tin

Does possession and territory always equate to positive results, though? I don’t think so, but it’s how SL’s Barcelona fantasy play. Mourinho’s won everything going by playing counter-attacking football; Pep’s won everything by playing possession football. I think it’s a load of shit, personally. We want to see winning football. Whether that’s dominating teams - like in the Wilson era - or grinding out results - like under GJ - it’s being competitive that matters IMO.

Tinnion, is that you? The delusion, the illiteracy, and I remember you setting up a scheme in Spain for players who’d been bombed out of clubs. Swapped Twitter (probably on Steve’s orders) to hide behind pseudonym on OTIB, have you?

The board deserve all the flak coming, or about to come, their way. Pearson was getting the best out of these players and didn’t even have anywhere near a full squad to choose from most of the time. While the players are not packed with talent, they are an honest hardworking bunch IMO and a far cry from the wasters of the past. This situation is borne out of the Lansdowns. They set the budgets, they appointed Tinnion to a role way above his station, they took a totally unnecessary gamble from a position of stability and slow progress. It was all completely avoidable.

This is what happens when lunatics run the asylum. Lansdowns out.

The board would’ve had him under pressure as he was sacked for getting six points from his last five games. As for pressure, that comes from those at the top and I have no sympathy with them for that.

‘90s: Andy Cole ’00s: Marvin Elliott ’10s: Tammy Abraham ’20s: Alex Scott

We rarely get anything at Watford or Birmingham, and I can’t recall us beating Sunderland at home in my 32 years. We’ve fared better v Hull and at Blackburn in recent times, but both of them are in decent form. I think we’d do well to get 5 points, in which case we will be looking over our shoulders.

They’ve had a spell, and a fairly long spell at that, in the PL which is more than we’ve had under the Lansdowns, mind. Not saying you’re wrong in your assessment but they’ve had more joy than us (even if that odious shit Pulis was responsible for that!)

Exactly that IMO. He had the keys to the kingdom at Ashton Gate and due to SL’s neglect, he was accountable to nobody. At Ipswich, I’d guess the Americans expect ROI and therefore his wings have been clipped. He still had the spending spree on players last year, but appears to have struck gold with McKenna.

No shit, Sherlock!

I want us to beat every team, obviously, but this is about what the board have said and how we are measuring up against that. I think it’s not unrealistic to expect a return of 5+ points from those games and the reality is we’ve got 2 points which isn’t good enough IMO.

Were led to believe we should be competing at the “top end” of this division this season, that we have “a top-10 budget” and that this “is the best squad in my [JL’s] time here”. So why are we going backwards? We must be beating the likes of Huddersfield, Norwich and QPR. It takes more than possession stats to impress me and Manning hasn’t done anything to win me over yet. I hope he does, but he hasn’t yet. We were nine points above the bottom three at the start of play today, now it’s seven. The bottom line is we must be doing better to match the chairman’s target.

If Bell was one of Pearson’s signings, he’d be slagged off as a shit signing IMO. Because he’s homegrown, many people give him an easy ride. For me, he isn’t good enough and never will be at this level. I hope he proves me wrong but I’ve seen enough of him to think he’s too lightweight, offers Pring little protection, can’t cross and seldom beats his man. But he’s the best at the club in the bleep test? So what. He needs to step up in the next 6-12 months or be shipped out.

The men’s and women’s football teams, the stadium and the training ground are attractive to buyers. The rugby, the basketball and the price tag are unattractive. So, SL is caught in no-man’s land. But that’s nothing new to a man who’s been gripped by inertia when it comes to BCFC for several years. It goes to show how deluded he really is if he genuinely thought he could create an institution like FCB. The sooner he and his nepotistic off-the-pitch operation move on, the better IMO.

I said it at the time and I’ll say it again: that was the time for SL to roll the dice with minimum risk. And for context, Brentford were in L2 and Luton finished bottom of L1 back then. We even loaned James Wilson to Brentford that January! I recall being told at the time that we were offered the chance to sign Sylvan Ebanks-Blake for £2m from Plymouth early that January, but instead we signed a 33-year-old Dele Adebola for £100k a day before the transfer window closed. Nothing against Dele, he did a job. But that showed SL’s mindset IMO and I can’t help but wonder what if the goals of a striker like that had got us up. We’ll never get that close again under the Lansdowns’ watch.

We will never get to the PL under the Lansdowns. I’d put my mortgage on that. The longer they stay, the shorter the odds are of the likes of Birmingham, Coventry, Pompey, Bolton, Cardiff etc getting there before we do IMO. The Gate and possibly the training ground are about the only things that are PL-ready. When the Lansdowns go, I’ll be more hopeful.

No idea. I parked at my mates, not in the city centre, and walked in via a few pubs and bars. Great night.

I saw QOTSA in Manchester last month, absolutely awesome set list. They are quality IMO.

The only thing I agree with you here is you saying “the powers at the top do not help matters whatsoever”. No shit, Sherlock! They are wholly culpable for whatever happens - good or, more likely, bad. I don’t share your view that binning proven PL-winning experience for another hopeful inexperienced punt will pay off, but that’s your opinion and you’re entitled to it. Nothing against Manning, this ain’t on him.

The same individual errors that hindered Pearson’s progress, you mean? Shame you didn’t gloss over those at the time you were calling for his head.

Still early days for Manning, obviously, but the change is an avoidable setback. I suspect we’d have got more from today and at QPR if the change hadn’t been made but here we are.

I liked him too, but it’s worth remembering he left us as a striker or right-sided forward and wasn’t made into the RWB he is now until much later. Szmodics is the one that annoys me now as he would walk into our team and system right now. Burns, I’m not so sure unless we play with wing-backs.

I can’t see anyone in their right mind paying £200m for BS, nor should they be expected to in the current market. So that leaves us with nothing, and the prospect of the Lansdowns bumbling on for another decade is so depressing. If BCFC was up for sale, however, surely a deal would be done.

Deschamps is another to add to the list, certainly at international level. Simeone was also a top player in the ‘90s who’s done well with Atleti. Conte’s another one who’s won plenty as a manager. The list is pretty endless in all fairness.

With Wells out, that’s our best option up top right now. Conway isn’t ready physically (and I think there is development to come with that) to play on his own and he looked on his arse after about 50 minutes last night. He needs a partner to play alongside at this stage. What that does to the rest of the XI, I don’t know. It probably looks like a 3-5-2, but that will put the focus on our wing backs.