Numero Uno

Following club rules has to be a given and punishments have to be consistent and what you said they would be otherwise you end up with no rules being followed and having to try and manage 22 bitches scratching each others eyes out. The fact that a very small minority (to be fair) don't understand that favourtism cannot be given and what the outcome will be if you do go down that route of allowing some to break the rules and others not is astonishing.

Apparently Pearson was unaware of any interest in Bentley (could be telling lies) and dropped him for disciplinary reasons which would be a bizarre reason to state if he was dropped due to interest from Premier League clubs. All you would have to say is "he dislocated a finger in training and whilst he's fit enough for the bench we didn't want to take a risk with him starting"......easy. So on that basis I would have to think Pearson was telling the truth.

This is where apportioning blame to single people, which everyone likes to do, is difficult. It always amazed me why we bought BOTH Palmer and Szmodics when we already had Jamie Paterson. These two signings are a perfect example of how the club have wasted tens of millions of pounds by not having a sound procurement strategy and no real playing plan. We know that Swiss was like a kid in a sweet shop and believes that Excel spreadsheets and his mates in the Agent world are the answer to player recruitment but you then have to look at Lee Johnson and can only conclude that he either approved of buying both players which you can only label as either greed or incompetence or he simply didn't have the bollocks to go above Mark Ashton and say "Steve, this **** is buying players I don't even want or need and if it carries on I'm ******* off". We can blame whoever we like but the fact is there is only one Owner over the last twenty years that has allowed his staff to piss his money up against the wall with ridiculous recruitment such as this. Of course we are all grateful for the man putting his hand in his pocket that is undeniable BUT we also know that we now support HIS club and I don't recall any supporter demanding that we sign three expensive players for one (relatively less important in the grand scheme of things) position that was sometimes filled by NONE of them.......... What is my point? Yes, it's Steve's money and he can do what he likes with it but the way he has spent it means that the club as a whole and the supporters who also pay a significant chunk of their income each year, however insignificant in the grand scheme of things, will now suffer for a number of years whilst we come out of this mess. The fan base is the most important part of a football club, everyone else comes and goes, and it is increasingly looking like the Owner may find this out the hard way.

As it should be, but isn't due to lack of squad depth, for EVERY position on the field.

Bentley is a good keeper at Championship level who, in my opinion, is not imposing enough to be a FIRST CHOICE in the league above - he's a great shot stopper who doesn't come for enough crosses and his distribution is significantly behind the levels that most Premiership Managers would expect from their Goalkeeper. It's not slating the guy, it's an honest appraisal of where he currently is. Goalkeeping is not shot stopping, end of, and to hell with everything else. You've got to be able to do everything to a good standard to play regularly for seasons on end in the Premier League. The highlighted bit, this season anyway is a bit exaggerated imo. Looking at our wins this season QPR is the game that stands out as one where Bentley's performance won us the game. There are also games where he has cost us points with late errors such as Luton and Forest. Overall I think Bentley's standards have dropped slightly from last season when there certainly were a lot more games that he single handedly earned us points and I certainly don't see him as a player that is so key to our chances of survival that he can be allowed to break rules other players have to abide by and still keep his place in the side.

Bentley is Captain Calamity on his general form this season tbh. Nothing O’Leary did cost us the points last night but if you want me to give you examples of Bentley costing us points this season there are a few. The club has rules and if only one player can’t or won’t follow them then he can go and **** himself. Entirely right call by Nige who, unlike you as a fan, has to look beyond the end of his nose and Bentley will get his place back when it is right to do so.

Well whatever these rules are if we have twenty odd pro’s following them and one Billy Big Bollocks saying “**** it, I’ll do what I want” then he has to be benched or dropped whoever and whatever he is. I think it’s an opportune time to take the captaincy away from him, a GK should hardly ever be Captain of any side imo.

I can guarantee the majority on here bawling their eyes out tonight are no different than you.

I would say don’t support them then but judging by recent posts you bought a season ticket and never go down and support do you?

Get a grip.

You might expect that given we played most of the second half with 10 men. If you can’t credit that performance then **** off and support Portishead Town or someone..,.

Referee is bent, no doubt about that.

This is what happens when the Owner allows a CEO the freedom of Ashton Gate to run riot on recruitment (******* shit recruitment at that). When you look at the mess we are in I think you have to give Pearson credit for trying to turn this round when he is fully aware we don’t have a proverbial pot to piss in. Plenty of Managers would have quietly cleared their office at midnight and been reported as missing by now. Yet nutters on here genuinely thought we only had to approach Chris Wilder or Eddie Howe and we would all be aboard HMS Piss the Championship…………..

One of my pet hates when people say “everyone” yet are talking about a minority. The thought of sniffing powder off the shitter paper holder in Spoons doesn’t do it for me either…….

Everyone?

I wonder if the fans who want us to change Manager every 6 months will give it a rest now? Pearson is here for the long haul and if you don’t like it don’t buy a ticket - that’s where we are. By the way, if you don’t like it ask yourself how many decent managers out there would touch us with a barge pole. Answer honestly………then the penny might drop.

…….and my point is that whilst I cannot disagree that he is the worst appointment EVER made by the club the man who appointed him (and even worse defended him) cannot get off Scot free and nor can the manager who worked with him for so long.

Perhaps when having a pop at others you might also explain how the whole of the current shit show can be caused by only one person. As big a ******* shithouse as Swiss is you have to acknowledge that the Owner asleep at the wheel and a manager loading a squad with mediocre clubs in the bag have also made a contribution however minor you see it. Wont say thanks in advance, no need for it.

Oh sorry, I was referring to Swiss Toni, our previous CEO such name calling you will no doubt find grotesque or some similarly descriptive word……

In your world ONLY Swiss seems to get any blame. I would suggest that you look at all management levels from Owner down to first team managers over the last 3-4 years to answer how we can end up in such a position. As others have said had Covid not happened this would have all caught up with us anyway……..and for what? A club treading water at Championship level that since the Wolves defeat a few years back has barely strung a few decent performances together. Barely anyone who goes to Ashton Gate these days does so with any expectation of watching a decent game and this has been the case for years. How the Owner and First Team managers over this period cannot bear any responsibility for that is beyond me tbh.

Yeah, you are definitely misguided to think only one person and one person only contributed to the current shit show, as misguided as you can get.

Not far wiser but far less naive.

To think we wouldn’t have ended up in the same position we are now had we kept LJ would be completely and utterly mental. How can you write such trash on a thread discussing a £38m operating loss???

Wonder if he took any of his "artwork" with him?

The man has ruined this football club to the extent it will literally take years to rectify the mess we are in and only one person didn't see it.................the most important person who has "made a few mistakes here and there" but don't you dare point them out..