So with both managers under pressure and struggling big time, who do you think will be gone 1st? This is not a wum about City as clearly we gas aint in any position to gloat about! I mentioned a few weeks ago that for fun I would make a thread about when will SO'D get sacked. At that time Rovers were still undefeated at home and it wasnt so bad. Today Carry-On-Rovers reminded what I said. So instead of doing it for fun about City, as its now become serious for both teams, this is about about teams so dont treat this as a wum. Both sets of fans can take part if any reds decide to want to take part. Ward saved Rovers last season and at time produced great football and brought good signings and put Rovers in automatic promotion form. This season he has the same team as last season apart from Anyinsah, Hitchcock and Tounkara. He has suffered massively with injuries and been told by the board to reduce the wage bill so has been unable to bring in players to help out during the injury crisis. As a result he has been playing youngsters and playing players out of position. He has been using formations and tactics to defend trying to make us hard to brake down and hoping we get a chance and steal the game. However these negative tactics have backfired due to no real quality and no pace at all up top to create or take chances and individual errors at the back has costed us games where we have conceded late. Wards head has been called for by a lot on the OS forum mainly because its been 3/4 seasons where we have started the season ****e after so much promise and optimism and now cant bear anymore crap that is being offered. The negative tactics/formations and playing players out of position has had a massive impact on people wanted him gone. Signing Bond who is a CM when we needed a winger was crazy and then he decided to play Bond on the wing! Answers on a post card with that. Decisions like that makes it hard to defend Ward and more and more gasheads are losing patience. SO'D hasnt won a league game this season and now sit bottom of the league. And apparently not won in 20 league games if you count the back to the end of last season where he couldnt save City from relegation. City are in a 'transition' period now where SO'D needs time to get the team/club in order under big financial constraints. Fans knew and understood this is a transition period where there would be lots of change at the club how they are run from top to bottom. The City fans who I am friends with and work with say they didnt expect to go up this season due to the transition period. However they didnt expect to be in the relegation zone either. Should be interesting tomorrow at work to hear what they think now City are now bottom. They also didnt expect the winless run to go on as long as it has done. They are worried about getting relegated if SO'D sticks around but are equally frustrated with some players who just are not pulling their weight. With the likes of JET and Baldock in the side, personally I expected better of them. Hearing SO'D on the radio, if his team performs like his pre/post match interviews (and I been told the team performance has been worse on some occasions) then they are in trouble. One thing is for sure, if both Ward and SO'D remain in charge and stick to what they are doing, I think the both be gone, either walking away or sacked. They need to change something quick to save their jobs and the club they manager before the pressure just gets too much for Higgs and Lansdown. So who will be the one gone first? And your reason why .
A very tough question If results stay bad I'll go for Ward. He was initially a short-term fix, while City are supposedly in a 'transitional period', and Higgs can't be happy with the performances, no matter what he writes in his programme notes and reports. The football on offer at the moment is dull, and we don't want to move into that new stadium at a time where we are really struggling. Injuries of course haven't helped but JW has taken too long to recognise some of the problems which have seemed all too obvious. If Ward does go first though, if City's results continue to be as bad as they are, O'Driscoll won't last much longer surely?
Difficult, but I don't think either will go. I think both will do enough to get their respective teams into lower mid table. Is that a good thing? I just don't know anymore....
Depends what 'GO' means. With regard to Ward I can see the board 'inviting' him to move upstairs, handing over the reins to some combination of Clarke/Stewart/Walsh. Of course, if asked, Ward may prefer to leave the club entirely. I think City already have someone doing a vague DoF role (not sure on this) so if it was O'Bismall then he'd just leave. Financially neither club can afford to pay off a manager and recruit. If I had to bet I'd say SOD.
Both are building for a future with minimal finances so they are coaching with one hand tied behind there backs. You would have thought that both of them would have managed to keep the clubs in meaningless mid table or there abouts but it is not happening. The issue is that neither club can afford relegation so the Directors will have at some stage a difficult decision to make as we hit 20 or so games or perhaps even January for City,we have no money so the transfer window does mean a jot about changing personnel. After reading this comment by SOD perhaps he is paving the way for an early exit before Ward? Bristol City head coach Sean O'Driscoll told BBC Radio Bristol: "We've been pretty consistent, we just haven't been getting consistent results. Does that mean consistently bad Sean? "The longer it goes on, it becomes untenable for everybody - players as well as supporters and coaching staff. Are you really saying its time to go Sean ?[ATTACH=CONFIG]27098[/ATTACH] "We're all in it together and everyone is trying to front up. Up to your necks In the S***E eh Sean "We're not looking to blame anybody. We want to look at the things we can do better." Everything by the looks of it Sean and we know its not your fault Sounds as if he is not only on the rack, but has had enough Untenable is a strong word for a manager to use. Glad we are not in the same position as City oops just noticed that we are COR View attachment 27101
There comes a time for players and managers to just call it a day and leave the party. Unfortunately they all seem to want to exit their contracts and leave with a golden hand shake; it doesn't matter whether they have succeeded or failed. Managers hide behind the façade of needing more time to put their 'wonderful plan' in place. This is just an excuse to persuade their next potential employer that their previous club's decline was 'not their fault' as they were not allowed sufficient time to fulfil their 'grand plan'. Players who want out are just plain greedy and sit on their inflated salaries and do nothing to earn an honest living. It isn't always the case that the players or managers are bad exponents of their craft. Sometimes they just don't fit into the situation they find themselves. There is a lot of luck in successful situations. Although as Gary Player said ' the more I practice; the luckier I get'. In JW's case; his record with all clubs seems to show that in the long term he somehow seems to lose the plot and is moved on. I would like to see his assistant at Rovers given more control of team tactics. That is if he isn't already doing so. SOD is being given one hell of a long time to get his 'transitional stage' sorted out. IMO that is because it's a load of nonsense. He had to get rid of the high earners and change the playing staff to reduce wages within FFP. Most of the high earners left like rats deserting the sinking ship, so that wasn't too difficult. What he has brought in sit at the bottom of the Third. I think the City board are too embarrassed to admit another cock-up and that's why he is still there. It would be great to go and watch a quality football match in Bristol once again!!!!
Perhaps 'quality' is not quite the right word, but if you want to ENJOY watching a Rovers team play why not wander up to Cribbs on Saturday morning and watch the U18s play Exeter in a Cup game. Always far more passing/movement/commitment/goals than you'll see in a first team game!
This where it gets serious............ Posted on the City board... As for closer family, out of all cousins, uncles, and immediate family, I am the only one to renew my season ticket. Unable to make the Brentford game tomorrow, and on offer, none of my colleagues (who don't have season tickets) or family want my seat for the game despite it being free. Sorry to borrow it Rhino, but you have my sympathy. We've been going through it that much longer!
