IAmNick

Wait, how is that mural in any way "woke"? That word has totally lost all meaning.

I think Pearson has done a great job with some of the kids - Scott, Pring, Massengo, Semenyo. He's got them achieving consistently in a mid Championship team. For some though, rather than being seen as an achievement it's used as a stick to beat him with as the squad is good... you can point to Scott, and say well he's better than Paterson who left us last year. Semenyo is out performing Fam. Massengo and Nagy/Lansbury. Well maybe that's credit to Pearson due then, rather than "Well look at these great players, we should be top 10 with them!". Maybe they're playing so well because of him, rather than in spite of him. Any player who Pearson makes (or influences to be) good, is therefor proof we should be higher in the table because they're now a good player. It's weird logic.

I find that quite surprising. We've only finished in the top 10 once since being back in the division. Do you think our squad is the strongest it's been since we arrived then, or has everyone been pretty much failing so far?

I think you told me a few months ago our squad should be around 7th - 9th. Do you still agree with that?

I thought it was crap, it basically just states the facts with zero narrative or analysis beyond a formation change. I don't think anyone has EVER said it's not possible for a new manager to get more out of a failing group of players have they? That'd be totally mad.

Yeah, an excellent job. I don't think you posted it to congratulate him though!

Given that all club's situations are obviously completely identical, I'm confused why new managers even bother buying players at all. They should all just be able to massively turn things around with the existing lot they're handed in all cases, or just get fired really.

I'm not a fan of O'Dowda, so in trying to be fair/balanced after a few better performances I was trying to convince myself he should stay in Jan and posted as much. He's reverted to type though and I don't think it's unfair to admit I'm pretty done with him. It's hard to say he's not a Championship player as he's played fairly consistently for 5 seasons here now. I think in reality though he's in an awkward spot where he'd probably look pretty good at L1 ala Freeman but will struggle (for us as least) in the Championship to produce much. Lots of "Oh but Leeds/Forest were interested" stuff but nothing has ever materialised, and I'd be surprised if he went somewhere considered an upgrade on us when he leaves.

£4-5m would be very tempting if offered, especially with his contract situation if Pearson can't convince him to extend on a reduced deal. That said I'm currently looking at it in terms of windows - who (or where) do we need to replace in the first, second, third, and so on. I don't think Kalas is someone who needs to be replaced this summer, he's more than good enough quality wise for us. I guess then it comes down to quality vs cost, which is where the reduced deal comes in. I get we need to improve at the back but don't think we need to throw the baby out with the bathwater, and if we're replacing Bentley too then I'm not sure an almost entirely new back 4 is the way to go. He's provably good enough for the top of the Championship - what is it, two promotions and a play off final loss? We don't have too many we can say that about! He's a great age for a CB and could well improve. Hold and build around him would probably be my choice.

You'd expect a manager to be on an increasingly upwards trajectory, or at least out performing expectations (wage budget etc) the longer they're at a club. They have time to field a squad entirely of their choice of players, their philosophy fully ingrained in the team, solid relationships with the staff (recruitment, physios) and so on. For a new manager you're working with the set up which contributed to someone else losing their job - to varying degrees of course. It's not fair to compare a first or even second season with someone's forth or fifth, and that's not even getting into the money available/remit in our case either. You could take Pearson's first full season being on track with Lee's first full one as a good sign in that case, surely? The counter could be that we weren't going anywhere at all in five years. One seasons challenging the playoffs when the chips were down.

He in my post being @ExiledAjax who is the one that posted how many times we'd been beaten? You said: Which is all I was commenting on. You said more than two. In his stats, only 3 games were more than 2. 3 of 14 is around 21%, as I said. The other 3 were by 2 which you mistakenly included in your calculation. You can easily check for yourself here for example: https://www.whoscored.com/Teams/182/Fixtures/England-Bristol-City I'm confused how that makes me a bell end? I wasn't rude to you at all.

But he posted we'd lost 3 times out of 14 by more than 2 goals, so that's around 21%? You've got more double that in your post.

Hard to see how people can compare this to the end of Holden's reign. We were clearly on a hugely downward trajectory then with no signs of improvement, quite the opposite in fact. Decent table position thanks to our (fortunate) wins right at the start. Pearson we're largely on an upwards trajectory. Most people have said this last month has been good on the whole, and the best since he arrived. One or two poor performances doesn't change that however much some might want it to.

Jesus, going in pretty hard on the banter there...!

Threaten the playoffs you mean - we didn't get near promotion once. So my cheeky answer would be that over a season we challenged the play offs the same amount of times under Lee that we challenged relegation - once. 16/17 I think we were safe on the final day, by 3 points. 18/19 we lost out on 6th by 4 points - can't remember if it was the final day or not. The other seasons we were well clear of both.

What would they think he's going to do for them though? Tread water? I think he's someone to build on a base and get them playing well, but I don't see why he'd be more effective at doing that in the Championship. If you're good enough to sit comfortably mid table championship you should be able to seriously challenge the top of L1 with a decent club surely.

I think his stock is lower personally. Not much though. I don't think he'd get a Championship job either, and there aren't many "bigger" in L1 currently than Sunderland. I hope he gets promoted somewhere, it's what he needs. If he could swallow his pride a bit a L2 team who could challenge would be ideal I think, somewhere who would buy into him, he could be there and relatively safe for a year or two at least, and take them up. Mind you... I said the same thing after he left here, but for L1. A upper mid table L1 who want promotion, but not yesterday might be a fit too. Sheffield Weds is a good shout I think. Oxford if Robinson missed out again (although he's doing a good job there)?

"Hey guys I'm on coach 1 any tips?" "Just be respectful and you'll be fine" 3 pages later "Ok I'm just going to do whatever I want then and tough shit if they don't like it cheers all" Have to wonder why you bothered asking

It's no more belittling or knocking him than commenting on his choice of cider. Religion doesn't hold a special place that's immune from jokes / commentary... or it shouldn't!

If O'Dowda gives it a go and it works I might be convinced...

Prays for 10m - 1hr before every game? I knew it had been bad recently but wow. Didn't know we were that desperate.

I guess that's the bit I'm not sure on either. When people say the stadium income helps us, is that just because it can contribute to our £11m loss / year, or does it directly impact FFP?

Yes, I think it's a separate company who own it and we rent it - but I was under the impression things like concerts helped our FFP? Maybe not. Yeah it was just an example of how far could you push the "stadium use" thing.

Random question a few in here might know - how does the income from the stadium for non football events work exactly? If we host a concert, does that money count as income for the club and help us for FFP? Where's the line - someone mentioned money from covid jabs above. Could you, in theory, turn some of the stadium into offices, move half of Hargreaves Lansdown there, and make untold billions each year effectively ignoring FFP forever? Surely not, but what are the actual rules?

Double whammy for the majority of the traveling fans then, as some utterly brainless idiots smash the toilets so they can't have a pee, and then they get charged for the privilege. I know it was ST only but my guess is that most of them aren't regulars at away games, if at all. Not sure the collective punishment will even affect them, and any subsequent restrictions next year won't either.