IAmNick

City goal (Sykes): https://streamin.me/v/f759fc00

Really starting to feel good and excited about match days again. Combined with some exciting January signings I'm looking forward to tomorrow and feeling positive! COYR

Me too. Got a lot of stick on here but I thought he was a good, intelligent, and reliable player overall for us.

Pretty sure the official City Twitter account just liked a tweet saying "Stop tweeting unless it's Harry Cornick"... Pretty odd for them to respond to it if nothing was happening imo

FM games seem to have a bad rep for some reason, but they're incredibly detailed these days. I genuinely think they're a really good way to learn about the game, the leagues, about running a club, contracts, constraints, transfers - loads of things in and around the game. You can fail FFP and get transfer embargos, players won't settle if other squad members don't speak the same language, dressing rooms form cliques due to the personalities of the players, boards will reduce or cut off funding based on your performance, there are loads of tactics/formations/roles/positions for players etc. It's definitely not just "bid and get any player you want to build a dream team" stuff which seems to be the prevailing opinion sometimes.

Looks like he came to us from Ebbsfleet, but then went to Wycombe on loan which must be the connection in both of our heads!

That's the one! Thanks.

Didn't we get that striker from them around 10 years ago? Think his name began with an a. He was really raw and never made it here. Young black guy who was really strong. Can't remember his name!

Cheap release clauses and the end of January. Sweet combination once again!

Would be amusing/slightly cruel if Semenyo missed out on being on the same pitch as a few of them because they were being rested for the cup game.

Thought it was a bit better today in that it was louder so I could properly hear them from the Lansdown for the first time, but songs weren't as long/didn't stick compared to the S82 area who are on the whole doing a great job lately.

If you sell a player with an add-on (say, you get money if they get X caps, or after Y appearances) and they get sold, what happens to your addon? Is it just null and void, do they get carried along, or what? Could two clubs just swap a player back and forth to cancel add-ons from the original transfers? It's obviously unlikely to happen, but I'm just curious. As an example, let's say we get £1m if Semenyo makes 10 more international appearances. He makes 9, gets sold, then makes the 10th. Are we out of luck? I'm guessing so - although the sell ons can transfer with them I think in some cases?

Not sure I agree with that. I can definitely ask for a lot more than just caring for the club and trying your best. I care for the club and would try my best if made manager but I think we're after a bit more than that! I'd rather someone who didn't "genuinely" care for the club but got results.

Our form in the cup season didn't surprisingly go downhill, it regressed to the mean. The surprising bit was the increase, not the decrease. If someone is doing a job for 4 years and has one particularly good period of 3 months, then that period is the outlier. I put it down to luck more than judgement myself, evidenced by the style and standard of football over the majority of his time here and the things he did around that time once it started regressing - he just happened to roll a double 6 for a few months basically. If it was intent or skill he'd have been able to replicate it. He didn't and he couldn't.

Well this is annoying: Someone I go with has booked his usual seat, and now I'm booking mine next to it. Because it leaves a gap of 1 seat to the end of the row it's not letting me... even though it's my season ticket seat. Ridiculous!

Yeah I kind of agree, I think he's done brilliantly this season (and far better than I ever expected) but I'm not sure if he'd suit being a captain, at least at the moment. We've seen before when players are made captain just because they're senior, or playing well, and it's not always a positive thing for them.

What a great first goal. 3 of our players hunting 2 of theirs in a tough position on the halfway line, win the ball and it's in the net 5 seconds later. Brilliant.

Great job City

Only time I can ever remember this was at the Etihad for our away cup game 4 or 5 years ago.

I'm sat around 20 rows back in the middle of the lower Lansdown and had the same experience. I think I'm probably about an equal distance from both groups - but S82 are directly facing me which might make a difference. Looked good either way so good luck to them.

Gamble it away probably if he's putting £20 bets like that in regularly!

Quiet the first half but was a bit better second half. Hope they keep it up and it improves! Loads of stewards milling around at times who looked like they'd been told to go there but had no idea what to do.

Loads of people in there but have barely heard them from the Lansdown

Sure, a lot relates to context and intent. Just not intending to be rude/homophobic isn't a good excuse for saying whatever you like though. Just because you don't mean to cause offence doesn't mean it doesn't happen. Are you morally wrong? I don't know. Not sure I'd go that far personally. Are you perhaps pretty inconsiderate, or sometimes a bit of a dick? Yeah maybe. Could it be funny in the right situation - maybe privately with a well known group of friends? Sure. In your situation above, if you were from the middle east, had no mates at school due to how you looked, were bullied, felt you were passed over on jobs due to it, had abuse shouted at you in the past, every time you got on a bus or train you could see people looking at you out the corner of your eyes, mistrusting you, if you had that for 20 years say. Continuously. Then you're sat in the pub, having a quiet pint, and someone makes a loud Bin Laden joke, well that's probably going to make you rather shit, or at least uncomfortable, no? Put yourself in someone in that groups shoes, not your own shoes. You don't see anything wrong, because it's an isolated incident to you and you're in the group with power in that situation. I would be too in that situation, it's a fact not a criticism. The people in the group who are being mocked or associated with something undesirable (wearing something on his head - a well known muslim - might have a bomb or whatever) will feel differently though. Replay the same situation but being gay, the mental anguish of maybe coming out to family and friends, the isolation many people feel/felt, and so on. Your gay example also has loads of other connotations (which I'm sure you didn't mean) but it's rooted in people's perception that gay folk were dangerous, more likely to be involved in sexual assault, and that kind of thing. These things aren't offensive unless you're in the group who are being targeted. As I said though, I wouldn't think you were some morally reprehensible scum... but I'd hope if someone explained to you, you'd go "Oh shit sorry mate, I had no idea, I'll try not to say that again"

You gotta prime it better for a real response: In Bristol's fields of green and red a plight, A curse upon the team that calls it home, For penalties they beg and beg, but nought Is given by the refs, who play the dome. The FA's blind eye turns to City's plight, And justice is a word they do not know, For every foul against, they see no right To grant a spot where goals can surely grow. And so the team must struggle on, with rage That boils within their hearts, like fire in night, For every game, they play on through the age Of refs who do not see what's fair and right. But still, the team will fight, and fight again Until the penalties come to them.