fgrsimon

18 minutes ago, Kid in the Riot said:

Think it's quite telling Gary and the presenter have opined they're very sure that Manning will be here next season, whereas James hasn't made any such commitment, and instead has talked about things "spiralling" and the situation being "overwhelming".

I think if we don't get anything  from Leicester and Plymouth then Manning is gone. 

My feeling too. I don't think it's coincidence that SL has been back in town for last 2 games. I think he might have been gone if we had lost to Swansea and if we get a hammering v Leicester.

It has to be Plymouth or us although they had a couple of flirtations with relegation to non-league recently but have never played top flight football.

Palace have always struck me as a pointless club and have also never won anything of note. A bit like us but usually one league higher. Even just briefly trying to remember anything exciting about them and the only things that came to mind were the FA Cup Semi Final v Liverpool in 1990 and the Cantona Kung-Fu incident!

4 hours ago, Roger Red Hat said:

 

3 of the bottom 5 made unnecessary manager changes...

Bristol football, it's great!

Getting on for 300 years combined and nothing of note achieved.

5 hours ago, 38MC said:

I get that Robbo. TP was an absolute sag agent and the football under him was dross, but the regression under manning and seeing him completely devalue our players such as Conway and to see him completely hammer a squad full of young players publicly when it’s clear to all that he’s the problem makes me dislike him so much. 

Yes in terms of making things worse I think you have to go back to Jimmy Lumsden to rival Liam Manning.

2 hours ago, GrahamC said:

Brace yourself, because I think he’s under more pressure than a few on here think & so his masterplan is what we saw today & against Swansea.

 

Yes I don't think it's coincidence that SL is back in town. I sensed LM might have been gone if we lost to Swansea. He'll survive Leicester unless we get absolutely battered but after that he could and should be on borrowed time.

2 hours ago, GrahamC said:

Brace yourself, because I think he’s under more pressure than a few on here think & so his masterplan is what we saw today & against Swansea.

 

Yes I don't think it's coincidence that SL is back in town. I sensed LM might have been gone if we lost to Swansea. He'll survive Leicester unless we get absolutely battered but after that he could and should be on borrowed time.

If you're even half-fit, the best place to park is Nailsworth centre, around the bus station and walk up Spring Hill. It's steep but not that bad, so it is good exercise and will take about 15 mins. After the game, it's almost always quicker to walk back down the hill than to drive.

2 hours ago, Leabrook said:

Is there still panic that we will go down and if not why not as surely one win shouldn’t change someone’s view

As the Gas proved, you can never celebrate staying up until it's mathematically certain. We'd probably have to go the rest of the season without a win but..........

11 minutes ago, Dr Balls said:

Nope like playing an LP on 45rpm. Must have been a while since you have been near a turntable!

Best one for this is I'm on Fire by Bruce Springsteen from Born in the USA. If you play the LP at 45rpm it sounds uncannily like Dolly Parton!

Available on catch-up.

Sound of the City - 11/03/2024 - BBC Sounds

2 hours ago, eardun said:

I must admit I did enjoy this today:

https://www.skysports.com/football/video/19508/13091751/no-really-this-is-the-worst-corner-ever-taken

It was comical but to be fair to him, he clearly slipped as he was taking it.

5 hours ago, pongo88 said:

Even long dead he’d be better than some of the City managers I’ve seen over the years 

Well if our manager had been dead for the last 4 games, we wouldn't have got any less points.

To boost optimism, Swansea coach Luke Williams presided over this Notts Co defensive masterclass earlier in the season.

So to sum up; it's all going well apart from the results, so nothing to worry about. I'm glad we cleared that up.

Also if you took "like I said" and "to be fair" out, the interview would be about half the length.

4 hours ago, ralphindevon said:

I’m not a fan of this name calling and rudeness towards Jon and Brian.

It never makes for a balanced argument and kind of dilutes the sensible, well written arguments against their handling of things.

 

I wonder how many people know that Jon Lansdown has Economics and Management degree from Southampton University? It's one of the better traditional UK universities, so he would have needed decent A Levels to get in, regardless of his family's wealth.

Whether that makes him qualified to be Chairman of Bristol City is an entirely different thing but he's neither stupid nor thick.

Plymouth have had some tough fixtures recently; Ipswich, West Brom, Leedsx3 and I think their really strong home form should keep them up. Worrying that we have to go there and they won't be resting 7 players this time. 

12 minutes ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

This is really true, a lot of their players individually with the best will in the world have no wonderful pedigree or even history.

Sure the younger they are the more scope to develop, the older the more bits of experience they can give but are a lot them are far from standout. Isn't it a 1 in a 100 type sesson they're having, McKenna aside.

Relative to the Parachute gap, sides who came down and alright but not stellar for the level players.

Yes whatever the positive version of a perfect storm is, they are having it. Combination of good coach, a set of players that perfectly fit the system they play, momentum, few injuries and dare I say it, given who, is involved great recruitment. 

Still think Leeds and Leicester will be top two though but Ipswich have comeback from their tough spell hugely impressively.

On 02/03/2024 at 20:09, 22A said:

Meanwhile in the Lowland League the top 7 are; 

Pos	Club	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
1	East Kilbride	27	21	3	3	81	38	43	66
2	Cumbernauld Colts	27	16	6	5	57	32	25	54
3	Bo’ness United	28	17	3	8	59	40	19	54
4	Heart of Midlothian B	27	15	6	6	74	34	40	51
5	Tranent	25	15	4	6	57	27	30	49
6	Celtic B	27	14	4	9	66	37	29	46
7	Linlithgow Rose	26	12	7	7	56	33	23	43

 

The winners play off H&A against the Highland champions. The winner of that game play off H&A against the bottom team in League 2 for the right to be in the Scottish league next season.

Meanwhile at the foot of the Lowland league;

17	Gretna 2008	28	2	2	24	23	104	-81	8
18	Edinburgh University	27	1	2	24	31	115	-84	5

We say that in the EFL Championship anyone can beat any one, but in Scots League 2 last week, the bottom team Clyde, were away to the leaders and won 6-1. 

Yes I have a bit of an obsession with Scottish lower league football (let's face it the SPL is the most boring league anywhere!)

East Kilbride have been knocking on the door for a few years now and the Lowland League teams generally are a bit stronger than Highland, so it could be their year this year. I do like the idea of the bottom team having a last chance saloon to stay in the league through the play-off.

2 hours ago, formerly known as ivan said:

Wes Burns!

Of little benefit to us of course, but that is not the same player who left us. He looked immense and could well be in the premier league next season.

I had him down as a league 1 player at best!

Three cheers for Burns, hip hip…

Massimo Luongo a regular starter too  - a bit above average L1 player with Swindon in our promotion season 10 years ago.

53 minutes ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

It is far less of a financial drain than football but the latter is far more of an enticing entry (I won't say investment as how many will turn a profit).

It should surely be possible to make a profit from the Rugby? 

There's a salary cap, the attendances are close to the football and there is effectively no relegation for an indefinite period. No relegation for definite this season but there are basically no clubs in the levels below that have the finances/assets for promotion. So unless Wasps or maybe London Irish get back to the top level, effectively it's a closed shop. So you could put a very cheap young side together and take the hit in results without any danger of relegation. Newcastle I guess are doing something like this?  Ealing Trailfinders who are comfortably the 'best of the rest' have and would turn down promotion IIRC?

It's getting to the point where we might have to need players to 'play through the pain' in order to stay up?

I've said before but look at Southend this season, operated with a 14 man squad because they were a financial shambles, from August to January. You cant tell me that they weren't playing players who medically shouldn't have been playing. They also made up a -10 point deduction

A loss is a loss. We lose to the poor teams, we lose to the good teams and now we're only 6 points off 2nd bottom. Struggling to see anything positive.

Lose to Swansea and I think it'll be the end for Manning as we'll get nothing from WBA or Leicester.

1 hour ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

Luton have been acquitting themselves fine IMO.

They certainly have but I fear they're going to regret losing to Sheff Utd big time. Unless FFP comes to their favour.

7 hours ago, Eddie Hitler said:

Whilst he lost confidence towards the end of his time here and was shunted off to Blackpool, Junior Bent on his day could absolutely terrify opposition defenders. I seem to remember that he had some phenomenal sprint time.

Maybe I just saw him in his best games, or people mainly remember his loss of form towards the end, but he rarely merits a mention here.

Coaching up at Preston's academy these days.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junior_Bent

He could certainly terrify defenders but rarely goalkeepers sadly. He was great until he got into the penalty area but then people in row Z would start to duck. Actually can't remember if his crossing was any good? but my abiding memory is of the ball flying into the stand.

As much as I dislike him, I think I'd trust LJ more than LM in the current situation! The streaky bit meant that you'd think there was a chance we'd go on a winning run again at some point. The tombola would eventually spew out an effective line-up. LM hasn't actually got out of a downward spiral. At MK he didn't and was sacked, at Oxford they bumbled along with a few draws and eventually beat FGR. So far here we've, until the last 3 games, just bumbled along again.  He doesn't seem to know how to change anything, I cant see anything other than defeat tomorrow and following on from that, a repeat of Cardiff against Swansea and then the sack. Praying for a miracle tomorrow and I'm an atheist!