'I believe the abuse directed at LJ, the abuse directed at GJ for playing LJ was the grounds for GL purchasing Hartley. I know Redprint wll slate me for this, but I believe it did cause friction in the dressing room and was the downfall, of the best manager we've had since Alan Dicks' - I won't 'slate' you but I will disagree about dressing room friction. My view is the opposite and nothing will ever change my view.The friction was caused entirely by 'GJ for playing LJ'. It started on the coach back from Wolves in our first season when McIndoe, Elliot and Carey had a 'go' at GJ about picking Junior - It ended at Plymouth with GJ brawling with a player in the dressing room at Plymouth. Next day he was sacked. Come on, if LJ had been worth his place wouldn't Coppell,Millen and McInnes have picked him. He's now in Scotland with the likes of Fallon, Heffernan and other L2 misfits. However it was nice to seem him come off the bench and cross for the winner against Celtic. For all my misgivings about GJ, I appreciate what he did for our club and will be amongst the many fans who give him a standing ovation when he returns with Yeovil next season. As for McInnes - he's out of his depth. Foster is the only player he's brought is who's decent and the rest are ordinary at best - Woods being the worst. His signings haven't been good enough but McInnes's big failing is his powers of motivation and weak management. No player would look at me the way most of our lot look at him - yesterday McInnes was trying to tell Skuse something, all Skuse did was take a drink, no eye contact and basically ignored him! Don't start me on Adomah or Pitman. Some of the body language is disgraceful - the players are like spoilt kids and just wait for the first goal to go in to give up the ghost. As for those slagging off Hartley - I disagree entirely.
The only thing I will say Redprint is your right, Coppell, Millen or DM didn't want him.........but look where we are! I remember the odd time Millen played him, we looked a bit better. I'm not saying he's a game winner or he would have made things better this season, but his efforts are worth a lot more and he's nowhere near as bad as you made him out to be compared to the shower we have on show right now.
Amazing how this has come round to LJ again...! As for players not wanting to engage with DM, does it not occur to anyone that they are the ones that probably know they are on borrowed time...?
I wonder if LJ has a little smile on his face seeing where we are, after all the abuse he got........I would have.
****s sake! Did you not watch any of the games he played in? He couldn't tackle, couldn't head the ball. no assists, no goals, no contribution apart from occasionally getting a sideways 5 yard pass away after 3 touches to control the ball. he was part of the problem. (the above description could also apply equally to Kilkenny!) and dont be giving me any nonsense. the vast majority of City fans thought he was ****. Quite simply because he was!! If I see him smiling I will kick him hard in the bollocks..
I did think you were talking about Kilkenny till you mentioned it I would not want any of those two in my team, but if I had to choose it would of been LJ only because he knew he wasn't much use, the other ****er thinks he is a star
Without a doubt this is probably the most thought provoking thread of the season due to the fact that it has illicited a group of replies straight from the heart. Every response is spot on and I can see clearly why we have such a great bunch of posters on this site. It is so obvious that we can all see clearly how our current mess was created and that it is down solely to lack of football knowledge and probable lack of support from senior management. The seemingly inevitable fate we face must create major change from the people who run our club or else we risk losing supporters en masse, and who can blame them? A very sorry state of affairs that would never have happened if we had people in place who knew what they were doing - regrettably we didn't and we still don't.
So we,sack the owner,sack the board,sack the management team,sack the players,sack the staff,get rid of the fans,all these things are what various posters have demanded,including me... If we stay up or have a good pre-season all of our doubts will be gone.... Best of luck to Muamba and Petrov because those guys have real problems, GOD BLESS THEM BOTH.
Well said Wize I doubt that this will be the last time in my lifetime of supporting City for facing relegation, nor will I never see promotion again. It's part and parcel of life of being a football fan. If we go down I renew my season ticket and start again next season. I will always support Bristol City relegation is not going to stop it. But as Wize puts it there are more important things in life
Sorry Ashton Matt and Onefor, but Gary Johnson is a good lower league manager who flounders when he gets to Championship level. The reason for this is that few who have not performed at this level or above, ever make good managers because they don't have the respect of their players as "One who's done it at that level" There are notable exceptions such as Lawrie McMenemy and presently, Brendan Rodgers but they really are exceptions. Yes GJ got us out of Div 3 while Wilson and Tinman couldn't but would you agree that his signing of Trundle for £1m was the beginning of the bloody disaster that is unfolding in front of us now. And even Maynard took over a season to start playing for us when a good solid experienced Championship striker was what we really needed. GJ and Millen were out of their depth and so the last four seasons have been totally wasted. We were lucky to scrape enough wins together last season to stay up. This year even with a bright young determined management team, it's been a hopeless task with the dross GJ and DM left behind, long term injuries and an inept board who cocked up on the NM sale. I hope we can do a Norwich and come straight back, but experience tells me it will be another 5 to 10 year stint in Div 3, assuming we don't carry on sliding!!!!!!!!!!!!
IMO GJ was never given a proper chance at this level...but just remember who got us to the playoff final.......something which make take years to achieve again. Are you saying that DM knows more? or he has the experience at this level? Young and determined, maybe, but IMO totally the wrong choice in the position we were in. Hang on....Trundle did wonders for Swansea, not many forseen that he would be a flop at this level, £1m was not alot for a good striker, it was a risk but look at Lambert..I remember many saying he would be crap at this level, too slow etc. a risk that paid off. As for Maynard...IMO he was the right signing and I still believe with the right service he will score goals for fun....what we didn't do, was to play the right football to suit.....Lobbing the ball over the top was a complete disaster. I'm sorry, but DM was brought in to save us from relegation and as it sits, that's unlikely. I really don't see that much improvement from when he arrived.
Agree with certain parts that most people have said.. GJ is a wonderful manager for lower league teams due to how he can get the group together and playing for each other. Our current squad has a lot of players that think they're a lot better than they actually are. I know a couple of our players and without naming names there are some that think they can tell the manager what to do and have got too used to being in the comfort zone. Similarly in the past have heard of certain players saying how they don't like other members of the squad that have just joined and have made it difficult for them to settle into the squad. All in all there seems to be a lack of professionalism which i'd expect to see a few players leaving that might surprise others. I mean I was even told that one of our players was Millen's 'ass licker' and didn't deserve to be picked which says it all. So cutting a long story short I entirely blame the players, they aren't doing what they get paid extremely well for and until certain disruptive members of the squad either leave or get their ass back in line then I can't see it changing just because of a new manager coming in.
There is only one solution for disruptive players as they will like the leopard, never change their spots. Get rid of them is the only answer for DM. Living out here I don't get to hear the real gossip from AG so who are the current crop of disruptives? I can guess at one or two names out of the "old guard". Is this the reason why Ribeiro still can't get in the team instead of ageing has been defenders? We had this bloody nonsense in 1958-60 with Doherty's signings and the remnants of the 55 promotion team. The board then did not back the manager and we got relegated so history repeating itself 50 years on!
Cider I don't really know how much I can say on forums and the like! Safe to say there has been certain members of the squad that have been here a while now have had a pop at DM in training who to be fair hasn't taken any **** and made them train longer and harder than the others to make the point of who's in charge now. If it wasn't for the massive amount of injuries there are some players that definately would not have played first team under DM. DM's arrival has unsettled a few of the guys in their comfort zone which is a blessing.
Quoting from OTIB... I posted many months ago that BCFC was rotten from the head down. I get no satisfaction in being proved right. CS is going,and if what I hear is correct, a significant % of 'specialised' coaches. The old boys network is ending as finally SL has listened to someone. Derek McInnes. Thats one thing he's doing well but what a shame he has had to contend with coach/player backstabbing BS in addition to trying to get points.... Carey will not get a new contract.
Thanks Jambo, I can only hope that, if what seems to be inevitable does happen, McInnes gets a team on and off the field that will see us back up within two seasons. But pessimistic me says that history states otherwise. It will be at least 5 years. If all this internal politics/dissent carries on next season, we'll go straight through!
Is the CS Sexstone? if so that's a step on the road to a better future. Carey has been a good servant but his time has come and gone.
Yeah there's a few people on there saying that apparently he's going at the end of the season. Personally heard nothing about that but the guy that posted that comment was on the money about Walsh and Owers leaving before anything official so seems to know what he's talking about.
