Olé

I gained additional time by managing to get on a train going in the wrong direction for over half an hour. ?

He really does. He has the physical attributes but he doesn't seem to have any footballing instinct or intelligence, never plays with his head up, and after five years is still playing like a scared 18 year old. He's been here long enough to be one of our experienced players and yet he looks like even Scott or Benarous could put an arm round him and explain to him what he should be doing with or without the ball. Yesterday was his usual script of being utterly lightweight, contributing nothing - running head down into trouble, never getting a proper cross in with the ball, and without the ball being too easily brushed off. For their second he fell over far too easily to give them a clear run in the channel. For their third he had time and space to break, never looked up, never crossed, mishit a backheel to King so they broke to score. He continued in that vain with his usual act of avoiding every single 50/50, standing off players, or with the ball charging headlelessly into trouble. I think in 90 minutes he won 1 corner and completed 0 crosses. I have some sympathy for Vyner lined up against Mitrovic - yes a bad performance but unsurprising. O'Dowda's display was far more unforgivable - 150 odd games now in the Championship and still no clue.

A power cut at Craven Cottage threatened to derail City's ominous trip to a high flying, goalscoring Fulham side. But with the game on, Nigel Pearson's side stormed to not one but two leads thanks to a real power surge from all action Antoine Semenyo, but at the other end they could not compete in the air and collapsed to an eventual 6-2 reverse. The seven goal first half was breathless and featured Semenyo twice abusing defenders on the run to lash home, yet a failure to win a single header against Mitrovic nor to get close to man of the match Kebano saw City well beaten by a succession of easy finishes into one or other of Max O'Leary's top bins, evidence if needed of a defence overrun. City's bright start was in evidence after just 2 minutes as Semenyo dropped a shoulder slipped inside a defender to sting the keepers hands. In just 5 minutes it was 1-0, a quick throw out from O'Leary and Scott roamed out of midfield, set Semenyo clear from the left, the young forward skipping easily past a defender before lashing the roof of the net. After 12 Mitrovic headed wide at very close range from a corner and soon after Kebano ran at goal but smashed the ball well wide. It was a warning and on 20 Wilson on the right slipped the ball inside for Kebano who had time in the box to lift it back across goal for Mitrovic, who pushed off from Vyner two handed and headed into the bottom corner. Kebano was drifting into space repeatedly - on 25 he collected on the edge of the box to curl goalwards. A minute later he had space on the left to cross and from a header back Mitrovic close range header was tipped over by O'Leary. Yet one quick ball upfield and Semenyo outmuscled a defender on halfway ran on goal and slammed in off the post. A second limbs moment in the noisy away end should setup an amazing afternoon for the boisterous away following and yet in just seconds the game was level as O'Dowda slipped under pressure and Fulham raced in on the right, O'Leary didn't hold the cross as Mitrovic headed in and the ball spun free for Kebano to stab home the easiest of goals. Within just 5 minutes Fulham took their first lead, the powderpuff O'Dowda on the break underhittting a backheel to King which was a complete swing of possession allowing Carvalho to run at goal with defenders to a man back tracking before he curled into the far top corner. Before 40 a slip got DaSilva in behind and Weimann's shot was blocked. With just 5 minutes left in the half Mitrovic headed in easily steering the ball onwards to the same corner of the net. By now City's defenders had offered little in the way of defence and were well on course for a huge defeat. A quick Massengo exchange on half time gave the ball away, a break via the right channel seeing Mitrovic curl into top corner. Being 5-2 down at half time is more or less uncharted territory and within a few minutes of the second half Rob Atkinson came on for Massengo and Chris Martin for DaSilva. On 55 O'Dowda was fouled by the corner flag and when the free kick into the box was half cleared King sent a rasping half volley just wide of the near post with players stranded. But before the hour Fulham got a sixth, yet again a move from the right, a free kick from the channel and once more a header down beyond the far post, Kebano on hand to turn in. Scott would test Fulham's keeper after Pring was cut down, Atkinson heading onto the roof of the net, and Weimann in attack would next also shoot straight at the keeper Yet from a fixture that started with a power cut and where Semenyo twice destroyed the Fulham defence, it was City that flatlined - a 1-0 and 2-1 lead quickly collapsing to what became a one sided result for Fulham and its' fans - static, occasionally waving bits of paper, but ultimately able to enjoy ending a 5 game winning run in emphatic fashion. O'Leary 5 DaSilva 5 Pring 6 Vyner 3 Kalas 4 King 5 Massengo 6 Scott 5 O'Dowda 2 Weimann 6 Semenyo 8 Martin 5 Atkinson 5 Bakinson 5

Everyone talking about dodgy streams and proxies - the game is being streamed free on most of the big betting sites or apps. When you hear moved for international TV these days in the FA Cup it just means the betting industry hoovered up all the remaining games so long as by law they don't kick off at 3pm. As an example livevideo.betfair.com I do not encourage gambling (everyone else in football already has that covered) but personally if I do use any of these sites I use the Betfair exchange so that I know I'm at least up against other people. If you use any of these sites today bear in mind they may require a small deposit I.e. £5 to watch the stream but you can bet that on a stone cold certainty for example Joey Barton completing the double. City game moved to 1230 so international fans gamblers can watch. This is modern football for you. P.S. if this has been any help for you consider using this link to signup to Betfair and whatever blood money they give me for referring you I will collect and donate to Help Bristol's Homeless: https://promos.betfair.com/choose-your-refer-and-earn-offer?referrerCode=UJNTQNKQM

I don't disagree with the spirit of your post, and I hope you're right - I expected us to struggle and like @Alessandro I will be happy to survive, but I'm probably a bit closer to @JoeAman08on this, I am not even starting to get carried away yet - in being resigned to a struggle, I just wanted to see a positive impact on performances and that really hasn't happened at all until the two over New Year. Maybe it's schlepping across the country for this stuff, but I don't accept "bar Sheff Utd away" as a way of measuring improvement - which is one of the most feeble & disorganised City performances I've witnessed in my lifetime, and we turned up for the next away fixture (Hull) against a poor side and were just as bad for at least 45, which makes me more sceptical about "recent improvements". I also thought Huddersfield outplayed us too in the following game, as a performance the scoreline in that fixture flattered us. Yes the QPR and Millwall games have showed a LOT more organisation and I'm excited about that - as others have said, a fully fit Semenyo really helps - but it's literally two games in a week where I've seen anything resembling green shoots, we've been here before under NP.

Didn't realise before now and a few people were making plans for it on Sunday - it's going to get moved to a Tuesday or Wednesday night isn't it. ?

I assume he's an Ipswich fan - and by the looks of the video he was about 5 rows in front of me & perfectly captured Dolman B Block being setup nicely to take the piss out of the Millwall jazz hands for the rest of the game.

I have never seen so many Baker boy caps on a single train before in my entire life.

This tickled me. What a way to find out. ?

It was a great advertisement for "do what you want" in our ground. We should have people who take more pride in what being at home is. Wrong sport (NFL) and it will never be close to footy but Google "Terrell Owens George Teague". Huge back story but the simple version is: don't take the piss in my house.

Every era needs a hero. In 2004 it was @Never to the dark side flying to Newcastle and back in a day just because he thought he could. Heading into 2022 a new generation will come to cherish @Chicken Georgeposting photos live from a car wash because someone dropped a Miss Millies on his Audi. We are truly blessed by this nonsense. Onwards OTIB into January, I've just been told by a mate of a mate of a mate that Eddie Nketiah wants more playing time and is available for loan.

Professional footballers anytime they do anything wrong

I've got no problem with players giving it back, but as others have said what on earth was he giving it back to, there was absolutely nothing to respond to why did it go on for so long, it was like he was seeing how much he could get away with. If it was just run directly to home fans after a goal and make a song and dance of it fine, players do that every week, but he was still aiming stuff at home fans back on the halfway line. Side question - if an away player is still disrespecting home fans for that length of time (which goes beyond the normal stuff) doesn't at least one home player lean in and have a word? We just don't have that sort of player anymore. I seem to recall even our goalkeeper once ran the length of the pitch to address unnecessary goading of City fans by opposition players. Probably no coincidence that same team fought for one another and the club and won a lot. Wish we had a nasty **** with a chip on their shoulder who treated AG more like "our house".

I also referenced that Birmingham game last night in terms of it being a generationally bad refereeing performance, however as a point of order Scott D was on the pitch after the last minute midweek penalty to Sunderland in the league earlier that season. The Birmingham game at full time was the one with Trevor Francis having a fight with a steward.

The QPR cup game is the more remarkable for me because a full 40 minutes after the ridiculous penalty, after extra time and after the final kick (Bailey Wright) of the shoot out we lost, I remember vividly in the upper tier watching in amazement as LJ stormed onto the pitch to go after the ref for a second time about costing us the game. Now you could argue that maybe Davies has had it in for us ever since because of this reaction, but either way to provoke that extreme a reaction from our manager of the day, then wind forward two years or so and our completely different (current) manager last night (rightly) describes that same referee as better off refereeing park football. Some record to provoke those sorts of reactions and comments from multiple City managers. And sandwiching an epic game at Preston where he gave two penalties against us, disallowed two of our goals, and allowed a blatant foul on Baker in the lead up to their equaliser to stand while simultaneously stopping play anytime we went near anyone.

Match Report from away at Preston (September 2019): "A frenetic end to end game played out in biblical torrential rain that had everything - except a halfway competent referee. Not only were City inexplicably denied a fully deserved winner from Diedhiou's brilliant one-two and finish to seal an end to end thriller, but the match official finished the game penalising City at every opportunity. Deepdale is just minutes from the EFL HQ and if you needed a metaphor for the last few years of administrative inadequacy in a league whose quality now vastly outstrips it's organisation, it was seeing a ref unable to keep up with two fine attacking sides and who ended up cheating one of them. Referee Davies gave Preston 2 penalties to get back from two goals down, allowed a questionable third Preston equaliser and disallowed two City goals in an afternoon he routinely pulled back play, didn't keep up to award advantage, and finished the day simply penalising the dominant visitors any time they got over the halfway line." Match Report from away at QPR (August 2019): "Football is sometimes a predictable game - for example when 2 semi-reserve sides are put out for a first round cup game you can guarantee chaos and goals. Today we got both in an end to end game that even had reserve quality match officiating too. City rode their luck in a match that swung back and forth, but appeared in control at 3-2 up, only for increasingly disinterested linesmen to be compounded by a referee picking and choosing his moments, finally deciding to award the tamest of penalties. QPR duly claimed their late lifeline back in the game as Johnson protested furiously but in truth City were always second best in the shoot out bar a brief leveller at 3-3, form being decisive as sluggish Diedhiou and out of sorts Wright, blew their lines." SAME REFEREE. Mind blowing.

No. I think parachute payments warrant a separate thread but in short I believe they're created with the right intentions but implemented in the worst possible way that does distort competition. There are more effective ways to make clubs promoted to the Premiership less conservative during their time in the Premiership and more financially sustainable in the event they don't survive. But the method chosen at present is anti-competitive and I would love to see a long term analysis on the diversity of relegated/promoted teams to the Prem versus all 3 football league divisions. I believe you'd see a difference in trend indicating that parachute payments distort competition. Don't forget a parachute side being re-promoted releases additional TV money back to the Prem. So there is literally an incentive even for the league organisers to reduce the playing field and repatriate the same teams over and over.

After witnessing the complete downing of tools at the back end of last season, a free-fall that relied on similar good fortune of others already being too far behind, I take absolutely nothing for granted. As some have pointed out, performances this year have really not been much better, with several just as bad, and any glimpses of improvement have been fleeting. As a result, I have yet to see enough evidence this team can be consistently competitive, but we have more recent evidence that a Nigel Pearson led side can completely implode (while growing over-reliant on inexperienced teenagers). If one of the teams mentioned as our safety net can do the opposite, anything is possible. Perhaps not the likeliest outcome, but I won't be complacent about some of the dross I've seen this year.

Fans are reminded that in addition to presenting their Covid passport, a bag inspection and a once over with the metal detector, mandatory drug testing will also now be taking place prior to entry to Ashton Gate. Please allow additional time as queues may form while each spectator pops into our single privacy cubicle to prepare a urine sample for us. Your test result should be made available within 30 minutes and fans are encouraged to arrive early and enjoy the entertainment on offer around the stadium complex - which will also be patrolled by friendly detection dogs on the look out for beak.

To be fair it simply says he was appointed on an interim basis in July which is true (prior to the end of the season), it then says he was appointed permanently in August. The directors report is just a summary of key activities that affect the business. The only contention is that we describe Downing and Simpson joining in July under his interim management (not true) and continuing when he was appointed permanently. I don't believe there is anything to be achieved by this so I am putting it down to the author having a poor memory of events.

Yes. I assume Derby fans are desperately digging around to find something we've done wrong so they can point the finger at anyone but their own rampant mismanagement and cheating.

Thanks for sharing this @Davefevs - based on the huge number of staff reported in our accounts and the commercial income typically achieved (outside Covid) at the redeveloped Ashton Gate (3rd best in the division) I'm going to suggest our ratio is not at the 0.725 Kieran uses but a bit better than at most clubs. At 0.6 our players average weekly wage is not 16k but 13k, at 0.5 (extreme but then we have got 560 odd staff) the average falls to £11k. £16k sounds too high to me. Incidentally, @petehintonwas involved so can tell me if I've got this wrong, but the admin staff kept off furlough to then help the Community Trust outreach during Covid (delivering meals etc) in a year the business itself is losing £40m - that is the measure of the club and it's commitment to the local area. I know many people gave their time for free but let's not forget that an organisation anticipating this bombscare of a financial results still put its hand in its pocket to help others.

You raise an interesting point because in business where the same should be true (and you started with that analogy) I know of & see plenty of occasions where people DO stick with their current employer and turn down the better opportunity with a bigger employer offering more money. The reason? Fast growing private business with a stated objective - to exit (sell) for a certain price, and where employees while maybe below market rate, have a stake in that success and get a huge payday if and when it happens. They also know success of that kind, like winning promotions, is an amazing boost to the CV. Can a Championship club like City give its players life changing promotion bonuses that outweigh the short term salary boost of a transfer while providing the gold star on the CV. If you doubled salary to £40k that’s £1m a year. A £2m promotion bonus for everyone on >25 starts, is £30m from a £200m windfall. Get creative and offer everyone an instant retrospective 2 year doubling of salaries (£2m for those on £20k, £1m for those on £10k etc) and you cover the boost from any premature transfer / pay rise on offer elsewhere and at less expense (or with the opportunity to give the incentive to more squad players). Private businesses do find ways to keep key employees below market rate and still achieving transformative success - along with incentives there does need to be a clear strategy and trajectory, and I guess fixed term contracts and agents are the anomaly that make football different - agents always favour twist.

That’s in the Bristol City Ltd co accounts as opposed to Holdco if I recall correctly

Our accounts for 20/21 are due by the end of February 2022 so they weren't needed now. You could certainly argue we are using this to soften the expectation in the transfer window. Last year we filed two months later on February 1st, but prior to that we filed fairly regularly in November (a month earlier than this) so I don't think it's too unusual .