FNQ

10 minutes ago, ExiledAjax said:

But the points target isn't the same every season, so using a moving target to determine whether or not we have improved each season is flawed.

You and @Capman are conflating single-season success with ongoing improvement of our squad and performance. Your defining our own improvement relative to ourselves by performance relative to outside parties who we cannot control. Potentially, using your method, we can say that we have never improved. It's deeply flawed.

If we concentrate on ourselves then we will improve relative to our peers. If we improve by 4 points every season, then eventually we will hit a points total that inevitably gets us into the top 6.

That is not standing still, that is season on season improvement and ultimately will deliver success.

Apologies, I know you don't like me pointing this out but you keep saying that you speak for most/all of us, and you really don't.

One of the reasons that we were actually 4 points better off this season compared to last was that we managed to beat the bottom side, who we would all agree were sh1t, they only won 4 games all season, twice. The season before we dropped the 4 points by drawing twice with Wigan who finished bottom albeit with a lot more points.

Points may well make prizes, but in my view to be optimistic and call this season out as somehow being successful / progressive with all that has gone on, which now includes a final day thumping with a revert-to-type style performance against a side well below us, is just wrong.

8 hours ago, Jobi said:

Maybe true however I think Manning is better than Johnson, and I don’t think he will get nearly as much money to spend.

Out of genuine interest, why do you think Manning is better than Johnson?

5 hours ago, spudski said:

...has left Reims and apparently linked with a Championship Club.

 

Could be us… there’s a lot of synergies, our owner is known in the football world to be Standing Still and we have Dumb and Dumber Still making the big decisions. We need to also remember that our HC is Still Here..

9 minutes ago, Silvio Dante said:

The wildcard here now is next season. Now Liam feels more secure, does he go back to plan A?

Not sure how he can with pretty much the same squad? 

50 minutes ago, And Its Smith said:

I get inside info as well.  This bloke tells me after every win that he’s helped Manning come up with a master plan and that after every defeat it’s cos Manning didn’t listen to him. He also tells me that Brian Tinnion is the greatest technical director of all time and was the best player of all time who should have played for England. Naturally, as with all inside sources, I’m not going to tell you who it is. 

Too easy, it’s Jon Lansdown innit?

17 hours ago, ExiledAjax said:

I think this is a season where an observer can take whatever they want. 

Interestingly last season we finished 10 points off of the top 6 and 15 points above the bottom 3. With only the Stoke game to go, we are again 10 points off of the top 6 and 15 points above the bottom 3.. spooky. In reality the overall average quality of the teams in any division for a specific season can make it easier or harder to rack up the points. For example, Wigan finished bottom last season on 39 points and held us to a draw twice, so this season we have 4 more points in the bag versus a much worse performing bottom team. 

Having said that, our recent run of results is certainly encouraging and our performance against Norwich in particular was excellent and yesterday against a rubbish Rotherham team we were dominating and professional. So as KITR mentioned in the original post hopefully the momentum will continue and carry over into the new season, a good early transfer window will certainly set the scene.

12 hours ago, Redshorts said:

So Did Tinnion Confirm offers on table for Williams and Conway? Did he mention James and King? Any other transfer info?? 

Yep, offers made to Tommy and Joe.. no one else was mentioned.

Just now, FNQ said:

BT confirmed that Joe had been offered a new contract pre match on RTV.

Just to add.. new offers for TC and JW, but no mention of Matty James.

3 hours ago, Davefevs said:

Ah, that’s where it came from…had a few WhatsApp’s without saying who from. Ta

BT confirmed that Joe had been offered a new contract pre match on RTV.

11 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

Huddersfield look nailed on to me, 1 point from the last 9 available & taken a couple of hammerings.

It’s a funny old game.. when we drew 1-1 at their place I thought that they were easily the worst team that we had played so far… At our place recently we were lucky to get a point as they were easily the better side, that was their one point in the last available nine keeping our unbelievable unbeaten run intact.

Good work again JB… I seem to recall that we signed John Galley from Rotherham back in the day.

I think we’ll smash em… 1-0.

31 minutes ago, And Its Smith said:

I’m sure the 3 teams that come down from the Premier League and a few of the top teams in this division that don’t go up will be interested in him. That would be a good step forward for him, a low fee for them and he’d probably double his wages.  I would guess that teams like that are waiting to see what league they are in before offering him anything formal. There are bound to have been conversations. 

Could even be a straight swap with Burnley for Twine.. Both clubs could reason that they have traded £5m rated players?

Good point, solid performance..

Great goal..

Solid first half against a good Norwich side.. certainly holding our own.

5 minutes ago, richwwtk said:

I would agree that there have been some turgid displays under Manning, we are frustratingly inconsistent because when it is good, it is very good.

It just confuses me a little that people say we should never have sacked Pearson because we were great, and it has become much duller under Manning, yet complain when a player suggests we have reverted to a more Pearson style.

I get that people think we shouldn't have sacked Pearson, and I can agree to an extent as he did a fine job getting us through a very difficult patch and he should maybe have had a bit more time but it did feel like our progression had stalled under him a little.

Whether Manning was the right replacement is also a topic for debate, and as yet I am on the fence but feel we have seen enough bright spots to think he will come good in the end.

I also don't particularly like the constant references to 'Manningball' (usually used in a derogatory sense) as though the football he plays is somehow different to a lot of teams out there. And once again, we have already seen that when it is good it is very good. We just need to find some consistency is all.

Wow… I agree about the turgid displays..

However, this wasn’t a Manning vs Pearson thread.

2 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Will be (pretty much) the case with pretty much every manager at every club.

I find it staggering that people don’t understand the different dynamics of the dressing room.  Quite simply there will always be happy, and always be unhappy players.  Broadly speaking, they will be split into those that are getting regular minutes and those that aren’t.  There will be nuances, e.g. young player, finding his way, may be happy to be on the periphery whereas a senior player finding himself not playing will be unhappy.

There really isn’t a need for much willy waving about comments like these, but by the same token there isn’t any need for people to come up with the opposite - “look at his body language, he isn’t happy” type stuff either.

With a small, tight knit squad like ours, under both Nige and now under LM, there really isn’t much room for players to feel “out of it”, so generally you’ll hear positivity.  The fact that both Nahki and Syko were comfortable to express their positive views and also both referenced Nige too, probably shows what a good culture we have.

 

I know my glass is bone dry and not half empty, but Sykesy talking about how we dismantled Swansea in the old style versus a new Bristol City which we may see after the summer transfer window  doesn’t leave me with a feeling that he’s truly on board or the type of player required by LM for next season. If that’s correct we’ll be in trouble if that feeling is more widespread.

14 minutes ago, richwwtk said:

I didn't read it, that's why I asked.

If we have reverted to how we were playing under Pearson, why are people complaining about the dullness of the football? Reading this forum you would imagine that everything was whizzbangs and fireworks under Pearson, and the club is now on a deliberate campaign to find the most boring form of football possible and to inflict it on us for no purpose.

in his own words..

“Even under the last manager, and I don’t know if this is statistically correct, but it felt like we were good on the counter-attack and a lot of my goals have come from that position and we were probably set up that way; this team has a lot of the last manager’s players in it, so we were used to playing that way - being under a bit of pressure.

“I always think back to Swansea games, and they were proper possession-heavy and we’d always manage to catch them on the counter and that’s the way the team in set up.

“Maybe the new manager, when he gets a transfer window under his belt, will be able to implement the way he wants to play and you’ll see a different Bristol City.

1 minute ago, richwwtk said:

I presume this is something to do with you finding the football under Manning boring and that it is somehow a deliberate tactic? What did Sykes say to confirm that?

 Basically, we’ve now reverted to pre Manning methodology, especially against the top sides, and that Manning can play his own style only when he has the benefit of a transfer window where he can bring in players capable of playing to that style.. How dis you read it?

Well if we get 21,000 vs Rotherham we’ll be doing well..

3 minutes ago, Numero Uno said:

Bit difficult to be critical of the club in those circumstances. They are visiting children with life limiting conditions and we are bellyaching about the lack of a visual press conference............................that would be a bad look.

Can’t argue with that, the work the club does with the community is above and beyond. But not giving a regular weekly update is too much?

3 minutes ago, eardun said:

There were press conferences this week - a bit different and audio only though as done outside at the Children's hospice. Manning’s previous comment about contracts was that they would start talking to players about contracts from this week - highly unlikely that they would be ready to talk to the press about that yet. 
Manning and Sykes preview Canaries trip - Bristol City FC

Thanks.. missed that. No comments on the forum though, unless I’ve missed them too?

Well I know that I’m viewed by too many as being overly negative.. fair enough I get that too.

But where is the feedback / outrage on no pre game LM presser before our toughest remaining game of the season?

Where is the update on players contracts after LM said last week that discussions would happen this week? 

Where is the forums feedback on Mark Sykes comments in the EP basically confirming what a lot of us have been saying with regard to old style versus Manningball?

Have we all just given in and conformed?

17 minutes ago, Clutton Caveman said:

Do you really think that Tommy is better this season than last?

No not at all, my bad… I think TC will move on in the summer and he will benefit from some development elsewhere. I read the original post as what players can still benefit from development, not what players are currently being developed.