What do you think the Club are doing well?

[1bristolcity]

10 hours ago, Robin Wood said:

Quite a lot off the pitch but that doesn't matter its what happens on the pitch that counts 

Like any business you have to have the right infrastructure , of course we we lost three on the bounce, and this is skewing minds as to just how far we have come as a club, we are in a pretty good place overall, and we need to all hold our nerve and not react that will weaken the club in the long term.

There is a belief in the club to promote home grown talent, and this will take time to see the benefits of this, in fact we have already seen the benefits of this with some high value transfers and it continues with under 21 caps, under 19 and first team places .

Look at the England model?

There is no opportunity to splash out on foreign talent and the investment has to be in cultivating youth, and making sure you have the right young talent at the helm managing these players.

It's called infrastructure, it's called managing a business for the future, not just for to-day.  

 

 

[LeeJohnsonsFlatCap]

Much preferred city’s media team last season...

[1bristolcity]

10 hours ago, Robin Wood said:

No on a manager who trys to be to clever and change formations to much, we need to find a way to play and stick with it 

What do you mean by that? TRIES  to be clever? Of course he has to try different things, when you have a limited number of  world class at your disposal you have to experiment no training ground will replicate exactly real time football.

He HAS to try different things, he has to be brave.

 

[headhunter]

Taking us for mugs!!

Game vs Norwich, they take £100k from Sky and with the later kick off clashing with Christmas Parties in the Lansdown we, as Lansdown Club members are denied access to the Lounge after the game. They could have put 2 bottles of wine on each table for the Boxing Day game as a gesture of goodwill [total cost, as cost price, probably about £1200].

Will remember this type of thing when by 5 year sign up ends in 2021!!

[1bristolcity]

2 hours ago, headhunter said:

Taking us for mugs!!

Game vs Norwich, they take £100k from Sky and with the later kick off clashing with Christmas Parties in the Lansdown we, as Lansdown Club members are denied access to the Lounge after the game. They could have put 2 bottles of wine on each table for the Boxing Day game as a gesture of goodwill [total cost, as cost price, probably about £1200].

Will remember this type of thing when by 5 year sign up ends in 2021!!

Sorry this is nit picking in true City style...we are somewhere between what we put out on the pitch and we  put or what we don't put as freebies on the better heeled dining table. 

I don't care about your wine or what you do in 2021, it's supposed to be a football club not a high end restaurant.

[Welcome To The Jungle]

As a massive critic of BS and BCFC.

Kits have mostly been good

£50 for a kids ST with shirt

Academy players looking good.

 

Sadly the negatives are far more numerous and severe to compensate

[Carey 6]

On 18/11/2018 at 10:42, Eddie Hitler said:

Selling players at the absolute top of their value range.

Brilliant new stadium.

Maximising the revenues from that stadium.

Developing the area around Ashton Gate into a modern multi-sport complex.

The Forever Bristol half season membership that comes with a free ticket to the Bolton game and I will be buying that.

After two decades of trying the Academy is now delivering first team players.

There are of course negatives as well but they are not for this thread.

Yeah that pretty much sums it up perfectly. 

I’d also like to add that whenever they put on events, it seems to get good feedback. 

The outside screenings for the World Cup games were very good. Had no problems getting a drink quickly & the concourse being open meant there was no queues for the toilets either. 

[EnderMB]

I have to agree with those that mentioned the academy.

A few years ago, I was against the academy. It's obviously a great thing to have, but out most promising players from the academy would have bright futures at Weston Super Mare or Bristol Manor Farm, and despite all the talk from Lansdown regarding the focus on bringing up youth I assumed it was his way of saying "**** you, I'm not spending any more money". Most of all, I couldn't see why we'd be able to compete against Category 1 academies when most of them have history of promoting youngsters, when we (at the time) had a history of Bristolian players making their way elsewhere.

Now, we've had numerous players enter the first team, a number of top prospects doing a great job in League 1 and League 2, and we've sold academy prospects for eight figures. We might not be in the Premier League yet, but our academy has been a huge success.

[Cowshed]

43 minutes ago, EnderMB said:

I have to agree with those that mentioned the academy.

A few years ago, I was against the academy. It's obviously a great thing to have, but out most promising players from the academy would have bright futures at Weston Super Mare or Bristol Manor Farm, and despite all the talk from Lansdown regarding the focus on bringing up youth I assumed it was his way of saying "**** you, I'm not spending any more money". Most of all, I couldn't see why we'd be able to compete against Category 1 academies when most of them have history of promoting youngsters, when we (at the time) had a history of Bristolian players making their way elsewhere.

Now, we've had numerous players enter the first team, a number of top prospects doing a great job in League 1 and League 2, and we've sold academy prospects for eight figures. We might not be in the Premier League yet, but our academy has been a huge success.

It is a pity more emphasis was not given to the academy sooner.

If more emphasis and resource had been devoted to the academy a decade ago it is conceivable that more players would have been produced, it is certainly fair to think the academy itself could be based at a facility now owned by BCFC. 

The reach of the academy is limited. Neighbouring counties are not covered by a network of coaching developing and identifying talent. There are associated coaches but it would be a stretch to label that a network. Bigger and smaller clubs in the region outperform BCFC - They provide more opportunity and accessibility.

The number of starters from the academy in the XI? Having nil recently is not a huge success. Bristol City have had 3-4-5 regular starters in the past before emphasis was take away from the importance of the academy. With FFP, the elite player programme and City's five pillars emphasis is back. But the academies success of putting starters in the XI over the long term has been average due to the focus of the club altering.

Bristol City are playing catch up, new training facility on the way, bright future for developing talent hopefully but that requires constant focus and commitment, a commitment of decades.

 

  

[EnderMB]

55 minutes ago, Cowshed said:

It is a pity more emphasis was not given to the academy sooner.

If more emphasis and resource had been devoted to the academy a decade ago it is conceivable that more players would have been produced, it is certainly fair to think the academy itself could be based at a facility now owned by BCFC. 

The reach of the academy is limited. Neighbouring counties are not covered by a network of coaching developing and identifying talent. There are associated coaches but it would be a stretch to label that a network. Bigger and smaller clubs in the region outperform BCFC - They provide more opportunity and accessibility.

The number of starters from the academy in the XI? Having nil recently is not a huge success. Bristol City have had 3-4-5 regular starters in the past before emphasis was take away from the importance of the academy. With FFP, the elite player programme and City's five pillars emphasis is back. But the academies success of putting starters in the XI over the long term has been average due to the focus of the club altering.

Bristol City are playing catch up, new training facility on the way, bright future for developing talent hopefully but that requires constant focus and commitment, a commitment of decades.  

I couldn't agree more. I think the most damning part of this is that we only started focusing on our academy after FFP became a thing.

Instead of spunking millions on poor signings and journeymen, imagine if Lansdown had started upgrading facilities a 5-10 years earlier. It would've been too early for our playoff drive, but our academy might have produced players capable of surviving our first drop. The added plus would've been that Lansdown could've thrown the money in at a time when costs were lower. Instead of limiting spending to make up for FFP, we could've gone state-of-the-art sooner, and be reaping the benefits right now.

[reddogkev]

On ‎18‎/‎11‎/‎2018 at 10:03, spudski said:

....and when was the last time you as a poster made a positive comment about the Club you support?

Would be nice to read some positive comments for a change

Good thread, I like the injection of positivity.  I honestly can't see much that the club are doing wrong at the time moment.  Of course, losing games is a pain in the ass, but all football clubs at this level lose as many games as we do.  City are the in the strongest / most progressive position I have ever witnessed as a fan.

My only problem is the ticket costs, I'd love for tickets to be about £25, but I appreciate this is a sign of the times of the modern game.

[man in the middle]

On 19/11/2018 at 06:16, Major Isewater said:

Exiting ? 

Is that a Freudien slip or do you mean our best young players will be sold ?

Kelly, Reinvented Bobby  too.

[Bristol Oil Services]

6 hours ago, reddogkev said:

Good thread, I like the injection of positivity.  I honestly can't see much that the club are doing wrong at the time moment.  Of course, losing games is a pain in the ass, but all football clubs at this level lose as many games as we do.  City are the in the strongest / most progressive position I have ever witnessed as a fan.

My only problem is the ticket costs, I'd love for tickets to be about £25, but I appreciate this is a sign of the times of the modern game.

I want to believe this, Kev, I really do; I so want this to be true. But, forgive me, I'm struggling to mate. Is it my ingrained, habitual Bristolian otib negativity that prevents me from seeing what you are seeing here?

[Cidre Monita]

The redevelopment of AG into an excellent Championship stadium and incomparable to the structure of 4 or 5 years ago. The investment  and strategy to make Bristol rugby a credible competitor in the Premiership. The planning and soon to be created new training complex. The first England under 21 International I think in my lifetime (that actually is our own player) . Selling a player for £10M . Still playing in a red home kit. 

[Sparkz 76]

On 18/11/2018 at 13:52, Bar BS3 said:

Which was the last manager that we had who improved our league finish for 3 consecutive seasons at  2nd tier level..? 

We have had good managers and bad managers but never a manger that frequently goes on dreadful runs and still keeps his job

[Mr Popodopolous]

On the pitch:

• The academy.
• Not (yet) slipping into relegation scrap despite the turnover of players. Maybe that's more of a jury out at this stage.

Off the pitch:

• The stadium- great and fit for the 21st century. A necessity to compete really- by which I mean give ourselves a good shot at sustaining ourselves at this level.
• The development around AG that's in the works- feeds into the above.
• The training facilities etc at Failand- that will leave a stronger club.
• Work in the Community seems to be good.
• The off-field revenue generation facilities- that feeds into the first two off the pitch points, but again a necessity.

[Cowshed]

19 hours ago, EnderMB said:

I couldn't agree more. I think the most damning part of this is that we only started focusing on our academy after FFP became a thing.

Instead of spunking millions on poor signings and journeymen, imagine if Lansdown had started upgrading facilities a 5-10 years earlier. It would've been too early for our playoff drive, but our academy might have produced players capable of surviving our first drop. The added plus would've been that Lansdown could've thrown the money in at a time when costs were lower. Instead of limiting spending to make up for FFP, we could've gone state-of-the-art sooner, and be reaping the benefits right now.

Completely away from the opening post but I think the clubs pathway is flawed. Many clubs run football development centres outside and within the Towns and Cities they exist in. Bristol City do offer some coaching at the foundation level, and it is just some, and very little in neighbouring Counties. Its hard to describe this as a pathway when viewing what other clubs do and it relies on judging 8, 9.10, 11 year olds then developing this small number of players. Late developers may come into the academy system post 11/12. There is a real degree of this being a illogical talent identification and development model.  

The reach and engagement of Bristol City above is very narrow. The engagement of the Community trust and its satellite centres offering coaching at various locations around Bristol after school has been shut … Contrary to opinion Community trust football activity as part of what was the intended pathway has been diminished significantly. 

Bristol City could easily tick the community engagement box more there, but also fill a void which will miss out on talent in and around Bristol all for the price of one or two non appearing Swedish forwards.

[ZiderEyed]

2 hours ago, Cowshed said:

Completely away from the opening post but I think the clubs pathway is flawed. Many clubs run football development centres outside and within the Towns and Cities they exist in. Bristol City do offer some coaching at the foundation level, and it is just some, and very little in neighbouring Counties. Its hard to describe this as a pathway when viewing what other clubs do and it relies on judging 8, 9.10, 11 year olds then developing this small number of players. Late developers may come into the academy system post 11/12. There is a real degree of this being a illogical talent identification and development model.  

The reach and engagement of Bristol City above is very narrow. The engagement of the Community trust and its satellite centres offering coaching at various locations around Bristol after school has been shut … Contrary to opinion Community trust football activity as part of what was the intended pathway has been diminished significantly. 

Bristol City could easily tick the community engagement box more there, but also fill a void which will miss out on talent in and around Bristol all for the price of one or two non appearing Swedish forwards.

Brilliant post, couldn't agree more. We should be actively seeking an end to Southampton et al pinching the best local players before we even get a sniff.

[Trueredsupporter]

If Bristol City and Bristol Sport are to be reminiscent of Barcelona they should be running football schools like them. More kids we coach the better and more we get in.

[Cowshed]

On ‎21‎/‎11‎/‎2018 at 12:56, ZiderEyed said:

Brilliant post, couldn't agree more. We should be actively seeking an end to Southampton et al pinching the best local players before we even get a sniff.

Southampton invite junior clubs to look at their facilities, meet coaches and discuss coaching methodology. Southampton share their coaching education wider at youth and adult levels. Its a case of starting that food chain.

Bristol junior clubs frequently visit? Well its not BCFC.