awbb

Apologies for cherry picking, but I think Williams was probably half of that. Wigan were a financial mess and had just been relegated and they had a bit of a firesale. £1.2M is the figure I always thought.

As disappointing as the WBA performance was on Boxing Day, even following some turgid form, I never thought we were quite as hopeless and disjointed as several of the death-throw games under LJ, let alone much of the Holden car crash. When factoring in that we were also playing "the in form team in the division" as well, it didn't really cross my mind that we should have got rid of him on that day. As people have said, what Nige has been required to do with us is simply more than anyone has ever achieved. Revolutionize the culture. Develop an identity. Slash the wage budget. Avoid relegation. GJ had to change the culture and we were utter garbage in the 3rd tier while he did it, but at least he got to subsequently reap the rewards. We had to slash the wage budget under McInnes and O'Driscoll and they were responsible for getting us relegated (between them) while overseeing some of the most powderpuff performances I've ever had the misfortune to witness. Even if we go on a shocking run from Wednesday and get relegated this season (which I don't believe for a second we will) compared to that? It's not remotely comparable in my opinion. Lastly, LJ and Ashton talked a lot about identity particularly about "DNA" and, notwithstanding those amazing 6 months in 2017/18, it really was just hot air. It's a legitimate debate, which this thread has been a good example of, to criticize Nige's stubbornness about personnel and systems, of which, in the main, there are fair counter arguments. My feeling is that we have to give him the benefit of the doubt, when, on the face of it, an odd decision is made and that there is a long game to his tenure that I would like to see play out.

Joe Williams had to recruit Kalas into his head tennis team to replace Scott. He then got told off for failing to run around the mannequin. Scott’s influence is everywhere.

I'm sort of disappointed this came out after Nige's press conference. Though there is no telling with him (I thought he seemed relatively ambivalent with regards to the physical style the Pie Munchers served up in his post game interview), I always enjoy it when he gets the glint in his eye.

Theoretically it would be hard to reinvest the money from a Scott sale into the squad without an Ashtonesque spiralling of the wage bill. That or having to massively overpay for players just because other teams know we have the money (the old joke about Kevin Keegan being asked for £750k plus Robbie Elliott for a cod lot after he sold Andy Cole to Man U). Far better to keep him if he can be persuaded!

I’ve never thought of a reducer like that before…

Unlucky ref. Just wasn’t to be. Top effort City!

I thought Ryan Lowe had a reputation for playing pleasing football? This is just like watching Alex Neil’s greatest hits. Literally, on too many occasions.

Standard Championship official. Misses some shithousery, sees retaliation and punishes accordingly. Rest of team unhappy at injustice. Ref, instead of acknowledging he might have missed one, just gets belligerent and doubles down.

We need a player from the Basque Country. Or Teddy Sheringham.

As bonkers as it was, the throat grab on McArthur wasn’t quite the incident it was played up as. Both Nige and McArthur said it was ‘light-hearted’ at the time, though I’m unsure if tunes have changed on one side (or the other) since it was reported on. I’d argue that getting into a spat with Lineker was more of a stain on Nige’s character, whatever the provocation. https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/nigel-pearson-escapes-fa-charge-over-james-mcarthur-throat-grab-as-dispute-with-match-of-the-day-presenter-gary-lineker-rages-on-10036061.html?amp

Magic of the cup, isn't it? A "minnow" forcing a replay at home to a "giant" then going down valiantly in a half empty Premier League stadium (not Bournemouth, obviously, though)? Earning enough money to build a new club shop? Enduring image.

Talk of expectations of top 10 is optimistic. The issue, as I see it, is that we will still need to control the wage bill. Theoretically, this January we have improved, or at least given ourselves a higher ceiling in the future and we have reduced our player wage expenditure again, though I wouldn't think we are quite at the target level yet. Squad make-up is still not perfect. Needing an extra CB and not getting one is a bit of a facer but ultimately we have to stay up this year and ideally get the majority of the 2023/24 squad plenty of experience in the way we want to play next year. I fully accept that this is "perfect world" stuff though. What happens in the summer? It's still hard to have any expectations, but, on a simplistic level, I would imagine we probably have 2-3 million to play with as far as money available to spend, which is the remainder of the Semenyo deal (a chunk of which was used for Mehmeti, Cornick and paying up Martin and Klose's contracts) with hopefully a fair bit kept back, if not for a rainy day then at least to keep the auditors at the EFL happy for FFP. On that note, I suspect saving a little, however small, on paying up Martin and Klose is something we can show the EFL as positive attempts to meet the rules if they decide we warrant extra attention. Assuming we need to cut the wage bill further, Dasilva is fully expected to be released and any replacement will almost certainly be on considerably less than Jay's expiring contract. I also expect Kalas to walk at this point, though I'm perfectly content to be proven wrong. I imagine his replacement (and another to fill out the need at CB) will probably be a push as far as salary goes, even if Kalas were to stay. Just so we don't forget, Kalas and Dasilva leaving at the end of this season represent an estimated £10.5 million in transfer fee's leaving for nothing. The big "if" is Scott. We all know that it is unlikely for him to remain a Bristol City player beyond the 2023 summer transfer window and if he does go, he will generate a transfer fee that would cover even our most egregious single season outlays over the last few years and then some. The issue with large sales made under Mark Ashton was that they were seen as an excuse to massively increase the wage bill. COVID has put the stoppers on Championship club wage inflation somewhat and we are clearly focusing heavily on that expenditure so it is unlikely we will spend a lot of it. Which, of course, means we should do everything in our power to keep Scott!

That was a moment of prime tiki-taka. Haven’t seen any of that for years at City.

As much as I understand the situation and the need to sell, my ire is that we sold to Bournemouth. Again. However, I still think the most sobering example of a player being poached by a “bigger” club was when Wayne Allison went to Swindon.

Bents, I hope you understand that my total and complete contempt for Wolves means I wish nothing but abject misery as far as result and performances go. Other than that, I hope you have a great time.

I definitely want Semenyo to stay but have to give the current incumbents the chance to make the deal they think is best for City. I don’t really mind how much he goes (or doesn’t) for so long as we have a definite plan for life without him. Continuity planning is absolutely vital and the lack of it over the years is almost always the cause of a spiralling wage bill and dire performances.

“When Swansea come to us, here, they always have their door open and play Welsh music, with a big speaker. We have to listen to their stuff, so I’ve already given Scotty an English folk music playlist to play when we go to Swansea on Tuesday. So I think they’ll have to get ready for some really poor English folk music streaming from their tunnel, which, I think, is rather nice.” Chefs kiss to that one, Nige.

Keane had a bit of a spat with Souness during the World Cup. I suspect it has something to do with that!

From my experience, many South American players quite often play close to the edge (there were a couple of fairly naughty hits on Gakpo and Depay off the ball early, for example) and if the referee loses the respect of the players, as clearly happened last night, the other team, whoever they are, generally will reciprocate, whether that is the right thing to do or not. We see it more from Argentina largely because they regularly reach the later stages of the World Cup, IMHO.

No doubt he’ll be The Jerk when all is said and done.

FT Keith Stroud 2-1 Keith Stroud

Or corner.

The irony being their theme completely rips off Handel’s ‘Zadok The Priest’ which was written for George II’s coronation in 1727 and has been sung at every British Monarch’s coronation since.

Nakhi scores that 10 out of 10 on Robins Uncut!