sh1t_ref_again

11 minutes ago, Bar BS3 said:

Isn't that the point.?

We have genuine fans, ploughing tens/hundreds of millions into our club.

Where do you think we'd be without them, seriously..?!.

It's not as if (surprisingly) that we've heard reports of numerous takeover bids being turned down.

I'd 

Little to no match day revenue around the ground - yet always the expectation to succeed. 

We lose £20million plus per year now, yet it's not been a concern for us (as supporters) because the Lansdowns pay it all off.

 

Great Post, but just quoted part

I can understand disappointment with not getting to prem, I understand frustration with decisions, but comments are mainly done with hindsight and always without knowing all the facts and reasons behind them.

What annoys me is the foul derogatory abuse made towards the Lansdowns by some on here as never hear it elsewhere. Some of these posters are the same who moan about the price of ticket and will not buy refreshments at the ground.

They are happy to slag off SL, but ignore the season tickets would need to be 3 times the price they are if not for SL putting his hand in his pocket and covering the cost of being a mid championship team

3 minutes ago, Merrick's Marvels said:

Yet more proof, as if it were needed, of how clueless they are.

What proof?

Dislike Leeds, but still found myself pleased as each goal went in

5 minutes ago, the1stknowle said:

So your question right back to you then. If it’s to build this ‘nest egg’ - to what end? Just self enrichment? Surely even Lansdown’s biggest critique would struggle to say the investment in City is about making out like a bandit. 

Just researching an upcoming holiday in Fuerteventura and found it

9 minutes ago, Numero Uno said:

As you say let’s see but I cannot believe that such a convoluted structure as we operate in doesn’t have an impact tbh. Yes, Championship = Lose Money but do Preston or Millwall, for example, lose £28m operating?

Both those clubs lost in the region of £19m, our figures will still reflect getting some players off the books, can't see Rotherham's, but guess recently promoted, clubs bouncing between Champ and L1 may be a lot lower

I watched the Leeds Ipswich game and whilst Ipswich play some good possession football and both are top of the league so both styles work, if one of these get promoted which style is likely to succeed up against much better teams, and thats probable Leeds, try and defend and be quick on the break.

Although watching us in the past, I was starting to get a bit frustrated when we were trying to play on the break, as it just felt you were being dominated by teams all the time, with odd moments of excitement

1 minute ago, Numero Uno said:

Not going to get into a mega debate on it but the Bristol Sport structure is a significant factor in our loss making imo. Bristol Sport is all about Steve Lansdown not BCFC. That’s where we are though so we have to hope that LM gets the support of Jon that he will need to move things on otherwise there might be trouble ahead. I think he will be backed.

Not sure I see the Bristol Sport issue, guess will see when further accounts come out, the issue I believe is even to stand still in the championship clubs makes a massive loss

22 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

I haven’t had the email but part of this is simply cause & effect, isn’t it?

We have only fielded a full subs bench once since Manning arrived & didn’t do so at least once under Pearson.

This season Raekwon Nelson has been on the bench 9 times with zero actual minutes on the pitch.

Knight-Lebel 16 times, he’s come on as sub once.

Araoye & Wiles-Richards 3 times, zero minutes.

Tommy Backwell twice, same.

Ephraim Yeboah 22 times for 195 minutes on the pitch.

I’m not saying the Academy isn’t excellent but our figures look higher than they should because the squad is so small & we have a lot of injuries.

 

Its a fair point, but guess its good to have that number close to being good enough to get minutes and can only improve there development. Lots of other teams will have had injury problems so will have had young players on the bench, so its still relative.

2 minutes ago, Merrick's Marvels said:

To what end?

Would be my question.

To help Bournemouth succeed? (Other tinpot over achieving clubs are available).

To keep the wage bill down because the owner's lost interest?

Because the last time I looked, no-one ever got promoted from the brutal Championship with a team full of kids.

We can all try to be negative about anything in an attempt to have a dig, but I like seeing academy players coming through, we have limited recourses so we have to be realistic on what we can afford, so better our own than paying for someone else's

Helping tinpot Bournemouth, by selling Semenyo is probable what saved us from failing FFP and possible points deductions, also the Scott money (although not strictly an academy product) will allow some investment going forward, star players will always want to move upwards, its the way of football

Owner lost interest, who knows, but JL seems to be taking more active interest and it is the Lansdowns money that will have just written off £22m in loses, so if he is loosing interest, we are lucky he is still happy to put his hands in his pockets

Its not a team full of kids is it, they tend to be on the bench supplementing the mix of players we have

1 minute ago, GrahamC said:

Nope, not had it.

Doesn’t sound like I’m missing much.

On behalf of the club I’d like to wish you all the best this Christmas. We hope you have a fun festive season and a safe time with family and friends.

As another year ends, I want to thank you for your support over the past 12 months. You continue to turn out in great numbers, home and away, and that support has only increased this season.

Our average home attendance is now over 22,000 – up nearly 2,000 on last season – with 15,000 Season Ticket holders. That is a fantastic fanbase and I know Liam and the players greatly appreciate the backing you give them.

The same goes for Lauren and the women’s team who have broken their own record three times for a crowd at Ashton Gate, including 14,000 for the Manchester United game. There are now 1,800 City Women Season Ticket holders, many watching women’s football for the first time.

Both teams are benefitting from our Academy system, with the men having an average of six academy graduates in the first team matchday squad and the women eight.

For the men’s team we have the highest percentage of minutes played (33.7%) by club-trained players in the top two divisions in England – players who have been with us for at least three seasons between the ages of 15 and 21. We are sixth in the top five European leagues behind only Athletic Club, Olympique Lyonnais, Real Sociedad, Real Madrid and SC Freiburg. The Academy will remain a strong focus for us going forward.

We have had three debuts from the Academy this season so far, Joseph James, Jamie Knight-Lebel and Ephraim Yeboah, and a lot of credit should go to all those involved in developing the next generation of players.

Academy players are integrated into the first team environment when the time is right and we believe that, given Liam’s experience in developing players and supported by Brian Tinnion, we will have many more coming through.

Liam has settled in well and, while it is going to take time, everyone is fully behind him, Chris Hogg and the rest of the staff.

I firmly believe that we are heading in the right direction and we are all looking forward to 2024 with a lot of optimism.

There is plenty of work to do, on and off the pitch. You will have seen that we have announced the accounts for last year with a significant loss although we are continuing the recent trend of reducing those losses each season.

It was good to hear your questions and views at the Fans Forum last month and at the recent Senior Reds Christmas lunch.

Please be assured that we want to listen to you and improve because ultimately we are all seeking the same thing – a growing Bristol City, playing at the highest level and inspiring our community.

Thank you and Merry Christmas.

Most will have received JL xmas email message, so have not pasted it all, but interesting how highly the academy is performing, compared to others

Both teams are benefitting from our Academy system, with the men having an average of six academy graduates in the first team matchday squad and the women eight.

For the men’s team we have the highest percentage of minutes played (33.7%) by club-trained players in the top two divisions in England – players who have been with us for at least three seasons between the ages of 15 and 21. We are sixth in the top five European leagues behind only Athletic Club, Olympique Lyonnais, Real Sociedad, Real Madrid and SC Freiburg. The Academy will remain a strong focus for us going forward.

Must admit, do not like the new revamped web site, very difficult to navigate

Think they do play some good stuff, but a lot of it has been momentum and self belief, few bad results (Leicester next) may start to knock that, add to that a few injuries and suspensions to really start feeling the pressure

35 minutes ago, fisherrich said:

Thank you. Posters on here defending the owners etc probably unaware of what was happening “behind the scenes”. This has been a car crash of a football club for a number of years.

It is a business that if it had a PLC and was accountable, would be changed years ago. Fact.

You did not say the owners, you called the staff who work for Bristol Sport "vermin" which seemed uncalled for 

Just now, fisherrich said:

Let’s just say I have a family member who worked there.

OK then with your ITK knowledge, so why are they vermin as you claim, or perhaps your family member ex employee is bitter, but then again anyone can make unsubstantiated comments on an anonymous forum

3 minutes ago, fisherrich said:

Bristol Sport is riddled with vermin. Awful business to be involved with.

So who do you know and have an involvement within Bristol Sport to know this

Enjoyed watching that, brought back some good memories. Strange to think, anyone under 30 will not remember or have really experienced a local derby

2 hours ago, Kid in the Riot said:

 

Not sure it can be a smokescreen given the board have never highlighted it as a reason for dismissal. 

Also, he still cannot walk unaided. That is just the way it is and clearly he needs a decent amount of time away from work to recover. 

If you recall after the Coventry game I think it was he claimed he just needed a minor op and he'd need 48 hours off for it. I think clearly the situation is more serious than that and both he and the club knew he was going to have to take a much longer period away from the job. 

All I'm saying is that this is the one point I sympathise with the club on. A judgement call has to be made there on whether you can stick with someone that can't carry out some of their duties in the job, is going to be away from the job for a period of time, and at the time had no prognosis. 

And to clarify, I'm not suggesting for a moment it was the only reason they got rid of him. Of course a disintegrating personal relationship and lack of progress in terms of results and performances played their part. 

But there is a reality the bloke is not well and will not be back in work for a while, which is incredibly unfortunate, and I wish him well.

No good coming on here talking sense, it does not fit the narrative on here many want to pedal

The end of the day, most of what goes on behind the doors of the club we all know nothing about, we can all agree the reason given was just a smokescreen, JL even alluded to that, there was a lot that cannot be said. Businesses often cannot give the full or real reason for decisions or wash there laundry in public, as it helps no one. Nige was on a fixed term contract, that would seem for what ever reason was not going to be renewed, maybe that decision was made before his health issues maybe not, but lets not feel to sorry for someone who would have been highly paid and would have had as a minimum his contract paid up to the end. Perhaps with his health issues that is a blessing in disguise for him as can get well without the stress of work.

Its easy to say Nige could just let the coaches get on with it, but what is Nige doing all week, just sat in a office at the HPC, perhaps things were slipping and his lack of visibility was starting to affect the players - we don't know!

I say all of this as someone who wanted Nige before he was appointed, was gutted he was sacked as really liked him, but he was brought in to do a job, he did it and as with nearly every other club, things happen and a manger gets sacked. Perhaps when Gould left, the buffer and filter between Nige and the board was lost and Alexander did not work, again we do not know.

What ever the reasons, for better or worse Manning is now the manager so we need to get behind him and hope that the board were right to appoint him.

31 minutes ago, phantom said:

 

@sh1t_ref_again @ralphindevon

Already confirmed on 8th December it's being covered 

https://www.bcfc.co.uk/news/west-ham-fa-cup-date-set/

Thanks, should get to watch with a beer in the sun

Anyone know if this is planned to be televised, other than just highlights? as going to be out of the country

I thought the story at the time was we found out about he had a 300k release fee and was interested in a move (possible via Naismith). 

6 minutes ago, 1960maaan said:

The full game is on RobinsTV so I'll have a look tomorrow , can't remember the 2nd Sykes one.

Just had a look, just outside area, but still looks a foul as Hume has come through the back of him

6 hours ago, 1960maaan said:

Just watched the extended highlights. Bit of a fraud as a lot of it is the teams walking out and lining up.

Anyway , it's good work making it look a very even game. TBF they didn't trouble Max nearly enough from the positions they got in, sounds familiar.  Two very good saves was as close as they got , where TGH forced their keeper into 2 saves which he probably should make.
The Penalty shouts , Sykes is a Pen for me and I think because of that the Ref was quick to give the one on TGH, which I think was but one we might not have got last year. Their shout from the Pring challenge isn't for me. Bit like the Hull one away a while back. Goes down after thinking about it and in instalments .
Sunderland were the first team to pass around us like that since Leicester  and probably 2nd half Southampton. 
A good lesson for Manning and he would have found out a little more about his players. 
Important 3 points and that's what was needed, we have had the decent performances where we have dropped points, this was the reverse almost.
Be nice to scramble another undeserved 3 points Friday , even better if we deserve them.

Agree, who needs 45 seconds of highlights of players lining up.

Thought both Skyes & TGH looked penalties, Sunderland one, not sure as Pring looked to have played the ball, but would not surprised to see it given. Would also liked to have seen the other penalty shout on Skyes in the 2nd half where we broke away and the player came through the back of Skyes, it was right in front of us a looked a nailed on (although what I thought I seen and reality can be different once I see it on a replay)

Back to his normal good performance today, also looked to pass forward when on the half way line

Always like Friday night football, plus Saturday before Christmas is normally a poor attendance, think off the back of a win, should be a good night