Why the calls for LJ to be sacked?

[Lew-T]

I don’t think LJ will be off anywhere soon. I also believe once again he will be backed financially in January by SL to try and push on. It’s quite obvious the owner and board believe in the system by sticking by him under worse circumstances than this. It will most likely cost more money to sack Johnson after all the work has gone into in his tenure up to now.

Especially now after that 4 year contract extension back in the summer. If he does go, then more work goes in his replacements plans, again meaning more money.

I think SL and MA will stick to their guns and believe in the ‘project’. Meaning that Lee isn’t going anywhere, unfortunately.

[ChippenhamRed]

3 hours ago, Robbored said:

Jeez.................we’ve been here before.......ffs...........a knee jerk  otib reaction to the fourth consecutive defeat. ...It’s not a new phenomenon and LJ has turned it around in the past..

No way will SL consider abandoning his ‘stability’ mantra and he will undoubtedly stick by his man regardless of what some fans think. So....these types of threads are completely pointless.

Its beyond me why the opinionated sort bother to start these threads.......I mean, why bother?    

So the only purpose to any thread on the forum is to influence Steve Lansdown is it? And if that’s not possible we shouldn’t bother?

I thought it was a place for supporters with a shared love of City to discuss and debate the issues around their club - including hypotheticals.

Might as well shut the forum down then I suppose.

 

[Mr Popodopolous]

52 minutes ago, Lew-T said:

I don’t think LJ will be off anywhere soon. I also believe once again he will be backed financially in January by SL to try and push on. It’s quite obvious the owner and board believe in the system by sticking by him under worse circumstances than this. It will most likely cost more money to sack Johnson after all the work has gone into in his tenure up to now.

Especially now after that 4 year contract extension back in the summer. If he does go, then more work goes in his replacements plans, again meaning more money.

I think SL and MA will stick to their guns and believe in the ‘project’. Meaning that Lee isn’t going anywhere, unfortunately.

Genuinely I think he should only get a loan striker, and i mean the highest quality one available, but that's it for me,

He's got a good squad now- yeah he had one before but he's been allowed to build- a good quality loan striker aside, he should make something that is equal to, or perhaps greater than the sum of its parts IMO.

Think where we're at as a club, it's Promotion this season or next season- this is our window. After that, FFP will catch up and we'll need to start the process again a bit- but it maybe quicker than we think because of big departures in summer 2018.

[Son of Fred]

7 hours ago, redsquirrel said:

we could and should have been capable of getting 5 of those last 12 points. I saw it as 3 against millwall,1 against blackburn and 1 against Charlton. that was being conservative. I didn't think we could get 0 until I witnessed the millwall game. I was lucky that night,got to see 10 mins of us playing. they didn't bother at all against blackburn.

 

Was with my grandson at the Blackburn game & he felt we were weak all over and that the under 10's side he plays for have more spirit!.. he's not wrong.

Made the right decision to stay away from the waste of time of watching city under the tender tutilage of Lee & co.

 

 

[Guest]

7 hours ago, hertsexile said:

The problem lies at the feet of the players once they cross that white line before kick off. The manager can try &change the formation but the players have to execute the plan the manager can only watch like us supporters and be just as frustrated. Do give LJ a break 

They are his players, the ones he brought here, the ones he trains with/sees most days, and his team selection/formation why should we give him a break? This is not another clubs squad of players, he is our football manager, he is not managing anywhere good enough AGAIN. He should take responsibility for that instead of blaming the weather/players/injuries.

[Son of Fred]

2 minutes ago, glos old boy said:

They are his players, the ones he brought here, the ones he trains with/sees most days, and his team selection/formation why should we give him a break? This is not another clubs squad of players, he is our football manager, he is not managing anywhere good enough AGAIN. He should take responsibility for that instead of blaming the weather/players/injuries.

We were starting the season just an injury away to one of our strikers from shit creek...

Only one person left carrying that can...

[Guest]

8 minutes ago, Robert the bruce said:

We were starting the season just an injury away to one of our strikers from shit creek...

Only one person left carrying that can...

Agree, I have seen many posts blaming many things from injuries (that didnt work yesterday as they had more and ours are mostly back anyway) to now the weather; there is only one (well 2 actually) to blame thats the manager and his employer.

If a car crashes blame the driver not the shit on the wheels.

[northsomersetred]

4pts out of a possible 24, 4 losses in a row,  50 players signed, tactically ******* clueless.

Need i go on? He's living off the back of the Utd win.

We'll be in the bottom half by the end of Feb and bottom 6 by the end of the season.

[Redandproud]

11 hours ago, BCFC Josh said:

LJ has been a good manager for the club, improving league position every season. The poor home form this season and last season, added to the fact he has no experience of promotion from this league mean that IMO a change of manager is needed to make the next step. 

LJ Is NOT the manager, as you put it, he's HEAD COACH, get you facts right 

[Wrongagain]

11 hours ago, hertsexile said:

The problem lies at the feet of the players once they cross that white line before kick off. The manager can try &change the formation but the players have to execute the plan the manager can only watch like us supporters and be just as frustrated. Do give LJ a break 

No it does not, you go to work every day and your supervisor lays out what he expects from you for the day - you know his instructions are shite because you know what you really should be doing - brilliant situation that most of us have been in at some stage - result - ah well, I’ll give it a go even if it isn’t going to work and I’ll get paid anyway.

This will continue until the owner realises that his blind faith in the supervisor is costing him! Steve! You reading this forum?

[Wrongagain]

Johnson is the Messiah! Brilliant young manager, huge potential and the future of our club! 
That’s basically what we were told 4 years ago! - if he were that good we would have been promoted by now and some other team would have offered him a deal he could not refuse, seems we are stuck with him until the owner sees him as the clubs problem - he has absolutely no record of success anywhere and is solely responsible for the failures of our team.

[Redandproud]

14 minutes ago, dave36 said:

Johnson is the Messiah! Brilliant young manager, huge potential and the future of our club! 
That’s basically what we were told 4 years ago! - if he were that good we would have been promoted by now and some other team would have offered him a deal he could not refuse, seems we are stuck with him until the owner sees him as the clubs problem - he has absolutely no record of success anywhere and is solely responsible for the failures of our team.

Please get it correct, LJ is not a brilliant Manager as you put it, He's  head coach, the quicker we get rid the better, he's taken us as far as his experience can, time for a change, 

[JASETHEACE]

Most probable outcome in the new year will not be a new head coach but a reshuffle in the coaching and backroom staff. Obviously something is not working within the current set up. I also believe one of the biggest problems we have is no leaders in the team from the back to the midfield. Webster organised the defence and pack the midfield and neither has been replaced with anyone who can bring these qualities. Priority should be too bring in some leadership in new year. 

 

 

 

 

[Wrongagain]

2 minutes ago, JASETHEACE said:

Most probable outcome in the new year will not be a new head coach but a reshuffle in the coaching and backroom staff. Obviously something is not working within the current set up. I also believe one of the biggest problems we have is no leaders in the team from the back to the midfield. Webster organised the defence and pack the midfield and neither has been replaced with anyone who can bring these qualities. Priority should be too bring in some leadership in new year. 

 

 

 

 

We don’t have leaders in the team and never will have under LJ, Leaders are almost never yes men and seen as a threat, Baddiff seems to be a popular destination for exiles

[JBFC II]

1 hour ago, northsomersetred said:

4pts out of a possible 24, 4 losses in a row,  50 players signed, tactically ******* clueless.

Need i go on? He's living off the back of the Utd win.

We'll be in the bottom half by the end of Feb and bottom 6 by the end of the season.

That’s a load of rubbish isn’t it. 
 

He’s hardly living off the back of the united win, since then we’ve finished 8th in the championship and until the last few games it looked as though we may have finished higher this season. 
 

Even if he does stay there is no chance we’ll finish in the bottom 6, but I think you know that...

[Spike]

Honestly it doesn't take a genius to understand why people are calling for LJ to be sacked. 

We are 4 defeats in a row off of the back of beating Huddersfield 5-2 and Fulham 2-1 at their own ground and in the last 4 games have shown next to no ability to go forward. On the odd occasion that we have gone forward we've then been so poor defensively that we've nullified those positive attacking flourishes. 

We're all aware that anything can happen in football but yesterday we went up against a team who have a huge injury list, hadn't won in 11 games and genuinely looked like they had imploded and after a mistake leading to their first goal we managed to turn the score around only to go on to make 2 more stupid mistakes. In the Championship you can't afford to make any mistakes, let alone 3 in one game. 

On a broader spectrum we've now been managed by LJ for 3 and a half years and he still doesn't know his best line up, or preffered tactic! He's shown signs of over-thinking his gameplan as well as looking out of his depth when it doesn't come off. He doesn't seem to react to situation changes well, he's very quickly becoming highly repetitive and whilst some fans praise the ground that he walks on I think a fairer assessment of his performance is in that in 3 and a half years of managing us he's not been offered a better job. 

People have suggested Hughton as a replacement but I honestly can not see him taking this job, I think he knows he can do better. As a fan of this club it's easy to think we're a big up and coming team but in reality we're a mid table Championship team who has a talented squad but no real gem that stands out. Why would a manager such as Hughton even consider the job here unless he had some real money to spend on a striker and a little left over to fortify what we already have? 

To put it simply, we're not as big as we would like to think we are, we have potential but we need someone who can motivate, is tactically strong, can get quality players for cheap and has experience in this league. As much as I hate to say it, I don't see there being many better options than LJ that would realistically join us but I can still fully understand why many would want him out as he really isn't taking us up without an insane amount of luck involved. 

[Alex_BCFC]

I don't want LJ sacked. 

I think the more interesting question is - has he taken us as far as he can?

Overall he has done a reasonable job. Stabilised a team who was heading back to L1 under Cotteril and then given us steady progression each season (with streaks thrown-in).

This season it appears as though (unless there is now a winning run) we are going backwards and LJ hasn't got the balance right despite having a team capable of top 6 for me. And that is even without Afobe (and that was unlucky for LJ as the team was clearly meant to be built around him).

I think this transfer window will decide things. We either get that striker in and LJ finds the balance to get us in to the top 6. Or he doesn't and we have a similar 2nd half of the season finishing mid-table or slightly lower. The 2nd one I think should see a change.

[22A]

15 hours ago, reddogkev said:

So we've had four poor losses, yes, ok this is shit, we can all agree on that.  But it has not been a season of misery, the 4 losses cannot overlook the successful beginning to the season, that has seen us practically camped in the top six for the first 4 1/2 months. 

 

All teams have a spell of poor result but; the performances at Hillsborough & The Valley were so lacklustre with the same players who earlier in the season did well, now appear clueless when in possession.

[Wrongagain]

18 minutes ago, Alex_BCFC said:

I don't want LJ sacked. 

I think the more interesting question is - has he taken us as far as he can?

Overall he has done a reasonable job. Stabilised a team who was heading back to L1 under Cotteril and then given us steady progression each season (with streaks thrown-in).

This season it appears as though (unless there is now a winning run) we are going backwards and LJ hasn't got the balance right despite having a team capable of top 6 for me. And that is even without Afobe (and that was unlucky for LJ as the team was clearly meant to be built around him).

I think this transfer window will decide things. We either get that striker in and LJ finds the balance to get us in to the top 6. Or he doesn't and we have a similar 2nd half of the season finishing mid-table or slightly lower. The 2nd one I think should see a change.

You don’t want him sacked but you have really well illustrated why he should go!

[BigTone]

15 hours ago, reddogkev said:

I see the LJ out brigade are back in force, revelling in their chance to call for his head with gusto and glee.  Hardly the spirit of Christmas is it?

So we've had four poor losses, yes, ok this is shit, we can all agree on that.  But it has not been a season of misery, the 4 losses cannot overlook the successful beginning to the season, that has seen us practically camped in the top six for the first 4 1/2 months. 

Instead of such gleeful malice and malcontent, why not give Lee the chance to get the club back on winning ways?  All football teams suffer periods of poor form - we do not sack our manager for just four bad results, do we?  I thought we were better than that.

Come on, let's give LJ and the boys the chance to get back to winning ways against Luton, and be supportive of all of their efforts. 

LJ is the present and the future for Bristol City and, if given the chance, may just be the man to get us into the top tier.  Don't bin him off just for a poor run of losses.  I've said it before, but he is massively in credit and doing well.  Get your ticket for the game against Luton and back the boys for a win.  Top six is still the aim, and I feel Lee needs the chance to show that this season.

SL is not going to sack him during this season, so just do yourself a favour and give the man a chance to get back to winning ways, losing 4 games is hardly a crisis, is it?

As you say LJ is going nowhere just yet. I'm disappointed to see us outside the top 6 as I fully expected us to be there at this time in the season. Fingers need to be extracted pronto otherwise next season could be a whole lot different.

[Drew Peacock]

17 minutes ago, Alex_BCFC said:

 that is even without Afobe (and that was unlucky for LJ as the team was clearly meant to be built around him).

I don't understand that. Afobe was a last minute replacement for a loan player we didn't get. All other transfers had been completed by then.

[BTRFTG]

He certainly deserves to be let go for his continued use of the phrase: "It's a game of inches and small increments....."

In the case of the Bloke From Knowle and his attempts on target (sic) yesterday it was indeed 'a matter of inches'. Each time about 120 of the sodding things or, as us in the real world like to call it, 10 foot wide of the post.

 

[LondonBristolian]

Fundamentally the question is whether the most recent 4 games are a blip or the start of a decline. I agree LJ should not be sacked based on 4 poor results alone but, before that, performances weren't by any means fantastic and you do get a sense LJ isn't getting the best out of certain players. I'd take no pleasure in LJ going - and, if he went now, he would leave us in far better shape than when he arrived and deserves a lot of thanks for that - but we aren't getting the best out of the squad and we currently look like slipping out of the promotion race in the second half of the season for a third - arguably fourth - straight year. 

LJ has shown how well he can get the team to play but has also regularly shown he cannot do that on a consistent basis. I'd rather he learned and stayed but, if this form lasts much longer, it is utterly reasonable for questions to be asked about his ability to do that. 

[Major Isewater]

15 hours ago, Fordy62 said:

Do you think any other coach could get more out of these players than LJ is?

Here’s the rub ... possibly.

There are no guarantees that  a new head coach would be an improvement on LJ , equally no guarantees that he wouldn’t take the club to promotion.

Changing a coach is risky .

[Fordy62]

35 minutes ago, Major Isewater said:

Here’s the rub ... possibly.

There are no guarantees that  a new head coach would be an improvement on LJ , equally no guarantees that he wouldn’t take the club to promotion.

Changing a coach is risky .

I don’t think it’s risky when you’re going nowhere fast. 

[exAtyeoMax]

16 hours ago, Fordy62 said:

Do you think any other coach could get more out of these players than LJ is?

Yes, he has a massive squad to choose from, including those out on loan. A new eye and different approach (not necessarily a massive shake up) could make all the difference. 

[Alex_BCFC]

1 hour ago, dave36 said:

You don’t want him sacked but you have really well illustrated why he should go!

No -  I've illustrated how he may have taken us as far as he can if he doesn't deliver this 2nd half of the season. I've not called for his head etc or any other of the OTT rubbish I've seen on here. We aren't going down or anywhere near the bottom. It would be strange to change now I think and other clubs would find us a laughing stock (just as I did Birmingham when they got rid of their manager when near the top 6). But as I've said the summer may be the time if LJ can't get January and balance right.

1 hour ago, Drew Peacock said:

I don't understand that. Afobe was a last minute replacement for a loan player we didn't get. All other transfers had been completed by then.

But it was obvious that whoever the striker was - the team was going to be focused on them I think and it was going to be a big signing. Just so happens that Afobe was that man even though he wasn't LJ's first choice.

[Mr Popodopolous]

14 hours ago, Davefevs said:

Okeedokee.

I believe we have the second highest turnover (behind Leeds) if you exclude the parachute club.

Is that a graph that might show 2018/19 for us and one or two others whereas 2017/18 for the rest? May have seen it about somewhere, Swiss Ramble or Kieran Maguire maybe. 

I might have a look at 2017/18 turnover for all 24 (23- no sign of Bolton) and see what it shows.

5th or 6th exclusive of parachute payments for that (the 2017/18) season sounds the right ballpark.

[Davefevs]

2 hours ago, JASETHEACE said:

Most probable outcome in the new year will not be a new head coach but a reshuffle in the coaching and backroom staff. Obviously something is not working within the current set up. I also believe one of the biggest problems we have is no leaders in the team from the back to the midfield. Webster organised the defence and pack the midfield and neither has been replaced with anyone who can bring these qualities. Priority should be too bring in some leadership in new year. 

 

 

 

 

Why hasn’t this been part of the consideration with the 50+ previous signings?

2 hours ago, dave36 said:

We don’t have leaders in the team and never will have under LJ, Leaders are almost never yes men and seen as a threat, Baddiff seems to be a popular destination for exiles

Personally I think we have several in the squad.  Kalas, Williams, Smith, Wright (Ok, he rarely plays).  It’s an excuse.

Try breeding some familiarity between your players and units.

Pick your system, find your best CB partnership and get them used to each other.

Johnson tells us it can take a long time to learn the system because it’s very intricate....and then he plays multiple systems.  He tells us that the 532/5212 and 442 aren’t very different in and out of possession, but that’s not true is it?

The in-game Management is poor.  If the players themselves can’t see what to do at 2-1 up away after 3 defeats in the spin, then the head-coach and assistants should be telling them.

[petehinton]

It’s the constant calling out of players when he doesn’t get his way that’s starting to really wear me down. 
 

Publicly call out Moore for the last goal, when playing him out of position? Get a grip. Play your players in their best position. Look at the build up to the goal too. Poor all over. 
 

Take care and nurture your players, especially the young ones. Don’t play them out of position then publicly slander them. That’ll be Moore out the team for a while....