Tim Monaghan

Yes, I certainly believe he would be exactly the right tactical fit. Either or has he can play both roles. He's actually deceptively quick and decent with his feet. Anyway, its a bit of a non debate as he won't be coming here.

The metric was in the OP. Please revisit that and the post it quoted. Why next season? Unlike yourself, I don't actually believe this squad is oven-ready, if by that you mean it's the complete squad capable of gaining promotion. I don't think it's far off, but certainly not oven-ready. Assuming we don't secure Twine on a permanent basis, I feel we need a left-sided player and a striker (and I agree with BT on this) in the mould of a Keiffer Moore. I was gutted when he moved to Ipswich; he seemed precisely the type of player we needed. Turns out, he's not doing too badly at the moment, scoring 4 in 5. Why next season? Because you have to give a manager time. I know that's not what you want to hear, and it's not what JL, BT, and GM said, but I've taken all of that with a pinch of salt. They're soundbites, not particularly clever ones, hence one of the reasons they've put pressure on themselves for next season. Maybe I'm not as knee-jerk as you, and maybe you're even right, but from my experience within the game (you know my history, it's well-documented), three months isn't long in football. It simply isn't long enough to make an impact. Of course, you will have the odd anomaly of a manager, and we can also cite names on the flip side that took seasons to properly bed in like Sir Alex. So, we are essentially saying the same thing, but we just have a different timescale. You think we have an oven-ready squad, and I don't think we're quite there yet. The reason I got on to you yesterday was that you weren't much on to Pearson after he joined when he arguably had a better squad. You didn't even question it. But I'm not having this conversation again, so we will just have to park that. Why am I excited about Manning and why do I think he's a good fit for the club? Because I believe he is a young, intelligent manager who wants to play the game the way I like to watch it. He also has a good history of working with youth players. We've seen flashes of how Manning likes to play in games vs Watford, Southampton, Coventry, all four FA Cup games, etc. This is the football I was looking for, and I was excited about Manning. But, we have also seen some of his tactical naivety; let's take the Leeds game and QPR as examples. However, if he got it right all of the time, he certainly wouldn't be managing Bristol City, and I'm happy to give him the allowance as I've mentioned; it's been three months, and he is still learning too. So, my metric as to why next season the pressure is on (although I've answered this already) is that you have to take the situation as a whole. The top brass have said what they've said. I feel like Manning needs time to fully bed in and get a grasp on what he needs and a summer transfer window to obtain those players. We have no pressure on FFP, and technically we could spend a decent amount bringing us to a point where Manning has to deliver due to what JL has ultimately promised, and there shouldn't be any excuse why this can't be done.

This is exactly where I'm at, next season is probably one of the most crucial I can remember. I never thought that we would be up there this season even though JL and GM alluded (more than alluded) to it after Pearsons sacking. Basically they had to say that, however, that has heaped the pressure on for next season x100. Of course, a lot of people were fuming at the way the sacking of Nigel was done, myself included. It was toxic wasn't it, but imagine how toxic it will become if we aren't challenging next year. I include myself into this. At the end of the day, I think Manning is the right fit for the club, and actually one of the most exciting managerial appointments for me since, well, Nigel, but he will have to deliver. If Liam doesn't deliver next season, well, I think JL and SL are in deep......... You can't recover from that can you really, especially with the history they've got when it comes to managerial appointments and the league position that we were in when the NP sacking was made. I really hope it doesn't get to that stage, and JL, BT and GM will be fully aware of the fans feeling around this. As the post above states, there really isn't any excuses next season to be up there after what JL, GM and BT have said. None whatsoever. It really is do or die and this is the final straw with the fans I feel. We are certainly in for an interesting season, that's for sure.

Whenever I read your posts, all I can picture is…

That wasn’t aimed at you Dave. It was the Dave I was talking to, but thank you.

Okay, if you say so, but I don't understand why you aren't giving the same grace to Manning as you did NP. You're way off the mark with a smokescreen and I'm never uncomfortable about the truth. I can't see anywhere in that post where I have tried to belittle you? I've given you facts, so if you feel belittled by that then please accept my apologies. "Why do you and others like you have an inability to accept that fans have a genuine concern with how the club is run from the top down? Why is that an alien concept for you? Why does football fans caring about the club they pay to support, bother you so much?" - Some wild statements there (some would say belittling). Could you point me in the direction to anything I've said that make you think that I have an inability to accept fans concerns? If debating is not accepting, then..... Just because you're upset that I don't agree with your opinion, doesn't mean I don't agree with all concerns. Thats a very simplistic way at looking at it. "Once Pearson went I quickly moved on" - Yeah, we can all see that. "It's hard to take posts like yours seriously when it's clear it's dripping in bias around your dislike for the previous manager. You want Manning to be a success because you want to be right about Pearson." - I don't dislike Pearson, I'm not really sure how many times we have to go over this, Dave. I liked Pearson, was it time for him to go, IMO yes. Also, your last sentence is literally you, but just change the word success to to unsuccessful. Anyway, I'll stop there as I can't be bothered with it. I like your posts Dave, I do, but I just don't get why you were so lenient with Pearson and so harsh with Manning, its just confusing.

I'm trying to look at this with my neutral hat on, although unfortunately for @W-S-M Seagull, his bias towards NP and his feelings towards Manning are so far ingrained it's hard to read a post from you without the obvious agenda that is laced throughout the post. "We’ve had a few flashes in the pan but ultimately we have not taken the steps forward that Manning was expected to do." - Whose expectation are we talking about here? The fans, JL, yours? I think we need to get rid of this "top 6" notion. Did anyone actually say this? The fans, well, I think anyone with any sense could tell that we didn't have a top 6 side. NP inherited a side which contained AS, AS, TK, and DB and we still weren't able to get top 6, let alone midtable. "He's been here for 23 games and there has been very little sign that he has the ability to sort these issues out. Teams have figured us out and there is no plan B." - So are we at the point to judge a manager on 18 league games? Because NP won 2, drew 3, and lost 9 in the first 14 games he was in charge (only had 14 until the end of the season and I don't think it's fair to compare after NP had a summer transfer window and a whole offseason). Scoring 14 and conceding 25. Whereas Manning has a record of 4 wins, 5 draws, 5 losses. Scoring 17 and conceding 17. Bearing in mind we've played Southampton, Leeds, Sunderland, Hull, Preston, and Coventry all in those first 14 games too (All top 10 sides at present). I don't remember a single "Elephant in the room" when Pearson started like that, with a better side (as above). As you've said, shouldn't a coach/manager improve the players he's got? He had Alex Scott, Antoine Semenyo (who he dropped), Tomas Kalas, and Dan Bentley in the team ffs. "I hear lots of people say "well he needs a preseason, he needs his own players" etc." - So you didn't want Pearson to have a preseason and get his own players in that summer then after that awful form when he took over tp the end of the season? In fact, you said about Pearson "Come the summer we are going to be in a very good place. Like we've finally managed to reset ourselves." "9 points from the last 9 games / 2 wins from 9 is totally not acceptable." - I swear you're on a wind-up. I'll take Nigel Pearson's reign in blocks of 9 from the start: 1st block of 9 games - 8 points 2 wins from 9 - Not acceptable 2nd block of 9 games (1st 5 games 20/21 2nd 4 games 21/22 and a summer) - 5 points 1 win for 9 - Not acceptable 3rd block of 9 games - 12 points 3 wins from 9 - Acceptable? 4th block of 9 games - 11 points 3 wins from 9 - Acceptable? 5th Block of 9 games - 9 points - 3 wins from 9 - Not acceptable 6th block of 9 games - 7 points - 2 wins from 9 - Not Acceptable Shall I go on? Look, @W-S-M Seagull I admire your passion for Pearson and I actually respect it in an way, but I would respect you so much more as a poster if you weren't so ridiculously bias and hypocritical when it comes to the two managers. That's what this is all about, right? P.s It isn't "The elephant in the room" if its constantly talked about every second of the day, its actually the opposite.

This discussion seems rather nonsensical. Isn’t it ironic that we’re criticising someone for expressing their opinion on a forum specifically designed for discussing opinions? Unlike Ian, who is open about his views, @W-S-M Seagull was invited on the pod to discuss his, but he has declined an invitation. That speaks volumes. Maybe the username W-S-M Chicken would be more appropriate? @headhunter mentioned that anyone could participate in the conversation, so why not step up if you’re fed-up of Ians view? Unfortunately, it seems unlikely anyone will. While Ian is undeniably opinionated, aren’t we all? The real issue lies in hiding behind anonymous usernames while sharing our perspectives. At least Ian doesn’t do that.

Alan Dicks, Steve Cotterill, Gary Johnson, Lee Johnson, Joe Jordan.

I'm the same when it comes to F1. I used to love the thrill of a potential push, but now they state on lap 5 that's its mathematically impossible for x to catch y. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

This is starting to look a bit spicy isn’t it!

I’m starting to think you’re actually Nigel Pearson. @headhuntersaid he would welcome you on the pod and asked you to DM him. Why don’t you go on and actually have these conversations with Ian? I think you’d have a decent debate.

I agree with this (although I like this one off shirt and the sentiment). Id really love us to go a bit mad on a shirt, like a spray paint design to celebrate Bristols street art scene for example. Maybe just go a bit whacky on the away shirt.

Jon is on a roll. Go on JL, smashing it.

3 very winnable games coming up too.

I think it’s been clear to see for a while that performances have vastly increased (bar Leeds). We’ve been unlucky in a lot of games. With Sykes and Twine also on the verge of a return, this really is exciting times ahead.

Stop it, you’re making me horny

Really good first half. If only we had someone who could finish / cross a ball.

I think something written up here would look pretty good.

I've always wondered why we have to have a separate transfer forum? I'm sure there is a legit reason for it.

I pressed submit there a bit soon, didn't I hahaha. I was trying to rush the edit before anyone noticed

I love how we've gone down our (Bristols) heritage with street art! I've always wondered why we haven't done something like that with an away shirt, or evening with that hideous grey mass at the front of the Dolman stand. That is calling for something to be put / written on it.

Don’t lie, you can’t even shell out £5 to be a supporter of this forum.