's about to finish.

On 29/04/2022 at 21:43, 1960maaan said:

This is where I bash the Commercial Department again ( I wish the Lansdown's would read this and take note ).
The whole commercial side is not fit for purpose . Yeah we've had some nice kits, but stock can be sketchy, they don't get it in early so people can buy for the summer, the stock in the shop is poor, nothing about it says we want to make money.
The kit should be ready for the end of the season, last home game would be ideal. Get the whole summer to sell shirts, people could get them for holiday and the start of the season. Before now they've arrived into the season, they miss out on selling so many shirts through poor organisation.

I can never get my head around teams not bringing a new shirt out before the final home game of the season.

Sell more for the summer, gives an impression of better value for money because it has a longer shelf life and you're more likely to get further sales around Christmas given little'uns would feel due another new shirt having had their last one six months ago.

What am I missing?!

(Worth saying the vast majority of clubs are like us on this, so I accept I may actually be missing something because I'm not a commercial expert...)

2 minutes ago, Mr Sno said:

Cantona esq.

Genuinely excited. Love a chip.

I want to see this second AW goal.

100% a straight red card because if the goalkeeper doesn’t illegally kick the ball away it’s a goal. Actually incredibly good refereeing to make quite a common sense decision from a very unusual scenario.

The only Bristol City game I commentated on all season. They say timing is everything.

3 minutes ago, whoklldredrobin said:

Everyone is wilfully missing the point here – OF COURSE it is not our actual league position, of course we don't have to worry about relegation, of course it is hypothetical hahahaha... but it does show where we actually are in terms of form, and where we stand as a club. We probably knew it already but I thought it was useful to see it in black-and-white.

 

Not sure anyone's missed the point. Teams have been deducted points because they signed players they couldn't afford, spent beyond their means and tried to gain - and as Wycombe would argue did gain - a competitive advantage.

In essence, without a points deduction the league table also wouldn't reflect where we actually are because two clubs cheated in an attempt to get in front of us.

The other thing to add - as others have already pointed out - is that we wouldn't necessarily have drifted along in the manner we have done for weeks because we'd have been under a lot more pressure.

And results and performances do back that point of view up to an extent - we've not been this shit all season, it's just a classic case of the hard work being done and the players being too spineless and unprofessional to maintain standards with nothing to play for.

Just my two cents, anyway.

4 hours ago, Waconda said:

Yes because of the "there is literally no one who could coach these players any better." narrative that is constantly being spouted as an excuse.

 

Who said that?! Not being facetious, genuine question.

12 minutes ago, Olé said:

Wait until you discover Ryanair.

This has made my day if nothing else.

24 minutes ago, Tinmans Love Child said:

New kit bingo goes as follows:

1) I don’t like the shade of red

2) I prefer a proper collar cause it looks well smart when I wear it out on the town innit

3) I don’t like the badge position

4) I don’t like the sponsor

5) I never buy the kit anyway

6) It looks cheap

7) It looks tacky

8. I like it

9) I don’t like it

10) Modern kits look crap in XXXXXL

11) I can’t believe they’ve run out of the 3rd goalkeeper kit socks

 

Anymore? 

"I never understand why grown men think it's a good idea to wear a football shirt"

1 hour ago, CliftonCliff said:

Absolutely. Despite our obvious deficiencies on the pitch, I am, and have been for as long as I can remember, less concerned about the occupants of the dressing room or the manager’s office than I am about the boardroom. We simply don’t have the right balance of senior executives, with appropriate knowledge and expertise in the football industry, to steer us consistently in the right direction. There is a massive leadership vacuum, which makes the club appear directionless and rudderless, and it’s dangerous.

This is why I don’t want Pearson sacked while we’re safe from relegation regardless of how we’re performing.

The club structure has been and is in such a mess that we really do need a manager, at this point, with both the experience and confidence to challenge the owner/board to make the necessary behind-the-scenes changes to ensure sustainable long-term success. Pearson WILL do this, even if there’s a better coach out there to get a bit more out of the players. 

Pearson’s job spans far beyond what happens on the pitch and is why - and I know @Davefevs shares this view - even though I don’t necessarily think he’s the manager to move us towards the Premier League I believe he’s the the right man to set us on the right course.

Might be my imagination but he's always looked better after an international break/a spell out of the side (which hasn't happened often!).

When he came back in after being dropped earlier in the year he looked much more physically up to it, more powerful in both his hold up play and his running the channels.

Either way, when used properly he's a good player with lots to offer. It's not really his fault we often haven't used him properly.

I really like Han-Noah. Always gives everything, tenacious, enthusiastic, clearly really gifted in terms of technical ability…

… Yet consistently makes some really poor decisions in his own defensive third and contributes next to nothing in the attacking third in terms of goals and assists.

Still only 20 with bucket loads of room for development, yet has also played nearly 100 first-team games!

I think he has a really big decision to make in terms of what next in his career. And, if he doesn’t stay, it’s really hard to call what sort of level he’ll be playing this time next year.

2 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

Absolutely so.

Simpson hasn’t worked out, but by any measure he was a low cost risk.

Personally I was always uncomfortable with his signing, no matter how he’d worked out but you’re spot on, in the scheme of things that means very little.

Palmer for me is up there with Gustav Engvall (who cost £2m, never started a single league game, no goals, then was sold for a rumoured £200k) as the worst signing that we have ever made.

On that theme, I was actually going to edit my original post to say just that - to downplay the PR impact isn't to say I supported his signing.

Like you, I didn't like it at all. Anyone who didn't want him here was well within their rights to be unhappy about it.

15 hours ago, GrahamC said:

Serious question, how long have you supported us?

Because Simpson isn’t even our worst signing of the last few years.

There are players in our current squad who were worse signings than Simpson (I struggle to look past Kasey Palmer for that accolade when you consider the eye-watering sums of money involved for a player who wasn't even good on loan)!

In terms of negative PR, I think people over-egg this point slightly. Bristol City are a very small bubble - the ripples weren't even felt that strongly across the local media, let alone further afield.

Most football fans probably wouldn't even know Danny Simpson was at Bristol City, frankly.

Not ploughed through all four pages but anyone saying we've been "saved" by other teams receiving points deductions needs to give their head a wobble.

Those teams were deducted points because they cheated. They cheated in signing substantially better players than they could afford. They've been deducted points to counter the competitive advantage they gained/tried to gain by signing those players.

4 hours ago, JonDolman said:

James probably was slightly past his best since his bad injuries at Leicester.

But he was still very good in the championship last season. Before his recent injury for us I think he had still looked a good player at this level.

Bit surprised a lot of fans don't seem to rate him.

Agreed - I thought in the early part of the season James looked like exactly what we've needed since Pack left. Needs to get properly fit, clearly, but he's a proper all-rounder.

Maybe they were funding Danny Simpson's vast wages ala 32Red and Wayne Rooney and it's all just got a bit much for both parties.

3 hours ago, Slacker said:

Was your seat not facing towards the pitch?

His seat was in Gary Johnson’s office. Denied it was him though.

44 minutes ago, Phileas Fogg said:

I had forgotten that actually. Quite interesting idea from Johnson. I also remember thinking Nick Carle looked quality - we definitely got the best out of him compared to how he got on at Palace.

I've always quite liked having flair players (in the David Noble sense of the word) or at least proper footballing players playing off one flank, as long as you've got someone comfortable going on the outside on the opposite side so you don't just become ridiculously narrow.

Josh Brownhill, while obviously being very different to Noble, also had the intelligence to come inside from wide and influence the play.

Jamie Paterson's another who was good at that IMO.

30 minutes ago, cidercity1987 said:

For clarity, the final five games of the campaign, are you referring to

Southampton L

Wolves D

Stoke L

Sheff Utd L

Preston W

5 points from 5 games?

Sheff Utd L

Preston W

Crystal Palace W

Crystal Palace W

Hull L

And, I'm not sure if you were at the Sheffield United one, but I vividly remember the match as one of the best performances I've ever seen from a City side in defeat. The players got a standing ovation from the entire away end post-game.

51 minutes ago, Phileas Fogg said:

Exactly - I strongly remember LJ and Elliot being the mainstay of that midfield. I can still remember the regular team now..

Basso; Orr, Carey, McCombe, McAllister; Sproule, Johnson, Elliot, McIndoe; Byfield, Trundle (Adebola, Vasko, Noble, Murray often regular replacements).

Noble simply didn't get about the pitch enough to regularly start with Johnson or Elliot in a midfield 2, and wouldn't have been able to partner Trundle for the same reason.

As usual, it's RR's poor grasp of facts letting him down. 

And five of those games David Noble started - the final five of the campaign - were actually off the right in a similar role to the one Josh Brownhill played during our cup run. Lee Johnson, as it happens, was left out for Nick Carle.

That midfield of McIndoe - Carle - Elliott - Noble saw us end that season playing probably our best football of the entire campaign.

I'm not sure Noble EVER started a game in the middle of midfield in the Championship. He just didn't have the mobility for it, so we had to find different areas of the field to hide his lack of athleticism.