I am sure Ugbo would like to leave the way he has been treated. In the last game Meitie again showed how clumsy he can be and yet he gets in the team.
Suggested as the next "Eddie Howe" when he was at MK Dons but blew it last season. Doing well at Oxford and could well have taken them up to the Championship if he'd stayed. Jumped ship instead for a club already there rather than see it through. You can't blame him but it could end in tears if those two clubs swap places for next season. Despite Lansdown's riches, anything is possible in this division.
Don't think they are overly impressed by the appointment.. but wait until he wins his first couple of games and he'll be the next Pep and a saviour then.. at least until he loses a couple and then it'll be time for a new appointment again
They're playing QPR on the weekend managed by another newbie after just sacking Ainsworth. Battle of the new kids on the block. Despite their lowly position in the table, if Cifuentes?? wins that, he'll be seen as the new Graham Potter having come from Scandinavia. Not sure what to make of Bristol City as a club. We've criticsed our owner Tan in the past but Lansdown and his son are certainly getting some flak.
Yep. For a club that's won nothing of note in their entire history (whether you take their founding date of 1894 or the current club's creation date of 1982), only had a relatively brief stay in the top flight and were pretty much a league 1 / 3rd division side before the Lansdowne's took control but are now an established 2nd tier side with a decent stadium and good academy you'd think they'd be a little more grateful wouldn't you? Problem is, I think they get delusions of grandeur being the biggest club in the west country... Kind of makes them feel like persistent failures the longer they go on, just existing.....
The problem with NG is he is so good anything but a perfect game means he dont win this award. The good thing is everyone agrees on here how good he is.
Southampton and West Brom play each other today. An opportunity for us to capitalise with a good performance.
Notwithstanding the game yesterday, just thought I'd throw this in on the "Championship" thread for discussion. This division is way off Premier league quality - I don't think the gap has ever been wider. Although we're playing pretty average stuff for the level in which we currently operate, I wouldn't give a fig for our chances against any of the current desperate bottom 6 clubs in the Prem. Burnley bossed the Championship last season with Sheffield Utd and Luton going up alongside them - all currently getting thrashed up there now and all three propping up the table. I've no doubt the next 3 on the ladder struggling in that environment, Bournemouth, Fulham and Forest would all give us a hiding. Yes, we're a Championship club and they are Prem, but the gap is massive. It'll take a lot to get up there but a damn sight more to stay there. Nothing wrong with aspiration and we'd all like to have another bash even if it's just for the cash generated, but the stark reality is the quality gap is going to take a lot of Tan's money to bridge. If by some chance we made it and were ensured that £100M+ a season for just being there plus another £100M guaranteed parachute payments, I think Vince will seriously consider a decent offer. No doubt he'd like the glory, but he's financially astute and might well bail out. The question is, who would want to buy us?
It’s unbelievable really how far teams like Brentford Villa Brighton Fulham Wolves Forest etc have come on since we were playing them regularly not that long ago. The football they play is a mile apart from the game we watch week in week out.
It helps yes but does not guarantee success. The clubs I mentioned had a pure and totally focussed football philosophy and plan which City just didn’t and still don’t have - 2 promotions to the PL and 2 instant relegations bear testimony.
Agree that the likes of Brentford and even moreso Brighton had proper sustainable plans to take forwards. Luton I think are a bit like us under Warnock. Unexpectedly going up... I'd argue though that the likes of Fulham, Forest and even Bournemouth were a little bit s#it or bust in their approaches. Don't forget that Fulham retained the likes of Mitrovic on astronomical wages in the Championship (reportedly £100k+ a week). Forest as we know spent big whilst loaning ludicrous amounts of players too. Bournemouth I believe could have been in serious trouble had they not gone up when they did. Personally I'd rather we avoid going back to those kind of times in favour of the longer term approach adopted by the likes of Brighton, though it's easy to look at others and think "we should have that" when looking from the outside and assuming it's all good and rosy, however even well run clubs can crash and burn quite quickly (look at our little cousins down the road, we used to talk about them being the epitome of a well run club, Leicester the same). It'd be interesting to see what would happen to Brighton if they were relegated and didn't secure an instant return to the top flight...
