Sacking Left Me Feeling Ashamed

[Esmond Million's Bung]

OK, just checking. And you have been at our home games to see how they've been playing, right?

 

You know my circumstances as well as anyone and when they change (which could be soon), you will the 3rd person to know, that's a promise.

 

But you are right about one thing, unlike SOD I do look at the league table, is it a different league table to the super fan league table?.

 

 

[RedZepperin]

I think we can safely say that Horace is the biggest hedgehog on this forum, even if he is hibernating

I'm not boasting about my loyalty as a supporter, which is pretty unremarkable by any standard. I'm just pointing out that someone who hasn't seen the team play is ill-placed to judge its progress.

I don't think anyone doubts your credentials or your sincerity. For those of us (I speak for myself) who live afar and don't get to the games, the rending of garments over the sacking of Mr O'Driscoll is frankly baffling. Please don't take that as a criticism. Of course, you may be right in your judgement but it is, at the very least, premature. We don't know who his replacement is yet. You seem to have liked their previous choice. They might surprise us again.

 

Peace and loving kindness.

[Aizoon]

I thought we were progressing after Carlisle. But then watched rubbish at AG.

I thought we were progressing at Tranmere then saw us capitulate in 2nd half to a terrible side.

Then I watched us have zero creativity v Sheffield UTD.

It just was too many false dawns followed by rubbish.

I just couldn't see it working and these are not bad players they just seem to have zero confidence.

Half-empty as opposed to half-full. I saw it the other way, but there you go. Both tenable positions, and we'll never know which of us was right.

OK, Sean's gone. Draw a line under that. My doubt is that a new manager will be an improvement and looking at the list of those available fills me with dread. I tend to agree with you that Holloway is the best option, but that ain't gonna happen.

[Aizoon]

I don't think anyone doubts your credentials or your sincerity. For those of us (I speak for myself) who live afar and don't get to the games, the rending of garments over the sacking of Mr O'Driscoll is frankly baffling. Please don't take that as a criticism. Of course, you may be right in your judgement but it is, at the very least, premature. We don't know who his replacement is yet. You seem to have liked their previous choice. They might surprise us again.

Peace and loving kindness.

Or peace, love and small furry animals, as they say in these parts.

[Esmond Million's Bung]

Half-empty as opposed to half-full. I saw it the other way, but there you go. Both tenable positions, and we'll never know which of us was right.

OK, Sean's gone. Draw a line under that. My doubt is that a new manager will be an improvement and looking at the list of those available fills me with dread. I tend to agree with you that Holloway is the best option, but that ain't gonna happen.

 

indeed he has gone, but hopefully he has implemented a long lasting legacy and i'm sure he will be credited for that when it bears fruit. I too am filled with dread at some of the names being bandied around and to be honest the next 3 months will be the acid test as to the real ambition of our owners, a) who they appoint and b) whether they have the balls to fight for AV, now plan b is in place.

 

Perhaps in hindsight SOD would have been an ideal director of the academy (I am just thinking out loud).

 

 

[Alex_BCFC]

We've made a decision - a good one 

It isn't a good one though.

 

You say you saw good bits here and bad bits there recently. That is exactly what I would expect this season with a club going through a lot of change. The fact that we have stopped losing (and were unlucky to lose at home to Sheff Utd who had one shot and scored and even that was a shot by us) should point towards the fact things were getting better and the Leyton Orient performance showed SOD was finally getting the balance right.

 

I will always get behind whoever is in charge as I did with SOD but I won't pretend this isn't a poor decision and won't forget it for a while. Sadly after seeing the list of potential candidates, it seems even more crazy that we got rid as none of them look like a better choice long term than SOD.

[Aizoon]

If the decision had been made a month ago, I'd have grudgingly gone along with it. I think that it happened now for non-football reasons, because there were obvious signs of improvement in both performance and results. I agree with the Kaiser, though, that watching it wasn't always pleasant.

That is, of course, assuming that the decision didn't take a month to be batted back and forth between Bristol and Guernsey. I'm beginning to see SL as a Tiberius figure, lurking on the Isle of Capri, running Rome by remote control. Or is that over fanciful?

[Robbored]

That is, of course, assuming that the decision didn't take a month to be batted back and forth between Bristol and Guernsey. I'm beginning to see SL as a Tiberius figure, lurking on the Isle of Capri, running Rome by remote control. Or is that over fanciful?

Excellent comparison. Not fanciful at all.

Wish I'd thought of it.

[Aizoon]

Excellent comparison. Not fanciful at all.

Wish I'd thought of it.

You will, Robbo, you will. [HUGE GRIN]

[LoyalRed]

As always all comments, agree or disagree, welcome.

http://www.bristol247.com/2013/11/29/sean-odriscoll-sacked-made-ashamed-bristol-city-fan-77386/

Being in the bottom 3 makes me feel embarrassed and ashamed !

[The Kaiser]

Being in the bottom 3 makes me feel embarrassed and ashamed !

 

+1

[Monkeh]

Because only simpleton's think managing a football club has ONE measure.

Arguably he was under-achieving one the results front, but on all other fronts I would say he was succeeding.

I'm more embarrassed than ashamed, I really thought we had become a club that was going to allow a manager to have a proper go at something.

46 games is long enough 6 wins in 38 1 relegation (he had over 20 games to save us) and careering to a second relegation there was no proof that things would change yes one defeat in 7 is bollocks it was 8 points out of 21 completely not good enough

All he had going was he talking a good game and I'd be willing to listen to those a bit more if they had proof to back up their claims that he would turn it around but they can't the only other club he was at in this situation was Doncaster and he was taking them down too

[SJC]

Well, the article, makes it plain that the board are to blame for this mess and that SO'D shined the shiny beacon for community relations, indeed everything the club has ever done, ever in the history of the world tm

Seriously though, for example, quoting Jon Lansdown re long termism to infer that it was purely about SO'D to say that 'oo er they've changed their minds sharpish and henceforth are useless'. The clubs long term goals havent changed though so it's trying desperately hard to provoke because the writer is angry and emotional. Clearly what has happened has affected all of us in different ways, but proclaiming So'D to be the catalyst behind everything, when it simply isnt true whilst shoeing it into the board because they took away 'Wor Sean' and ruined it all is patently codswallop. It's an overreaction to something that is part and parcel of modern football and has made sore old wounds that people have used to basjh the club with because they dont like the decision that has been made.

All that's changed is an under performing head coach, the end. Everything else is still the same, and will remain so in terms of vision, trying to integrate and so on. We have no written future and are in charge of our own destiny, rather than approach it with dread and forboding, look at it as an opportunity to see what we can really do, rather than look for blame as to where it all went wrong.

Thanks for reply.

I don't think there are any delusions here, O'Driscoll's league record was poor, we are 22nd in the league, there are no escaping those facts. My issue, annoyance if you will, ashamed taken in a stronger context than it was perhaps meant (I could have just as easily wrote embarrassed), is that the club preached transition. It seemingly nailed its colours to the mast, acknowledged we were undergoing change off the field, were tightening belts, and it seemed, to me at least, they presented a unified front.

I accept clubs must keep their cards close to their chest, but sending an e-mail to supporters under a month ago proclaiming stability etc, then sacking a manager who is, for however bad his record was, making progress, is bizarrely short sighted. Indeed the timing confuses me greatly. Yes Sheffield United performance was dire, but a draw would have been fair. We're an own goal or wrongly disallowed goal from having sacked a manager who has gone 8 games unbeaten.

I respect O'Driscoll was the figurehead of community work and indeed it will continue. But he evidently both embraced and emphasised the importance of it. Apologies for lack of specifics, but Amy Kington (?), who I believe is involved with our work in the community, recently tweeted she'd never known a manager put do much in off the pitch, or words to that affect.

My issue, what's riled me, is I felt I understood the direction the club was taking. The sun far from shone out of O'Driscoll's backside for me, I was critical of the Baldock/JET partnership and, to be honest, was not very far from saying 'thanks for your efforts, but it isn't working' if results slid once more.

My annoyance isn't that our saviour of a manager has been disgracefully sacked, though I did respect his track record and felt he spoke a great desk of sense, it is that the club preached something that they didn't follow through, at a time when results were improving.

[The Kaiser]

I accept clubs must keep their cards close to their chest, but sending an e-mail to supporters under a month ago proclaiming stability etc, then sacking a manager who is, for however bad his record was, making progress,

 

 

Here;s my query though.

On what basis was he making progress?

 

We weren't winning many games, in fact we won only 2, the football was still appalling and we seemed to go from one bad game to the next.

 

I couldn't see progress made at all.

 

Obviously neither could the board.

[BS34Red]

Being in the bottom 3 makes me feel embarrassed and ashamed !

In may I would agree but it's only November, the league table isn't decided in November.

I like many others could see we was slowly improving and that makes it even more baffling. We had a decent draw against the leaders and we then sack our manager, seems a bit strange.

[The Kaiser]

He wasn't sacked because of one game though.

 

He was sacked because we just weren't improving. It was lower league crap week in, week out. It wasn't enjoyable going down there to watch that crap.

 

We had been in the relegation zone for most of the season and this is League 1!!!!!!

 

Orient was irrelevant to some extent - his card was already marked and I wouldn't be surprised if they had already spoken to managers before Tues night,

[BS34Red]

Here;s my query though.

On what basis was he making progress?

We weren't winning many games, in fact we won only 2, the football was still appalling and we seemed to go from one bad game to the next.

I couldn't see progress made at all.

Obviously neither could the board.

My view is we have had 3 years plus of losing, negativity is running through this club, to change that takes a while, we have had so many players in and out the past few years and for us to build a successful team we need that team to remain largely unchanged. They also need to gel. From what I have noticed we have tried to play possession football. I personally have only been recently looking at match stats at times during games, I have seen us with 60 percent possession and 20 shots to the oppositions 4, stats can be misleading and I've only looked during games and not after as I have chosen to take a back seat with my support but I thought with one defeat in 7 things were improving but just nor as fast as the board would have liked. Surely when your on a bad run the first thing to do is to become hard to beat?

[Dorset_Cider]

Not sure that I would say that I was ashamed by the sacking.

But being 22nd in the league and only two wins all league campaign leaves me ashamed

 

Get a grip....... 'It's a shame'....... but to be ashamed....... gawd help you my good Phantom 

[BS34Red]

He wasn't sacked because of one game though.

He was sacked because we just weren't improving. It was lower league crap week in, week out. It wasn't enjoyable going down there to watch that crap.

We had been in the relegation zone for most of the season and this is League 1!!!!!!

Orient was irrelevant to some extent - his card was already marked and I wouldn't be surprised if they had already spoken to managers before Tues night,

Why go then if it's not enjoyable? I admit I held a season ticket for many many years, but like you it wasn't enjoyable and felt more like a chore attending, like going to work. I found also my opinions would be skewed by attending a match, attending a match is sort of like an emotional investment. My perception on a game would be effected by the emotions I felt at the game. Like if I was pissed off or upset because of the game my views could be get the manager out, such and such player is crap etc. It's easier to have a balanced view having not gone through the emotions of watching us and all the ups and downs associated with that.

[The Kaiser]

I understand that point but how could anyone ever comment on a game without having been there and seen it (unless its televised)?

 

I always find it bemusing coming back from away games reading people's opinions on the game when they heard it on the radio.

 

If you don't go because it annoys you fine, I get it - but to me it also renders your opinion a bit absurd because you're commenting on stuff you haven't seen.

[Aizoon]

He wasn't sacked because of one game though.

He was sacked because we just weren't improving. It was lower league crap week in, week out. It wasn't enjoyable going down there to watch that crap.

We had been in the relegation zone for most of the season and this is League 1!!!!!!

Orient was irrelevant to some extent - his card was already marked and I wouldn't be surprised if they had already spoken to managers before Tues night,

I suspect that Monday was spent in getting approval from the REAL chairman in Guernsey. Tuesday, as you say was irrelevant.

[LoyalRed]

He wasn't sacked because of one game though.

He was sacked because we just weren't improving. It was lower league crap week in, week out. It wasn't enjoyable going down there to watch that crap.

We had been in the relegation zone for most of the season and this is League 1!!!!!!

Orient was irrelevant to some extent - his card was already marked and I wouldn't be surprised if they had already spoken to managers before Tues night,

Agreed, believe the manager was already lined up

[Jesus]

At the end of the day we've won 2 from 18 games. We're currently sitting in the relegation zone in league one. Attendances are dropping, and it all needs to be sorted. Let's all be honest here, Ashton Gate and the passion died when Gary left the club. JL rightly points out that BCFC needs its soul back, and this wasn't going to happen under SOD. The atmosphere and passion from a crowd can have more influence than any tactic or signing. The sacking of SOD has hopefully closed this dark chapter.

I for one can't wait for the this new manager to start , and hopefully a new spirit. Welcome back Bristol City.

[BS34Red]

I understand that point but how could anyone ever comment on a game without having been there and seen it (unless its televised)?

I always find it bemusing coming back from away games reading people's opinions on the game when they heard it on the radio.

If you don't go because it annoys you fine, I get it - but to me it also renders your opinion a bit absurd because you're commenting on stuff you haven't seen.

Quite simply I tend not to comment. My only game this season has been the rovers game so sods record for me was 100 percent this season I still keep upto date with the club and I think no one can deny that progress was being made. It was just awfully slow progress. But I think sometimes people becoming so emotionally invested in the club that that can cause outbursts such as Ashton kates, some times its good to have a little break from anything in life then come back with a clear open mind.

[italian dave]

Here;s my query though.

On what basis was he making progress?

 

We weren't winning many games, in fact we won only 2, the football was still appalling and we seemed to go from one bad game to the next.

 

I couldn't see progress made at all.

 

Obviously neither could the board.

 

 

Over last 18 games 22nd

Over last 10 games 18th

Over last 8 games 16th

Over last 6 games 11th

[italian dave]

People need to be a lot more positive about the club now.

Moaning and bitching doesn't help anyone and will just see the players confidence sapped further.

We've made a decision - a good one - and now we need to get behind the club.

What good is moaning going to do?

Well, for a number of posters on here, what the endless moaning of the past few weeks has achieved is the sacking of the subject of that moaning.

 

Strange that it's now 'time to end the moaning'!!

[The Kaiser]

Well it isnt strange - it is obvious now is the time to pull together and not moan.

 

I think its important to get behind the team and club now.

[BS34Red]

Well, for a number of posters on here, what the endless moaning of the past few weeks has achieved is the sacking of the subject of that moaning.

Strange that it's now 'time to end the moaning'!!

it's okay for the minority to always moan yet when the majority moan about a decision the minority are happy with then we have to stop moaning. Very strange.

[BS34Red]

Well it isnt strange - it is obvious now is the time to pull together and not moan.

I think its important to get behind the team and club now.

But why now? Should we not have got behind them when sod was still here?

[!james]

Well it isnt strange - it is obvious now is the time to pull together and not moan.

I think its important to get behind the team and club now.

Fantastic! You couldn't make it up!