Spike

I think at this point many fans have made their mind up, I mean people are criticising him almost every time he doesn't score with a chance and yet the same people love Wells and when he missed an absolute sitter against Birmingham he was forgiven the next week and people stopped speaking of it. Another thing that bothers me is that when you look at the stats for this season: Wells - 1 goal every 279 minutes played Bell - 1 goal every 285.5 minutes played Cornick - 1 goal every 291 minutes played Knight - 1 goal every 311 minutes played Naismith - 1 goal every 447 minutes played Sykes - 1 goal every 485 minutes played James - 1 goal every 598 minutes played So when you look at goals per time played Cornick is actually our third most prolific scorer and not that far behind Bell or Wells. Cornick has started 4 games, Preston on the Right side, Oxford on the Right Side, Birmingham on the Right Side and Norwich, again, on the right side. Cornick is not a right winger at all, so he's being judged whilst playing out of position, not to his strengths and being ridiculed and insulted every time he makes a mistake. How is the bloke supposed to prove himself when anything other than scoring is not good enough, he's being played out of position and a little more than half the amount of play time than the man who plays where he is best suited. He's being given no chance of getting consistent and yesterday really peeved me off as the West Brom keeper made a fantastic save and the City fans lit up social media with how he'd missed and is "crap". Yesterdays chance when you actually look at it from a non overly critical point of view shows Cornick make a great run to get in front of his marker, take control of an awkward ball coming across his body on his chest, pushing the ball down with it, a very hard technique and then getting the shot on target as soon as he could at which point the keeper had closed him down very quickly to only have 5 yards between him and Cornick. Essentially what we saw was a good run, a fantastic touch off the chest from a fast paced ball and a shot on target from a ball just about to bounce of the ground. A lot of our fans are choosing to see what they want to see, as they saw a key chance "missed" when the shot was actually on target and had required some good football to even create it. I don't think it matters what Cornick does anymore, people have already made their minds up and he's now going to have to score goals in a team that plays him out of his best position, gives him far less time on the pitch than his teammates in the same position and in a team that has the third highest xG in the league but is 20th in goals scored. The fact is we're not converting enough chances into goals, Cornick is not the only one struggling here, the whole team is and yet it's Cornick who gets called out every time he fails, whilst others get forgiven or looked over.

The issue with this is how have you washed them? I mean I have loads of Hummell kits in perfect condition, none go in a tumble dryer, always washed on a low temperature and they're all fine, however my mate washed one of his on a high temperature and a similar thing happened. These badges have heat-applied parts so if you overheat them when washing they will come loose, especially if they're washed with other clothes that will rub against them whilst warm/hot.

My post is all over the place? I'm giving them credit when credit is due and criticism the same. Have they made their first decent kit? Yes, have the others been a mess, yes. The deal the club made is on the club but hiring O'Neills to do us and the bears is bad decision making if they can't handle it, being as we've got the away kit last of all EFL teams and it's run out of stock in certain sizes within hours of being released it deserves criticism. Am I saying it's only O'Neills fault? No, but if O'Neills can't deliver then they shouldn't be accepting the contract in the first place. I know the Bears come under the same Umbrella as us but I couldn't give a toss about the Bears, I don't support them and whilst they may be owned by the same people they mean nothing to me. Was it a tough ask, yes, but they've had a batch of messed up home kits, no away kit until mid-september and one of the worst away kits in history. Now, for your peace of mind, yes whoever in City made the decision on the splash Robin is responsible for making the third kit so much worse than it would have been with our badge but this is where a brand has to step in and say "Why are we using this badge instead of the club badge?" and when whoever suggested it gives their reasons you simply protect your own product by saying "I'd rather not put O'Neills on this if this isn't something the fans want". Making a kit is not just a case of make what your employers ask for because your company's name goes on the product. City may be responsible for many of the poor decisions but ultimately O'Neills have a voice as it's their product they're putting out. I've said many times before I've worked in kit design and one of the first things I learned was don't put your name on a product you don't have confidence in. Hummel made a mistake with the "Arsenal kit" IMO but when it came to this clubs identity they got almost everything else spot on. When O'Neills took us on they should have done their research on the club, it's history, what direction they are going on social media, the lot and more than anything in this day and age you have forums, social media etc, a whole wealth of fans talking where you can take notes. So, credit where credit is due, they got kits out fast in a small amount of time, but they've had plenty of time to get the away kit spot on and still fallen short with supply which falls on their name even if City's to blame too as we can't sack City can we, but we can move on from O'Neills and find a company far more focused on delivering their product well rather than one willing to chuck it's name on poor designs and manufacturing. I wasn't addressing these issues but now I suppose I am as you've brought them up. We don't know how popular it is, could we have just set a record on sales on a new kit? Maybe, but I find it hard to believe that is the case as the club needs and loves good reasons to put out positive social media and there is no mention of it. I find it very hard to believe that our social media team wouldn't have need blowing trumpets and fan fare had we just delivered the most successful kit launch in years. And I critique the new supplier to no ends for that shit show, but that's not directly Hummell and much like you mentioned above in defence of O'Neills the Hummell situation is very much "pretty unprecedented within the industry" and yet you can use that against Hummell but not against O'Neills, it's a little tit for tat really isn't it? No I don't, but simply put I can't buy the shirt the same day it was released and as previously mentioned they've had months longer than any other clubs supplier to make sure supply is there. As I said before, you're comparing two brands that have both had unprecedented situations, Hummell have done their part in designing the kits, the issue they have is finding a supplier in a very short period of time and they are rightfully being criticised for it, although as I mentioned before a lot of the "manufacturing issues" that fans are complaining about are actually caused by their club and not the supplier. Either way, both suppliers have failed to supply and at no point have I said Hummell were a better supplier, I said they're a better designer. O'Neills kits could have been produced by Bristol Sport as we did before and been just as good, in fact the Bristol Sports kits were far better than O'Neills have designed so far. As above, yes it's a clubs decision, as a supplier their decision is to take the designers approach, to say "Is this going to sell? Is this going to be liked by our customers?" and if the answer is no (which you confirm by your own research on the subject) you say "I don't think this is right for us to release this with our name on it as it is our first time releasing kits and we want to get it right as our name is on the line". A good designer can say no to the client, after all, the client is not a designer. I have a good few friends who are designers by trade, one works for the biggest gaming company in Japan and has told them they're not happy with their ideas many times and has gone away to create something better suited. Once he's shown them his work they have changed their minds and due to that his name and work is well respected by them. Supply aside, I have met very few fans who's teams are supplied by Hummell who have said they do not like their kits, have they have supply issues, sizing issues etc, yes, but I can't think of a single supplier who has not had these issues in some capacity and as we've talked about, Hummell have had a situation that has left them with many clubs to supplier and no supplier in place to do so, arguably they are in a harder position than O'Neills and so they have given the clubs an option and some have accepted the decision and some have parted ways, ourselves being one.

Yesterday I was thinking for all the bad thing's O'Neills have delivered and how disappointing they've been I thought they'd reclaimed some credit with the away kit, yes it was late, yes it's not purple and lime like many expected etc but I think it's a very nice kit and although I've never been much of a fan of the round "CITY" I actually think it works in making our kit very unique to Bristol City. I'm not a big fan of the collar and cuffs but overall it's a very nice kit, it's unique to Bristol City and I don't see any sign of the bloody stupid splash Robin and so to me that's a credit to O'Neills. I woke up this morning thinking, maybe at the end of the month I may buy this away kit only to see my size and many other are already out of stock and to me this is largely undoing all the credit that O'Neills built up with the kit. I belive credit when credit is due but how do you spend so long that you're the last team in the EFL to release their away kit only to not even build up enough stock to satisfy the demand? I can see why so many people have turned to the Chinese knock offs when not everyone has the time or money to be sat ready to pre-order a kit on day 1 of it's release or possibly never get one. I have a feeling my size won't be back in stock online for a while and it makes me question whether I should be buying the shirt when it could be October before I even have a chance which leaves 7 months before the season ends and the next kit will be getting ready to release. I know City are a business, I know they need to satisfy the customer demands so why do they keep missing the mark? For every positive we've had with O'Neills we've had more negatives and I'm trying to be positive and yesterday I was thinking maybe they've turned the corner but I wake up and stock is already gone, it's a bit of a mess to say the least. I've seen Coventry are having issues with Hummell but for all the issues they've had they at least have a reason, that being that the company who distributed in the UK went under and they've had to work incredibly fast to remedy that issue. I also seen some people complaining about the quality of their Coventry shirts but looking at the Hummell site the production has never changed and I never had any issues with any Hummell kits I've bought (I own a few non City ones too). Their production isn't in the UK at all as it says here and it's Coventry themselves that apply the names and numbers etc using the heat pressing machines which appear to be the cause of many of the complaints so that would be an issue with whoever is applying names, numbers, badges etc at their end. I'd still happily go back to Hummell but it's clear that ship has sailed which makes me hope that O'Neills is not a long term deal and that someone like Umbro, or even Reebok who have made a bit of a comeback and done some nice kits, comes in and wants to work with us or even the club approach them. Hell, I wouldn't complain if we had a less favoured one like Castore or Craft if the designs are right for us and they work to create unique kits and so long as they can supply what we need. I just hope when change comes we avoid Nike, Adidas and Puma, great quality but their pricing is crazy and they don't really produce nice stuff for their "smaller deals".

I prefer to spent £20 on a shirt that would otherwise set me back £60 to 70 when I'm not a fan of any of the products that O'Neills are putting out. Also, judging some other posters and the amount of people seeing these shirts at the ground I'm not exactly alone.

I just saw some more pictures of it, I'm not against the city logo but the cuffs and collars are a bit off, still it doesn't detract that it's the first kit they've made that is actually nice.

Finally, a nice kit!

I mean my expectations are very low so I'm more interested to see how it's promoted, what they've gone for.

Funnily enough they never put our third kit in but now we have no away kit I am guessing they will add our third kit as the "away" kit.

I think LJ's main issue is that he's a "juggler manager" and by that I don't mean he's a clown, I mean he's always trying to treat every game as a puzzle that he can figure out and this is why he earned the name "streaky Lee", because he messes with his set up, tactics, how he wants people to play etc so much that he essentially doesn't know what his own identity of his teams football is. Instead he changes his line up and tactics to counter what he feels the opposition will do so in turn when the opposition doesn't do what he expected his team are set up incorrectly. This is why he has good streaks and bad streaks, because when something works for a few games he finally sticks to it and things go well but then he'll lose a game and his brain goes into "I can fix this" mode and he begins making changes and before you know it he's got the team set up completely differently and he's losing games left right and center. I kind of see LJ as the anti-Pearson, Pearson sticks to his guns relentlessly and tries different players based on form but his tactics remain largely the same and he has patience for things to come good, LJ is much the opposite, one thing goes wrong and he's rebuilding the squad, the tactics, the game plan etc. Saying this it sounds like I think he's a terrible manager, to which I would say I do not rate him as a manager, but as a role where he is a coach he could do very well as I feel he does make teams play good football, but his issue is that he cannot help himself in changing things frequently, which probably helped him with Ashton as we were constantly selling and buying so he had to change things. I think LJ has good coaching qualities, but I think his downfall is his inability to stick with something that works because he's a perfectionist and even when something is working very well he wants it to be better and cannot leave it alone. I suppose a good analogy of LJ is that he's an artist who paints masterpieces but is never happy with his painting, so he keeps adding, changing, painting over and before you know it he's ruined his own artwork.

Well, my home shirt from China turned up, for the price I paid I cannot complain at all. I do hate that the money hasn't gone to the club but until they change from O'Neills or deliver something worth the sky-high prices they are asking for I'll stick with what I have.

I don't know why we have so many of these negative attitudes, I'm a pretty pessimistic person and even I think this kind of thinking is pretty depressing. This may happen, he may get noticed and be sold on, but he also may really like it here and judging by his attitude may go on to be captain and enjoy that too and want to stay here, I guess it all depends on how we progress.

I think he's shown his biggest asset is his determination and I love that about him, I'm not going to get overexcited just yet though, he's only played a handful of competitive games for us but you can see there is a lot of promise there.

This is the part that bothers me the most, Jon seems to be the final decision man from what is posted on here but IMO I think someone who probably has never bought a football shirt with the intent of wearing it is the worst person to make that decision. I just don't understand why the club wouldn't hire someone to work with whoever they have as a supplier who has a great knowledge of football shirts, what is popular, what is not etc. I'm 42 now and I do still make football shirts but when I'm asked to design something the very first question I ask is "who are the target audience?", not "Do I like this?". I've made some personal designs that I've looked at and gone "ergh, not a fan of that!" but it worked perfectly for the target audience and that ultimately is what the club seem to be failing at. If they aren't sure what fans want then simply engage with them, do research, find out what the fans like and what the fans don't. At this point it's fairly simple to say "cartoon-like images and fonts" are widely not preferred, the Robin splash, the Comic Sans font on the training wear that Bristol Sport delivered, they both went down like a lead balloon so straight away they could add to the briefing "no cartoon-like materials". Another one that went down awfully was hashtags on the shirt, they could have put out a poll before adding those "Would hashtags on shirts deter you from buying it?", the results come back as a resounding "No hashtags" and they save themselves from lost sales etc. I know sometimes the things like the hashtags was an idea to get ahead of other clubs and the negative reaction to them did actually get some publicity which may have helped in other ways but it still could have been avoided and saved embarrassment of fans who ended up walking around with "#MakingBristolProud" could have been avoided. Jon needs to stop making these decisions and hand them over to someone who has experience in understanding trends within the football world when it comes to fashion and design, allow them to make a few potential designs and then if he has to be involved he chooses from those but whoever is making these decisions about putting the splash robin, hashtags or using comic sans fonts needs to be removed from the equation and someone with some experience in design should be brought in.

I've had this discussion so many times but "better" isn't always best suited. Bentley caused problems in defence that were largely overlooked because he's a great shot stopper. He would stay on his line on corners which meant the defenders had to win their duels which put more pressure on us as we were not the tallest of teams. Max on the other hand comes out, it's very vocal and either claims the ball or punches, yes he has moments where he doesn't get the contact but that's because he's smaller in frame and has to get through bigger players. The one thing this does is lessen the pressure that the defenders are under as it's far easier to get the height to win a cross when you can punch or catch the ball. The second thing Max does is play sweeper keeper, Bentley did not like playing that role, you could see it every time he got the ball all he wanted to do was get it up the pitch which is great, until you have small attackers who can't win the ball much on long passes, hence we play it out from the back as much as we can. Rather than explaining it further the simple retort to Bentley being "better" is that Bentley was only better at shot stopping. When it comes to coming out in one vs one Max has made some crucial saves, as did Bentley, I'd say in that regard they're about the same. In terms of playing it out from the back Max can receive the ball under pressure and play it out with a low pass, Bentley was not comfortable doing this. Bentley stays on his line for crosses which puts more pressure on the defence, Max comes out which takes that extra stress off of the back line giving them more time to get settled when under pressure. Max is far better suited for how we play, he's also probably a massive amount cheaper too. If we were to replace Max it would be a harder job than many think, you need a keeper who can obviously make saves but also one who will command his area, who will come out for crosses and corners and one who will be comfortable playing the passing game with the defence whilst being pressured, that's a lot of qualities to ask for in a keeper and I imagine it'd cost us a fair whack in the transfer market.

I mean I've bought shirts straight from the shop for the last 25 years, either online or going to the gate, this is the first year I haven't and now I've even ordered a knock off one as I'm interested to see how good/bad it is. My reasoning is simple, O'Neills haven't made a single item of clothing so far that I've liked so I figured I'd spend £12 and get a shirt with a custom name and EFL badges and see what it's like rather than spend £60 to get one without the name and EFL badge. I've always figured the best way to make a statement to a football club when it comes to merch is if you don't like it, you don't buy it as the club won't make changes if they're still making good money. I simply do not like any O'Neills stuff, a lot of people like the Bears stuff they've done but I just think it looks very basic and poorly designed, it's my personal opinion but I think they'd have to do something really special next season to get me spending again.

I mean loads of people were on twitter, here and other places complaining about the away kit being blue. It would be interesting to actually see numbers mind, as in a poll or something to see who would wear a blue away kit. I have the gold and blue one from our Bristol Sports kits and I quite like it but I'll admit, it doesn't feel very "Bristol City"

I actually think despite his mixed bag the one thing he did was provided us with quality passes on set pieces, we may not have scored from a corner today but we had a fair few chances from his crossing, something we've been very hit and miss on recently.

Honestly that kind of felt fair after all the shit decisions against us

Deffo handball from us there, bit of justice done IMO with the bad call on the red and a few other crucial calls.

Wells off for Cornick, good decision, Wells is looking tired and Swansea defenders are getting more time on the ball.

We're getting pushed back now, less pressure on the Swansea defence who are pushed up higher, this is where we need to prove we can manage a game and push Swansea back before they feel they can get back into this.

City must not sit back now, must keep pushing as we have, keep Swansea on the back foot!

******* GET IN!!! A fantastic cross from Sykes and spot on finish from Bell!!!

Magic from Sykes there! Left their defender for dead and placed it perfectly!! GET IN!!!