Olé

Evidently there are a few Gasheads working at FourFourTwo on a wind up 76 Ashton Gate 75 Twerton Park 71 Memorial Stadium https://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/ranked-the-100-best-football-stadiums-grounds-britain-uk-england-scotland-wales Bournemouth are 3 places above us, and Stoke and Bolton despite both being new builds in the middle of nowhere are in the top 50 if you want to get the measure of this ranking. Villa Park is below only Anfield, Fulham and Old Trafford in England, proving the people who came up with this nonsense have never been to a real match in their lives.

Match Report: West Brom away Match Report: Birmingham away Match Report: Coventry away Match Report: Sheff Utd away Match Report: Hull away

By virtue of 2 poor teams and very little end product at either end of the pitch this will be a spectacularly short match report - for an occasion where City spent a half reprising an anonymous performance last time away at Sheffield United, easily opened up behind our wing backs in a one sided 45, offering nothing ourselves from Zak Vyner long balls. Nigel Pearson seemed to convince his side to get the ball down to keep possession for a bit longer in the second half and City stole a just about deserved equaliser via Antoine Semenyo's second stab goalwards from a corner - only for Hull to again capitalse on poor wide defending for influential George Honeyman to put the hosts back in front. But despite offering little in a game short on end product, City at least provided their tiny away following a moment of excitement at the death as Matty James steered in what by then was a deserved equaliser but only in so far as Pearson's men had demonstrated that they were at least no worse than their briefly confident but ultimately limited hosts. When I say City didn't turn up in the first half this isn't me being flippant: we literally didn't in fact we didn't control the ball for over 20 minutes as like Brammal Lane before it, we watched in form Hull probe. In that time they inevitably roared into a deserved lead early on as with almost their first attack Longman curled past stand off City into the far corner. The first time we even shot was midway into the first half - from a short corner O'Dowda decided to launch it into space. It was the half hour before City's move of the match, Semenyo weaving along the edge of the box, James laying it back to Alex Scott out wide whose deep cross was headed back by O'Dowda for Martin's shot to be blocked. Wing back George Tanner entered early for an injured Scott but yet again Longman was allowed to cut in from the left and curl over. Five minutes later Bentley fumbled a cross and Malik Wilks almost tapped in. A brief response saw Martin go clear on the right but not for the first time misplace his cross with players closing in the box for the finish. City had been abysmal in the first half - lots of aimless Vyner long balls - but the restart at least seemed to bring a few more passes before that inevitable launch. On 50 minutes Andi Weimann got room to skirt the edge of box before a square short ball to returning Matty James who stretching to connect with the ball could only angle his clear shot wide. Happily a reminder that as poor as City had been Hull were not much better - a point that was proved as the hosts failed to clear their lines from a 54th minute corner from which Semenyo stabbed goalwards and hit the post but reacted quickest to collect the rebound and drive home an equaliser that City scarcely deserved - at the away end. In increasingly cold and now rainy weather the match degenerated and it took nearly a further 15 minutes - approaching 70 - for a rare but now building spell of City pressure to see a Kalas throw in from the left cause panic and when Semenyo recycled from the right to break the lines he slipped it inside and Wells turned and shot at the keeper. A poor match low on quality had only one predictable twist and it was Hull exploiting yet another loose defensive shape against a side that seemed to be finally getting a hold on the match, taking advantage of Tanner and Vyner from the right to cross for Lewis-Potter to sting Bentley's hands only for City to be flat footed and Honeyman slam home. This seemed the perfect way to complete a largely anonymous City display in a season of underwhelming football - but it wasn't over - Benarous for Atkinson signaled intent and in injury time Kalas recycled a corner and James hooked the ball goalwards and somehow it spun into the same corner Josh Brownhill's winner found five years earlier. Nonsensical pandemonium in the away end for fans who had been scolding their team for such a shapeless, disorganized display all afternoon but were now suddenly giving home fans both barrels. City were awful for 45 but they earned this draw against poor opposition - exactly what you love to see in an away end, and sparing City a booing off. Bentley 6 Kalas 6 Atkinson 6 Vyner 4 Scott 5 O'Dowda 5 James 6 Massengo 4 Weimann 5 Semenyo 6 Martin 5 Tanner 5 Wells 5 Benarous 6

There were a good number or them absolutely trolleyed at London Bridge at past 7pm as I was heading home. Not only did they have little chance of making kick off but they've obviously not been to Charlton for a while as they all marched resolutely in the same direction as me to the Millwall platforms, singing songs and chanting. I did briefly start pointing them in the opposite direction to little effect (Charlton train is literally the far other end of the station) but they were in their own little world & given their description of us as window lickers and bitter over Ashton I left them all to it.

With shares the asset has a real and residual value over time linked to the value of the company which has real buildings, real people and real profits - these didn't, they were made up, they had no real value, they were "synthetic" But even with synthetic derivatives (where trading platforms sell bets on shares or other investments) the platform can cover the bet and value by holding some investment in the real asset (ie buying those shares) - this couldn't, it had absolutely nothing to do with the players value and gained nothing from changes in that value And even then taking that all into account and falling into obviously the highest risk class of "investment", ie buying into effectively a token of no real value (like Bitcoin*), this went a ridiculous step further of paying dividends - at that point this stepped into Ponzi / Pyramid scheme territory and was simply demonstrating an incentive to participate by paying a small proportion of the market using money gathered from new entrants (dividends are typically paid from the profits generated by a company using its assets, but remember these guys had no assets nor a sustainable way to create profits). It was a house of cards and the biggest crime is the Gambling Commission or the FCA were completely asleep at the wheel and did nothing. *unrelated but Bitcoin I would argue has achieved some notional residual value and asset class based on its accessibility and utility in certain transactions/use cases (ie you can now invest in it through major platforms like PayPal or spend with it on certain other platforms), which creates some demand and value. But I use the example for perspective only as Bitcoin is still seen as one of the highest risk investments around but even then, it has never offered dividends and its' value is not linked to totally unrelated assets it had no way of monetizing - in this context FootballIIndex was off the scale of risk and unsustainability.

And one of Boreham Wood goalscorers used to be in City's academy under S'OD and Cotterill

That's the voice he uses when he's looking at himself in the mirror. He must have forgotten he was out in public.

I'm sorry I don't buy that. Cardiff is Gwent Police. Swansea is South Wales Police. The latter alone has the same budget as Avon & Somerset, can they not manage to police a separate football fixture - and the Rugby fans always lecture us about how civilised they all are. Also if it was just about the clash why isn't the game at 3pm on Sunday, rather than 1pm? As always this is simply about police forces in Wales making life as difficult as humanly possible for City supporters, when the same is not true in reverse. This has been going on for years and our club does nothing to stand up to it at all. With Swansea specifically, their last three attended fixtures in Bristol were 7.45pm on a Friday night this season and two Saturday 3pms prior to COVID where they were given such a big day out their biggest cause for complaint was marching from the pub to the ground too late and a load pouring in after KO. First world problems compared to our scheduling. Yes we had a 3pm in Swansea (the 1-0) and there was some trouble in town, but there was trouble in Bristol too after the 3pm fixture and they were invited back for a nice Friday night this season so I'm not having 'Police advice' for one second - and I'll say it again our club is spineless and laps it up, probably because they now care more about knowingly selling a load of TV passes to City fans on VPN, rather than actually encouraging a big away support. It's a sad & slippery slope.

Hell of a multi-tasker is our Mark. Represents Steve Lansdown's interests at the EFL. His own interests in our recruitment dealings. And Gamechanger/Ipswich Town interests during our US tour. If there was any time left in his busy schedule he occasionally did bits and pieces for City too, like deleting all references to Beard Construction from project updates about development of the High Performance Centre, before forwarding them on to Steve each week as his own work.

The trouble is clubs use future earnings to increase their buying power, if I can offer £1m now or £3m of future earnings the latter offer is more attractive to selling clubs unless they are in a short term hole. In a competitive transfer market that is a significant advantage, and the selling club is keen on it too as it offers them a bigger return. Also, your tin of beans example is pretty standard accounting regardless mate - even if you do pay all up front, after your first night of beans you still have 3 tins of beans to come and so only account for the cost of one. Putting aside your love of beans, it is amortization that means selling clubs know a club can pay much more over time. On parachute payments as a whole - I wonder if Norwich have broken the model? To my mind it only exists to encourage promoted teams to splash out on improving the Premier League product (literally being willing to jump even higher) - Norwich have been up several times and just banked the money and left (literally gone up in the plane and said I don't fancy it and come straight back down in the plane). They're not really using an expensive "parachute" and no doubt the PL would prefer to distribute it to teams like Villa who are only too ready to spunk it everywhere, sometimes before the plane has even left the runway (complex mixed metaphor this one)

The question for me will always be WHY would Mark Ashton reduce the network or close in on a far smaller counsel of individuals (and spreadsheet) for our recruitment. It doesn't appear to have saved any money nor been successful. So why do it? There must have been a reason - as bad as MA was, no one sets out to do the wrong thing and fail. Was it simply because it played to his sense of self importance? I don't believe even MA is that vain or spiteful Did it transfer power/control and eventually unprecedented remuneration in his direction? It seems to have helped build his remit/salary, but again I don't believe MA is stupid enough not to recognise success in the transfer market could do that even more effectively - why gamble on all the control and none of the impact for personal success Was there some other material benefit to restricting the scope and network of recruitment and giving him greater say? I've heard innuendo about a limited number of preferred scouts. Scouts as we know monetise transfers. MA loves the corporate game - in business many enjoy a high life of favour / reward from suppliers who stand to make money. I keep coming back to this and wondering if our transfers had some benefit to MA? All the other pieces fit. I wish someone could join the dots on that last one. I hesitate to make accusations of bungs which are a serious matter and I'm not here to slander the guy, but there seems to be little to explain the basis for his approach to transfers in other terms (not success, experience, or cost saving). So why did he close ranks and limit our approach so specifically? And let's not forget that MA first came to the club explicitly working as a third party making money from brokering transfers. I don't much like the conclusion I keep landing on, and hope for his sake he was just crap at recruitment and knew no better.

City's mini revival - and by revival I mean we won one football match - collapsed cheaply in the snow at Sheffield as the Blades under new management but with the same record as us, found it breathtakingly easy to carve open and outplay us for a comfortable 2-0 win that could really have been much more. Rhian Brewster was repeatedly given room to get in behind a young, largely anonymous City midfield and no surprise when he gave the hosts a deserved lead before the break - and even less surprise when Billy Sharp at the third or fourth time of asking converted for his usual goal against us, off the bench. Played in increasingly heavy snow - difficult conditions for the final half hour - Pearson's side showed absolutely no control or threat and were indebted to their central defenders who provided the only fight in a one sided fixture where City were often overrun, losing Nathan Baker to serious injury in a long delay. Sheffield United were all over City right from the start, finding it far too easy to move into space behind the visitors midfield and drive crosses into the box, from which Egan and Basham went close. The away side didn't lay a glove on their hosts, Gibbs White megging Bakinson outside the box and firing over. Past 10 Brewster looked suspiciously offside breaking from the right but both Hourihane and then the ex Liverpool striker would both get a chance to test Bentley as City offered little response, the latter firing wide. After 18 they bypassed midfield altogether Stevens clear on the left crossing for Bogle to head over. City had a rare spell to threaten that began as keeper Foderingham miskicked the ball to Benarous who worked hard to find a shot before laying off to Bakinson whose strike was deflected wide. From Scott's resultant right wing corner Martin drew a point blank save - as improbably City could go in front. They would win a couple of corners after a dangerous deep Scott free kick, but in truth it was a rare moment outside City's own half and inside 35 Massengo, part of a woefully porous midfield, lost the ball in the channel, then twice let his runner go as Utd threatened. Inside 40 minutes Weimann finally had the chance to open out his legs but his through ball to Martin in acres of space found the anonymous striker offside - and then a third City player to be booked for kicking the ball away in his frustration. It was comically bad and now heavy snow was starting to settle. So no surprise that Sheffield United went in front - yet again far far too easy playing the ball in behind our midfield and wingbacks, as the abysmal Bakinson, fresh from a new contract extension, offered no press and the easy square ball from Stevens to Brewster allowed the latter to swivel and slam home. The first "highlight" of a bitterly cold second half in Sheffield was fulltime clown part time ref Geoff Eltringham waving away demands for a yellow as United kicked the ball away at a throw in inside the first minute, a same offence he issued three yellows to City for just minutes earlier. Comically bad officiating. Then a huge injury delay as Nathan Baker went down in midfield fighting for a header - something our actual midfield was opting out of - and after nearly ten minutes he was stretchered off in not only a brace but also a series of blankets (reminiscent of shooting lame horses at Aintree) as the snow settled. The Blades were all over City from then on as the away side looked uncomfortable with the snow - though their best chance arrived inside 70 as Weimann finally got to run into space on the break, drawing defenders and centering for Bakinson's tame low shot on target that Foderingham held at the second attempt. Despite Wells being on it was a rare moment of purpose when at the other end perennially difficult opponent in Billy Sharp had also joined the action, inevitably setup easily to force a save, then after Norwood teed off on us from distance, Sharp's overhead kick was tipped over as we kept giving it back to them. City's last of a pathetic number of serious attacks saw Wells run the channel and turn on the keeper but rather than shoot he underhit a square ball to Weimann that was intercepted, while next O'Dowda, who did nothing all game, got into similar space on the left but his low cross deflected straight to the keeper. The pitch was turning white in now driving snow as Semenyo, on as sub, tried to offer a threat no other City players looked close to offering - but he also looked reluctant in the weather and having failed to challenge for a Bentley goal kick to him, Utd broke, spread it right, and McGoldrick crossed for Sharp to turn in. In front of 25,000 supporters the hosts had enjoyed acres of space getting behind City's young midfield and predictably non existent O'Dowda - and they saw out the game with chances to add several more, though Wells did stab wide from a Kalas cross after good hold up play from sub Atkinson near the end. There was a sense after clinging on against Stoke midweek that City had turned a vital corner but the reality is that when they do win - like then or at Peterborough - they are often second best, whereas when they lose, it could often be by much more. It's odd to say but City's league position flatters them. Bentley 6 Kalas 6 Vyner 7 Baker 5 O'Dowda 4 Scott 6 Bakinson 3 Massengo 4 Benarous 4 Weimann 5 Martin 4 Atkinson 6 Wells 5 Semenyo 5

I only support City because they wear the same colours as Benfica but I'm ashamed of the Portuguese football league it's such an absolute circus.

Bit annoyed Portugal didn't think about briefly declaring war on Italy so that UEFA would have to keep us apart.

I didn't need any reminder but it was still a reminder that there isn't an ounce of basic management or planning at AG. Given the benefit of Saturday as a first run, do it all exactly the same again and expect some different outcome - and leave stewards to adlib so some give up and let everyone in and others yards away from them persist in lengthy scans and get abused while a crowd of fans zig zags left and right to the most amenable steward like some kind of team event halfway between We Are The Champions and Pat Sharpe's Fun House. This is what a management vacuum looks like. Things that could have been done since Saturday: - tell people to get there early - fast track people with season tickets - have a plan for when the queues build up and don't leave it to some stewards to wing it and others that don't to get badly abused because there isn't a contingency - ask people to have jackets open (one of the most irritatingly familiar sounds at AG has managed to be infinitely more logical than the nonsense now, maybe that was the idea) - install temporary walk through metal detectors - if there is a serious issue then use the proper solution. They have these at big stadiums and living in a knife crime area my local station can set these up in 5 minutes flat of an evening for everyone leaving the station. City have the benefit of hindsight and do absolutely nothing to get it right. There is no other business that operates like this and plans nothing. On the plus side hot water came out of the Dolman taps I was so surprised I expected a genie next.

Wouldn’t it have been quicker to have people hold out their season cards and wave them through and only scan the rest? Because if you're a terrorist you're not going to have held a season ticket to watch football at Ashton Gate for any length of time or you'd have blown yourself up months ago.

Agree with all of that, and in a second half where we did next to **** all, he more or less made and finished our goal against the run of play, there is not another player in the side who would have tried to pick out O'Dowda with the deep ball over the top, and then he gets the ball back and takes on the shot from outside the area that results in the tap in. For my money he's also running more and working harder than ever, same at Birmingham where everyone told me he was awful but first half again I thought he was trying to be positive. But because he looks quite languid and not every one of his passes comes off, he is seen by a lot of supporters as the weak link and the source of all our problems. I don't think he'll ever succeed at City because too many now see him as the embodiment of soft touch and a mistake waiting to happen, and are ready to groan when it goes wrong. It misses the point he is the only one trying to open up teams - given the state we're in I'd far rather players who want to be brave than the ones who hide or go backwards.

He has a lot to learn (see Tuesday after Matty James went off) but the level of anticipation among City fans for him to do something wrong is ridiculous. No idea why he has become the latest "failure in waiting" when he is the only player that plays the ball forward and takes responsibility, today at least he did that more than anyone and never left the "box" in front of defence.

Chaotic City's ability to implode achieved a fresh level of ineptness as they conceded 3 goals and 2 leads to ten men in a 45 minute spell where unbelievably the side that was a man short had the time and space to play it around with ease, dominate possession and turn the match on its head - aided by what is a poorly coached, disorganised mess of an away side that makes far too many errors. The out of form visitors actually got to half time with the advantage, beginning to find some much needed confidence and edge an end to end game: rightly awarded a penalty when for the second time O'Dowda was cut down in the box, Martin converting against the reduced home side. But despite getting a second lead against the run of play via an Andi Weimann tap in, it was really all Coventry. With manager Nigel Pearson absent due to illness and assistant Curtis Fleming back in charge, the near capacity 3000 travelling fans had been promised a reaction by their side after successive batterings away from home, but despite matching the Sky Blues in the first half, an abject display in a second period that became far far too easy for their hosts, has sunk woeful City further into crisis. Arguably the away team should have had a penalty after just five minutes when keeper Moore miscontrolled a long ball while being chased down by O'Dowda, it spun loose to the winger who was then hacked down by the stopper, only for the ref to wave away raucous demands for what looked a clear penalty. Then inside ten Weimann volleyed straight at the keeper from an acute angle. Coventry were starting to open up City with their wide players and on 20 Michael Rose saw his free header from a left wing corner parried by Bentley and O'Dowda did well to block O'Hare's follow up. Minutes later Alex Scott, already on a booking, did brilliantly to track back and shield the ball to safety after Coventry threatened to get in behind again from their right - a source of problems all day. But after the half hour and attacking toward their own fans, City actually started to grow in some long missed belief. First Bakinson's recovery tackle won back possession and Massengo's deep ball saw O'Dowda peel off the shoulder of the last man in the box to collect and square - Bakinson's long range shot easily held. Then Scott's free kick was also in behind and O'Dowda forced a save. City were taking control and a minute later Bakinson strode out of midfield and fed the ball wide to O'Dowda on the left whose first time cross had Coventry stretching as Alex Scott hooked just high and wide on the run. No surprise then that with minutes left in the half and passing crisply, Chris Martin fed a perfect weighted ball through the line and O'Dowda was cut down with keeper to beat. A red card and a penalty - that Martin then despatched in front of the bumper following to ignite some much needed excitement and celebration between players and fans. And a minute later it was almost two as Coventry missed a long ball following the kick off that left Weimann and Martin clear on goal from our right, Weimann slipping it inside for Martin who saw his close range shot beaten away. A 1-0 lead, growing confidence passing the ball and getting O'Dowda into space and all against ten men - this should have been the perfect platform for a good result but after the break the opposite was true as Coventry played not just like a resolute ten man side - but expansive football as if it was them with the extra man, passing and moving at pace and with purpose, City chasing shadows. Inevitable then that the equaliser followed - but as always one which should never had happened. Far too easy for Coventry to get clear on their right and Zak Vyner, relatively good most of the day, drifted the wrong side of Gyökeres who got inside him and into the box before then tumbling under the slightest touch. Odd for the ref to even up as we only got one of two clear shouts - Godden converted. Coventry were now running rings around us. An O'Dowda slip allowed a short cross from the right of the box by Godden after far too much space for the Sky Blues to build - they had 2 players queueing up for a free header at the back post, Gyökeres forcing the save. At the other end Scott put a deep free kick just past the angle after Weimann was body checked - the youngster replaced by DaSilva. Another free kick, this time Tanner from the right, almost caught the keeper out after a flick on was bundled goalward, tipped wide. But then Bakinson created City's second. A deep lob over the top collected by O'Dowda and exchanged with Tanner before returning to Tyreeq whose low outswinging shot was headed bottom corner - Moore parried and Martin hooked inside for Weimann to tap in. It was a brief respite as a ten man Coventry side absolutely dominated possession and with less than 20 left they were all over City again: a cross from the left was desperately bundled out for a corner, from which a half clearance found dangerman O'Hare outside the box who smashed it back past players and into the bottom corner. He celebrated by offering out City fans for no obvious reason. Wells belatedly added some forward quality for Pring with ten left but by now City were clearly hanging on grimly - despite a brief moment where Martin robbed a dawdling centre back and crashed a low drive just past the post. Before the end hard working but erratic Massengo was bundled off the ball from a throw in on halfway and a 3 on 2 let Tyler Walker fire past Bentley but just wide. The crowning humiliation was still to come as wretched City, comfortably out played, out passed, our run and out worked by ten man Coventry, capped a one sided finish by handing out an injury time winner. Weimann lost the ball, ex City man Liam Kelly played it in, our players continued slowly watching as Godden had all the time in the world to hold off a defender, turn and fire home in the box. It feels like City have been awful forever. We would have been relegated last season had it been a few games longer and despite all the talk this year we seem utterly committed to collapsing to even earlier and even more spectacularly. I have always liked the idea of Pearson teaching this club to grow a pair but I see no evidence that he is having any positive effect in fact we are worse than ever. Bentley 4 **** off Tanner 4 **** off Pring 4 **** off Kalas 4 **** off Vyner 4 **** off Bakinson 5 hmmm Massengo 5 hmmm Scott 6 hmmm O'Dowda 6 hmmm Weimann 4 **** off Martin 4 **** off DaSilva 4 **** off This looks weird to me too as our midfield was awful so sparing them the **** off is undeserved, however - it's a collection of individual paradoxes. Massengo was the only one who looked like it meant anything to him (and I mean literally the only one) yet positioning and shape non existent. Scott was the only quality but taken off early. And while everyone waits to moan at Bakinson I thought he was the only person who had the balls to try and play the ball forward, while also sticking fairly rigidly to shielding the defence. And O'Dowda is probably the only one who comes away without having done anything wrong, I don't rate the guy but he gave us someone who got behind them and fair play to him for coming over to clap at the end knowing he earned the right.

Hey mate nowhere did I ask for a boot camp - just to keep things in proportion so that at our level there is always an element of aspiration in players. This wasn't a flog the players post nor a shout at them more post it was that we have simply broken the fundamental link between environment and results. If you did a graph of our time back in the Championship and drew 2 simple lines - one environment one results, one is an upward line, the other is an n curve. In other words at an unprecedented point where players are most indulged but output is the worst. This doesn't need the riot act just some balance.

For a period of no less than 2 weeks close the Robins High Performance Centre and move the team back to some school playing fields with a portacabin and a small bumpy car park. Forbid any filming of them for Robins Uncut 35, 36 and 37. Restore the hunger that drives professionals to improve - that innate anger that in any job demands “I am better than this and I want to prove it”. Unless you’re a big six team, every other squad must be driven by punching above their weight. Through best intentions of LJ & SL we’ve radically modernised the environment for players to a point where they’ve got the top floor office without the top floor work. And add in a fawning media team that promotes them simply for training. This is not a dig at basic commitment (everyone no doubt “cares”) but the hunger and fear that focuses the mind on eliminating mistakes, eliminating misses, executing the press because you believe you are better than what is around you. I believe you need an element of “I’m better than this” at 88 of the 92 clubs in England if you want to succeed and the balance for us is now all wrong. We’re now a “Premier League in waiting” environment with “League One in waiting” results. In any job you can get too comfortable - especially when you’ve got the executive bathroom and parking spot before you’ve actually earned it. Let’s bring back that hunger and anger that drives on a majority of clubs in our peer group. Because don’t forget - we’re competing with the Millwall’s and the Coventry’s and the Luton’s to be the best of the rest. This idea of mimicking our parachute-funded friends environments while shopping in Aldi is introducing a complacency. Bielsa had his squad picking up litter in the park, and ran double training sessions and “murderball” games (11 vs 11, full contact, ball is never out, non stop running). We follow our players about with cameras to see who had the best nutmeg. And anyone who bleats that we absolutely need the High Performance Centre to maintain our fitness and conditioning - the last two managers have claimed we would be the fittest in the league and I’m still yet to see any evidence of it.

Any remaining doubt that City are on course for another relegation battle was eradicated at St. Andrews as Nigel Pearson's struggling side lost a fourth in five games and second successive 3-0 away defeat in the Midlands - this by far the more abject against a long ball Birmingham side which itself only hit the target those three times, still more than City who didn't force a save until the very last kick. The warning signs were there on Saturday when even the long awaited win at home to Barnsley saw Pearson's men largely second best and today they contrived the opposite ineptness - marginally neater with the ball than their hosts, but only in so far as both teams are among the worst at this level and it was City that produced nothing in the final third and surrendered three awful goals. It's hard to believe Nigel Pearson is getting to grips with his City side - any changes he makes seem to have little impact on what is now a consistent lack of ideas and cutting edge, and in Chris Martin he is dependent on surely one of the most limited targets in the division. So it's no surprise that a wildly deflected shot and a route one smash and grab left City imploding in the final twenty. In a match slow to open up it was City that showed first, Weimann threaded in from the right by James but his lob at close range was over the keeper but onto the roof of the net. In response Birmingham broke almost immediately, beat DaSilva and crossed from the right, flashing the ball past Bentley to the back post where Gardner should have headed home, instead back across goal. It should have been a warning as with their second of so few Blues attempts the ball fell outside the box to McGree who unlike City was never afraid to shoot, and it got him the luck that deserves, a wicked deflection off Kalas diverting the ball beyond Bentley and into the bottom corner. A fortuitous lead and in response Martin glanced a long range header wide from a deep James free kick. At the midway point in the half Weimann set off on a high speed left to right sprint along the edge of the box before playing in Tanner whose low return cross found no one able to turn home despite defenders all at sea. City were combining well looking for space and got Bakinson into a channel run through the middle - only for the midfielder to squander his left foot shot from the edge of the box. As it happens the largely out of favour City youngster had been the pick of the visitors with and without the ball - chasing back to block and playing intelligent balls forward - and just before the half hour his killler ball through the middle played Wells in only for the striker to be muscled out on the edge of the box, Weimann seizing the loose ball but ushered left and shooting wide on the run. Before the break a largely anonymous hosts saw Bela cut in from the left to curl just over, while Zak Vyner, impressive in the middle of a back three, found DaSilva at the left byline with a smart long pass, his cross not turned in by Bakinson or Martin, nor from the long throw in that followed. City lacked a cutting edge and after Bakinson fed Weimann in the right channel, no one converted his centre. After the break City seemed the more likely to equalise given their upper hand but for all their possession again there was no cutting edge and it wasn't until the 55th minute - following the loss of an exhausted James for Massengo - that Deeney's quick ball over the top put Hogan clear in the left channel against the run of play, the striker drilling a fierce low shot past Bentley but across goal. On the hour City again contrived to miss an opportunity with numbers in the box as first Weimann lifted into the area to where Wells and then Bakinson both failed to produce a finish under pressure, the ball half cleared to Tanner who slashed a rising shot over the bar. And that was more or less it. City tried for a further 5 minutes but by now Bakinson and Massengo had surrendered midfield. So for fans of City's propensity to surrender football matches no surprises that against the run of play the Blues doubled their lead in smash and grab style - a long goal kick headed down by Deeney right into Hogan's path in the area, the striker drilling low and hard past Bentley into the bottom corner. An improbable two goal lead for a poor home side and yet what followed was unforgivable. Pearson's men imploded rapidly from there on out - torn to pieces by wave upon wave of attack by a Birmingham side that even now had the rare luxury of passing the ball such was City's collapse. It drew derision in the away end where travelling fans reprised their sarcasm and ridicule in song form as they had also at West Brom - we're ******* shit among the songs roared by the visitors. With 15 remaining crosses from both wings should have been converted and a minute later the hosts played straight through the middle thanks to Bakinson's tame challenge before spreading left to Graham who had all the time in the world to pick out Gardner in the box to nod past Bentley far post for 3-0. The Blues would pepper the City goal in the final minutes and could have had five or six. Met by derision from their 1000 supporters - including some targeting of squad members Semenyo, Palmer and Conway in the away end - it was an abject, leaderless surrender and against a low quality team that offered nothing until 2-0 up. To compound the away side's embarrassment sub Pring registered the first shot on target in the 92nd minute, a respite that prompted more sarcastic songs. City are now clearly hurtling towards a dog fight at the bottom and boss Pearson looks idealess and powerless to create better out of what increasingly looks like a poor squad which lacks quality, leadership, star players or even just goals. The sight of Chris Martin as our only target man struggling to keep up and unable to control or pass a ball is stark reminder how ill equipped this side really is. Bentley 5 Flapped at an awful lot Kalas 6 Gives his all but let down by those around him Atkinson 5 One bright counter, but strikers got the run on him from crosses Vyner 5 Some good forward balls but did not react quick enough in the box Tanner 4 Wasn't enough of an outlet, too close to centre backs and forced backwards DaSilva 2 Absolutely awful, bypassed too easily, over complicated and gave it away James 5 Better when he was on but looks burnt out and shadow of player he could be Bakinson 4 Gave his all first half and was everywhere, tracking back to block, picking passes - easily our best player. Completely exposed second half and fell to pieces. Weimann 6 More energy than anyone else but that wasn't hard. Wasted on rest of the team. Wells 4 Never really got into space or looked composed around the box - better in the channels Martin 1 The likes of Torpey and Diedhiou did not get ridiculed so that this joker can lead the line for a club in the Championship that spent £50m+ in recent seasons. Miles off the required standard and anyone at City who decided he would be enough for us to compete this season should be sacked. Massengo 5 crowd sung his name until he came on, midfield fell apart after he did Pring 5 watched Blues abuse us last ten Scott 5 watched Blues abuse us last ten

Putting aside the debate and general consensus that it's the right thing to do - even if it is, what the hell is happening at the club that we "sack" one first team coach on the eve of an important fixture and right in the middle of a busy run of fixtures and then don't turn up with the other first team coach at that fixture too. Don't tell me this was planned because if it seriously was whoever planned it is a moron. You expect players to be well focussed for games not surrounded by off the field soap opera and uncertainty. If this was planned it would have been done in the summer or at least an international break. I expected better from Pearson. Moving on his predecessors coaches may well have been increasingly desirable to NP, but in timing and handling this smacks of being both knee jerk and the result of some major falling out. I fully expected us to lose by a hatful today not just because we always do but because the situation is clearly totally unstable.

A third straight defeat in one week saw the inevitable extension of City's already woeful home form into away fixtures - and with it a toxic atmosphere as those same home fans who made the relatively short trip up the M5 having been starved of good football, were subjected to even worse football and so tore into so far impenetrable Nigel Pearson and his players in a way not previously seen. Within hours of sacking coach Paul Simpson and banishing Keith Downing - before a first return with City to his old club - there was a toxic atmosphere that seemed to affect the players as much as it was reflected among traveling supporters, some of who variously called for Pearson to be sacked as well as targeting players as not fit to wear the shirt - while singing to celebrate former players. West Brom's three goals owed much to just getting the ball down the channel to exploit poor full backs, scoring with relatively ease having got in behind over and over - in fact the Baggies could have scored six or more, Pearson hauling off teenager George Tanner for a loose back pass which nearly provided another goal, though it was his replacement Danny Simpson who did the same for a third. City went into the game introducing fit again Han Noah Massengo for Alex Scott - but his energy was wasted in a game which quickly ran away from the visitors. In just 6 minutes a ball over the top into the right channel put Darrell Furlong into absolute acres of space behind wing back Jay DaSilva and a drilled low ball into the middle was slammed home by Jordan Hugill in behind City's back line. Amazingly the visitors could have equalised immediately as a disguised touch from Andi Weimann put Nahki Wells clear from the far right but having fired into the far corner and spun away to celebrate Baggies protests for an obvious offside led the linesman to raise his flag a long time after the finish - a right decision but executed in timing that would make VAR seem a reasonable intervention. Almost immediately a carbon copy of the goal as Conor Townsend got in behind this time on the left, centering the ball to where Hugill hooked over at close range. The hosts continued to dominate and inside quarter of an hour a recycled corner was lobbed back into the box where Tomas Kalas stretching header was backwards into the path of Hugill who slashed over with Bentley to beat. A game which saw medical emergencies in the stands before both halves would see an ordeal even on the pitch too, as injury prone Nathan Baker appeared to fall to his knees with a serious neck injury, over ten minutes passing before he was stretchered away as Cam Pring entered in his place. The Baggies were all over us and when a shot rebounded to Robert Snodgrass he curled onto the bar. On the half hour Tanner's loose back pass again gave the hosts a clear run at goal as Hugill raced in before curling a low shot just beyond the far post. Pearson's reaction to this mistake - hauling off the youngster for Simpson drew derision in the away end who sung "you don't know what you're doing" at the early change, though in truth the visitors were shifting into a conventional 4-4-2. On 37 Weimann's diagonal run got the City forward in behind the home defence on the right but his cross into the middle was too close to the keeper. It was a brief respite as West Brom again piled forward and from a 41st minute right wing corner Kyle Bartley was allowed to rise unchallenged in front of Bentley in the centre of goal to nod low into the bottom corner for a deserved second. Before the break - which included over ten minutes added on - Simpson found himself miles off yet another Baggies attack and was indebted to Kalas for turning it behind, though the pair argued, the hosts winning a series of corners, and deep into injury time glided easily behind DaSilva again in yards of space to square for Matt Phillips in the box only to miscue with a third inevitable. It was no different after an extended break as one way traffic saw West Brom continue to swarm all over their visitors though a brief counter created City's first shot on goal as Weimann intercepted and raced upfield and threaded the ball into the left channel where Wells return ball was straight to the keeper. Next Simpson stole the ball for Weimann who slid it across but DaSilva's shot was blocked. It felt like City might be starting to fight back but they routinely surrendered second balls from set pieces around the Baggies box and retreated at pace, so it was no surprise that after a City corner was cleared, the visitors rapidly retreated and Simpson slipped a silly back pass from the halfway line that simply put Karlan Grant so clear on goal he had the half to himself, smashing it past Bentley. By now away fans - particularly those which see most of their football at home - tore into players and sung names of those departed. Before the hour City twice got in the way of themselves around the box, first James then Kalas wasting shooting opportunities, each occasion West Brom breaking, the second time Pring lucky to avoid a red card trying to stop a 2 on 1 that should have produced a fourth. City's best move came after the hour mark as our best player - Massengo - jinked past players in midfield and put Wells out on the left, whose well placed cross into the near post found the otherwise anonymous Chris Martin forcing a point blank save off a close range header. From the corner at a second attempt City had players in space from the right but Martin's shot went for a throw in. Calum O'Dowda replaced DaSilva but it was all West Brom moving the ball with ease and running at City, before 70 Jayson Molumby on the run smashed a rising 30 yard shot just over the bar and then the Baggies tore their woeful opponents open again to get in behind, Hugill clear in the box with just the keeper to beat forcing a save from an angle, the hosts unable to turn home the rebound. City had a brief spell of football (by brief I mean strung more than 2 passes together) and Weimann broke on the right and fed to Wells who steered a shot straight at the keeper. With ten remaining Martin brought the ball down in the box and lifted it across the last man to where O'Dowda managed to misconnect a diving header with just the keeper to beat. The jeers just grew louder. The remaining exchanges were irrelevant as West Brom lowered the gears though would still pepper the City goal from corners - and we threw Bakinson on for bundle of energy Massengo (cue more jeers), the away side at least creating the final chance, Weimann heading over a Wells early ball. It did little to soften a toxic capacity away end, some now singing the name of Lee Johnson and others. Nigel Pearson has had a lot of patience and arguably a) we'd always expected nothing today and b) those that turned so rapidly on both players and manager don't regularly see City away, but it is inescapable that sudden coaching changes over the last 24 hours reflect the chaos that then turned up on the pitch - indeed we've been poor for weeks (including our last two wins) and are now in freefall. Bentley 5 Kalas 5 Atkinson 5 Baker 5 Tanner 4 DaSilva 4 James 5 Massengo 6 Weimann 5 Wells 6 Martin 3 Pring 4 Simpson 4 O'Dowda 4 Bakinson