According to my maths unless the world collapses on it's side and Carlisle win their final game 29-0 we are safe. Their were many time this season when I really thought we were going down to the place no one wants to talk about but in all fairness the job has been completed with very little fuss but, quite frankly, with very little flair. Let's be honest this is an extremely poor division and we struggled for major parts of, it but let's hope sanity has returned to Ashton Gate and that the powers that be realise, finally, that we deserve to be in a better place in the very near future. Finally after a really confusing, and at times downright angry, season we can sit back safe in the knowledge that we won't be going to places unknown next season and a pat on the back should be offered to Steve Cotterill. Well done man!
we are safe Crewe have got to play Colchester yet, if they draw then a massive swing in goal difference is needed to send us down.
I think you are being very harsh Inver - "very little flair". Who gives a damn! We were on the verge of relegation and Cotterill had one task....keep us up. That he has achieved this with three games to go deserves more than a pat on the back. Based on results since he took over we would be in the play-offs. And football is a results driven business. I also think playing with 3 up front is fairly flair-ful. 5-0 is one game. and 1-3 away against a team who were (at that time) heading for promotion. I wish people would stop knocking SC, even between the lines, and just say he has done a brilliant job and should be in the running for Manager of the season.
I thought that no flair was the beginning of the season when Mr Boring was here. Yes we could do with some out right ball wingers, and he knows it, but O'Dismal sold them. Next season could see the return of one but I don't know who. Their number 7 who don't wear shin pads looks a decent player.
That would require a degree of intelligence and I don't think that is a quality quite as prevalent as we would wish Seriously, It says a lot about the embarrassing attitude of Bristol football fans that they regard us as having some divine right to being at the top table. It defeats me exactly why We are not a big club, and our super-rich chairman spends all his BC allotted cash bailing us out because we can't get the same crowds they get in other parts of the country (Norwich got more in Div 1 that us, Ipswich far more in the Championship than we did). Bristol fans need to get real. We have finally found a manager who can bring the best out of our rag-tail squad, and we should be grateful. Unless you would rather we got SOD back in...
wasn't sure if he had those really small ones as thought you had to play with some sort of shin protection
We were all discussing it by where I sit, and I'm sure he wasn't wearing them unless he JCR's on by mistake
A little bit offended by some feedback my thread especially the one about not having a degree of intelligence and being a bit harsh. I always thought this forum was all about the right to air our opinions whether others agree or not, and I do accept the right of others to respond in their own way. The point of my thread was to say that this was not a season the nearly all City supporters would have expected or wanted, and my critics should have noticed that I ended by saying that we all owe SC a pat on the back which came from my bleeding red heart. Onwards and upwards next season and I think I am in the majority that say mediocre should not be a word in the Bristol City dictionary.
WE get what we are given, and this time someone got it very right in their choice of manager. That being the case, we should try and remember that next season if we get hiccups (which we invariably will), that anything above 10th place is a cause to be grateful and not to moan for the sake of it, or try and bring the walls down out of mild dissatisfaction or basic boredom. That is not supporting your club. Not having a go at you by the way Inver, your comment was fairly innocuous. My point was as a reaction to GG's, which voiced a concern that has haunted our club for too long. Basically, don't start a witch hunt if we are only lying in mid table, because it could be a lot worse and we have no divine right to expect better. Then anything else is a plus. This comment is directed at nobody in particular, and EVERYBODY in general
Done and dusted ... Strange title if you did not expect City to be relegated. Plenty of questions regarding ex academy players and anybody whio can send out a team to perform as badly as it did v Wolves, Brentford and Carlisle. Baffling tactics. El Abd and Flint in the same defence! The ditching of the dreaded pillars. The sidelining of Keith Burt. The expanding wage bill [again]. The signing of over 30's, how do ageing players press v younger ones.
Something radical had to happen to clean up SODS mess. Whether bringing 30 year olds on loan is the answer for the long term remains a mystery, but short term it's worked a treat. We performed badly against Wolves and Brentford because they are the best 2 teams in the division. The rest I agree with though. I do think results pappers over the cracks. But at the moment we're safe and that's what matters
Basically you can't build a castle on quicksand. Cotterill said it himself. It will take 1-2 years to establish the kind of side dreamed of with the youth only policy. Look where the 5 pillars were taking us before SC got to work. Investment in youth is the key to City's future - there can be no doubt about that. But it does have to be tempered with realism and common sense. Now SC can slowly introduce players over the next 2 season (hopefully into a winning side) as he replaces the older ones and gives youth its chance. That is the proper way to do things as it safeguards the careers of our bright young hopefuls, and re-enforces my belief that Cotterill does have a brain - sharp as a button in fact. Just wish he would tell us what El Adb is all about
It was also the topic of discussion by me too, shows how **** the game was, He wasn't wearing any pads I'm sure and its a league rule you have to.?
Radical was needed to clear up the mess of the last five years, Now questions should be asked of the FC. It is unclear what the strategy of the club now is. The team performed abysmally v Wolves, Brentford and Carlisle due to the tactics of the Manger.
Investment in youth is the key to City's future - there can be no doubt about that. There are real doubts that it will be out there. Simply by altering the way club profiles young players for its academy can mean a potential Adam Lallana won't get through the door A few months ago I spent some time talking to a brilliant coach who is running a development centre unattached to any club. His and his fellow coaches efforts are producing a stream of kids moving into the academies of clubs like City, Rovers and Southampton. Five from one sixteen kid squad moved to academies. Steve Cotterill does not do youth development was that head coaches view. There has to be a clear philosphy laid out for development to be part of Citys future from the clubs Manager for it to occur.
**** sake, O'Drismol brought in over 30's in Shorey and Harwood. Cotterill brought in Elliott and mmmmmm oh wait that's it. And even you must admit he's better than most we have here. His one mistake was to sign Al Bad but given time he might even turn out bad. You bang on about some being results driven to harp on about Wolves and Brentford as much has you preached to us about Carlisle and Port Vale. Yes we lost to those two teams and were ****e, but at least we didn't spontaneous combust this season like that boring twat last year. We learnt from those mistakes and grew into a confident tram. You go on about City not being a FC not producing youth, but it's Cotterel that introduced Burns when your hero SoD overlooked him. He stuck with the youth cultural of Williams, Flint Reid until they was injured but bought in Elliot to keep things ticking over. You bang on about the club not personally consulting with you about the redevelopment. Cardiff's ground is round and doesn't generate atmosphere. But when Wales v Scotland played there that ground was not a million miles in atmosphere to the Millennium stadium. But then I suppose that's a **** horrible bowl as well. Just it produces probably the best atmosphere going when Wales Rugby play there. Could atmosphere be down to the design or perhaps the people in it.
