Supersonic Robin

Well what are you waiting for mate!? Get on the phone to Steve Lansdown ASAP!

I don't think we'll be relegated - IMO there will probably be 3 teams with less points than us come the end of the season. I do think it could be a long painful season though. Unfortunately, there's not much the club could do to change that. We can't afford to spend in January, and I'm not sure that there's (realistically) a manager better placed to get something out of the squad than Pearson. Even if there was - how will we attract him? We've become a significantly less attractive proposition over the last few years. We're in a crap position as a club, and basically just have to ride it out.

This ^^^. Really depressing isn't it. Our return on investment over the last few years must be the worst in the Championship. The reality is that there's no quick fix. We're a state and we're going to take a while to sort out. I'm not convinced that a new manager would change that. As bad as it can be at times, it feels like this is simply a season where we may have to grin and bear it.

Agree, really pissed about this one. Very winnable game on paper, but not really turned up. Shouldn't be losing 3-0 to them IMO.

Well, my heads gone! Really really shouldn't be 3-0 down to this Birmingham side.

Why is there always an assumption that anything is better than what we currently have? Remember how we looked playing the kids towards the end of last season? Did you see how much Benarous struggled vs Barnsley? These youngsters may be very talented, but the jump up to men's Championship football is huge.

Probably just stats and probabilities. We've likely conceded far more shots than most teams in the league over the last 2 years, hence we're prone to a higher number of unlucky deflected goals. Some might argue that we also have more "lucky, got away with one there" moments than other teams for the same reason. That goal did feel very unfortunate though (especially after a reasonable start).

Pretty much my thoughts. This is a very winnable game IF we turn up. It would be nice to see an improvement in performance standard after the last few weeks.

Agree with these comments - I don't think it's as simple as "He's a brilliant player who simply doesn't put the effort in". Palmer has very good technical ability, but is clearly lacking in other areas. I don't necessarily think it's a lack of physical effort. I'd describe it as a lack of focus, concentration, and awareness more than anything, both in and out of possession. Think we're all trying to describe roughly the same thing though.

I do mean the left back (no.2 with the man ban), just had a brain fart and typed RB in the last post!

Agree with this. He did play well, but most right backs would look good with as much time and space as he had. (....he also had an embarrassing haircut)

Nothing wrong with being proud of the HPC, I just think we probably overhype it a bit sometimes. It's a good step forward for us, but as others have said, it's not THAT spectacular relative to what others (e.g. Palace, Brighton) have......others who, a decade ago, were also in the championship with us. The frustration is that the gap has grown, and we're now looking up at those teams in awe. You capture this well in your last sentence "comparing to a club which has had 7/8 years of Prem TV money" - look at what they've done, and look at what we've done. It's not about trying to knock the club, it's just interesting to occasionally step back and contextualise our "achievements".

Agree, the HPC is a big step up *for us*, but many large championship teams and most premier league teams would have a chuckle when they see us marvelling at it. People will of course point out that these teams ought to have better facilities since they're competing at a higher level, but that's the point! Should we be a club who resign ourselves to never being able to compete with the likes of Brighton and Crystal Palace? I bloody hope not!

Agree with this. Think we had similar issues with Diedhiou to some degree. There's a big difference between an accurate intentional long ball into a striker, and an uninspired or panicked hoof in the general direction of a striker.

Agree it might be close - a case of what happens when the weakest force meets the flimsiest object? ? You'd take a point at home to Barnsley? As bad as things are, I wouldn't. Brilliant opportunity for 3 points - it would be embarrassing for us to even consider taking a draw in such a match IMO.

Yepp, the lack of effort, commitment and application is what frustrates most. It really is incredible to consider how frequently we've failed to compete in the last 24 months. Really depressing when you think about it. Agree that people are too hasty to sack NP though. I'm not sure that any manager could realistically do a lot better. We're in a crap position and it's going to take a good while to resolve it.

We CAN'T get rid of players like Palmer - no one will buy them. That's part of why we CAN'T just go and sign 5 (quality) players in January. Similarly, we won't be able to find a manager with NP's experience who would want to come to BS3 and work with no budget. We've spent a few years driving the club into its current state - unfortunately it will take more than a couple of months to resolve.

I see where you're coming from - we have become a significantly less attractive prospect in the space of the last year. That does concern/depress me too. However, money is (and will continue to be) SO tight that making a couple of signings in January may prevent us from being able to do any notable business in summer anyway. If we were to make signings in Jan they'd almost certainly have to be Tanner types - players for very low fees who we don't expect to have an immediate impact (I appreciate Tanner's impact has come sooner than we might have expected).

You honestly think that the team currently in 13th is "At least 4 players short of having *a chance* of staying up"? Personally I still don't have any major worries about relegation. I'm confident that there's at least 3 teams worse than us. IMO we should aim to avoid business in January if possible - it's a dreadful market to try and buy in. If something happens to come up then great, but chances are that we'd have to pay over the odds for what we'd want. That includes loans too, which have many associated fees that fans often forget about - they're not free. Unless things go south and we really are looking in big trouble, then I'm happy for us to hold out until next summer for signings.

Think quite a few players played well, Wells included. Actually think the performance was no where near as bad as some are saying. As of 89 minutes, we deserved to be winning IMHO. Shame about the final 5 mins!

In fairness, the state we were in post Holden was crazy. I personally don't think relegation is even likely though. The state of the club was dreadful (club culture, finances etc) regardless of what league we're in. I don't think we should be that excited about being am established Championship club anyway though. It's not really an accomplishment for a club of our size. Most clubs of a similar size would consider that the bare minimum.

Nor will the home form

Like it or loathe it, the above points are true. Football is moving way from intimidating atmospheres, rowdy crowds etc, and moving towards being a more pleasant and perhaps "socially acceptable" day out. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a conscious effort to reduce how hostile and intimidating the stadium felt as part of the AG redevelopment, perhaps to try and attract a Bristolian audience which is more middle class than that of the average city. I've had similar experiences in the Dolman. Not necessarily stewards telling you to sit down, but if you stand up and sing then it takes all of 30 seconds for a grumpy bloke a couple of rows behind you to start moaning. (I appreciate that some may not want to stand and sing, and some may physically struggle to.) Similarly, if you join in with a song/chant in the Dolman then people around you rarely seem to do the same. Although some of us like an old-school atmosphere, it's clear that a large portion of the home crowd DOESN'T want to be singing, chanting, clapping, standing etc.

Our arrangement of fans is certainly non ideal. As you say, many clubs stick the away fans in the corner and the loudest home fans behind a goal. We do the inverse. It could be quite hard to change now though - the entire AG redevelopment was done with a plan to have the away fans in the Atyeo - the stadium is now effectively designed for that. A few other thoughts: I don't think the chants are too complicated. I have a bit (not a lot ?) more faith in the intelligence of our supporters than that! Sounds obvious, but the atmosphere would be better if more people were joining in. S82 do a great job IMO, but many clubs would suggest it's a bit lame that we have a "singing section" at all. The easiest way to improve the atmosphere is for more people to be contributing to it! Elephant in the room - I doubt any club in the country would have a great home atmosphere having not won at home for 10 months.

Palmer obviously has a lot of technical ability, but I don't quite buy the idea that he's the creative goal-generating messiah that some fans claim he is. Of course he has his good days (like any player), but the good moments often seem outweighed by below average moments. He certainly has the potential to be creative, but he doesn't guarantee it and is far from an essential inclusion in the team, no matter how poor we look going forward. It would be brilliant if it worked out for him here, but it seems Palmer's fallen quite a way down the pecking order with yet another manager.