Liam Manning - CONFIRMED NEW HEAD COACH

[JP Hampton]

I still maintain that you can’t really use the excuse of us not being capable of doing what he does or has done, as an argument for praise. 
In relative terms the money (although very gratefully received by most fans) he’s invested is a drop in the ocean to what he’s worth. As others have said before, one persons season ticket, may be equivalent to his investment, in relative terms. 
whilst he may not get a wage you can’t say he’s not being paid, not in the true sense. 

Not that I have done, but we could quite easily look on balance, at the decisions made (and I agree the vitriol is too much) but I don’t believe, if on balance he’d “got the calls better” rather than not, that there would be anything like this negative response from fans. It’s been a slow but steady losing of confidence in the owners, not a freak over the top response, at this single decision. 

[Carey 6]

Took Oxford training today so not sure if that rules him out or not. 

I tend to think if we’re going to hire someone already in a job, which requires permission to speak with them, we’d hear about it through journalists etc.

Edited November 3, 2023 by Carey 6

[italian dave]

4 minutes ago, JP Hampton said:

I still maintain that you can’t really use the excuse of us not being capable of doing what he does or has done, as an argument for praise. 
In relative terms the money (although very gratefully received by most fans) he’s invested is a drop in the ocean to what he’s worth. As others have said before, one persons season ticket, may be equivalent to his investment, in relative terms. 
whilst he may not get a wage you can’t say he’s not being paid, not in the true sense. 

Not that I have done, but we could quite easily look on balance, at the decisions made (and I agree the vitriol is too much) but I don’t believe, if on balance he’d “got the calls better” rather than not, that there would be anything like this negative response from fans. It’s been a slow but steady losing of confidence in the owners, not a freak over the top response, at this single decision. 

That's all fair comment, and principally I got into this debate not to 'praise' the Lansdowns but just to try to put a bit of perspective and to suggest that the vitriol is unfair and uncalled for. 

And the perspective is maybe more about the longer term, the 20 years of SLs reign. Having said that, I agree with you that this isn't a one-off response purely at this single decision. It feels like quite a lot has been going wrong for a year or more now. I've said as much on another thread - from the catering to the comms to the customer service (or lack of) through to bigger issues like the farce of the CEOs. As a club we're certainly not in a better place now than we were a year ago (although, ironically, sacking NP would probably have been less of an issue a year ago!). But compared to 20 years ago...?

[Numero Uno]

6 minutes ago, italian dave said:

That's all fair comment, and principally I got into this debate not to 'praise' the Lansdowns but just to try to put a bit of perspective and to suggest that the vitriol is unfair and uncalled for. 

And the perspective is maybe more about the longer term, the 20 years of SLs reign. Having said that, I agree with you that this isn't a one-off response purely at this single decision. It feels like quite a lot has been going wrong for a year or more now. I've said as much on another thread - from the catering to the comms to the customer service (or lack of) through to bigger issues like the farce of the CEOs. As a club we're certainly not in a better place now than we were a year ago (although, ironically, sacking NP would probably have been less of an issue a year ago!). But compared to 20 years ago...?

Had someone turned round to you and said twenty years ago "a new Owner is coming in and pumping in £200m plus over the next twenty years" would have thought "mmmm, that will at least guarantee us perennial lower mid-Championship football then."? You can't question the investment but for me we should have done a lot more with it than we have. For all that investment we are still only a division head of our ramshackle noisy neighbours who wear poverty as a badge of honour. Not good enough for me.

[petehinton]

26 minutes ago, Carey 6 said:

Took Oxford training today so not sure if that rules him out or not. 

I tend to think if we’re going to hire someone already in a job, which requires permission to speak with them, we’d hear about it through journalists etc.

Nothing would’ve happened before Saturday as they have a game, as do we. I said yesterday, but imo think there’s positive signs for this to be a goer for Piercy to break the news himself. Club will feel confident it can be done & he’s keen, will have given the green light for him to post it etc. 

[italian dave]

6 minutes ago, Numero Uno said:

Had someone turned round to you and said twenty years ago "a new Owner is coming in and pumping in £200m plus over the next twenty years" would have thought "mmmm, that will at least guarantee us perennial lower mid-Championship football then."? You can't question the investment but for me we should have done a lot more with it than we have. For all that investment we are still only a division head of our ramshackle noisy neighbours who wear poverty as a badge of honour. Not good enough for me.

Possibly, yes. But when people talk (as they often do!) about Brighton and Brentford and Bournemouth I also think about Reading and Sheffield Wednesday and Wigan and Derby.

And (less seriously!) if someone had said that to me then I might have thought ‘well at least they’re being realistic’, unlike the ‘Europe in 5 years’ claptrap that some of their predecessors came up with! 

[RoystonFoote'snephew]

Clearly any approach for Manning comes with a compensation payment to Oxford. I don't know what his contract situation is so do we have any idea of cost? Interesting on what we are prepared to spend money on. 

[Numero Uno]

Just now, italian dave said:

Possibly, yes. But when people talk (as they often do!) about Brighton and Brentford and Bournemouth I also think about Reading and Sheffield Wednesday and Wigan and Derby.

And (less seriously!) if someone had said that to me then I might have thought ‘well at least they’re being realistic’, unlike the ‘Europe in 5 years’ claptrap that some of their predecessors came up with! 

To be fair we cannot pin "Europe in 5 Years" on the Board!!

The interesting thing is people talk of "Brentford, Brighton, Bournemouth, Luton and Burnley" or "Wednesday, Wigan and Derby" BUT NOBODY WHATSOEVER talks about Bristol City - we are the epitome of mediocrity and it's cost someone £200m plus to get us there!!

[petehinton]

Also forgot to flag Tinnion was at Oxford Exeter earlier in the season too, so that’s a good 3 times minimum he’s actively seen them play in the flesh. May even have been at Oxford Rovers too. 

[bbew]

20 minutes ago, Numero Uno said:

Had someone turned round to you and said twenty years ago "a new Owner is coming in and pumping in £200m plus over the next twenty years" would have thought "mmmm, that will at least guarantee us perennial lower mid-Championship football then."? You can't question the investment but for me we should have done a lot more with it than we have. For all that investment we are still only a division head of our ramshackle noisy neighbours who wear poverty as a badge of honour. Not good enough for me.

But if they had said that a significant amount of teams in the same league would have money coming out their ears and that £200m was not a particularly large amount in comparison to them, our achievements (or lack of) may have been viewed differently again. 

[Numero Uno]

1 minute ago, bbew said:

But if they had said that a significant amount of teams in the same league would have money coming out their ears and that £200m was not a particularly large amount in comparison to them, our achievements (or lack of) may have been viewed differently again. 

That has been the case since parachute payments were introduced and with FFFP introduced it's harder than it's ever been. There was a considerable period of wasted opportunity before that however. I repeat, it shouldn't cost £200m to achieve perpetual mediocrity.

[OliOTIB]

Always my first choice - think he would be a great fit

[robin_unreliant]

27 minutes ago, Numero Uno said:

Had someone turned round to you and said twenty years ago "a new Owner is coming in and pumping in £200m plus over the next twenty years" would have thought "mmmm, that will at least guarantee us perennial lower mid-Championship football then."? You can't question the investment but for me we should have done a lot more with it than we have. For all that investment we are still only a division head of our ramshackle noisy neighbours who wear poverty as a badge of honour. Not good enough for me.

Isn't that what the Lansdowns are saying though. With the wages we have been paying, contributing to the losses, we should be doing more. Maybe they have got fed up with being patient too.

[italian dave]

8 minutes ago, Numero Uno said:

To be fair we cannot pin "Europe in 5 Years" on the Board!!

The interesting thing is people talk of "Brentford, Brighton, Bournemouth, Luton and Burnley" or "Wednesday, Wigan and Derby" BUT NOBODY WHATSOEVER talks about Bristol City - we are the epitome of mediocrity and it's cost someone £200m plus to get us there!!

 

1 minute ago, Numero Uno said:

That has been the case since parachute payments were introduced and with FFFP introduced it's harder than it's ever been. There was a considerable period of wasted opportunity before that however. I repeat, it shouldn't cost £200m to achieve perpetual mediocrity.

ha ha! yes - we went from good old Des Williams: budget for cup exits at the first round and average attendances of season ticket sales and no more. Straight to Europe in 5 years! Of course the first might mean you break even but its limit is about League 1. The second requires way way more investment than they ever had.

You could put it another way - mediocrity in those terms at least gives you a decent standard of football and £200m is what it costs to get even that nowadays. The point about FFP and parachute payments is exactly what you say - once you've taken the chance and pulled off the PL then £200m is suddenly a couple of years TV money - relatively small beer. And - as some of those others have shown - you can still cock it all up even then!

[Numero Uno]

Just now, robin_unreliant said:

Isn't that what the Lansdowns are saying though. With the wages we have been paying, contributing to the losses, we should be doing more. Maybe they have got fed up with being patient too.

Don't you think plenty of teams in our league are paying the same or in a number of cases a hell of a lot more than us? The Lansdown's have missed the boat I'm afraid.

Over twenty years of patiently waiting to achieve something, ONE common denominator.

[Open End Numb Legs]

I suppose 1 thing in his favour is he is a committed, career coach rather than the previous bookies favourite who is a top ex player but has dabbled in the media and not succeeded in the coaching he has tried.

[RobinTuga]

3 hours ago, FNQ said:

Liam Manning is doing a good job at Oxford, things are going well for him at the moment. Why on earth though would he walk away from at least a couple of years job security and the very real prospect of championship football next season to join our lot? Surely he, or any other manager that currently have a job would have to be mad to throw it all away and join the Lansdowns.. People within the football community would be fully aware of what’s going on at Ashton Gate.

I agree with your sentiment in general but just to play devil's advocate. I'm sure Manning thought like that in some way as he finished 3rd in League One while being linked with Championship clubs only to be out of the job by Christmas that year, football more and more works on a "what have you done for me lately" basis. What you say makes sense but at the same time but I wonder if someone who's gone through that would be more receptive to taking the chance to go up the ladder while it's there.

[Kid in the Riot]

Short interview he did yesterday with BBC Oxford

 

[!james]

https://yellowsforum.co.uk/threads/liam-manning.9227/page-63

Being discussed at their end too!

[BS30 City]

5 minutes ago, Kid in the Riot said:

Short interview he did yesterday with BBC Oxford

 

Have you ruled him out yet?! Harrys completed his overview now

[jjcarrera1974]

Don’t know if it adds anything to this thread, but I know for a fact ex Bristol City player James Morton was all set for a move to MK Dons / Liam Manning until the deal fell through due to his sacking … 

[Henry]

18 minutes ago, Kid in the Riot said:

Short interview he did yesterday with BBC Oxford

 

The island of hair separating from the rest is giving me Steve McLaren vibes

The constant looking at the floor is giving me Joey Barton vibes.

On that basis…it’s a no from me.

[petehinton]

54 minutes ago, jjcarrera1974 said:

Don’t know if it adds anything to this thread, but I know for a fact ex Bristol City player James Morton was all set for a move to MK Dons / Liam Manning until the deal fell through due to his sacking … 

Was due to Martin leaving for Swansea, wasn’t it?

[Merrick's Marvels]

3 hours ago, BS30 City said:

Have you ruled him out yet?! Harrys completed his overview now

No

[Marina's Rolls Royce]

12 hours ago, Barrs Court Red said:

This is their best???
 

Roll on when they foxtrot Oscar, and someone capable can really give it their best. 

There are maybe 3-4 clubs in the entire EFL and Premiership where the supporters believe that the owners are doing a brilliant and consistently good job- putting in the right amount of money, hiring the right Manager and signing the best players. Your sense of self entitlement is noted.... you can't even be bothered to be a supporter of OTIB so I doubt very much that you would pay to watch BCFC.

10 hours ago, frenchred said:

But most of that money spent was to cover up their fooking decisions on who to appoint and mistakes!

Another poster who is so clever about how SL spends his money yet can't spend his own to support a forum.

In my opinion there do seem to be a disproportionate amount of people who are experts about how to spend other people's money but remarkable about spending their own. OTIB support is about the price of a pint which some do seem to have a lot of when they arrive on here.

[Barrs Court Red]

10 minutes ago, Marina's Rolls Royce said:

There are maybe 3-4 clubs in the entire EFL and Premiership where the supporters believe that the owners are doing a brilliant and consistently good job- putting in the right amount of money, hiring the right Manager and signing the best players. Your sense of self entitlement is noted.... you can't even be bothered to be a supporter of OTIB so I doubt very much that you would pay to watch BCFC.

Another poster who is so clever about how SL spends his money yet can't spend his own to support a forum.

In my opinion there do seem to be a disproportionate amount of people who are experts about how to spend other people's money but remarkable about spending their own. OTIB support is about the price of a pint which some do seem to have a lot of when they arrive on here.

Funny, it used to be supported by your precious club owner, until fragile Steve realised he didn’t like criticism so pulled the plug. 
 

It’s almost like the lack of fan engagement flows down from the top isn’t it… 

[Marina's Rolls Royce]

9 hours ago, Merrick's Marvels said:

I agree about the new posters. There seems a whiff of paranoia around here about them - just put 'em on ignore! 

Like I have with you.

As for the highlighted bit - it's a specious argument and you know it - no-one's made him spend that much - he's had too because he keeps making a mess of things - are we supposed to just doff our caps and shut up - etc etc

So as you go back on ignore, I'll leave you with this:

How long does our owner need to get it right if 20+ years isn't long enough? How many chances to get it right does he need - if we had a Centre forward who kept missing chances as regularly as our owner has, would you still keep picking him or would you decide it's time for a new Centre forward? 

So you put me on "ignore" then "unignoer" to break cover and then make a derogatory comment and then allegedly put me back on ignore!

You're like a kid in the playground who comes up from behind tries to kick someone and then runs and hides in the toilets.

Man up. 

Personally I've never put anyone on "ignore" ever. If I don't like what they say I just move on, if they make a good point that I don't like but are essentially more right than me- I just suck it up. But I guess for some it's akin to a popularity contest. 

Were you bullied?

[Marina's Rolls Royce]

1 minute ago, Barrs Court Red said:

Funny, it used to be supported by your precious club owner, until fragile Steve realised he didn’t like criticism so pulled the plug. 
 

It’s almost like the lack of fan engagement flows down from the top isn’t it… 

If SL pulls the plug - our club goes pop. What part of that do you not understand? You can't even pay £5 to support OTIB which you are only to happy to make over 13000 comments on.

Do you not get the irony of yourself?

 

[Barrs Court Red]

7 minutes ago, Marina's Rolls Royce said:

If SL pulls the plug - our club goes pop. What part of that do you not understand? You can't even pay £5 to support OTIB which you are only to happy to make over 13000 comments on.

Do you not get the irony of yourself?

 

“but it stuff pulls the plug” and in this fantasyland you could say the same about any owner of any business?  
 

You’ve been dangling that rod for days, desperate to get that moneys worth for that fiver ain’t ya?  Here’s to another 13000 posts, I’ll raise a jar to your noble sacrifice.  Maybe you could chuck some over to Steve, just incase he pulls the plug

[Mr Popodopolous]

13 minutes ago, Marina's Rolls Royce said:

If SL pulls the plug - our club goes pop. What part of that do you not understand? You can't even pay £5 to support OTIB which you are only to happy to make over 13000 comments on.

Do you not get the irony of yourself?

 

That isn't strictly true, it depends on how he is running us and what terms that pulling the plug would entail.

If he is running us on a cash breakeven basis then it would depend on the debt and his views about it.