red panda

I don't think anyone's mentioned the elephant in the room on the chart 

14 hours ago, Bobs Dad said:

I guess if he's excluded from the squad then he is lone-d out?

36 minutes ago, Superjack said:

So nobody worth giving a chance at either Oxford or here, despite looking. 

Okay then.

Perhaps you'd be kind enough to tell us who you think he should have brought though (or for that matter why Pearson didn't bring anyone through himself during the first part of this season, apart from a few sub appearances for Yeboah).

Or maybe, just maybe, there might be something in the simple explanation that others have put forward but you seem unwilling to accept?

1 hour ago, formerly known as ivan said:

After not having attended a game since Swansea for my own sanity, performances and results have picked up. Some on here and social media believing Manning is in fact the second coming. So against my best judgement, I decided to have another look myself.

Wow, that was dire! It confirmed everything we already knew. This new and improved Manningball was a flash in the pan. That my friends is the football you have to look forward to next season, which will come as no surprise to many.

Good luck all for next season. I shall look forward to a return to the gate in a year or two.

1 hour ago, formerly known as ivan said:

Not sure if you are a user of X/Twitter, but it was full of people after Wednesday saying Manning was the saviour, power phrasing of course. Couldn’t believe anyone had ever questioned him.

7 minutes ago, formerly known as ivan said:

Without going through tweets back to Wednesday, no

Perhaps you'd be kind enough to say who on here (not Twitter/X) believe Manning is in fact the second coming.  It's easy to demolish other people's arguments when you make them up in the first place 

We had good and bad games under Nige, we have good and bad games under Liam, and I dare say we'll have good and bad games under whoever comes next.  Meanwhile, enjoy your Saturdays in B&Q 

27 minutes ago, Jimmyjimmy said:

Another win for Liam’s top reds, 4-1.

You think we're going to concede? 

I smell the 'cult of Nige' 

10 minutes ago, Mike Hunt-Hertz said:

Don't you mean Gen X?

Well spotted!

15 minutes ago, Robbored said:

We must be of the same generation RP - I’m a 1950’s man and have experienced pretty much the same as you and share your sentiments.

My best friend from school passed away a couple of years ago, only a month older than me. We played in the same football and cricket team and did pretty much everything together even sharing our girlfriends! It was his dad that first drove us to AG in 1967 - that really is a real perspective on life.

 

How dare you!   I'm gen z (just) rather than a boomer.  Still, of the six people who completed the same course at the same college in my year, at least two are no longer with us 

1 hour ago, Top Robin said:

I don't think you are a true City fan.

Many of us have supported the team through all the divisions with various qualities of manager and players.

Yes it's been horrible at times but personally, I still loved watching the team home and away and with same degree of passion and enthusiasm wherever we are.

That's what real supporters do.

 

I'm pleased you have maintained the same degree of passion and enthusiasm.  Speaking for myself, and I suspect some others, the process of growing up, having some kind of career, getting married and especially having children, seeing my parents grow old, eventually seeing friends my own age getting ill and sadly dying, and also daring to have other hobbies and interests, has given me a sense of perspective.  I hope I'm still a "real supporter", and when we score a goal that really matters I can still jump up and down like a small child, but I also realise that I'm simply watching 22 ridiculously well-paid young men kick a lump of leather around on a patch of grass.  Apologies if this makes me a second-rate fan.

I think us exiles have been amply rewarded this season by having to watch fewer games 

33 minutes ago, Sir Geoff said:

'Tourists' is not a term used to describe the type of fan that you are. A tourist is someone (Japanese / American) who has no affiliation to a club but is quite happy to pay £100 plus for a ticket to a Premier League game and then spend double that in the club shop. There are 1000's of such people who are classed as this which is why Premier League clubs (Spurs and Liverpool lately) restrict season ticket sales. Long term they make far more money from the 'tourists' than they do Season ticket holders who get a reduced price seat and buy a beer in their local before entering the ground.

All of that is true (and I've been a tourist myself at several large grounds around Europe, though spent precisely zilch on merch etc).  But several posters earlier on in this thread did use this term about non-season ticket holders at AG.

6 minutes ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

In my time that happened once only, the Ward and Benny year..how far back are you going.

To be fair, that's the one I had in mind.  It's seared in my consciousness because we took so long to climb back out of the third tier afterwards.  Years of near misses under Danny Wilson (including that play off final in Cardiff).  Fortunately Tinnion laid the foundations for our revival and the great Gary Johnson finished the job.

Oh for the good old days when we would get promoted to the Championship then go straight back down the following year 

I get where everyone is coming from.  But we often seem to play better against decent teams, and when we're on TV, and Leicester have had a bit of a wobble (only 4 points from their last 5 games - almost as bad as us!).  Do we really want to listen to Nigel discussing how well we played, how expertly Manning set us up, and so on?  

1 hour ago, W-S-M Seagull said:

I've been saying for a long time that they don't realise how good they had it with Pearson. They will struggle to find another manager who was is so willing to blood academy players because most managers simply care about their records. 

Pearson was a very rare exception in that he cared about the club more than he cared about his own record. 

The club blindly thought that because Manning once coached in an academy he'd be perfect for the role. What they didn't consider was the fact that Manning would not want to risk his record by blooding academy players.

We're already seeing him setting us up to not lose to protect his job so it's incredibly unlikely we'll ever see him blood academy players for the same reason. 

I won't labour the point, but I think the quality of academy players coming through at the time also made it easier for Pearson to include them.

Tedious football plus poor results should be Manning's downfall, not so much his attitude to academy players.  Setting us up not to lose can be a good starting point, and early on I'm not sure Manning got enough credit for some of this.  It's been really noticeable how many times match reports would say that our opponents weren't their usual free-flowing selves, struggled to find their normal rhythm, weren't firing on all cylinders, etc.  It can't have been a coincidence that so many teams seemed to have an off day when playing us.  But Manning's abject failure to build from this foundation and improve things at the other end of the pitch means that I agree he has to go!

39 minutes ago, fisherrich said:

Car crash of a football club. Just look at the mess this club is in. Also stopped going after Nige P sacked. Not going back until Lansdowns are out of our club. Been down AG 50+ years supporting the team. Really pissed off with it TBH.

Are we in administration or liquidation?  Do players and club staff still receive their wages?  Do we owe a huge amount to HMRC?  Are we paying millions in interest to external lenders?  Have we been relegated to the third tier, fourth tier or out of the league altogether?  Do our owners have an appalling human rights record that we try not to mention?  Are we on our eleventh manager in the last four years?  Are we facing one or more points deductions?  Is our ground unfinished or falling apart?  Do we have an owner who brazenly ignores FFP regulations then blames everyone else when sanctioned?  Did we build a new ground which we never filled and then had to leave?  Do we have Tony Pulis or Joey Barton as manager ?

After initially supporting Manning, I now think he ought to be sacked.  It just didn't work.  Things could certainly be better.  But they could also be a hell of a lot worse!

1 hour ago, Ivorguy said:

It is not the losing of games.

Rather it is

1. The failure to achieve this season what he was appointed to achieve

2. The hurtling down the league

3. Manning’s inane interviews and blaming the players

4.  The way we’ve dropped points with the players half the men they were under Nige

5.  The  mismanagement during matches

6. The dire no entertainment football

Etc etc 

He simply as many agree well beyond his comfort zone.  There is, imo, no chance of him improving at this level, let alone the level we aspire to

I'd suggest there are only three reasons - the dire no entertainment football, the dire no entertainment football, and the dire no entertainment football.  Plus no discernible grounds for optimism, no evidence of a corner being turned, etc

Most of the others are subjective and arguable.  For example we haven't really been "hurtling" down the league, and there have been occasions when his subs have scored and/or created goals.  And if you want inspiring interviews then let's appoint George Galloway, he'd do less harm here than in the House of Commons!

Strangely I think we could still be quite attractive to a potential manager.  With a typical managerial ego, they might well think they can be the one to turn this "sleeping giant" around and make their name.  And despite all the criticisms of the structure, that stats show that we do typically give managers more time than most other Championship clubs.

Now! Otherwise we'll beat Leicester and his status as Pep mk 2 will be restored

Have to agree.  Was really hoping he could turn the corner (in the right direction), and think appointing up and coming young managers is definitely worth a try.  But it just hasn't worked and we should cut our losses and get someone new in for the summer.

53 minutes ago, steviestevieneville said:

Read the follow up post before you call me a ******* moron . I know for a fact there are plenty of self entitled lay abouts that don’t want to work & think the world owes them a living . I’m not a Tory or read the express or any paper for that matter. It’s a matter of fact there are many who would rather lay about & let me or any hard working person pay their benefits with our tax money . 
Is there any other aspersions you’d like to cast mr high & mighty . If you don’t like what I got to say , put me on ignore & **** off

I wouldn't disagree that there probably are some who choose not to work.  But it is also a fact that the main reason for working age people not working or looking for work is long-term sickness.  People caring for relative(s) is also another big category, as well people with disabilities.  Isn't it worth the risk of unintentionally helping a small number of "self entitled layabouts" in order also to help the greater number of people who would genuinely like to work but are unable to do so through no fault of their own (and are also dealing with challenges with their own health, the health of loved ones, etc as well as being skint)? 

15 minutes ago, Bristol Oil Services said:

I suspect that as a country we could (mostly all) work a little harder than we currently do. Be a tad more productive. 

I mean, just take this place, Monday to Friday 9 - 5, for starters ....

But it is work for some Bristol Sport employees.  Allegedly 

1 hour ago, RedM said:

Was that when unemployment was at a record high and there were hundreds of applicants for even the basic jobs? It's very different now with vacancies unfilled. There is of course work from home, broadband etc which there wasn't back then. Most fit and able bodied people can now do some sort of work, but unfortunately the benefits system doesn't motivate them too. Obviously there are exceptions but I personally don't see why it would be feasible to offer discounts in this case. The cost will have to be found somewhere, and everything has a cost.

Perhaps you could explain what this cost is - i.e. what extra costs the club incurs as a result of one additional supporter attending - and why you think this wouldn't be covered by the cost of a discounted season ticket.

There's been a lot of unsympathetic rubbish posted on this thread, by many posters.  Perhaps they've swallowed the "scroungers vs hard workers" line promoted by the likes of the Daily Mail and similarly vile sources.  In fact, the main reason for people of working age not being employed or actively looking for work is long-term sickness (currently around 2.7m).  Another common reason is having to care for relative(s).  Years of government neglect of both the NHS and social care is at least part of this story.

Even looking at this in cold financial terms, the answer isn't obvious because by offering lower prices to a group that, by definition, doesn't have much spare cash might lead to more tickets being sold.  In the longer term, if they keep on attending then they might be more likely to buy a full price season ticket if/when their situation improves.  But more than this, it just seems the right thing to do.  Yes the club might end up giving a small discount to some who choose not to work, but they'll also end up helping out a larger number of fans who find themselves in a financially challenging situation often through no fault of their own (and may well be facing other challenges, e.g. their own health and that of their loved ones).

23 hours ago, GrahamC said:

Bloke does stuff on day off..

Daily Mail = evil rag.

In contrast, the Guardian has it as one of their photos of the day describing them simply as "racegoers"

9 hours ago, Markthehorn said:

Mind you some managers we have lost or got rid of have done well elsewhere.

Dyche 

Edwards

Silva (eventually)

Jokanavic (at Fulham anyway )

Even Hodgson did well at Palace  for a bit.

Somewhere someone has got to get a chance but both owners and now fans want change at the first sign of trouble.

 

 

To be fair, just by the law of averages there must be lots of ex Watford managers out there doing well, as well as lots doing badly, lots doing just OK, and lots not working.  Ismael was their 11th manager since Jan 2018, and that's not counting caretakers