RedRoss

11 hours ago, W-S-M Seagull said:

It's slightly concerning that your obsession stretches as far as keeping tabs on my travel arrangements. 

We missed our mega bus so drove to London. 

Took us ages to find a petrol station open at 6am in the morning. 

Eventually got to London and parked up. Elizabeth line was then suspended so back in the car we got and drove to another station for a different line. 

We then headed to the o2 arena where I had a breakfast followed by some beers. 

Another line then got suspended so we had to uber it to the tax payer funded stadium which once hosted the Olympics. 

We arrived just in time for kick off so had no time for pre match beers. 

We then watched Bristol City play in the former Olympic stadium and had a fantastic time with 9000 other Bristol City fans. 

At half time I had another beer which looking back at my bank account I wasn't charged for. 

After the game we walked around the former Olympic stadium and had beers with the West Ham fans in the home bars outside the stadium. 

After that we then went to the shopping centre which we had to wait ages for the gates to open. Spoke to many West Ham fans whilst waiting too. 

We then went into the shopping centre and we had Popeyes. 

Following that we then went to Wendys for some burger and fries. 

We then got the lizzie line all the way back to where the car was parked and my friend drove home. 

Fantastic day that will live long in the memory which then set up a replay at Ashton Gate which we then won. 

You missed out going to Co-op for a packet of ready salted.

6 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Ask me when we know the fate of each division.  Rudoni if they go down is an obvious shout.  I don’t think Miyoshi is anything like Twine / Azaz, but Rudoni is.  We aren’t (imho) looking for a winger / dribbler type to play no10 (hence why I wasn’t fawning over Millar in your other thread), we are looking for a clever passing type no10.  We have Mehmeti as the dribbler-type, Sykes too, although he’s a bit different.

Where do you get that notion from?

I feel they are being clear by their actions but may be completely wrong of course. My feeling they don't is because they moved him on twice this season just feels like they are trying to actively sell him. There are a few permutations which will change things i.e what league they will be in. We'll see I guess. Either way we won't pay 5 million in my opinion.

We won't sign him for 5 million. Regardless of what Burnley valued him at in Jan.  I know others have said he has x amount of years on his contract, they don't need to sell. However, they will recognise he's not exactly elevated himself to match that fee this season. They clearly don't want him, he wants to move on. I think a deal may get struck if it does it'll be for less than January's valuation. If it doesn't we've been priced out and we move on.

32 minutes ago, Waffleflap said:

Bet he regrets coming here next season

This post sums up some of our supporters especially recently.

How you can turn an absolute screamer for a highly rated player we've signed for next season already into a negative baffles me!

Just now, Sir Geoff said:

How on earth is the business done in January better than what we did last summer.

I was on about both windows.

6 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Isn’t that the lesson though?  They went overboard in their comments when signing a young player.

How many of us would’ve minded had they said, “we think he’s a talented boy, but he’s struggled over in Belgium for x reasons, so we are taking a look at him.  If he does well, we’ve agreed a deal with Westerlo, because we want to protect ourselves”.  That type of thing.

But we got a load of spin, and in some cases lies. Spin is ok, lies is unacceptable imho.

It hasn’t worked out, but it’s also cost us a few quid to find out.  I’m generally ok with that, because I doubt it cost us too much (few quid in last sentence).  There is another intangible cost, re it’s possibly cost an academy player some experience of the match day set up.

And it’s possible to view a window / multiple windows overall yet still critique an individual signing.  You’re making out because it’s been generally decent (agree, I’ve been a big advocate of recruitment improvement over 2.5 years) we mustn’t call out individual deals.  And nobody expects it to be successful every deal, but just like we can say how good a signing Dickie was, why shouldn’t we say how bad a signing Mebude was.  OTIB has been fine being critical of individual signings in the past.

Come off it Dave, this is 9 pages of discussion about a loan player that hasn't worked out ultimately. Where is the 9 page topic about the rest of our recruitment this season. Like I said to Silvio, this is likely our best window in a very long time however we constantly focus on negatives like this. It's pretty inconsequential and just seems like a repetitive way of bashing the club.

35 minutes ago, Silvio Dante said:

It’s been done to death but the main problem was in how the deal was presented. Tinnion was very bullish over him, and DM was given the whole big signing video. It was positioned as one for the first team that we’d been scouting for a while and a bit of a coup. Had it been positioned as coming over (effectively) for a trial then it’d have been viewed a lot differently.

The club then made things a lot worse by bullshitting over his work permit situation in Belgium - both Liam and Brian very guilty of that.

The bottom line is we’re not signing him (or we certainly shouldn’t) and the way the deal was presented through to how he’s been plonked on the bench with no chance of getting on (assumedly due to a “matchday clause” in the deal) has been bizarre from start to finish.

If anything, it’s a lesson to the club in communication.

As for recruitment I broadly agree if we’re going back to start of season. However, and having liked the Jan window to start with, the three signings who arrived here then can’t be classed as anything but poor on aggregate (Bird and Stokes I maintain good business to get done early but clearly can’t comment on their ability)

Medube - A load of bullshit about work permits, an abysmal 30 minutes, no sign of touching the pitch

Murphy - Seems to have a chronic injury, probably pointing to why we passed in the summer

Twine - Largely indifferent

With the benefit of hindsight it looks pretty poor. The get out here is that we can send two of them back and one is likely to have not been expensive and we can claim on insurance if he’s totally unable to play (hopefully!)

 

What were they supposed to say when bringing him in? We are bringing in an average player to see if he's any good. It's likely because ultimately he arrived Tins and his staff were bullish about him because they thought he was good. It hasn't worked we'll send him back.

You can't selectively look at recruitment. It has to be looked at as a whole. I think we've brought in better players in areas we were lacking (not all areas) whilst keeping fees low. Those players are all fairly young too and will improve. Asides from Dickie who's been a revelation and is only coming into his prime. This has been one of our best value transfer windows since Cotts I would argue.

I really don't understand all the conversations re Mebude. He has come in as a loan player with an option to buy. Likely because we thought he would strengthen us where needed but needed to show us he could before spending money on him. We've clearly taken a look and not interested for whatever reason. Seems sensible to me considering we've not bought him. The rest of our recruitment has been pretty bang on this season.

4 hours ago, W-S-M Seagull said:

The major flaw in your post is that you fail to recognise that people post about their concerns of how the club is run and that by its very nature is supporting the club, as people want the best for the club. 

Is Gary Neville not a proper Man Utd fan cos he constantly criticises how the club is run? 

Noticed you've found your log in details..

Tommy won't sign, he would have signed back when others extended. He's gone in the summer.

Their keeper got MOM, think that shows the game we gave them. We were better.

3 minutes ago, Ashton Yate said:

Some line up for 1st June.

Deontay Wilder-Zhilei Zhang
Fillip Hrgovic-Daniel Dubois 
Ray Ford-Nick Ball
Ammo Williams-Hamzah Sheeraz
Craig Richards-Willy Hutchinson

And that's even before the undisputed main event, Beterbiev v Bivol.

Fury v Usyk 18th May and then this 2 weeks later. Can't wait! 

From top to bottom unbelievable line up.

Another poster stating they won't be attending next season to add to the list. I'll remind them next season when they post they do..

Just now, sephjnr said:

This is the issue I have - if the delivery is just having more matches for their existing channels then this is not an improvement for the average viewer. If Sky themselves start an on-demand service that can sit alongside or replace either their main broadcasts or NOW then that's an option that wil markedly increase revenue for people who don't want to pay three figures a month. Such was the main way of breaking Sky's dominance for good, and if they've bought the right to it in-house that's one of their main problems no longer an issue.

They've linked to their Now TV options for non Sky customers. Its 11.99 for the day or £26 for the month. Not massively different to RTV or iFollow. It won't be three figures a month. 

Can't see any issue with this, we look to be increasing our revenue with this deal as shown by Dave. 

Aren't they just saying you can stream from Sky Sports instead of Robins TV or iFollow for other clubs? Looks like you can use a Now TV day pass or month pass if your not a Sky customer already. 

As long as the prices are similar it's not a huge difference really just paying someone else? Unless I'm missing something. 

48 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

I don’t think his posts are bizarre.  The posts are just giving the view that he’s not impressed by Manning, nor can he see Manning progressing us.  And does it matter that he reached that view really early and has stuck to it.  At least he explains why, unlike several who just say it’s all good / it’s all bad without anything to go on. Hey-ho.

 

They are full of massive contradictions when you provide the context of what he's been posting for months. 

We've had him saying 'we missed the play offs by not beating teams in winnable games' whatever that means by winnable i.e lower placed I'm guessing. We then beat those teams and he quantifies it by saying 'low block' teams instead. 

If we beat a better team, it's not because we've played well or set up tactics correctly at all. It's because they were terrible. 

He talks about playing 3 at the back and this apparently by default means Manning is setting up negatively but when we win this way nothing is said. 

He slates Manning for not being adaptable but then when he does adapt i.e more pressing. He gets slated again for not doing it quick enough or without apparent prompt. He's damned if he does, damned if he doesn't. 

I could go on and on.. perhaps there is some explanation but it's in an echo chamber. 

7 hours ago, Merrick's Marvels said:

Fair enough fella.

But in a season when everyone - everyone - at City hasn't been good enough, bar Dickie, the idea of "awards" is a bit of joke, quite frankly.

I can only assume you're about 12 or alternatively happy to accept utter mediocrity ad infinitum.

Some of us aren't. That is, about 12 or happy to accept utter mediocrity.

But no worries, knock yourself out.

But as far as I'm concerned the last 9 months might as well not have occurred.

If you think we've made a step forward from where we were 12 months ago, fair enough. If you think this warrants awards and celebration, fair enough.

Why are you talking about 'awards'? We're merely stating who our top 5 best performers have been. Nothing to do with their accomplishments as a team. 

Hardly handing them a Ballon d'Or. 

You've decided to get angry and ranted about a completely different point from what this topic is about and I'm the apparent child. 

1 hour ago, Merrick's Marvels said:

You need 5?

From the minute the owner decided not to re-invest the Scott money - a decision no doubt taken well before he was actually sold - and from the minute the owner decided to not renew Nigel Pearson's contract - a decision no doubt taken long, long before he was actually sacked - this season has been a waste.

A waste of everyone's time, money and emotional energy.

A waste of the aforementioned that a lot of us, including the pensioner owner, can ill afford.

So can we just get on with it please.

Get on with not wasting everyone's time, money, energy.

Get on with having a season where it isn't just one player - Rob Dickie - deservedly hoovering up every single award going.

What a joke end of season awards are when all you've done is spend 9 months pissing players and fans off.

What a strange rant. It's just abit of fun to see everyone's opinion.

He doesn't. He sounds the same.

Dickie, Knight, Max, Pring and Vyner

2 hours ago, W-S-M Seagull said:

But it clearly was. 

Nope, I fully expected us to compete in the games I mentioned. 

What is your definition of a winnable game in the Championship?

Blackburn beat Sunderland 5 - 1 the other week and we drew with them the next week but then beat Blackburn 5 nil last night.

I would argue there isn't a winnable game by default in the Championship. Every team has had competitive spells this season asides from Rotherham.

Didn't know a youngsters loan to Bath would cause such carnage.

1 hour ago, W-S-M Seagull said:

This is the thing I keep coming back to. 

Why can't Manning get the best out of this squad that is a decent squad? Other managers have taken over other teams before and have made them out perform their ability in a short space of time, so why can't Manning do that? 

We're 18 games in with Manning and there is a nagging concern that there is no plan b. 

The QPR game was an interesting one. I think Manning puts far too much emphasis on tactics and not enough on motivational stuff. I suspect that probably has something to do with his lack of emotions and him constantly saying he wants to remove emotions from the players. 

We've shown when we want it we can match anyone. The problem is it felt like QPR wanted it more than us. We can all look at the tactics til were blue in the face but the reality is we just didn't really want it against QPR. I'm not sure if Manning has that motivational factor in his skillset based on his beliefs about emotions. 

I think his inability to harness emotions is probably going to be his downfall here. 

Even Man City, the best coached team in the world have a manager who is very emotional. It's why City always go on these incredible runs in the second half of the season. Being part of the CFG group previously. You'd have thought Manning may have learned that it's not all about tactics. 

So we didn't have a plan B for Southampton? We didn't want it more than them? We didn't show any aggression/emotion when we played one of the best teams in the division?

I agree that we need to work on beating the teams the set up like QPR however you never look at the other side of the coin when assessing Manning's performance. 

That issue is not indicative of just Manning's tenure, that was equally frustrating when NP was managing us. We've had that issue for ages. Whether that's due to the young makeup of the team or some other reason we struggle with that element of breaking teams down, we also struggle with overall game management. 

I'm not acknowledging it's not an issue but let's not pretend this is a new thing. 

2 minutes ago, Gaseater said:

Who were the people?? What were their names.

Yeah so you should be clocking off soon surely. What do they pay after 6pm? Time and half I'm guessing.

2 hours ago, W-S-M Seagull said:

You can keep trying to frame this as me having an agenda and that it's all about Nigel Pearson as much as you like. It doesn't make it true Tim. That shows your own agenda doesnt it? All you're trying to do is to create a smokescreen because you don't like the uncomfortable truths being spoken about. So you have to try and attack and belittle me in order to try to get me to stop talking about them.

Why do you and others like you have an inability to accept that fans have a genuine concern with how the club is run from the top down? Why is that an alien concept for you? Why does football fans caring about the club they pay to support, bother you so much? 

Once Pearson went I quickly moved on to who the replacement would be. From day one I said Manning was the wrong replacement and after 18 league games that opinion of mine has got even more robust. 

It was OK of course for me to be pissed off with JL, BT and GM about the ridiculous decision to sack a manager after a defeat to Ipswich and defeat to Cardiff with barely 11 fit first team players and to then also have a separate opinion on the replacement. 

Those two things are not mutually exclusive. But for some reason to you they are. 

Had we of appointed a manager that fitted the squad we have and then improved us, I'd not be posting this thread. 

I'm talking about the here and the now and the position we find ourselves in. My general observations is the only ones that keep talking about Pearson is those who were anti Pearson. 

It's hard to take posts like yours seriously when it's clear it's dripping in bias around your dislike for the previous manager. You want Manning to be a success because you want to be right about Pearson. I want Manning to be a success because I want success for Bristol City. That's the difference. 

Can we please stop with this bs about none of us actually thought we had a top 6 side. You're using that to play down Mannings underwhelming record. 

I posted a poll on here on Aug 3rd asking where posters where they think we'd finish

Here's the results -

Automatic - 1.82%

Play offs - 23.36% 

7th - 12th - 65.69%

13th - 21st - 8.76%

Relegation - 0.36%

The vast majority expected an improvement on last season. 

 

Please feel free to go back and look at the comments.

Why are you comparing Pearsons start here with Mannings? It's an incompatible comparison. 

It's already been discussed in this thread. Pearson came in and we were possibly heading for relegation with a shite squad that had many issues. The expectations were different. 

Manning came in and he had an oven ready squad to take it forward. He's failed to do that. Everything was in place for him to do that. He didn't need to come in and build a culture or improve the squad's fitness etc. It was all there. It does you no favours trying to suggest the two situations were similar when in fact it was night and day. The fact you're suggesting they are similar says a lot about your agenda. 

This is the team that played in the game Vs Boro when Pearson took over

Bentley - Kalas - Mariappa- Vyner - Towler - Nagy - Bakinson - Palmer - Hunt - Wells - Diedhiou 

To suggest that team is better than the one we have now to try and get the violins out for Manning is probably the most ridiculous thing I've read on here. Once again, I have to ask myself why are you saying that team is better? When it clearly wasn't. 

Pearson earned the right to have a pre season. All of us accepted that we needed to undergo a rebuild and patience was required. 

Most of us will agree that Pearson was successful with the rebuild at the same time as avoiding ffp punishment. 

Why are you providing random blocks of games in entirely different circumstances? Did Nigel have that oven ready squad then? No, so it's irrelevant. 

The only blocks relevant is this sesson once the reset had happened. 

This season 

Pearson

1st block of 9 - 12 points 3 wins

Next 5 games - 6 points 2 wins. Some may want to include the win Vs Sheffield Wed in that. 

You often ignore the context of how we had lots of injuries etc. 

Manning

1st block of 9 - 14 points 4 wins

2nd block of 9 - 9 points 2 wins

You also ignore the context that Manning has had greater squad availability. 

You can try and frame me as being biased all you want. But the cold hard facts are posted above which show that rather than me being biased, it's infact yourself. 

My post was about Manning and the future of Bristol City, you've made it about Pearson. Go figure. 

P.s I very clearly said in my post that the elephant in the room is about the summer. That doesn't get discussed on here. 

You said Pearsons name 14 times in that post.