Logical-City

1 hour ago, GrahamC said:

100%.

At present we have Weimann, Conway & Wells who can all play parts of his role & it is also worth pointing out we’ve scored in all 4 of our games without him, largely thanks to Andi.

There is an argument therefore & I think it’s yours (?) that if we were stronger defensively and/or in midfield that would be more beneficial & is where to prioritise any funds.

Just to make it clear I’m not saying that Conway or Wells are as good as Antoine, because if they were someone would be offering us £10m+ for them instead, but they could do a better job replacing him than our current options at the back or in midfield.

Final point, if we did look at a striker I’d want someone who could lighten the load on Martin myself, not replace Antoine, at 34 in October we are ready asking a lot of him at present.
 

It’s not just about goals and assists his presence running ability is a different level to anything else we have and is a big part of why we started winning games in periods last season.

Can’t keep a player who doesn’t want to be here …well you can but we wont ,it impacts the way we play and our plans this season no doubt if he leaves 

13 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

Guardian (Ben Fisher, City fan) reporting initial asking price is £15m, plus up to £5m in add ons & we turned down a £10m bid from Bournemouth earlier in the month..

He’s definitely off Massengo not leaving has sealed that fate and he will be off for free next summer very frustrating and means this seasons hopes off play offs is gone, he was that important to this season 

1 hour ago, BLRed said:

Anyone think we should just sell the assets we have simply so we can be on a far better financial footing but also with cash for a rebuild?

15-20 mill for semenyo plus sell on 

25-30 mill for Scott plus sell on

1-2 mill for kalas (more likely to leave for free at end of contract)

1 mill for massengo (More likely to leave for free at end of contract)

1-2 mill for Bentley (May leave for free at end of contract)

 

Money in from Scott and semenyo sale would do 4 things.

put us on a far better standing with ffp

provide a decent transfer kitty to replace players moved on as part of a rebuild.

part of the cash used to pay off the likes of Wells immediately to allow our wage bill to drop significantly.

With improved finances, it would allow us the chance to possibly renew certain players on better terms so the likes of Bentley could be retained for longer.

 

For the longer term, it may be the best strategy. Only question for me that hangs over the club is can the powers that be within the club be trusted recruit well moving forward to replace those moved on.

on recruitment, have we missed the boat however on players that could replace the outgoings that still allow us to be competitive in the championship? 
would the above point be the only reason we don’t sell semenyo and Scott?

 

 

No one is spending money on Bentley still amuses me that some think he is world class !

Dropped by every manager at key times in seasons since he’s been here I would say he has probably one of the worst GA records of many keepers per game ratio with have ever had and our league positions have been terrible since he has been number 1

Whos spending? Other than the unfounded rumour probably cooked up by his agent about becoming Bournemouths number 2 this summer and a few fans on here blinded by Hollywood saves I’ve seen nothing to justify him as a top end Championship or premier league goalkeeper

1 hour ago, Sheltons Army said:

You are correct - the desperate attempt to defend Lee Johnson and Ashtons spending sprees is simply laughable , and embarrassing !

If you think our current mess is all down to Co Vid , well.....:laugh:.......but then again you are trying to avoid facts and the truth
 

By your method and attempts to credit our Lee, wait another year or two and if Alex Scott goes for a fair few million , you can credit him for that , as he has heard of Alex Scott , and can spell his name

Johnson spent a fortune here (Again I’ll remind you , the signing on fees, agent fees , wage bills ....besides the numerous duds signed and money lost on fees) and laurel and hardy left us with a ticking time bomb

 

Just to point out how desperate you are to paint a laughable credit list

Joe Bryan was back up to Scott Golbourne eh ?

the Joe Bryan that Cotts played 50 times the previous season ?

Strange that as Golboune only signed days before LJ was officially announced ...

You can only be Lees Mum 

When Johnson was in charge he infuriated me with his team selections in key games and mistakes he made as a football manager. But overall we have had much worse managers who have relegated us and spent with no success.

We had good times under Johnson some big results beating Fulham routinely at craven cottage, beating Man United a top 8 finish, the 3-2 win at Sheffield United when they were clear in second place 

The stick he gets in comparison to a Coppell,Millen Mcinnes for example 2 much more damaging influences in our recent history, managers who completely slowed our momentum baffles me!

Pearson joined us based on LJs results and reputation he built while in charge we are a respectable championship club.

I want Pearson to succeed and I think he will this season I like the team he has built 

2 hours ago, Sheltons Army said:

Add Watkins , Walsh , Nagy, Palmer , Bakinson  ..... to the wasted money ..... Compiling a full list would take time 

An easier list is , IIRC - Other than Webster we made no money on anyone except from players that were inherited 

You are deluded

Those players were not released by Johnson they were signed by him and before a covid pandemic that I guess you and a few others on here must have predicted 

Brownhill, Elliason? Inherited Bobby Reid and Joe Bryan ?

Reid was on his way out of the club and Bryan was back up to Golbourne when LJ arrived that £16m in transfer fees was his work!

I would also wager we don’t get to a league cup semi final Middlesbrough don’t pay £7m for Flint so I count that as a Johnson win also.

So that’s Webster, Reid , Flint , Brownhill,Elliason I would also put Kodjia in that list as he was only on 10 goals before LJ arrived in January 2016 ended up going for £15m after reaching 19 so he made a lot of money of his work this rewrite of history is embarrassing!

You did not predict Covid 19

Most were sold for a similar fee and had reputations which gave them a sell on value.

We had a plan to get to the Premier League by trading if Covid never happened this argument is void.

You can call it reckless but no one none of you could have predicted what happened between 2020-2021 it’s tiring to see people blame.

Pearsons quotes about collecting players have since empowered many of you to continue this argument my opinion is he said this to justify his own bad results over the last 2 seasons

Football is all about opinions but the fact is Johnson’s squad was competing for top 6 places but Pearson would have had you believe they were conference standard 2 years ago

2 hours ago, Northern Red said:

I don't know if it was ever proven but there was the tale that the other players couldn't believe how bad he was when they saw him in training.

Wouldn't surprise me if some people did very well out of that deal.

He was sold for a similar fee for what we paid for him I think as with many of the deals which didn’t work out: Eisa, Szmodics, Maggnison excuse my spelling but apart from adelakun I can’t think of a signing under Johnson which didn’t leave for same if not slightly more of a fee !

Im willing to be humbled but another toothless argument against the unfortunate Covid pandemic Financial damage victim Johnson if you ask me

Pearson/Holdens cull was releasing of Johnson’s players 2 years after he left

35 minutes ago, barney999 said:

Anybody feel that Josh Owers or Zac Vyner should be given a go in midfield, can't understand how Nige can't see we need a change in midfield...?

 

The defeats have not been due to being over run in midfield it has been down to individual costly errors 2 from our newest recruit at CB

Fans tend to get obsessed with one position as the “issue” last season it was replacing Chris Martin as he was too slow and the worst striker we ever had.

We have 2 results possibly wins if not for individual errors and we have not yet been outplayed.

No reason to experiment with players in midfield yet IMO that is over analysing, to repeat again we have lost because of individual errors at the back !

10 minutes ago, Tinmans Love Child said:

For my, the best managers in my 30 odd years of support are Danny Wilson for the style of football, GJ for being the closest in 40 years to get us to the Prem (and that night in the playoffs v Palace), and SC for winning the double, and I don’t care if the stats do or don’t back that up or what league they won games in either!  

But Gary’s achievement is not just getting us that close to the premier league it was getting us out of League 1 at the first attempt after 9 seasons of failure then a 4th, 10th and another 10th place finish before being sent packing to Peterborough after not being given a chance to rebuild a squad which turned his back on him lead by the poisonous Paul Hartley, who I may add left the following summer after ruining the dressing room after the damage was done.

Will never sit right with me how we all turned our backs on him.

Any manager after Gary simply added to his work and reputation he built. 

On 08/08/2022 at 16:55, WarksRobin said:

Pointless comparison, unless you think we acted too quickly to sack Brian Tinnion

No we did not. We had been sitting in League 1 for almost 10 years and the fact GJ came in and took us to a championship play off final from the bottom of league 1 in 3 years tells me in context GJ was our greatest ever manager period

7 hours ago, Superjack said:

I think Naismith will be captain eventually when he's settled. Already touted as a leader.

I don't agree with giving it to Wiemann. Not that he's not capable, I just don't really like forwards as captains because most of the play is behind them. 

Defenders have the play in front of them and midfielders are central to everyone.

Maybe a simplistic view I suppose.

Jury is still out on Naismith he has made 2 costly mistakes in single goal defeats in the first 2 games of the season and some fans are already on our managers back because of it 

On 07/08/2022 at 13:46, Rocking Red Cyril said:

Caught seconed half Hibs v Hearts as LJ connection

Not very good. Is it

The Johnson obsession some of you have is embarrassing 

Sad news known of him since I was a child acquaintance with my late grandad

Going to games with my old man always identifiable home and away by his stand out trademark hats! As I got older would also catch him floating around pubs and bars in Bristol when I started going out in town through the years always a character and a symbol of being in home base to me if that makes sense…welcoming aurora about his presence

Will be missed  

2 hours ago, citywest30 said:

Looking like Vyner seems to be starting a lot of games. Anyone else feel like he's been given another chance after being bombed out last season? Heard him and Dasilva involved in stuff with Bakinson but looks like he's taken his chance to prove he has the right attitude.

He hasn’t got the aggression in him to be a consistently effective defender at this level, he’s a good footballer but you only have to look as far as our new defender from Luton to see what he will never be it’s just not in him

Exciting stuff beating a PL on their own patch this close to the seasons start, if Semenyo is the player we believe him to be once he’s back in who knows what we can achieve this season 

3 minutes ago, Keith Welch said:

On for Vyner and Williams.

Makes us stronger IMO

15 hours ago, MartockRed said:

Going into his last years of Schooling, despite numerous offers, Tommy refused to have a girlfriend as it could effect his focus getting where he wanted to be. 
Dedication right there kids, take note. 

Slightly odd thing to bring up but hey ho

22 minutes ago, East Londoner said:

Just in case anyone was wondering what they were predicting for us..

 

A prediction of 18th shows a lazy reporting imo. I see few Championship teams who should have more optimism than us for a top 6 finish this season.

We have 3 exciting young players Massengo, Scott and Semenyo all having breakout seasons playing over 30 games  , mixed with experienced professionals who have been promoted before James, King and some very good new signings a wing back who won a Leagues best player award last year which is a hell of an achievement and a central defender who was player of the season as a CB for a top six Championship side months ago!

We also have a proven manager who knows how to get out of this league getting in to his 3rd year! This is typically the best season you will have from a manager who sticks around more than a year in my experience with previous managers!

Our season only started in January when Semenyo, Martin and Weiman got going we figured out our best team! The 5-0 win against Hull got me very excited about this season coming!

I know I may be Bristol City blind and bias in my opinion but looking around I see few clubs players attracting the level of interest ours have been and I see even fewer clubs signing the players we have been, Cardiff for example I think their recruitment this year has not been thought out at all they have seemed to be collecting free transfers for the sake of it, I see them struggling this year so that’s understandable but we have strengthened in weak areas
 

Coventry, Stoke what are they seeing in them exactly? Even West Brom they were terrible at the end of last season and looking at their squad it looks very weak.

With Fulham and Bournemouth out of the league I think 2nd place is more than achievable for a so called underdog team !!

Hopefully I’m not disappointed but it’s good to be looking forward to it as I was not so much last season!

7 minutes ago, RedEd73 said:

Now we know who influenced

Tomlin before that pen v Burton!

I don’t think that was on purpose I think he pretended it was after he missed as he is a man child.

His personality is clear to see in interviews, teasing City fans before signing permanently to buy from his crap clothing range on twitter a big baby.

The penalty though was a genuine blaze over the bar I have no doubt watching back , despite his attempts to convince Johnson and conspiracy theory fans otherwise 

51 minutes ago, phantom said:

So to move a player across that could play full back and bring on a centre half wasn't an option? 

Let's move one of our most influential (Elliott) players into a position rarely played and lose one of the best midfielders in the league 

He was never going to bring on Tamas Vasko in a play off final

I’m with you though losing Elliott in midfield was wrong but I can see why he thought to do it. He knows who he trusts.
Johnson Elliott Sproule Mcindoe was the midfield 4 in a team which was 3rd to 1st up until January when Nick Carle came in

Noble started the playoff games from the right against Palace to great effect 

Nick Carle played very well in the playoffs against Palace hence they actually signed him for that next season 

Elliott was experienced at right back even starting a FA cup final in that very position for Millwall 

No pun intended it was a very logical move considering there were over 60 minutes left to play and we were more than in the game 

2-0 down yes be more positive 

All history now though the future looks good this season could be play offs very hopeful 

2 hours ago, phantom said:

More to do with the awful substitution when Orr went off injured

Was the only change to make at that stage of the game. Lee Johnson had played the majority of that season alongside Elliott where we’re top 2 for the majority! Big injury accepted McCombe being sick also massive loss but those are the breaks we still edged that game In high pressure circumstances without being able to create the clear chance but we didn’t have the quality as our squad was packed with League 1 fodder and Hulls back 4 defended for their lives!

Again we had no right to be there Johnson was a miracle worker with us and the undertones of disrespect I detect from some of you on here amaze me!

Thankyou Gary if you read this !

On 24/05/2022 at 11:17, archie andrews said:

We lost silly games towards the end of that season that cost us big time... Red stripe teams southampton sheff utd stoke... Looked like we'd been on the red stripe.... 

Silly games but let’s be honest our squad had no business being where they were, that was all Johnson as we’re the next 2 consecutive top 10 finishes he achieved.

Victim of his own success. Our fan base would have accepted top 10 finishes for at least another 3 seasons if we didn’t reach that final but we became entitled to believe we should be competing every year despite only having Byfield, Showunmi and Trundle up front
As is the lack of intelligence of most football fans

On 24/05/2022 at 19:20, Robbored said:

That’s very true but what the history books don’t say is how he got us that far and that’s always been my beef - positive results v attractive football.

Hopefully Nige will produce both in the next two seasons.

Amazes me how people conveniently forget we were in League 1 for 8 seasons bottom of that League before Johnson dragged us to Automatic promotion and then 1 game from the premier league in 3 seasons !

Peoples agendas really do blind facts and haze memories it’s one of humanity’s saddest qualities 

On 24/05/2022 at 07:43, Top Robin said:

The biggest **** up in the history of Bristol City.

Johnson set us up so defensively and it backfired big time.

That day has cost us year of pain and heartache ever since.

 

???? Not my memory at all 2 very even teams we far from bottled it had a good go against a very very determined Hull back 4

12 hours ago, pillred said:

Sky sports football ch 403 are showing our game against Hull if anyone can bear to watch at 6pm on Saturday along with some of the other Championship finals that day starting at 3pm.

Frustrating final and did ultimately prove to be our big chance even though we have had delusions of competing again ever since
I wonder if we still would be a premier league club now with Johnson’s personality and quirky management and Lansdowns investment at that level I believe he would have thrown some serious dough at it !

I believe we would have stayed up for a few years and had some fun along the way, we would have had a better crack than Hull did anyway in my opinion.