‘The football club excelling at everything except football ‘

[BigAl&Toby]

I think he’s missed the point. The positives that he talks about aren’t exclusive to the football club.

They're Bristol Sport positives. Ok Robins Foundation distributing food and laptops might be construed as BCFC initiatives but to include training facilities, ground improvements, hospitality and concerts and a Sports Quarter doesn’t wash for me.

BCFC may well see some benefit from those things but not exclusively. Other parts of the Bristol Sports package do too. And therein lays the Bristol Bears trap. Perceived improvements by stealth.

And in the meantime we watch inept performances week in week out. With the promise of improvements. And the aim of promotion. And concerts. And pizzas. And concourse franchises.

**** me. Wouldn’t it be nice to just have a team of 11 who put in a shift? 

[Pezo]

36 minutes ago, RedRock said:

Simples.

The most important person at a football club is the MANAGER. The highest paid employee at the football club should be the manager.The Club stands or falls on the manager’s performance. 

 

It’s not the CEO. Nope. The CEO works for the football manager. The CEO does what the manager says. 

Not the centre-forward either. The centre-forward works for the manager and team. 

 

If Steve doesn’t realise the rise and fall of the value of the football assets (players) he trades fundamentally relies on the quality of the manager, and not the CEO, we will never get anywhere. Until we appoint a quality manager who is in charge of football matters  we are doomed to ‘also rans’ In the Championship, more likely being a big-City embarrassment in League 1. 

 

I think this is something that might be lost on SL and MA football isn't like a business where leadership comes from a CEO and filters down, its the other way in football fans/supporters/customers say what they want (as normal) and managers meet that or they lose there job, we have split that role into CEO and coach - what that means on the ground I'm not sure but it's not functioning right now. 

[SouthStand Sandwich]

Great read. GMc has gone right up in my estimation.

[Sleepy1968]

53 minutes ago, bearded_red said:

I thought he did, but wasn’t certain. Seems that he did!

I missed the first ten minutes of the second half, so unless he said it then, I must have missed it. Probably because I would have been uttering those same words myself. I think I heard him say 'Jesus Christ' after one of the goals.

After that display I'm surprised he kept the FH's down to one.

[steviestevieneville]

1 hour ago, Silvio Dante said:

That’s Gregor banned from Ashton Gate now then.

Spot on though.

There is a lot right about the club from an infrastructure point of view. So, if you want to split it, the “Bristol Sport” side of the model. And the academy/ loan management etc look to be going well. It’s the medical and first team football sides where there are big alarms

Can we get this myth dispelled about bristol sport. It’s basically a management company dealing with corporate events, ticket, marketing. Completely separate  to bristol city football club 

[ZiderEyed]

Well in G Mac, good read. Far more forgiving than I would be.

[Sheltons Army]

13 minutes ago, Pezo said:

I think this is something that might be lost on SL and MA football isn't like a business where leadership comes from a CEO and filters down, its the other way in football fans/supporters/customers say what they want (as normal) and managers meet that or they lose there job, we have split that role into CEO and coach - what that means on the ground I'm not sure but it's not functioning right now. 

Also in most businesses the owner has good knowledge of the business or type of business he owns and key line managers and senior positions will have worked their way to that position and , in theory should all have experience and the knowledge to be able to perform the roles they line manage themselves

In football, and in our particular case this isn’t so

I don’t question Mark Ashtons administrative or negotiating capability’s - we simply don’t know 

Clearly neither Steve Lansdown or Jon have , But Mark Ashton the man they appear to have given total automany to , has never coached or managed at any level , never directly scouted opponents or players for a club - Yet hes responsible for overseeing ‘All footballing matters’

In essence , from a pure Footballing Knowledge aspect and experience , we have no one at the Club above Dean Holden that has such experience

The three coaches who appear to be , even injuries aside , not performing are the football knowledge (First team level) and experience at the Club

The only one who could compare to their CVs , as modest as they are , would be Tins 

Is this not the root of the problem ?

[steviestevieneville]

1 hour ago, sh1t_ref_again said:

Excellent article and spot on, although missed the real question, who's decision was it not to get a LB with a couple of days of the transfer window left knowing we had long term injuries. Cannot believe not a single LB was available anywhere with all our contacts and England coaches

Why weren’t they looking at left backs on loan from a prem club as soon as they knew dasilva was out for months back in , when was it , November ? 
yes we had  Pring but who’s to say he’s good enough yet . ******* shambles 

[2015]

1 hour ago, Fordy62 said:

“I’ll just stick Towler in there and hope it works out.” Is pretty much Holden’s managerial style in a nutshell. 

We’ve basically got a head coach who just hopes all will be fine. 

FFS why are we in this mess again?!

Bit like when we used to go a goal down and he'd put 4 up front. 'I'll just put another striker on and we might be lucky and score'

The worst tactical manager I have seen at AG

[Sheltons Army]

Rereading that article a few times (It really is excellent and well written IMHO) two lines sum up my personal fears , and frustration and sum Bristol City Up for too many years

‘As for the head coach, he looked shell-shocked in his post-match press conference. We don't suggest that there will be a replacement as the message from the club has been that this is an extraordinary season and Holden has not yet had a fair crack of the whip.

There are other reasons for the drop-off in form of late too: poor recruitment, a threadbare squad ravaged by injury and more, while the club seem happy to bumble along until pressed to actually do something.’

 

 ‘Fiddling while Rome Burns ‘  comes to mind

As a Club nearly always fumbling ,

and reactive not proactive 

[ScottishRed]

Just now, Sheltons Army said:

Rereading that article a few times (It really is excellent and well written IMHO) two lines sum up my personal fears , and frustration and sum Bristol City Up for too many years

‘As for the head coach, he looked shell-shocked in his post-match press conference. We don't suggest that there will be a replacement as the message from the club has been that this is an extraordinary season and Holden has not yet had a fair crack of the whip.

There are other reasons for the drop-off in form of late too: poor recruitment, a threadbare squad ravaged by injury and more, while the club seem happy to bumble along until pressed to actually do something.’

 

 ‘Fiddling while Rome Burns ‘  comes to mind

As a Club nearly always fumbling ,

and reactive not proactive 

And those two highlighted points are key.

Yes, it is an extraordinary season, but it is for every team NOT just us.

And secondly, we are lied to constantly, the quotes from the summer are as hollow as an empty tin of cider.

I think, apart from an optimistic few, we all knew how this was going to pan out with Dean.

I hate to say this but I can’t see where our next win is coming from.

[robin_unreliant]

13 minutes ago, steviestevieneville said:

Why weren’t they looking at left backs on loan from a prem club as soon as they knew dasilva was out for months back in , when was it , November ? 
yes we had  Pring but who’s to say he’s good enough yet . ******* shambles 

Maybe SL had decided not to allow them to add to the wage bill in the Jan window. Looked like we sold Jonny Smith towards Lansbury wages so perhaps that was all Steve would sanction. After all, MA has made it pretty clear that nobody gets signed without SL signing it off. 

[Isawjonshaw]

1 minute ago, ScottishRed said:

 

I hate to say this but I can’t see where our next win is coming from.

This.  It may all be too late by the time SL pulls his finger from his arse.  

[Roger Red Hat]

1 hour ago, sh1t_ref_again said:

Excellent article and spot on, although missed the real question, who's decision was it not to get a LB with a couple of days of the transfer window left knowing we had long term injuries. Cannot believe not a single LB was available anywhere with all our contacts and England coaches

Spot on. Any head coach/manager with experience would have demanded MA sort it. 

[steviestevieneville]

2 minutes ago, robin_unreliant said:

Maybe SL had decided not to allow them to add to the wage bill in the Jan window. Looked like we sold Jonny Smith towards Lansbury wages so perhaps that was all Steve would sanction. After all, MA has made it pretty clear that nobody gets signed without SL signing it off. 

Since Ashton has come in , the recruitment has been a shambles in the main . I’m putting it down to incompetence 

[Nugget]

We all want the same thing, apart from those at the top. I really hope they eat humble pie & admit mistakes were made. No pitchforks, you’ve just got a mountain of the fan base (& now it seems the media) saying what we all feel. It’s just such a shame. 

[Curr Avon]

50 minutes ago, 054123 said:

He said loads of unconscious, emotional remarks. He cares.

Although the swearing was hilarious, the ‘oh god’ in the build up to one of the goals was more saddening in the respect of its realization of the impending doom

Tins always displays passion in his broadcasts, and is the best co-commentator on Robins TV. Sadly, that meant you could hear him sigh throughout yesterday's match.

[Richard Head]

2 minutes ago, steviestevieneville said:

Since Ashton has come in , the recruitment has been a shambles in the main . I’m putting it down to incompetence 

The last time we recruited well was when Steve Cotterill was appointed. He knew exactly which positions he wanted to strengthen and who he wanted to fill them. And he tried hard to further strengthen the squad in key positions when we were promoted but for whatever reason was prevented - Harry Maguire, Dwight Gayle etc. Rather than buy dozens of random midfielders.

[One Team]

1 hour ago, Shtanley said:

I love Gregor to bits on the pod. Only issue is we record immediately after the matches and he’s often travelling at that point. Maybe next weekend I’ll see what his schedule says. 

Out of likes for the OP and this reply @Shtanley, it’d be great to get him on soon, he seems to have his finger right of the pulse of the majority of City fans at the moment; and of course has greater insight than most of us too. 

”Vaccine for incompetence” would be a great title for an OSIB episode! 

[Finley_Smith10]

Gregors been very good atm and tbh he usually is. Obviously got to balance the sides in order to get onside with city so he can give out info. However he’s been critical of city atm and it’s refreshing to see. The biggest thing I’m annoyed about is there is no communication at all from the club and when it is it’s absolute crap from their twitter account

[steviestevieneville]

6 minutes ago, Richard Head said:

The last time we recruited well was when Steve Cotterill was appointed. He knew exactly which positions he wanted to strengthen and who he wanted to fill them. And he tried hard to further strengthen the squad in key positions when we were promoted but for whatever reason was prevented - Harry Maguire, Dwight Gayle etc. Rather than buy dozens of random midfielders.

We had Kieth Burt who was a massive part of recruiting that 2014/15 squad . Ashton sacked him as soon as he came in. Apart from a number of players you can count on one hand that have been proper successes , Ashton has wasted millions . He’s incompetent but incompetent on over £500k a year. You really couldn’t make it up 

[Galway Red]

1 hour ago, sh1t_ref_again said:

Excellent article and spot on, although missed the real question, who's decision was it not to get a LB with a couple of days of the transfer window left knowing we had long term injuries. Cannot believe not a single LB was available anywhere with all our contacts and England coaches

There was a left back available, his name was Cunningham and he was sent on loan from Cardiff to PNE

[Richard Head]

5 minutes ago, steviestevieneville said:

We had Kieth Burt who was a massive part of recruiting that 2014/15 squad . Ashton sacked him as soon as he came in. Apart from a number of players you can count on one hand that have been proper successes , Ashton has wasted millions . He’s incompetent but incompetent on over £500k a year. You really couldn’t make it up 

And Keith Burt has joined SC as head of recruitment at Shrewsbury.

[QuedgeRed]

I’ve always said get results on the pitch and the rest will follow.

Makes sense, more successful more revenue.

[sludge]

30 minutes ago, Richard Head said:

The last time we recruited well was when Steve Cotterill was appointed. He knew exactly which positions he wanted to strengthen and who he wanted to fill them. And he tried hard to further strengthen the squad in key positions when we were promoted but for whatever reason was prevented - Harry Maguire, Dwight Gayle etc. Rather than buy dozens of random midfielders.

Absolutely. Don’t seem to remember Cotts using phrases like ‘clubs in the bag’. 
 

Specific players for specific positions in a specific system. Not rocket science is it. 

[petehinton]

And people used to say he was too neutral and too scared to criticise the club

[mozo]

3 minutes ago, petehinton said:

And people used to say he was too neutral and too scared to criticise the club

I think he’s won a lot of people over in the past year or two

[Jeez]

1 hour ago, BigAl&Toby said:

I think he’s missed the point. The positives that he talks about aren’t exclusive to the football club.

They're Bristol Sport positives. Ok Robins Foundation distributing food and laptops might be construed as BCFC initiatives but to include training facilities, ground improvements, hospitality and concerts and a Sports Quarter doesn’t wash for me.

BCFC may well see some benefit from those things but not exclusively. Other parts of the Bristol Sports package do too. And therein lays the Bristol Bears trap. Perceived improvements by stealth.

And in the meantime we watch inept performances week in week out. With the promise of improvements. And the aim of promotion. And concerts. And pizzas. And concourse franchises.

**** me. Wouldn’t it be nice to just have a team of 11 who put in a shift? 

I don’t think he has as it is one overall organisation  - If anything this surely highlights the obvious shortcomings of those who are in charge of football vs those in charge of Events, Rugby, Facilities, Hospitality Academy, etc etc.

Hopefully it’s just a matter of time before SL realises the football operations are not performing to the same level the rest of the group are. 

[Red Exile]

12 minutes ago, Red Alert said:

I don’t think he has as it is one overall organisation  - If anything this surely highlights the obvious shortcomings of those who are in charge of football vs those in charge of Events, Rugby, Facilities, Hospitality Academy, etc etc.

Hopefully it’s just a matter of time before SL realises the football operations are not performing to the same level the rest of the group are. 

...if he's not realised that the football operations are underperforming he's not been paying much attention for the past couple of years!

[Red_Alligator]

Very good read that. Sums things up nicely.