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On 31/05/2022 at 18:52, Bas's perfect hattrick said:

They charge you extra for sitting at the front as I remember 

No, they pay the pilots.

On 25/05/2022 at 21:47, Davefevs said:

Don’t mind admitting I’m a bit obsessed with Ashton, but mainly the financial implications his reign left us with.

Some people you don’t take to. I’ve met MA twice. My impression is that he wants to be a footballer.  He wasn’t good enough, became an administrator in football and leached a lot of money out of football in the process of trying to make himself be more important than the footballers themselves.

LJ - I met twice. Personable guy, heart in it, did some good stuff, did some crap stuff.

I don’t think MA and LJ were a good combo for each other.

I look forward to how LJ does at Hibs.

I hope Ashton does terribly at Ipswich and is finally seen through.

Bottom line is:

LJ loved the club

MA loved to milk the club

1 hour ago, Davefevs said:

In terms of today’s game it was quite nice to see pre-season start with a system / shape we recognise, albeit some differences, mainly the high starting positions of our wingbacks. It did lead to a bit of stodginess getting the ball into Cheltenham’s half in the opening half hour, but you could see signs of what we were trying to do.  When we did move it a bit quicker (before Lloyd could drop in to make an extra man in midfield) or Klose or Atkinson strode into midfield, we looked a bit more like it.

We ended the first half in a dominant position, with chances starting to flow.

We also saw how Wilson is an obvious outlet for a flicked ball round the corner from low passes into Wells and Sykes.

It was also encouraging to see both James and Williams taking opportunities to get forward and get shots off (and a header), rather than just sitting in front of the back three.  Both forced good saves from Harris.

I was really interested to see how Sykes performed and he got a nice tick from me.  I liked how he goes both ways and has good first time technique.  He popped up in good spaces throughout.

As for the back three, they were pretty comfortable, Klose showing his two-footedness, you can’t tell what he favours, but he has played most of his career as a right sided CB.  Naismith vocal, although he did get caught wrong side once.  Atkinson was solid, and broke forward a couple of times to good effect.

Up top, Martin looked a bit lacking in fitness having missed Austria, and Wells ran his channels well, linking well with Wilson.  Both James and Williams had good chances to put him in during early possession phases, but the wind affected passes.

But the highlights were in the width provided by our WBs.

Wilson, first half was excellent, and he crosses into great areas.  He almost scored inside 30 seconds, and it was a really nice performance to whet the appetite of fans.

On the other side, and I’ve said it many times before, Dasilva is better moving onto the ball, so a high starting position means he is often receiving the ball moving half-towards his teammates, when ideally you want him facing his opponent on receipt.  But when we broke lines, we saw how he can get in on the overlap.  It’s was fine, but not as exciting as the other flank.

Was good to see a straight swap on the hour, rather than a system change.

Having mentioned Dasilva above, we saw how the more “bombing” style employed with Cam Pring in the final 30.  The first goal was a lovely give and go with King, sucking in his marker and spinning him.  A cross that Bell would’ve bundled in had the keeper not parried to Tanner, to control and drill home.  The second goal followed nice play from Idehen, then Pring’s physical play to get past his marker…then slow down to compose a pass to Conway.

Tanner gave Wilson a run for his money as MOTM imho, with an excellent 30 minute display, giving us just as much as Wilson.  That bodes well.

So, a pretty positive opening pre-season fixture.

I thought I saw Viner on the list but skipping through the posts I haven't spotted him being mentioned (could have missed it), do you think NP may have decided to give him another chance.

52 minutes ago, REDOXO said:

Good Lad. Big night out in Guernsey!! SL buying down the pub apparently!

SL buying a pub now 

3 hours ago, Sniper said:

My Mrs can speak gobbledygook, goes on for hours and I have no idea what the **** she's on about

I can relate to that 

1 hour ago, stortfordred said:

Why is Paul Weller in the background?

Never noticed 

14 hours ago, Leveller said:

Brevity is your friend.

Prolixity, on the other hand, May tend to delay the finalisation of your responses and fail to ameliorate the chances of your being first past the post in a competitive situation.

Are you by any chance related to Stanley Unwin  

35 minutes ago, Port Said Red said:

Not very high up though, I thought it was supposed to be altitude training?

No...no...no, NP said he had "High Expectations"

12 hours ago, robin for life said:

Lee Johnson 

You having a laugh ?

3 hours ago, Davefevs said:

Was released.

Lucky man.........

7 hours ago, Sheltons Army said:

Yes , their CEO was explaining how they are trawling different ponds , and things in the transfer window can change at any time ...... like a domino effect apparently

...... oh and he’s really busy

Yep, the rumours are that he's grooming himself for a sexual encounter ......................................(on himself!)

6 hours ago, One Team said:

So playing for his home town club on much less wages so he could play golf and concentrate on the World Cup wasn’t too much of a driver then? 

No need to chip in with the golf jokes 

8 minutes ago, spudski said:

And yet you found it enough to get wound up about...sad

 

Block them spud, I did that ages ago with one of them, don't have to put up with the nonsense now 

2 hours ago, shelts said:

What a shame it’s come to this , training with the kids , I thought he had a bit and would improve in time . It didn’t happen . 

That's the part that concerns me most of all in all this, the big boys & NP can sort him but its what damage he could do to a younger players attitude. Hopefully our "young uns" are above all that .

45 minutes ago, Monkeh said:

Eat some prunes, that will help

Gotcha

2 hours ago, Son of Fred said:

Couldn't agree more - a method applied by myself in the twilight of my footballing days...

All this talk of pace & movement - it's overrated imo.

Something I never had, what's that all about ?

On 17/06/2022 at 22:56, bcfc01 said:

Seems-So.

Korean ???

1 hour ago, GrahamC said:

Wait until it actually happens before celebrating.

Apologies, my wife tells me that frequently

14 minutes ago, P'head Red said:

Hallelujah 

On 19/06/2022 at 21:29, LondonBristolian said:

................Hopefully everyone outside the first team will see Semenyo’s absence as a chance to get in and make themselves undroppable.

My thoughts also before your post, do you think Conway & Bell would be up for it, or is it too soon to expect that from them?

55 minutes ago, The Dolman Pragmatist said:

I don’t understand all the animosity towards Lee.  I was watching the highlights of the Man Utd match the other day (as you do) and I can’t find it in me to criticise someone who gave us that.  Ok, things didn’t work out, but it’s quite clear that he has Bristol City at heart.  Good luck to the bloke.

I've mentioned a few times to mates that I thought we had LJ too early in his coaching career.  I still think he will achieve, a shame it wasn't with us as the guy is City through & through.

He did talk a load of bollocks though didn't he ? 

22 hours ago, ExiledAjax said:

And Taylor Moore 

Not as effluent as Dell Boy  

28 minutes ago, exAtyeoMax said:

I wasn’t really concentrating if truth be known…I think most of it was the interviewer asking the question and MA nodding, fixing him with his beady eyes, then sighing. I think I was concentrating more on his beard, and thinking how much he’d changed since his arrival in BS3*.

was it bullshit 3?

Ok, you're forgiven 

11 hours ago, exAtyeoMax said:

Bellend, of course!

What did he say? I could only listen for 40 seconds, luckily most of that was a big sigh…

How the **** did you manage 40 seconds of that ?

On 09/06/2022 at 04:12, BigTone said:

Wow, that's a good age. Glad you appreciate who is in charge of the household !!

Hi Tone, only just picked up on this story, so sad mate. We lost our german shepherd way back in 2008  (I mentioned the war once but got away with it). Seriously though mate I said no more dogs because of the heartache when they leave us but I get peace & happiness knowing she had a great life with us, I feel sure you will get the same feelings eventually mate.

Chin up mate & thanks for being a good owner/dog lover.

Cheers from Oz

1 hour ago, YGBjammy said:

People seem to be stuck between 3 or 5. So here's a crazy suggestion: four.

Here's an even crazier one, use interchangeable subs as in Ozzie rules where the same player can spend time on & off the field. Just off to get my