Having God like status from his previous spell at Yeovil who only knew success under him didn't do him any harm really did it...?
I don't really understand your comment but hey ho. It's not true that I had made my mind up at all.......see for yourself where we are, the type of football we're playing, the motavation within the players, the tactics.......sorry, only a blind man can see that he looks to be way out of his depth. UNLESS the board made promises to him regarding the transfer market, that they didn't keep.....I have said this before and is a question that needs to be answered.
Those calling for McInnes to be sacked clearly don't know what manager we've signed. We signed a manager for the long haul, who will build his own successful team that play his football. The reason we are playing poorly is because we have a team of misfits from numerous different managers from the past three years. Most of our current crop will need to go, and the veterans that have been with us for longer than three years will need to go too. It seems that a lot of people are looking for a motivator or a coach. That is good in the short term, but when the players get down again he'll be another expensive departure. I trust that McInnes can build a successful team. Sadly it looks like he'll be starting in League 1 and without a new stadium to look forward to, but I truly believe that if we do go down we can clear out everyone apart from a select few and finally build a squad around a tactically-minded manager. It seems a lot of you have very short memories of all the great things St Johnstone fans said about McInnes when he first arrived. Success was never going to be instant, and a season before he arrived we were always looking towards the bottom end of the table. If we sack McInnes then I'll have completely lost faith in those at the top. We owe a lot to SL and how he keeps the club afloat, but if he's spending £30M+ a year to get us nowhere perhaps it would make a lot more sense for him to just build a world-class academy with that money and turn our long-term prospects towards academy talent. Frankly, I believe the stadium was mainly due to commercial interests rather than for the club (we can't even fill Ashton Gate!), but even if this were true Bristol has already shown itself to be a terrible place for investment and I really cannot see someone wanting to invest in him or the club.
I'll make it simpler! "won't concede that he has failed in the job that he was brought into do" ... your words yea? As yet he hasn't failed to do the job he was brought in to do.. What I can see though a guy who is fighting tooth and nail to keep us in this division and trying his best with a woeful shower of **** who were by and large brought in by other people. He really shouldn't have to motivate professional footballers to go out and win football games, their own pride should be enough but like the saying goes you cant make a silk purse, etc. The tactics were to try and keep things tight and score on the break, hence 4-5-1 many successful clubs have used this formation both as an attacking and defensive set up and worked it well, anyone who knows the first thing about football knows that to come in to a team bereft of any confidence you need to go back to basics and start again, unfortunately for him he mis-underestimated the crap he had been left with. He could not possibly come here and just throw the lot in the air and say I'm replacing the lot of em, he needed to get the existing players onside whilst making change as fast as possible within the realms of possibility and trying to keep some sort of 'motivation'. A very difficult process to undertake and yes we may well suffer in the short term for it. But think it through a bit and try to consider the situation if you were in the same situation.
Fair shout Banksy, however 'He could not possibly come here and just throw the lot in the air and say I'm replacing the lot of em' - but he's signed Foster and Pearson and loaned another 6 - Davis,Ephraim,McMannus,Amougou,Keinan and last but not least Wood. So he's brought in 8, not all the team but a fair percentage. Foster is decent and would be a lot better if he could stay in one position, McMannus was ok but not as good as some make out on here and the rest are ordinary bar Wood who is useless. His choice of player has been suspect and doesn't fill me with any confidence for the players he signs in the summer. I'll have to disagree, I believe we're down and think he had more than enough time to keep us up if he was up to the task.
Ender & Banksy. For some reason there is something in DM that floats your boat, for the great things the fans of St Johnstone says means nothing to me whatsoever. It's a different level. You are also mentioning misfits, I don't buy that I'm afraid. He's brought in a few players and apart from McManus, Pearson & Foster whom I consider to be OK the rest are not much better than we already had. I also don't buy that when he has a clear out all of a sudden we're gonna have a successful team. That's good, for that's what you believe. But as yet, there is nothing to convince me whatsoever that he has qualities to become a good manager for us. Maybe in the next few games he will change my mind. Banksy, I don't see the fighting tooth & nail, I see panic, hoofball, bad defending, no creation, no heart and not much passion. If I'm honest, it's not a vast improvement that we had under Millen and he was bloody terrible.
I have been reading with interest the comments on here, i must say i wanted DM, mainly because he's young and ambitious, will he succeed and keep us up, i have my doubts, if he does i think he would have done a fantastic job, from the moment he arrived he had a massive job with the squad he inherited. The players he has brought to the club, some say, are know better than we have here already, well its very hard with restrictions because of the financial situation, and the players that are available in the loan market. I believe in DM, and i know the one's that don't, we all have our opinions, but to all the one's like me, lets get behind the man and the team, and lets prove the doubters wrong.
Hang on, Keinan, bikey and ephraim were brought in 2 games ago, one had a great debut at the back and one scored on his debut, the other hasn't had a shout yet, mainly I would guess because bringing in 2 new central defenders to such an important game would have been suicide. give em a chance eh? Pearson has been widely praised as a good signing. Wood was on fire at Brum and any halfwit would have jumped at the chance to try him on loan..Mcmanus was good and foster is a definite improvement on what we had..Davis gone back but was wildly touted as a suggested permanent signing as far back as GJ and then designated by our fans as out of our league.. Most importantly we wouldn't have attracted any of these players with Millen or Johnson in charge, I clearly remember many being touted as possible signings only to be laughed off as 'out of reach' back then. Keep the faith guys..I reckon whatever happens we are heading back to a level above the mediocrity we have been served up with for the last few years..
DM is the man in charge and I hope he's here for the long haul even if we go down. Millen was a dire mistake as was Coppell but that's water under the bridge, and Gary and Lee Johnson are both gone. The problems DM has walked into here would have already have defeated a lesser guy, and as I've said before, he can get rid of the entire playing squad as far as I'm concerned, because there are very few that are worth retaining in this division or in L1.
I'm scratching my head..... According to most, So far DM can do no wrong, everything that's gone wrong is down to the players, some of which DM have brought in. Let me take you back to; Last week of October 2011, we played Barnsley away and won 2-1. Nov 2011, we played the following; West ham away, drew 0-0 Burnley home, won 3-1 Millwall away, won 2-1 Southampton home, won 2-0 (and did the double over them) Watford away drew 2-2 So November unbeaten, with more or less the same squad. We now have DM's additions. How can that be, "it's the players that are crap or misfits"? Did they become bad players after November? For whatever reason, the ability was there to get us out of this mess, so what happened? Did they play out of their skins to impress the new manager? if so, why can't DM remotivate the same bunch of players?
Perhaps you could show us some stats to indicate when the very worst sides that have been relegated in the past went through a whole season without winning a few games or indeed having some good spells here and there.. DM was in charge during this period so by your own argument, What happened did he become a bad manager after November? Like I said he shouldn't have to motivate them to win games of football and if they are so bad that he does indeed have to do that, that says everything I need to know about the players.
In order to build for the future, we need to invest in a divine youth system, with continental coaches and a fund for attracting some of the best youngsters in Europe. This will cost, but if SL is serious about progressing Bristol City FC then this is where the money has to go. If that means we tread water for a couple of years then so be it, but at least we would be progressing behind the scenes. I would rather see the above happening than DM going out to buy a couple of expensive players who may or may not be a success, and may or may not put us in the top half of the CCC
Then perhaps it's not to do with motivation, perhaps it's DM's Set up, tactics, formations or team picking. The run in November was a positive one, I had to laugh cus at the time some people thought we were an outside bet for a playoff place.
This is true in an ideal world, but I think I'm right in saying that as from next season, prem club scouts are allowed to poach from the smaller clubs backyard. Unfair but the way of the world in football these days.
Onefor I know you're frustrated and just want to see City do well and you have your doubts about DM, I will admit some of his selections have not been what I would have done myself. but I really think he's damned if he does and damned if he doesn't. I just feel that swapping and changing managers again would be so counter productive now and going in to next year that its just not an option, looking at our shortlist of 3 from last time we weren't exactly laden with talent to choose from. Let him have a pre season and a clear out and a chance to change the philosophy at this club because its so badly needed now. I am expecting to be relegated with our current form, but sometimes you do have to go backwards to start going forwards. I dont want to, but.....
This may come as a surpise to you but I also don't like chopping and changing managers and I can understand your reason for stability to the club. Again believe it or not, I didn't have anything against DM, apart from the fact that he was being thrown in the deepend without having any experience at this level. That's not his fault, that's down to the board. But apart from what was on show in November (which, by the way was encouraging) he hasn't given me anything, to fill me with hope, nor excitement since. If he keeps us up, I'm with you, I think he should have a pre-season, be allowed to bring players in and see how we go.......But if we go down, I will feel that he's failed and would not be the right man to take us forward.
GJ and LJ may not be coming back Banksy, but we can learn from the mistakes made which brought about his downfall. Lesson number 1 Be satisfied with a boring 1-0 win, and a side without wingers, because you might get what you wish for 2 Put down the urge to spread disharmony for the sake of it, because when that beast is out the cage it is sometimes impossible to put it back in 3 SUPPORT YOUR MANAGER, because every vote counts, and every dissenting voice chips away at the infrastructure (especially in these days of internet freedoms) 4 When we are lucky and privileged enough to be able to support our team in the flesh as it were, then make the most of it. The City team of the 70s were roared on by a different breed of supporter, and the atmosphere from those games was of a different nature from the timid and pasturised experience from modern day Ashton Gate, which sometimes reminds me of an old ladies' bowling match. Oh to be able to step back in time and show the new support of today what it was like v Liverpool 1976/77......(sighs in reminiscence) 5 Thank our lucky stars for what we have and EXPECT NOTHING (because that is what we nearly ended up with in 1982)
I couldn't agree more with you BRR! Have I given you the impression I wouldn't? My only regret from our recent history is (notwithstanding your personal opinions on certain individuals) if GJ's son had been a furniture restorer in Milton keynes (or something other than a footballer) things may have been so much different for GJ here.. so many issues just wouldn't of arisen.
BRR - My view of GJ and LJ is exactly as Banksy. Disagree with your slightly Rose tinted view of the 70's, the 'breed of supporter' has hardly changed but circumstances have. I was at both the Monday and Thursday night fixtures against Liverpool and Coventry and the atmosphere on both nights was fantastic. But also remember Forest, Spurs and Arsenal playing us off the park at AG and although not as bad as Watford the other night I think the fans attitude was different then because we were so much the underdog in the 'top' division. Success plays a massive part in how fans react. The atmosphere for the 'recent' Hartlepool play off fixture was incredibly electric and hardly different to that Monday game with Liverpool even though our ground capacity has halved. Was only yesterday I thought why are we only taking a 1,000 to Forest when we took over 4,000 a few years ago in L1. I know it's on Sky but in reality 1 game is a relegation fixture where the other was for promotion. I believe our fans, like others, thrive/react on success, and the same in times of relegation - not so much with being 'better' 40 years ago.
RP, we were on the up and everyone was on board the GJ bus when we went to Forest that day - the Forest lot clearly weren't expecting more than a 1,000 or so and they had to sheppard some round to the overflow area which was supposed to be empty. The traffic in Nottingham is RUBBISH, took us nearly 2 hours to get into town having hit the outskirts at 1.15pm... As for the 70's I was in the crowd for the Liverpool game but didn't get to Coventry but for me, the Freight Rover area final 2nd leg against Hereford was the best atmosphere ever at the Gate. Only 11,000 odd there but when Stevie Nev hit that ball in the bottom corner with the last kick of the game, the place literally exploded...! We need bodies there on Saturday, sod the tele - get there if you can people...
