RollsRoyce

TC what a goal

My 1-1 is on ... We could do with a player like Burns

Yessssssss super Mehmetiiiiiiii Getting forward quickly, when they had no time to reset

We did ok there. Certainly stopped Ipswich , who look far from an auto-promotion, or top 4 side. But that is also down to how we have played. I am still sticking with my 1-1 draw.

Much as I want Manning and Tinnion to move on, I never want City to lose. So, we seem good at upsetting the form book, and did well against WHU and Forest, plus battered Southampton. So, I am going for a 1-1 draw. Knight to score.

This is an excellent post. I would also add another perspective If the players we have at the club are no longer deemed able and capable to play how Manning wants then that means - Manning is the wrong coach for those players - Or the person responsible for recruiting them has got it wrong One of them needs to leave as a minimum That the excuse being made (I assume it is now the club trying to dig itself out of its self-inflicted hole) is that Manning needs his players , I find it bemusing that - 2 of the next season's squad we tried to sign under Pearson - Pearson was not given funds to sign a Scott replacement, a player who we had seen in the brief pre-season was intended to play a more advanced "10" role. Twine is now the player designated - Pearson was not given funds to sign a Semenyo replacement, though they did try for Ogbene. That forward type is now a target for the summer. So I am confused. The squad is not good enough for Manning to play his game, but we are essentially targeting the same players and positions Pearson also needed players for. So, are the players good enough or not? What players does Manning need, because we seem to be signing the players Pearson wanted and needed, to play a certain way, that is not how Manning plays. Are Tinnion and Manning talking? Because it looks to me we have people operating in different orbits. OR has Lansdown understood his complete and utter cock up, and Manning will be sacked , and Nige is coming back with his back all fixed up ready to go again.

I thought we had finally set on our plan. Use a lot of youth, fast-tracked to first team, sink or swim, the ones that swim, become the team. Add in some excellent senior pros to set the standards, and guide the youth. It is a slow process, but it was a plan. It might have seen us struggle for a few years, but it also had the chance to have a breakthrough. You develop more than you sell , so eventually you have a collective that have grown together and work together. All with the basic underlying physical/power/intensity of the current Prem league standards. It might not give instant promotion, but it did mean over time you would attract better youth players, as they they know they can have the chance to sink or swim, you become the club for youth. I quite enjoyed the process, even without a promotion. I like watching a new face come along, and see if they can do it. As long as the team are giving maximum effort and commitment. I really have no idea what we are doing now, apart from going back to the repeatedly failed Lansdown dream of uncovering a young manager, when (McKenna maybe, and Howe apart) the vast majority that gets teams out of the Championship are experienced managers/coaches. It is what it is, it is a league where experience and pragmatism abound. The Prem is a different challenge, and you need aspects of the club to be ready, recruitment for sure, and some of your promotion squad to have the physical attributes to at least compete. But look at who is/are making the decisions. We have no one, yet again, who knows what they are doing to the right level. We make superficial decisions, without any deep understanding about what makes elite teams, performance or culture.

Just put King in temp charge. He knows the players, the set up. The only option if something is needed this season.

Ipswich, unbelievably are back to looking at an automatic promotion spot. Their squad, on the proverbial "paper' does not look "that" good either. But here they are, no fluke, they grind out results and have caused every team problems. They create many cut backs (remember them, we used to do those) and have a mix of possession and fast speedy transition into their attacks. You have to say, if a double promotion is on, McKenna , and yes the ghost of Ashton Gate past, will have done an extraordinary job. Really amazing. Indeed, you have to wonder how and why McKenna has come so good. A fair time spent as a youth, followed by first team coach at Man Utd , briefly under Jose, then Ole, and then Rangernick. About 3 years. That is a limited but valuable experience, but others have followed that route and failed at a young age. What did Ashton see in him? They are not , as mentioned just focused on possession, or passing sequences, but do make it hard for teams to transition from defence to attack (alarm bells) , with a high turnover of possession, they do not let teams settle, and create a lot of chances. They defend high up the pitch. (that sounds familiar as a concept) . Anyway, they do not play in deep defensive blocks, so it might suit us if we can get in behind or find a way through their higher press. Interesting stuff. Sounds more like Luton of last season in their promotional year. (Yes the team we "out Lutoned" at home- some lessons forgotten there methinks) . It will be a tough night, we are out of sorts, and they can smell the glory. So a loss, but hopefully we at least create them some problems with our "perfect game plan" . But we will need to be on our energy bars, because we are not going to be given the ball to play as we want with. It will need a high intensity application to be in the game.

Then create a thread of your own instead of moaning about others. What do you want to talk about?

We are so far off a Prem club.

I would doubt very much that we can be relegated. We would need to turn into Roherham. We probably need 6 points from 11 games to get to 50. Despite our current form, that should easily be attainable. But relegation, no unless we lose the next 4/5 which is most unlikely. Swansea should suit us.

I think this is an excellent post, and I agree with many elements of it. I slightly disagree about having a football direction, in that we should be recruiting Bristol City players, and when coaches change, they adapt, evolve and improve those players. Brighton, Brentford and Luton have signed players to a formula for years. Coaches have come in and used those players differently, but there is a common theme when you watch those teams. We were still signing players 4 years ago who had nowhere near the physical attributes a Prem League club would accept. Rennie stated we had 3 players who met Prem League level fitness/physical levels when he joined. But the key point, and you made it in another post, is that we do not have people in the key positions that are the best, or close to the best at those individual roles. I fully appreciate Pearson was not for everyone, but when we had Pearson and Rennie in the building, we had a very high level of expertise in their area of competence. We needed to build on that, and then evolve and develop. What we have done is make a catastrophic clear out, and have lost the positive areas of their influence, and not built any foundation of success. We have regressed dramatically, and that means there are decisions to be made. Unfortunately, the people making the ultimate decisions are not competent to make them, made worse by a lack of recognition on their part of their own lack of ability (proven over 2 decades). Pearson was not perfect, but you could see, that it could be evolved, developed and directed toward something important. We were on the right road, it was still bumpy, but needed tweaking not destroying. I would loved to have seen Pearson with McKenzie or Walsh. But here we are, Jon L will be in defensive mode, they made a call and it has been a disaster. They , rather incredibly, believed Tinnion, yes the same " Judge me on Tinnion" who extraordinarily has gone from the failed manager, to being the man the Lansdowns defer to for football matters. Over and above Scudamore, Pearson or Alexander. It is almost surreal. How can, a very able and successful person, possibly get their football decisions so wrong, consistently for 2 decades? It is a very big mess, and sadly, it is all self inflicted.

Kose to Ipswich and Swansea and he has to go. I felt he should have the season, but he is completely lost and out of depth.

I don't think so, 50 points is normally enough to avoid it. But, this season we have some serious teams down in the bottom group, and we are seeing QPR giving it a good go. So maybe 55 points is needed to be sure. So. 11 points from 11 games, that should be easily attainable. Oh hold on, over the last 10 matches we are second bottom of the form/points. We have 8 points from the last 10 games.

What a terrible interview, and confirms he is out of his depth. His tone of speaking and delivery. I never thought I would ever have been able to write the following, ever, but he makes SOD sound interesting. He has minimal charisma and no gravitas. Now I know why we are awful in the second half after a team talk with that delivery. Klopp, Arteta, Pep, Ange , spot a charisma and leadership trend there?

I am pretty reliably informed, that is not true. In any case, I would doubt he would want to stay at City with the current set-up.

This is a huge shame, as I really wanted to see what Twine can do, as he is a player (when fit) who can add something different to the team. We saw glimpses of that. I hope he gets fit soon, though it seems we are a few weeks away.

Well, he played us twice, once pre season, and once in the cup. We battered his side easily 5-1. He should have a pretty good idea of what we can do against his style of play. Is there another manager in the game who has been appointed to a club a few months after being battered by his current side 5-1? That is some weird interview technique Tinnion has. If it was the other way around, well yes, that could make sense. Maybe. " Yes Liam, we are impressed at how you set your side up when we beat you 5-1 a few weeks ago". we even gave him a preview at a pre season friendly. But no, we still battered them. You got the job !!! Only Bristol City, Only the Lansdowns could do this.

Manning looks and sounds well out of his depth. It is now just a question of time. The owner will throw money at another crap decision, we will have a few saying he needs time, and his players. But we are just treading water again until it is abundantly clear. we have hired another dud. Rinse and repeat. Tinnion, Manning, Jon L what a combo to get to the Prem. This is why Bristol City is a backwater, not one of the 52 clubs to have played in the Prem, and will continually fail until we have competent high-level people in key positions. No blueprint for success would have those 3 in it.

He just posted this reminder (joke) https://www.bcfc.co.uk/video/bristol-city-5-1-oxford-united-highlights/

Well the ground is not within the top 30 capacity ranked in the England/Wales set-up, so that is hardly "best" is it, it is only 16th in the Championship in terms of capacity. The academy has done very well, with minutes played hugely boosted by Vyner and O'Leary. Our recent sales were for players who did not join as academy products. Still, it is decent, but a long way behind Leeds, Southampton, Boro and a few others. You need to go and visit the set up at Southampton, or Leicester. We were far behind, and yes we have made progress. But only to get to a Championship standard, not Prem. "One of the best" suggests we are better set up than others, we are not. We have a good solid Championship set up, but it is certainly not one of the best. It is not the worst either, QPR and Rotherham for example are lagging, but then Derby and Reading have Cat 1 academies and modern grounds in L1. We have a good Championship set up in my view.

Perhaps I should have said, what clubs have a worse set up? Name them.

How do you know that? Based on what? What criteria are you using to claim that? So this season, of the 24 teams, where would you place our set-up?

You could be right, I really don't know. I only have seen what we have, and it looked like the Josh Low level of introduction. The lad has not played senior football, so is more of an academy under-21 signing. He would have to be something special for the suggested (how true?) fee. But he was signed to play this season, maybe we have found out why he has been playing in Belgium. It would be an expensive academy level addition. We could maybe loan him out from his loan to Bath (I am joking...)