Cov 77

4 minutes ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

Yeah, it does but I don't really have faith in us.

Releasing James isn't a great start- however given we have one of the non Parachute top incomes it should assist a fair amount yes or could do anyway.

I get it but James who i think has been excellent for us is 33 in July and it’s a big ask to offer two years or more on his top wages which I think is what he would have wanted, we also don’t know what the internal discussions have been , eg James said two years at least and maybe has offers in the bag so never got beyond that 

2 minutes ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

WBA actually only had 2 years as yoyo clubs only get 55%, 45% and then 20% 

See also Norwich if they stay down and Watford- only does a 2nd successive year or more qualify a club for the 3rd and final.

Ergo Norwich if they stay down will be from Year 2 Parachutes to EFL cash, WBA will be Year 2 Parachutes, EFL cash Year 1, EFL cash Year 2.

Oh ok that sounds even better , fingers crossed 

52 minutes ago, Lanterne Rouge said:

Well, that`s two hours of my life I won`t get back. On to Baggies & Saints - hopefully they can entertain us a bit more.

If not promoted West Brom have had their 3 years of parachutes and Norwich will be on their third year, so losing some of their advantage, in a division of unequals for that reason only want Leeds or Southampton to win the play offs 

10 minutes ago, Robbored said:

No surprises in the retailed list. It’s much as we expected. 

Hopefully Williams will sign a new contract but if he moves on it leaves the engine room a little underpowered. That said Manning has Bird arriving with Championship experience plus Murphy who looks as if he can make the step up. TGH and Knight both capable in midfield.

Manning will have a full preseason to assimilate the new guys in to his methods and come August we’ll be ready for a long season.

One slight worry tho is the lack of leaders on the pitch. Obviously Dickie is one but him apart the cupboard is pretty bare.

Vyner is an experienced CB but not that vocal, nor is Atkinson. Wells also is vastly experienced but playing up top can’t effect the deeper lying players that much.

Tbh if all the experts on here have noticed we may lack experience, just maybe for all the shit they are given on here , Manning etc may realise it as well , let’s give it a little while to see what happens before instant judgement that everybody is an idiot 

58 minutes ago, 2015 said:

Releasing James - big mistake.

Been our most underrated player since NP came in.

Sad about that

Maybe but necessarily our decision , if offered one last decent contract elsewhere fair do’s 

1 hour ago, City Rocker said:

My favourite away day, and still the only time (so far) I've been moved to tears at a football match. 

Interestingly the Lee Dixon who’s free kick supplied their equaliser is the Arsenal ‘legend’ , as Chester finished bottom of the league that year ,  things could only get better

47 minutes ago, Ivorguy said:

So who is still confident that next season won’t be same old, same old City ?

We beat Hull 5-0 on the last day a couple of seasons ago, lost 2-1 to them on first day of the next , not happy but see what the summer brings and see what happens next season from there 

3 minutes ago, formerly known as ivan said:

Even as much of a critic as I have been, I would not get to excited about whatever the result it today!

Absolutely, bit deflated but doesn’t matter too much tbh  , could have scored a couple, just keep perspective people 

43 minutes ago, Silvio Dante said:

Well now the deadline has both passed for reduced prices and pay monthly so we think it’s likely to be pretty much the final number…?

Surprisingly not yet , there always seems to be a reasonable few who still buy as the season gets closer seeing what signings we make etc and of course the half season lot who will buy when we are six points clear at Christmas

25 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

That really is no surprise to anyone who has been watching closely.

We signed Bird for the first team & Stokes for the squad in January, but they don’t arrive until now.

Manning has been pretty clear that Twine is his main target & if he gets him then that’s the vast majority of the summer transfer budget used up, unless Conway goes.

If Conway stays we already have our main striker & any further additions (back up keeper & possibly a striker) are going to be low cost ones.

So much talk , hints from Tinnion etc big front man is a target , I think even if Conway stays that may well happen 

5 hours ago, 22A said:

Bromley now meet Solihull next Sunday for a place in the EFL.

Both with an average attendance of around 1500-2000 , hope they can pick up a few more if they go up

1 hour ago, LondonBristolian said:

I don't really get what will have changed since January, though. Bird will have known all along there was a good possibility Derby would go up and he'd have known about Bristol City, who our players were and what our results were like. We've got the same manager as January and results have improved rather than got worse.

Bird would have had the option in January of staying put to the end of the season and seeing if Derby went up or if he got other options. He decided not to do that and to sign for us. To be honest, pleased though I was he did that, I was also a little surprised.

But, surprised or not. the fact is nothing whatsoever has happened since then that has materially changed the facts so I don't understand at all why people think he would have changed his mind. 

Because as usual they are talking crap 

5 minutes ago, Sleepy1968 said:

I'd offer £2m plus a £4m PL promotion bonus. C'mon Burnley, you know you want to.

(I fully appreciate that Fevs and Silvio have mentioned better value options, but LM only has eyes for ST.)

There seems to be a conviction on here that Burnley want him if they come down, nothing I see or hear makes me believe that is the case , their squad pissed the division last time and they probably think will do again , I honestly believe if we want him a deal will be done at around 2m plus bits ( not 4m !) but time will tell 

2 hours ago, 1960maaan said:

 

I will have to go and listen again as I took it to mean they wanted to sell more than last year , to get over 15k at the start of the season . I didn't think they wanted to limit it to just over 15k

They have to hold a certain % back for PotD , but you would think that having a guaranteed 18k every week would be preferable , then you would be near sell out every game if the PotD interest kept up. 

 

I get it but not just us many clubs leave a lot of room , more than we would think sensible for POTD , make more money ? 
Don’t agree with it but heard this lower figure spoken about before 

5 hours ago, JBFC II said:

Don't the club have to keep a certain number of tickets back for pay on the day anyway?

Let's say we have 22000 seats available for home fans, we'd probably be looking to max out at 18k season tickets and then leave the rest for general sale.

The issue with the south stand was the number of unused season tickets. From what I heard, despite being sold out it was at around 60% capacity on average, the club had to do something. Season tickets are still of huge importance for a club like ourselves, can't see there coming a time in the near future where we won't have them

I don’t think they want to sell anything like 18k if previous utterings are anything to go by, I think nearer 15k tops , whatever their reasoning . 
 

To be fair I think fans groups have also pushed the changes regarding the south stand as a way to improve the atmosphere, to many cheap kids tickets not always attending for whatever reason leaving big gaps . 

21 minutes ago, W-S-M Seagull said:

Personally I don't like it. It's the approach the big clubs are doing now. Prioritising potd. 

When we ultimately struggle again then the club will be begging fans to buy season tickets and I'll laugh at that. Need to get the balance right. 

 

Do you ever stop ?

2 minutes ago, formerly known as ivan said:

How is any reduction in ticket sales “gone very well”? This is a football club. It’s not like buying tickets for something where there are multiple options that can impact sales. If numbers are down, it’s because people either aren’t happy or have been priced out of going. Neither is a good thing.

Long way to go of course. General sale might be booming and good luck to anyone wanting to invest. Just find that particular comment strange.

Year on year this is up and you know it , 10k this time last year, you have your view but it’s the truth well up at this stage 

1 hour ago, formerly known as ivan said:

No one will greet it with glee. In fact I would say the opposite. Many becoming that disillusioned with the club they feel they can’t renew. 

Having said that, not lining SL pockets so he invest in anything but football isn’t the worse thing.

If yourself and the seagull don’t renew that’s up to you , good luck to you , but what it does say is that this forum does not necessarily speak for the general fan base, it’s been awful on here for  months yet tickets have gone very well 

1 hour ago, Street red said:

So is 12000 down on last year before general sale? I would of thought if everyone renewed it would be nearer 14k I can't remember the actual figure for this season.

Announced a year ago to the day 10k sold , so better at this stage by 2k I guess 

1 hour ago, REDOXO said:

Is that about a 15-20% drop on last season Dave?

That was last week , it was 10k sold a year ago tomorrow so we will see soon as a lot will have done it late for various reasons , I do hope any drop is not greeted on here with glee , we are City fans at the end of the day and more people in the ground helps us whatever people’s agendas 

15 hours ago, Dr Balls said:

Finally decided to renew my season ticket, against my previous judgement, and tried last night online. Wouldn’t accept any of my cards. Tried again today and same problem.

Then spent 1 hour on hold today before getting through to customer services (I started at number 20) and when they put through my original credit card it worked fine.

So the warning is that it may take ages tomorrow morning to get through to speak to someone if you don’t use the online system or if the online system plays up and it won’t accept your card.

Said the other day , they will wait for moving day tomorrow, I reckon earliest will be the 25th Thursday again 

14 minutes ago, slartibartfast said:

Someone further up the thread said something like "........you can see by the season ticket sales" (not in a good way) Anyone know how we are getting on ST wise, i.e. is it much worse , same or..................?

Honestly they don’t know, because no numbers realised they are guessing and think it’s a sign , maybe, maybe not , of crap sales , I think it’s Tuesday for keep your seat and the next day for moving should have some idea soon after that .

The club announced 10,000 on April 25th last year , which is basically same date outlined above  , there seems to be some momentum as always late on in the deadline but we will see 

17 minutes ago, BrizzleRed said:

It’s weird isn’t it?

I know there’s been a general suspicion that the anti-Nige views on here are generally being posted on by Bristol Sport employees.

It’s pretty clear there are a few guilty of that, but I’m beginning to wonder though if we actually have a significant element within our fanbase who just have a completely different and skewed view of reality.  It seems their negative views are so deeply entrenched that regardless of any evidence presented to them, they’re determined to view Pearson’s time here in a negative light.  

They play down or deny the restrictions he was working under, or the very real danger of us crashing out of this division, due to having to throw so many inexperienced youngsters in at the same time.  Their determination to view Nige maintaining our Championship status at a time of massive cost-cutting and squad upheaval as some kind of failure, rather than an undoubted success is really odd.  

Possibly they expected Nige to be some kind of miracle worker, who could wave a magic wand and instantly wipe away years of mis-management of this club and it just wasn’t happening quickly enough for them.  It’ll be interesting to see if they show the same degree of impatience with LM, particularly as most of the heavy lifting has now been done.

I still can’t get my head round how some fans can still hold on to such negative views about a bloke who somehow dragged this club out of some really deep shit, caused by the very people who eventually sacked him!

Prior to Nige arriving here, if I’d been compiling a list of the most potentially divisive managers we could bring in, he wouldn’t have been anywhere near that list.  

It’s a strange old world!!!

 

Actually see it differently most of the rabid posts on here coming from pro Nige / won’t have Manning camp , every good win is played down , every poor or even average performance savaged , I loved Nige and he did all you say , but like it or not some on here must move on and give this bloke a proper chance , as others have pointed out the negativity on here from some has reached a ridiculous state 

24 minutes ago, Henry said:

I don’t think any of the fans would disagree that Manning is a nice bloke, loves football, committed and wants players to improve.

some fans just don’t agree he’s good enough.

The people on here who don’t like him  will keep saying the same things, painting Manningball as this thing which is not really true as many as have pointed out we have played different styles and formations , but listening to Wells  and a couple of Oxford fans I know there is something of the Eddie Howe about him , very dedicated and detailed , scoff if you want but we will see 

8 minutes ago, Numero Uno said:

I think Liam was as close as two defeats away from the sack and had the Leicester and Plymouth games been defeats he couldn't have complained about it either (albeit the real problem at the club would remain imo). Since then he hasn't lost a game so it wouldn't make sense for fans to keep calling him out albeit performances are still very mixed from week to week.

I think the majority of (not all) posters on here will change their minds if someone or something gives them reason too. You can call it backtracking as if its some form of weakness (real weakness is refusing to change your opinion/admit you got it wrong in the face of compelling evidence to the contrary) or you can call it being plain reasonable as new/different facts present themselves? Happens all the time at work, you start down one route and end up choosing another as facts change, nothing to be ashamed of.

However, before anyone has to start eating humble pie and other bollocks, he's got pre-season and the first three months of next season to successfully negotiate, no two ways about that. Come through that period unscathed, playing some nice football/looking upwards and people can start talking about pies and how they knew better all along................

I can only think of less than a handful of posters, at most, that simply won't have Manning under any circumstances.

True but they they shout loudest and must have a lot of time on their hands because boy they are on here all the bleedin time