Lack of Action Man

4 minutes ago, IAmNick said:

I thought we saw the good and the bad sides of Max in equal measure today.

He'd be near the top of my list for a replacement personally but he's doing a decent job for our current level - but not where we want to be imo.

100% agree. Jekyll and Hyde-like performance. GK is definitely an area we can upgrade.

Uninspiring appointment for me

Just now, Red Army 75 said:

I personally think they could complement each other. Personally I thought James was decent today 

Not saying James isn’t decent, just that I get frustrated with his style of play. Reminds me of LJ at times. Very safe and conservative style of play. 

4 minutes ago, Red Army 75 said:

Excellent again along with Knight. I really like him 

Very Good performance today. Primarily looks to either travel or pass with attacking intent. Much prefer his style of play to James. Frustrates me at times that whilst James rarely concedes possession he has virtually no intention of getting on the turn and working the ball forwards. 

For once Downsy could not have been any clearer. Very disappointed at Sheffield Wednesday fans.
 

On a fixture that is especially emotive for those of us, like myself, who have/had loved ones in the forces, all you ask is for a basic level of respect.

I overheard someone mention that the PA system in the Atyeo doesn’t work, I hope this is the case. 
 

On a positive note - 3 points and a dominant second half performance. Enjoy your weekend fellow reds. COYR.

1 minute ago, GrahamC said:

Not a chance Matty James is on £27k a week.

Not saying he’s not well paid but never that much.

I sincerely hope he isn’t paid anywhere near that. Alright player, but just alright.

4 minutes ago, frenchred said:

Same bloke who is on 3PIAP sponsored by huboo!

Chocolate and fireguard spring to mind

100% stopped listening to 3PIAP - comes across as basically an in-house club production these days. 

Anyone else noticed Curbishley up in Clifton this morning?

Onana is a league one keeper at best.

Sorry Tinns, but that interview was absolute bollocks.

"We've got real competition - two players for every position" - sorry but you cannot say that MOL has any serious competition for the number 1 jersey at present. 

"This is the best squad we've had in a long time" - absolute nonsense. 

All the references to style of play and a new head coach having to work under this remit indicate to me that you have far too much influence at the club. Let's not forget you were not a success as a manager at this club. Why should we trust any of your opinions on how we should be playing/instructing our coaches to coach?

Lots of reference made to the likes of Pring, Vyner et al. All I take from this is that we have become far too focussed on the academy, and completely taken our eyes off of the fact that to even just maintain pace with the rest of this savage division, you need year on year investment in the playing squad.

Deary me what an absolute car crash of an interview.

9 hours ago, Finley_Smith10 said:

2 minutes and nothing was really answered 

I'm a bit late to this (long day at work) but have to say - what a damp squib of an interview. Finley - you've summed it up perfectly here.

Then again, should I have really come to expect anything less from the powderpuff City/Bristol Sport media team? 

This all just doesn't stack up. It is blatently obvious that this squad is not good enough for a promotion push and needed further investment in the summer.

We are just going to repeat the same cycle we have always done under the Lansdowns.

1. Bring in experienced manager, but move goalposts in such a way that we set manager up to fail.
2. Fire said manager, bring in novice "head coach".
3. Spunk millions on building a bloated squad as per DOF and head coach recommendations.
4. Slowly tumble down the league/(s).
5. Fire novice head coach, and begin from step 1 again.

The mind boggles, truly.

Regarding SL presently, I’m reminded of a quote from The Dark Knight:

”You either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain.”

Had Lansdown hypothetically sold off the club upon completion of the AG rebuild, I think he would’ve gone down as one of our most popular chairmen/owners.

 But everything that’s going on now is destroying his legacy imo.

7 hours ago, Steve Watts said:

I'm going to make an assumption that the business you own is in a field you know well.  That's the difference. SL built a business from scratch and used the funds generated from scratch to buy something in a field he didn't know well.  If my assumption is right, your business ownership lends more similarity to Hargreaves Lansdown.  I wouldn't expect an employee of HL to be telling SL how to invest any more than one of your employees to question you.

 

I'm just surprised that on a protest thread we've managed to get to page 8 without anyone saying "I will booo-urns"!  That in itself should tell a story about how angry people are!

Excellent simpsons reference. Well played!

Weird that my thread similar in nature to this was merged into another, and this one hasn’t been.

In any case, it’s going to be an interesting show - provided someone from the club steps up to the mic.

Well, any of our regular posters on here going to be on the pannel? I’d certainly like to hear @Davefevs take on it.

I really hope Richard Hoskin/Ed Hadwin manages to get JL or even BT on and really apply some pressure with the questions. 

Tbh, this is a time where having Twentyman in the presenters chair would’ve been better. If there’s a criticism I have of the current two presenters, it’s that they are not cutting enough in asking/demanding an answer to the difficult questions from club representatives.

NP overall leaves the club very much in credit for me.

I echo sentiments from the OP that NP has built a squad that overall are hard working and professional in their application.

Its fair to say the squad lacks that cutting edge quality to push for promotion, but that’s not down to NP - it’s down to ridiculous slashing of the transfer budget despite record sales.

NP’s assessment of some players has been a little wayward also (see goalkeeping department), and he did tend to throw some players “under the Bus” - but this approach has delivered season on season improvement in playing style and league position.

He’s also been very much active in creating a “one club” culture - I recall he was very vocal about the women’s team being integrated into the HPC and has been described by those ITK as being very active in reviewing our academy set up and options.

So overall Nige - a big thanks for the last few seasons. I hope your current health issue is resolved as swiftly and smoothly as possible and hope you stay living down in god’s country (aka the South West!)

I’ve never seen the fan base so United on an issue before as this. In reading this thread I don’t think I’ve seen a single post suggesting this was a good idea. Only a handful that were apathetical at best.

SL & JL have seriously misjudged this one. I know I’ve complained about AG being “too nice” and lacking atmosphere recently. I don’t think that’s going to be a problem anymore! Hope they’re ready for an almighty load of flak coming their way.

As for NP himself, I seriously struggle to think who could have done any better given he had next to no money to spend, was hamstrung by ridiculous injuries, and inherited a club in total disarray following the LJ/MA/DH saga. 
 

What a ******* joke the executive of this club is.

Ps. If LJ comes back, I want my ST refunded.

1 hour ago, LondonBristolian said:

I don't think anyone would dispute that but I don't think that necessarily he means he can't play at the intensity of Championship level IF his recurring injuries are behind him.

After a dreadful 20/21 and a difficult 21/22, my memory is that he didn't miss a lot of last season through injury and I don't think this injury is necessary a harbinger of a recurrence.

As others have said, there is a wider issue in the sense that his injuries seem to have changed how he has to play the game. I think he has had games where he has shown he can do that but he's not had the impact we would have hoped for when we signed him.

I've got mixed views on Williams' contract. For me, he's the one of the midfield three that I'd take out the first team if we signed a better option but I also think he's got value as a squad player. Oddly one thing I'd say for him is that I think he's dependable. There are always fans who are going to base their view of his ability to manage injuries on his first two seasons with us but I suspect that's not how the manager or his teammates view things after the last year and a bit. 

I agree with your point in bold. I feel there’s definitely a potential to upgrade there. Difficulty of course is finding the player, and teasing SLs purse strings back open again.

3 hours ago, Ashtongreight said:

As was previously explained his present injury is a contact injury, something that can happen at anytime. This season he’s played every game.
 

He had a career threatening injury previously, which he seems to now have overcome, my concern is more that although over that injury it does seem to have affected his game, he doesn’t seem the player he was before. 

 

This is a fair assessment.

1 hour ago, LondonBristolian said:

If this was another recurrence of an old injury, you might have a point. But literally any footballer can get a contact injury in training. It makes no sense all to question his ability to sustain Championship football on the back of this particular injury. 

But you would agree that overall, his injury record with us makes for sad reading? 

1 hour ago, Engvall’s Splinter said:

To be fair to him, in this instance, it’s an unlucky event. These things happen in games / training especially if our training is an intense as a matchday scenario. 

Yes, I did say in my original comment that I don’t believe he is in any way responsible for his injuries.

But his record since being with us isn’t great. At some point someone has to ask the question whether he would be better suited to football of a lesser intensity.

6 minutes ago, chinapig said:

I have ankylosing spondylitis which in my case means some vertebrae have collapsed and crushed my spinal cord. I have had surgery twice and take paracetamol, amitriptyline and morphine to suppress the pain.

Possibly Nigel has some similar issue, though you would think a MRI scan would have picked that up. He certainly has my sympathy!

Can be very nasty indeed AS. Sorry to hear of your troubles with this condition Chinapig. Wouldn’t wish it on anyone.

10 minutes ago, BS30 City said:

Seen a few snippets on social media saying that Gary Rowett is being lined up

What has changed is that we have learned collectively that a lot of the reasons why the club is stagnating is not due to the management or coaching staff but rather it is due to the erratic behaviour of the board (minus RG and PA) and majority shareholder. 
 

In addition to that NP has:

1) Trimmed a heavily bloated squad.

2) Blooded academy and young players.

3) Carefully managed fan expectations of league and cup performance.

4) Been clear to the media that he likes the club, he enjoys living in this part of the world and wants to stay. 
 

27 minutes ago, RedEyez said:

I assume you mean where.

He’s injured… again.

On the one hand I do feel for the guy.

On the other hand, I can’t help but feel let down by his injury record. It’s clearly not his own doing, but is his body capable of meeting the rigorous demands of championship level football on a consistent basis?

Frustrates me greatly.

Very peculiar comments from NP. A man on borrowed time?

I don’t think we will get anyone currently available who is any better than NP so for that reason he should stay for another season for me.