It's the title of an album by Tragically Hip but that's not my point. Losing 0-2 at home vs Burnley at half time and combining that with the news that Fredericks has left Ashton Gate makes me wonder what is happening down in BS3. This is not intended in any way to be a negative thread but I am really starting to ask if everyone running our club are on the same page or even if they are reading the same book. The euphoric feelings we had last season are rapidly fading from view and the promises made about where we were heading in the future don't seem to have the same warm fuzzy glow. Whether we come back to gain something from today's match is irrelevant because my concern is that something is about to fall apart and after hearing all the statements about our future I am starting to have some doubts that it will hold together. Over the last few weeks our dip in to the transfer market has not been a pleasant or fruitful experience, certainly for SC, and the upshot of it all is that we haven't done everything necessary to prepare Bristol City for this division. It almost feels like I am in a time warp and been taken back several years when we went through the same kind of scenario when we didn't bring in the right players or fill the blank spots. I am a patient man but I am starting to get tired of hearing the same old quotes from the "Acme Book of Excuses to give the Punters" Sort it out.
Mike He is apparently joining 'another London club' for personal reasons. This suggests he hasn't settled here, but after 26 days it's all a bit of a joke !!
I can understand him leaving, if for instance he has family issues to deal with, but the personal reasons leave me second guessing. The loss today right at the transfer deadline makes me cringe at what else can happen over the next short period. Are we entering another crisis where the manager is not getting the backing he needs to make us competitive or is it deeper than that? Are we starting to see the same issues at our doorstep that made Steve Coppell bail out in record time, or has someone decided that we can't or won't pay the price of admission to the Championship? Like the Bristol City of the past we still ask lots of questions but receive very few, if any, answers. The next few weeks may address some of the obvious issues but I just can't fathom out what page our aspirations are on these days. Confusing.
Believe me mike he is no big loss based on his performances. I think he he would have ended up as El Abd 2. I think there has been too much meddling by non football staff in recruitment this time around. As the saying goes "fail to plan, plan to fail". There is not much to suggest a realistic strategic plan was ever in place when it comes to transfers at this level. It highlights also the need to have a top notch scouting network at home and across europe. The concerning thing is that it is not apparent that the club has yet learned its lesson and adapted accordingly. No point moaning about it get on with it and target signings we can afford.
He could travel back to the big smoke in two hours, plus he played most of last season in Middlesbrough? He was not all that in my opinion, and maybe the move suits all parties
We don't have much option do we Red Hub? To me it is a major indictment on the whole set up at City when these same problems occur every time we think we are close to getting something right. This statement might upset some maybe but take a browse back over the last 10 years and look at the managers we have employed to get the job done who eventually departed for whatever reason, and find one common denominator that hasn't changed. Perhaps the root cause lies there. Mind the gap.
Maybe he was cheesed off because he wasn't an automatic choice, i.e. one of those characters May not be true, just speculating - which is something our club needs to do in the next 2 days
not got a problem with him going, if for whatever reason he wasn't happy than get out, plus as was said he didn't seem all that, any idea where hes gone though?
Didn't really rate him myself- Thought he was a bit weak defensively and we were much tighter today other than for the two set pieces that cost us dear. Very unusual for that kind of transfer- Something either hasn't worked out or the personal reasons are meaning that he needs to be close to home.
There are major problems as far as I can judge, most could be corrected within 48 hours, if not we can all croak but who will jump?
Worrying times for so early in the season but let's hope that wiser heads prevail. How could we be so naïve about what faced us and who decided to look the other way and hope things would be O.K. - bet it wasn't SC. We have a politician over here called Justin Trudeau wanting to be Prime minister by letting the budget take care of itself - what?
If it frees up the wages to bring in a midfield enforcer, which we clearly need, then no great loss, he didn't appear to set the world alight anyway. Each game we lose makes us less appealing to good players who could make a difference, catch 22 and hence SC frustrations.
The trouble is that the owner and board talk the talk about bringing Premiership football and rugby to Bristol, but aside from throwing money at it in ridiculous quantities after the Gayle/Gray episodes, there is no clear business plan as to how it's going to be achieved, or the steps along the way to implement this or measure progress. Nor it seems, any proper planning. We've failed miserably to build and strengthen sufficiently a squad that is capable of even a mid table finish after last seasons amazing results and successes, and all I can see is a season of struggle as things stand. Performances at home are decent, but 1 point from 9 tells you that teams at this level are ruthless, and are also capable of protecting leads. Aside from last weeks unexpected win at Middlesbrough, I really wonder where the next win is coming from. I make no secret of the fact I dislike Lansdown, Rich and powerful he may be, saviour and sugar daddy blah blah blah, but straight away there are rumblings of discontent and malaise in the camp due to inept leadership. I like SC. He is a genuine, heart on the sleeve, passionate and focused guy. The sort of manager I like and is what we've lacked for decades. He must be tearing his hair out.
SL has talked the talk,apart from the ground being redevoloped he has not invested in the important thing that brings the punters in the team. I say it a million times,success on the pitch is the most important thing.That creates interest look at the exposure we had last season. This season did not bring any signings in pre-season,we were unprepaired for the championship. I truly expected us to kick on this year,unless signings are made we are going to be involved in that relagation fight,and possibly return to league one again. Something is a miss at Ashton Gate,it almost seems as if the club wants to fail. But why is the baffleing question. Will Steve Cotterill hang around i think not,unless change comes quickly.
We could end up with the best, empty ground in the country (apart from Wembley between internationals)
Don't any of the failures littered around the lower divisions give a clue towards how not to do things? I am not that well versed on all of the happenings around the country but Darlington is as good an example of how things went so wrong so quickly and now the place has a newish stadium that isn't used. Unless you have a good product to put before the faithful don't bother to build yourself a new ground because the overhead costs to stay afloat won't be generated in an empty stadium. Getting it right may sound easy, whereas in fact putting the pieces of the puzzle together won't be easy, and unless you have all aspects in the right place at the right time you will probably fail. I get the impression that Bristol City have never even been close to getting all things right and it appears to me that the areas of most importance get overlooked and focus is lost. We seem to be a club that wants to play with the big boys and yet are never truly sure of how we are going to achieve that goal and for some inexplicable reason we tend to get lost on the way to the forum. I know the season is still young and things can change but until we really know what we want to achieve how the hell are we going to get there we don't stand a chance? Over the years since the inception of the 606 site I have heard screaming coming through our network begging City to do this and that, and if my memory isn't failing me I think the total sum of our blatantly obvious shortcomings that were addressed are virtually zero. Strengthen here, move players out, bring new talent in, strategy for our short and long term future and always, but always, keep your eye on the target. These are some of the many aspects of running a successful football club and I think we get a failing grade in a lot of them and until we man up and decide what we want to be, and when we want to be it, we will continue down the path to somewhere, but we still don't know where that is. How many more years do we have to listen to promises about our future only to find out that what we believe needs to be fixed never seems to enter the minds of the decision makers. So sad. I don't really like the show but W1A seems to fit our description when all day is spent talking about nothing in particular and therefore nothing is achieved, but at least you have put up a good show on the corporate circle. Living in the corporate clouds doesn't cut it anymore and a fine bank balance will never guarantee success, you need to get down to grass roots and nurture your flock unless you want the whole thing to go sideways. Total involvement is needed here and committed support for our manager is critical so whatever he believes is required to make us competitive should be addressed and fixed. If someone else is pulling the strings in the background then my advice to them is to leave it to the professionals you hire to do the job and stop meddling. Have you ever thought that if you hire the right people and let them do their job to the best of their ability (Steve Cotterill fits that job description) perhaps their success might rub off on you and everybody wins. I despair that we will never get all the pieces together to reach our supposed goal and unless whatever is going on with our club is resolved soon we could end up even further away (again) from where we want to be.
Mike We are already past the 10% of the season mark and we're still in month 1. In my humble opinion, what the club is crying out for is an experienced and seasoned professional who has helped mastermind the promotions and establishment of the likes of Swansea, Stoke etc in the EPL. Someone who knows when to act, what is needed in the close season, and someone who can get the ear of the seemingly and ever increasingly incompetent owner and board member(s) and give them advance notice to dust down the chequebook and put together a real plan, not one that's written on a *** packet on a Friday afternoon on the eve of a new season, which is what we seem to have yet again this year. I'm not talking about a new manager here, or anyone to undermine SC, but an administrator/business plan person with a great knowledge of the game, who has been there and done it elsewhere and has the CV to prove it. We allegedly have a Director Of Football and this should surely be part of his job description, but what he actually does remains a mystery ......? I am really annoyed that all of the hard work from last season is already a distant memory. We should have gone into this campaign full of confidence, with some sterling quality signings in several key areas, underpinning those that are good enough to play at this level, with the remainder reduced to being squad players. I'm not saying we should have maximum points from our games so far, but we should probably have won all 3 home games, but we've taken a single point instead. The home fortress has already crumbled and once you're on the back foot, it's really hard to turn things around and regain the momentum, we al know that even if we don't want to admit it. If nothing changes soon the players will start dreading each game then we'll really be in trouble. We are just naïve at this level from the goals we concede, sendings off, losing possession and all manner of other things. We just need to stabilise this season but we are struggling against teams who are so much more savvy than we are.
If you look at the last set of accounts published I think the 'problem' is blindingly obvious. Our wage bill was already in excess of total income. There really isn't scope to pay big wages to new players. Let alone deal with the potential claims from our current stars to ask for more if we started doing that. Basically we can't compete financially with any club with a parachute payment. Is it £25 m/ season they get? I saw a post saying our turnover last year was £6.8m. Do the maths people. SL can' t be blamed for the obscenely uneven playing field. We have to all get a shot of realism and aim for what we can afford. I like SC but he needs to accept this too and try to find the best we can get with what we have. I fear he is playing a game of trying to force the board into backing him whereas what we want is all of them on the same page.
