FBC Podcast - Episode 32 : Animal Magic aka Reading [A] reviewed

[headhunter]

https://www.podbean.com/eu/pb-gxt9c-f3860f  - also on Spotify

City would have taken one helluva beating were it not for another stunning display in goal from Daniel Bentley. As it was Reading ended their win less run and City continued their miserable form against teams in the top half of the Championship.

Ian, Mark and Headhunter discuss a disappointing performance all round. We briefly preview QPR away, have a good old moan, discuss job for Cotts and with this week's announcement of the closure of Bristol Zoo we share some childhood memories with Mark reminding us that Johnny Morris's Animal Magic show, teatime viewing on BBC1 in the 60s, was filmed there

[Curr Avon]

It was a shame to see City's stretched squad, reach the end of its elastic today. Hopefully Bakinson will return against QPR to bolster midfíeld and Dean may also rotate the strikers. Today's performance was definitely one to forget.

[Tipps69]

I’ve just listened to this one & one thing I’d like to say regards the criticism of the clubs transfer policy & spending. 
The trouble comes that we quite possibly spend £15k p/w each on two players because that is what the manager has wanted (two players), rather than the £30k p/w on one player because signing one player is no good if the manager wants a striker & a right-back for example or a back-up striker for when the new striker gets injured.

Also you give credit to the fact of the new training ground but this still isn’t in operation & we are decades behind most clubs when it comes to this, why would anyone of any stature previously of joined us when we’ve basically trained in the park or on school field pitches for decades when they have other offers from clubs with proper facilities? We have been playing catch-up to a lot of clubs for a long time in this regards & that has had a domino effect on players joining us.

And it’s LJ that has instigated these improvements to the whole infrastructure that will hopefully see us benefit both on & off the pitch for years to come.

[Davefevs]

2 hours ago, Tipps69 said:

I’ve just listened to this one & one thing I’d like to say regards the criticism of the clubs transfer policy & spending. 
The trouble comes that we quite possibly spend £15k p/w each on two players because that is what the manager has wanted (two players), rather than the £30k p/w on one player because signing one player is no good if the manager wants a striker & a right-back for example or a back-up striker for when the new striker gets injured.

Also you give credit to the fact of the new training ground but this still isn’t in operation & we are decades behind most clubs when it comes to this, why would anyone of any stature previously of joined us when we’ve basically trained in the park or on school field pitches for decades when they have other offers from clubs with proper facilities? We have been playing catch-up to a lot of clubs for a long time in this regards & that has had a domino effect on players joining us.

And it’s LJ that has instigated these improvements to the whole infrastructure that will hopefully see us benefit both on & off the pitch for years to come.

I don’t recall that debate last night per se, but my observation of LJ / MA’s recruitment was that I think it was based too much on “wants” rather than “needs”.  I get that you need cover, that’s the whole point of a squad, but for me the squad was unbalanced, meaning that we had too many in one position and not enough in others.

For me there wasn’t enough critical analysis of why a new signing was needed and where they would fit in....and I think he wasted some of the money that we generated from fantastic prices of players sold.

Could he have been more frugal and used the youngsters more to cover the back up to the match day 18?

For me I see his legacy as “clubs in the bag” and that is hamstringing us in the current financial climate.

Its wasn’t all bad, but overall I think his recruitment was below par.

[Tipps69]

1 minute ago, Davefevs said:

I don’t recall that debate last night per se, but my observation of LJ / MA’s recruitment was that I think it was based too much on “wants” rather than “needs”.  I get that you need cover, that’s the whole point of a squad, but for me the squad was unbalanced, meaning that we had too many in one position and not enough in others.

For me there wasn’t enough critical analysis of why a new signing was needed and where they would fit in....and I think he wasted some of the money that we generated from fantastic prices of players sold.

Could he have been more frugal and used the youngsters more to cover the back up to the match day 18?

For me I see his legacy as “clubs in the bag” and that is hamstringing us in the current financial climate.

Its wasn’t all bad, but overall I think his recruitment was below par.

That debate was on Saturday’s podcast, hence why I’ve commented on Saturday’s podcast thread @Davefevs

[Davefevs]

2 hours ago, Tipps69 said:

That debate was on Saturday’s podcast, hence why I’ve commented on Saturday’s podcast thread @Davefevs

Aha.....I must listen back.  Just to check they weren’t talking about me.

[chinapig]

3 hours ago, Davefevs said:

I don’t recall that debate last night per se, but my observation of LJ / MA’s recruitment was that I think it was based too much on “wants” rather than “needs”.  I get that you need cover, that’s the whole point of a squad, but for me the squad was unbalanced, meaning that we had too many in one position and not enough in others.

For me there wasn’t enough critical analysis of why a new signing was needed and where they would fit in....and I think he wasted some of the money that we generated from fantastic prices of players sold.

Could he have been more frugal and used the youngsters more to cover the back up to the match day 18?

For me I see his legacy as “clubs in the bag” and that is hamstringing us in the current financial climate.

Its wasn’t all bad, but overall I think his recruitment was below par.

I think you leave out a key point, that Ashton likes to "trade" to use his word. Pre-Covid the transfer market was inflationary so a player might increase in value even if he never became a first team regular. Hence the punts on some players LJ evidently didn't rate so didn't play.

Otherwise the strategy was to bring other players in who did become regulars and sell them on at a big profit as soon as possible.

In either case you don't need a great hit rate to be quids in. I have argued all along that the club's strategy was much more about finance than football therefore.

The impact of Covid will depress the transfer market for years I reckon so Ashton will have to rethink. It won't stop him referring to "my database", "my analysts" and so on but hopefully Holden will have more control than he otherwise would.

[Davefevs]

43 minutes ago, chinapig said:

I think you leave out a key point, that Ashton likes to "trade" to use his word. Pre-Covid the transfer market was inflationary so a player might increase in value even if he never became a first team regular. Hence the punts on some players LJ evidently didn't rate so didn't play.

Otherwise the strategy was to bring other players in who did become regulars and sell them on at a big profit as soon as possible.

In either case you don't need a great hit rate to be quids in. I have argued all along that the club's strategy was much more about finance than football therefore.

The impact of Covid will depress the transfer market for years I reckon so Ashton will have to rethink. It won't stop him referring to "my database", "my analysts" and so on but hopefully Holden will have more control than he otherwise would.

Yep, I made that point in my “one loan too many” article in pre-season.