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I definitely think we’ve played three good teams at home so far. The only points Preston have dropped so far were against us, Birmingham look like top-six material and Norwich should be there or thereabouts. The problem I have is even before factoring in what we could spend, Scott’s sale has significantly weakened the midfield. It is patently obvious where we need to strengthen but SL isn’t willing to use any of the funds from the Scott sale. I don’t know what he’s thinking but he’s utterly deluded if he thinks we will be in the mix for the top six without strengthening in key positions.

I genuinely would not be surprised if SL has lined up LJ to come back and waste the money that we need to be spending now. He can expect a revolt if he does that.

Without putting words in the mouth of@Supersonic Robin, when SL talks about reaching the PL every pre-season and everyone talks of us being PL-ready off the pitch, it fuels false ambition. False because it’s not matched by SL in reality, who is bizarrely imposing austerity at a time when we have money and are dangerously short on numbers and experience. If we don’t aspire to see City at the highest level or competing for major honours, we might as well give up and do something else.

This could literally have been written about us four to six years ago. He does not learn, just rinse and repeat.

Not at all. I just read and trust what my old mate@Kid in the Riotsays as he is ITK and has posted this previously.

Plenty of interest in BCFC, apparently; little interest in Bristol Sport - SL’s Barcelona replica pipe dream.

I heard we’d offered him around £7k a week. If that’s true, I’m not surprised he didn’t rush to sign it.

If new owners were to show ambition and really go for it, the onus falls on the recruitment team to get it right. We can’t afford to have the reckless clubs-in-the-bag approach of LJ and Ashton again. If we’re to increase costs significantly, we must go either gain promotion to the PL and get the riches that come with it or at the very least not allow record purchases like Fam, Kalas, Palmer or Dasilva to leave without any return on investment.

Agreed, and it baffled me that when Roberts came on it was to play LW, rather than slot him in at LB and push Pring forward. Bell consistently doesn’t do enough for me. He needs to offer a lot more than a good press, but that’s supposedly what he’s in the team for.

Thanks, I knew there was one I missed. Either way, we had enough golden chances to have won that game comfortably IMO.

I’m not sure the pass was on for Cornick, the angle was narrowing, but he scores that if lifts it. Sykes did well, as did most of them. Not MOTM for me after blazing that sitter over the bar.

Sykes had to score, Williams had to score, Cornick had to score. At least Connelly forced a decent save out of Max.

Good performance, but two points dropped for me. Sykes, Williams and Cornick all failed to take golden chances to win it. Knight looked superb and Naismith’s vision helps.

No idea. Either way, it’s a total joke he’s left it that long to put his flag up. It’s like he had someone in his ear, maybe Linnington on mic or a Hull fan; definitely not VAR!

Gutted for Nahki. Looked to me like a) the deflection came off a Hull player and he looked well on when the shot came in, and b) he’s in a borderline position when he taps it in. That linesman is a complete joke

Woeful finishing from Sykes and now Williams. Good spell for us, got to make it count

***** me off how much quality Hull have got. They sold Lewis-Porter last summer for less than we sold Scott for and their new owners showed some ambition and splashed the cash. No surprise they look look in control after a bright start.

Decent start early on, especially from the two CBs, but why do I get the feeling Twine’s going score a screamer tonight?

I’d be more excited if Lansdown was leaving. That would release the shackles.

It’s down to two decades of unambitious ownership IMHO. Look back to 07/08, top at Christmas in a pre-FFP era and crying out for a goalscorer and he didn’t gamble. Cotts’ double-winning team of 15/16 had the nucleus of a competitive squad, deals were agreed for Maguire and Gray only for him to pull the plug while Cotts was on holiday. And now, eight years on, we’re free of FFP and have some cash to spent yet he still keeps a tight reign on the purse strings. I could understand that if it was a consistent strategy over 20+ years, but LJ’s spending spree flies in the face of that. The buck stops with SL.

SL uses deflection very well; he’s never taken any responsibility for his own cock-ups in more than two decades. I would put money on him telling Nige privately something like you can only have 10% of the Scott cash but they have to fit in our wage structure, only to blame him when the shit hits the fan despite Nige always saying he will only sign players who are better than we’ve got. Classic SL.

New owners of our club need genuine ambition first and foremost We’ve had more than 20 years of mediocrity, hot air and constant changes in direction. One minute it’s the five pillars, the next it’s copy Swansea; no, Brighton; make that Brentford; nope, Luton. SL always casts envious glances in the direction of similar-sized or smaller clubs who’ve left us behind and he never looks at anything other than budgets, stripping out any other context for their success (see his latest interview and comparing us to Luton for an example of that). I have said for well over a decade that SL knows absolutely nothing about on-the-pitch matters. He’s a nepotist. “My mate Lee can have the keys to the kingdom, but not the experienced Nige or the successful Cotts… Jon will be a safe successor, look at the commercial success of the badge and the kit.” If we don’t spend some of the Scott cash on at least one player of proven quality before the window closes, I hope others vent at SL.

Neither do I; I don’t think we’ll sign anyone. But, those are the positions we need to strengthen in and Iversen is an upgrade on O’Leary IMO, which fits the profile of the type of player Nige wants.

We need to strengthen the entire spine of the side IMO - GK (Iversen’s available), CB - (Kalas?), AMC - (?), ST (?) - but I don’t think we’ll sign anyone.

Naismith signed in June 2022, not 2023, on a free! Plus I’ve said I’m talking transfer fees in this calendar year. I give up.