Supersonic Robin

I think Mehmeti has been rather unfortunate. Firstly, it's worth saying that Mehmeti is clearly a very talented player. Remember that he was included in the EFL 21 under 21 last season - that alone gives you an indication of his potential. What I find strange is the lack of patience he's been shown. 6 months ago he was on par with (or arguably ahead of) Bell and Cornick. All 3 were struggling to have any positive impact on games, with Mehmeti probably looking the best of the 3 at the back end of last season. However, Bell and Cornick's consistently poor performances were met with patience, and as a result they have now improved and assimilated into the team. For whatever reason, Mehmeti hasn't been awarded the same patience when he's struggled. Now Yeboah appears to be ahead of him in the pecking order - and Yeboah is also being shown patience for poor performances.

You may have misinterpreted my comments. This isn't necessarily a criticism of Pearson or the position he's put us in - he's done a good job. Luton and Ipswich are showing different ways in which success can be achieved in this division (granted, Ipswich aren't there yet, but you'd be very brave to bet against them right now). There isn't a right way or wrong way to make progress and achieve promotion, but unfortunately we've been unable to do this in any way. It's an undeniable fact that historically we have underachieved. Seeing teams overtake us, be that Luton, Ipswich, or anyone else, should be an immense source of frustration for our fanbase. That doesn't mean Pearson isn't doing well, we should want him out, or we should expect promotion this season. However, if we're going to be successful, it's important that we feel this frustration and use it as a source of hunger and expectation to achieve things ourselves. Strangely, some members of our fanbase/forum seem to find it 'confusing' that our fans might not like seeing other teams overtake and outperform us.......

We had a good season, but as you said - we didn't make it. We also didn't kick on. "16 years ago we got into the top 6 and didn't get promoted" shouldn't really be used as a demonstration of our 'success', right? Also has to be said that this Ipswich team look far better than our 2007 team.

Spot on. Absolutely cannot understand the mentality of those who view midtable Championship as success. Nights like tonight, in which we see a team in League 1 last season beat us and sit in the top 2 of the Championship, should absolutely enrage our fanbase. As a club, we really do lack ambition sometimes (certain portions of the fanbase included)

Genuine question - what do you think "the most out of this squad" is?

Yepp, Ipswich simply appear to be the latest team to overtake us. I'm sick of it. Wouldn't be surprised to see Reading rocket up past us in a few years time.

Lesson for you there, Max......

Have to admit that it's a slightly depressing to reflect on - seems that yet another team promoted from L1 have overtaken us.

In fairness, I think Ipswich's success is more due to great coaching than great players. However, if SL were to try and replace Pearson, we wouldn't get a Kieran McKenna, we'd get a Dean Holden - that's the biggest issue with potentially letting Pearson go

Respectfully, are you sure you're watching the same game!?

It's so hard to remain patient with O'Leary at this point.....

The 'bad atmosphere' topic resurfaces pretty regularly on here. For me, it always comes down to the same 3 things: 1. Team Performance & Momentum. Almost every club is loud when they're 3-0 up and top of league. Almost every club is quiet when they're 1-0 down and 16th in the table. Very few clubs in the Championship have been as consistently midtable as us since our return to the Championship. Couple that with our generally underwhelming home form over the last 5 years or so, and you'd expect us to be a bit less animated than the average set of home fans. 2. The Stadium. As has been covered a thousand times, the layout of the new Ashton Gate isn't ideal for generating a hostile home atmosphere. Some suggest that the club "clearly haven't thought about it, despite the fact it's obvious" - I think this is a bit naive. IMO, the Lansdowns have thought about it, but don't have the same appetite for a tense and hostile home atmosphere as the fans do. I don't think the club have made the AG atmosphere feel a bit soft and docile by accident. 3. The Fans. Despite the above 2 points, it's the fans who generate the noise. We can complain about stadium layouts, excitement on the pitch, pre match music etc etc, but the fundamental reason why the AG atmosphere is quiet is because not many of our fans are singing........... Case in point: There are a few guys who sit next to me at AG. Perfectly nice chaps and clearly enthusiastic about City given that they've had season tickets for 10+ years. They will regularly make comments about the poor atmosphere at AG and what should be done to fix it. However, in all the time I've been sat by them, I can't recall them joining in with a single chant.

Not sure if you've done this deliberately, but you've removed a section of my post and presented it without context to suggest that I was making a point which I very clearly wasn't. My post was clearly positive about the the job Pearson has done. It's rather misleading to shorten this comment: To this:

Your apathy is somewhat understandable. I think Pearson has done a good job, but supporters of other clubs may be rather confused looking at the desperation of our fans to keep a manager who has ultimately taken us from midtable to midtable in 3 years. However, for me, it's as much about avoiding a Lansdown managerial appointment as it is about keeping Pearson. After years of Holdens, Millens, and Johnsons, the Lansdowns have somehow stumbled upon an experienced football manager who knows what he's doing (despite the fact they seem to thoroughly dislike him). I don't trust us to make a better appointment should Pearson leave. If I were a supporter of Brighton, Brentford, or Luton, I wouldn't be too worried about my club losing Pearson - I'd trust the club to replace him. Unfortunately, I don't support any of those clubs, I support Bristol City. Well put. Pearson is helping to protect us from the incompetence of the Lansdowns. This is about more than Pearson's ability to set up XI players on a Saturday afternoon (although it shouldn't be).

I was reflecting on this the other day. Reluctantly, we have to admit that things are going rather well for Ipswich with Mark Ashton & a progressive young coach. Does this show that Lansdown was right all along? I actually think it illustrates the opposite - that Lansdown is the problem. It seems that Ashton + a young manager can do well in the Championship.....just not when they're being dictated to by you, Steve. As much criticism as Mark Ashton (rightly) received from our fanbase, it wasn't the case the Lansdown had no say in the appointments of Johnson & Holden. It wasn't the case that Lansdown had no involvement in the excessive spending. It wasn't the case that Lansdown had no say in the strange restructuring that occurred during the Ashton era. Ashton now finds himself at a new club, and may well be on the verge of achieving back to back promotions. How much more evidence do you need? The problem is you, Mr Lansdown.

Wouldn't say we're rewriting history, we're just interpreting it more accurately. I agree we were crap for the first 35 minutes and that Coventry looked better than us. But equally, as you've acknowledged, Coventry created few/no good chances. They relied on speculative efforts from outside the box and managed 1 shot on target in the entire game. We were playing poorly, but that doesn't mean we deserved to be 3-0 down as many were suggesting at the time. I'd have liked the performance to be better today, but I think the idea that we deserved to lose the game is inaccurate when you look at the (lack of) chances for both teams. 0-0 would probably have been the fairest result! (FWIW, both teams had an xG of under 0.5 in the match).

A sceptic might suggest that Lansdown has been making Pearson's life a little bit harder than he has to, potentially in the hope that it gives Lansdown a justification to not extend Pearson's contract.

Interesting seeing how many of our fans feel that we "got battered" today. We restricted Coventry to 1 shot on target. I can't remember them having a big chance all game. The narrative seems to be rather different when we're the team who only manages 1 shot on target!

They also had 1 shot on target to our 3 and I can't recall them having a clear cut chance all game. Yes, Cov outplayed us in the middle of the pitch in the first half, but the game ended up being far far less one sided than many are making out.

Agreed, but worth noting that although they were good attempts, they weren't good chances

Agree we were crap, but that doesn't change the point - had Coventry actually had any good chances? Or had they just had a few decent attempts from outside the box?

In fairness, is there an argument to say that we've actually had the 2 best chances of the game? (Dickie header and Weimann chance) For all Coventry's possession, I can't recall them having a shot from inside our box?

Didn't you hear? Every Coventry shot deserves a goal, even if it's a speculative effort from outside the box

In fairness, hitting the post/bar is still technically just a shot-off-target. It's not like hitting the woodwork means you deserved a goal. That being said, the game is very one sided so far.

Note that I said "in the grand scheme of things...." I agree we can't really expect to compete with the parachute payments teams this season, but across a period of 10-20 years there's no reason why we can't perform just as well as the clubs who many would categorise as being "better than us". The distinction is that the 3 examples you've given (Sheffield Wednesday, QPR, Blackburn) have all played in the Premier League and all won at least 1 major trophy. We haven't done either (granted, we played in the old 1st division, but for significantly less time than those 3 clubs have). They're clubs who have had low points, but they've been balanced by high points. We're one of few clubs at this level to have never truly had a high point. I would even argue that we're not actually asking for a "small club, big success" story. I think all we're asking for really is an "average sized club, average sized success" story.