Bookies are making us 3rd favorites for the title, I think that's a bit optimistic presonally I don't think we will make automatic promotion spot but I am sure we will make play offs. I really do hope the team works hard for us as we deserve better than 3rd division football down at the gate. Breaks my Heart to see Yeovil in 2nd Div.
welcome fireman I agree top two is a tad optimistic play-offs definately the target before the signings we have made i thought we would finish tenth now with the players we have brought in top 6 is a must surely
Welcome to the BCFC talking shop fireman before the signings I thought 6th was the best we could hope for but as each signing is revealed I have become a little more optimistic a few more changes to the squad now and I think we will be looking at a hungry team wanting to prove itself like we had under GJ and he nearly got us into the prem.
Hi fireman we are where we are for a reason, bad management and leadership. SOD made a very interesting comment when he joined up,he said the club have bought into his philosophy,we are only going one way under SOD and that is back up. We are in good hands long may he reign.
Come on boys! I don't support you boys but even I know that Bristol City will be promoted next season.
This is what I am really hoping. Looks to me like after many years of having a complete lack of an attacking midfield, we will finally have an engine room again and with a couple of ex-Arsenal lads to choose from, some who can play a bit. We've all had a go at certain members of the team, it is a very true maxim that familiarity breeds contempt. Our under performing members have failed to set the world on fire so far however it must quickly becoming evident to even the most dense member of the squad that there is no scope for indifference and indeed, this will not be tolerated and now it is now up to them whether they shape up or ship out. I don't know how we will do but I am hopeful that with a hungry and energetic team, we will be very competitive and also good to watch and I'll be content to see where this takes us...
Welcome Fireman I'm doubtful it if we have the ability or consistency to finish in the top two next May, but frankly the vast majority of teams in L1 aren't great and we should be looking at getting a minimum of 10 away wins and a good 15 or more at home. There will be 8 or so teams vying for a top 6 finish and if we are not one of them then SOD should walk away because it wont have worked. The teams to look out for IMO are Wolves Peterborough Brentford Walsall Preston North End Bradford MK Dons Sheffield Utd City There will always be spoilers like Tranmere and maybe Oldham but I don't think either will be in the top 6.
Welcome Fireman. I would love to be confident about a quick return to the Championship, but in all my sixty three years supporting City, we don't do instant returns to higher leagues. I believe we have at between two and four seasons before we begin climbing back.
I really cannot see promotion this year. The club are rebuilding, but we have a number of unproven players, and a squad that still has some rot. SOD is definitely the man for the job, but I'm still concerned that the board aren't living up to their end of the deal. There are still a number of dark clouds over the club that need to be resolved. The biggest dark cloud of all is Ashton Vale. I reckon that if we can land the new stadium during this season the club and the team will receive a HUGE morale boost that could make the difference between finishing mid-table and finishing in the playoffs. That being said, I think we'll finish mid-table. Last season, the quality we displayed was League 1 at best. It's not an easy league to be in, and we'll struggle to adapt.
Ashton Vale would not make one iota of difference to team morale. Players are here in for cash. No dark cloud to support either, or at least the fans I know. More of a bore. The club wouldn't own it, and most of its on site assets. Head of Bristol sport has stated Ashton Gate can provide equal income. The board is Steve Lansdown. Everybody else almost are employees. Mr Lansdown has authorised spending enough to see improvement, significant improvement. It us now up to Mr O'driscoll to coach them more professionally than Mr Mcinnes did. I hope to see a sensible improvement. Players being able to keep a shape, pass from A-B, not take numerous touches to control a football, that type of thing. No getting giddy win or lose.
Some one give me a hefty kick if I'm getting too excited (would have thought I had learned after 40+ years) but am feeling optimistic about the coming season and can see a top six finish maybe even a top two?? OK so City will probably let me down again and finish seventh! Sod it I'm off to put a bet on finishing in top two!my glass is always half full, but not for long.
And if they don't perform then they lose their cash. Then the Head of Bristol Sport is full of ****. Ashton Vale is a brand new, larger stadium with better facilities, and a much easier route towards future expansion. In the short term, perhaps it will earn the same amount of money, but there's no way in the long term. The fans do care about getting a new stadium. It's a sign that things are going well for the club, and that regardless of how the team are getting on the future for the club is bright. It allows us to provide a better experience for the fans, and most importantly, to be able to pour more money into the club. Coaching isn't a problem. The lack of funds to compete is. Ashton Vale will provide more funds.
Have to disagree there coaching was a problem, perhaps not in so much about the football but how the team was organised when DM was in charge no matter which players were selected or what was said about formations the team went out and played the same way it was as though they had developed a pattern that they played to under Millen and DM couldn't or wouldn't change it. When Sean O 'Driscoll arrived he was very diplomatic about what he said 'The team is very organised' not well organised as he immediately set about changing the organisation of the side. He also tried to boost the ego's of some of the players trying to improve their performances that way but the rot was so entrenched as soon as they lost a couple of games in the main they gave up. It is a truism that if you go on the field of play expecting to lose then 90% of the time you will football is 60-40 physical and mental so if your mental attitude is wrong you have virtually no chance. For quite a few years now City have had problems in defence and midfield, Fontaine was good/adequete when he played along side Carey and McCombe but he couldn't play with any other partners and even McCombe suffered playing alongside Fontaine, Nyatanga arrived supposedly to challenge Fontaine for the Left sided CB role but instead played more with Fontaine as a partner than as a replacement and as was seen this was a disaster, Fontaine can not play Rt Side CB, for a while after Sean arrived Nyatanga and Fontaine looked like a partnership when Nyatanga went to the right and Fontaine to the left but only for a short time because it didn't take long for the defeatest attitude to reappear. The vast majority of the squad from last year HAVE to be replaced we need a group of players who are hungry for success not a bunch who are happy to stroll about and pick up their wage packets, I have been surprised at how patient Mr Lansdown has been with some people at AG over the last few years as with the Mob at the Mem a large percentage of them should have been done under the trade descriptions act for calling themselves footballers.
Hawk, the main problem was that we had 3 separate units in defence, midfield and attack that rarely interacted resulting in my pleas for "joined up football" which started in season 2008/09. Looks like this is about to change and we will have a team that can play again - we should be very happy about this....
I for one am just there are a few more players we need to move on and we have a few players who we would prefer to stay who will move on in all probability I am hoping that O'Driscoll, Burt and Pemberton already have their little black books out looking at players to cover positions that we might well need in the next 3-4 weeks
I want us to go up, and go up undefeated Champions, but I don't think it will happen because this team needs to gel. We also need to be in a position to when we get there, to be competitive in the Championship. I don't think if we don't go up SoD has failed, we are in a rebuilding situation and to do the job correctly he needs time to get them playing the way he wants to. At the moment I would be happy to see entertaining football without kicking the ball away so quickly like it would bite them if they held onto it. We are starting to see a good nucleus of players arrive, so lets enjoy the football and be patient that when we go up, we can stay up and drive on.
You should be confident of finishing champions of League 1 because you are a massive club full of potential. Apparently your boys played well against Clevedon Town.
