Corsham Alf

He’s a very good player. So comfortable on the ball with excellent passing range. Uses the ball far better than Cam who I do like. Has fully earned an extended run in the side and I expect him to be a regular herein 

I’m a big fan of Zak the footballer but this is a total embarrassment.

Right now our club is a mess. 
 

Whoever was responsible for the decision to manufacture this should be held to account. 
 

I’m literally speechless 

Absolutely nailed on player of the season for me with Zak a close second.

He can be relied upon in every single game, making vital blocks & starting our play with excellent passing - turning in consistently good performances.

No one else even close. 

I said to my fellow season ticket holders in the Jan window that Moore would have been a good option for us.

But clearly he had loftier ambitions than the lower half of the Champs.

Hes already weighed in with some important goals for Ipswich but having witnessed his abysmal performance at Portman Road on Tuesday night I’m not sure he’s what we need. He was very immobile and Zak and Rob D had no problems whatsoever negating him. I really thought he was poor. Again today he offered no threat vs Cardiff but it was a good strike. 

Sound like he could be a meat head

Sorry but Cornick is nowhere near good enough.

We took a punt at £300k so it’s not a great loss.

But he will never make it at Champs level. 
 

He seldom wins any headers, technically he is poor and he’s not quick or strong. He tries very hard but we need so much more. He’s like a better version of Bas Savage!

I cannot see any future for him with us.

I watched him play for Yeovil at Bath City the other week and he looked so poor. Pedestrian & not commanding at all. No way can he take the giant step up to Champs level.

I would move him on. 

It’s very clear to me that Lansdown doesn’t enjoy Nige’s frank & direct approach.

But given the fact that he’s invested virtually zero this summer after bringing in £24m for Scott alone , does he really believe we can be anything more than a mid-table side?

Our whole board structure is a mess right now (no CEO and Lansdown jnr a waste of oxygen). The last thing we need is for SL to dispense with an experienced manager who has the backing of most of our fan base.

I sense a very interesting couple of weeks ahead !

2 hours ago, Taunton_BCFC said:

Get out of our club!!!!!

25 million in his pocket from selling our best player and no one else coming on  he’s lost interest and is taking us to league one 

Sadly this is post is correct. I will never publicly criticise Steve L but it’s evident he’s pulling up the drawbridge now. Our side can only survive in the Championship. It cannot compete as our squad is so lacking in genuine quality 

5 minutes ago, Rob k said:

It’s not even a difficult question to answer - until commercially they make as much then no 

Spot on. The women’s game generates a tiny fraction of the revenue compared to the men’s game so financially how on earth could they be paid the same. It’s a no brainer 

3 hours ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

I didn't like the sound of that.

 I mean the stuff about Parachute Payments isn't necessarily wrong, but to talk of not even reinvesting a chunk, although maybe the full interview will give more context and sounds a bit like the trading model unless I'm mistaken??

Don't think NP will like the sound of this either- which is much more important.

I didn’t like the sound of his comments either. Almost suggested the Alex Scott money would be put to one side -  ‘nest egg’ he stated. If he thinks our current squad is going to compete at the top end he’s frankly delusional.
 

I’ve got masses of respect for Steve but he doesn’t understand football. And his comments about our squad being far more talented than Luton’s last season was just not correct. 

I am slightly worried. 
 

55 minutes ago, Ghost Rider said:

What is Phil Alexanders' role in all of this, as he's quieter than anyone?#

Can I just clarify, that on the field I think we're in a better position than we have been for YEARS! It's just the commercial side that's an absolute shambles at the moment. 

Nail on the head here. On the field I feel we are in a very good place. Off the field we are making elementary mistakes.

It really isn’t rocket science either.

Better planning is needed and a liaison role between fans and the Commercial Dept. Most fans on here have identified the obvious mistakes we are making. 
 

Well that was an utter farce.

How did the club honestly think they could accommodate our loyal fans in an hour and a half ? 
 

There were stewards present but they needed to ensure fans only went to one group of players, instead of meeting all of them! My pal and I left at 2:20 as the queue was still going to take at least another half hour. 
 

Commercially we are a bit of a mess - our merchandise including shirts in the shop is really poor quality. As for the travesty of a logo (is it a Robin or a Hawke?) on the reverse don’t get me started. John Lansdown what are you up to ?

I thought Belly had a good game today. He has electric pace and is very direct off the left. 

He carved them open for the sitter Cornick missed & you could see the fear in the eyes of the Rotherham defence.

He needs to develop physically but he gives us serious pace & goal threat. Def masses of potential 

Went into the club shop today & seen the new kit on sale. Oh dear - it’s just so naff & cheap looking. £50 for a shirt - I genuinely wouldn’t buy it at a tenner.

I get that the Hummel uk distributor has gone under but this O’Neill kit is tragic.

Commercially we are a million miles off it under Jon Lansdown. 

He played very well at Stoke (arguably his best performance this season) but he’s a low end Championship full back. He’s one of our highest wage earners so I expect us to move him on. Cam P is far more dynamic in that role. JD is very susceptible due to his lack of height. 

I rate this guy. Plenty of energy when he’s played against us 

Diony has to be up there as one of our worst ever signings.

The business Ashton and Pipsqueak carried out in that window was horrendous & costly. Kent was clearly not anywhere near match fit. 

2 hours ago, And Its Smith said:

That was very very insightful.  All three speakers were excellent.

A summary:

1. Accounts out in the coming weeks.  £10m better off that last year but still a big loss

2. FFP no issue, as expected

3. City current report from Nige "could do better" but "on the right course"

4. Academy and club much more aligned

5. No players close to signing new contract.  Problem is that wages are dropping and players won't sign for less money, which the club has to offer in the current climate.  Gould says very hard to compete with parachute payment clubs as well

6. Question about how Euell is doing and how his role affects what Nige does.....Pearson said worked with Euell at Southampton, he's thoughtful, a forward which is important.  Curtis more of a talker, loyal....good to have different characters. 

7. Fan loyalty scheme being revamped and out by Xmas.  Very different to what we have seen before.  More than just discounts.....experiences money cant buy.  loyalty points can be earned by spending in other retail., over 150 retailers in total.  Gould apologised for delay

8.  Nige was asked why he always starts replies to questions with 'ummm'.  Said he is thinking about what he shouldnt say! 

9.  Will Gould leaving trigger a restructure, maybe a DoF?  Gould said it is an opportunity.  Clubs are structured in different ways.  Structure is currently good in that they know what they are doing.  Scouting systems and coaches scouting work well.  Nige says we dont need to reinvent the wheel.  We dont need something new just for the sake of it.  Sounds like he wouldnt want a DoF. 

10.  Why do we tend to struggle against big strong physical teams Nige?  "Because we arent a big strong physical team".  Nige said he would like to challenge teams like Millwall better but it will take time.  Need to be more clever.  We dealt with them, they didnt open us up but we lost because of two individual mistakes.  Too many individual mistakes still.  We dont have a squad that will ever be taller man for man.  We can only add one or two players as we go so even if we wanted that we cannot have it.  Got some 'monsters' coming through the academy so could change if they are good enough.  Nige says he tells Jay Dasilva to use his height (!)......Jay doesnt get beaten very often.  Some of our bigger lads could learn from him.  We have a lot of pace in the squad.  We have quick footballers.  That is the model. Swansea have conceded 40% of their goals to counter attacks so we have an opportunity. W

11. We can become more consistent by learning to draw games that we then lose.  Need enough knowledgeable players in the side to influence teammates to settle for a point.  If we had drawn half the games we have lost we would be just outside the play offs.  Very tight league.  Nige is an optimistc, we are not that far away.  We have only drawn three games and we have lost games we shouldnt lose, either through careless mistakes or royal cockups!

12.  Asked on Jan Transfer Window, Gould says not a lot to spend.  We have sold £20m worth of players per year in recent years.  Recent strategy is to target the best out of contract players.  We look to be in top 10 clubs in terms of salary spend so that is a sweet spot for us.  We are attractive in that market and that is the market we are targetting.  In the event we sell a player we will look to reinvest a percentage of that.  (Nige asked how much and was met with laughter).  No magic money tree.  Nige asks about money a lot but is onside with where we are. Nige doesnt believe in collecting players.  Would want a centre back.  Important to remember we only want better than we have.  Cannot fast-track.  Will not sign a middle of the road championship player.  Youngsters coming through.  Need a Naismith there to help bring players through, a position where if you make a mistake it will often prove costly, like a goalkeeper.

13.  League average of home grown players in squad last season was 2.5. Ours was 6.5-7.  We are in a good location, would be harder if we were a midlands club.  Our long term future is our academy.  Tinnion works closely with recruitment team on squad depths.  They will look at youth depth before Nige looks to sign a player.  We dont need to be a cat one academy as we can offer opportunities.  Fewer loans going out now as more chance for opportunity now.  No more days of 10-12 loans going out.

14.  On Loans.....130 Premier League players currently on loan to 72 clubs in EFL at cost of £30m.  Dont want loans that will block our own talent.  Question asked 'could one or two loans in Jan not push us over the line?'  Gould said 'yes if they can provide enough value....no value when they leave 6 months later.  Tammy and Andy Cole given as examples by fans there....and Ryan Kent!  Nige says the market has changed.  He has taken Cleverley and Lingard (who was disgrace) from Man United, Kane from Spurs but didnt play him as wasnt good enough.  Back in those days first 6 months on loan was free.  Nowadays you bring them in and they are earning twice more than anyone else at the club so doesnt work financially.  The game has changed.  Premier League Loan Managers are expected to turn a profit. 

15.  Question to Nige of do you ever look at reporters asking him questions and think 'why have you asked me that?'  Nige said he isnt good at hiding it!  Wears his heart on his sleeve.  He doesnt like lazy questions.  IF journalists ask intelligent questions then happy to ask all day. Their job is to ask difficult questions.  

16.  5-3-2 suits us.  We dont have full backs, we have wing backs.  Sykes been excellent.  Nige likes 2 up top which this allows.  All of our strikers are better in partnerships and we have players who like to play behind strikers.  We aren't yet a 'clean sheet side'.  The system is there as it suits the players.  Nige and staff had conversation today about benefits of changing it but comes down to the fact that this is the best system.  It gets our best players on the pitch.  Nige isnt a massive fan of 3 at the back but its not about him. 

17.  14 Premier League scouts at a recent under 16 games.  PL clubs can take our players on the cheap.  Need to get them signed on their 17th birthday.  The WSM player we signed this week came to the club and Tinnion showed him how many first team players are ex academy.  Wolves wanted him but he joined us.  Gould said he would never recommend Premier League academies.  England under 19 players had hardly any first team appearances....Scott has a lot.  Maddox and Herbie Kane both below City now after leaving early chasing the dream.  Lloyd Kelly stayed and look at where he is.  

18.  Awful at set pieces last season.  Last 6 games of the season we changed to zonal marking and it improved.  We have unreliable markers so we need to defend zonally. It suits the players that we have.  If we had more reliable markers we would do mixture of zonal and man-to-man marking.  Second goal against Reading was a quality ball in and no blame there.  The ones the two games before that are very irritating.  Many internal discussions on it and practised it and practised it.  Will continue to do what we can do board our goal up.

19.  World Cup plans for players not going will have time off then programmes to do in their own time then mini pre-season.  One practise game.  

20.  Tinnion says Cat One academy wouldnt benefit us. Couldnt loan players out as would need those players to play against the Prem academies.  Costs a lot more.  Lot more pressure.  Cat One can still take other Cat One players.  

The summary is spot on as I was there (not necessarily the order). It was a great forum and all three spoke well. 

I will avoid personal insults - but let’s not kid ourselves it’s time for us to move COD.

Tonight was frankly embarrassing and not acceptable at this level. Constantly losing possession and out of position he really was a liability. A knee twinge apparently but I’m not buying that. He knew he was at risk of giving the points away so he feigned injury.

I’ve seen enough. 100% has to go now. 

57 minutes ago, Sandhurst Red said:

This is why Pearson is the right person for the job and patience needs to be shown.

Attitude in football and dressing room culture is vital to a happy team, that is then a successful one.

This mess started with Ashton and Johnson - arguably some forced on them, due to players we sold and cashed in on, but ultimately, the process of checking the players coming in was not good enough and did not look beyond their natural and potential ability. Holden walked into a ticking time bomb, with a squad of unfit, unhappy players with a few who were causing issues behind the scenes.

Nige has come in - taken stock, and is slowly but surely getting rid of them, to enable the culture required to come back. Players have to do it his way, or no way.

When players like Kasper Schmeichel or Matty James speak so highly of him, it is for a reason, however some of our players don't like the harsh realities being served to them behind closed doors.

To his credit, Pearson always said it was a 3 year plan to convert and we are nearing the end of year 1. I've no doubt following a summer overhaul, we'll see a big difference in the next 12 months.

Today is a good day for this club, and his honesty should be a further warning to those players who think they can do as they wish. 

I love this post and it’s 100% spot on. My slight concern is Big Nige is not going to have much money to spend to correct our obvious deficiencies due to our trading loss. But he’s working well with what he’s got. Zak Vyner watch your step !!

I have a spare ticket for tonight if anyone is interested. 

Has anyone noticed the large group of travellers camped on the Gas's proposed site for their new ground? 

It was a massive point gained in the end last night. At half time with MK beating Wolves & us losing I was worried. But MK losing will prove to be a defining point in the season. I can't see them overturning a 7 point gap on us now.

Very impressed by LJ's post match interview. He's no shouter but thoughtful & shrewd. He referred to the Rotherham first goal & a repeat defensive lapse that needs to be eradicated. If not there will be a change in personnel. He was bang on about us being too panicky. Defenders take a leaf from Mr Matthews. Class act last night.

Great bet bakes - 35/1 on a 3-1 City win & Freeman scoring was inspired.

We are going up- we are going up!