JAWS

Struggling to think of a worse signing than Diony tbh. The memory of that fateful game v Sunderland when we were 3 up & LJ brought him on, think for Bobby Reid? Shocker

Fair enough Fevs. I did think it was a stretch to suggest that! What do you think the answer is if the same cycle continues? At some point he will have to take a sizeable hit if he wants to sell. Otherwise I can see JL doing it when he inherits. I guess if he unlocks the Sporting Quarter JR challenge it may open a few doors

And over-complicated with Bristol Sport umbrella. Pretty sure that has narrowed the market as most would focus on football. He is lauded for debt write offs season after season but I think they are just 'I owe you's' & all the while, if he wont speculate, the 'I owe you's' are getting bigger. You can tell by his public rants of how expensive things are. He simply doesn't like losing money and i get the feeling he's digging in to get the write offs back. Hence no outside interest. Why would someone pay £200m, or whatever the latest cumulative loss is, more than what we're worth? It's not a good starting point! I wouldn't be surprised if he has the last bitter laugh & puts us into administration.

Happy to be belittled if people think it's warranted. I only disrespect the lansdowns because of the contempt they have shown us fans previously. I don't think they respect us or consider us for one minute apart from taking our money. I'm also not out for attention. I'm extremely frustrated and the forum is a vehicle to vent that. I was trying to put a different take on SL's tenure to bring to light his overall poor management. In football clubs the owner provides the funds & leave experts to manage. Obviously keeping a watchful eye. SL hasn't done that. He is the decision maker and in my view that has been his downfall. The infrastructure is great but comparable with most championship clubs. He has put significant funds in to pay for things & 'write off' debt. He isn't doing it for love or generosity. Nor should he BUT it is his poor management that has led to a great deal of the extortionate spending. To my mind he has put us in a very unique position & it cannot be a coincidence that,despite publicly inviting investment, there are no suitors. Yet we see interest in other less seemingly attractive clubs. He wanted fame & notoriety. He's got that. He also wants his money back & that's the problem as the figure to recover his expenditure is not representative of the value of the club. Anyway apologies if I've offended anyone (lansdowns apart)

Different slant on it this time LB. Trying to get through!

It's funny you say the 'only question mark' is on the pitch! You mean the reason we're all here! And as for respect. Perhaps SL would earn more if he was a bit more respectful to us. So he can do one.

If SL wasn't our owner but he had been employed & trusted with someone else's money to make ALL the decisions. How long do you think he would've lasted in the 'job'? Also imagine that 'someone's' reaction if they had just returned from extended leave (22 yrs ). 'So Steve, we're still not in the Premier league & I see we haven't been in there once in the 22 years I've been away!? Not only that but you've bought a rugby & basketball team & saddled me with over £200 million in debt which I'm never likely to get back as no one's gonna buy us now ffs you melt! Our merch is shit too! I may as well have left Marina in charge. Now get your coat and take crayon boy with you

It's fine Eddie. I'm not bothered. My point was to emphasise the size of the city relative to the prolonged lack of success. As you say size is measured in different ways but we definitelty in the top 10 whichever way you look at it & haven't been in the top division for over 40 years which is pretty poor. It's such a great city & obvioulsy a very attractive place to live, demonstrated by the house prices! Our nearest competition for top division catchment support is Birmingham, London & Bournemouth. All some considerable distance. It's quite dishearteneing therefore that we are stifled by the lack of ambiition. He's obviously spent a lot of money but not very well (infrastructure aside) & he MUST want the majority, if not all, of it back and probably on some ridiculous terms (possibly involving some retained control) as I cannot understand the lack of outside interest for a club that, from anyone else on the outside looking in, is an extremely attractive proposition! It feels like we are handcuffed! The same rhetoric is rolled out, this time by sonny jim & we are expected to be optimistic, hence the title of the topic. I don't have much hope but, as others have said, I was here a long time before SL and hope to see the back of him. That's my hope! In the meantime, it's in my blood, like a drug or relegion so I shall continue....

Who can blame him. He'd still be in F2 or 3 if he'd stuck with Sir Steve! There's a theme!

I've been corrected in earlier threads. In my defence it was a Google so obviously my source was wrong! But 5th or 7th or even 8th its pretty shocking not to have had a team in the prem. The other advantage we have on the cities bigger than us is a bigger catchment before you hit another club competing for support.

Really? On who?

Don't recall GJ being backed to the hilt? He certainly wasn't when it really mattered ie. the January window. A shame cos we could've been top 2 instead of 4th

Spot on lenred . Plus I can escape from Mrs Jaws for a whole day!

Yes it does pillred though it's in the blood & a kind of relegion

There's a definite correlation

Sorry Graham. It's what I googled. I'll accept 7th

Also bloody lucky that Rovers exist

Deffo BR. But also grating that SL uses those outliers/overachievers as examples. 'We had a better squad than Luton' blah blah

Spot on Fevs! Hence my 'money back' shout. The amount of spending without relative reward is obscene. I would go as far to say we must be one of the most inefficient clubs in that regard & I also think SL will want his money back as a minimum. This is probably the reason no one can afford us as they will have to pay a disproportionate amount.

Really?? 22 yrs to leave it in a better position? TWENTY TWO YEARS! I suspect the reason no one has taken over yet is cos SL wants all his money back!

We're the 5th biggest city in England. FIFTH! 22 years in & still managing our expectations. F*@k off you condescending disingenuous c**ts. Lower your price (you will still have enough to live on if you lived another 1000 years) & simplify the no doubt complicated terms.

Totally agree. I hate the lansclowns with a passion. Arrogant & condescending liars

Yep. That's how most of us feel Smudge

How long you think they need Nomad?