LJ ain't going nowhere...!!!

[AppyDAZE]

8 hours ago, smokey live said:

No need to call people dicks

Unless your name happens to be Alan?

[1bristolcity]

22 hours ago, brizzlelou said:

I'd suggest people pipe down with their nonsense about rowett or pardew coming here. LJ will be manager at the end of the season whether everybody likes it or not. He is a long term investment and that's the end of that.

I'll admit that I've lost a little confidence in LJ but there's no point in arguing about who could replace him and just accept that he's the head man and that's that.

so forget your Rowetts, Pardews and Pearsons.

Clearly then you do not have any grasp as to how football operates, with that mentality you should be on the Board of Directors.

I have read some nonsense on here, but this really takes the biscuit, the worry is how many 'likes' he gets, and then of course we are City Ha!!

[archie andrews]

1 hour ago, AppyDAZE said:

Unless your name happens to be Alan?

or Julian.....

[Corsham Ed]

22 hours ago, RobintheRed Red said:

well watch the stadium empty then

Makes life easier for parking..

[archie andrews]

6 minutes ago, Corsham Ed said:

Makes life easier for parking..

and shorter queues at half time....

[brizzlelou]

10 hours ago, RobintheRed Red said:

Another happy clapper one of the dicks that goes away sings an shouts gets assoled and hasnt got a clue what hes watching

Bye now! Much prefer it if you'd kindly **** off and never go down the gate again. Especially if someone upsets you by saying such a little thing. It's pretty hard time at the moment and fans need to pull together so we could do without little princesses like yourself holding us back. So cheerio!

[brizzlelou]

22 minutes ago, 1bristolcity said:

Clearly then you do not have any grasp as to how football operates, with that mentality you should be on the Board of Directors.

I have read some nonsense on here, but this really takes the biscuit, the worry is how many 'likes' he gets, and then of course we are City Ha!!

And the 'fans' that want pardew, rowett, Pearson or even (this has always got me) MOYES (!!!) have a grasp as to how football operates? I think you need to re read my post pudding.

[ChippenhamRed]

10 hours ago, RobintheRed Red said:

Another happy clapper one of the dicks that goes away sings an shouts gets assoled and hasnt got a clue what hes watching

That's quite an extrapolation from two words.

[brizzlelou]

17 minutes ago, ChippenhamRed said:

That's quite an extrapolation from two words.

Imagine if it had been a full sentence! He'd have been able to tell exactly what I had for my breakfast aswell!

[1bristolcity]

1 hour ago, brizzlelou said:

Bye now! Much prefer it if you'd kindly **** off and never go down the gate again. Especially if someone upsets you by saying such a little thing. It's pretty hard time at the moment and fans need to pull together so we could do without little princesses like yourself holding us back. So cheerio!

There you go

[IAmNick]

3 hours ago, brizzlelou said:

Bye now! Much prefer it if you'd kindly **** off and never go down the gate again. Especially if someone upsets you by saying such a little thing. It's pretty hard time at the moment and fans need to pull together so we could do without little princesses like yourself holding us back. So cheerio!

Talk about ironic! It's a tough time we need to pull together so **** off and never watch city again? Just about sums this place up! 

[Red-Robbo]

He would depart if we were in danger of a fall into L1. At the moment, although our form is relegation fodder, we have accumulated enough points in the early season (using the same players some are now saying are "not good enough") to be comfortably above the drop zone and there are some truly dire - and financially strapped - teams down there.

I think Lee has enough time to pull us out of the nosedive, with comparatively little tinkering about, and perhaps a couple of canny arrivals next month.

After the start to the season, it will be a disappointment if we finish in the bottom half dead zone we are currently in, but SL will undoubtedly keep the faith if that's what happens. I can't see him tolerating getting relegated though. Not after the money spent. Few managers survive relegation these days, and those who do have either done their best taking over a basket case of a club, or have banked enormous good will by being a long-serving and hitherto successful servant.

 

[samo II]

23 minutes ago, Red-Robbo said:

He would depart if we were in danger of a fall into L1. At the moment, although our form is relegation fodder, we have accumulated enough points in the early season (using the same players some are now saying are "not good enough") to be comfortably above the drop zone and there are some truly dire - and financially strapped - teams down there.

I think Lee has enough time to pull us out of the nosedive, with comparatively little tinkering about, and perhaps a couple of canny arrivals next month.

After the start to the season, it will be a disappointment if we finish in the bottom half dead zone we are currently in, but SL will undoubtedly keep the faith if that's what happens. I can't see him tolerating getting relegated though. Not after the money spent. Few managers survive relegation these days, and those who do have either done their best taking over a basket case of a club, or have banked enormous good will by being a long-serving and hitherto successful servant.

 

I think this sums my my thoughts; clearly this team has the groundwork for producing better results than we have in the last ten - Leeds are tearing people apart right now, and pretty much the same team we have now beat them (admittedly narrowly) earlier this campaign.  

We are in bad form BUT are yet to truely be involved in the relegation fight - that we are constantly playing teams around us (a la Wolves and Ipswich) had meant much of our 'movement' has been minimal, with teams over taking one another only to slip back.  A good example is a win against Ipswich would lift us above them, despite our shoddy form.

I've said elsewhere - I would be concerned if we got less than two points from the next two; ideally we'll get four or more and head into 2017 and our FA Cup tie with some confidence.  A rare set of three home games in a row starting with Reading is a positive too.

[Redandy]

On 27/12/2016 at 10:38, Dark Wood Covert said:

Why would there be an empty stadium? 

What an embarrassment our fans are at times, I find it amazing that some seem to think we have this divine right to win everything these days.

You'd think we've never had these bad runs before and this was a new phenomenon 

A divine right to win everything!! I would be happy with not losing everything these days.

[Robson]

15 hours ago, RobintheRed Red said:

Another happy clapper one of the dicks that goes away sings an shouts gets assoled and hasnt got a clue what hes watching

I smell gas..

[shelts]

Hey at least we're coming second , Mrs would be well happy with that 

[AppyDAZE]

5 hours ago, brizzlelou said:

And the 'fans' that want pardew, rowett, Pearson or even (this has always got me) MOYES (!!!) have a grasp as to how football operates? I think you need to re read my post pudding.

Show some ambition. Let's go and get us Conte!

[REDOXO]

One comment really to this thread at this point!

SL will not let this club get relegated at any cost. To be fair sometimes that happens no matter what, but the notion that SL will not sack LJ even if we start looking like we might go down is fundamentally flawed.

Make no mistake SL will do everything he can to protect the status of this football club, no ifs, no buts, no maybes.

If that means he thinks LJ needs to go, he will be gone. It's up to Lee now . Get some wins and take the pressure of yourself, the board, the owner and the supporters, but particularly the squad! 

[Son of Fred]

On 27/12/2016 at 11:25, Dark Wood Covert said:

If it was abysmal business then we would be propping up the Championship. I've seen so many times that we cannot compete in this league because we are not an established Championship club (yet) that we are competing against many bigger clubs for players and obviously a number of them are enjoying parachute payments from the PL so whats changed all of a sudden? Is it because we are on this horrendous run? 

My big criticism is of Tomlin apart from flashes of genius which he is more than capable of, he isn't half the player he was last season on loan... for a marquee signing he needs to do more in my view. 

There has been progress made but transfers of Magners, Engvall and Moore are more long term investments, thats a sizeable chunk of the 10M right there.. why the latter two don't play, thats for the Johnson himself to answer. But for my opinion FWIW, Magners has been a great signing so far but I wouldn't say either Engvall or Moore are a waste of money.

 

Engvall overpriced big time,who made that shocker work??

Don't forget LJ is here to take us to the PL..No way we will be playing PL in 5years, let alone Europa league.

A couple of quality loanees should see us stay up pretty comfortably giving  LJ with less space to wriggle next season..

You can only bluff your way for so long and the clock is ticking.

[samo II]

13 minutes ago, Robert the bruce said:

Engvall overpriced big time,who made that shocker work??

Don't forget LJ is here to take us to the PL..No way we will be playing PL in 5years, let alone Europa league.

A couple of quality loanees should see us stay up pretty comfortably giving  LJ with less space to wriggle next season..

You can only bluff your way for so long and the clock is ticking.

We literally have no idea if what you say is true or not.

We're halfway through the season and pretty much slapbang in midtable, and we still have the January transfer window before the campaign finishes.

Literally anything could happen this season, let alone in five years.

Brighton finished mere points above relegation the season before last; now it would take a brave man to bet on them not at least making the playoffs, with most of the same players.

Maybe LJ will get the boot sooner rather than later; maybe not.  But if you're convinced we'll go nowhere in five years regardless; why scream for his head now when we're slap bang in midtable? 

This time last year we were deep in a relegation struggle; this year, even after a bad run of form we aren't.  That seems like progress to me.  

Makes me wonder where we can end up if we give the head coach who has overseen that more time rather than simply disposing of him at the first dip in form.

[brizzlelou]

34 minutes ago, samo II said:

We literally have no idea if what you say is true or not.

We're halfway through the season and pretty much slapbang in midtable, and we still have the January transfer window before the campaign finishes.

Literally anything could happen this season, let alone in five years.

Brighton finished mere points above relegation the season before last; now it would take a brave man to bet on them not at least making the playoffs, with most of the same players.

Maybe LJ will get the boot sooner rather than later; maybe not.  But if you're convinced we'll go nowhere in five years regardless; why scream for his head now when we're slap bang in midtable? 

This time last year we were deep in a relegation struggle; this year, even after a bad run of form we aren't.  That seems like progress to me.  

Makes me wonder where we can end up if we give the head coach who has overseen that more time rather than simply disposing of him at the first dip in form.

I agree with everything here

[LondonBristolian]

Fundamentally for me there are two issues:

1) LJ is not a bad manager but, like any manager learning his trade, he has weak points to his management.  Based on here and Barnsley, one of his weakest points is that, once the team slumps into a losing run, he finds it hard to find the answers to turn it around.  I honestly think we'll be fine once we get out of this losing streak and onto an even keel but of course the longer that takes, the more fans' unrest will increase and the more trouble we will potentially be in.

2) The squad has still has some fundamental weaknesses which desperately need to be addressed - we need another proven goalscorer to replace Kodjia, we struggle to defend from wide and our creative players do not contribute enough assists.  

I still think we've made real progress as a club in the last year, we've the nucleus of a good side, that there is a lot more right with the club than wrong with it and that, in Mark Ashton, we've got someone who will have a long-term recruitment strategy in place and is a bit of a shark who'll make ruthless decisions and protect the interests of the club (I think we've been a bit too naive and nice in the past and really needed that).

For me, the fundamental thing is that, whatever happens, the club should not panic and we need to keep faith in our long-term plan.  There is no point in tearing everything up and starting again at the first sign of any adversity.  I think the natural reaction, as a fan, is to panic and demand changes and I think the board have to be steely enough to resist that.   I don't think any club's long-term plan should be contingent on one manager staying and no individual should ever become bigger than the club.

What's important to me is whether LJ has a plan to turn things around and whether his relationships with the people he is managing and reporting to are functioning well enough for him to be able to deliver that plan.  If the answer to both of those questions is yes than the manager should stay.  When the answer becomes no, then it is time to put specific short-term targets in place and, if those targets can't be met, make the change.

I don't have any reason to believe we're at that stage at the moment.  I don't know what conversations are going on behind the scenes and nor do I feel that I need to know that or that the club has any obligation or indeed any benefit from making that information public.  I hope and believe the board and executives are monitoring the situation, communicating with LJ and deciding where to go next.  But not every setback needs to end with the manager being sacked and I would hope that is a decision that will never be taken lightly or ever done in a way that messes with the long-term strategy. 

[Son of Fred]

59 minutes ago, samo II said:

We literally have no idea if what you say is true or not.

We're halfway through the season and pretty much slapbang in midtable, and we still have the January transfer window before the campaign finishes.

Literally anything could happen this season, let alone in five years.

Brighton finished mere points above relegation the season before last; now it would take a brave man to bet on them not at least making the playoffs, with most of the same players.

Maybe LJ will get the boot sooner rather than later; maybe not.  But if you're convinced we'll go nowhere in five years regardless; why scream for his head now when we're slap bang in midtable? 

This time last year we were deep in a relegation struggle; this year, even after a bad run of form we aren't.  That seems like progress to me.  

Makes me wonder where we can end up if we give the head coach who has overseen that more time rather than simply disposing of him at the first dip in form.

I'm not asking for his head,just keeping it real..

And as for Brighton-they invested heavily in a proven man at the helm.. Money well spent.

[BobBobSuperBob]

21 minutes ago, LondonBristolian said:

Fundamentally for me there are two issues:

1) LJ is not a bad manager but, like any manager learning his trade, he has weak points to his management.  Based on here and Barnsley, one of his weakest points is that, once the team slumps into a losing run, he finds it hard to find the answers to turn it around.  I honestly think we'll be fine once we get out of this losing streak and onto an even keel but of course the longer that takes, the more fans' unrest will increase and the more trouble we will potentially be in.

2) The squad has still has some fundamental weaknesses which desperately need to be addressed - we need another proven goalscorer to replace Kodjia, we struggle to defend from wide and our creative players do not contribute enough assists.  

I still think we've made real progress as a club in the last year, we've the nucleus of a good side, that there is a lot more right with the club than wrong with it and that, in Mark Ashton, we've got someone who will have a long-term recruitment strategy in place and is a bit of a shark who'll make ruthless decisions and protect the interests of the club (I think we've been a bit too naive and nice in the past and really needed that).

For me, the fundamental thing is that, whatever happens, the club should not panic and we need to keep faith in our long-term plan.  There is no point in tearing everything up and starting again at the first sign of any adversity.  I think the natural reaction, as a fan, is to panic and demand changes and I think the board have to be steely enough to resist that.   I don't think any club's long-term plan should be contingent on one manager staying and no individual should ever become bigger than the club.

What's important to me is whether LJ has a plan to turn things around and whether his relationships with the people he is managing and reporting to are functioning well enough for him to be able to deliver that plan.  If the answer to both of those questions is yes than the manager should stay.  When the answer becomes no, then it is time to put specific short-term targets in place and, if those targets can't be met, make the change.

I don't have any reason to believe we're at that stage at the moment.  I don't know what conversations are going on behind the scenes and nor do I feel that I need to know that or that the club has any obligation or indeed any benefit from making that information public.  I hope and believe the board and executives are monitoring the situation, communicating with LJ and deciding where to go next.  But not every setback needs to end with the manager being sacked and I would hope that is a decision that will never be taken lightly or ever done in a way that messes with the long-term strategy. 

Well written , thoughtful post , as always

And always a good read 

[samo II]

21 minutes ago, Robert the bruce said:

I'm not asking for his head,just keeping it real..

And as for Brighton-they invested heavily in a proven man at the helm.. Money well spent.

Fair enough.

But just wanted to add some balance to what you're claiming to be fact; doubt even the most bold Bournemouth or Leicester fans would have predicted their current circumstances five years back, so seems a little unreal to state categorically what will be the case for us.

As it stands; a reasonable reality in my mind at the start of the season was midtable this season while we brought in talented players to bolster a small squad.  Seems to be exactly what we are doing.

The unreal approach would be to expect a head coach who has been in the job less than a year, with a big turn over of players, to have a team who looked relegated this time in 2015 up in the playoffs.

[RumRed]

On 27/12/2016 at 06:00, Dark Wood Covert said:

Seriously? Settle for  L1 or even L2 football? 

I think you're more questioning LJ's own abilities in some veiled way

I think the post was pretty clear? 

1. The board may have decided to sacrifice short term success for financial stability and 'the grand plan'

2. Cotts wouldn't play by the rules of the above (and who would blame him as a manager who I guess is old school and would probably distrust the board)

3. LJ is the man that buys into the plan as an ex player and personal friend. He would take the dip into L1 if the board said that's fine but keep going with these youngsters.

4. Why else the contract extension?  If you can explain that any other way then I'd be pleased to hear it.

[Jack Dawe]

21 minutes ago, samo II said:

 

The unreal approach would be to expect a head coach who has been in the job less than a year, with a big turn over of players, to have a team who looked relegated this time in 2015 up in the playoffs.

And yet, precisely this is happening as we speak, up at Huddersfield.

And Barnsley, who finished 6th in L1 last season, with a rookie coach who makes LJ look like Roy Hodgson as far as experience goes, and who sold their top player in August, are making a mockery of us and our "we can't compete/there are no L1 players capable of stepping up" (2015/16's excuse) and "we need 3 windows" (2016/17's excuse).

I don't expect the play offs, but I did not expect this nosedive back to last season either. Don't make excuses for them, Samo.

[GodEmperor Palpatine]

2 hours ago, RumRed said:

I think the post was pretty clear? 

1. The board may have decided to sacrifice short term success for financial stability and 'the grand plan'

2. Cotts wouldn't play by the rules of the above (and who would blame him as a manager who I guess is old school and would probably distrust the board)

3. LJ is the man that buys into the plan as an ex player and personal friend. He would take the dip into L1 if the board said that's fine but keep going with these youngsters.

4. Why else the contract extension?  If you can explain that any other way then I'd be pleased to hear it.

Sorry disagree with point 1 totally... you genuinely think SL will settle for L1 or L2 football for even short while? Like hell he would.

Point 2:- who could blame him? He doesn't run the club, Lansdown pays his wages right? Then he has to agree to the vision of SL and the board or at least be bend slightly, not be a stubborn old manager by jeopardising the clubs position because of his ego. Like I said before, he should've walked in the summer with his stock high and then the board would feel the wrath of the fans

Point 3:- why is this 'personal friend' constantly bought up? Maybe Lansdown genuinely thinks LJ is the man to take us forward or is that too complicated?

Point 4:- Why should I explain it? I didn't give him the extension, maybe you should ask the board that

[GodEmperor Palpatine]

20 hours ago, RobintheRed Red said:

people wont keep watching crap especially his inept tactics no width weak midfield oh an before you start average signings that just take up squad numbers  Happy clapper

You're boring kid, maybe you'd be a cure for insomnia.

Happy clapper, you're ******* priceless 

[Ivorguy]

6 minutes ago, Dark Wood Covert said:

Sorry disagree with point 1 totally... you genuinely think SL will settle for L1 or L2 football for even short while? Like hell he would.

Point 2:- who could blame him? He doesn't run the club, Lansdown pays his wages right? Then he has to agree to the vision of SL and the board or at least be bend slightly, not be a stubborn old manager by jeopardising the clubs position because of his ego. Like I said before, he should've walked in the summer with his stock high and then the board would feel the wrath of the fans

Point 3:- why is this 'personal friend' constantly bought up? Maybe Lansdown genuinely thinks LJ is the man to take us forward or is that too complicated?

Point 4:- Why should I explain it? I didn't give him the extension, maybe you should ask the board that

We will have to wait and see what happens.

Will SL stick with LJ, whatever happens, and keep the business plan and project in place, or will he be prepared to adjust the plan in the light of events?

We all know that the best battle plans never survive the first contact with the enemy.  Hopefully SL will prove himself a flexible commander