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Reading all this, it strikes me that Nige is one of them adrenalin-junkies and has merely replaced the literal thrill of his backs-to-the-wall Carpathian mountain surrounded by wild dogs experience with the closest thing football has to offer: trying to keep dopey pandemic-and-dopey-owner-ravaged Bristol City afloat in the Championship. Nige walked into/towards the adversity that is Bristol City FC, while the bloke with the "Run Towards Adversity" poster on his office wall ran away to Suffolk. I suppose Ashton told him the truth of the muddle here when Nige was first approached?

Baby squad?

We were reminiscing about this Christmas Day - our old muh had bought @Huntstile Red a ticket for City v Stan Collymore, Christmas early 90s. Only someone went and lobbed it on the fire Christmas Day amongst some used wrapping paper. So what does our muh do? She goes and sees Dame Beryl in said portacabin early doors on the day of the game and explains the situation. Beryl knows "the boys" and without question produces another ticket. Then Stan Collymore chucks our Christmas on the fire.

There's other things to be more "careful" about these days, I find.

Perhaps the owner might take a moment to spell this out in plain English to his supporters to take a little heat off his manager?

Steve is both, is he not? Hence the stultifying stalemate

And you know what they said?

The Christmas and New Year football tradition is an essential, wonderful part of the game in these islands. Big seasonal crowds thankful to get out and do something after a day of the mother/father/other-in-law etc. Rugby too - there will be 70,000 plus at Twickenham this holiday for a club game. Who or what is the game for - the players, or the payers? How about they use every one of their squad over the hols and continue to put on a spectacle for the paying public?

Not Manchester United losing?

Can you put some flesh on the bone of: "...my boy's coach .... helps them work on it (concentration)", how does the coach do this exactly?

We finished 11th that season. Then 8th the next. Then it went Brownhill ever since.

Doug Rougvie would've been out there today - short sleeves, short shorts, short of breath/fitness/ball control - not cowering from a bloody cold doing the rounds. Micky Droy/John Bumstead the same. Clive Walker: not so sure.

Cos all he does is run around. And maybe we can cash in on that, Col

Yeah, laid on the ground on a sheepskin coat with a scantily clad young lady, a fag and a Babysham, whilst reading the Racing Post, as I remember it. Oh, and his E type Jag parked between the Dolman and the Park end. That was football in the 60s/70s for you ...

I wonder what his knees are like nowadays

Merry Christmas, mate. Here's to a Happy one too

Happy Christmas, I note, not Merry. Interesting. The use of "Merry" of course being associated with the lower classes and rowdy Christmases of ye olde Ingurlund and mediaeval mischief and 'ows yer father and all sorts of ribald midwinter carry on. Whereas "Happy" is yer refined upper echelons like yer Royal Family who wanted to set theirselves apart from ye scummy .... well, scum, to be plain. Anyway, moving on .... I always find 'Happy' Christmas somewhat precarious as a goal for a Bristol City supporter and beyond any possibility of control, whereas a 'Merry' one is always within reach (regardless of Chris Martin's this, Bakinson's that, or Nige's jurassic tendency to "set the team up" all wrong .... ). Shakin' Stevens had it right. And Noddy.

You bang on, or You are bang on?

To me, it's one thing Nigel "been there, done it; got the gillet" Pearson criticising his centre back; quite another Lee Johnson doing it. I think most of us would take a certain amount of this from the former, but not the latter? If Atkinson is crumbling inside because of this, then we need to know before next summer.

Ask Blackburn.

It’s a way of looking at .... oh, never mind

Maybe you're right, and I'm wrong. Or vice versa. Or its somewhere in between. The owner doesn't know so we'll never know. What will not drastically alter the fortunes of this club is tinkering with the manager/head coach, in my opinion. If that was the answer you like to think it would've worked by now.

We know he chose them. We also suspect he, and we, don't have much choice. As Mark Ashton might say, we're fishing in small, crappy pools now, unlike before

You think Simpson, Tanner and Atkinson are what he would choose if money were no, or less of an, object?

We - Bristol City FC - have it within us to "tread water," at this level?