Plan A with Alex and Plan B without Alex

[Street red]

Lansdowns more worried about setting up that golf course!!

[roddy-d]

USA

[Malvern Red]

1 hour ago, TomThumb84 said:

This. It blows my mind.

I am starting to believe we are being held back and do not want to push on.

I am getting old and cynical but the rhetoric out of the club is all around the youngsters and how great our production line is. Yeboah the latest all over the socials, hype and hype and money follows. Our lot largely are not good enough for a while. Pring took a while, O’Leary, Vyner is mid 20’s.

The reality is clubs buy to get out of this league. Luton being an exception to the rule which SL is now using as a new beacon of success which is frankly absurd. If anything he should see their promotion as an indication of embarrassment in his failure to get us there.

I think we have struck a deal to just become a North Dorset feeder club for Bournemouth 

[Silvio Dante]

5 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Just saying Dickie was fit, would you see some kind of 4132 / 4312 working as I suggested in other thread?

James / Knight / more creative MF’er as the three.  Weimann behind a front two.

That kinda thing.

I’m kind of in that space. A 4-1-3-2 works for me - assuming current (next two weeks) availability of this side:

Sykes-Vyner-Dickie-Pring

Naismith

James-Williams-Knight

Wells-Weimann

Seems better balanced than we are. Tanner has been poor so far and I like the idea of Sykes and Pring overlapping as Naismith will drop. The space on the 4-3-3 between defence and attack really troubles me..,

 

[Davefevs]

3 minutes ago, Silvio Dante said:

I’m kind of in that space. A 4-1-3-2 works for me - assuming current (next two weeks) availability of this side:

Sykes-Vyner-Dickie-Pring

Naismith

James-Williams-Knight

Wells-Weimann

Seems better balanced than we are. Tanner has been poor so far and I like the idea of Sykes and Pring overlapping as Naismith will drop. The space on the 4-3-3 between defence and attack really troubles me..,

 

Naismith as “front sweeper”?

I do think Andi as a striker / forward is often forgotten.  With Conway out it has to be a consideration.

[TDarwall]

I'd thought that with McCrorie out & Tanner not having a great start, Sykes at right back is a possibility.

[Silvio Dante]

1 minute ago, Davefevs said:

Naismith as “front sweeper”?

I do think Andi as a striker / forward is often forgotten.  With Conway out it has to be a consideration.

Yeah exactly. I think the deal for me here is twofold - without Alex we can’t play the same way and also teams have a strategy against us. I’m not panicking - far from it - but it seems to me right now we’re not factoring both of those things in

[David Brent]

24 minutes ago, Silvio Dante said:

I’m going to say this once.

Jason Knight is not Alex Scott.

Jasons strength is energy, running, harrying and arriving late into the box. Alex’s was seeing the game 20 minutes before anyone else and playing the right pass. Anyone thinking Jason replaces Alex is deluded.

What we need to do is to find a way to get Jason, a creative midfielder and a holding player (James?) in the side at once. I think that will mean 4-3-3 stops but not altogether unhappy about that

Nobody is an Alex Scott replacement. They won’t but the same. But Knight, or another, can replace the importance of Scott to the way we play. 
 

I don’t think I’ve even seen anyone suggest that Knight is a direct replacement for Scott ..Nige even suggested they were to play together. 

[Harry]

Whatever Plan A or Plan B might be, I don’t think a single one of the other 23 championship clubs plays Sam Bell up front on his own. 

[One Team]

2 hours ago, The Swan and Cemetery said:

I have night terrors about SL having a bright idea to bring LJ back. 

That is just the sort of bat shit crazy nepotism laced thing he’d do actually. 

[Shauntaylor85]

6 minutes ago, David Brent said:

Nobody is an Alex Scott replacement. They won’t but the same. But Knight, or another, can replace the importance of Scott to the way we play. 
 

I don’t think I’ve even seen anyone suggest that Knight is a direct replacement for Scott ..Nige even suggested they were to play together. 

Nige said again today that he signed Knight to play with Scott. We have to replace Scott with another attacking CM. 

[Harry]

18 minutes ago, Shauntaylor85 said:

Nige said again today that he signed Knight to play with Scott. We have to replace Scott with another attacking CM. 

I don’t know if Nige is just playing the club line here.  I think there was a 1% chance of Scott staying this season. 
If Pearson was pinning his hopes on that then he’s a fool. 
For the record, I don’t think he is a fool. I think he knows full well that there was a 99% chance Scott was to leave. So, as he’s no fool, he’s not telling the truth here. 

[Davefevs]

11 minutes ago, Harry said:

I don’t know if Nige is just playing the club line here.  I think there was a 1% chance of Scott staying this season. 
If Pearson was pinning his hopes on that then he’s a fool. 
For the record, I don’t think he is a fool. I think he knows full well that there was a 99% chance Scott was to leave. So, as he’s no fool, he’s not telling the truth here. 

Tend to agree.  Think he had hoped that nobody would bid the requisite amount, that’s a bit different I guess,

I think he’s holding his cards pretty close to his chest.  From Piercy interview earlier:

If we don’t bring anyone in, in whatever position, I think things could come to a head pretty quick.  But that’s just my reaction at this point.

 

[petehinton]

2 hours ago, ChrisBW said:

Because he doesn’t want him long term - he’s got his eye on Mark Robins or some younger manager who fits the ‘brand’.

He had 3 chances to hire Robins and didn’t… yet somehow now seems to bring him up at any opportunity as if he’s some up and coming coach no one has ever heard of 

[TomThumb84]

20 minutes ago, petehinton said:

He had 3 chances to hire Robins and didn’t… yet somehow now seems to bring him up at any opportunity as if he’s some up and coming coach no one has ever heard of 

Yeah exactly.

Spot on post. Literally begged to come to us a couple of times and was knocked backed.

Now he is the “next newest oldest thing”, Steve loves him.

Took 7 weeks to decide Dean Holden was better than Mark Robins but we actually wanted him all along.

[Supersonic Robin]

3 hours ago, Cardy said:

Mad isn’t it? Some guy comes over from America & has transformed a basket case club so that it is looking upwards with a positive vibe within weeks - yet we are still going round in circles 25 years later.

2 hours ago, TomThumb84 said:

This. It blows my mind.

I am starting to believe we are being held back and do not want to push on.

I am getting old and cynical but the rhetoric out of the club is all around the youngsters and how great our production line is. Yeboah the latest all over the socials, hype and hype and money follows. Our lot largely are not good enough for a while. Pring took a while, O’Leary, Vyner is mid 20’s.

The reality is clubs buy to get out of this league. Luton being an exception to the rule which SL is now using as a new beacon of success which is frankly absurd. If anything he should see their promotion as an indication of embarrassment in his failure to get us there.

I'm out of likes today, but this is absolutely spot on.

That's the big frustration for me. We go round in circles whilst others progress. We have no idea how to be successful.

When we beat Man Utd in 2017, we were about 2nd in the Championship, and Coventry were about 7th in League 2. Guess which of those teams would be the next to reach the top 6 of the Championship?
I was walking back from the game today feeling pessimistic, and reflecting on the fact that I wouldn't be surprised if Reading, Portsmouth, or Wigan were to reach the Championship play offs sooner than us.

Birmingham and Ipswich look like 2 of the latest clubs to overtake us, and both have seemingly benefited from new owners.

Unfortunately, I struggle to see us achieving Premier League football under the Lansdowns. Some fans are scared of the instability and uncertainty that may arise from losing them. I'm more scared of the underwhelming stability and certainty that may arise from keeping them.

 

[Dr Balls]

12 minutes ago, Supersonic Robin said:

I'm out of likes today, but this is absolutely spot on.

That's the big frustration for me. We go round in circles whilst others progress. We have no idea how to be successful.

When we beat Man Utd in 2017, we were about 2nd in the Championship, and Coventry were about 7th in League 2. Guess which of those teams would be the next to reach the top 6 of the Championship?
I was walking back from the game today feeling pessimistic, and reflecting on the fact that I wouldn't be surprised if Reading, Portsmouth, or Wigan were to reach the Championship play offs sooner than us.

Birmingham and Ipswich look like 2 of the latest clubs to overtake us, and both have seemingly benefited from new owners.

Unfortunately, I struggle to see us achieving Premier League football under the Lansdowns. Some fans are scared of the instability and uncertainty that may arise from losing them. I'm more scared of the underwhelming stability and certainty that may arise from keeping them.

 

SL certainly gives the impression that he’s not really a football fan. The understanding has always been that John was the football fan and his dad preferred rugby. Plus in terms of relative success, City are the leat successful and most expensive part of Bristol Sport. That really doesn’t help if you are of a “safety first” financial mindset.

The next few weeks will give a very good idea of the real level of ambition at the club. My feeling is that SL talks the talk on promotion because he feels he has to as the owner, but when push comes to shove, he’s no longer willing to back that aim financially, because the risk of failure is considered too high from a financial perspective..

[Guest]

4 hours ago, Davefevs said:

Tend to agree.  Think he had hoped that nobody would bid the requisite amount, that’s a bit different I guess,

I think he’s holding his cards pretty close to his chest.  From Piercy interview earlier:

If we don’t bring anyone in, in whatever position, I think things could come to a head pretty quick.  But that’s just my reaction at this point.

 

Do you think Nige might walk away? I can’t see that myself.

I think we will make at least one signing before the deadline.

Nige doesn’t give anything away in his interviews, possibly the most guarded manager we’ve ever had while being questioned by the press.

He has fully accepted  the financial situation we are in and has worked extremely hard to build a squad under that restraint.

The players signed have shown promise previously but are not the finished article, and now that our best player has been sold we find ourselves in mid table with important players injured and a very thin back up squad, hence naming two subs who had played 90 minutes the previous evening for the U21s.

Some of  the Scott money must be available to spend, not as much as we might like, but some surely.

Kalas anyone?

 

[The Journalist]

6 hours ago, Davefevs said:

Tend to agree.  Think he had hoped that nobody would bid the requisite amount, that’s a bit different I guess,

I think he’s holding his cards pretty close to his chest.  From Piercy interview earlier:

If we don’t bring anyone in, in whatever position, I think things could come to a head pretty quick.  But that’s just my reaction at this point.

 

I think a big part of the problem is that, in his eyes, nobody did bid the requisite amount. He continues to phrase any answers about the Scott sale in a very specific way - and he’s no idiot, he words things very deliberately.

The next 12 days will be interesting. If the relationship behind the scenes hasn’t broken down already it may be about to.

[Shauntaylor85]

My wife said to me last night ‘why are you all still Pearson in, he doesn’t get results and you’ve given other managers more grief!’ Another mate text me saying ‘time for Pearson to go?’ I’m a big Nige fan but when you look at this season so far it’s reminiscent of Pulis ball so can understand why people outside of the club are asking. When you see clubs like Brighton, Brentford and Luton you do have to wonder if we are just cursed as a club! 

Edited August 20, 2023 by Shauntaylor85

[Engvall’s Splinter]

8 hours ago, ChrisBW said:

Not sure he warrants being properly backed. Done a great job in blooding the youngsters but he has made some strange decisions himself. 

He doesn’t warrant being backed ? FFS. 

[Guest]

5 hours ago, Dr Balls said:

SL certainly gives the impression that he’s not really a football fan. The understanding has always been that John was the football fan and his dad preferred rugby. Plus in terms of relative success, City are the leat successful and most expensive part of Bristol Sport. That really doesn’t help if you are of a “safety first” financial mindset.

The next few weeks will give a very good idea of the real level of ambition at the club. My feeling is that SL talks the talk on promotion because he feels he has to as the owner, but when push comes to shove, he’s no longer willing to back that aim financially, because the risk of failure is considered too high from a financial perspective..

Lets be fair about this if hes wary about the risk of failure in this div from his own beliefs in his managers/ability to make a step forward then we have no chance of surviving for even a second in the prem if by a fluke we should get there one day in the sometime in the distant future.

Pride, passion and belief where is it? no more players for the  future we need a proven talisman striker to guide our young guns and for the fans to rally behind; NOW. or we will be hoping for 3 clubs to be worse than us this season.

Brighton, Brentford, Bournemouth and now Luton f.f.s what are we doing? hang your head down SL

 

Edited August 20, 2023 by wtf

[Jacki]

9 hours ago, Davefevs said:

This is the continuation of the “SL thread” in reality.

Interesting to see how this plays out.

I am definitely 2+2=5 but this would be typical Lansdown to let Nige sort out the shit and then want someone else.

I was saying exactly this last night. I can already foresee Pearson being allowed to fail through a lack of backing and then being replaced by a Johnson style yes man who will be given the money that Nige should have been provided with. We’ll push FFP again and end up pretty much exactly where we were when Pearson was brought in, with the new yes man being a borderline disaster. It’s what Lansdown does. This is my prediction anyway. 

One thing seems highly likely to me. If we don’t sign a player or two and we rely on what we have, on yesterday’s evidence it’s hard to foresee a particularly positive season. Scott was just so many levels above anyone we watched yesterday, which we knew anyway but it’s still hard to watch it actually play out. So disappointing after the optimism of summer. 

[ray savino]

10 hours ago, RED4LIFE said:

The optimist in me is thinking that we actually aren't playing too badly and will be OK this season although not pushing for top 6 as stated by NP.

The realist in me is thinking that NP has done a brilliant job in dragging us out of a shit storm created  by LJ, MA and both Lansdowms, but now those financial issues have been overcome, the board expect NP to all of a sudden turn us into a top 6 side without the required investment. 

Are we a better side than the one that NP inherited? Without a doubt. Are we as good as the board think we should be? Not a chance.

Without significant investment in the team, we will float around mid-table and I can see NP getting let go, which will be a huge shame.

This club is what it is because of the top brass and the decisions they have made in the past and their expectations for the future. We will never succeed until they either sell up or wake up.

 

Run out of likes unfortunately, but nail on head for me.

I think Pearson has made mistakes. Perhaps his biggest one has been telling the owners a few home truths. In fact he’s the only manager I remember telling us we are a bit of a strange club (mentality) and our recruitment policy had been bonkers.

 I’ve never seen Pearson as the man to take us to the promised land. But he might have been the one to kick us up the arse and tell it like it is.

LJ was an okay coach, but he was too cosy for Lansdown. He was afforded far too much resource for the return and SL can’t admit the mistakes.

Lansdown has done masses financially for the club. I’m not so convinced all the Bristol Sport stuff has been so negative. No doubt the football side has been diluted a bit, but the concept is solid enough in a massively underachieving sports backwater that is Bristol.

And yes he has leaned towards being stable rather than reckless, particularly after getting his fingers burnt by the likes of  Ashton.

However, I’ll say it again, for me the club feels stale and in limbo in terms of ideas and real planning, ambition and crucially public leadership from the owners now.

We really need that injection of a credible investor to bring that ambition and forward thinking to take us to the next level. 

I think SL knows and wants this. To be fair to him, the least he does deserve is a good financial and dignified exit from the top seat after all he has done for the club.

Meantime in this limbo he and we might strike lucky and do a Luton. We have a half decent squad which shouldn’t be written off after 3 games (on reflection I say that in the cold light of a new day, after seething with anger and frustration leaving the Gate yesterday!)

 But unless we get a sprinkle of much missing stardust with some significant investment, then on the evidence of yesterday we’re in for adding yet another season of mediocrity to our mediocre filled history. Yes, I will continue to support them, I find it impossible now not to. The danger is that we don’t take the opportunity to grow again in this division by treading water for too long.

I hoped for as most fans, that we would mount a decent challenge for a playoff place this year. I didn’t expect it, thinking top ten would be great. Then next year…

I think that doing the ground work while still staying in this division has bucked the trend since I started supporting 57 years ago. And I think Alan Dicks was the last to do that for me back in the late 60’s and early 70’s. 
There’s less time to build in the modern game before you stagnate without investment. We could really do with that injection arriving over the next season.

Sorry bit of a frustrated ramble. Bottom line, SL totally respect for modernising, stabilising and building foundations for our club, but need new energy and ideas as were injected into the likes of Brighton and Brentford 10/15 years ago. So not just money, but a totally backed plan with football business nous having a seat at the top table (no not the version of Mark Ashton that turned up at Ashton Gate 7 years ago - perhaps he’s got owners who will temper his more reckless traits this time, hmmm we’ll see!)

 

 

 

[Sheltons Army]

4 hours ago, Shauntaylor85 said:

My wife said to me last night ‘why are you all still Pearson in, he doesn’t get results and you’ve given other managers more grief!’ Another mate text me saying ‘time for Pearson to go?’ I’m a big Nige fan but when you look at this season so far it’s reminiscent of Pulis ball so can understand why people outside of the club are asking. When you see clubs like Brighton, Brentford and Luton you do have to wonder if we are just cursed as a club! 

In five decades plus of supporting City and seeing all the comings and goings , the bad times and some good , I’d actually suggest that if the seemingly entitled , and impatient section of fans , drive Pearson out , whether directly or indirectly , it will be possibly the biggest mistake and own goal , we’ve had in my years.

 

[Davefevs]

5 hours ago, Countryfile said:

Do you think Nige might walk away? I can’t see that myself.

I think we will make at least one signing before the deadline.

Nige doesn’t give anything away in his interviews, possibly the most guarded manager we’ve ever had while being questioned by the press.

He has fully accepted  the financial situation we are in and has worked extremely hard to build a squad under that restraint.

The players signed have shown promise previously but are not the finished article, and now that our best player has been sold we find ourselves in mid table with important players injured and a very thin back up squad, hence naming two subs who had played 90 minutes the previous evening for the U21s.

Some of  the Scott money must be available to spend, not as much as we might like, but some surely.

Kalas anyone?

 

No, not walk away, he’ll want to see his contract out….but worst case, it could become very toxic, and something might happen that causes SL to pull the trigger.

4 hours ago, The Journalist said:

I think a big part of the problem is that, in his eyes, nobody did bid the requisite amount. He continues to phrase any answers about the Scott sale in a very specific way - and he’s no idiot, he words things very deliberately.

The next 12 days will be interesting. If the relationship behind the scenes hasn’t broken down already it may be about to.

Do you think we saw the injury and cashed in?

[petehinton]

8 hours ago, Jacki said:

I was saying exactly this last night. I can already foresee Pearson being allowed to fail through a lack of backing and then being replaced by a Johnson style yes man who will be given the money that Nige should have been provided with. We’ll push FFP again and end up pretty much exactly where we were when Pearson was brought in, with the new yes man being a borderline disaster. It’s what Lansdown does. This is my prediction anyway. 

One thing seems highly likely to me. If we don’t sign a player or two and we rely on what we have, on yesterday’s evidence it’s hard to foresee a particularly positive season. Scott was just so many levels above anyone we watched yesterday, which we knew anyway but it’s still hard to watch it actually play out. So disappointing after the optimism of summer. 

That’s my thoughts too. Next few weeks that’ll become clearer.

Was racking my Brains earlier, have we ever had a manager have less than a year left on his contract like this before? The fact that’s not been addressed one way or another, SL never mentioning him in interview etc says to me this is only going to end one way sadly.
 

NP will be very cheap to get rid of, Should SL wish, and I think that’s a factor too.

 

 

[Harry]

3 minutes ago, petehinton said:

That’s my thoughts too. Next few weeks that’ll become clearer.

Was racking my Brains earlier, have we ever had a manager have less than a year left on his contract like this before? The fact that’s not been addressed one way or another, SL never mentioning him in interview etc says to me this is only going to end one way sadly.
 

NP will be very cheap to get rid of, Should SL wish, and I think that’s a factor too.

 

 

Why did the word brains autocorrect to a capital B? 
Have you been putting faggots on your shopping list on notes? 

[Ivorguy]

We HAVE a plan, any plan?  how unlike the City I know

[Jacki]

12 minutes ago, petehinton said:

That’s my thoughts too. Next few weeks that’ll become clearer.

Was racking my Brains earlier, have we ever had a manager have less than a year left on his contract like this before? The fact that’s not been addressed one way or another, SL never mentioning him in interview etc says to me this is only going to end one way sadly.
 

NP will be very cheap to get rid of, Should SL wish, and I think that’s a factor too.

 

 

Again I was saying the same last night. Pearson is demanding and has an edge to him that SL doesn’t like. He doesn’t want people who question him in the way Pearson will have done and it won’t take more than a decent run of poor results for it all to come crashing down. It suits him for Pearson to be on a short contract for exactly the reasons you mention.

I was really optimistic for this season until these first two home games but I’m already having the ‘here we go again’ feeling. I don’t think we’ll ever truly achieve anything under Lansdown.