The Journalist

I expected top 12 and hoped for top 10 before the start of the season. That remains the case under Liam Manning.

But, to use Mark Ashton’s phrase, let’s be really clear… we must still hold the board to account over the sacking of Nigel Pearson and the expectations they put on this season subsequently.

We cannot let them off the hook just because we think they’re being unrealistic. One of our most experienced and popular managers in recent memory lost his job on that basis, so we’re told, and frankly the Lansdowns get away with enough as it is (the “my club” comment, the disappearing acts, the swathes of inexplicable redundancies of excellent staff, the crest changes etc etc).

I’m not letting it go!

10 minutes ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

Injuries? Could push us a bit further with less.

Had Conway taken that chance..

Yeah, I get that - I didn’t really mean it to sound as negative as it did.

I really like the squad, I like how hard they work, I like the way they try to play. I liked us under Pearson and I suspect I’ll like us under Manning.

But we really lack that extra bit of quality, particularly in the middle. We get punchy at times when we get some momentum behind us, but we struggle to really control a game. Southampton are clearly much better than us, which is fine, but my word do we give the ball away a lot.

Anyway, all fine. I’m not the one expecting us to be better than mid-table.

Remember when this is supposed to be a team capable of being at the top end of the Championship?

The quality just isn’t there. They run their bollocks off, just as they did for the previous manager, but the genuine consistent quality… it’s not there.

And, ultimately, also just like the previous manager Liam Manning won’t be able to fix that without signing better players.

Got a couple of passengers out there at the moment, TGH the biggest culprit IMO.

Whatever kit Rico Lewis is wearing.

6 hours ago, GrahamC said:

Think they should retire the number 2 shirt, because it’s jinxed.

Last season’s wearer of it Kane Wilson didn’t start a single league game, the previous season Danny Simpson did & he only started 2.

McCrorie was incredibly unlucky as to how this all occurred & completely blameless, not sure that is true of everyone who was at the club then.

February 2020 was the last time Bristol City fans watched their team win at Ashton Gate with a number two in the starting line-up.

Good luck coming up with a more pointless statistic than that… 

23 minutes ago, Port Said Red said:

There was no need not to play Rob in the 11 v 11, having watched his 45 on the Monday he looked perfectly healthy enough for a game at that intensity and the 11v11 wouldn't have been anymore strenuous, in fact breaks would be built in to the game to prevent that.

Robs injury is not related to his knee, although as others have said hamstring pulls are not uncommon, probably some sort of compensation by the body. Robs hamstring injury is not the leg they took the tendon from, and was caused in a very innocuous way (running backwards into position from a free kick). It could just as easily happened in a training session or playing in the next U21 game.

This constant sniping at the manager for the apparent crime of not being Pearson is becoming very, very boring.

I completely agree with this - and I say that as a huge Pearson fan who thinks the way it was all handled was a disgrace.

IMO, the very fact different clubs have different ways of operating during an international break tells me there’s no perfect way of navigating it. There are pros and cons to everything.

We need to move on, for now at least, and then hold the club to account depending on how it all pans out. It’s time to sit back, get behind the staff and players and see how everything develops.

And, if we’re not in play-off contention, I’ll be the first to give the board pelters because they’ve either lied or just got it horribly wrong (in reality I suspect a combination of the two, but let’s see!)

2 hours ago, Coombsy said:

It remains to be seen whether the FA will decide to review the case and if any action will be brought against Tottenham. Spurs have already seen Everton handed a 10-point deduction for breaking Premier League Profitability and Sustainability Rulesthis season, while Manchester City could also be sanctioned after being charged with breaching over 100 financial rules.

Worth crediting your source here - https://www.goal.com/en-cm/lists/tottenham-points-deduction-investigation-finds-spurs-broke-agent-rule-jermain-defoe-transfer-portsmouth/blt3ea726edcc077f9d

Now I know how it feels to be a teacher who suspects a child has plagiarised something because it was too well written. 

For what it’s worth, I think people are being a bit overly harsh of both the interviewer and interviewee.

Sure, Ed Hadwin is no Geoff Twentyman and Liam Manning is no Nigel Pearson, but the questions were fairly engaging and the new head coach spoke pretty well - especially when you consider the two will have barely met. It takes time to build rapport and trust.

IMO people need to let go of the whole Nigel Pearson comparison thing. Those questions are for the board at the end of the season.

9 minutes ago, ExiledAjax said:

You know, I was wondering whether anyone ever actually claimed that or if I (and everyone else had misremembered). I went back and looked at the interviews and statements from the early days following Pearson's sacking.

Firstly JL's 2 minute "interview" on 31 October 2023.

Then key quote here is at 01:02 "...[we] ultimately made the decision [to sack Pearson] because we think the squad's good enough and I believe in it. If we didn't then why make a change? You'd just see see things through as they are, but the ultimate reason is I think we've got a really good squad here and and we've got a good chance at competing at the right end of the division this season..."

So he doesn't quite say the words "we have a top 6 squad" but that last line in particular near as means the same thing.

Then BT's longer 5 minute "interview" published the same day, 13 October 2023.

You don't have to wait long here. Barton opens with the question "Brian, John Lansdown's talked about the belief that you all have in the quality of this squad how confident are you that these players can compete at the top of the Championship?" Tinnion answers:

"I think everybody in the summer was happy with how we recruited, it's a squad that should be at the top end of the division..."

No debate there I don't think. Clearly says that this squad should be at the top end of the division.

There's then the ITV interview with GM from 3 November 2023.

https://www.itv.com/news/westcountry/2023-11-03/we-want-promotion-this-year-bristol-city-board-on-sacking-nigel-pearson

The video opens with Marshall saying "We had a three year plan with Nigel and we the objective for us including Nigel was to be at the top end, challenging at the top end of the table..."

He then says at 2:02 "The club is looking for a manager who we believe will get us to the top end of the Championship. We think we've got a great squad of players, a great fanbase, we've got great facilities. It's a puzzle that someone needs to solve and we're looking for someone who believes, and we believe, will get us into the Premier League."

The next question, at 02:29 is "And that [getting to the Premier League] is still the aim, for Bristol City this season, and for seasons moving forwards?"

GM answers "100% it's the aim for this season and we didn't  feel that we were going to get there unless we made a change and that's one of the drivers. We're less than a third of the way through the season and we feel that we're giving the next manager time to come in and make an impact and hopefully have us challenging towards the top end of the table. We believe this squad of players are very capable of doing that."

So he rambles a little bit, and answers it across several questions, but that final line is there for all to see. It's not quite as definite as BT's words but the hierarchy clearly think this squad is "very capable" of challenging "towards the top end".

This almost needs pinning at the top of the forum as a reminder.

I really hope that if we do end up well short of the play-offs that the local press get round to holding Lansdown and Tinnion to account. Neither of them have been yet. I’m not holding my breath.

That said, I hope even more that we finish in the top six and they were right all along. But I’m not holding my breath over that either.

I really hope he makes a good start - through no real fault of his own, he's going to have to do an absolutely exceptional job for the fans to ever be happy with this.

3 minutes ago, exAtyeoMax said:

To be honest, I feel that way. I'll wait for someone to summarise it on here

1 minute ago, Kid in the Riot said:

Piss off. I've stood on the away terrace at Burton with Joe. Absolutely no doubt he is a diehard City fan who was asking the right questions in that clip.

Let's see what the responses are... 

I can summarise it for both of you… triggering! 

3 minutes ago, exAtyeoMax said:

anyone who's seen the whole thing?

Anyone that’s actually just slowly started getting over last Sunday’s news may be better off avoiding it tomorrow morning, in all honesty… 

Given the constant rebranding and plethora of different club badges, this would make some sense commercially.

A year or so as Frank Lampard’s Bristol City will go down nicely.

6 minutes ago, The Journalist said:

Just for context, a man with fewer Football League games as a manager under his belt than Lee Johnson when we appointed him.

He also has less managerial experience in the Football League than Dean Holden and Keith Millen.

Just for context, a man with fewer Football League games as a manager under his belt than Lee Johnson when we appointed him.

"It's been a problem. When you have a tight squad you have to make sure the players are trained a certain way to play the way we want to play. Obviously we've fallen short a little bit on that with the amount of injuries we've had."

So we are now directly blaming the manager/staff for all the injuries we've suffered, then.

3 minutes ago, The chief said:

Sums it up perfectly. 
 

For balance, he was on a hiding to nothing. We’re angry and p’d off so it would have needed to be some statement to provide any positives. 

However, JL is patently not capable and does not have the leadership, communication, experience or any of the skills required to be in an executive position. His old man would never have put him in charge of his main stockbroker business. 
a statement like that is as much as he is capable of. 

I do agree with this to a point... I mean, they could've just not made such a bloody stupid decision in the first place! 

8 minutes ago, nebristolred said:

We're at 22,455 so far this year to be fair, so there's a higher extreme available to him. But that's still a 97% increase - very odd Tweet.

Ah - yeah, the chart I was looking at missed off the most recent game! So, still incorrect, but not *quite* as bad as I said.

Maybe he's going all the way back to the late 80s when the average attendances were below 10,000. Would seem legit and the obvious comparison... 

The Williams Stand was demolished eight years ago, rather than nine.

The lowest league average attendance during the past 20 years is 11,391 in 2004-05.

The highest league average attendance during the past 20 years is 21,080 in 2018-19.

That's less than a 100% increase - and I've tried to do him a favour by picking the absolute extreme numbers too.

Apart from that, he's bang on.

11 hours ago, NickJ said:

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.

It's a completely fair question, @NickJ. It's something I've spoken to a couple of people at the SC&T about.

I've offered to help on the communication side of things if wanted because I know that's an area I could add something, but also my family and working circumstances (and the fact I very rarely get to see us play live anymore) mean I can't really be involved as heavily as I'd like to be as it stands. I'd feel a fraud if I tried to actively stick my oar in because I couldn't dedicate the time it merits. And, while I've been critical, that doesn't mean I don't appreciate how hard they all work on a voluntary basis!

So yeah, hopefully in the future I can get stuck in (if welcome) - I'd love to help properly. I completely appreciate there's nothing worse than someone standing on the sidelines criticising but then not doing their bit. But also, as I've said before, I'm always on DM if I can ever help with messaging and communicating (although this statement is bob on, so not sure how much help is needed!).

(Sorry to everyone else if this comes over all self-important, just answering the question!)

I had to turn it off with 30 seconds still to go. Stomach-churning stuff.

1 minute ago, Rocky said:

 

Brian Tinnion in danger of coming across as a bit of a snake here - which I'd like to think isn't the case, given he's a bit of a hero of mine, but the optics aren't amazing.

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!)