Being Realistic

[Fiale]

Some people seem to want to re-write history here. People backed McInnes because he was our manager, he was helping to restructure the club and the board seemed to be sticking with him - we therefore said he deserved time, and he was given it.

The club simply did not recover from GJs departure. We have had money spent on the squad, and 2 quality managers in Steve Coppell and O'Driscoll - we have had a promising manager that sadly did not work out and of course Millen who was given his chance after biding his time as No2 - so the club have not entirely lacked ambition or money/backing.

It is sad to see how other clubs have improved season on season where we just seemed to tread water and eventually start going under due to exhaustion. Hopefully we are back on track, and if that's as a Championship club or L1, we have to just be thankfull the club seems to have put in place a plan it will stick to and that our manager (present and future) will have to sign upto. Whilst things seem a little dark at the moment, I cannot help but think the future will be much brighter.

[CalgaryRed]

SOD could poo gold bricks but he wont keep us up. The damage was done by the board and a huge amount of our fans by giving unconditional backing to a manager that was so far out of his depth its beyond a joke.

How any of you who backed Del can justify the support he got is beyond me and i just hope you are still there in league 1 next season because maybe, just maybe if you had seen what the rest of us could see back in October (or earlier in some cases) then maybe the board what not have given him the backing they did.

I know i will get some for this as i dare to question some of our fans but i dont care. As far as i am concerned the fans that gave Del blind support are as much to blame for the carp we are in as Del himself.

Spot on. 95% likely we will be going down

[KeepUpLino]

Some people seem to want to re-write history here. People backed McInnes because he was our manager, he was helping to restructure the club and the board seemed to be sticking with him - we therefore said he deserved time, and he was given it.

The club simply did not recover from GJs departure. We have had money spent on the squad, and 2 quality managers in Steve Coppell and O'Driscoll - we have had a promising manager that sadly did not work out and of course Millen who was given his chance after biding his time as No2 - so the club have not entirely lacked ambition or money/backing.

It is sad to see how other clubs have improved season on season where we just seemed to tread water and eventually start going under due to exhaustion. Hopefully we are back on track, and if that's as a Championship club or L1, we have to just be thankfull the club seems to have put in place a plan it will stick to and that our manager (present and future) will have to sign upto. Whilst things seem a little dark at the moment, I cannot help but think the future will be much brighter.

Good post lad..

[Spike]

I like SOD, I think he'll do us well but keep us up... it's a lot to ask of him.

The 6 from 9 doesn't wash with me, I can't see us keeping that home form, we were lucky with Ipswich scoring in the 90th minute and Watford was the only game we kept a clean sheet.

We have Cardiff and Palace coming up soon and the big game, in my eyes, against Wolves is away which is going to be tough too.

My main hope comes in that we still have Bolton, Huddersfield and Sheffield Wednesday at home, if we can win those games and pick up a few more wins elsewhere we may have a fighting chance.

If I'm as brutally honest as I can be I think we may end up relying on Birmingham to have points deducted and even if tomorrow they had 10 points deducted we'd still only have 1 more point than them so I can't see that saving us either.

We're still in with a chance but realistically we need a drastic turn around in performance, an almost play-offs kind of run of form in order to get out of where we are.

[EstoniaTallinnRed]

I like SOD, I think he'll do us well but keep us up... it's a lot to ask of him.

The 6 from 9 doesn't wash with me, I can't see us keeping that home form, we were lucky with Ipswich scoring in the 90th minute and Watford was the only game we kept a clean sheet.

We have Cardiff and Palace coming up soon and the big game, in my eyes, against Wolves is away which is going to be tough too.

My main hope comes in that we still have Bolton, Huddersfield and Sheffield Wednesday at home, if we can win those games and pick up a few more wins elsewhere we may have a fighting chance.

If I'm as brutally honest as I can be I think we may end up relying on Birmingham to have points deducted and even if tomorrow they had 10 points deducted we'd still only have 1 more point than them so I can't see that saving us either.

We're still in with a chance but realistically we need a drastic turn around in performance, an almost play-offs kind of run of form in order to get out of where we are.

Strongly agree!!!

[Guest]

(Hand in the air) I backed Del, and was one of those who'd have given him time. He did a lot that baffled me, a lot that frustrated me, but I believed (and still believe) the blame lies squarely at the feet of the players - many of whom I passionately dislike for the lack of bottle and fight they displayed.

It is fair game to say Del was incompetent, this that and other. Maybe he was. Maybe he did baffle players, maybe the team were not properly prepared. However what I saw was a total lack of effort and passion, and I honestly believe it should not be the managers job to instil this.-If a player can not motivate themselves and play with pride how the hell did they manage to go so far in the game? Because of this my vitriol is directed at the players primarily. Rather than calling for the managers head I wanted/want nothing more than the players', too many of whom have seen too many managers lose their job all in similar circumstances (by not giving a toss). If we don't get rid of these sh1tes I honestly believe SOD will get his P45 within 2 years because the players will revert to type - just like they did (IMO) to McInnes.

[Nogbad the Bad]

(Hand in the air) I backed Del, and was one of those who'd have given him time. He did a lot that baffled me, a lot that frustrated me, but I believed (and still believe) the blame lies squarely at the feet of the players - many of whom I passionately dislike for the lack of bottle and fight they displayed.

It is fair game to say Del was incompetent, this that and other. Maybe he was. Maybe he did baffle players, maybe the team were not properly prepared. However what I saw was a total lack of effort and passion, and I honestly believe it should not be the managers job to instil this.-If a player can not motivate themselves and play with pride how the hell did they manage to go so far in the game? Because of this my vitriol is directed at the players primarily. Rather than calling for the managers head I wanted/want nothing more than the players', too many of whom have seen too many managers lose their job all in similar circumstances (by not giving a toss). If we don't get rid of these sh1tes I honestly believe SOD will get his P45 within 2 years because the players will revert to type - just like they did (IMO) to McInnes.

Strongly agree, I've said the same many times.

I hope SO'D really has watched the DVD's, if so he'll know exactly who he can't trust however certain players perform between now and the end of the season.

A good start would be the most brutal cull possible in the Summer whether we stay up or not.

[red as fcuk]

I don't see how backing the man that saved us from relegation last year, is somehow regarded as "rose-tinted" or stupid. It didn't work out, Del was sacked. Why are there so many people having some sort of cock fight about how obvious it was that Del would fail? Instead of coming out with all this doom and gloom bollocks, people need to get their heads out of their own arses and get down and support the team whilst there is still a chance that the new man can do what the last "new man" did, and keep us in this division. Good job S O'D hasn't got such a defeatist attitude.

[And Its Smith]

Apparently some fans are better than others and OP is the best of all. I wish i was as good as him/her

[redeye]

Hold the front page! Bristolians with 'told you so' chips on their shoulders...

Things could have gone either way - it never worked out. A point of view doesn't make anyone a prophet.

As for SL factoring in forum posts from 'know it alls' into his business plans... ...I think not...

[downendcity]

We can argue the toss about the relative abilities of our managers over the last 3/4 seasons, but I don't think any of them can be questioned with regard to the effort hard work and comittment each of them gave to the job.

Oh that the same could be said about the majority of the overpaid prima donnas who have pulled on a City shirt during that time.

There are only 11 guys who step over the white line at each game, and none of them are the manager.

[bs3]

SOD could poo gold bricks but he wont keep us up. The damage was done by the board and a huge amount of our fans by giving unconditional backing to a manager that was so far out of his depth its beyond a joke.

How any of you who backed Del can justify the support he got is beyond me and i just hope you are still there in league 1 next season because maybe, just maybe if you had seen what the rest of us could see back in October (or earlier in some cases) then maybe the board what not have given him the backing they did.

I know i will get some for this as i dare to question some of our fans but i dont care. As far as i am concerned the fans that gave Del blind support are as much to blame for the carp we are in as Del himself.

This post is so spot. You have summed up by thoughts and views on this subject.

[valetta baby]

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Posted Today, 05:11 PM

Keepers Ball, on 02 Feb 2013 - 17:09, said:

Ive just had a thought. Yeovil won again today.

What if...and i mean what if we go down and yeovil win the play offs?

That means......theyd be the West countrys top dog. And to think we took the piss out of the Sags

Oh God the more I think about it the more harrowing it sounds

Good luck with that, they'd go down with about 10 points !(Startibartfast)

That's not very nice!!!

On a serious note we would be likely to get 6-8k crowds in CCC and would operate on a playing budget of 3-4m at most.We would get creamed but it would be nice to go to some new grounds and take in atmosphere of big clubs.

As a Yeovil fan who takes an interest in your club and reads your forum it seems that you have had the budget via Lansdowne but have never really assembled a squad that could make you the mid table team you should be.Even GJ who is doing wonders down here didn't really have a high quality squad but maximized it via team spirit etc a la Pulis at Stoke.

Allied to that in Millen and Mcinnes you have had managers that were not up to CCC level.

SOD is a good manager and if he can keep you up,which I think he will,can bring in a higher level of quality player that your budget should realize and address the perennial weaknesses of a poor defence and lack of creative midfield.

ps Robbored-GJ sends his regards

[Guest]

SOD could poo gold bricks but he wont keep us up. The damage was done by the board and a huge amount of our fans by giving unconditional backing to a manager that was so far out of his depth its beyond a joke.

How any of you who backed Del can justify the support he got is beyond me and i just hope you are still there in league 1 next season because maybe, just maybe if you had seen what the rest of us could see back in October (or earlier in some cases) then maybe the board what not have given him the backing they did.

I know i will get some for this as i dare to question some of our fans but i dont care. As far as i am concerned the fans that gave Del blind support are as much to blame for the carp we are in as Del himself.

Of course its the fans fault, I blame them whole heartedly .....................NOT, it was nothing to do with his employers at all, those same silly employers who have now brought in SOD.

Maybe you should put a notice up on the dressing room wall, reading; Dont bother trying boys, we have no chance of staying up, and those gold bricks from SOD stick them in yer pockets, sorry its the fans fault, we`re doomed.

signed a know it all supporter.

[BUTOR]

Ive just had a thought. Yeovil won again today.

What if...and i mean what if we go down and yeovil win the play offs?

That means......theyd be the West countrys top dog. And to think we took the piss out of the Sags

Oh God the more I think about it the more harrowing it sounds

And Swindon... even more likely, a Swindon Yeovil play off final when we're preparing for a year in league one, imagine that?

[howey_ducky]

we are staying up. i keep that in my mind. we'll be in the dogfight until the last but i think so'd will get us battling and playing as a unit (it's already looking tighter at the back) with enough gumption to keep us up. it's a long road to walk until may.

[citywest30]

Seems to me to be a bit if point scoring going on here. Why do those who supported del have to admit they were wrong? For what? Backing a manager that it seemed the board were going to stick with? It's generally accepted that del tinkered too much and had obviously lost the players but does that really matter now. We are where we are and the brutal truth is we need at least 22 points from 16 games, probably 24 in truth so let's just get behind S O'D and try to give the team that extra like we did last year at games like cov.

[real_bristol]

SOD could poo gold bricks but he wont keep us up. The damage was done by the board and a huge amount of our fans by giving unconditional backing to a manager that was so far out of his depth its beyond a joke.

How any of you who backed Del can justify the support he got is beyond me and i just hope you are still there in league 1 next season because maybe, just maybe if you had seen what the rest of us could see back in October (or earlier in some cases) then maybe the board what not have given him the backing they did.

I know i will get some for this as i dare to question some of our fans but i dont care. As far as i am concerned the fans that gave Del blind support are as much to blame for the carp we are in as Del himself.

OP you have a very small point with the added advantage of hindsight but the way you have presented it is not pretty.

You are assuming that all those that backed Del want us to go down but it sounds like you are being pedantic there.

You're certainly not being realistic as we are not down, not mathematically, not in any way. So the title is a lie.

I hold my hands up too. I was blinded a bit by what Del was achieving behind the scenes and I think we have two good players in Bryan and Burns on the sidelines which is his legacy really. But I knew after witnessing the Leicester game the decision to sack him was the right one at the right time and I support the board for doing it. If we now go down am I wrong for supporting the board? No.

The way you have worded your post is a bit disrespectful. One school of thought had to be right. The "Hope you got what you wanted" mentality is unfair IMO. We are within our rights to change our minds and admit that Del in the end needed to go. Since your post is so negative I thought we should balance it out with some positives:

we are NOT down

SOD has admitted that Carey & Fonts are the best he has atm

We've got a clean sheet

Home form has improved

We have to play a lot of teams around us

Midfield is taking shape IMO

Albert is to return

we have the best fans in the world - lets stick together

[LondonBristolian]

I backed Del and I'm certainly not going to hang my head in shame for that for various reasons.

1) we looked dead and buried last year when Del came in. He did - in the short term - substantially improve our form and, even after that collapsed, he did enough to keep us up. You could say - and I know many do - he got lucky with the Amougou signing and we'd scarcely have limped over the line without it (and there's probably some truth in that) but without that short-term bounce when he came in we'd have been well-adrift well before then.

2) Back in October thinks were bleak but it was far from obvious that it all wasn't going to improve under Del. True, some people guessed things would not improve and were right whereas others of us guessed things would improve and were wrong but at the time it was all guesswork. I think the Charlton game in November was the first time someone could reasonably say with any degree of certainty we weren't going to improve under Del

3) One of the major objections to getting rid of Del back in October or November was the lack of an obvious replacement available. That only really changed when SOD became available. It's all very well drawing up a pretend comparison where we replace McInnes with SOD much earlier and things improved but that wasn't really a possibility as SOD was employed at the time and all the other options looked decidedly suspect. Quite simply, if we'd got rid of McInnes earlier, we wouldn't have SOD as manager.

4) This is football. Pretty much how it works is we all make predictions and guesses all the time (whether the manager should stay in charge, what line-up we should pick, who we should sign) and all of us tend to be write some of the time and wrong other times. On this occasion I was wrong and some other people were right. And well done to then for that. BUT sooner or later they'll get some predictions wrong too. And I'm not going to mock them for that anymore than I'm going to praise them for predicting something correct...

[Superjack]

That should have happened a couple of seasons ago, but better late than never I suppose.

Been banging that drum for ages - successive managers trusting the wrong players, and they got exactly what they deserved.

Unfortunately, SOD is now left with the dregs and its very doubtful that we have players of the right character in key positions (CB and MF) to get us out of the shite. Some would rather stick the knife into the back of the manager than play for this club.

I sincerely hope that he can see what other managers couldn't and get shot of the wasters at the first opportunity.

Yes indeed...

...including (IMO) one that nobody can say a word against on here due to his long service for the club...

...long service that has seen numerous managers come and go...

...

[Red-Robbo]

Yes indeed...

...including (IMO) one that nobody can say a word against on here due to his long service for the club...

...long service that has seen numerous managers come and go...

...

Blimey! You'd expect us to have had the same manager for 17 years wouldn't you. That is, after all, the football norm...

[The Kaiser]

We will go down.

I am sure of it.

Reason?

1) The year we went up, I attended near on every game home and away - think I missed about 5.

Halfway into our first season in the Championship I was transferred to Australia, where I have been since.

2) I have been told/agreed to move back to London this July.

Therefore the entire period of our CCC stay will have been with me the other side of the world and I'll return to watching L1 action.

"Such is life" as my old mate Ned Kelly said.

[054123]

SOD could poo gold bricks but he wont keep us up. The damage was done by the board and a huge amount of our fans by giving unconditional backing to a manager that was so far out of his depth its beyond a joke. How any of you who backed Del can justify the support he got is beyond me and i just hope you are still there in league 1 next season because maybe, just maybe if you had seen what the rest of us could see back in October (or earlier in some cases) then maybe the board what not have given him the backing they did. I know i will get some for this as i dare to question some of our fans but i dont care. As far as i am concerned the fans that gave Del blind support are as much to blame for the carp we are in as Del himself.

Posted on here or variants there of for over 10 years and I tend to take it with a pinch of salt, having been prone to the odd wind up myself. But this is the most arrogant piece of crap I think I have ever read. It has really wound me up and I'm just saying to myself "attack the post not the poster" as I just want to let forth with a tucker esque response. Fans to blame. For **** sake.

[downendcity]

We will go down.

I am sure of it.

Reason?

1) The year we went up, I attended near on every game home and away - think I missed about 5.

Halfway into our first season in the Championship I was transferred to Australia, where I have been since.

2) I have been told/agreed to move back to London this July.

Therefore the entire period of our CCC stay will have been with me the other side of the world and I'll return to watching L1 action.

"Such is life" as my old mate Ned Kelly said.

Kaiser,

So, you being in Aus = championship football. Therefore, it seems self evident that for the good of this football club you should decline the move back to Blighty in order to preserve our championship status.

Somtimes a man's got to do, what a man's got to do.

[Chappers]

Looking at what Robins has done at Coventry and SOD since arriving, hindsight says we appointed wrong man. If we had sacked Del earlier, SOD was not available, a few days later and maybe Adkins would have been our target. All ifs and buts.

At least we now have consistency in tactics and selection, things are looking better, but we have a huge points gap to make up, games are running out, and despite improvements, we still only look like a lowly Championship side.

[glynriley]

The board dosen't choose the signings or the position those signings play in, DMC paid the price for being far too loyal to players who consistently let him down and not playing players he signed and not forgetting the tinkering, also it would appear that for the 2nd season running a BCFC manager has had a list of what appear to be unrealistic targets in the centre back position and that ultimately found them both out as well.

We're not discussing DMc's failings here though Es. This post was created as a direct condemnation of the fans who backed him. I was one , I don't mind saying , and I'll back the bloke we have now. It's down to the board of directors to make the ultimate decision and we'll see in a few months if they left it too long or not. Maybe if we do go down and we're not taking the league below by storm , the OP could be the one to break out the pitch forks and let the board know when SOD should go.

[BS3_RED]

We're not discussing DMc's failings here though Es. This post was created as a direct condemnation of the fans who backed him. I was one , I don't mind saying , and I'll back the bloke we have now. It's down to the board of directors to make the ultimate decision and we'll see in a few months if they left it too long or not. Maybe if we do go down and we're not taking the league below by storm , the OP could be the one to break out the pitch forks and let the board know when SOD should go.

Damn right it was and the reason why...... because it was those fans that were really giving it the big one about being loyal and knowing football and those of us that thought different got stick for dare thinking that Dale was not the Messiah that some of you thought he was.

The fact is, if the board had seen that the fans were not happy with what was going on they might have been inclined to act sooner but as the loyal fans thought Del was the Messiah, they ( the board) were willing to wait.

As a result we are now in a right mess and even though we now have a manager who has real quality,he will struggle to turn it around.

[BS3_RED]

I assume you are also familiar with the terms "wave the white flag" "jump ship" & "go down without a fight".

Man up and dig in with the rest of us, or keep your "I told you so" bullshite until may when our fate has been decided.

Im still down the gate every game cheering on the team (it costs me a bit to get there as well) and still doing as many away games as i can afford. Just because i dont agree with the support Del got does not mean i dont support this great club and i will continue to do so until i die. I happen to think SOD is a great appointment and the only good thing to come from sacking Del way to late.

I will be at Charlton on the last day, the same as i was at Sheff Utd when we got relegated last time. I hope we stay up but think the damage has already been done but i will still give my all, trying to support the team when we are playing.

[Cider red]

What a pointless argument. We the fans have absoloutely NO say so in when managers are sacked or who the board appoint, we can voice our opinion but there is no gaurantee the board will take notice. Its very easy for the op to say 'i told you so' with hindsight, I for one backed del up until the wolves game when it was clear it wasn't going to work, we all SUPPORT Bristol City and want the best for the club so there is no point in having a pop at eachother for having differing views.

[glynriley]

Damn right it was and the reason why...... because it was those fans that were really giving it the big one about being loyal and knowing football and those of us that thought different got stick for dare thinking that Dale was not the Messiah that some of you thought he was.

The fact is, if the board had seen that the fans were not happy with what was going on they might have been inclined to act sooner but as the loyal fans thought Del was the Messiah, they ( the board) were willing to weight.

As a result we are now in a right mess and even though we now have a manager who has real quality,he will struggle to turn it around.

I'll take this one paragraph at a time.

I don't see too many on here claiming to know more about football than others (apart from Robbored)

So you're saying that the board should fire managers because a section of fans demand it ? We'd be going through 3 or 4 managers per season if that was the case. You've ignored my earlier point about Blackburn fans and their sustained campaign to get rid of Steve Keen. Pretty much all of their fans wanted him out but the board saw it different.

You say we have a manager of real quality now , how long are you prepared to give him? If we go down , a manager of genuine quality should surely be getting us into the play off's at the first attempt.If we stay up , a manager of genuine quality should have us at mid table. If neither of these look likely by Christmas , will you be on his back , on the board's back? Does anyone have the patience to let a manager do the type of rebuilding job that Nogbad and Cynic have suggested?