FBC POD reaches 100K downloads ....

[headhunter]

Thanks to our loyal band of listeners.

You won't be disappointed if you join us for a live recording at 6.00 PM of today's match review episode:

https://www.podbean.com/lsw/voj3TKjf6G?lsid=783V5TL1Hyj

[And Its Smith]

Ian Gay loving life right now!

[joe jordans teeth]

Well done,can we not get the next manager thread up on otib first though 

[headhunter]

5 minutes ago, And Its Smith said:

Ian Gay loving life right now!

and you? C'mon we were full of praise during our good run but can you defend that today!

[daored]

16 minutes ago, headhunter said:

Thanks to our loyal band of listeners.

You won't be disappointed if you join us for a live recording at 6.00 PM of today's match review episode:

https://www.podbean.com/lsw/voj3TKjf6G?lsid=783V5TL1Hyj

By the way good write up in the Norwich (a) programme 

[And Its Smith]

Just now, headhunter said:

and you? C'mon we were full of praise during our good run but can you defend that today!

I’m not loving life after that performance.  You more than anyone must know how Ian thrives on a defeat. 

[Engvall’s Splinter]

Naughty step bingo pending. Get your shots ready. 
 

I’ll skip this one till tomorrow - as the result / performance is bad enough without Ian Gay adding to the mix
 

Congrats on the downloads though. 

Edited October 8, 2022 by Engvall’s Splinter

[REDOXO]

1 hour ago, headhunter said:

and you? C'mon we were full of praise during our good run but can you defend that today!

I agree an indefensible performance. Completely inept across the team, with pretty much only Bentley coming out of it with credit. 
 

However much to early to listen to someone telling me what I saw. I’ll maybe listen tomorrow. The only upside is we can’t play worse (can we?) and I don’t need to waste an hour today I’m sick enough for everyone including IG. 

[Henry]

I bet half of those downloads are from Ian Gay knocking one out over his own voice.

[Sheltons Army]

1 hour ago, headhunter said:

and you? C'mon we were full of praise during our good run but can you defend that today!

And as people pointed out 

See Saw reactions from week to week or month to month

Suddenly Pearson needs to go and the Club needs tearing apart 

[GrahamC]

16 minutes ago, Sheltons Army said:

 

Suddenly Pearson needs to go and the Club needs tearing apart 

It’s only what a couple of them have wanted all along.

[headhunter]

28 minutes ago, Sheltons Army said:

 

Suddenly Pearson needs to go and the Club needs tearing apart 

We did not say that.

You're quite happy with the regression that seems to be facing us?

[Sheltons Army]

11 minutes ago, headhunter said:

We did not say that.

You're quite happy with the regression that seems to be facing us?

No , not ‘quite happy’ Dave 

But

Firstly with some young players and a muddled together squad that he is limited to change I’m prepared for some bumps in the road 

Im surprised at our defensive frailties or the lack of progress in that sphere , and if I’m being brutal I don’t think the current wing backs or any of our centre half’s are of a great level defensively hKlose at his fittest)  , and in some cases with the ball

I don’t see Pearson as any messiah or a great tactical genius , he’s a manager not a coach, and along with his coaching staff makes mistakes

 But I do believe in his base processes ,his experience and what I see and hear from him ,  and I am totally comfortable that he was absolutely the man , or sort of man we needed to get onboard when the titanic was in danger of going down , 

And certainly with all the circumstances , still is 

I’d remind you we have ZERO football knowledge or nous above Pearson at the Club , .........ZERO

No infrastructure , save it would appear the Academy , but zero infrastructure of note for any manager or coach to walk into

Hes not trying to muddle together a first team with little wiggle room or chance to change , but trying to form a Football Club 

Edited October 8, 2022 by Sheltons Army

[Sitrom]

2 hours ago, headhunter said:

Thanks to our loyal band of listeners.

You won't be disappointed if you join us for a live recording at 6.00 PM of today's match review episode:

https://www.podbean.com/lsw/voj3TKjf6G?lsid=783V5TL1Hyj

Congratulations.  Here's to the next 100,000

[Sheltons Army]

23 minutes ago, headhunter said:

We did not say that.

You're quite happy with the regression that seems to be facing us?

And Dave 

I heard Ian say he would have sacked him last year, let alone now  (His opinion Tbf )

And none of the three of you said you would back Pearson in the transfer market with any money if we sold Scott , Semenyeo etc

(I think Mark may have said yes but appeared too frightened to disagree)

So although you weren’t shouting ‘Pearson out’ directly , If you aren’t going to support him in changing the squad when he gets the chance you need to get rid - it’s a sacking by strangulation

Edited October 8, 2022 by Sheltons Army

[headhunter]

18 minutes ago, Sheltons Army said:

 

So although you weren’t shouting ‘Pearson out’ directly , If you aren’t going to support him in changing the squad when he gets the chance you need to get rid - it’s a sacking by strangulation

We consciously didn't want to say "Pearson out" outright as we know on FBC we are seen as knee jerk. That said, by implication, the lack of support would suggest this line of thinking.

Will your view change if we are in the bottom 3 after the next run of 4 games?  5 points or more and the pressure is off. Any less and ....

[Sheltons Army]

26 minutes ago, headhunter said:

We consciously didn't want to say "Pearson out" outright as we know on FBC we are seen as knee jerk. That said, by implication, the lack of support would suggest this line of thinking.

Will your view change if we are in the bottom 3 after the next run of 4 games?  5 points or more and the pressure is off. Any less and ....

Simple answer Dave ........ No

What would concern me far more would be 4 more abject performances back to back

Far more important than a points tally for me personally

I try and look at an overall picture , and trends , signs good or bad, and as deep as I can , with the limited information we have and look for the underlying symptoms rather than whether the latest performance is Brazil like or Barrow like

I try and look at whether he is improving us as a Club , and Within the restrictions , the overall job he’s doing more so than whether we finish 16th or 12th (I’ve never thought we had the depth or quality to turn results in week in week out to be much more)

I keep saying , I don’t think he’s a Messiah, he makes errors and I’m perplexed he hasn’t (Via his coaching staff) improved some of our basic defensive flaws , and the recruitment of Tanner and Wilson but with an obvious reluctance to use raises fair questions, but I think his deep qualities are a very positive thing for the club at this time

You like Tinnion and I suggest would say he has a decent football knowledge and understanding , and the best for , and success for the Club , totally in his heart ...............

............Hes a Pearson fan  (and multiple times more awake and witness to what goes on than any of us)

Edited October 8, 2022 by Sheltons Army

[Davefevs]

12 minutes ago, Sheltons Army said:

Simple answer Dave ........ No

What would concern me far more would be 4 more abject performances back to back

Far more important than a points tally for me personally

I try and look at an overall picture and as deep as I can , with the limited information we have and look for the underlying symptoms rather than whether the latest performance is Brazil like or Barrow like

I try and look at whether he is improving us as a Club , and Within the restrictions , the overall job he’s doing more so than whether we finish 16th or 12th (I’ve never thought we had the depth or quality to turn results in week in week out to be much more)

I keep saying , I don’t think he’s a Messiah, he makes errors and I’m perplexed he hasn’t (Via his coaching staff) improved some of our basic defensive flaws , and the recruitment of Tanner and Wilson but with an obvious reluctance to use raises fair questions, but I think his deep qualities are a very positive thing for the club at this time

You like Tinnion and I suggest would say he has a decent football knowledge and understanding , and the best for , and success for the Club , totally in his heart ...............

............Hes a Pearson fan  (and multiple times more awake and witness to what goes on than any of us)

What you point out there is that in our good run, we were gradually improving availability, so that we had a collective competitiveness.  Semenyo was back, James returned, and we then had options, players fighting for keeping their place, others trying to get in.  But in the back of our minds we knew that if we lose a couple of key players then we look frail / frailer again.

Despite defeats at Norwich (where we could’ve won w/o Pukki’s lethal finishing) and Burnley (more defensive), with our “best” (ish) 18 keeping each other on their toes we looked good value for where we were.  But it was always gonna be tough to maintain, almost flukey to avoid injuries and suspensions for long enough.

We lost James, then Naismith. Suspensions too.

It highlights the lack of depth of true quality.  Up top is the only positions two players missing wouldn’t leave us looking frail.

Thats why I don’t take any win for granted and probably the same with a draw too.

In terms of “Pearson Out” it’s a pretty easy shout if you look totally at results.  There will also be a reason to frame sacking the manager, a few winless games, conceding crap goals, etc…if you’ve gone all-in on that viewpoint. But there is a much bigger picture at play here, and that directly influences the strength and depth of squad we’ve got at Nige’s disposal…and that’s the finances.

Ill happily bet that if we can get James, Naismith and Kalas back, possibly Klose too for the vast majority of games, we will play more like we did in our 8 game unbeaten run than we have in the latest 5 game winless run.   Not all of the 8 during the unbeaten run were great, just like not all of the winless 5 were shit too.

A change of manager doesn’t change the resources available.  And it will cost us to get rid and replace.  I’m not saying that is a reason not to, but I’m pointing at patience…because there are no guarantees the replacement is better and can get more out of the group.  Plus how attractive are we.  To see a thread with Chris Wilder’s name is fantasy land.  If we are shopping for free transfers for players, where do people think we are shopping for managers?

[headhunter]

Here's a link to what we recorded live @ 6 yesterday:

https://foreverbristolcity.podbean.com/e/birmingham-a-review-city-at-their-inept-worse/ [also on Google, Spotify & Apple]

We thought the days of performances like yesterday's were long gone.

Which City player does Mark think shouldn't pull on shirt ever again? Does selling one or more of our stars in January make sense and if performances like yesterday are repeated their value will rapidly fall?

We also talk about speculation linking Richard Gould with the No.1 job in cricket and look forward to the upcoming game vs. PNE

[aa_bcfc]

19 hours ago, And Its Smith said:

I’m not loving life after that performance.  You more than anyone must know how Ian thrives on a defeat. 

It is 4 defeats in last 5 though and 1 point from 15. Many fans will find that unacceptable especially the last 3 games. 

[Engvall’s Splinter]

2 hours ago, headhunter said:

 

We thought the days of performances like yesterday's were long gone.

 

Why though? Surely you’ve seen enough false dawns at Ashton Gate to not get carried away. 
 

Also, all sides will have periods or games where performance levels are below standards. The important thing is to not see these performances over an extended period and how we bounce back. 
 

Improvement is needed. Absolutely. No disagreement here. Yet should we hit another green patch, I still fully expect a dour performance or 2 in amongst another run. It’s football.  

[daored]

18 hours ago, Davefevs said:

What you point out there is that in our good run, we were gradually improving availability, so that we had a collective competitiveness.  Semenyo was back, James returned, and we then had options, players fighting for keeping their place, others trying to get in.  But in the back of our minds we knew that if we lose a couple of key players then we look frail / frailer again.

Despite defeats at Norwich (where we could’ve won w/o Pukki’s lethal finishing) and Burnley (more defensive), with our “best” (ish) 18 keeping each other on their toes we looked good value for where we were.  But it was always gonna be tough to maintain, almost flukey to avoid injuries and suspensions for long enough.

We lost James, then Naismith. Suspensions too.

It highlights the lack of depth of true quality.  Up top is the only positions two players missing wouldn’t leave us looking frail.

Thats why I don’t take any win for granted and probably the same with a draw too.

In terms of “Pearson Out” it’s a pretty easy shout if you look totally at results.  There will also be a reason to frame sacking the manager, a few winless games, conceding crap goals, etc…if you’ve gone all-in on that viewpoint. But there is a much bigger picture at play here, and that directly influences the strength and depth of squad we’ve got at Nige’s disposal…and that’s the finances.

Ill happily bet that if we can get James, Naismith and Kalas back, possibly Klose too for the vast majority of games, we will play more like we did in our 8 game unbeaten run than we have in the latest 5 game winless run.   Not all of the 8 during the unbeaten run were great, just like not all of the winless 5 were shit too.

A change of manager doesn’t change the resources available.  And it will cost us to get rid and replace.  I’m not saying that is a reason not to, but I’m pointing at patience…because there are no guarantees the replacement is better and can get more out of the group.  Plus how attractive are we.  To see a thread with Chris Wilder’s name is fantasy land.  If we are shopping for free transfers for players, where do people think we are shopping for managers?

We’ve spoken about this before and our views are aligned. If the answer is to remove Pearson who do you replace him with ?  We have no funds to sack a manager. We’re shopping in the lower leagues and feee transfers yet people expect us to bring in premier league loans with finances we simply can’t afford, for me demonstrating a complete lack of  financial matters as demonstrated by the statement that if Gould left we could ask for £800k compensation, a complete lack of understanding of employment matters. Unfortunately, we next play Preston and Millwall , I’d be surprised if the negativity finishes by the end of the week and calls for Pearson to be sacked will be louder

[GrahamC]

2 hours ago, Engvall’s Splinter said:

Why though? Surely you’ve seen enough false dawns at Ashton Gate to not get carried away. 
 

Also, all sides will have periods or games where performance levels are below standards. The important thing is to not see these performances over an extended period and how we bounce back. 
 

Improvement is needed. Absolutely. No disagreement here. Yet should we hit another green patch, I still fully expect a dour performance or 2 in amongst another run. It’s football.  

Yep, an incredible comment that betrays absolutely no understanding of football at all.

99% of teams will play like this at some point in the season.

 

[Davefevs]

Firstly, we were crap yesterday.

 

Ian starts off in arrogant mood, like he owns the pod.  The points he made were actually fine in his opening, why give it the “if anyone disagrees they can contact me”.  Dud he forget he’s on a podcast mate, why not wait to see what debate is sparked on the media channel you’re on?  Lordy, Lordy!!!

Mark over-reaction in his opening too…how many players does he think we have, and although it’s disappointing to see so many play badly “hope it’s the last time they pull on a City shirt” is a shit fan’s comment imho.  As you say Dave - severe comment - wished you’d followed up with asking him who else.

@Curr Avon can you name those players, you said it was more than Massengo?

So the pod started well for me then

Klose - maybe he wasn’t fit enough to start, just like Antoine wasn’t either this season.  What Klose did last season was come into the club with a level of fitness (having been at Basel training), not yesterday when he’s returning from injury.  That’s a big difference.  Surely there has to be a bit more thought than “if he’s fit to be on the bench, he’s fit to start”.  There’s more than one way to bring a player into the fold, especially after injury.

Possesion - when is anyone gonna realise there is often zilch correlation of possession to performance / result.

Unacceptable - agree.  First time this season - agree, so why not treat it as a one-off rather than the shitstorm  rhetoric that followed.

Dasilva - his corners v Cov were right on the money, open-play a different kettle of fish.  But I can see why he  was put on set-pieces?

Every now and again, it would help if someone just took a few seconds to think of the other side of the coin.  As host you can play Devil’s advocate too.

”I’ve never seen a zone score a goal” - what nonsense is that?  It’s a defensive corner set-up.  It isn’t meant to score from a 100 yards from the opponents goal.

Loans - c’mon start quoting his current stance.  He’s told you he’s up for loans.  Whether the finances are…more on that in a second.

Relegated teams - Burnley won yesterday.  Agree that it’s a tight division with no standout teams, but if that’s the case why try to prove a point when one of them loses?  It’s gonna happen regularly.

Compo for Gould?  Dave - you’re the headhunter, and with Ashton, you told us there would be no compo, he’d have an employment contract, you should’ve put Ian right at this point (you did later ).  We won’t get £1m! 

Re signings - and look at which pond we are getting them from.  Very few of the 12 are signings we’d have made in the spend thrift days.  We are cutting our cloth.  You all know that, none of you are stupid, but it’s never mentioned.  Back to loans, can we afford them?  Hopefully accounts out very soon (Womens have been published).  That’ll give us a clue to how tight the finances are.  You know I think we were just over the £39m in my estimates but that I reckon the EFL have allowed us a bit more covid allowance.  If that’s the case, there is no money for anything, perms nor loans.  When will that sink in?  You can’t doctor the accounts.  Okay, you can if you’re Derby!!!

Ian (Dave you can pass on this if he’s not having a little look on here) - it’s not a choice of “if you can’t get a player better than what you have, go and get a loan”…they use up the same effing budget.  Honestly, if you can’t get your head around that, any recruitment discussion is void through ignorance.  LOANS AREN’T FREE and THEY AREN’T NECESSARILY CHEAPER THAN PERM SIGNINGS EITHER.  In fact some work out more expensive.  We don’t have a pot to piss in.

Birmingham - FFP cycle working differently since they got done by EFL.  Plus don’t forget they sold Che Adams one season, Jude Bellingham the next, that sorted out their immediate issues.  You cannot compare their financial state to ours….currently.  That’s why they can afford loans.  But they also got rid of a dozen players too, mainly OOC but a couple of nominal fees for a couple to go back to Spain.

There has to be a modicum of “fact checking” / challenge to wild statements thrown out.  The pod lacks credibility in places if you don’t do that.  I have no issues with the football match opinions expressed (many I agree with today).  You tar a whole season with one shit performance.  That’s unfair isn’t it?.

By all means express the worrying trend over the past few / four / five games.  I can buy that.  But you completely resort to “everything is shit and has been all season”.  That’s not been the case has it.

Moving onto Wednesday

WSM - sensible comment from Ian re why Andi might not be playing as well.

Naismith signing - is he filling the squad up?

Followed by “I’d rather see the kids play”…that’s what we are doing anyway aren’t we?  That contradicts everything said earlier on re recruitment.

Key players out - yep, let’s be a little less reactive until most of them are available then.  Klose and Williams can come back in this week.

So then we get re Nige “I didn’t tell them to do that”, so why is it wholly his fault.  Of course he takes some of the flack, rightly so.

The window / Scott - good scouts will be looking beyond recent performances in an assumed poor bottom three City team!  Isn’t he allowed a poor game (in a poor team performance).  For me (and Nige) he was one player trying to drive us on.  It won’t affect his value.  Appreciate it’s a pod to discuss scenarios.

“You couldn’t sell them based on current performances” - how many games constitute “current performances” (plural) or is it just take a one game view, eh?.  A really pathetic take (for Semenyo / Scott).  Have they played particularly badly, not to my recollection.

Wage budget has gone down - it will potentially go down even further in the summer.  Do I trust him.  You trust him to bring a budget down at the expense of being able to recruit good enough players.  It’s not a one%way street! You then use Lg2 George Tanner (£300k and a relative small wage) to prove that point.  Crikey, this isn’t Marley Watkins level recruitment (£900k and £12k per week allegedly), let’s have some sense of scale in the debate.

Matty James - has anyone at the club given James a timescale?  Not to my knowledge.  Happy to be corrected.

Williams - what do you do with him then?  If you think he’s that bad, who would buy him?  He’s been available every league game bar suspension, Nige hinted there will have to be a time to stop carefully managing him.

Aspiration of 8 points from 4 games - nice to get, absolutely, but that is just hope not a basis to judge the results against.  That’s your own fault for setting it.  The club didn’t set it.

then it becomes…next week’s expectation

4 points from 2 games - why do we “have to”, why is it a “must”.

Better that we get back to being competitive, playing better, results will come.  If results come instantly great, but we need to play better first.

Richard Gould - thanks, you did correct him did Mark Ashton have a contract, he just saw his agreed notice out didn’t he?  “We don’t know”….correct.  So don’t make stuff up initially and state it as fact Ian!  My view (my guesswork) was that SL realised (eventually) MA had done the dirty on him and put him on gardening leave, calling him out for the odd public appearance.  Bit like Brezhnev who was allegedly dead for a year or so before they finally pronounced him dead!  They used to wheel him out, hands moved by someone else, like Spitting Image!

Recruitment Team - don’t disagree, the jury is out, has been over a long period of time.  But we also need to be mindful of the pond Nige has fished in versus Johnson.  If all those players do leave we should be in a financial position to recruit better.  Whether we can execute remains to be seen.  Agree (this summer) we should be able to compete to recruit with the likes of the teams you mentioned.  Naismith is an example of how we could recruit better, even in free transfers.

Mark Ashton was a good administrator / ops manager, shame he got ideas above his station.

Sorry if this come across critically….I did say there were bits I agreed with.

Dave - I know the challenge back will be - why don’t you come on.  I would love to but timing doesn’t suit.  Just think there’s too much “fake news” thrown in without thought, nor any challenge back to some statements.

“Fiercely Independent” is absolutely fine btw.

Balancing views doesn’t mean sucking up to the club either!!!  Sometimes it’s worth trying to put yourself in the decision makers shoes and trying to see the rationale.

[Curr Avon]

My take in short. 

We played with fear and Massengo was the worst example hence the criticism.

King isn't a centre back, so why play him there when you're crying out for an experienced midfielder.

This selection issue badly effected Scott, who plays best with James.

We have a threadbare squad and injuries and suspensions are killing us.

The club doesn't have a pot to piss in and there'll be no incomings in January unless we sell.

My gripe is the mentality of the players against physical teams like Birmingham. Soft as a bottle of flat lemonade.

It doesn't seem to change regardless of the manager.

He isn't going anywhere, so how do we change?

[Davefevs]

10 minutes ago, Curr Avon said:

My take in short. 

We played with fear and Massengo was the worst example hence the criticism.

King isn't a centre back, so why play him there when you're crying out for an experienced midfielder.

This selection issue badly effected Scott, who plays best with James.

We have a threadbare squad and injuries and suspensions are killing us.

The club doesn't have a pot to piss in and there'll be no incomings in January unless we sell.

My gripe is the mentality of the players against physical teams like Birmingham. Soft as a bottle of flat lemonade.

It doesn't seem to change regardless of the manager.

He isn't going anywhere, so how do we change?

Your take in short was that a number of players “should never wear the shirt again”?  You said there were several, but name-checked Massengo (not for the first time).  Who else?

[aa_bcfc]

3 hours ago, Davefevs said:

Firstly, we were crap yesterday.

 

Ian starts off in arrogant mood, like he owns the pod.  The points he made were actually fine in his opening, why give it the “if anyone disagrees they can contact me”.  Dud he forget he’s on a podcast mate, why not wait to see what debate is sparked on the media channel you’re on?  Lordy, Lordy!!!

Mark over-reaction in his opening too…how many players does he think we have, and although it’s disappointing to see so many play badly “hope it’s the last time they pull on a City shirt” is a shit fan’s comment imho.  As you say Dave - severe comment - wished you’d followed up with asking him who else.

@Curr Avon can you name those players, you said it was more than Massengo?

So the pod started well for me then

Klose - maybe he wasn’t fit enough to start, just like Antoine wasn’t either this season.  What Klose did last season was come into the club with a level of fitness (having been at Basel training), not yesterday when he’s returning from injury.  That’s a big difference.  Surely there has to be a bit more thought than “if he’s fit to be on the bench, he’s fit to start”.  There’s more than one way to bring a player into the fold, especially after injury.

Possesion - when is anyone gonna realise there is often zilch correlation of possession to performance / result.

Unacceptable - agree.  First time this season - agree, so why not treat it as a one-off rather than the shitstorm  rhetoric that followed.

Dasilva - his corners v Cov were right on the money, open-play a different kettle of fish.  But I can see why he  was put on set-pieces?

Every now and again, it would help if someone just took a few seconds to think of the other side of the coin.  As host you can play Devil’s advocate too.

”I’ve never seen a zone score a goal” - what nonsense is that?  It’s a defensive corner set-up.  It isn’t meant to score from a 100 yards from the opponents goal.

Loans - c’mon start quoting his current stance.  He’s told you he’s up for loans.  Whether the finances are…more on that in a second.

Relegated teams - Burnley won yesterday.  Agree that it’s a tight division with no standout teams, but if that’s the case why try to prove a point when one of them loses?  It’s gonna happen regularly.

Compo for Gould?  Dave - you’re the headhunter, and with Ashton, you told us there would be no compo, he’d have an employment contract, you should’ve put Ian right at this point (you did later ).  We won’t get £1m! 

Re signings - and look at which pond we are getting them from.  Very few of the 12 are signings we’d have made in the spend thrift days.  We are cutting our cloth.  You all know that, none of you are stupid, but it’s never mentioned.  Back to loans, can we afford them?  Hopefully accounts out very soon (Womens have been published).  That’ll give us a clue to how tight the finances are.  You know I think we were just over the £39m in my estimates but that I reckon the EFL have allowed us a bit more covid allowance.  If that’s the case, there is no money for anything, perms nor loans.  When will that sink in?  You can’t doctor the accounts.  Okay, you can if you’re Derby!!!

Ian (Dave you can pass on this if he’s not having a little look on here) - it’s not a choice of “if you can’t get a player better than what you have, go and get a loan”…they use up the same effing budget.  Honestly, if you can’t get your head around that, any recruitment discussion is void through ignorance.  LOANS AREN’T FREE and THEY AREN’T NECESSARILY CHEAPER THAN PERM SIGNINGS EITHER.  In fact some work out more expensive.  We don’t have a pot to piss in.

Birmingham - FFP cycle working differently since they got done by EFL.  Plus don’t forget they sold Che Adams one season, Jude Bellingham the next, that sorted out their immediate issues.  You cannot compare their financial state to ours….currently.  That’s why they can afford loans.  But they also got rid of a dozen players too, mainly OOC but a couple of nominal fees for a couple to go back to Spain.

There has to be a modicum of “fact checking” / challenge to wild statements thrown out.  The pod lacks credibility in places if you don’t do that.  I have no issues with the football match opinions expressed (many I agree with today).  You tar a whole season with one shit performance.  That’s unfair isn’t it?.

By all means express the worrying trend over the past few / four / five games.  I can buy that.  But you completely resort to “everything is shit and has been all season”.  That’s not been the case has it.

Moving onto Wednesday

WSM - sensible comment from Ian re why Andi might not be playing as well.

Naismith signing - is he filling the squad up?

Followed by “I’d rather see the kids play”…that’s what we are doing anyway aren’t we?  That contradicts everything said earlier on re recruitment.

Key players out - yep, let’s be a little less reactive until most of them are available then.  Klose and Williams can come back in this week.

So then we get re Nige “I didn’t tell them to do that”, so why is it wholly his fault.  Of course he takes some of the flack, rightly so.

The window / Scott - good scouts will be looking beyond recent performances in an assumed poor bottom three City team!  Isn’t he allowed a poor game (in a poor team performance).  For me (and Nige) he was one player trying to drive us on.  It won’t affect his value.  Appreciate it’s a pod to discuss scenarios.

“You couldn’t sell them based on current performances” - how many games constitute “current performances” (plural) or is it just take a one game view, eh?.  A really pathetic take (for Semenyo / Scott).  Have they played particularly badly, not to my recollection.

Wage budget has gone down - it will potentially go down even further in the summer.  Do I trust him.  You trust him to bring a budget down at the expense of being able to recruit good enough players.  It’s not a one%way street! You then use Lg2 George Tanner (£300k and a relative small wage) to prove that point.  Crikey, this isn’t Marley Watkins level recruitment (£900k and £12k per week allegedly), let’s have some sense of scale in the debate.

Matty James - has anyone at the club given James a timescale?  Not to my knowledge.  Happy to be corrected.

Williams - what do you do with him then?  If you think he’s that bad, who would buy him?  He’s been available every league game bar suspension, Nige hinted there will have to be a time to stop carefully managing him.

Aspiration of 8 points from 4 games - nice to get, absolutely, but that is just hope not a basis to judge the results against.  That’s your own fault for setting it.  The club didn’t set it.

then it becomes…next week’s expectation

4 points from 2 games - why do we “have to”, why is it a “must”.

Better that we get back to being competitive, playing better, results will come.  If results come instantly great, but we need to play better first.

Richard Gould - thanks, you did correct him did Mark Ashton have a contract, he just saw his agreed notice out didn’t he?  “We don’t know”….correct.  So don’t make stuff up initially and state it as fact Ian!  My view (my guesswork) was that SL realised (eventually) MA had done the dirty on him and put him on gardening leave, calling him out for the odd public appearance.  Bit like Brezhnev who was allegedly dead for a year or so before they finally pronounced him dead!  They used to wheel him out, hands moved by someone else, like Spitting Image!

Recruitment Team - don’t disagree, the jury is out, has been over a long period of time.  But we also need to be mindful of the pond Nige has fished in versus Johnson.  If all those players do leave we should be in a financial position to recruit better.  Whether we can execute remains to be seen.  Agree (this summer) we should be able to compete to recruit with the likes of the teams you mentioned.  Naismith is an example of how we could recruit better, even in free transfers.

Mark Ashton was a good administrator / ops manager, shame he got ideas above his station.

Sorry if this come across critically….I did say there were bits I agreed with.

Dave - I know the challenge back will be - why don’t you come on.  I would love to but timing doesn’t suit.  Just think there’s too much “fake news” thrown in without thought, nor any challenge back to some statements.

“Fiercely Independent” is absolutely fine btw.

Balancing views doesn’t mean sucking up to the club either!!!  Sometimes it’s worth trying to put yourself in the decision makers shoes and trying to see the rationale.

Do you ever ask yourself why you bother to listen to the FBC podcast? For me it best represents my views so I listen to every episode. They are just passionate city fans, of very many years, like us who are expressing their views. If you don’t agree with them so what. It’s all no big deal really, don’t bother to listen. By the way I wish I could be as balanced as you are about the club I love and have been watching for 65 years. 

[Davefevs]

1 hour ago, aa_bcfc said:

Do you ever ask yourself why you bother to listen to the FBC podcast? For me it best represents my views so I listen to every episode. They are just passionate city fans, of very many years, like us who are expressing their views. If you don’t agree with them so what. It’s all no big deal really, don’t bother to listen. By the way I wish I could be as balanced as you are about the club I love and have been watching for 65 years. 

Because Dave was good enough to allow me to go on the pod when it first started, I still like to listen in.  Because I can no longer make the times they record, I like to feedback once I have listened.  This OTIB thread gives me that opportunity.

You can be both passionate and balanced. Not every poor result (and performances yesterday) has to be the end of the world, or require a declaration that 1) a number of players should never wear the shirt again or 2) they aren’t buying a season ticket (again).  That’s not passionate, that acting like a spoiled, entitled baby!  (That’s harsh on babies btw).

I’m only 45 years into this (started supporting when I was 7) though.  It’s been mainly downs for me, I didn’t get to see the promotion season to the old Div1.

 

 

[ExiledAjax]

Is there an argument that perhaps recording immediately after a game isn't always conducive to producing a balanced or measured response. Emotions are high at that point, takes are hot, there has been no time for considered analysis.

[Curr Avon]

39 minutes ago, ExiledAjax said:

Is there an argument that perhaps recording immediately after a game isn't always conducive to producing a balanced or measured response. Emotions are high at that point, takes are hot, there has been no time for considered analysis.

Yes and yes! I was over the top with my comments about the players and shirts. Fair point Dave. I'm off to download a meditation app.

Fingers crossed for Wednesday. I'll be there cheering City on after missing the last 2 home fixtures.