JoeAman08

Oh he didn’t personally spend all the money so it means he done a great job. Yet Lampard is awful because inherited a good squad he didn’t benefit at all from Beckford, Morgan, Schmeicel, Drinkwater or Nugent did he? Point remains he wasn’t a miracle worker. I did see appointed 2011 so that’s on me for not seeing it was November. Like I said though, benefited massively from a huge spend

Years ago though. Frank hasn’t really had a chance to be successful. Walked into nightmares every job after Derby. His fault for choosing to do so of course. Just think he knows his options are running out and will have a point to prove. He has a progressive and pressing style. I don’t think it would be a disaster hire unless he is promised things from SL and he doesn’t deliver.

NP came here with 8 years of failure on his cv. Lampard was trusted with Chelsea in the last 24 months. Lampard could come in and fail. Just like Eustace, Rowett or Jones. Who cares if they call us FL BCFC. Better to be known as that than 17th again BCFC. Club needs change. Think we all know from the top but until then it is swapping managers and hoping to catch lightning in a bottle.

Go look at his net spend during the entire duration of his second spell in charge. I’ll save you the trouble. Transfermarkt so not 100% but gives you an idea. Does it in Euros and exchange rate different then. 11/12 season - Spent 12-15m. Sold 1-2m 12/13 season - Spent 5-6m. Sold 1-2m 13/14 season - Spent 500k Sold about 1m So a bit of a myth he performed miracles there isn’t it? Keep in mind was 10-12 years ago when the record fees were for Ronaldo’s and Bales well under 100m quid. He got LJ level backing and it took 3 seasons. Like most “winners” he needed money to be successful.

When was that? How much did he spend?

Most of those frees is my point. Sure their wages aren’t what we’d really like but they were competitive under financial burdens. They added most of those after covid and were awful with them last season. The point being what a decent manager can do. Seems like they been down forever so on me if PP helped them over covid. I get how transfermarkt works. We have ? On Mehmeti and Cornick. It does show that fees weren’t flying around during the last few windows for most clubs. Couldn’t see many you’d say had a major leg up on city. Like I said to Mr P, it is a manager/head coach thing for me mostly. NP didn’t have all the tools he would have liked but not many did. Either recruitment hasn’t been good or NP wasn’t getting as much out of them as he should have.

How is it inaccurate? Go have a look at transfermarkt. We were on par with most clubs in terms of fees and incomings outside the PP clubs. Pretty much everyone was in the red and could only dip into the market occasionally for a fee. Atkinson and James were big gets his first window. Naismith massive in his third. Mehmeti and Cornick good championship moves. Then this summer where we dished out fees before the Scott sale. On top of the numerous other signings that had varying degrees of success. It isn’t as if he had both hands tied behind his back and blindfolded. He had resources and moulded a team in his vision and it made us marginally better over 2.5 years. But we have to be patient. Have sides like West Brom maybe even worse off than us financially, who have only had a couple of fees paid out with free transfers and loans filling out the squad, flying in 5th scoring goals. Lets add Cardiff to that mix too. Wrong time to sack him but ultimately the right choice. However, it is all moot. The interviews showed City’s reality. It will forever be a “sleeping giant” under the Lansdown ownership. Any success we have under SL is a one off fluke. Probably off the back of a disaster.

I can’t watch it I was no NP fan but the technical director is daft thinking this is a squad for top 6. The recruitment has been hit or miss. Pace in the squad is laughable. I actually can’t listen to him lie to our faces. Further proof we go nowhere under Lansdown

Which would have been the remit of anyone coming in at that time. We can’t have what ifs but truthfully it is still the team he assembled over 6-7 windows with resources over that time probably on par or better than most other clubs in the division. He hasn’t moved anything forward on the pitch. Let’s not act like we were gutted to lose anyone bar Semenyo and Scott either. NP offered up dreadful football, brought in aging players that don’t stay fit, brought a medical staff in that doesn’t keep anyone fit and at the end of the day finished lower half of the table every season he was here. Not overachieved to tenth or ninth. Also, let’s also not pretend 3 points off playoffs(in like 13th place) after 10 games in an achievement too. Some of you act like he could walk on water. The only thing that went against him in his tenure was not getting any Scott money. After he got to spend close to 6m of Semenyo money.

Yea the Scott thing wasn’t ideal and is why I think sacking now is harsh

Probably close to 8-9m in 6-7 windows coming out of covid which not prolific but probably the envy of a fair few teams in the division. A number of high profile free transfers on decent wages like Naismith and James. Let’s not plead poverty here. Up until the Scott sale we backed NP as much as we could in the transfer market. Yes we sold good players because of things out of NP control but we haven’t been as clever in the market as we could have been and that’s what is holding us back more than anything. 32% win rate but gets credit for slashing wage bill which had to be done. Promoted youth which had to be done with the amount of turnover. With the best ones already on the first team fringes. You’d have to question him if he didn’t play Scott really. I get why people angry he was sacked because of the situation. He didn’t really deserve it at this time. Also, like most of you, i don’t have much faith in getting someone even at the same level as NP. Just don’t think he is the messiah many on here seem to think he was for us. I’m excited for the change because there is now a chance i won’t be bored watching us play for throw ins in their third and being the slowest counter attacking team on the planet.

Yea my first thought is none of those really. Obviously would have Potter but not realistic. Like to see us expand our search outside of the country

The rational side is ownership not convinced NP could take us up. Harsh to say he wasn’t going to do that this year though as it was never on the cards once Scott left. However, I agree that I don’t think NP was the answer for promotion. Now you look at it. He did his job. Kept us safe and help build a core of good young pros who are fit and work for the team. Now someone fresh can come in and add their bit of flair to the side. Add some of the magic we are missing. Of course this will probably be mostly next summer so bit strange to get rid now. We will see what backing someone new gets. I doubt we’ll see the MA and LJ spending again. It will be interesting then to see what funds will be released. Not gutted he left. The football has been dreadful. So excited to see change but felt too soon. Should have let him see our most the season but again he didn’t seem keen

Not losing any sleep over this. I don’t think we’d ever be a threat to be promoted with him. The football was dreadful. I am looking forward to something new. Talk about him laying the foundations at Leicester is fair but they also played a much better brand of football after he left. He set up the structure and someone else set them free to play actual football not percentages. That all said, got no faith in SL to appoint anyone decent or sort things out at all really. Don’t really see us going anywhere as long as he owns the club. Pearson going, while I am not gutted, was too soon. We aren’t safe from relegation and NP would have kept us steady enough. Off into the unknown now and little faith in the decision makers that we’ll be better off. Should have let him see out his contract. That said NP didn’t seem the most content on that either

Who has had a chance to? Completely different game since SL took over. You don’t own a football team to make money. Idk if it was different 25-30 years ago but you go into each season expecting some sort of loss. Now he does spend to FFP limits but never very well. Thats on him putting faith into wrong people and pulling funding on correct people. I just don’t see us being successful under his ownership. Too worried about what other clubs are doing. For NP, still not convinced. The style is dreadful. Recruitment seems to be good lads with good fitness and we lost any sense of technical ability. That isn’t getting it done. I feel for him he couldn’t get a direct replacement for Scott don’t get me wrong and maybe we are different with that player. I just don’t think there is any real reason to offer a new contract. The SC comparison is okay and maybe you can compare the squad when we come up to what it is now. However SC was coming off a league win and a cup win. Almost unheard of accomplishment. Not really fair to compare the lack of investment between the two imo.

Nothing wrong with effort but we are hopeless creating from open play. We needed forwards and creative players going into the season and it never happened. We had quantity but no real quality. Idk how many we scored this season but am quite sure the majority from some kind of corner free kick or long throw. Good option to have but bad when it is your main route to goals. Why we are in for another boring lower midtable finish.

Idk if we are a good watch but definitely a better watch. Even our goals today were a set piece and mistake from them. We aren’t that entertaining in the final third. Not really putting this season on NP though. He has done his job to right the ship and I have been critical of him. This season though is just keep it steady. Not signing a couple more after selling Scott killed any idea of pushing top 6 realistically.

Again disagree. Can’t give Pearson credit for blooding Scott, Conway, Bell and others and then say he is getting it wrong with Yeboah. Yeboah is raw but in a good environment. He is a threat in behind. Consistently making darting runs in behind and drawing fouls. Yes his final ball will be lacking but that comes with minutes. If we are being fair, not sure he contributed less than Weimann who came on at the same time.

Disagree about Yeboah. He gave them a very different problem than Sykes did. The way I see it, Yeboah the opposition make a constant effort to grab so he can’t get going. You see bodies back around him where most our other wingers opposition is happy to go 1v1. I think managers may have already singled him out as needing special attention when on the pitch. I don’t think the subs were why we lost but I would not have made all 4 at once. Also, whatever reason Sykes come off, I don’t think you should when needing a goal. He is the most creative and composed player we have. We caused problems in a frenetic way after the subs but when we needed that calm head in the final third we just didn’t have it. TGH isn’t a rb. Naismith isn’t a cb. We don’t have an athletic enough midfield. Those are more of the reasons I think we lost than the subs.

Think Conway or Wells more than likely finish that. Cornick not the one for me. Reminds me of Marley Watkins a bit except Cornick come here at better value and probably better reputation? Watkins flopped at Norwich and couldn’t believe their luck they got 1m for him. Cornick went for much less from a side that still probably wanted to keep him at least for rotation purposes. I’d probably lean more minutes towards Yeboah at this stage. Not because he is young but because I think he causes problems no one else in our side can cause. I get protecting a young player and all that. Just saying his pace is electric and for his age he is quite aggressive and strong. A blend I don’t think anyone in this team provides. I think the fact we are talking about this shows where we are as a team. Good culture and all that but lacking quality. Cornick sums that up. Great worker but lacking technically. Until we start addressing quality over culture we’ll probably be lower mid table. Even Millwall and Preston who I think are traditionally culture sides have tried sprinkling in some magic in their team. We needed another player as soon as Scott left but think we all know that

His right not to spend money but football isn’t something you get into to make money. You do it from a personal pride standpoint. You are competitive and want your teams to do as well as it can under the constraints you have. It is a slap in the face to fans to bring in between 35-40m in fees and possibly close to halving the wage bill under NP. Then turning around and saying there isn’t money to spend. We should be livid as a fanbase. The fact that he put in money doesn’t excuse his piss poor decision making year after year.

Yes I think he is pretty close to a finished product. I can’t see where his game will get better. If he isn’t tricky and skilful now beating a fullback it is likely he won’t in a few years. Not sure he has the build to get physically stronger. He lacks aggression imo something that you usually don’t develop. I jus Then, can his movement get better? I think he is pretty good at it from the left side. His finishing and composure is good. So unlikely to get much better. For me, I can’t envision him being a great option against teams that sit deeper and look to counter us. That will always limit him imo. People compare him and Mehmeti which is fair. Mehmeti not as good as Bell in those transitions but think he can do it. Whereas I know Mehmeti can break down a fullback and get a cross or shot in. However poor those are, I think those can be worked on more easily than Bell’s weaknesses. So I’d persevere more with Mehmeti. At the minute however, you could share the minutes. Bell away from home and Mehmeti at home. Don’t expect many to agree with me on this but what I see with both players. Not that Bell can’t contribute just that I am not going to get carried away with him. He is no Reid, Bryan, Kelly, Scott, Semenyo or Conway.

Bell May 2002 Conways August 2002 From wikipedia Doesn’t really matter much for how they’ll end up. Just perspective as Conway been a reliable championship striker for awhile now. Even when he broke through I thought his movement, finishing and composure was a different level. Probably not fair to compare them as different positions imo. Conway can play up front on his own at this level. Not sure Sam Bell will be able to. So he is a wide player for me and one who can’t beat a rb in a 1v1. Think it limits his potential. Maybe the staff see a Vardy type in him. There are some comparisons with the pace and finishing. That said Vardy had that shithouse and dark arts in him that I can’t see Sam Bell doing.

1974 way before my time ? Maybe progressive the wrong word. I want to see more energy and intensity at home. I want to see us able to break down sides that want to sit and catch us on the counter. At the minute it doesn’t feel like there is a plan to do that. If this plan doesn’t work, try the same with different players. NP doesn’t offer sides different looks. Is okay asking what if. I get it but is a massive what if. I think if he got this team top half it would be a hell of an achievement let alone top 6. Just not convinced he can do it. And also, if he did and it was still dreadful, I’d ask if it was sustainable. Also the massive hole thing I look at differently. I think he has undoubtedly changed the culture for the better. However, don’t think it was him selling players nor recruiting them(outside James King and Simpson). Any manager coming in would have had the same constraints. I don’t want to turn into an argument about what NP has meant during this time though. He has done a decent job I think. Think more so in the feel and culture around the club. Think he has been lacking in game day scenarios. So for me think that just means no rush to give him a new deal. However, we should have recruited another 2-3 for him to have at his disposal.

Yes but kind of what I am getting at. He is miles behind where Conway is despite being older. I have serious reservations about the level Sam Bell can reach. I don’t think he’ll ever be a top end championship player. He is now what I think he will always be. A useful player for a side who won’t have the ball much.