The old question of the horse or the cart comes to mind in this situation and it boils down to whether we hire a manager to make the current crop as good as it can be or do we allow them time over a couple of seasons to bring in their type of players? If Liam was hired to do the first scenario then he has clearly missed the mark by some distance and is therefore under scrutiny for not meeting the stated objectives. If the intention was to allow him to build the team with new players of his own liking then he will definitely fail because history tells us the Lansdowns are incapable of supporting anyone down at pitch level despite any promises made during the interview even it it only lasted five minutes. Messy is the game Bristol City plays every time at all levels and that is why as long as we are in incompetent hands doing all the wrong things at the wrong time, and then add in incomprehensible decisions, you have the full meal deal menu for failure.
Nige said many times he had funds, but wouldn’t spend them if it didn’t improve the team, so he didn’t, on both counts. Possibly this pre-season was the only time he played up about it a bit.
Not enough I would assume to buy better than he had. I would imagine in the next week or so the powers that be will come out of hiding and give us some speal.
There’s funds and then there’s funds, as I said we were looking at L1, L2, would you prefer he wasted money on players that weren’t good enough? , the players we needed weren’t on the cards, he knew that so refused to just buy dross.
I personally think that a lot of our problems come from not having a big number 9 - or a big defender who can get forward like Flint used to. My daughters fiancé is a Hammers fan and he commented (without being led or prompted) how small in stature our side is. I personally think that’s the missing link and it has been for years. I know it’s been discussed on here too.
where have I heard that before -ahhhh me chirping away but the majority kept saying we had one in Tommy. For me not been anywhere near good enough as a 9 or 10 a really big disappointment especially since Nigel departed.
It was common knowledge, it was, and is, our transfer strategy , we buy L1, L2 players, that’s the market we are in. He was right what’s the point buying players for the sake of it.
I agreed with you 100% on this one RR. We are lightweight up front. Having a big centre forward does NOT force you to play hoofball - but it gives you the option of a plan B - which we currently don’t seem to have.
You never answered my question.. how many games (full) have you watched under LM? I should also ask roughly how many under Nige.
I didn’t want Nige to go but! Everybody at the gate knew we needed a No9. Who did Nige bring in - Harry Cornick - I rest my case!
No i No idea exact number for either, watch most matches, either in person, RTV, or via a feed, not that I see the relevance tbh
It helps to see and understand how LM wants the team to play.. Results are of course most important but doesn’t tell the full story.. I think I missed the odd Nige game but watched near as dam it all of the LM games..
I know of plenty of fans that watch both home and away that have a similar opinion to me, you don’t have to watch every game to have an opinion. The form table tells a story 3rd from bottom since he took over, level on points with Birmingham, only Rotherham have less points. Booing by fans at both our last home and away games tells a story as well. I could go on. He’s clearly out of his depth. JL is only chairman because he’s the son of the owner and BT as technical Director, or whatever his title is who’s not qualified for his present role and a head coach that’s, I quote “learning on the job”, though who he’s learning from I’ve no idea. On the evidence he regularly says in his post match interviews that it was the players fault, rather than taking personal responsibility, I’m not sure he learning at all. if he had a record of success I could see your argument, but he doesn’t. I see no evidence so far to suggest anything will change. We need a coach that can take the sound defensive basis the present squad has, and add a bit of flair and the ability to break the lines to open up teams that sit in against us. This guy wants to reinvent the wheel, we don’t have the players, or the available cash to bring in the number of players we’d need to change to his style, and even then there’s no guarantee he’d be able to deliver. He isn’t going to change and we don’t have the means to change even if we wanted to, JL and BT brought him in under false pretences. They ALL need to go. That isn’t going to happen, Liam will, just as well do it now imo
I get the discontent - I really do. Results have been poor and it’s a results game. As I see it our options are simple; stick or twist. We stick with Manning and hope he can turn it around - like LJ did after that terrible run of defeats - or we sack him. Sacking him would mean we would begin a lengthy recruitment process, run by Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee - which would probably result in yet another rookie manager nobody has heard of taking the reigns when we are really deep in the doodoo. Neither option is a good one but I think sticking with Manning is slightly less risky than asking Jon Lansdown to appoint another cheap unknown.
Interesting....I've never heard him blaming the players as such but maybe done certain things better.. He has a style of play that IMO needs to stick with, ingrain it into the players, buy players that suit.....do it his way...again IMO needs time to get it sorted. Resorting back to previous which failed again imo is not the answer.. We as do many clubs have certain fickle fans that want success from a manager straight away......Pearson had 3 years, yes managed to trim the squad a bit but ultimately failed in the league..All the excuses you can find, but them are the truths
All I will say if NP was in charge we would not be sinking faster than the Titanic.Bad decision no iffs or butts.
If we were I’d be calling for him to go as well. That’s the point. Bearing in mind LM was supposed to improve us this season, not only has he failed, he’s achieved the polar opposite
