Sl Won't Let Us Get Relegated

[Slave to the rhythm]

Over the last couple of weeks I have read several comments to the effect that SL won't allow us to be relegated, as if he was some kind of Harry Potter figure who could wave his magic wand and ensure our safety.

To those people who have posted comments along those lines, I respectfully ask what you think SL is going to do to get us out of this bloody mess?

Because, to me, our plummet towards relegation feels pretty unstoppable at the moment!

[old parkender]

Hmmm..remove keith,replace with experienced manager

Spunk that 50 million he just made

On a new squad???????

What else can he do?

[havanatopia]

Can't argue with that. Football is a funny old game though.

[FanaticRed]

Getting rid of Millen would be a start.

[Superjack]

I don't think he will do anything until it is too late.

For a so-called 'hard-nosed businessman' he seems to have a blinding loyalty to people that he considers friends. He often referred to GJ as a friend and it's my belief that if Johnson hadn't (allegedly) tried to take the head off of a player or two in the Plymouth changing room he would have stuck with him.

Millen has been at AG since way before GJ's arrival and therefore will probably be considered by SL to be an even greater friend than Johnson. KM may be no bloody good, but nobody can question his loyalty.

I have heard stories from people that have had business dealings with SL, and they generally say that in the world of commerce he can be a right ruthless b*****d. Maybe football is his hobby and a release from the high pressure business world. Nonetheless, it is high time he started applying some of that ruthlessness as Chairman of BCFC, IMO.

[The Dolman Pragmatist]

Perhas if a few people on this list valued loyalty, we might start getting somewhere. Millen is trying to get us out of the bl@@dy awful MESS Coppell left us in. If a new manager came in he would have the same squad and would have to deal with the same problems. He needs support, as do the team. Loyalty is a virtue, there isn't enough of it in football.

[exAtyeoMax]

[chinapig]

Perhas if a few people on this list valued loyalty, we might start getting somewhere. Millen is trying to get us out of the bl@@dy awful MESS Coppell left us in. If a new manager came in he would have the same squad and would have to deal with the same problems. He needs support, as do the team. Loyalty is a virtue, there isn't enough of it in football.

There is another side to that particular coin in being too loyal for too long to players who have long since stopped performing. To me that was Johnson's biggest fault and like him Millen seems to find it impossible to see beyond what certain players did in the increasingly distant past. How else can you explain the same players making the same mistakes over and over again and still being automatic choices? If there is a shortage of loyalty in football these days it started with players not giving a toss beyond which particular flash car they should buy. Fans are loyal to the club, not to any particular group of individuals who happen to be employed by it at any given time.

[red badger]

On the handful of occasions that I've chatted to Steve Lansdown he's struck me as a decent man who is enjoying the good fortune of having loads of money and chance to step out of the shadows and grab a bit of the limelight. Which is fair enough. He's not a big time Charlie.

But I had the impression he valued his own opinions. In truth I didn't get the impression that he wasn't very interested in what supporters or supporter organisations had to offer the business side of Bristol City. However much he might be willing to listen, the stadium was his project - not ours. Maybe that's changing now that petitions are needed.

He's made some good calls but also some mistakes in his time at our club...the biggest of which has been becoming a tax exile. Just when the club needs his full time engagement to move forward he's not on the ground. Just when he needs to be running a PR exercise he's the rich guy not the local boy done good. Above all just when everyone else in the country is being asked to be "all in this together" the Chairman of Bristol City is perceived to have done a runner.

The wheels are coming off the wagon on and off the pitch. IMO Steve won't be able to save the club from relegation, or save the stadium, without better advice. He needs more professional support at board level and a different manager.

[Timbo7]

It seems to me that swift acttion to replace a manager appointed only ten weeks ago after the preceding appointment acknowledged his mistake within a few days would require the Chairman to admit an error.

I understand that the joy of being majority shareholder and sole benefactor as well as Chairman involves never having to admit that you were wrong

This is why good governance in business usually requires a clear differentiation between ownership, direction and executive management - none can be seen in this business

oh dear!

[exAtyeoMax]

I can understand the sentiments of SL being a tax exile, but aren't most of the owners of Premier League clubs from foreign climes? I would prefer it if SL lived in this country but if it means that he invests the tax he has saved into the club all the better. We need new players and a new manager not a new chairman.

[SDBS36]

I can understand the sentiments of SL being a tax exile, but aren't most of the owners of Premier League clubs from foreign climes? I would prefer it if SL lived in this country but if it means that he invests the tax he has saved into the club all the better. We need new players and a new manager not a new chairman.

[/quote

Agree Its the manager picking the team & motivating them

[miketh2nd]

This is so all so easy to say from the outside we have no clue of what the City Board discuss yes..... SL is the chairman but there is a whole board who work together. my opinion is that it would be all too easy to appoint a new manager , yet we are just 11 games into the season. Not defending Sl's choice to give millen a 3 year contract but I suppose that is a lot of money lost.

[...]

I can't believe that from the level of optomism we all had in April, we have been reduced to this.

In reality, the rot started to set in under Johnson (and Millen). Certain players too comfortable, both interms of pay, and position / status within the team. Was it Johnsons sometimes weird formations / playing the guys out of position, or the attitude of the players. With the power of hindsight, I think Johnson should have been allowed a serious clear-out at the start of last season.

In my opinion, we relied on the promotion confidence for too long. We've seen it before. It is not remotely unusual for a newly promoted team - given a good start - to punch all the way up. Look at Blackpool. But failing that, you have to look at the squad: who is a genuine Championship player - who could even do a squad job in the Premier League. Look at City. Look at some of our players that we spent a LOT of money on. Look at Trundle - £1M makes you want to weep.

I don't think we laid the Championship foundations whilst we had the chance, and we certainly have had the chance and the money to do it. We have stuck with certain players too long, and are guilty of not bringing some of the younger, promising guys through.

I can only lend credance to this argument by naming players - which I did not want to do, for the only reason that they have historically been fantastic for City - but thier time has come, gone, and they might pull us down. McAllister. Why is he in the team, now? Can we not get a competitive (and mobile) left back from somewhere? I am really sorry, but: Carey. I don't believe for a second he was not a core agent in undermining Johnson - no-way. If you undermine the manager, you undermine your club, and that is unforgiveable. I know he has been injured, etc, but his strength is supposed to be organizing the defence: QED what defence - our defence almost does not exist - even at home. We either need to get rid or deliver him a massive kick up the arse. Is this what happens to a good player when he loses all ambition?

Apart from this, we have no leadership in midfield; too many new faces in denfence, with no ORGANIZATION, and a strike force without goals. Stead is not a goal scorer in the true sense, so we play him upfront on his own, whilst our £800,000 GOAL-SCORER sits on the bench ........

We did not actually need a new goalkeeper, but spend £20,000 a week to have the England keeper pick the ball out of the net every game - how lonh can his back hold out. I am otherwise neutral on James - but reflect on this: does David James really deserve to finish his career being relegated with City to League 1?

So, in summary

It started going wrong personality-wise towards the end of Johnsons reign, and BCFC never put it right. Changing a manager can be traumatic, but does it really need to be this traumatic. I know CIty never do anything the easy way, but, really, this season could well go down in our history as one of the most infamous. I thought Coppell might work - but then I am just a supporter: I know nothing. Neither did I make the decision to appoint him, let him spend the money, and let him bugger-off, leaving us in a mess. Neither did I appoint MIllen - such a soft option after the Coppell debarcle. All I know is WE GOT IT BADLY WRONG.

Good-day.