Ron W

On 18/05/2022 at 07:16, cidered abroad said:

Without any substantial transfer fund, he brought in players that he knew in an effort to break the stranglehold that some City players held in the dressing room even if on the pitch performances were poor.

Does that sound familiar? Exactly what Pearson did. It's working for Pearson because we were able to have a significant clear out at the end of his first season.

Eh? Pearson has worked within a very limited framework, possibly worse than McInnes’ but it’s difficult to tell 10 years apart.

Difference is we aren’t heading for League One…

Everyone remembers things differently but I’m surprised how positively McInnes is remembered - and especially to the point of being one of our most talented managers. 

No doubt the club was a financial and logistical mess back then, he’s spot on, and he did have a difficult hand to work with.

But look at the guys he brought in… Stephen Pearson, Richard Foster, not only limited footballers but not great for dressing room unity either.

Add to that going 11 league games without a win, with a bad squad but not one bad enough for those results. And then dropping Tom Heaton because he’d run out of other ideas during that time, which ended up lowering the morale even further, and you start to think he’s got to take some responsibility along the line. 
 

We were a shambles of a club, but he has to take some responsibility for that.

13 hours ago, glynriley said:

I think it’s sad that the fans of tomorrow can’t go on the pitch to greet their heroes. 

Back in the day it was the done thing, us youngsters would join the players on the pitch, our parents would hold back and watch. 
 
It’s a shame that grown adults can’t afford their kid’s that special feeling without acting like arseholes. 
 

Outrageous how Bristol City players famously avoid being spotted in public outside of match days as well.

40 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Even Grove Life was “services to football”….providing transferred players with hotels, sorting their houses out, etc, etc.  you can see why he likes a transfer, another opportunity to skim some £s off of the top!!!

He certainly does have an interesting relationship with property development.

43 minutes ago, Red Army 75 said:

Nige and JD things you love to see

Credit to everyone there today. Brilliant support given the distance and our form.

You think about how good we were and we could afford to carry him when he played, and use him as a luxury player. An unbelievable talent but definitely parted ways at the right time.

2 hours ago, Ska Junkie said:

Yep. He's got QPR to 10th with no money.

Any other ideas Giok? Not having a pop btw, I'm not sure who's about that we could realistically get.

It's not quite no money. They spent more than they have in recent years in the summer.

On 01/04/2022 at 00:48, Southend Blue said:

I know Ashton isn't to everyone's taste around here but he must be doing something right at ITFC as the turnaround in team fortunes since he came on board has been like night and day.    Actually keeps a low profile with us, that leaping around at Lincoln and high-fiving fans like some WWE wrestler making their way to the ring now seems a one-off.     

Just for the record, feel now the majority of the fanbase at Portman Road are now squarely behind him.     Came with a certain baggage or reputation but after initial scepticism with many Town fans has now fitted in almost like a piece of the furniture.     Would have played a pivotal part in bringing in an influx of new players last summer and taking McKenna to the club as new manager.     I don't get to see all the in's and out's and hour to hour business of what goes on behind the scenes, Ashton included, but from our own fans perspective bringing him on board now seems a good bit of business.

We're like 12 league games unbeaten and are now easily one of the very best sides in League One.   If we make the play-offs there's every chance we'll win it but pity is McKenna, Ashton and the new Game Changer Group owners came in too late to address the slide left before them by Marcus Evans, Hurst and Lambert.     Good night.    

There was a time when we looked like competing for the Championship title and were in the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup with Ashton, and most of us were of a mindset similar to yours.

As others have said though, be careful not to get too swept up in it, or when your next CEO takes over you might end up considering a points deduction too.

9 hours ago, Spike said:

Plenty of squads full of talent that cannot play together without the right guidance. That Forest squad couldn't organise a piss up in a brewery until Hughton started making the changes needed, now he's gone and the building was near done and they're fighting for promotion. Yes they had the talent, but they had no direction.

Again, not a Forest expert but they won 14 games in almost a year under Hughton. Doesn’t smack of having loads of clear direction.

3 minutes ago, Barrs Court Red said:

While this is true, it’s also missing a lot of context, I’d also say that it’s deeply troubling that it’s taken two decades to get this right, especially as the set up is absolutely hamstrung because of massive mistakes previously. 
 

 

At the end of the day, we were a largely second or third division club long before SL came along. Yes there are other smaller teams who have got it right and got to the Premier League during his time but there's also plenty of teams who've had a worse time than us too.

7 minutes ago, Barrs Court Red said:

Agree with the thrust of your post, but this bit stuck out; saviour? Really? 

Saviour perhaps not, but certainly a facilitator with the investment in the squad, the stadium and the training ground. The issue is some of the clowns he's had around him, and how culpable he is for that.

At the moment we've got an experienced football manager who's been there and done it at the helm, and a respected operator as CEO. That set-up is one of his better calls of the last two decades IMO.

4 hours ago, Spike said:

Funnily enough he saved Forest from relegation then had all his players sold from underneath him as well as a lot being let go and then when he wanted to build the attack for Forest he may resistance and they ended up in a right mess. He fixed a hell of a lot that was wrong there but the fans overlooked that because they are the mighty Forest and deserve to compete. The reason I say funnily enough is because Pearson now finds himself in a similar situation with many of our fans taking similar stance. 

Hughton did a lot for Forest but ultimately the club gave him nothing back and then was surprised when the results didn't come in. Since then Cooper has signed 3 attacking players and essentially built on what Hughton was trying to fix. 

I think this happens far too often in football, managers coming in, starting a major overhaul job and then having a bad run before they can finish the multiple season turn around work they've begun only to have someone come in and continue that work and get all of the credit. 

Not going to pretend to be a Forest expert but isn't saving a team from relegation rather a stretch when you take over after four games? And despite having a pretty talented squad on paper (which I don't think you could say for us), they still finished 17th?

Just not sure we are in the same sphere as Forest. Look through the squad and there's quality in most parts of the pitch.

11 hours ago, Redtucks said:

 

Wasn't Chris Hughton the chosen one???

Whatever happened to him?

 

 

There’s an argument for how Cooper rejuvenated the Forest squad… But that’s probably a slightly easier job than doing it to ours.

5 minutes ago, Northern Red said:

Ah, the questions that none of the people screaming for Pearson to go can ever answer.

Is that how it is? I haven't read much of OTIB for a while. Always difficult to balance where you are against where you theoretically should be, and if there is a convincing argument as to why Pearson should be replaced then... Well, why not. But as you say, much easier to say than to justify.

15 minutes ago, Rich_s said:

If there’s any leadership and true ambition at the club then he should be gone in the summer and a replacement already lined up. However I expect him to limp on for a while into next season. I’m amazed how the fans have by and large stuck with him. I believe this is more to do with the language he speaks post match and little to do with results which by and large have been midling to poor.

Non-leading question - who comes in? Will they do better with this squad? How will they circumvent the financial issues we have?

1 hour ago, Spike said:

The part I don't understand about fans wanting rid of Pearson is when they suggest a manager to take over but don't ever stop to think why the manager would want a job with us. 

The positives is that we have good youth talent. 

The negatives is that the club is poorly run.

The manager will have no financial banking. 

Our squad is probably one of the poorest balanced squads in the league. 

We have no naturally right sided players at all. 

Our goals against is one of the highest in the league etc

Honestly, even as a City fan I wouldn't touch this job, I'd be looking elsewhere, especially considering we've never been a Premier League team and show no signs of ever being one. 

I think some fans just assume any manager without a job will just instantly accept a role here but that's definitely not the case and I'd dare to say I don't remember the last time we were a less desirable team to manage. Even in league one we looked like there was potential but right now with the club in the financial situation it's in I'd be avoiding it at all costs

This is a great summary.

Wanting someone to blame is a very natural reaction when things are going badly but if you decide it's at the manager's door, who is going to come in and perform a miracle?

It's not like this is anywhere near a Premier League squad, in terms of quality or mentality. We have got to a point where we are publicly contemplating a points deduction because our finances are so bad.

We've been spoiled in the past 20 years. We've either been pushing for promotion in League 1 or telling ourselves we should be doing the same in the Championship. Sometimes it just ain't gonna happen and I think this is where we are.

We shouldn't let the way the finances have been allowed to get to this stage just pass by though. It was a big risk even before the pandemic and it's been horribly exposed.

58 minutes ago, redysteadygo said:

As one of their players also encroached, not far behind Klose, wonder if the ref thought that cancelled each other out. 

Well he was that good wasn't he!

Couldn't remember the laws on this so looked it up. Maybe Gavin Ward should too.

Can we just talk about that Weimann finish? Outside of the boot, near post. Oof.

6 hours ago, Henry said:

I’m sure he could have missed out one of his pointless questions to ask something and get something potentially more juicy.

Was it not a relatively comprehensive summary of Simpson’s tenure and his thoughts on the club? Something we haven’t seen anywhere else?

You sound about as keen on Gregor as Ole does on COD!

On 04/03/2022 at 21:40, Henry said:

I can not believe Gregor did not push to find out more of his thoughts of the set up. Gregor is such a shambles. I’m pretty sure Bristol Live choose to move him on.

No disrespect Henry, but you haven’t got a clue.

Clubs don’t give cart blanche to random journalists covering totally unrelated sides to ask as many questions as they like during a press conference.

The fact Gregor has got a one-to-one of this length is pretty unusual, and impressive imo.

53 minutes ago, phantom said:

Am I the only one that finds this all a bit needy and desperate? 

Take a selfie, get an autograph from a player but seriously, if you want a shirt go and buy one like everyone else 

Totally. It's entitlement. Do the parents think there aren't thousands of other kids who would like to be jumping the barriers to get on the pitch on a matchday?

We might sound miserable and we probably are but we've all sat through years of City being dross as kids, bordering on child abuse, and would we have run on the pitch to get a player's shirt if we thought it was okay? Well maybe not for Tony Dinning but generally yes. But the point is we didn't, because sadly we can't just do what we like. Unless we work in Downing Street.

5 minutes ago, chinapig said:

He has long favoured a salary cap but it did not occur to him to cap our own salary budget. Instead he chose to allow Ashton to keep increasing costs and gambling that we would go on raising big money from an inflated transfer market to cover the extravagance.

Practice what you preach Steve.

We seem to go through stages.

Minor investment optimised by great management - Johnson Snr/Cotterill

Large investment put to waste, haemorrhage money - end of Johnson Snr/some of Johnson Jnr/Millen

“We’ve decided to cut our cloth and stop this excess spending once and for all” - McInnes, Pearson

Repeat ad nauseum.

5 hours ago, Mr Hankey said:

Well this will piss off a lot of people who think the club would be nothing without the Lansdowns….

It’s not as simple as that.

Without the Lansdowns, would we have had an owner so willing to pump money into the club for 20 years? Probably not.

Might we have had an owner with more football-savvy, who would have got us to the Premier League? Quite possibly.

The guys who think SL is here for a quick buck I have to ask, how do you see that actually panning out? Unless you think SL is another Steve Dale, it seems like nonsense.

The questionable-at-best running of the club, fuelled in recent years by a man who was run out of Watford and Wycombe, has plenty of questions to answer tho

On 06/02/2022 at 16:04, Olé said:

Not sure how criticism can qualify as personal or not

I don't believe you don't know the difference, whether it applies in this case or not. But there feels like an added undercurrent of spite towards COD which other players don't get, and the same at Luton.