Clutton Caveman

11 hours ago, Rich said:

A strange perception of things. You state that S L surrounds himself with yes men. You state that a hobby chairman then employs a football man to run the show and, that we have no such football man.

Pearson is certainly not a yes man and, I would argue that he is a trusted football man, employed by S L for his guidance. That's what has enabled him to make tough decisions, use his experience to tell where things are not right. Then when he does identify those things, you call him an ego driven dinosaur.

It's obvious that you don't like him, probably based on the fact that we're not wining games you think we should, with the tools available to him. I'm of the belief that those tools are blunt and of lower quality than the tools we invested heavily in, paying Dewalt prices, and getting a yellow copy from Wilko. 

In my opinion, I expect Pearson to stay at the club as an overseer/DOF and SL will again employ a young hungry coach that does what he's told and works within certain parameters. Then when the dust settles, Pearson will be removed and we'll have the old LJ scenario again.

 

 

How can you rate Pearson when you see our total lack of organisation in general play and offensive and defensive set pieces. He keeps saying the players are not carrying out their assigned tasks. Why is that? man management and motivation are key modern manager skills. We may not have the best squad in the league but we don't have the worst but NP has shown a total lack of ability to get a team on the field playing with motivation and organisation.  His arrogance leads us to ignore the loan system when it is an essential factor in Championship life. Many people sang the "more time" song with LJ and Ashton. They got more time and look where it left us. If SL had a senior football man at his side, he would not have employed a coach who was drifting nicely into retirement and was totally out of touch with modern tactics. He certainly would not have retained him after he provided zero improvement after DH was sacked. I think our current CEO is a nice man but he is an administrator not a football man.

1 hour ago, DaveInSA said:

This is one of the most informative OTIB threads ever.

I’ve said this a million times. Football is a very simple game. All you need to do, is score more goals than your opponent. 

It becomes complex, when you have players who cannot implement instructions. And you concede silly goals through poor organisation and individual mistakes. We’re top of the league on all three.

If you take our squad, lovely bunch of lads. But where are the leaders, the organisers, the communicators. The ones who can carry out the instructions. I don’t see them. Those Barnsley goals shine a light on it. Total and complete shambles. Where are the leaders?

I’ve changed my mind about the players not being good enough. They have the talent. They don’t have the application as a collective. Take them individually into other championship teams and they will dissolve into that system and be good. 

We need 6 seasoned championship players in the summer. I just don’t see where they’re coming from? RB, CB, CB, DCM, ACM, CF. 50 million. :laugh:.

We’ll be 16-20 position again next year if we don’t get them. And that is hoping that teams are worse than us or have points deductions.

I agree Klose looked great at first, now he has come down to the level of the rest

On 15/03/2022 at 22:20, steveybadger said:

What do I think of the coaching? I’d welcome it!

With thanks to Fry and Laurie.

I agree, we look like a Sunday league team where you pick the 11 most sober and let them sort out the rest. I think NP and his mate are years behind the modern game and think that the old ways are best. How refreshing to hear the Barnsley manager talk about training all week to exploit our weakness. When you watch City it is impossible to see any sort of plan in general play or set plays. Our fullback gets roasted against Forest and we play the same formation with the same result. For me NP is like a guy used to windows 3 and suddenly being presented with windows 10. He does know what buttons to press and does not understand most of the options.

12 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

Paid a rumoured £5m for him last season, imagine the meltdown on here if either Holden or Pearson had done that & the bloke was then on loan in non league a year later.

Forest are definitely doing something best described as “creative” to get around FFP..

Is this so different to Palmer? Nobody wants to loan him

15 hours ago, Davefevs said:

Go for it if that’s what you want to do.  I’m sure others will do the same too.  You don’t have to buy a season ticket, nobody is forcing you.

I think club loyalty is great BUT fans should not be expected to pay higher prices for a declining product. Season tickets are really a nice cushion for the club, suck them in with a few hopeful messages and once they have paid ignore them. If we all paid at the gate for each game I think the board would be more focused on providing a product people want to watch.

20 hours ago, Rich said:

S L likes to be proven right. He appoints fans favourites when in dire situations and appoints his favourites when the going is good. Ultimately it all ends in abject failure.

When you surround yourself with yes men its not surprising that you have no idea about football and what it takes to win. Most hobby Chairmen get themselves a trusted football man for guidance. We have no such man in our ranks. NP has turned out to be an ego driven dinosaur always knowing best and always blaming others for the teams failure. I think it is clear that SL has grown tired of the project and would like to cash out. This could go well or not but as we are I think we will drift from one disaster to the next

1 minute ago, KegCity said:

They should be doing better but you're either a leader or you're not. Seasoned professional or otherwise. I expected more from Klose but Weimann is going to struggle to influence the positional play of the back line. 

 

It's ironic really, Lansdown prioritised being a business over being a football club (selling our best players to stay within FFP and be nice and profitable) just to leave us with a squad lacking real quality and leadership, and we've still nearly failed FFP! I'd rather we were in this position having held on to a few and at least tried to go up, than keep on selling and have terrible transfer business.

Can you imagine the losses if we didn't sell

Bottom line is that current wage levels do not allow a championship club to run at a profit. 

1 hour ago, IAmNick said:

Yeah I mentioned similar (less detail ) on the match thread last night. Cundy gets blocked off in an identical manner for both goals, and misses what should (not fully apportioning blame as there's more!) have been his balls to clear or man to put off both times. 

It's annoying because it's literally the EXACT same corner both times - everyone is stood in exactly the same place on both teams, the ball goes to the same place both times, and the same thing happens both times.

Aaaaargh.

And our set pieces? Pot luck at best

On 20/01/2022 at 08:10, Silvio Dante said:

…but what about a third?

I’ve posted here before about Yate Town -  pretty much smallest club in their league at level 7, and last night won their 4th game on the bounce to hit the playoffs. Weston Super Mare are one place behind, and the game at Lodge Road in two weeks looks set to be a cracker.

Anyhow, it got me thinking. Yate are punching above their weight now, and although there are plans to improve the infrastructure, getting anywhere higher than Conference South seems optimistic - unless there was a Salford style takeover.

So, if there was something of that nature to Yate, Weston or another club in our catchment area, could the Bristol area sustain a third league club, and where? I’d assume attendances of 2k-5k tops and the question becomes if that’s new fans or taken from us/Rovers. Would it impact? Is it sustainable?

It would, however, be a fantastic laugh to see Yate beat Rovers in a League 2 or Conference match!

To be honest I wouldn't fancy playing Rovers at the moment.

12 hours ago, Wiltshire robin said:

I think he’ll walk at the end of the season . What’s he realistically gonna achieve here with the financial restraints from the club being ran so poorly for years . I think anyone who takes the managers job under the current ownership is set up to fail.

We can only live in hope

2 hours ago, westonred said:

I am in the keep NP corner, no manager with the squad he has inherited and the money available could do much better. But i think the Meltdown is jusified and its not just one game is it ? it's the entire season and the inability to win two games on the trot keep clean sheets and play decent football for longer than 45 mins at a time.  However the flak ought to be aimed not at NP but at the Lansdowns who have always tried to run the club as a buisiness not a football club

£38 million loss is not mush of a business

1 hour ago, And Its Smith said:

I’ve not said it should be sorted short term but I don’t think it’s mad to expect some little bits of progress. He knows the problem but so far there’s no sign he can make even a modicum of difference to it.  

We have 2 defenders and coach and manager, 3 giants in a back 3 and we still can't defend a corner. Sorry but the least we have the right to expect is organisation at set pieces. Talking of set pieces, when was the last time we saw something that looked vaguely organised. Each week we see clear evidence of rehearsed moves from other teams but we just lump it in and hope for the best.

For me NP is just too arrogant.

How can you take on such a superior attitude when the press, when the team under your leadership for 18 months is failing on just about every front. Humble is clearly not a word he understands. Are the players from Barnsley better than ours. I think not. They are just more committed, better organised and playing for the manager.

He holds grudges for too long. Is it really better to change the whole team than play Vyner at fullback

Does Wells not at least deserve a game instead of Martin who at times can hardly raise a trot. I guess whilst we have Bentley in goal who refuses to play from the back we have to keep Martin in.

Should Palmer be given a chance to put himself in the window and increase his value.

He doesn't like loan players but week after week we face teams who make good use of the loan system

His tactics are out of history and too easy to predict. Teams see our weakness and adapt to maximise the affect.

The team seems utterly confused by his tactics and changes during the game.

He has failed to create a good team spirit because he always blames the players and never himself.

Have we really moved on since LJ? In recent times our performances seem very similar to me.

Do we really trust NP with the funds we may get from selling our crown jewels. Based on the Leicester trio I think not.

After this amount of time I think we should at least see a well organised team understanding how to set up and being behind the manager. Sorry but I am just not seeing this.

21 hours ago, The Swan and Cemetery said:

At least it implies that in the dying embers, teams are looking to win when drawing, which is positive. Totally agree about grabbing distance, needs refs to reverse throw ins more often/have something vaguely resembling gumption. Based on this season’s refereeing standards, a conspiracy theorist would assume the League are desperate to introduce VAR, so have instructed refs to be 40% worse than usual, which is 40% off something relatively abysmal. Admittedly to make that argument stick, it would be helpful if VAR in the PL managed to get more than 1 in 17 decisions right. 

Dead easy, take time keeping out of the refs hands blowing time on and off like rugby. There would then be no point in wasting time. At the same time only allow the captain to talk to the ref and mic him up. Any non captain giving back chat, take the free kick 10 metres further up the pitch. Bring back the obstruction rule. Ban substitutions after 90 mins. All adds up to better entertainment for the paying public

On 09/03/2022 at 08:43, GrahamC said:

Yep, my only caveat to the article would be that as Pearson, Gould & the recruitment set up know all of this, we should be planning now with realistic, affordable targets.

I did have a wry smile at NP’s comment that we “don’t have a defensive midfielder on our books” following my suggestion of Pack, who seems increasingly to fit the bill to me, plus as you know the player I mentioned to you that I think would be suitable to solve the RB issue is probably available & definitely is affordable.

Coventry, Luton, Millwall & Preston all operate within similar recruitment constraints, I appreciate that they don’t have the drag of Palmer or Wells on their wage bill, but whilst making every effort to shift them, we need to have a plan as to how we conduct our transfer business if we can’t.

Final point, even with Simpson gone there are still a few others who are out of contract this summer, so some room to make changes whatever happens.

I am fully on board with getting all players committed to the cause. The problem could be, is the cause NP wants unachievable with the attitudes of modern day players? I wonder if our OK and better players don't like the tough, my way or the highway, approach on offer they know they can always get at least as good a deal elsewhere. I wonder what worked at the time at Leicester can work today with our spoilt players.

19 minutes ago, bcfcnick said:

Pearson was fortunate last season in terms of inheriting the points Dean Holden picked up at the start of the season.  This season he has been fortunate with teams below having points deduction. So without those two factors his two seasons have been relegation form. 

I still think he deserves another season for the following reasons:-

He has played youngsters and got the best out of Scott, Massengo and Semenyo transforming their total value from negligible to potentially well over £30m.

The football is better than the latter stages of LJ's and Dean's time here.

The key issue for me is how well can NP use the cash from any windfall from the sale of one or two of the young player, cuts from transfer moves for Webster and Kelly and moving on the likes of Wells and Palmer.  That's my biggest concern as the three Leicester players brought in have been poor and used up flexibility to do much else with the squad. Despite FPP  restraints NP could have a fair amount to play with. How well will he use it?

Was yesterday really much better than the LJ and DH product? Looked really similar to me

Not too sure about giving NP money with 3 of his Leicester mates stealing a living at the moment.

16 hours ago, Silvio Dante said:

Preamble: I’m a Pearson fan, we’re better than we were and we have developed a lot of the younger players. Under current financial circumstances I’m still glass half full.

However, today, he got it wrong. Matty James was an embarrassment - I can only assume not fully fit, but even with that, he didn’t even hit basic standards. The job he had as the back lying midfielder was twofold - first in screening/covering - which he didn’t do - and second in the picking up and distributing. He was slow on that, ponderous and meant by the time he had made a passing decision, the options had gone - it was a bad selection, fullstop, and the hooking indicates he wasn’t fit.

So, if he’s not fit, why also play Williams, who is coming back to fitness? Again, I’m a Joe fan - but he was poor today. However, what do you expect with a non fit player beside him as opposed to Massengo. It was a shocking combined decision.

Then, the actual subbing of James. Needed to go, but putting Wells on was insane. We ended up with four strikers, one of whom ended up at right back - and created nothing after we put the four on. We destroyed our shape like the worst days of Holden.

I think Bell was thrown under a bus today by more senior players. But the upshot for me is the manager got it wrong.

I fully agree.

Bell to start instead of Pring (Nigels naughty seat gone too far)

James is too fat and knows he gets picked whenever he can make 1 lap of the pitch. he basically hid as a extra centre half leaving a massive space in front of him.

Team looked light they resented something. No tempo, no aggression, no movement off the ball, back to the end of last season, 5 passes across the back then a huge hoof.

We saw a few games with nice movement passing and good football. Where did that go? Bentley just doesn't seem interested in playing out from the back.

Set pieces. When was the last time we saw anything vaguely practised from the training ground

NP's arrogance is really starting to grate.

Clearly set the team up wrong and waited far too long to change it

Took off James and put on a forward making the team completely top heavy. Clearly Massengo has a few more weeks in detention before is is allowed to play again.

Nige doesn't like loans but weekend after week loan players help beat us. Who would not love to see another Tammy?

Was Semenyo fit? His body language was awful and he spent most of the game stood offside.

Sorry your comments about THEM is getting boring. Lets start hearing some comments about your mistakes and shortcomings Nige

1 hour ago, westonred said:

Put Nahki and Conway up front and bring James back in the middle see how we got on I would probably drop Martin as well he looks burnt out too

I would rather James undertake some really good fitness training before coming back. He looks so slow at times and he is not that old. I think some stamina training plus lose 3 or 4 KG would set him up

On 26/02/2022 at 23:34, Isawjonshaw said:

The majority of the officiating at the Euros was really good imho.  How has it gone so downhill this season?

I agree, for a while in the Championship you could actually tackle but now fall down and the whistle goes. Also the wrestling form corners is back in vogue

11 hours ago, pillred said:

And now the record for one of the worst penalty attempts ever, he will have to live with the knowledge he probably cost his team the chance to have won the cup.

Can't understand why the ref didn't book him as he had to virtually push him back to his line for each pen

3 hours ago, Jerseybean said:

Tonight it’s Coventry City under the BS3 sky with kick off at 745 pm, it’s on the red button and on Robins TV for domestic and overseas viewers, link to a pass: https://bristolcitypayments.streamamg.com/account/register/step1 If you want a ticket click here: https://tickets.bristol-sport.co.uk/en-GB/events/bristol city v coventry city/2022-2-22_19.45/ashton gate stadium?hallmap

They have sold more than 1500 tickets.

I watched them lose 2-0 last Tuesday against Cardiff, they are generally a fluid, mobile, passing team with a mistake in them. They play neat football and are a workmanlike team who look to play through the thirds. O’Hare was a threat last Tuesday night. He has started 30 Championship games for the Sky Blues this season contributing to five goals in the process. The midfielder started his career at Aston Villa but only made a handful of appearances for them before permanently moving to Coventry in 2020 after a successful loan spell the previous season.

On Saturday they scored in the 93rd minute to beat Barnsley 1-0.

They are currently 10th after 31 games with 47 points. At their place their 10 men beat us 3-2 with a very late goal from Godden: https://www.bcfc.co.uk/news/highlights-coventry-city-3-2-bristol-city/ that was the last time we were awarded a penalty and as this article explains we are bottom of the league in that department, as since the start of the 2018/19 season, City have been awarded a penalty every 1,834 minutes: https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/sport/football/bristol-city-spot-kick-horror-6506310

The head-to-head stats are very close, we have won 23, drawn 22 and lost 24. The most memorable game between us was 19 May 1977, what a night, I remember it like it was yesterday, I was one of the 36,892 in attendance. For younger fans, here’s the story: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coventry_City_2–2_Bristol_City_(1977) + https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/day-bristol-city-game-led-66455 and here’s the pictures:

Josh Eccles and club captain Liam Kelly are both injured, while Matty Godden is recovering following appendicitis. Jake Bidwell signed for them from Swansea last month.

Players who have played for them and us include, Liam Walsh, Booby Gould and Clarrie Bourton, (as per below he is the Sky Blues’ leading goalscorer of all-time) began his league career with us.

Their manager has often been mentioned as a candidate to manage us. Following a playing career in which he scored over 100 goals in nearly 400 appearances in the Football League, Mark Robins' first steps into management came with Rotherham United in 2007. From there he moved on to fellow Yorkshire side Barnsley in 2009. Taking over with the club at the bottom of the table, Robins guided them nine points clear of the drop zone and on a run of eight games unbeaten, finishing in 18th place.

Robins first joined the Sky Blues in 2012 and soon became a fan-favourite, catapulting them up the league from relegation candidates to play-off contenders. He led the club to the Area Final of the Johnstone's Paint Trophy and had the highest win percentage of any manager in the club's history with 52.5% at the time of his departure. 

Robins left for Huddersfield Town in February 2013, guiding the club to safety on the final day of the season after a 2-2 draw against  his former side Barnsley. A two-year spell at Scunthorpe United followed, before a return to the Sky Blues in March 2017.

In his first few weeks back with City, Robins led the Sky Blues to victory in the Checkatrade Trophy Final at Wembley, after a 2-1 win over Oxford United.

Robins could do nothing to prevent the Sky Blues suffering relegation to League Two, however, this would only last one season, as again he led City to Wembley in the Play-Off Final. The Sky Blues beat Exeter City 3-1 in the final to secure promotion back to League One.

After a year of stabilising in League One, the Sky Blues took the league by storm in 2019-20. Despite ground-sharing in Birmingham, Robins' Coventry City side won the League One title and promotion to the Championship while playing an attractive and exciting brand of football.

The man in charge tonight is Dean Whitestone.

Lets hope we can record back-to-back wins for the first time this season. NP may stick with the same starting line up as last Saturday, although knocks, tired legs and managing Joe Williams will  all have to be taken into consideration.

It’s a year today that NP took charge, be great to mark that milestone with a convincing home win, https://www.bristolworld.com/sport/football/bristol-city/nigel-pearson-has-shown-flexibility-and-innovation-and-he-will-need-more-at-bristol-city-3575434

Last November John Sillett sadly passed away at the age of 85, he was a truly legendary figure in Coventry City’s history. Sillett of course also enjoyed time with us, he was recruited by Alan Dicks as Youth Team Coach in 1968. During his time with the youth sides at City they ventured into Europe to win tournaments in France and Holland, which included victory over Ajax in the final to win the Blauw Whit Trophy. His young City side also reached the FA Youth Cup semi-final in 1970. He played a major part in in the development of young talent coming into the club in the late 1960s and early 1970s, many of who would go on to play for the first team. Gerry Gow, Tom Ritchie, Ray Cashley, Gary Collier, Keith Fear, and David Rodgers all became regulars for many years after and also played a part in the promotion winning squad of 1976. Sillett was promoted to First Team coach in 1970, alongside Alan Dicks as the pair began to forge a side for the future, with signings such Gerry Sweeney and Donnie Gillies adding further quality to the team.  At his passing Dicks paid tribute to Sillett saying: "John was a fantastic character and coach. He loved a bit of fun and would liven a room up but he could also instil discipline which is very important for young players. He taught them the right way to do things. John had the strengths you need as a coach and he went on to great things and his record speaks for itself." 

Coventry

• The club was originally founded under the name of Singers FC back in 1883, after a meeting took place at the Singer Factory Gentleman’s club. It wasn’t until 1898 that the Sky Blues adopted their current name of Coventry City, thus going on to join the Football League in 1919.
• Clarrie Bourton scored 189 goals for them in the 1930’s in more recent times Dion Dublin features as a top scorer with 72 goals.
• The club have only ever won one ‘major’ trophy, with the Midlands outfit lifting the FA Cup back in 1987 against Tottenham Hotspur.
• They recorded it’s biggest ever victory in 1934, as they thumped us 9-0.
• The Midlands outfit has played at seven different stadiums over the years, including Northampton Town’s Sixfields Stadium and Birmingham City’s St Andrew’s Stadium.

Great to remember that 1977 game. Delayed start and huge controversy at the end with Jimmy Hill in big trouble for announcing the score of the Sunderland game. We drove about 40 mins after the game before finding a pub and it was till packed with City fans

2 hours ago, Gazred said:

Certainly made a positive impression if not always evident on the pitch.

Big summer ahead. If he can retain, move on and recruit as desired then i think we'll really see a true Pearson team.

For me it is impressive that the team is more cohesive and positive without the 2 ex England coaches. Perhaps a case of too many cooks?

16 hours ago, marmite said:

I agree that Nige will have a better eye for the right player and I would trust him to find the right blend. My worry is whether he will be given the funds to do so if we sale our assets just to clear the debt.

Did that better eye see Simpson?

19 hours ago, JonDolman said:

Yeah I suppose if they are taking the piss.

Though still probably tempting just to not lose quite as much!

He isn't going to play I don't think again for us.

I still hope I am wrong and he can do what he's capable of, but it looks unlikely he would even get the chance.

I think the best basis for a KP loan is that the club getting him pay X % of his salary but with add ons  for appearances, assists and goals.

3 hours ago, Bar BS3 said:

I'm slightly more comfortable with the fact that there are, finally some signs of developing some sort of pattern & game plan now - so I'm more happy giving NP time to build a team... 

However - I also firmly believe that he has been lucky in our added attacking threat, with Wiemann being fully fit & in form and, mostly, the return of Semenyo certainly turned our drap attacking play (credit for the improvement in his more direct approach though) 

There also have to be serious questions over the utter inability to tighten up defensively. 

Still far from convinced about NP but at least we don't look like the total lost cause that we have done for most of his first year in charge, when we were actually going from dire, to even worse..! 

I am concerned that the evasive and somewhat arrogant approach that NP takes with the press is not reserved only for the press. Frankly it is becoming a bit boring.

Clearly nobody knows what happens on the training ground but clearly NP is a special and unusual character. Some may like that and some not. Todays players are spoilt and have multiple options available. The threat of being dropped does not carry the weight it once did. Threatening to drop players in our squad is basically an empty threat as we are so thin on the ground. The coach and the players are in this together they all fail or thrive based on results. I wonder if some players have not quite bought into the NP way of management and as such will not be 100% in their approach.

By and large I think that BCFC should be more than happy with the fan base for sticking with the team, not only in numbers but also in vocal support for a struggling team. I think that the fans have been boosted by seeing young players sometimes making mistakes but improving rapidly and giving 100%.

I think we will survive in the Championship this year but what about next.

I think the approach and ambition of the ownership will become obvious in the close season.

We are reading about interest in our young players.

If one is sold, perhaps that can be accepted to help balance books and take some of the money to reinforce the squad

If 2 are sold, this becomes a greater problem because we know the players we bring in will be nowhere near their ability and only a fraction of the income will be reinvested.

If we sell all 3, I, like many fans will seriously consider if I want to spend £600 per year to watch a makeshift team survive in the Championship each year. I am sure I will not be alone

Hope is the nectar of all football fans but that hope must be based on reality.

So I think this closed season will be a critical one for BCFC