Capman

I think it’s becoming clear that Jon thought it was a bottom 6 squad and just needed the manager to get us there.

I feel like this has been done to death already but one of the things which astonishes me is the ineptitude of the senior management at the club over our ‘style of play’. The board were clear, we have top end league players and are a top end league club. All that was needed was a new manager with the ability to coach ‘on the grass’ to get the best out of those players. And (for the first time ever they seemed to suggest) they knew exactly what that meant when looking for someone. So they go out and appoint someone who wants to change the style of play to one which does not suit the top end squad he has at his disposal. It is the kind of unthinking stupidity which should get any leader a quick trip to the job centre. Does that help answer the original question, sorry I don’t think it does. But in my view it is the basic reason we are in this mess. We have no idea what we are trying to do because we have a board which makes decisions based on non footballing criteria and then panics to try and fix the mess that creates generating more panic and confusion. Within that coalition of chaos any manager and squad would struggle to build anything. But a young inexperienced manager has no hope.

I think we all know the answer to that. The ‘establishment’ at the club would rather fail than be challenged by someone who understands football. They will lie and fail in order to protect their egos. No class, no ambition, no respect for the club.

No if I were JL or BT I would actually be considering my own position and writing my resignation. But then, that’s just me. Manning was a manager bought in to manage a squad not set up to play the way he wanted to play, but where the fan base was told he would get them into the top 6. He is not up to the job, and not in the same class as his predecessor. But ultimately the responsibility for this mess rests elsewhere.

When times are tough you need professionals who want to play for you. Sorry but I don’t see Manning inspiring that kind of commitment. The best players are more likely to be dusting off their CVs, looking to move elsewhere.

Manning is a symptom. The problem is in the boardroom.

Jon does not ‘own’ the club Steve does. It is for Steve to decide what he wants to do I agree. If not upsetting Jon is more important to Steve than the success of the club then he will leave Jon in place and allow him to trash the Lansdown legacy. But here is the thing, Jon can go as Chairman and Steve still own the club. If the Lansdown’s value their legacy they need to recognise that JL is not the man to lead the club forward. Jon can easily step aside, citing other business interests, appoint a new chairman, without the owners having to sell. But leaving JL in charge will not, in my view, change the narrative. The club need someone else to lead them out of this mess. If Steve values his investment now is the moment to embrace that reality.

There is nothing I detest more than dishonesty. JL told us that they were making a change because we were underperforming on the pitch with the squad we had and a change in the dugout would make that right. If he lied about the squad, he needs to go. If he was right about the squad, but picked the wrong manager he, Manning and Tinnion all need to go. But for me there is no acceptable outcome which leaves JL as chairman. He needs to go. He has treated all fans as fools. He lied to us, and that can and will never be acceptable.

I am not really bothered if he stays or goes. If the current establishment sack him they will only replace him with someone who looks the same. He is not the ‘problem’ he is a symptom. We have a board who are not up to the job, until that changes things will stay much the same.

The buck stops with Jon. He created the mess and needs to be gone.

We need to be clear where the buck stops. Jon (it’s my club) Landsdown made the call to sack an experienced manager who had turned the club around, because he has no idea whatsoever about football and how to get promotion to the premier league. Yes Manning is not up to the job and should not be head coach, of course Tinnion is a yes man who should have more self respect and not pander to the establishment. But nothing changes until the chairman changes. JL needs to go, tonight would be good, tomorrow would be acceptable, next week would be too late. If that means Steve wants to sell so be it. This fiasco has run too long already.

I tend to agree although fan pressure will eventually have to have an effect. Steve is clearly a bright bloke and overall I have been supportive of his time at City. He will not want his legacy tarnished now and I am afraid that looks increasingly likely. If I were to be advising him I would say, use Jon’s ‘other interests’ as a reason to restructure. Leave him on the board but bring in a new chairman who can try to reunite the club with some more sensible rhetoric and create a management structure to deliver premier league football. Any decent chairman will respect the position of the owners, so they do not need to fear an independent. But someone needs to be able to tell hard truths to the manager, the senior staff, the board and the squad. Unfortunately I do not see Jon having the right skill set to do that.

I am afraid that the current leadership at the club (not just Manning) will squander the war chest created while Pearson and Gould were here. I would not give them that chance. But JL would have to go and that’s not likely. So I expect another opportunity for advancement at the club to be lost.

I know some don’t like this being repeated but it needs to be said. The fact they were dishonest about why Pearson was leaving has piled huge pressure on the new manager and the squad. JL needs to face reality and take personal accountability for the mess the club is in. He is solely and personally responsible and in my view the club will struggle as long as he stays as Chairman of the board. Time for him to do the honourable thing and step down.

Nonsense, the board were looking for an excuse to sack Pearson for months.

Problem is if Manning goes who is going to want the job under a clearly dysfunctional board with no vision for the club? An experienced manager will look at the way Cotts and Pearson were treated and say no thanks, so we will be left with another mini Johnson or Manning.

Sorry to be boring but it’s exactly what I mean when I say the culture of the club is rotten to the core. When you lie, the lies just continue to pile up and they distort everything. Firing Pearson was not a football decision, it was personal. But because JL did not have the balls to tell the truth, we got all the top 6 squad and Manning is great stuff to cover the real reason. That has set the new manager up to fail and even put pressure on the squad who are perceived to be ‘failing’ because they are not that standard. The situation does not change for me until JL steps down. He created this mess personally, and should have the guts to take responsibility.

Has he not been told this is a top 6 squad?

I am sorry, but the club is going backwards. The board need to take responsibility for the mess they have made this season.

The board need to go. No point in just replacing Manning, the culture of the club is rotten to the core.

Because he fell out with the board. Why else would it be? Given the situation he inherited and the constraints he was under it’s hard to argue his record was poor.

Think you should change the title to the board. Problem is in the boardroom not the just the dugout.

Let’s be honest. Sacking Pearson was nothing to do with football. So the comparison is pretty meaningless.

Agreed the problem at City is in the boardroom, not the dugout. At some point Manning will just become another victim of it.

True, the question is why have they suddenly ‘made the grade’ in the last couple of years. Something has enabled them to significantly reduce the issues they were having before and turned them into first team regulars. The track record is pretty clear that the previous regime had that management and coaching skill. It is a genuine question if that remains or if it has been lost in the transition. I actually think Pearson’s man management skills were demonstrated just as well in dealing with the older players. His willingness not to play those who he thought had ‘let the side down’ particularly springs to mind. His focussed determination to make sure players understood what was expected should be a model for any manager. I am not sure the new regime has that and it will make the path for any player to move from the academy to the first team significantly more difficult.