KegCity

Yeah, I didn't bother rising to that one. I just don't think they're comparable in practice, yes they're both "businesses" but there's a lot that makes a football club different to a normal business that isn't tangible. I'm obviously in the minority that think that so I won't try and convince you otherwise. As many village pubs have seen it doesn't matter if you're the only pub in the village as people will still switch allegiances, that isn't really a thing in football. For the record I'm a STH at City, not sure if that comment about being taken seriously was a dig at me or somebody else.

Yeah don’t disagree that it’s his name attached to the club, just at the risk of being too romantic whoever the owner is isn’t actually bigger than the club. To me the fans are part of the club as they’re the ones that make it what it is. I’d like to see a similar situation to the fan ownership in Germany but that won’t ever happen.

No I don’t because I don’t “support” a pub in the manner someone does a football club because a football club is not simply a business despite the attitudes of many these days. My view is that whilst the owner owns the club, it’s the fan base that make it what it is and it’s their club. I know some people like to act as if Lansdown is Mr Bristol City, for example, but he’s really safeguarding the club and running it. The club was here before he arrived and providing he doesn’t hire another Mark Ashton it will be here when he leaves. It’s part of the community. You can make a strawman comparison to a pub but they’re clearly not the same thing. Both have “customers” and owners but by that logic you can compare pretty much anything with transactions involved, they’re clearly very different organisations. Don't understand what illegal streams has to do with the club belonging to the fans. I genuinely don’t get what you mean about debts etc, if anything that strengthens my point more? Look at Wimbledon for example, now technically the club is MK Dons as it belongs to the owners who do what they like. The actual club was resurrected by the fans and is now AFC Wimbledon. They’re two different entities, technically the business renamed, rebranded and moved cities, but it’s no longer the same club. I might be pedantic or too quaint about it but whilst the fans don’t sit down and do the spreadsheets they make the club what it is. It belongs to them. The contempt of Colchester’s owner to have an attitude of “it’s my club I’ll do what I like” rubs me the wrong way because whilst it’s technically true, in reality it’s not. If every fan abandoned the club the club folds, it’s not like a pub as you alluded to where other customers can be attracted unless you do an MK Dons where it’s no longer the same club. I don’t want my bit at the minute let alone yours! I would say owners have more choice than fans over which clubs they’re involved in. You’ll have the standard top 6 fan who chops and changes but I’d expect most city STHs feel more of a connection the club than an owner, it’s not a standard choice like in most markets. Who knows though, maybe football is just another day out these days?

He owns the club, but it belongs to the fans, as it is at City. Owners, managers and players come and go but the fans stay.

Webster was not on Keane's level when he was getting England caps. Webster has since surpassed him comfortably. I'd like to see him go to Arsenal in the summer.

Very weird stick to beat our top goal scorer with but each to their own. Yep, Semenyo's been guilty of leaning back as he shoots but that certainly wasn't the case on Saturday. Said my piece on his finishes in another post: As you've made extremely clear this doesn't necessarily mean he's turned a corner, but from a purely technical POV his performance on Saturday displayed everything you want from a top forward.

For want of better phrasing he hit the ball with anger whenever he was in front of goal last Saturday. Instead of rushing the shot or taking too long to pick a spot as he's done previously, when the opportunity for a shot arose he got the ball out of his feet, took a step and just struck the ball cleanly and hard. The way he shrugged off their centre backs and ran half the length of the pitch showed that "**** it, I'll do it myself" mentality that Harry Brooks and other coaches attribute with top players. Whether that was a flash in the pan or the start of something exciting remains to be seen, but there's promising signs there.

Just because he isn't Jude Bellingham doesn't mean he doesn't have a high ceiling.

Pretty accurate!

He scored against Norwich. That's about it. The bar for him is so low that the occasional performance where he actually does his job is seen to be much better than it is.

I get what you mean but that's not the right attitude to go into a league match with. We could have competed with Fulham for 90 minutes. We did it in the first two meetings with them this season and we did it for the first 30 minutes of yesterday. It was the complete collapse of Kalas/Vyner that threw the game away. Yes they were against excellent players, but it wasn't any opposition magic that lost us the game.

Pring was the only defender to do themselves any justice imo.

There’s no conundrum. He’s had enough chances to produce and he hasn’t taken them. Wish we’d let him go to Leeds.

Is winning at Fulham classed as doing something? Meant more actually achieving something aside from beating man united.

He embodies Lee Johnson’s team well. A lot of energy without ever really doing anything

We’ve conceded 45 goals already. Kalas has been sloppy for the last 2 seasons. We need an entirely new set of defenders and shifting Kalas is a good way to fund them. He’s been hit and miss since Webster left so taking his wages off the books and signing a centre back who can head a ball seems sensible to me. Kalas is not the defensive messiah some view him as. He puts players around him in trouble with dodgy passing at times, doesn’t organise and doesn’t deal with anything in the air. If we can get a Webster style centre back to do that for him then great, but I don’t see that happening without sales.

Quite happy to shift Bentley and Kalas, Max is a competent number one and I think there’s surely better value for money centre backs than Kalas. I don’t think he’s justifying his wage at the moment.

We’ve got the potential to have a core of academy players that can get us into the top 6. Said it before but we should be tying these players down as soon as possible, rather than clamouring to sell them to bring in more deadwood.

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Absolutely, Fulham have a much better side than us, however the scoreline was down to our errors rather than their technique. If we had more mental resilience, the ability to win a header in our own penalty area and the desire to close players down it would’ve been a different game. For want of a better phrase we lack defensive IQ massively, needs addressing before we worry about the midfield or attack. I’d like to give praise to Max O’Leary, considering he conceded six due to the shambles in front of him he dealt with difficult backpasses really well and got us out of jail a few times with excellent distribution. Quite happy to cash in on Bentley and give him the number one shirt.

Scott, Massengo and King weren’t looking too bad aside from standing off the guys shooting from range. Bizarre call from Pearson to take Massengo off and take away the legs in the side.

Talk of signing a striker is nonsense. Desperately need a secure back line.

They’ve both been piss poor with dealing with crosses since Holden took charge. Can dress it up however you like but mitrovic wasn’t challenged at any point today. I wasn’t expecting anything today, but if you defend like that against anyone you’ll get beat. Such a shame after the first half hour where it looked like we’d turned a corner

“Fulham are a good side” is no excuse for any of the goals conceded today. Completely fell apart at 2-2 after matching Fulham for the first half hour. If you stand off the opposition and let them pass it round you you’ll get punished, whether you’re playing Fulham or Manor Farm.

? Two goals came from standing off a man to let them run in and curl it, all of mitrovic’s goals came from shit organisation at the back. Kalas and Vyner can’t deal with aerial pressure.