Bobtherobin

I think he is OK for a 300k squad player. Weve certainly had plenty of worse signings over the last 5 or 6 years that cost a lot more. Its funny how people get on a bit of a negative bandwagon about someone and it spirals. 

It has been a massive pile of s**t for years. There is nothing worse than grown men getting over excited about a quiz question like the cat and Dawson.... well there are actually lots of things that are worse but its up there. 

I thought this was a good read. Would love to know a bit more about the part that mentions his time with us if anyone knows more. Sounds like he spoke to owner and got told not to which isnt great leadership from the illustrious mighty one.  Holden does seem like a top bloke, I hope it works out for him somewhere. 

https://www.coachesvoice.com/cv/dean-holden-bristol-city-stoke-city-charlton/

14 minutes ago, firstdivision said:

Ian is a good broadcaster/podcaster:  good diction, nice turn of phrase, and articulate with a clearly argued point of view. He makes me laugh, not necessarily because he’s trying to be funny but because he’s so irascible and opinionated. He’s the best aspect of the podcast, even if you disagree with his opinions. I too would liked to have heard more of Ian discussing matters with Dave F. 

I agree - he is good value. I dont agree with much of what he says but always enjoy it. 

Really enjoyed this episode and thought Dave Fevs was excellent on it; both in terms of the analysis of the more nuanced tactical stuff, and in challenging Ian when he basically said its Nige's fault for getting sacked. Its a shame that debate didn't get a bit more space, because I have a feeling that the Pearson decision is going to put us back in League 1 sooner than a lot of people think so it needs to be fully unpicked....maybe we can have round 2 soon. 

On 12/12/2023 at 23:33, BristolFox said:

Leicester fan (originally from Bristol) so had a great interest in what’s happened with Pearson and felt the need to pass on my condolences for what a shitty decision your board has made (not the first one either, huh).

 

Now I think there’s a couple of obvious points to make here as to why this has gone badly so far.

 

In terms of Pearson’s style of management, he tends to build a family type atmosphere, with the project not just being about him, but about his coaches, the players, the fans all being as one - almost making him like a father figure (and I have no doubt that is why a lot of you liked him despite treading water in terms of league position for 3 seasons running).

 

Now I don’t know much about Manning, but he is certainly a lot younger and nowhere near as imposing in terms of character when compared to Pearson, so that is straight away a big and unbalancing change to have in the dressing room (especially as Pearson has always been very shrewd when it comes to appointing his coaches and some of those left too).
 
 

But that aside, Manning was doing alright at Oxford, did ok at MK too and got a great result in his first game for you against the Boro, so I figured ok - maybe he’ll do alright with you.

 

However, alarm bells did start to chime when I heard about Manning’s desire to shift in style of play, because whilst it’s commendable to want to play progressive passing football - if you had the calibre of players to pull that off it’s unlikely Manning would have been getting the job in the first place (you’d have attracted much more experienced and qualified managers to the job).

Add in the fact it is mid-season (where training time is scarce) and you had god knows how many players out injured to begin with anyway, trying to make changes to a style of play that clearly requires a lot of coaching before you’ve even had time to asses your squad, seems silly.
 

To properly pull that off and embed the team structure, the patterns of play, the way you want to press, how you want to defend, etc, etc, etc - you need a pre-season.

 

It’s not something that can be done in 3/4 training sessions inbetween playing 2 to 3 games in a week. This is the worst point in the season to try and pull something like that off. There’s a reason chairman hit the Allardyce button when a season becomes desperate! 
 

So in summary (TL/DL)

• The board has compounded it’s bad decision in sacking a manager that seemed to have the players on board by appointing a manager with such a stark deficit in character.

• Manning has then added to this issue by attempting to change to a footballing philosophy he doesn’t have the coaching time to implement.

 

One final point

 

Pearson had two spells with us.

 

He got unfairly treated when booted out for Sven BUT our owners clearly realised they had made a mistake and he came back - and that was the beginning of the fairy tail, so who knows… but you would probably need to get rid of Tinnion first! 

Great post. Im already getting excited about the idea of a second coming even though its not going to happen with this owner, and nobody else will want to buy the club. But a dream is good enough for me. 

The performance was awful yesterday. Watching us tapping it around with no intent or aggression for 60 mins was one of the most frustrating hours Ive sepent watching us since the dark end days of LJ.  You can try and pretend otherwise if you want, but the truth will out soon enough. We are witnessing the most damaging act self-inflicted harm since....I wont mention politics or the B word. Relegation is definitely a concern now. 

We tap it about all game without any intensity and without looking threatening and then just get cut open with ease. Its shit there is no other way of saying it. The players that Pearson had playing above their ability are now looking like the league 1 level they are as well. Great work by all involved in making the change. 

1 hour ago, A Horse With No Name said:

Well just for balance, Pearson once played him as a right wing back for three disastrous games. 

Not when he had a fit and more suitable replacement on the bench

We are back to the days of having a forward thinking coach that over (forward) thinks and ends up making crazy decisions. 

Thanks for the responses. Definitely helped me understand it a bit more. I genuinely want to believe the hype but am not sure what to believe from the club at the moment. I accept that results at one age group isnt the best metric to make a judgement. 

This is a genuine question for those that follow things a little closer than I do, but I hope someone can help.

We keep being told that we have this amazing production line of young talent coming through that in theory are championship ready - based on JL saying we have a top 6 ready squad, and the view that we need to use the academy before looking outside as Tinnion said last week. But the U21s have just had a six-match winless run until they beat Colchester United today. How are these players as good as we are being told? 

On 29/10/2023 at 15:15, LondonBristolian said:

Mods - merge this with the other threads if you need to but I thought it might be nice to have a separate thread to be positive about the work Pearson did without it being mixed in with (utterly valid and legitimate) frustrations about the board and direction of the club.

For me, he has transformed the culture and built a team with a work ethic and who are genuinely likeable. Our standards have been raised and the number of young players who have had a chance - admittedly partly influenced by budget restrictions - has been incredible.

If the club have got sense and strategy, he has left a fantastic platform to build on. (Of course, if the club had sense and strategy he would still be here but this is a positive thread about NP and not about that).

Cheers Nige! I hope the standards you have set continue in your absence.

On 04/11/2023 at 08:17, SnozRobin said:

Just when I thought I was getting over it!

 

WTF have the Lansdowns/Tinnion done?

 

The best manager in my lifetime ((I’m 47) and a class act to boot.  Get well soon, Nige.

On 06/11/2023 at 13:17, sh1t_ref_again said:

Disappointing to lose Nige and replace him with someone with no experience at this level, I will support him / the team, do not know enough about him and his style so difficult to have an informed opinion if he will be a good fit. 

It appears he failed as a footballer, so has not played the game at any high level, always think its easier for a coach that has been there and done it to get the respect of experienced players, particularly when results are bad as they start to question the plan. Always thought this was GJ problem and to a degree LJ's.

Hope it works out, but not filled with excitement or hope.

On 03/12/2023 at 15:51, BasSavage88 said:

Because it was so so so much better under Pearson?

On 03/12/2023 at 17:30, Numero Uno said:

And the Bears won yesterday. Brilliant.

To be fair that was brilliant. 

2 minutes ago, TV Tom said:

Can’t believe the massive over-reaction on here, it’s as if some people are wishing for Manning to fail, remind me who our manager was when Norwich beat us very convincingly with their reserve team at AG earlier in the season? Manning has come in with Wells injured, “Pearson signing” Cornick, who is utter dross, Weimann, who is well passed it and two very young strikers in Conway and Bell who are struggling massively 

Pearson didnt 'sign' the players though. This is a squad developed by our Technical Director. Pearson called out the myth that we cam compete in this division while aelling our best players and picking kids. He was right and we will now see what we really are over the coming weeks.

2 minutes ago, BasSavage88 said:

Because it was so so so much better under Pearson?

It certainly was

14 hours ago, headhunter said:

Good comment Mark.

FFS, I've read it all now from some on here suggesting we're now towing the party line!!!

There are comments at either end of the right/wrong spectrum regarding Nigel being fired and Manning being appointed.

The fact that this pod has created two pages of debate on a wet Sunday in November is testimony to it achieving its purpose of creating a platform for the expression of different views.

I have never professed to be a tactical expert akin to DaveFevs but when he's on as a guest I welcome his forensic analysis. I've yet to see a battery of criticism towards Neil Sutton's comments when he's been on. I think a lot of the antipathy towards Ian is not so much what he says but the "superior tone" of his delivery.

We must be doing something right as we're nudging 1500 downloads for some of our episodes - would be interested to know how that stacks up against 3Peaps and OSIB whose numbers don't appear to be in the public domain like ours,

I dont agree with much of what Ian says but I think he is great on the podcast - his superior tone as you described it makes him a bit like a pantomime villain, but I always enioy it. Most people I know support Man U or Liverpool so its great to have a choice of good podcasts that focus on Bristol City. Keep them coming and thanks to all for making them happen.

I thought it was very worrying. Technical tactical coaching manual speak is fine if a team is winning every week, but I suspect it will become more and more frustrating as we move forward which is where we were with LJ and I hated it. The body language wasnt great as well, if my kid is looking at the floor when they are talking I know they are bullsh!ting. 

I hope I am wrong but I fear Lansdown and Tinnion have made a massive mistake. 

Im expecting front-foot, fast-paced exciting football that is played on 'the grass' and takes us into the top 6. 

36 minutes ago, IAmNick said:

We also appointed Pearson...

Because they (not we) realised the head coach strategy was just about to deliver a relegation. Now they think we are safe they have gone back to type because they want to influence what happens on the pitch with their dreamworld front foot fast paced nonsense. 

That is insane. Both GJ and SC were wanted. I was excited by both appointments, but I am not excited about LJ Mk2. He is a perfect fit for JL but not the right person for the club in my view. Lets hope I am wrong. 

8 minutes ago, W-S-M Seagull said:

The difference is they were managers in the traditional sense. 

Isn't it telling that we never have success with Head Coaches? 

 

Agreed. 

Why is there so much talk about him being young and progressive like its something weve never done before? LJ and Holden were young and progressive. LJ dismantled one of the best teams we have had in 40 years and left Holden a bloated squad that could easily have got us relegated. Now we get to do it all again.... it doesnt fill me with any kind of excitement. 

6 minutes ago, Sandhurst Red said:

All of whom only say very good things about him, including the current youth setup. 

Manning paid the ultimate price for players going and new ones coming in and arguably he overachieved the season before. 

In the modern game (unless you are LJ) you can't get away with a losing streak like he did, but I wouldn't be fooled by that blot on his copybook. They lost games, but were outplaying teams but didn't score when they had chances. 

How do you know they all say very good things about him? 

2 minutes ago, sh1t_ref_again said:

Disappointing to lose Nige and replace him with someone with no experience at this level, I will support him / the team, do not know enough about him and his style so difficult to have an informed opinion if he will be a good fit. 

It appears he failed as a footballer, so has not played the game at any high level, always think its easier for a coach that has been there and done it to get the respect of experienced players, particularly when results are bad as they start to question the plan. Always thought this was GJ problem and to a degree LJ's.

Hope it works out, but not filled with excitement or hope.

I am really not happy about this if its true, but failing as a player doesnt necessarily make a bad coach. Think of Wenger or Jose or in more recent time someone like Potter. 

This is hugely uninspiring. Not sure how this is any different to going for LJ after Cotts. Hardly shows the betting to be way off as JL said in that interview as this chap has been in the betting mix since day 1. More lies from our illustrious leadership. 

I do but mainly because I have a group of close friends who support them, and they always give me tap every time they sign one of our best players. Just keen to see them get relegated twice so I can take the upper hand in the WhatsApp group...