bcfcredandwhite

I was working nightshifts when we earned the replay at Anfield. My manager was at the game at Ashton Gate and I was listening to it on the radio from work. As soon as the final whistle blew, I filled in the handwritten holiday request form (as was the process back in the day) for the night off so I could go to the Anfield game. My manager had to authorise it. When my manager came in and saw my holiday application waiting for his signature, he laughed as he ripped it up and threw it in the bin before submitting his own. We couldn’t both take the same night off as there always had to be at least one of the 2 senior members of shift staff on site. I’ll never forgive him for that. Blatant abuse of authority!!! I had to listen to that game on the radio in work too

I don’t subscribe to the polarisation opinion that a lot of people do on here. It seems that you either love the guy or absolutely hate him - with no in between. I’m probably in a tiny minority here, but I thought LJ was ok. Not brilliant and not godawful. Just ok - both as a player and a manager. Some people (probably correctly) quote nepotism, ‘charmed life’, ‘uncle Steve’ etc but you still need to have SOME ability to hold down a job in what is probably the most cut-throat of industries. As a player he was ok. Plenty of people gave him stick for being in the squad under his dad, but he wasn’t the worst player we’ve had at BS3 by a long chalk. He wasn’t brilliant but he was ok and part of the squad that got us closer to the promised land than any squad has since the days of Alan Dicks. As a manager too, a lot has been made about the money spent during his tenure and you can’t argue with figures, but you still need to select a side, choose tactics and adjust when losing - Lee did all that pretty well imho for most of the time he was at the Gate. He was ok in my book - we’ve had a lot worse My opinion only of course and like I said I recognise I’m in the minority.

Funny that our Goal Difference is nearly always either negative or around zero. what does that say about our defence over the years if we are scoring all those goals?

John Stead used to work quite hard.

For me, I think it should depend on the state of the season and what the aim is for the season. For example, thinking purely about matters on the pitch; if we are playing consistently well with a settled squad and a realistic chance of promotion or playoffs (or pulling steadily away from danger at the other end of the table) then keep the player in the select 11 because it's obviously working and we won't want to break it by 'tinkering'. However, if we are in mid-table 'mediocrity' with no realistic chance of promotion, playoffs or relegation - or if the wantaway player's performance isn't really outstanding, then I would drop him and give someone who intends to stay with the club some competitive game time to see if they can make the step up longer term - considering it's the NEW player that I'd be working with next season, not the old one. For me that's nothing to do with toys or prams - it's good management future planning, so we can go into next season with the new boy already 'bloodied' in the first team. There are, of course other factors OFF the pitch at play, which could affect the selection of said player, aside from his performance on the pitch. Covering for injuries or bans for example, or IF there has been a fall-out then you don't want that player contaminating the dressing room - bad apples and all that. Also, aside from the football, there could be financial considerations and the board might be putting pressure on the manager to play a wantaway player against his (the manager's) professional judgement in order to keep the player in the 'shop window' to hopefully get some money back for him.

Well we’d get better value for money for our entrance fee…!!

Warnock loves us apparently…. https://www.bristolworld.com/sport/football/bristol-city/neil-warnock-cardiff-city-bristol-city-3989265 I actually respect the bloke and his achievements but I recognise he’s more marmite than Lee Johnson at BS3.

That wouldn’t be a bad thing for him if that happened - GJ went on to take Yeovil to the Championship and for a while they were the highest placed West Country side - a division above us!

I toured Morocco in 1987. We DID make it to Marrakesh and I remember sitting in a rooftop bar overlooking the market square with all its hustle and bustle. It was the hottest place I’ve ever visited.

.. I bet he does NOT wish he had come to us!!!!!!

Some famous footballer once said ‘I spent most of my money on women and drink. The rest, I wasted. ‘

These salary websites are unreliable - yet people choose to believe and quote them when they want to highlight a player as being overpaid. Unless you work in the clubs HR or Payroll departments - or know the players personally (and they are prepared to reveal what they are earning - unlikely) then these websites are all there is to go on. Wells and Palmer for example took a load of stick on here (and other forums) for being overpaid and various sites were quoted, but when Simpson was listed as being on £15k per week the same sites were suddenly ‘bollocks’ and you were a **** if you believe them. People believe and quote what they want to underline the point they are trying to make If anyone knows enough to call a figure ‘bollocks’ then it would be good to know what the true figures are and the source of this biblical truth.

I remember being in the Williams stand when Gary Johnson was managing us. We were playing West Brom and LJ scored. We won the game 1-0. A bloke a couple of seats in front of me swore, turned and said to his mate ‘**** - that means he’ll be in the side next week….’ unbelievable Jeff.

I totally agree with this - Nige knows why he makes the decisions and we don’t. I probably come across on this forum and being anti-NP. I’m not. I question his selection and tactics as I have done all our managers and will continue to do so. I worry when our manager selects the wrong players for certain positions and then, when we lose, repeats the same (IMHO) wrong selection, loses again, then says in response to criticism ‘I’m not bothered - I’ve been booed in bigger stadiums than this’ I think that says more than the actual words he used. However, I genuinely hope he is right and turns it around. SAF and Alan Dicks were both within an inch of getting sacked before they turned it around. I really hope Nige can do the same. Changing managers is unsettling and isn’t great.

I was responding to the posts likening criticism of the manager to thinking you could fly a plane because you have seen them fly, or perform surgery because you’ve watched it on a TV drama. My comments were agnostic towards posters who both support or criticise Nige. I didn’t intend it as an attack on Nige’s supporters.

It’s normal and totally acceptable to question the manager’s selections, tactics and overall performance. Lee Johnson was (rightly) scrutinised during his tenure and it’s perfectly right that we appraise Nige. Many of us have played the game to some level or another and ALL of us watch the game, so we are NOT clueless - whatever we think of Nige. This is OUR club and we want the best for it. We’ve all invested money in it and when we see poor results and performances it’s absolutely right that we debate the reasons why. Just blindly saying that Nige (or anyone for that matter) always knows best is wrong. It’s just like saying we should accept that the government always knows best and we don’t need elections.

RIP Pele. The greatest ever. https://news.sky.com/story/brazilian-football-star-pele-has-died-at-the-age-of-82-12775924

What an absolutely fascinating point of view

You seem to have missed the point of the article and judging by your articulate suffix don’t want to see the point of it. Todays squad is better on paper than the one that LJ had - so why aren’t we higher in the table? or do you think LJs squad was better? that was what the OP was asking IMHO I think that’s a valid question. You probably don’t.

Interesting and thought-provoking post. I absolutely agree with the gist of what you are saying - just a couple of minor things; It was LJ who started playing Semenyo, not Pearson. LJ recalled him from Newport so he could bolster the first team options (I seem to remember him getting sent off vs Derby the first time I watched him at Ashton Gate - I wasn't impressed!) You listed the players from LJ's team that the fans 'didn't care about'. Whilst this may be true for many of us, speaking for myself, at the time I personally rated Eliasson highly (top assists in the league, despite hardly ever starting). Diedhiou, for all his frustrations, was still our top scorer and we let him leave without replacing him. I also rated Paterson - although lightweight and a bit of a sick-note I thought he could still do a job for us. I highlighted 'at the time' in my statement, because I'm not sure I would want them back now. As you said in your post; man for man and on paper we have a better squad today. I do get that we needed to save some money and those players were costing - particularly Pato, so I accept that the decision to offload them was very possibly financial, rather than for their (lack of) worth on the pitch. Much of the criticism aimed at LJ's appointment was that he was unproven, SL's 'mate' and we should have gone for a more experienced manager rather than gambled on an unknown. SL relented and employed a well-respected and experienced manager with a pedigree, yet we are still huffing and puffing - at the wrong end of the table (at least under LJ we huffed and puffed in the top half). I've thought for some time that we should be doing better than we are under Pearson - I've said that on here a couple of times and been shot down by the Pearson 'love-in' brigade.

I don’t like where we are headed, but if we are going to sack Nige we must have a replacement sorted immediately. The recruitment debacle after LJs sacking was quite frankly an embarrassment. I’d rather keep Nige than drift around managerless.

And the manner of his appointment here didn’t help. Nice guy - wish him well.

I wonder if we'll see these 2 Scottish flags at the Senegal game? Sad fkrs - spending all that money to fly to a shithole with VERY expensive beer (where available) just to cheer on England's opposition

That - was just about the worst corner attempt I’ve ever seen!

Well done big Dave!!