FNQ

Thanks Nige, especially wishing you good health and best wishes for retirement or whatever you decide to do in the future. The best manager this club as ever had… it’ll be interesting who the comedy duo think that they can now bring in to do a better job.

2 minutes ago, marcofisher said:

Sykes is doing okay left back but he needs to stop playing long balls as our midfield of Mehmeti-Knight-TGH are more than capable on the ball. We are losing it every time 

Sykes has been excellent… Pring if anybody has been guilty of hitting a few too many long balls if anybody.

Is Matty definitely injured? Can’t find a source… 

13 minutes ago, petehinton said:

Idehen or Jamie KL will be getting a start at CB, imo.  

Not sure.. Nige had the opportunity to bring one of them on on Weds but didn’t.. perhaps young James at left back is considered less of a risk?

SL better pull his finger out quick otherwise Nige could have his head turned..

9 minutes ago, italian dave said:

Sure, and I’m not trying to suggest exact parity. But I don’t think that alone makes the difference in terms of how much better coached they seemed to be. 

If Ipswich would have been playing a midfielder as centre half, an attacking winger as a full back and then having to switch their left back into the middle of the back four as well as having to sub a sub through another flaming injury then perhaps they would have struggled more than they did. BTW, I honestly thought we were worth a point.. given our plight and their momentum coming into this game I thought we did OK.

4 minutes ago, italian dave said:

I think you’re right about the team spirit: the fight/grit. What worries me is the coaching. As you said earlier, Ipswich were far more controlled, incisive, decisive,  moved better, gave players options, knew what to do when. We were second best in all those respects. I know we had injuries, but so did Ipswich. 

Not sure Ipswich were as hamstrung with injuries as us… Wells, Williams, Vyner, Naismith and Tanner would have all likely been playing if fit. That’s literally half the outfield team.

Surely it would have to be Claudio Ranieri?

1 minute ago, Northern Red said:

Good to see the BBC have caught up to something the Post ran 2 days ago.

Yea I know.. it just felt a bit sad and a bit more real when the BBC themselves said that they contacted the club but got a ‘no comment’

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/67204097

it gets worse…

On a lighter note, I bet Steve will have a face like a slapped arse when Mark Ashton rocks up to share a bottle of Chardonnay tomorrow

17 minutes ago, ExiledAjax said:

It's about applying past performance to a prediction of future performance.

Not just blindly saying "yep good job done there, here's the new contract". 

Past performance is measured against one set of criteria, future performance against another. That's the nuance.

And Johnson sold Webster, Reid, Kelly, Bryan and Flint for more than that combined.

And plenty of managers could have turned a profit on a generational talent like Scott. I don't buy this as a strength the achievement of those sales figures as something unique to Pearson.

How does that compare to other owners and other clubs? In isolation it's meaningless.

The measure of a managers success is hugely dependent on when and how they leave. Cotterill was successful of course, but had he stayed we'd have likely been relegated. Johnson Sr - again some certain success but sacked on a downward trajectory. It is therefore arguable that both are remembered as successful because they were sacked before they played out their destiny.

Jeeez… in your earlier post you said that whilst voting ‘no’ you were apathetic about it and suggested that there would definitely be some positives if Nige stayed.. what positives were you referring to?

For the fantastic work Nige has done to date in my opinion he absolutely deserves a new contract, and on improved terms.

However, we don’t know what we don’t know. If for example he’s bailed SL up in front of others and called him an ostrich for the way he handled the Alex Scott transfer, then in reality he has to go… If SL genuinely believes or is concerned that Nige’s ongoing health issues could impact his ability to adequately perform his duties in the future then again, he probably has to go before things could  potentially turn messy. We’ll never really know all what goes on behind the scenes, but from the outside if it was a case of one or the other then I’m with Nige.

*******.. they boo in mass against the monarchy when they are in a rare public sporting spotlight and then vote in mass when in their private seclusion at a referendum to remain as part on the UK..

https://www.bcfc.co.uk/video/interviews/it-doesnt-get-better-than-that-conway/

Probably the best OS interview that I’ve seen… bloody brilliant.

If ever a game needed to be pixelated..

41 minutes ago, mozo said:

It does fill me with that little bit extra joy when homegrown, son of a popular former player, Sam Bell scores. I'd like to think that in 25 years time we'll be watching Sam's son break through into the team to make it three generations of Bell at City.

I do think, however that both Bell and Conway could move on in the not too distant future if they can keep scoring goals. 

I think Bell and Conway are in the same basket as Pring and Vyner.. very good championship players but nowhere near good enough for the premier league. Unlike Alex Scott who clearly was good enough for the EPL why wouldn’t they sign their new contracts? TC for example could run his contract down and end up at somewhere like Coventry or even worse the SPL.. why would he? Their best chance of getting to the promised land is probably with us as long as we retain our manager.

Not too bad according to the BBC..

Championship: Birmingham v QPR - entertaining game ends goalless

4 hours ago, RUSSEL85 said:

If the SL/JL want some heat taken off, give him a new contract, they won’t though. 

TBF, I think that the Lansdowns are probably still waiting to get the nod of approval from Top Robin… could easily roll on to the summer if at all…

Nige looking and sounding really upbeat on the RTV pre match interview . Suggested we might possibly get to see young Nelson too… “terrifying them down the right hand side”.

2-1 to us.

COYR’s

18 hours ago, Major Isewater said:

I’ll take the place of Big Tone here.

 The wheels are in motion uncle Steve don’t **** it up . 

I’ll take the place of uncle Steve here.

Of course I’ll **** it up, it’s what I do..

8 minutes ago, exAtyeoMax said:

Thing is, he will want to retire at some point, I’m sure, so he will want to sell up anyway.

I don’t think that he’s desperate for a sale.. for example he’s younger than Roy Hodgson and our ol mate Neil Warnock who both have really stressful jobs compared to his lot. I don’t get the impression that he’s spending too much of his personal energy on us at the moment and I reckon Steve’s mantra of ‘build it and they will come’ still holds..

Great report and player ratings, although I’d have given Matty James at least an 8… I thought he, (along with Sykes and Williams) was outstanding.

2 minutes ago, Malago said:

Difficult to pick a MotM.  Sykes, Knight, Bell, Pring, Williams, James all contenders.

WSM… Williams, Sykes and Matty

Thought Nige both looked and sounded quite upbeat in the interview on RTV.. Maybe the worlds not imploding after all..

 Fingers crossed for another Hull type away performance.

COYR’s