The Bard

I need to pick this to pieces. You're both wrong and right. You're trying to lay this at the door of class - the English disease. That's rubbish. Football and rugby are played in other countries. Ones not so obsessed with gentleman and players and that hypocritical Victorian horseshit. 1. The rugby referee actually runs the game. They have a massive influence on it compared to a football referee. The referee for Brighton v Man U on Sunday made virtually no difference to the game did he? Refs at our level only do if they are incompetent. There are parts of rugby (eg the breakdown) that come down to how the referee views it. Get that and scrums wrong and you're likely to lose. 2. Rugby is physically violent and knackering, especially if you're a forward. It's difficult to shout at someone if you're talking to your ancestors as Max Lahiff put it. 3. Role of the captain. Rugby refs communicate with captains. I don't get why the same thing doesn't happen in football. Just need to flash yellow cards around to stop the ref being surrounded. 4. Rules of rugby allow refs to punish the team for poor behaviour. March them back 10 metres. Football needs to do the same

Pet subject for me is the Rugby /football comparison when it comes to referees. It is no surprise that the experiment with mic'ing up officials has happened in France. They play Rugby in France too and clearly their football/referee governance isn't as corrupt/shambolic (delete as appropriate) as it is in this country. There are obvious advantages to mic'ing up referees. 1. The viewing public know what is actually going on. 2. Referees will actually learn from their mistakes. There's no hiding place when everyone can see/hear how you have made decisions. It is the process of decision making which is normally at fault. 3. It will educate supporters and pundits about the actual rules/laws. 4. It will lead to greater respect for referees. Behaviour from players and managers will immediately be moderated. This matters hugely, especially in grassroots football. 5. It will make grassroots referees better as they will see more of how decisions are made at the highest level.

It's not Lego is it? People live in those flats. Elderly people who have lived there for years some at least 50 years. Sorry Agnes, we know you've only got a year left but you have to move now to somewhere you don't know. Why do you ask? Well, because football fans are fatter than they were in the old days so need a bigger stadium.

Not to mention moving 180+ households of people over 50 years old elsewhere which given there are 18,000 people on the housing list in Bristol at the moment is not going to happen.

Scapegoating is picking someone out as being the reason for a defeat or poor performance. For example, LJ constantly did this with Magnússon. Sticking a rocket is saying that wasn't good enough. Which is different from that is your fault. He said we needed more from a talented bench and you cannot argue with that. We'd put ourselves in the position to get a signature away win at a difficult venue which is why he's frustrated.

The reaction every time Pearson dares to hint at being dissatisfied on here is baffling. Some people just don't get management and how the better managers use public interviews to stick a rocket up players if they feel they need it. If he's noticed a difference in Alex Scott then he is doing him a big favour in calling him out because he won't be walking into the starting line up of an EPL team with a poor attitude for certain. Compare this with the likes of LJ and Barton whose post-match interviews are either self-promotion if their sides won or did well or about scapegoating if they didn't.

Wish he was left footed. Pring gets assists

We really need to get better at this. It would make a big difference if we did..

I disagree. I hadn't seen the goals from Saturday until this morning and whereas he clearly made a mistake, it wasn't anywhere near as bad as has been made out. Some people don't rate him which is their prerogative. Trouble then is that when he makes a mistake he is jumped on a bit. Bentley also made mistakes but the narrative tended to be 'he's a class act so we can forgive him'. I think Max is an upgrade on Bentley though I agree we need to sign someone to properly compete with him.

Luton won League cup in the 80s. Think that clinches it

You're half right and are backing up what I am saying. Politics. Only someone from the Scottish FA would say Hampden is the best Glaswegian option.

Funny how politics decides a lot of these. If you choose Ibrox you have to also choose Celtic Park so the 3rd best stadium in Glasgow gets chosen instead. Interesting they chose Newcastle and Everton over their local rivals stadia. I guess Man Utd could be in the process of being rebuilt at that time hence Man City get chosen.

During the double winning season I sat next to 3 old gits. Never happy. Remember us beating Port Vale 5 0 and still grumbling at JET. On the flipside, I sit on the South Stand for rugby. There's a bloke in front of us sat with his teenage son who we call superdad. He's permanently ready to be offended at any hint of swearing. As if his son doesn't hear it every day at school. We never fail to offend.

But human nature doesn't do that does it?

????

It's well known that most males' prefrontal cortex takes until mid 20s to mature. The combination of physical maturity and 'executive' maturity is why you see most athletes at their best between 26 and 31. Obviously we're not all the same. Some people don't seem to ever mature in terms of their executive functions whereas others do so early (Alex Scott and Jude Bellingham are footballing examples).

That is why you pay him what he's worth.

Of course it hasn't. Luck tends to go to the teams at the top. Sheff U at home to us for example was a win with a large dollop of luck from memory. To my mind we've got ourselves in the position of being solid enough defensively now. We need to add more goals, especially from midfield and wide which have been disappointing. We need to actually challenge next year I feel.

Since the return after the World Cup we've conceded a goal a game in the league with him being an ever present. That is top 6 form defensively. Reading between the lines, we've probably offered him the sort of money a 4th choice CB would be on but he has gone on to become the 1st choice and most reliable CB we have. He should at least have parity with Atkinson financially. I hope that the club recognise this and come up with something closer to his market value, as it seems clear he would get a lot more than we've offered elsewhere. He is now a Championship proven CB.

Rather than focusing on position, focus on points. Last season we got 55 points. This season 52 with 7 games left - you'd hope for at least 60. Pre-season I thought 65 was achievable. Next season we need to be targeting 70 points which would mean we'd be in the play off conversation but on the periphery like Coventry, Preston and Sunderland are this season.

'Who Sky were saying' Obviously picked them for some live games....

Just suppose you are a billionaire resident in a Channel Island and have a number of assets on mainland England, with businesses linked to them. If you could, wouldn't it make sense to structure the companies you own in such a way that the headline companies based in the UK run at a loss but the company registered in the Channel Islands are profitable and subject to tax there. Thought so. I simply don't believe that Bristol Bears entity runs at a loss as it has officially since they moved to Ashton Gate. Wages are capped meaning that costs are controlled. I would be amazed if playing and coaching costs are much above £10 million. Ticket prices are high and crowds comparable to us. A lot more beer is sold at rugby. There is more than £10 million in revenue to make the team profitable but we won't see this in the accounts. My daughter works in one of the concessions. She is employed by Ashton Gate Stadium, whether she is working at football or rugby. Income goes to this company and from there I suspect neither BCFC or Bristol Rugby see a benefit. I bet Pula does though.

It's been painful watching just football on the pitch for most of the previous 45 years I've been watching. You'll get over it.

Disagree to a degree. His mistake was going there in the first place. He managed Chelsea how he managed Brighton. They often didn't have a striker and he made unconventional decisions like the one you describe. Difference is the character of players at Chelsea. This is not the Chelsea of Terry, Lampard, Drogba, Essien etc. They are bunch of overpaid, overrated showponies. Take Silva and Kante out the team (and sell Jorginho) and they are the definition of rudderless. I quite admire him for it tbh. He kept to his principles. It didn't work out but quite frankly he's lost little in terms of reputation. Sure he'll survive with the nice pay off and be able to get a job at a smaller but better run club in the future where he'll be a success.

Warnock will keep Huddersfield up one way or another. Think any of the 4 mentioned could go down as none are at all convincing. Would like us to just win another game asap to settle my nerves as teams at the bottom are just starting to improve.