nebristolred

If they're solely working on social media they're probably paid sod all to be honest.

But conceded the 5 before that and what added up to be the next 7 . Am I right in saying Bradford and Wolves were Benny's first 2 games?

What on earth does not being Man Utd have to do with it? It's quite clear what the point was. And I think everyone has seen progression in certain ways on the pitch, so if you haven't, well I don't know what you've been watching. So your 'myriad of things' essentially is not hitting board kpi's (which we are all in agreement were ludicrous), and the other ones are basically the same thing. So you don't really have a 'myriad' do you. As for psychic powers, no I don't, I don't have a gut hunch either. I have an educated guess. In the same way that I could make an educated guess that Guardiola would probably do a better job than I could! I think you need to rethink your 'myriad of things' and take a step back from how far in you've gone without nuance, because, as everyone else has already realised, the only 'thing' was not being liked by the board. For what it's worth I'm not complaining that we chose Manning. I'm complaining that we sacked Pearson only to end up with Manning. All things considered, taking away the fact that we should have Pearson, it's an ok signing. But the fact that we had a decent proven manager before is what causes the underwhelming-ness!

2nd longest serving manager doesn't really say that much these days. Man Utd would never be what they are now if they did the same to Ferguson - he was in his 4th year there when he was nearly sacked around the time of the famous Forest game, and looking back we all know that would have been ridiculous. So what you look for is progression, and in every way Pearson was taking us in the right direction. To suggest that there is a myriad of things is simply untrue. The squad was trimmed as expected, the wages were brought down, the results were acceptable, the squad clearly liked him. There was no 'myriad' of things as far as we can see - there was one thing and that's the board. No one was saying it was awesome, but it certainly wasn't worthy of sacking, and that's the simple truth of it. And it is equally as true that to sack him for Liam Manning, is frankly one of the most ridiculous decisions made in the recent history of our club. Anyway, this is about Manning now. He is not an upgrade by any measure so it's all the more perplexing why the board have done this, but I'm behind him. And if/when he doesn't get us promoted this year, the board will have to answer.

Yep, really feeling these posts. I'm not quite there yet in terms of being 'done' but I'm as close as I've ever been. Under Pearson it was far from perfect but we had players who played to the final whistle, full of energy and full of youngsters, it really felt like our club had a real identity. And a tiny, really daft part of me thought that maybe we are now finally sewing the seeds to go and do a Leicester, or a Bristol City equivalent. There was something there. But yep, in one swoop we've had a very quick reminder of who really owns the club, that any manager with an ounce of authority or leadership can only be at the helm for so long, and we've gone and finished it off with yet another punt for sod all reason. Once again, no beef with Manning, and I hope he does well, but it felt like a lot of the optimism for our club just got ripped out in one moment, and a huge amount of cultural work at the club, the most difficult type at that, just thrown in the bin.

'As was his KPI too'. It's a very selectively chosen time to hold him against KPI's though isn't it? He and other managers have both missed position targets before and been given far longer, so why not here? And also, it was only the board who expected promotion. Anyone else who knows an ounce about football had very little actual expectation of promotion this season. So why the change in ruthlessness? It's because deep down it had nothing to do with league position, and we can all see it. Anyways, we've now 'upgraded' to Liam Manning, so let's see how it goes. But still, a decision that should never, ever have had to be made, and coming out of it with Liam Manning, as promising as he may be, just makes it look even more stupid.

No offence to the bloke at all and I wish him the absolute best, but whatever happens this is still one of the most ridiculous, unnecessary and stupid decisions in the whole tenure of the Lansdown's. Whichever way you look at it, to sack a manager who had been doing pretty well, a manager with a proven record of promotion from League One AND the Championship and with a history of building good teams, to then decide that what would be an upgrade is a manager who has done not much more than turn around MK Dons to an extent and have a good start to the season with Oxford.... it's a totally stupid and unnecessary risk and defies all logic whichever perspective you take. A completely unnecessary and ridiculous appointment, but that isn't Manning's fault. He has a good win % and there are reasons for optimism, and he'll get my full backing. But he is anything but an upgrade on Pearson, and we shouldn't be anywhere near this place of having to consider him in the first place.

I feel like this one has died down now.

I know there are reasons for optimism with this appointment according to people with far more football knowledge than me so I'm onboard with the fact I could be wrong, but this would be such an underwhelming appointment personally. To go from a proven manager in Pearson doing genuinely decent stuff, to a bit of an unknown with admittedly a couple of decent seasons in Belgium and with MK Dons (the former with lots of money should be added), and one who was deemed not good enough for MK Dons very recently - it would be a huge disappointment for me. Of course I'd get behind him, but on face value it would be underwhelming. But going by OTIB other past few days it seems that we're not sure what is really happening, so staying open-minded right now. If we are actually looking abroad and trying something new, that would be a bit more encouraging I think, purely for the shift in focus, rather than another signing that could be seen as another LJ/DH, etc.

Agreed

Blimey what do you do to get a 3 month ban

Really wish there was a way he could come back. Gutted.

Whatever happens, this is an all-time greatest/worst OTIB saga.

Can't find a link for the life of me

No chance, it's just banter about his method of asking questions . Unless you knew that, in which case I've had a massive woosh moment.

Really? Blimey.

That's very interesting and sounds about right to be fair. But surely LJ would have had a veto on those signings, or at least some of them? I'm not trying to get into a blame-LJ match here, it's just interesting to try to piece together how things work. Either it is an entirely a club piece and the manager works with what he's got (which is unlikely), or LJ was able to veto some of them, which I'd say is more likely. In that instance, it does bear the question as to why we as a club came to some of them. The one that always got me was Szmodics and Palmer being signed in the same window. Same position, one in which I'm pretty sure we already have plenty of players - different types of player sure but essentially 2 of the same signing when it was totally unnecessary. Surely that's an instance where as a manager you veto that. It's all very puzzling.

I actually think this sounds worse than it is. I doubt there's a single football club in the top 3 or 4 divisions that doesn't have a recruitment and/or analyst team that does this role, that's entirely normal. The only potential alarm bells there are to say that the manager doesn't get to come in and make a suggestion or say I want X player. I'm not sure JL actually said that to be fair to him, and I'd be amazed if they as a club refused to look into a potential signing that the manager wanted. The signings of King and James really suggest that's not the case. Again, lots of things worry me about the organisation of the club at the moment but I'm not sure that is actually one of them.

He's from Kingswood and went to SBL. I'm pretty sure it's authentic Actually thought Sims was alright. Bit nervous but that's fine, would rather have an actual fan interviewing him even if it is a bit watered down rather than someone who doesn't have a clue.

Completely agree with the communication bit here for sure, it was quite refreshing this. Going to go against the grain a little bit, and as someone who's still fuming at this decision, I think it was a decent interview. I think Jon came across well and he's absolutely right in that he can't say everything about every decision that is made. People can say all they like about his competence, I actually have no personal experience on that, but the bloke seems decent and I think some of the personal insults have been ridiculously far over the line. If he is ultimately our chairman and consequently a bit of a puppet for his dad, that doesn't warrant some of the shit he gets. That said, all this does for me is reinforce the fact that they made a terrible decision on this - really poor and that they didn't really have their finger on the pulse in the way they thought they did. I still have very little confidence in their ability to run this club and I'd still back a u-turn on this, ridiculous as it would be and as impossible as it is.

Not feeling this myself.

Is there anything more out there yet beyond that short club just posted on Twitter?

All this does is reinforce the notion that they dropped a clanger on this one, massively. Says a lot when the fanbase are pretty happy with the league position (or at least can see why it's a bit lower than desired), but the board can't. 99 times out of 100 it's the other way around. Absolutely ****ing useless. Get him back.

Our board are absolute ****ing morons. I would sign this.

Even Bristol Post know it's not Lampard. But an article like that is a prime opportunity for engagement, that's why it's out.