1M

[Red Robin]

Fair play to you for spending a million pounds of your own money. You must be minted or stupid, or both.

IF the club was relegated it will be more than a million that the chairman will loose.

SOD has done wonders on a very tight budget at Donny,his football was looked upon as the Arsenal of the championship in the way that his team plays.

Sorry but he would be a excellent manager playing football the way it should be played.

I remember how he moulded the Bournemouth team before his move to Donny.

Yes I would love to see him take over here.

[BCFC_Dan]

I remember how he moulded the Bournemouth team before his move to Donny.

Yes. He relegated it.

[Pewsham]

If SL needs to "pay off" Keef, I'm not sure he'd be too keen on having to pay another Club compensation to secure the services of their manager. I suggest it's either going to come from the list of available managers from the LMA or David James as player manager. I'd suggest our 'keeper might be given the role for a short period if he thinks he up to it. It's far from ideal circumstances for DJ to take up role, but Keef didnt have the best break in the world either. One advantage DJ has is a vast experience of the game (having served under some top managers) and he'd also have some excellent contacts. On a longer term basis, I believe he'd help shape the rest of the Club into an effective Championship standard Club. If David James doesn't want the job, there are enough quality managers who are available who might want to head to Bristol.... Chris Hughton being one of 'em. I'd love to have Hoddle at Ashton Gate, but for entirely non footballing reasons, he'd never get the job... even if he was interested.

[Red Robin]

Yes. He relegated it.

you obviously do not remember how well they were doing when he left then!

[Robin Ashton]

Come on, we don't need to spend that much. Let's replace Millen with a supporter. When that supporter fails to win a game, let's replace him with another supporter, and so on...

[BCFC_Dan]

you obviously do not remember how well they were doing when he left then!

I do. I remember it well.

But that was after he'd been doing the job for 6 years and relegated them once.

Millen's had the City job less than a year, so far hasn't relegated us at all (in fact last year he saved us from relegation) and yet has been written off completely.

My point is not that I don't rate O'Driscoll. I do I think he's excellent. My point is that he'd never have got a chance at City and how do we know that in 6-7 years time Millen won't also be an excellent manager?

[Red Robin]

I do. I remember it well.

But that was after he'd been doing the job for 6 years and relegated them once.

Millen's had the City job less than a year, so far hasn't relegated us at all (in fact last year he saved us from relegation) and yet has been written off completely.

My point is not that I don't rate O'Driscoll. I do I think he's excellent. My point is that he'd never have got a chance at City and how do we know that in 6-7 years time Millen won't also be an excellent manager?

The combination of the GJ rift with his players, and his players not performing for him for a considerable time, I think when GJ was sacked it was enough to see us over the line.

The players started playing again.

Im no expert with regards body language, but can you honestly say those players are playing for Millen.

[Frank Reynolds]

o'driscoll no thank you,donny dropping like a stone.

curbishley or poyet or if you wanna get a player manager david james millen is a dead man walking

and ive put my faith in bristol city and renewd my season ticket regaurdless

come on you reds otib

This is exactly my problem with the vast majority of Bristol City fans. No foresight whatsoever.

Not everything in football is black and white.

SO'D has a much smaller budget than the majority, has them playing great football most of the time and gets the best out of players, cases in point James Hayet and Brian Stock.

And yeah, I've seen where they are. They've got more points, having played less games than we have.

[BCFC_Dan]

The combination of the GJ rift with his players, and his players not performing for him for a considerable time, I think when GJ was sacked it was enough to see us over the line.

The players started playing again.

Im no expert with regards body language, but can you honestly say those players are playing for Millen.

I think they do look like they're playing for Millen. They look a little disorganised and very low on confidence but they definitely looked like they were trying against Leeds and frankly there wasn't much between the sides for the most part.

I'd also hazard a guess that Bournemouth didn't look too hot when O'Driscoll relegated them.

[Frank Reynolds]

You do know that O'Driscoll won just 1 of his first 15 games in charge of Bournemouth and relegated them in his second season, right?

If he'd been City manager we'd have booted him out long before he was able to build the kind of teams he's become known for. The know-it-alls on here would have declared him useless and insisted we got an experienced manager in.

I agree with this post but the rest are kind of irrelevant. Keith Millen has already spent more than SO'D did in his whole tenure at AFCB. Probably with a couple of seasons at Donny thrown in too. And remember at AG in 05 (I think) they played us off the park, thats the kind of manager I want.

I think it's a bit of a catch 22 situation at the moment. By the end of the season KM will have had 9 1/2 months in charge. Will we have seen enough to think he'll make a good manager? What if we get relegated, can we survive given our wage bill etc? Or if we stay up, can KM genuinely turn the whole club around? What if we stay up, give KM the opportunity to rehaul the squad and in a years time we're still where we are now, but a couple of million pounds worse off? What if we stay up, we give KM the opportunity to rehaul the squad and he brings in players of the quality that he has so far for the most part, but his tactical naivety continues? Or we let him bring in his players, his own coaching staff, he learns from experienced coaches around him and becomes a manager of the calibre of SO'D?! I'm glad I don't have to make these decisions!

For what it's worth, I'm very much on the fence at the moment. His eye for a player seems good, but the players don't look as fit as they did under the previous regime, therefore we don't press which leaves the opposition with too much time on the ball. His tactics leave a lot to be desired. BUT... he has coaches around him who have, for the most part, been at the club a while (Walshy & Naylor) or are inexperienced (David Lee). As a new, young manager he needs coaches who have been at the top level. Wigley was a step in the right direction and his contacts have evidently helped, but we need a complete overhaul in my opinion aside from KM & SW if we are going to back them as a management team. There is no point sacking Millen now, unless SL has lost faith in him, which he doesn't seem to have done. If we back KM, we have to back him long term and invest in his development as much as any players. Managers aren't fully formed any more than players are.

[BCFC_Dan]

I agree with this post but the rest are kind of irrelevant. Keith Millen has already spent more than SO'D did in his whole tenure at AFCB. Probably with a couple of seasons at Donny thrown in too. And remember at AG in 05 (I think) they played us off the park, thats the kind of manager I want.

I think it's a bit of a catch 22 situation at the moment. By the end of the season KM will have had 9 1/2 months in charge. Will we have seen enough to think he'll make a good manager? What if we get relegated, can we survive given our wage bill etc? Or if we stay up, can KM genuinely turn the whole club around? What if we stay up, give KM the opportunity to rehaul the squad and in a years time we're still where we are now, but a couple of million pounds worse off? What if we stay up, we give KM the opportunity to rehaul the squad and he brings in players of the quality that he has so far for the most part, but his tactical naivety continues? Or we let him bring in his players, his own coaching staff, he learns from experienced coaches around him and becomes a manager of the calibre of SO'D?! I'm glad I don't have to make these decisions!

For what it's worth, I'm very much on the fence at the moment. His eye for a player seems good, but the players don't look as fit as they did under the previous regime, therefore we don't press which leaves the opposition with too much time on the ball. His tactics leave a lot to be desired. BUT... he has coaches around him who have, for the most part, been at the club a while (Walshy & Naylor) or are inexperienced (David Lee). As a new, young manager he needs coaches who have been at the top level. Wigley was a step in the right direction and his contacts have evidently helped, but we need a complete overhaul in my opinion aside from KM & SW if we are going to back them as a management team. There is no point sacking Millen now, unless SL has lost faith in him, which he doesn't seem to have done. If we back KM, we have to back him long term and invest in his development as much as any players. Managers aren't fully formed any more than players are.

Thanks for taking the time to read my post and write a well-thought-out response. It seems a rare thing around here sometimes.

The spending argument is, I think, relative. Millen has spent more but he's also competing at a higher level. I'd also say he's spent fairly well so far, signing players who have improved the squad and who should have a decent resale value. I also think it's a mistake to assume that because a manager is good without money to spend he'd be even better with it. Gary Johnson was at his best signing lower-league bargains and his success rate went down when he had more money to spend. He's not the only example either. Because City tends to back its managers with cash it's no guarantee at all that a manager who has never had money to spend would be successful.

I'm not really especially pro-Millen either and, aside from the aforementioned decent signings, I don't think he's done a lot to show that he will become a good manager. I hope he will, of course, but he's going to have to learn quickly. All I'm saying is that if O'Driscoll had started out at City he'd have been sacked within 2 years and maybe never hit the heights that he has. I don't necessarily think that Millen will become as good as O'Driscoll, but I've not seen enough yet to prove that he won't.

What does frustrate me is the way that clubs like Bournemouth, Doncaster and Swansea prove that it's possible to play superb football in the lower leagues on a tight budget. I don't know what they're paying now but when we signed Trundle from Swansea we doubled his wages. If Swansea can build a team like they have on a smaller budget than City has, why can't we?

[Red Robin]

I think they do look like they're playing for Millen. They look a little disorganised and very low on confidence but they definitely looked like they were trying against Leeds and frankly there wasn't much between the sides for the most part.

I'd also hazard a guess that Bournemouth didn't look too hot when O'Driscoll relegated them.

First ten minutes and the last twenty,but what happened in between.

[Sargent Pepper]

If he'd been City manager we'd have booted him out long before he was able to build the kind of teams he's become known for. The know-it-alls on here would have declared him useless and insisted we got an experienced manager in.

Spot on! He, or anyone else would need instant sucsess or be hounded out by the know it all's. A thread was started a week or two ago about someone coming in like Sousa and changing the whole culture. Again, no chance!

I realise I'm gonna be wasting my breath but I'm gonna try and talk sense.

SO'D has done a great job and was my 2nd choice last season behind Coppout. But thinking about it now I wonder if he'd fit in. He's very dry in his interviews (something that Coppout was accused of) not to mention I'm not sure he flaps his arms about enough for some either ;-)

But most importantly his Donny team is made up of unknown players. That would be a problem for many on here who are only to ready to criticise any lower lge player we're linked with. But that's what he's good at, getting average players to play well and so far has got them to a respectable mid table position. Now correct me if I'm wrong but didn't GJ get dogs abuse over the last couple of years for only achieving two top 10 finishes?

I thought we want to be aiming higher than that? To do so we may need players from higher leagues to sign. What's SO'D like at handling big name players???? I've dont know either because he's never done it, which makes him a risk! Do we want to replace a rookie manager with another rookie at the level we want to be at?

As I said, I like the bloke and wouldn't be against him, but you can bet half of this forum would be and whether the other half would allow him the time to build his squad at the expense of results is highly in doubt.

If we end up replacing KM we need someone to do the job Coppout was hired to do and change the mentality of the club while achieving results and moving us forward, I'm not sure O'driscol is the man to do it yet.

[Frank Reynolds]

Thanks for taking the time to read my post and write a well-thought-out response. It seems a rare thing around here sometimes.

The spending argument is, I think, relative. Millen has spent more but he's also competing at a higher level. I'd also say he's spent fairly well so far, signing players who have improved the squad and who should have a decent resale value. I also think it's a mistake to assume that because a manager is good without money to spend he'd be even better with it. Gary Johnson was at his best signing lower-league bargains and his success rate went down when he had more money to spend. He's not the only example either. Because City tends to back its managers with cash it's no guarantee at all that a manager who has never had money to spend would be successful.

I'm not really especially pro-Millen either and, aside from the aforementioned decent signings, I don't think he's done a lot to show that he will become a good manager. I hope he will, of course, but he's going to have to learn quickly. All I'm saying is that if O'Driscoll had started out at City he'd have been sacked within 2 years and maybe never hit the heights that he has. I don't necessarily think that Millen will become as good as O'Driscoll, but I've not seen enough yet to prove that he won't.

What does frustrate me is the way that clubs like Bournemouth, Doncaster and Swansea prove that it's possible to play superb football in the lower leagues on a tight budget. I don't know what they're paying now but when we signed Trundle from Swansea we doubled his wages. If Swansea can build a team like they have on a smaller budget than City has, why can't we?

I completely agree that he would have been sacked, and that's in no small part down to us as fans! And Millen's buys have been decent to say the least!

And I do agree that just because a manager can work on a budget, doesn't mean that he can work with money! But SO'Ds cash purchases have been pretty astute! Matt Mills for £300k is a snip (consider what Nyatanga, who is a similar age cost) especially when you consider a year later he moved on for £2m. He got £125k for Brian Stock for AFCB, then purchased him back for Donny for a snip at £150k. They've reportedly receieved bids of around £2.5m for him! Billy Sharp too. Half what we paid for Maynard, and is a very good goalscorer (although obviously I'd have Maynard over him anyway).

Fairly irrelevant as Keith Millen is our manager, but in the event of us and KM parting ways, I'd move heaven and earth to get him to AG.

[GrahamC]

They are 3 down at home tonight (sound familiar?), should they lose as seems likely that would be 7 defeats in their last 8.

Maybe he has gone stale there, even if they do stay up I think he may be elsewhere next season if that run doesn't improve.

[bucksred]

Who knows if he would but i would love to see him here, City will be a big job, we have a minted owner who backs his managers, a new ground on the hoizon, Million pound training faclities, academys etc, we have a lot going for us and to somebody like O'Driscoll we could represent a real challenge.

Why the hell would he come to a club in a lower league position for??????

[tpitman]

They are 3 down at home tonight (sound familiar?), should they lose as seems likely that would be 7 defeats in their last 8.

Maybe he has gone stale there, even if they do stay up I think he may be elsewhere next season if that run doesn't improve.

6-0 final score!!

Me thinks Mr. O'Drisscoll will be looking for a new job!!! ------Not here thank you!!

[Ron]

Maybe O'Driscoll's 'style' is overrated, he has a very strong squad at his disposal and is barely outperforming Millen. He plays possession football, yes, but defensive, boring football. Last time I said this someone harped on about the 5-2 - great, they walked through a shit defence at the end of a manager's reign. Well done them.

[miketh2nd]

Alarm Bells ringing..similar results to us last season oh whats his name....

[Davros]

O'Driscoll is over rated he did nothing with Bournemouth for years and years then did OK with Doncaster and the whole world thinks he's the sh*t!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_1/9395076.stm

[Frank Reynolds]

Maybe I should big up our opponents managers before we play them...

But some of the replies on this thread truly show how little our fans know about football and why we have so little stability. It's a miracle GJ lasted 5 years.

[InCider]

Would get S O'Driscoll, just the man we need!! Give him the rest of the season to have a look and then we can push on after a decent pre season.

Millen out.

Probably the worst timed post in forum history!

[BCFC Jordan]

It's quite hillarious how tonights result happened after this thread was put up recently. I am still happy with Keith in charge, as I truly believe he has it in him to turn it around when he gets a pre season with the team, however if he was to get sacked or leave for whatever reason SOD would be the perfect man for the job.

[redcherryberry]

It's quite hillarious how tonights result happened after this thread was put up recently. I am still happy with Keith in charge, as I truly believe he has it in him to turn it around when he gets a pre season with the team, however if he was to get sacked or leave for whatever reason SOD would be the perfect man for the job.

+1

[Rob k]

Yep not the best timed post for me but It's still best to put your views out there, at least everyone knows where I stand on the matter, would still have him here tomorrow if it meant Millen being sacked. We will go down under millen and I still can't quite believe SL got suckered for a 2nd time!

[BCFC_Dan]

I completely agree that he would have been sacked, and that's in no small part down to us as fans! And Millen's buys have been decent to say the least!

And I do agree that just because a manager can work on a budget, doesn't mean that he can work with money! But SO'Ds cash purchases have been pretty astute! Matt Mills for £300k is a snip (consider what Nyatanga, who is a similar age cost) especially when you consider a year later he moved on for £2m. He got £125k for Brian Stock for AFCB, then purchased him back for Donny for a snip at £150k. They've reportedly receieved bids of around £2.5m for him! Billy Sharp too. Half what we paid for Maynard, and is a very good goalscorer (although obviously I'd have Maynard over him anyway).

Fairly irrelevant as Keith Millen is our manager, but in the event of us and KM parting ways, I'd move heaven and earth to get him to AG.

I think we're in pretty much complete agreement over this.

Despite Donny's current form I think O'Driscoll is an excellent manager and he'd be at the top of my list if City needed a new manager. He can clearly spot a good player (or at least knows a man who can) and his teams play great football. But at the moment Millen is our manager and he's made some excellent signings and, despite a fair few disappointing performances, has also delivered our biggest wins at this level (under Millen we've scored 4 and 5 goals in matches - did we ever do that in the Championship under Johnson?)