Capman

For me the question is not so much about belief but the skill needed to manage people. Manning is unfortunate because he permanently gets compared to a very experienced and successful predecessor. For me Pearson’s clarity and judgement are some of his most important qualities. I think the way he managed players (young and old) was exceptional. He appeared to ‘know’ when new talent needed time on the field, and when they needed time on the bench. He could judge when to give praise and when to criticise. He also understood what young players needed in terms of experience and support on the pitch. It would have been very easy for Pearson to lose patience with Vyner, Pring and Max. But he picked the right moment to back them and I suspect that is a large factor in their ultimate transition. It’s early days yet to judge Manning, but so far I don’t see the clarity of thought needed to do the same on a regular basis. Hopefully it will be shown over time that he does have the skill.

I appreciate that it may not be a popular view but the cup being out of the way does allow us to get a good view on where we are as a club. The board have made big claims for our squad and our aspirations. We have about a third of the season left and that is plenty of time for us to see where we are. My fear is that we are going to be buttered up for another 'we need to rebuild' there is a 'three year plan' and the rest of the standard cliches which are used to excuse the failure to deliver up to now. Go on JL and the board, prove me wrong! Genuinely, I hope you can do it.

It’s pretty simple for me. The owners act as if they are more important than the club. That situation cannot continue. JL has no experience and no viable plan to get the club into the PL and needs to step down or be removed. Having the occasional good cup run is not good enough. The club needs to unite behind a plan to gain promotion and unfortunately the sacking of NP has made that impossible. Now the board must fall on their swords for the greater good of the club.

What the season shows me is that the club has a lack of ambition and no strategy to deliver premier league football. We shift priorities and my assumption is that happens because the personal ego of a few at the top is more important (to them) than the success of the club. Promotion from the championship is hard. It requires spending time building the right team (off and on the pitch). The current ownership seem incapable of creating the environment needed to do that. So the club is likely to have the odd good cup run but languish below the target most supporters want. Unless we happen to get very, very lucky.

I suspect it comes from a lack of strategy and ambition on the pitch. That’s a view those who spend their hard earned cash on the pitch are entitled to express. However much others try to shout them down. Last night was great but actually it just highlights the problem for me. The first, second and third priority of the club should be premiership football. Yet we seem expected to consider a ‘good cup run’ every few years as reward enough. It is hugely depressing that the Bristol City memories talked about are Tinnion against Liverpool or Don Gillies against Leeds from decades ago. On what they claim to be their top objective the current regime has failed. Supporters are entitled to point that out.

The culture of the club is rotten to the core. The thing is that the board seem oblivious to the fact that this kind of thing matters on the pitch. There are players who like and respect Nige, players he has encouraged and bought through. They will see how he has been treated and, however much they say it doesn’t, it will impact the way they think about BCFC. It tests their commitment to the club in a way which is beyond unnecessary. Staff will see it and it will change the way they do their job. They won’t want to take risks or challenge the club for fear they will be ‘cancelled’ and supporters will see it and they will fall out of love with the club. It’s childish, stupid and damaging but unfortunately it’s not a surprise.

I agree with the observation about a choppy structure and too many cooks. I would be really interested to know how the budget (if any) for the January transfer window is being set for example. I wonder if the ambition for premier league football is going to be crowded out in the thoughts of some decision makers by the need of the board to be seen to invest in the squad, the new manager and JL’s comments about a ‘top six squad’. One priority might well drive very different decisions to the other. There can be a big difference between the short term need to be popular and building something which delivers long term excellence.

The championship is probably the most difficult league in the world to be promoted from. In the last 40 years that difficulty has only increased. To achieve it, you need focus and a culture of excellence in everything you do. From top to bottom the club needs everyone pulling in the same direction and aligned around a strategy for success. Put simply I don’t think the Lansdown’s have built that culture. The culture at the top is secretive and defensive and that culture probably means staff feel undermined at all levels. It increasingly looks like people get jobs based on their ability to do what JL and the board want not based on their ability to deliver the goal of premier league football. Of course eventually the club may get incredibly lucky and the random nature of what they do might get the outcome we want. But that would be more luck than anything else. Based on that assessment, my personal view is that the Lansdown’s have three choices, 1) Continue to follow the approach which has failed for decades 2) Change the board to one which has the skill and experience to build the right culture and run a successful football club 3) Sell up and go I would take 2 or 3 but the fiasco of Pearson’s exit has moved the dial for me personally and my preference would now be 3.

If you can think of a similar shorthand for the board have no idea what they are doing and need to go feel free to tell me what it is. The failure of City to challenge and move forward, our total lack of ambition and our lack of a plan is boring. But supporters need to be united in challenging it. Week in, week out. Because up to now the owners are simply not listening. I am not prepared to criticise Manning, the malaise at our club is down to others.

Why? It is surely perfectly reasonable to hold the club to account for its position. I wonder why there are some ‘supporters’ who are content to accept mediocrity at the club?

Top 6 squad anyone?

I said when Pearson left that the culture of the club appears to be rotten to the core. Decisions seem to be made based on saying and doing what ‘the establishment’ want to be true and what they need to happen, rather than being open and honest. To be fair to Tinnion (and Manning) that really makes them victims as well. They will be dispensed with when that outcome suits the club establishment whose only objective is to protect themselves. It is probably a dreadful place to work, but when people have bills to pay, they get sucked into that culture and put up with it. For me that means success on the pitch is very unlikely. It’s a bit like the infinite monkey theory, if we go through every manager and every model we might eventually be lucky. But that might take a thousand years. A far better solution would be for the board to go and put in place a new board who understand how to really run a football club. Unfortunately until that happens I do not see things getting better on the pitch. In fact I suspect they will get worse.

Simply not good enough.

Excellent result and well deserved in the end. Apart from a crazy 5 minutes a good days work.

It was a professional footballer’s penalty for me. Matty knew the challenge was coming and if he could get to the ball first it should be a pen. He did and the referee made the right call. It was good play by Matty. Draw the foul and take the penalty.

It’s an unfortunate reality that successful organisations are open, inclusive and welcoming of differing views and challenge. Organisations which try to stifle debate, refuse to listen to challenge and close down discussions all too often fail to deliver their objectives. If you think about it the reasons are obvious. it is pretty clear to me which Bristol City has become and the likely consequences for success in the pitch. I hope I am wrong, but I don’t expect much under the current regime.

I wonder if it is possible that the board have lost the dressing room! Certainly I would be reluctant to stick with City as a player at the moment. Loyalty needs to go both ways.

Good job we have a top 6 squad.

I suspect that they have been waiting for a window where they could argue that NP was failing. To me there really is no other logical explanation. Can you image it, the board of an organisation, starving it of funds in the hope that the manager fails so they have an excuse to fire him? It is almost beyond belief, but unfortunately I can find no better explanation. It is why I have reluctantly come to the conclusion that the board are unfit for the role.

I wonder if there will be any kind of protest against the board. There is a lot of anger online but we are all being very Bristol like about it. Complain on the forum but don’t actually do much else. Would be nice to get a minute’s applause for Nige at some point at the game or maybe a silent protest against the board at half time.

The problem for the club is simple. It’s trying to post justify a decision which is based not on football but on personal ego. Everything they say makes it worse because they are trying to rewrite history. The only thing he could say which would give me any respect is ‘I fired Nigel because he was rude to me and it’s my club and I didn’t like it’. At least that would sound like the truth. I would still consider him unsuitable to chair anything but at least I could respect the honesty. But the more the club wriggles and avoids the less respect I have and the more it damages our reputation.

I get the very real sense of panic coming from Ashton Gate now. No plan, just a desperation to find something to deflect from the malaise.

I agree with this assessment and think it would be useful to pin for future reference. I wonder if there is also something about the commitment to youth development. I worry that the board will be so desperate for a quick return they may put pressure on a manager to try to loan our way to success. Even though that goes against a commitment to bring young players through.

So can someone more intelligent explain this to me? Having sacked Pearson two days ago and having said today we have a clear idea of what we want we have completed a complete review of all the best candidates, interviewed the best of them and concluded who is the right person within 48 hours? Or could it be that in order to try and move the conversation on, deflect attention from the board and protect Jon from further criticism the first credible candidate who is both cheap and available has been appointed in the random hope that it might not be catastrophic? This might work, but it probably won’t and if it does it is just blind luck. This is an incompetent board following one bad decision with another. The club has become a cluster fudge. Steve, step up, do something.

No manager of substance is likely to want the gig. The board have made it clear, the criteria for success is to pander to the wishes of the footballing illiterate board. Why would anyone with a reputation want to submit their future to the whims of the ignorant?