Bat Fastard

In my short stint as a cub reporter for the Weston Mercury, we had good sub editors. Maybe, now that I am an old git, I should have remembered more of their wisdom!

I have not read the book but can imagine that the two may have had differences in view of the culture. Maybe we should wait for Tins to publish his "tell all" book before judgement -otherwise it may be a trifle one sided.

Please quote the quote if it is so decisive.

You have maybe used the word “proven” without actual proof in the previous post. I did not see a direct comparison with Tins in your comparison. He excelled as a player (in my opinion) went to Spain to get experience in developing young players. Tried management but did not have the right aptitude but excelled as a recruiter and developer of football talent. He is now vastly experienced and entitled to have his own opinions and to judge others in the football industry. That does not make him always right but his track record shows he is frequently right.

Widely believed is not evidence. There was a drinking culture during the Wilson era and maybe Brian was protective of his young players. Many have spoken very highly of him and they actually work with/for him.

Facts and evidence are needed before you condemn a man. Unless he is a witch, of course.

I have seen no evidence that he is a malign influence so I must assume he is innocent of all charges. I have witnessed his dedication to watching young players and have had a few interesting discussions with him over the years. I judge his overall body of work as being good and valuable to the club. He is paid to have opinions, you may not agree with them, but how many footballing careers have you started and developed? In a witch hunt, people are often accused but I would guess that very few were actually witches - if any. I do not like to see people like Tins witch hunted as he has been on this forum. Frankly it offends my sense of fair play.

I get the impression that many on here are swayed by the innuendo and even vitriol from certain people. Have you any concrete evidence to back up you views or do you just rely on what some others think?

I have seen posts from many in this forum but have seen nothing beyond innuendo and hearsay. There are clearly all sorts if interactions between Tins and other members of the ownership/ management team. We do not know what orders or directions he has been given. I have seen his dedication to the club over decades and reckon he has deserved a degree or respect.

His huge number of appearances, assists for people like Scotty, dozens of valuable players recruited, improved and developed into good assets for the club - and you don’t seem to see any good in the chap. If you blame him for Nige’s sacking, then do you really know what happened behind the scenes - or are you just blaming Tins because he is the only one left?

I believe he is a club legend due to his service as a player and for the influence he has exercised since his playing days. Player development and recruitment have made £millions for the club. He has been mostly beneficial for 30 or so years - what else could he have done to secure legend status?

Were you even slightly pleased when he scored?

We seem to like recruiting cheap rookie managers. Kingy could be s shoe in.

Ah….Mob rule! Reminds me of the worst excesses of the French Revolution.

Yes, me. Brian is a club legend and anyone who went to Liverpool on that special night will agree. He may have not had the right temperament for management but has shown himself to be a very good judge of players. The development of our academy is also evidence of this. Our current problems seem to stem from this sacking of a much admired and respected manager with a great force of character and replacing him with a technical underachiever who lacks experience and strength of personality. The old motto of “you should either have brains or hire brains” could also be usefully changed to “you should either have experience or hire experience “. we really need both brains and experience and we had those in the previous management team. I would wager that they were more expensive than Manning and Hogg - and that the change has more to do with saving costs rather than ambition. I expect that Brian is simply trying to fulfill his brief from the Lansdowns, who thought they could save cash and advance the prospects of the club.

Sir Alan Dicks?

The obvious answer is to bring back Benny. Just the chap to help a young manager who appears to be out of his depth.

I wonder if either of those gentlemen will mind being called "minor issues!"?

Live coverage of academy games would be great for old gits like me who have the time to watch in the day and take an interest in the stars of the future. I remember seeing Tom Richie scoring a hat-trick at the old Weston-super-Mare ground. He was a very thin kid in those days, and I am sure that we have some exciting talent coming through and it would be great if we had a chance to see them.

Having looked at his Youtube highlights reel, which shows him mainly playing for the Man City U21s, he is clearly a very exciting talent. His move to Belgium and then to City might indicate that he is struggling to bridge the gap between the U21 and adult level. He may take some time and patience and need to improve his strength and learn to cope with the stronger and quicker players that he will encounter in Championship football. He is young and should, in my opinion, be given the time and effort needed to allow him to reach his potential. Maybe we should all support him in his journey rather than pile on when his second appearance, during a match when the whole team was sub par, and that might help him, the team and those charged with coaching him to improve. Don't damn the lad but encourage him!

Vyner, Dickie and Atkinson (when back to full fitness) could be a brilliant back three from a defensive point of view, but just imagine the goals from set plays. With Pring and McCrorie as wing backs, we really seem to have a brilliant foundation. I hope that people will remember the manager who envisioned this set up.

He oozes class and ability and he really could be the joker in our pack. Really looking forward to seeing how he develops. Imagine him in a team with a younger JET!

The Now TV stream was very good and the result was wonderful. No more making with the negative waves eh?

Oh Ye of little faith!!

Hopefully it will be a high quality stream without the problems that so often plague the other streaming sites. Will find out if it was worth it this evening,