So far we've had a very mixed, sometimes frustrating start to our season, injuries and various levels of performance against a mixed level of opposition, we are 11th in the table,have 15points from 10 games. Quite a few of us, annoyed by early results said we would make a judgement on Nige after 10 games hoping for signs of improvement, quality and better results. From a personal point of view, witnessing what I believe to be a much higher standard of performance from our opposition teams I think Nige is doing well with admitted limited resources, with returning injured players, possible January window actitvity, a little bit of good luck we could end up doing very well. So, carry on Nige, I hope the suits give you the financial backing, trust, support you and the team deserve, offer you a new contract, you accept it and our progress continues in a nice controlled, settled fashion. Your thoughts and criticisms would be appreciated.
I have mixed feelings regarding our games played....That Rotherham game, I'm hoping is our turning point, certainly needs to be.. We always seem like a team in transition which is a tad worrying, waiting for it all to click into place... I must admit I expected better performances than we've had... and I've yet to convince myself is it's to do with the players themselves or to do with, how we've been set up in certain games. V Birmingham we were torn apart, V Leicester I felt we led down giving them far too much respect rather than just get at them and V Stoke, we didn't show maturity once we had a two goal cushion.... So I've not yet given up on the season and I'm hoping for improvement across the board.......verdict........just ok could do a lot better..
I don’t think we’re the worst team in the division but we aren’t able to compete with the likes of Leicester in terms of skill or finance Lansdown isn’t going to splurge the cash, so unless a change of policy or ownership comes along, I don’t really see us being better than what we are right now
15 points from the first 10 games is an acceptable amount, not good, but definitely not bad. The performances are still a worry, we go from looking like a top of the table side, to a bottom of the table side in successive games, so something isn't right there. I don't think the standard in the championship last season, or this is better than the years before, I think it's dropped off quite a lot, even from the relegated PL sides. In terms of finances, everyone has had to cut their cloth, including us, so not a reason to not be doing slightly better, when compared to other clubs with alleged similar, or smaller budgets. We must have some money as the reported weekly wage for Matty James, is higher than we have ever paid a player at the club, including the 'sweetshop' years. I still think we will finish between 10-15th this season from what I have seen so far. We have looked to inconsistent to be any higher come May, but who knows, a long way to go, and I hope we go on a long run of good form and surprise everyone.
Mid table at this point is about right, we’ve a few of our injured coming back soon so barring more injuries hopefully we’ll be able to kick on. I still think we need a few more as the likelihood that we don’t get further injuries is small.
Not been a bad start to the season, obviously the Stoke game is the one that winds up most. But I have said and I still believe we can finish top 10, just need to be consistent with performances and results, we have a good squad imo.
Just when I start to feel comfortable that we are taking shape and starting to gel, my confidence gets dashed by something like what happened vs Stoke and we scrape an unconvincing win against struggling Rotherham (although Conway's goals were top drawer). We are inconsistent and unpredictable. Sounds frustratingly familiar.
Pearson has done an excellent job steadying the ship from the chaos and ridiculous player numbers he inherited. He has cut his cloth while staying in the championship. We are weak defensively and fragile as a team as per the Stoke game, basically we're just ordinary and that Rotherham game was a nightmare. The question is how much finance SL makes available particularly this January, if we're close to the play offs and more likely next summer as I think we'll finish mid table. This time next season I will be judging NP's tenure.
For me, it’s the inherent inconsistency of Bristol City as a team that really galls. Until the season before last, I would put City down for a win in every prediction game, as I truly believed that - on our day - we could beat any team in the Division. I also think we are close to a similar situation now, barring possibly a couple of teams. Why we can’t get that winning mentality into our psyche is a complete mystery and will stop us ever getting into the Prem if that is what SL really wants.
You didn't give LJ a day, but will give NP 3.5 years before you judge..., Dear god! This is his season to be judged, end of story. Anything less than top half is an absolute failure!
The difference is NP hasn’t had the backing, I don’t ever remember SL mentioning a “nest egg” in LJ’s tenure.
He also hasn't been given any targets, so getting an easy ride compared to LJ, who had a clear mandate to get a top 6 or bust, What target has NP had give to him? You can't just compare certain parts of their roles.
One helped to create massive debt with all the freedoms that went with it, the other is helping to reduce massive debts under very restrictive controls, you are correct there is no comparison.
Again, you avoid the targets for NP. Also, NP couldn't match the league positions that the inferior, and less experienced LJ could with a lot of those players in the squad....., he couldn't get a tune from them, and instead, he let them all go for free
I thought Bristol City recently had huge cash injections from the sales of Semenyo and Scott? We should be well in the black now - and besides, the FFP '3 years average' period has expired. We have a financial clean sheet (so I thought). It's incredible that LJ has been gone for more than 3 years and yet still gets blamed for every poor performance or bad result under Pearson!!!! He's probably held responsible for the highest earning player in the current camp too - despite not signing him!! I saw an incredible post related to the above a few weeks ago on OTIB; one poster blamed the lack of reinvestment of the Scot and Semenyo money on - yes - LEE JOHNSON!!!! Apparently, according to that individual, Lee Johnson is the reason that poor old Steve Lansdown doesn't want to release any funding. SL's been 'mentally scarred' by LJ's overspending - bless Apparently Steve has been so traumatised by LJ that he's holding his purse strings tighter than ever - which, according to that poster, is the reason that Nige can't get funding - even now, after the FFP threat has lifted and LJ is several clubs gone!! You couldn't make it up
There is no doubting SL has had his fingers burnt having to cover the debt mountain but if his reckless gamble had have succeeded he would have walked off with all of the credit and profit, it's was always a gamble and he can't have it both ways, he took a massive chance and lost, obviously he is now acting with far more caution, times are tough.
The spending was sanctioned by Mark Ashton though, not LJ, he was just the manager. We now know, and the sensible amongst us always knew back then that the CEO, in this case Ashton is the person who approached SL and gets the funding, not the manager. This probably also explains why Phil Alexander walked away, he asked SL, and got a no, so he walked, NP was never involved, he is just the manager, and said as much.
