The Dolman Pragmatist

Hilarious thread.  We are the most underachieving club in Western Europe, and people want to rate us as a ‘bigger club’ than the likes of Burnley and Portsmouth.  Is there a prize for bigness in football?  No, it’s all about success on the field and in my lifetime we’ve had four seasons in the top division, three of them struggling, and one FA Cup quarter final.  Be real.

I’m all for giving youth a chance, but that’s two games now when Yeboah has looked like a fish out of water.  Would he have benefited more from a loan spell elsewhere?  He really looked way out of his depth today.

Who’s Nelson (on the bench today)?

On 11/09/2023 at 18:06, Dollymarie said:

Criminal mixing ketchup and mayo up together mind! 

Have you never tried Heinz Saucy Source then?  Does the job for you..l

My son’s team comfortably beat Bristol Rovers Supporters Club in the Avon Yourh League yesterday.  A conversation with one of their supporters revealed that he was a City fan, as were several of the players…

Their keeper punched the ball clear while a yard outside the area and only got a  yellow card.  Ah, Sunday referees…

38 minutes ago, Isawjonshaw said:

The Place Where We Dwell - Gang Starr

Our House … Madness

1 minute ago, Dollymarie said:

Nope, just a shark swimming

Nice shark though…

Steve Lansdown has put millions of pounds into this club over two decades, transforming our stadium in the process and stabilising us in the Championship.

Nigel Pearson has been with us for less than three years, and has repaired damage and built his own squad within financial limits that are the same at many clubs.  However that squad is presently underperforming and we have had a very disappointing start to the season.  I accept that Pearson had being doing a difficult job and has a high level of integrity, but I would expect us to be dong better than we are with the players we’ve got.

I like Pearson, but I genuinely can’t see why he would be more popular than Lansdown.

I’m sure this is unpopular view, particularly with the current wave of criticism aimed at Lansdown, but Pearson has had, what, three years now?  That’s a long time in football management terms these days.  This is his squad, when is he going to get the best out of it?  All I see at the moment is decent players underperforming, as individuals and as a unit, and I find it hard to pin that on the owner.  

1 hour ago, westonred said:

1 Shot on target in 90mins again it was Just another game that shows we are desperate for a Big mobile unit up front. The money has dried up and we are getting turned down by players from Bolton and the Irish league. Experienced players we have/had havent/wont sign new deals Kalas HNM Diedhou Vyner We cannot even fill a bench for matches these days which looks embarressing and small time The matchday experience is not good at the moment as we have replaced a lot of our better players with players who are not yet of Championship quality and then when they become championship quality we sell them. Something needs to be done about this shambles as we will be fighting relegation all season and the crowds will drop.  SL if you read this please come and address the fans in the media and tell us your vision for the future

Not everything is solved by bringing in yet more new players.  How many players has Pearson brought in since January?  Cornick, Mehmeti, Dickie, Roberts, Knight, McCrorie, Gardner-Hickman.  Have I missed anyone?  The issue for me is that we are under-performing with the players we do have, which is an issue for the manager and coaches, not the owner.

2 hours ago, Marina's Rolls Royce said:

I think he had delusions of Great Expectations but, yes, it's beginning to look a bit Bleak House for him.

No doubt.... 'something will turn up'.

Maybe Our Mutual Friend will sign him for Hibs…

2 minutes ago, 1960maaan said:

That's one thing that Pearson does not do. Listen to the relevant Pressers, constantly says the Players health is the number one concern. Look how he eased Williams back in after breaking down previously, look at Benarous who has been on grass for ages and has had short run outs . If someone isn't ready, they don't play.

Hard to see that being the case with Weimann tonight…

55 minutes ago, fisherrich said:

If the Lansdownes keep interfering, I reckon Nige will be gone. Lansdown has a history of meddling in football matters at Bristol City FC. Nige P has done a great job when you remember the shitshow he inherited. Lansdown, Ashton & Johnson screwed it up.

People need to remember just how bad Bristol City FC has been run - it has been a shambles for years. Richard Gould should take a lot of credit for the job he did with Nige P in sorting out the finances, players and staff.

Lansdown should keep out of the running of the football club and leave those who know what they are talking about to run it. Time for a new owner IMO.

Good luck in finding an owner who keeps out of the running of his or her business!!

1 hour ago, Cidre Monita said:

I find it staggering that we have reached the wage limit with a squad of c24 players including 9 academy graduates.  Have we?

We are 3 league games in and already in crisis.   Are we?

God forbid Vyner goes before next Friday with no replacement. Who says he will?

Make no mistake this is SL cutting the budget to the bone Is it?

and seems hellbent on a further tightening of the purse strings.
Is he?

I really do fear for us tomorrow night…,  Why? We won our last away game…

An awful lot of assumptions and guesses here.  I was highly critical of our performance last Saturday, but for footballing reasons.  We’ve got a decent squad: it’s Pearson’s job to get them to deliver.

I’ve read the last six pages with interest, but I’m still not sure if there is any concrete evidence for anything suggested.  Interesting, though occasionally far-fetched, stuff though.  However, the one thing I do believe, and this is from talking to people who know Pearson better than I do (I’ve only spoken to him once) is that it is unlikely that anyone can pull the wool over his eyes.  Pearson is not a man to be taken in.  The prospect of Scott departing is something that Pearson accepted a long time ago, and I believe the strategy for using the proceeds would also have been known at the time.  I simply do not believe that Pearson expected to be able to spend money which he finds is not now the case.

 If Pearson is hacked off I think it more likely that he feels he has assembled a decent squad which significantly underperformed last Saturday.  He must also be frustrated with the injury situation.   And he’s notoriously crabby at press conferences.

Time to move on.  No conviction; no proof; the club says they’re sure he didn’t do what he was accused of; the bloke has admitted he is far from perfect and has apologised.  What more do people want?  There are quite a few people who have been actually found guilty of reprehensible acts but who have been allowed to resume their chosen career (a murderer acting on Eastenders springs to mind).  I don’t know what really went on, but then it’s not for me to come to conclusions.  Let he who is without sin, etc. etc.

13 minutes ago, tin said:

It’s down to two decades of unambitious  ownership IMHO. Look back to 07/08, top at Christmas in a pre-FFP era and crying out for a goalscorer and he didn’t gamble. Cotts’ double-winning team of 15/16 had the nucleus of a competitive squad, deals were agreed for Maguire and Gray only for him to pull the plug while Cotts was on holiday. And now, eight years on, we’re free of FFP and have some cash to spent yet he still keeps a tight reign on the purse strings. I could understand that if it was a consistent strategy over 20+ years, but LJ’s spending spree flies in the face of that. The buck stops with SL.

I understood that Gray turned us down.

Deserved win for Spain.  By far the better side.

Just now, The Original OTIB said:

Scorer lifted shirt and seemed to be pointing at Adidas logo, unless I am mistaken.

Looked like that to me…

Endland very poor approaching half time.  Everything going backwards, midfield almost non-existent, Hemp and Russo getting nothing.  Very disappointing so far.

What’s really worrying is that that was the second match of the season.  It was neither a grim mid-season match for a struggling team hit by an injury crisis; nor an early season match with a young side trying to bed in recent newcomers.  That was an experienced team, with the two new names this season having appeared in all games so far.  If they can play that badly now, I really fear for the months ahead.  Almost every player was below par and almost all the difficulties in the match were of our own making.  Birmingham had to do very little to make us look like mugs and frankly I felt embarrassed when the Birmingham fans, quite justifiably, started taking the p*ss.

Pearson’s selection and his substitutions were odd, to say the least, and we’ve seen many times before that he appears not to be able to ‘pick up’ a team which is playing badly.  I didn’t see anyone playing with real passion today, and that’s what particularly frightens me.

8 minutes ago, Jose said:

How many managers do we need to go through before people see that the problem starts at the top?! 

But Pearson buys into it.  He made that clear in his post-match interview.

7 minutes ago, Nomad said:

Have you not heard of FPP? If anyone thinks we can spend big, pay big and keep within the limits they keep missing the point.

What, even if we receive £25m?  Are you saying that the sale of Scott was needed to avoid a massive points deduction?  If we sell big, we should at least be able to buy something.

5 minutes ago, Fordy62 said:

OTIB in a nutshell…

One defeat and suddenly we’re awful. 

We were awful.

2 minutes ago, Slack Bladder said:

I think with the players at his disposal he's underachieved

Should have won the Euros

Maybe it’s the players who underachieved then…

Good old-fashioned pro.  Always gave 100%.  Loved him at City, but he must be fading now.