The Office (UK): Ipswich Town edition

[chinapig]

46 minutes ago, cidercity1987 said:

Scraped a draw against bottom of the league today I see. Really making that 11th place (or 55th if you prefer) their own, well in Mark

I can't seem to find any video of his lap of honour to meet his adoring fans at Crewe today. Anybody got a link?

[Coppy]

I watched his ipswich fans podcast appearance and he's up to his old tricks, he credited Gary Probert with the development of Bobby Reid and Joe Bryan but a quick Wikipedia check shows they were playing first team football when Probert took on his first city foundation role. He also described the clubs he's worked at as being the biggest developers of youth talent the country had ever seen. Finally for good measure he made reference to the medals and Andy Rolls has won like he was a key component in 'the invincibles' again quick wiki search shows he joined at the end of Wengers time and he might have a fa cup and a charity shield on his CV at best. Basically the bloke has no shame 

[chinapig]

10 minutes ago, Coppy said:

I watched his ipswich fans podcast appearance and he's up to his old tricks, he credited Gary Probert with the development of Bobby Reid and Joe Bryan but a quick Wikipedia check shows they were playing first team football when Probert took on his first city foundation role. He also described the clubs he's worked at as being the biggest developers of youth talent the country had ever seen. Finally for good measure he made reference to the medals and Andy Rolls has won like he was a key component in 'the invincibles' again quick wiki search shows he joined at the end of Wengers time and he might have a fa cup and a charity shield on his CV at best. Basically the bloke has no shame 

With bullsh*t like that he could be our next Prime Minister.

[Davefevs]

4 minutes ago, Coppy said:

I watched his ipswich fans podcast appearance and he's up to his old tricks, he credited Gary Probert with the development of Bobby Reid and Joe Bryan but a quick Wikipedia check shows they were playing first team football when Probert took on his first city foundation role. He also described the clubs he's worked at as being the biggest developers of youth talent the country had ever seen. Finally for good measure he made reference to the medals and Andy Rolls has won like he was a key component in 'the invincibles' again quick wiki search shows he joined at the end of Wengers time and he might have a fa cup and a charity shield on his CV at best. Basically the bloke has no shame 

Bloke is a serial bullshitter…I’m sure in his head he believes it’s all true.

Honeymoon period for McKenna is over too.  Had their post-Cook bounce, but with the squad of players they have, they should be pushing the top 6, not falling backwards.  No win in 5 now.

But as long as he signs Bakinson, that’ll do.

[Davefevs]

1 minute ago, billywedlock said:

Maybe the new owners will see through him quicker than SL who seemingly did not realise he had an issue until the toad was gone . 5 years too late . 

He’s made sure he’s got Mike O’Leary as a buffer between him and the owners this time.

[GrahamC]

1 hour ago, Davefevs said:

Bloke is a serial bullshitter…I’m sure in his head he believes it’s all true.

Honeymoon period for McKenna is over too.  Had their post-Cook bounce, but with the squad of players they have, they should be pushing the top 6, not falling backwards.  No win in 5 now.

But as long as he signs Bakinson, that’ll do.

Bakinson has been a regular starter even after it became mathematically impossible for them to get promoted, I’m cautiously optimistic.

[Sheltons Army]

1 hour ago, Coppy said:

I watched his ipswich fans podcast appearance and he's up to his old tricks, he credited Gary Probert with the development of Bobby Reid and Joe Bryan but a quick Wikipedia check shows they were playing first team football when Probert took on his first city foundation role. He also described the clubs he's worked at as being the biggest developers of youth talent the country had ever seen. Finally for good measure he made reference to the medals and Andy Rolls has won like he was a key component in 'the invincibles' again quick wiki search shows he joined at the end of Wengers time and he might have a fa cup and a charity shield on his CV at best. Basically the bloke has no shame 

Wow

What a complete c**k

 

[Sheltons Army]

3 hours ago, Davefevs said:

Manager not happy with player attitude either.

DNA Mark, DNA!!!

‘ Dodgy Numbers ‘ Agents 

[Numero Uno]

1 hour ago, billywedlock said:

Maybe the new owners will see through him quicker than SL who seemingly did not realise he had an issue until the toad was gone . 5 years too late . 

Steve thought the bloke was fantastic and unfairly criticised by supporters and wasn’t shy to tell us so. I would imagine he still thinks he made a great CEO appointment and there is no issue. The massive losses and FFP **** up are just bad luck caused by Covid not a crackpot financial strategy that was anything of the previous CEO’s doing and endorsed by himself………

[Street red]

31 minutes ago, Sheltons Army said:

Wow

What a complete c**k

 

Yep a massive one at that  

[Sleepy1968]

1 hour ago, Numero Uno said:

Steve thought the bloke was fantastic and unfairly criticised by supporters and wasn’t shy to tell us so. I would imagine he still thinks he made a great CEO appointment and there is no issue. The massive losses and FFP **** up are just bad luck caused by Covid not a crackpot financial strategy that was anything of the previous CEO’s doing and endorsed by himself………

I still shudder when I remember SL saying that he tried to talk Swiss out of leaving. The only proper response to that (and one I hope the interviewer at least asked in his head) was "What? Are you mad?".

[fgrsimon]

On 01/04/2022 at 00:48, Southend Blue said:

We're like 12 league games unbeaten and are now easily one of the very best sides in League One.   If we make the play-offs there's every chance we'll win it but pity is McKenna, Ashton and the new Game Changer Group owners came in too late to address the slide left before them by Marcus Evans, Hurst and Lambert.     Good night.    

Hmm...this aged well. Just drew 1-1 with Crewe who were basically relegated by Christmas and Ipswich will miss play-offs by about 13 points.

[Numero Uno]

6 hours ago, Sleepy1968 said:

I still shudder when I remember SL saying that he tried to talk Swiss out of leaving. The only proper response to that (and one I hope the interviewer at least asked in his head) was "What? Are you mad?".

I may be outspoken on this but for that alone the guy needs to try and sell up in my view and forget any idea of a lasting legacy. That's done and he's blown that. There will be no legacy in the minds of all but a small minority of fans. Swiss was a ******* bullshitter who has strangled the life out of this club and the fact that the owner supported him to the end speaks volumes for me and many others.

If he gets 11K season ticket holders next season, my prediction, that's around 3K more than the club deserve after what they have put fans through in terms of uninspiring and mainly turgid football for 3-4 seasons now. The attitude at the club towards fans is "put up and shut the **** up" and the owners attitude is "my club, like it or lump it"..........I wonder how many fans look at the investment made, the return (three or four memorable seasons in over 20 years and a higher number of shocking ones), what they have got out of it in terms of enjoying football and wonder whether the Sugar Daddy was all worth it?

My view is without the massive investment we would probably be more akin to Rotherham perhaps, or we may have found someone else to invest and done a Preston (which overall is better than us in recent years), would probably be undergoing a more phased redevelopment of the Gate (which would probably have been finished by now), wouldn't have wasted a penny on Ashton Vale, wouldn't have anything resembling the Bristol Sport bullshit and would have a fit for purpose training ground that would not have been as grandiose as the current set up that has produced the sum total of **** all in terms of improved performances and results on the pitch. We might have missed out on the Gary Johnson season, we might have missed out on Man City away but I'm not sure that overall we would be in that much of a worse position to be honest. We might even have avoided a financial strategy implemented by the guy that the owner tried to talk out of leaving that is no less than crackpot and we could have been going into next season with nearly as much as a pot to piss in even?

Great training ground (let's call it what it is), lovely stadium rebuild........that side of it we all have to be hugely grateful for but £150-£200m spent, as far away from the Premiership now as we've ever been, high prices (Man City do cheaper season tickets than us), potential points deduction on the horizon, honest, hard-working Manager with pedigree working with both hands tied behind his back and rope around his ankles now and in the foreseeable, joint tenants with a rugby team, paying players plodding through a career £15-£25K per week, people attending Ashton Gate for the social not the football.............is that the legacy any of you thought we should be getting for allowing a mega-rich, local businessman to call the club "mine, not yours"?

[Sheltons Army]

8 minutes ago, Numero Uno said:

I may be outspoken on this but for that alone the guy needs to try and sell up in my view and forget any idea of a lasting legacy. That's done and he's blown that. There will be no legacy in the minds of all but a small minority of fans. Swiss was a ******* bullshitter who has strangled the life out of this club and the fact that the owner supported him to the end speaks volumes for me and many others.

If he gets 11K season ticket holders next season, my prediction, that's around 3K more than the club deserve after what they have put fans through in terms of uninspiring and mainly turgid football for 3-4 seasons now. The attitude at the club towards fans is "put up and shut the **** up" and the owners attitude is "my club, like it or lump it"..........I wonder how many fans look at the investment made, the return (three or four memorable seasons in over 20 years and a higher number of shocking ones), what they have got out of it in terms of enjoying football and wonder whether the Sugar Daddy was all worth it?

My view is without the massive investment we would probably be more akin to Rotherham perhaps, or we may have found someone else to invest and done a Preston (which overall is better than us in recent years), would probably be undergoing a more phased redevelopment of the Gate (which would probably have been finished by now), wouldn't have wasted a penny on Ashton Vale, wouldn't have anything resembling the Bristol Sport bullshit and would have a fit for purpose training ground that would not have been as grandiose as the current set up that has produced the sum total of **** all in terms of improved performances and results on the pitch. We might have missed out on the Gary Johnson season, we might have missed out on Man City away but I'm not sure that overall we would be in that much of a worse position to be honest. We might even have avoided a financial strategy implemented by the guy that the owner tried to talk out of leaving that is no less than crackpot and we could have been going into next season with nearly as much as a pot to piss in even?

Great training ground (let's call it what it is), lovely stadium rebuild........that side of it we all have to be hugely grateful for but £150-£200m spent, as far away from the Premiership now as we've ever been, high prices (Man City do cheaper season tickets than us), potential points deduction on the horizon, honest, hard-working Manager with pedigree working with both hands tied behind his back and rope around his ankles now and in the foreseeable, joint tenants with a rugby team, paying players plodding through a career £15-£25K per week, people attending Ashton Gate for the social not the football.............is that the legacy any of you thought we should be getting for allowing a mega-rich, local businessman to call the club "mine, not yours"?

Brave ,

Not much to argue with there

 

[MrBibs]

On 01/04/2022 at 00:48, Southend Blue said:

 

We're like 12 league games unbeaten and are now easily one of the very best sides in League One.   If we make the play-offs there's every chance we'll win it but pity is McKenna, Ashton and the new Game Changer Group owners came in too late to address the slide left before them by Marcus Evans, Hurst and Lambert.     Good night.    

Great to hear from you Mark. Nice to see you giving credit to McKenna too. No doubt you’ll remain fully supportive of him if things don’t quite go to plan next season

[Port Said Red]

1 hour ago, Sheltons Army said:

Brave ,

Not much to argue with there

Really? he listed half a dozen things that are a lasting legacy and then said he won't leave one. 

Every time I see post like that, my thoughts turn to this 

https://youtu.be/Qc7HmhrgTuQ

[slartibartfast]

13 hours ago, Ska Junkie said:

I wonder what kind of reception the used car salesman would get at the swamp if the sags go up?

Two minutes applause ?

[weepywall]

1 hour ago, Numero Uno said:

I may be outspoken on this but for that alone the guy needs to try and sell up in my view and forget any idea of a lasting legacy. That's done and he's blown that. There will be no legacy in the minds of all but a small minority of fans. Swiss was a ******* bullshitter who has strangled the life out of this club and the fact that the owner supported him to the end speaks volumes for me and many others.

If he gets 11K season ticket holders next season, my prediction, that's around 3K more than the club deserve after what they have put fans through in terms of uninspiring and mainly turgid football for 3-4 seasons now. The attitude at the club towards fans is "put up and shut the **** up" and the owners attitude is "my club, like it or lump it"..........I wonder how many fans look at the investment made, the return (three or four memorable seasons in over 20 years and a higher number of shocking ones), what they have got out of it in terms of enjoying football and wonder whether the Sugar Daddy was all worth it?

My view is without the massive investment we would probably be more akin to Rotherham perhaps, or we may have found someone else to invest and done a Preston (which overall is better than us in recent years), would probably be undergoing a more phased redevelopment of the Gate (which would probably have been finished by now), wouldn't have wasted a penny on Ashton Vale, wouldn't have anything resembling the Bristol Sport bullshit and would have a fit for purpose training ground that would not have been as grandiose as the current set up that has produced the sum total of **** all in terms of improved performances and results on the pitch. We might have missed out on the Gary Johnson season, we might have missed out on Man City away but I'm not sure that overall we would be in that much of a worse position to be honest. We might even have avoided a financial strategy implemented by the guy that the owner tried to talk out of leaving that is no less than crackpot and we could have been going into next season with nearly as much as a pot to piss in even?

Great training ground (let's call it what it is), lovely stadium rebuild........that side of it we all have to be hugely grateful for but £150-£200m spent, as far away from the Premiership now as we've ever been, high prices (Man City do cheaper season tickets than us), potential points deduction on the horizon, honest, hard-working Manager with pedigree working with both hands tied behind his back and rope around his ankles now and in the foreseeable, joint tenants with a rugby team, paying players plodding through a career £15-£25K per week, people attending Ashton Gate for the social not the football.............is that the legacy any of you thought we should be getting for allowing a mega-rich, local businessman to call the club "mine, not yours"?

But apart from all that you are reasonably happy with SL ?

[Davefevs]

2 hours ago, Numero Uno said:

I may be outspoken on this but for that alone the guy needs to try and sell up in my view and forget any idea of a lasting legacy. That's done and he's blown that. There will be no legacy in the minds of all but a small minority of fans. Swiss was a ******* bullshitter who has strangled the life out of this club and the fact that the owner supported him to the end speaks volumes for me and many others.

If he gets 11K season ticket holders next season, my prediction, that's around 3K more than the club deserve after what they have put fans through in terms of uninspiring and mainly turgid football for 3-4 seasons now. The attitude at the club towards fans is "put up and shut the **** up" and the owners attitude is "my club, like it or lump it"..........I wonder how many fans look at the investment made, the return (three or four memorable seasons in over 20 years and a higher number of shocking ones), what they have got out of it in terms of enjoying football and wonder whether the Sugar Daddy was all worth it?

My view is without the massive investment we would probably be more akin to Rotherham perhaps, or we may have found someone else to invest and done a Preston (which overall is better than us in recent years), would probably be undergoing a more phased redevelopment of the Gate (which would probably have been finished by now), wouldn't have wasted a penny on Ashton Vale, wouldn't have anything resembling the Bristol Sport bullshit and would have a fit for purpose training ground that would not have been as grandiose as the current set up that has produced the sum total of **** all in terms of improved performances and results on the pitch. We might have missed out on the Gary Johnson season, we might have missed out on Man City away but I'm not sure that overall we would be in that much of a worse position to be honest. We might even have avoided a financial strategy implemented by the guy that the owner tried to talk out of leaving that is no less than crackpot and we could have been going into next season with nearly as much as a pot to piss in even?

Great training ground (let's call it what it is), lovely stadium rebuild........that side of it we all have to be hugely grateful for but £150-£200m spent, as far away from the Premiership now as we've ever been, high prices (Man City do cheaper season tickets than us), potential points deduction on the horizon, honest, hard-working Manager with pedigree working with both hands tied behind his back and rope around his ankles now and in the foreseeable, joint tenants with a rugby team, paying players plodding through a career £15-£25K per week, people attending Ashton Gate for the social not the football.............is that the legacy any of you thought we should be getting for allowing a mega-rich, local businessman to call the club "mine, not yours"?

Lots to agree with here.  

[Fuber]

28 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Lots to agree with here.  

Only point I would disagree with - is that SL will most likely leave a lasting legacy.

I think his heart was in the right place. But overall decision making and appointments have been shambolic, mostly down to what has to be a very weird amateurish culture at the club

The latter, ultimately comes from the top down.

Any proficient chairman gets all the infrastructure in place first, and places trust in his process depending on the aim, once decided on a method.

See examples with regards to other chairman who got clubs similar and smaller into the PL, i.e. Brentford (2014-Present), Reading (Madejski, 1990-2012), Swansea (Jenkins, 2002-2018).

All of them made decisive decisions in the first half of their tenures (Recruitment, Academy, Infrastructure) respectively.

It's taken SL over 20 years as a board member to get up to date training facilities, and refurbish Ashton Gate.

They should have been first on the list.

Edited April 24, 2022 by Fuber

[TV Tom]

2 hours ago, Numero Uno said:

I may be outspoken on this but for that alone the guy needs to try and sell up in my view and forget any idea of a lasting legacy. That's done and he's blown that. There will be no legacy in the minds of all but a small minority of fans. Swiss was a ******* bullshitter who has strangled the life out of this club and the fact that the owner supported him to the end speaks volumes for me and many others.

If he gets 11K season ticket holders next season, my prediction, that's around 3K more than the club deserve after what they have put fans through in terms of uninspiring and mainly turgid football for 3-4 seasons now. The attitude at the club towards fans is "put up and shut the **** up" and the owners attitude is "my club, like it or lump it"..........I wonder how many fans look at the investment made, the return (three or four memorable seasons in over 20 years and a higher number of shocking ones), what they have got out of it in terms of enjoying football and wonder whether the Sugar Daddy was all worth it?

My view is without the massive investment we would probably be more akin to Rotherham perhaps, or we may have found someone else to invest and done a Preston (which overall is better than us in recent years), would probably be undergoing a more phased redevelopment of the Gate (which would probably have been finished by now), wouldn't have wasted a penny on Ashton Vale, wouldn't have anything resembling the Bristol Sport bullshit and would have a fit for purpose training ground that would not have been as grandiose as the current set up that has produced the sum total of **** all in terms of improved performances and results on the pitch. We might have missed out on the Gary Johnson season, we might have missed out on Man City away but I'm not sure that overall we would be in that much of a worse position to be honest. We might even have avoided a financial strategy implemented by the guy that the owner tried to talk out of leaving that is no less than crackpot and we could have been going into next season with nearly as much as a pot to piss in even?

Great training ground (let's call it what it is), lovely stadium rebuild........that side of it we all have to be hugely grateful for but £150-£200m spent, as far away from the Premiership now as we've ever been, high prices (Man City do cheaper season tickets than us), potential points deduction on the horizon, honest, hard-working Manager with pedigree working with both hands tied behind his back and rope around his ankles now and in the foreseeable, joint tenants with a rugby team, paying players plodding through a career £15-£25K per week, people attending Ashton Gate for the social not the football.............is that the legacy any of you thought we should be getting for allowing a mega-rich, local businessman to call the club "mine, not yours"?

Al ifs, buts and maybe’s we could also have been bumming about in the basement, be very careful what you wish for.

[TV Tom]

3 minutes ago, Fuber said:

Only point I would disagree with - is that SL will most likely leave a lasting legacy.

I think his heart was in the right place. But overall decision making and appointments have been shambolic, mostly down to what has to be a very weird amateurish culture at the club

The latter, ultimately comes from the top down.

Any proficient chairman gets all the infrastructure in place first, and places trust in his process depending on the aim, once decided on a method.

See examples with regards to other chairman who got clubs similar and smaller into the PL, i.e. Brentford (2014-Present), Reading (Madejski, 1990-2012), Swansea (Jenkins, 2002-2018).

All of them made decisive decisions in the first half of their tenures (Recruitment, Academy, Infrastructure) respectively.

It's taken SL over 20 years as a board member to get up to date training facilities, and refurbish Ashton Gate.

They should have been first on the list.

Most fans thought the appointment of Cotterill was shambolic, what do fans know?

[elhombrecito]

Glad to see that Ashton spending spree yielding huge results at Portman Road...

[Numero Uno]

18 minutes ago, harrys said:

Al ifs, buts and maybe’s we could also have been bumming about in the basement, be very careful what you wish for.

Yes of course, I wish for more years of mind numbingly boring counter attacking football at home like I have watched for the last four years obviously. I know that given a chance the current Manager will deliver better than that but I also know, given the chance, the current Owner if he comes up with another one of his infamous cunning plans could very easily drive another few K away from attending Ashton Gate on a regular basis.

Btw, our history shows that we spent very little time bumming about in the basement and that would have been as likely a scenario as bumming around in the top flight for years on end. Steve Lansdown took over a Div 2/Div 3 club and that is what he will leave when he packs in unless Pearson delivers something way beyond all of our expectations. Our history shows that we didn't need a £200m investment to remain a Div 2/Div 3 club, the only benefit I can see is the proportion of time in Div 2 is higher than the average - is that a good spend of £200m - I'm not so sure.

But, yeah, I'd better take your advice and be careful for what I wish for!! 

[Numero Uno]

21 minutes ago, harrys said:

Most fans thought the appointment of Cotterill was shambolic, what do fans know?

Most fans thought the appointment of Holden was shambolic...........and were spot on.

Most fans thought Mark Ashton was a used car salesman (nothing wrong with that except when you are masquerading as a half a mill CEO).........and were spot on.

Swings and roundabouts.......

[Numero Uno]

29 minutes ago, Fuber said:

Only point I would disagree with - is that SL will most likely leave a lasting legacy.

I think his heart was in the right place. But overall decision making and appointments have been shambolic, mostly down to what has to be a very weird amateurish culture at the club

The latter, ultimately comes from the top down.

Any proficient chairman gets all the infrastructure in place first, and places trust in his process depending on the aim, once decided on a method.

See examples with regards to other chairman who got clubs similar and smaller into the PL, i.e. Brentford (2014-Present), Reading (Madejski, 1990-2012), Swansea (Jenkins, 2002-2018).

All of them made decisive decisions in the first half of their tenures (Recruitment, Academy, Infrastructure) respectively.

It's taken SL over 20 years as a board member to get up to date training facilities, and refurbish Ashton Gate.

They should have been first on the list.

Fair enough, I cannot argue with you that Steve leaves a very tidy and impressive legacy of bricks and mortar..........then what?

[Numero Uno]

1 hour ago, Port Said Red said:

Really? he listed half a dozen things that are a lasting legacy and then said he won't leave one. 

Every time I see post like that, my thoughts turn to this 

https://youtu.be/Qc7HmhrgTuQ

I accept the points on bricks and mortar investment but for £200m spent there is nothing else. You don't need to spend £200m to have a single Championship play-off final at Wembley or reach a Carabao cup semi-final (we did that years before spending a fraction of the money when Joe Jordan was Manager). The problem is that too many people try and fool others by saying without the money it can't be done whilst there is a decent enough sized list of clubs "perceived" to be smaller than ours and having achieved more. That is nothing like legacy......not even close.

When we look back at the "Lansdown Years", unless Nige delivers in the next couple of seasons, how much better can we say it was than anything we have witnessed before it? I'm sure you'll cherry pick a 6 year period around 1980 to prove your point though........................

Edited April 24, 2022 by Numero Uno

[TV Tom]

1 hour ago, Numero Uno said:

Yes of course, I wish for more years of mind numbingly boring counter attacking football at home like I have watched for the last four years obviously. I know that given a chance the current Manager will deliver better than that but I also know, given the chance, the current Owner if he comes up with another one of his infamous cunning plans could very easily drive another few K away from attending Ashton Gate on a regular basis.

Btw, our history shows that we spent very little time bumming about in the basement and that would have been as likely a scenario as bumming around in the top flight for years on end. Steve Lansdown took over a Div 2/Div 3 club and that is what he will leave when he packs in unless Pearson delivers something way beyond all of our expectations. Our history shows that we didn't need a £200m investment to remain a Div 2/Div 3 club, the only benefit I can see is the proportion of time in Div 2 is higher than the average - is that a good spend of £200m - I'm not so sure.

But, yeah, I'd better take your advice and be careful for what I wish for!! 

Highly unlikely I know but i said that we COULD of been bumming around in the basement not WOULD, unlike you I know the difference.

You say that you KNOW that the current manager will deliver better better football, how do you know, I’ve seen nothing to support that

What sort of cunning plan will the owner come up with?

Surely the cunning plan is sticking with the current manager despite a season and a half of, how you put it, “mind numbingly boring counter attacking football”

The owner appointed Pearson and stuck with him where as most other chairmen would of got rid considering the utter dross his teams have produced over 50 games, give the owner a bit of credit

Serious question, if not a Bristolian self-made billionaire then who?  Would you be happy with overseas owners or people like Ashley with no connection whatsoever with the city or club? 

[Red Exile]

7 minutes ago, harrys said:

Serious question, if not a Bristolian self-made billionaire then who?  Would you be happy with overseas owners or people like Ashley with no connection whatsoever with the city or club? 

I can happily let you two argue it out! - but on the question you pose...

Looking back, in a different world SL would never have turned up, and given that relatively few football clubs go belly-up something else would have happened. We have no way of knowing what that would be, we might be Burnley, we might be Bradford. Looking forward, assuming that SL controls his departure, there will be a successor - whether it's another local billionaire (unlikely!) or some other structure we have no way of knowing and no control over. It'll be presented to us, by SL, as most things good and bad have been during his time in charge.

Where we can have a more informed opinion is an assessment of SL's stewardship. His bricks-and-mortar legacy can't be knocked. He can be more critically judged on his decisions regarding the playing side of the club and there I think he made some poor calls. First, having taken the bold move of approaching Coppell to build on GJ's achievements, a 'been there and done it' manager, he failed to stick to his guns when it rapidly turned sour. Second, he failed to build on what Cotts and Keith Burt had achieved and gambled on a family friend. Hindsight suggests they were poor calls, many considered them so at the time. This thread has been diverted from its original subject, and to bring it back, a third bad call was handing the keys of the club to Mark Ashton, a man whose talents and experience were again questioned at the time.

Whatever we may think of him, and I have a great deal of respect, I'd be surprised if City had achieved what SL hoped for 20 years ago. It's been hard to identify a consistent strategy...if such a thing exists at City. Maybe things are changing, one would hope so.

[Numero Uno]

1 hour ago, harrys said:

Highly unlikely I know but i said that we COULD of been bumming around in the basement not WOULD, unlike you I know the difference.

You say that you KNOW that the current manager will deliver better better football, how do you know, I’ve seen nothing to support that

What sort of cunning plan will the owner come up with?

Surely the cunning plan is sticking with the current manager despite a season and a half of, how you put it, “mind numbingly boring counter attacking football”

The owner appointed Pearson and stuck with him where as most other chairmen would of got rid considering the utter dross his teams have produced over 50 games, give the owner a bit of credit

Serious question, if not a Bristolian self-made billionaire then who?  Would you be happy with overseas owners or people like Ashley with no connection whatsoever with the city or club? 

You talk about knowing the difference between could and would. Do you know the difference between of and have?