Edgy Red

28 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

There’s no “allegedly”, he did.

He also got Derby to the playoffs (for balance there he also spent a fortune that we now know Mel Morris didn’t have, in doing so), was memorably sacked by Birmingham when they were 7th & replaced by Gianfranco Zola who took them down the league at a rapid rate & was one of many to try & fail badly at Stoke.

His Championship CV is decent but his football is pretty uninspiring.

He’s certainly no Dean Holden type appointment though if it happened.

Controversial comment, but i have not been overly inspired by our style of football over the past 3 years and it could certainly be described as uninspiring too.

Football is a results business and to be fair to Rowett, his record is pretty good.

I think Cardiff recruited pretty well over the summer and added some pace and power in the forward areas.

It will be another tough test on Saturday

4 minutes ago, Supersonic Robin said:

In fairness, I think Ipswich's success is more due to great coaching than great players.

However, if SL were to try and replace Pearson, we wouldn't get a Kieran McKenna, we'd get a Dean Holden - that's the biggest issue with potentially letting Pearson go

I think you're spot on... Player for player Ipswich are no better than us but they are really well coached and look comfortable all over the pitch.

Nige has certainly made us more competitive but we lack any form of attacking cohesion. Its like we need a lucky break, or a mistake from the opposition to create a chance, whereas Ipswich look progressive and inventive when they attack.

Good news that everyone was ok but as Trigger famously once said..."isn't this coach fitted with a fire distinguisher"

.... about 75 points by the end of April

Apparently one of their fans bought a golden goal ticket last week and went for January

Does anyone know what happened with Jobe Bellingham? Why did  Birmingham let him go to Sunderland?

I'm not saying he's going to be as good as his brother but he looks some player

10 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

He hardly escapes criticism, jeez, there’s some on here who consistently criticise him.

I like him, but….

Would I have taken off Pring at h-t?  No

Would I have left Tanner on?  No

Those were the wrong decisions in my eyes.

 

FWIW - red rag to a bull, sorry.  He’s had 2 1/2 years to sort out a mess….now is the start of building HIS team.  It’s been compromise after compromise since day one.  The sale of Semenyo for £10m who assisted last week and scored today, is a sacrifice isn’t it?  It’s nothing like the Tories at all.

Jeez...The comment about The Tories was a tongue in cheek joke.

95% of clubs in the country have to sell their best players when clubs in better positions come calling. Semenyo and Scott were always going to be sold and that can't be used as yet another reason to protect Nige.

I will judge him based on the product on the pitch and unfortunately that product is not very good, or more importantly, very exciting.

Spurs have just sold one of the best players in the World but their manager hasn't once used it as an excuse. HIS team have just produced a fully committed performance to beat Man Utd.

35 minutes ago, Superjack said:

Rookie Manager = "Have a load of cash and buy yourself some toys"

Experienced Manager = "Thanks for getting us back on track, but there's no money in the pot"

Rinse and repeat. 

It boils my ****ing p*ss.

Nige has spent the best part of 5 million this summer tho... thats not small change and far more than a number of teams in the division?

I'm not anti Pearson in any way, but how he escapes criticism is wrong. He has had the best part of 3 years to form a team... its like The Tories continually blaming Labour for the mess they left the country in (13 years ago)

Tin hat on

8 minutes ago, Lanterne Rouge said:

As Jeff was wont to say every time one of them scored to groans from the panel! It got the same reaction as when he said every goal by anyone called Jacobs was a cracker.

Its just not the same without Jeff... he is impossible to follow

The Eisa brothers would be a decent investment. You can bank on them. Abo is the junior Eisa

10 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

1. Yes, this season.

2. Funny one to answer, different FFP rules between Champ / Lg1. I know haters, gonna hate but he didn’t back Cotts.  Even in 14/15 most of the recruitment was funded by selling Baldock.  And 15/16 it depends on which side of the fable you sit on…my side is no he didn’t.

Others may give a different answer.

Fair comments Dave and i would agree with you completely regarding the Cotts era. We were on a roll at that point and i was a big Cotts supporter, but as fans we will never really know what went on behind the scenes.

We live in a blame culture nowadays and people always look to pin the blame on someone or something, and SL seems to bear the brunt of it, which is unfair in my opinion. He has done so much for the club and Bristol in general, and nobody can say for certain that it would have been better or worse if someone else had been in charge.

I just feel he deserves more respect that he is given on here.

2 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

No, “we” don’t!

We did, until:

1. Nige started cutting costs severely
2. Covid allowances got relaxed
3. we sold Semenyo

What he appears to be doing…at the point where now we have sold Scott and have huge leeway FFP-wise…is to constrain the budget, below FFP levels.

But although I’ve had my negative / critical 2p on this, I’ll wait and see how this window pans out, and I’ll be prepared to retract.

So are you saying that SL could have increased our playing budget further without the risk of FFP sanctions?

Has SL not backed managers (rightly or wrongly) to pretty much the maximum levels allowable during his time at the club?

I get very confused by the Steve Lansdown debate.... all of our forum "FFP experts" keep telling us that we are at our maximum wage spend level and therefore what more can SL actually do?

Yes, he may have made some niaive appointment decisions over the years but his commitment to Bristol City FC can never be doubted. We have an incredible infrastructure and the Ashton Gate match day experience is one of the best in the league.

Football (as with life) relies on a fair amount of luck, and to date, we haven't had our share. We made a play off final under GJ and he backed Little Lee in the transfer market, but we've never quite managed the final push.

I'll get ready for the negative comments but i honestly do not understand the dislike for him.

I'm going to hold my hands up and eat a slice of humble pie... i didn't think Zak had this level of improvement in him.

I really hope he can agree a new deal as him and Dickie are a very good partnership

He impressed me on Saturday and i thought him and Zak were the only real bright points on the day.

Once big Rob is back we've got some good options at centre back

20 minutes ago, Silvio Dante said:

Striker probably the wrong term but we do play a front three - so that includes Sykes, Mehmeti, Cornick. I think it does show that if Scott goes we do need another body for the reason you state but it’s nowhere near the level of panic I’m seeing so far

Whilst we still have a number of forward options if Tommy is missing, the worry is that they are not really up to Champ standards (yet).

Mehmeti has yet to show anything near the required consistancy... the jury is massively out on Cornick and arguably Weimann and Wells are in the final throws of their career.

If we lose Alex Scott the squad is suddenly looking very short of quality in my opinion.

If others disagree then i applaud their optimism but sadly i can only see another bottom half finish awaiting us.

I reckon Leicester's bench could make the play offs!

Sadly, i think we are still a long way short of both Leicester and Cov.

I was at Cheltenham on Tuesday and was impressed by Knight. I think he will be a really good player for us moving forward.

If (and it's a BIG if) we can hang on to Alex Scott, we could have some midfield this season.

9 minutes ago, Monkeh said:

It's the let's moan about games being moved, that's happened every season for at least the last 30 years,

People want to get promoted to the prem, if we do you do realise we'll only have about 5 home Saturday 3pm games a season then

Spot on... rightly or wrongly this is just the way it is now.

My mate is a Villa season ticket holder and he's getting ready for Thursdays and Sundays this season.

10 hours ago, Davefevs said:

I’m one of those who called him a Rolls-Royce…I think he’s effortlessly, quick and glides around, especially when covering.  I said his performances this season (albeit limited in number) were classy.  They’ve been nothing like you describe above…that was Kalas or recent seasons.  See next para.

I agree, think he’s struggled to lead, but I’d argue that it’s the deficiencies of others causing the problems.  Of course it’s disappointing that his game suffers when he’s not got as good defenders alongside him.  If you’d have had to play alongside Vyner and Moore of previous seasons, it’s not much of a surprise that you’re gonna be dragged all over the place.

On form, Kalas is a top defender.

The questions are about proposed availability vs wage offered.

I don’t think Vyner has got anywhere near to the level of Kalas at his best…and that’s not diminishing Zak’s improvement either.  Vyner didn’t even have a full-season at these new levels either.  Early season he was still having mistake-games.  He does appear to have got rid of this though, well done Zak.

Good summary Dave... Kalas is a better defender than Vyner and i think a Dickie/Kalas pairing at the start of next season would be decent.

Without a doubt Zak improved last season but if Kalas does agree a new deal then i would be happy with him and Dickie. When Atkinson is fully fit it will give us a number of good options which we certainly didn't have at times last year.

I was at this game today with a Swindon supporting mate. The early red card ruined it as a contest (although it was probably correct) and Swindon hardly managed to create anything with 10 men. Charlie Austin was subbed off at half time.

Kadji came on for the last 15 minutes and tried to get on the ball, but it was a difficult game for Swindon throughout.

A special mention for Swindon's right wing back Romeo Hutton tho. I'm not sure he is someone we need, but he always impresses me and could definitely move up a level or two.

My favourite player in my 40 years of watching City... his telepathic partnership with Scotty Murray was unbelievable at times. 

I remember his 500th appearance was a game at The Gate and when he ran out everyone sang Tinman is a S***head. It brought a lump to my throat!

Great player, great memories and a great bloke for the work he is continuing to do for the club now.

2 hours ago, Spike said:

I'm a little different in that I'd say Pring for player of the season, he's come in and made left back his position, been outstanding both in attack and defence and has even covered at center back due to the injuries. I honestly think without him this season we'd be in a far worse position. His consistency has been brilliant too, I mean whilst most players have had bad patches he's at the very least put in good performances and I think he's become so reliable that he's held to a higher standard now. 

Scott is obviously the most talented player, that's not even a discussion we need to have and although he's been outstanding recently he has had a few patches where he's not held up to his own high standards hence I think Pring deserves it as he's been more consistent over the season. 

Vyner is still making mistakes and although people have taken to him more due to his vast improvement I still think people give him too much praise because of how bad he was at one point, I still think he makes too many bad choices but he's the best fit center back we have so he's going to play every game but certainly not player of the season in my eyes. 

Excellent summary