Wages...

We have the stadium-we have the training facilities-we have top management and physios-just need a team improvement to match it.
SL or whoever is going to invest needs to back NP.

 

…. As long as we don’t do a ‘Derby’.
FFP would delight in throwing the book at us - we are exactly the sort of club that they don’t want in the Premiership and it would smack us back down where we belong whilst setting an example at the same time.

 

Simpson and Downing were taken on board as they had very useful skill sets and had been successful with most of their managerial history. They were the continuity factor as Dean had been following LJ'S reign which history shows was more success than failure. The club broke the contract! Downing was part of the partnership employed as coach's /assistant manager so now pay the price, likely in the realms of £6 -700k with the need to employ at least 1 or 2 more coach's to replace S & D to back up an unproven assistant manager!
one comment that came to pass over NP'S 2 missed games was that a least a draw should have been achievable v Millwall and Peterbro should have been a much easier win as they are a struggling team, moreso at the time due to lack of certaim player/s

the set up at Ashton Gate has a number of safety devices built in to the " umbrella " of administration. The financing is far from simple ... take a "standard club" .. play at home once a fortnight, get gate money and a few sales from vendors, advertising, sponsorship, odd league and tv money [ if lucky enough a bit more ] ....... AG has conferencing, far more vendors, much more sponsorship & advertising multiple finance streams .....
OK then both have out goings reflected by the revenue streams with 2 sources + [ teams/ sports ] giving "help" the picture is not so bleak. The finance team is amazing at pulling it all together and allotting the revenue streams into the respective pots. SO providing CITY side of AG doesnt waste to much money like employing people then giving out golden handshakes all will be a steady Bristol fashion ship!!!

 

Only to be expected

 

I’m a long way from convinced that Pearson is top management. I don’t think he can inspire the players tbh. He has no spark about him and always seems miserable, Maybe his best days are behind him?

 

I’m starting to think that as well. I was excited when he joined but his substitutes have been poor recently and seems to break up any flow we had. I’m starting to think it was Shakespeare that knew what to do. And him being Assistant Manager at his boyhood club, he’s never going to come here.
RR is holding on for something that happened years ago. McCarthy whose done it twice looks a spent force. Add Hughton’s (another RR said was on the roof) at Forest compared to now. It looks like the games moved on since these two were at their peak.
We ****ed up with Holden, we should of been hard head on for someone like Cooper.
But before people say about no money, only the three ex Prem teams have money and a few from season before. All clubs have been hampered by Covid. Loads of clubs had out of contracts to deal with as well. So most of its level playing fields. Look at teams like Coventry who’s not had money since the early 2000’s and without looking at the league Blackpool are above us I think.
Plus Nige knew exactly the set up before signing on the dotted line.

 

I hate to stick my oar in the water but one thing I have noticed about Nigel during his interviews is that I don't truly believe that his heart is in the chase. His recent interviews bear a scary resemblance to one particular one that happened a good few years ago now when I saw that the manager in question was having a hard time convincing me that he was really on board with the plan. His body language told me he wasn't totally convinced by his own words, and even Ann said the same thing, and soon after he took the road out of town, and that person was Steve Coppell.

The body language tells me something similar may be going on in Nigel's head but the one thing that really told me all was not well in the henhouse was his return interview after his Covid episode. He looked shattered and somewhat distant after what must have been a trying time for him and his family but the key to me was his mention that health is more important than football. Of course he was spot on with that remark but I saw a chink in his armour and wondered if he still wanted to work with the almost impossible task of putting us on track to be competitive in the Championship?

I like most others want him to succeed but am getting to the point where wishing is surpassed by demanding and although that may sound a bit harsh it has to be the reality of our situation that frankly doesn't look like it can get better within a reasonable time frame. In his defence the players have to accept that they should be charged with taking money under false pretenses.

 

We want our Manager to be level headed - win or lose
Let's not forget the enormity of the job that he had at the beginning
To be honest if you offered me our current League position at the start of the season I would have taken it
It's going to take time

 

I agree & believe given time he’s the right person to turn things around. I have to say though I’ve been disappointed at his lack of ability to get the best out of the players he has. I also worry that the longer we go before we win at home he will come under pressure in the short term. There is also no getting away from the fact his record since he’s joined is simply not good enough.

 

Agree, especially after his comments and those from the owners and board ........

The bigger picture is always a very important clue to decide what is there or leading to what you want to there.

FOR a long time BCFC has been endeavouring to get a line of supply via the youth to first team route. Spent millions on training and academy and had some very good successes. As part of this structure there was a PLANNED continuity of staff to govern this route [ playing staff management].
the nerve broke when in the midst of the covid pandemic they destroyed that aim which they had sought to achieve [ SL has admitted [they ] maybe [ he ]were wrong ] and got greedy!

Blue print was .... bought in and enhanced the academy with young players, and lets be fair LJ did OK to point ... [ even his success at Sunderland has the same hiccup... cant seem to beat the lower teams ] set up for continuity
.
Point 1:.... DH as the continuity factor takes over, and again we have to be fair, amassed a reasonable amount of points and we were near the top 6 when an injury driven a poor run came along.
Point 2:.... DH needed help so SL brought in 2 proven managers of youth as assistants and coach's to help out DH AND to continue the line. THE IMPORTANT part is SUCCESSFUL youth management/coach's, England squads.
Point3:..... After less than 6 days of being appointed, he [ NP] made the statement regarding the positive validity of the "quality of young players and prowess of the 2 [ main l ] coaching staff that had successfully just won 2 games against the grain!!! v top teams!
Point4:..... From day 7 it started going downhill, the playing structure was altered, from the relatively stable average points gained, to total a disaster of formations and set ups to his experimental offerings. [ OK after 6 games the liklihood of relegation was such that 2 teams would be docked points and the other was almost a guaranteed candidate. [ we all know what happened there though! ] but can only assume latter poor results were his experiments!!!!!
Point 5:... I cant really disagree with what happened in shedding more than a dozen players, but some of the comments surrounding the resigning of one of them indicated it was rather a hasty manouvre ... like " I never got to see them all play /injuries etc.
Point 6:..... SL & JL, [with Ashton already intent on leaving] saw the light of poor back room staff [ medical ] being inferior. Whistle blower scenarios of players making claims about poor/incorrect standards to injuries?? so replaced them. This was supposed to have been part of getting players to higher fitness levels etc and better performances and more points??? so far struggled but better.
Point 7:.... THIS IS A WORK IN ACTION, WE must not loose sight of this, it may still all be good or could still go titties upward. The points I have raised are factual or concerns. When you build a house you start with a blue print then the foundations.... [ manager coach's backroom staff etc] ...........then put in the first course[ players /squad ] after the damp course build on up [ player supply chain academy/ transfers/loans ] the rest, after the walls /roof is that part that encompasses the training / playing / points gathering ..... you do not start it and constantly detract from the blue print .... BCFC is still in that never ending circle ...... laid out the table, silverware, cut glass goblets etc ...... the guests arrive and a leg falls off ... time for a patched up table to be relaid [ I dont mean in this moment of time ] just that this seems to be the BCFC WAY!!!!!!! THE LEG ALWAYS FALLS OFF

 

Nearly 9 months Wiz....I think/hope the structure we have has improved, but just needs to sort out the performance and results...It's not been great...

 

did anyone really expect us to be [ technically ] 18th 5 points above the bottom 3 at this stage? you could argue only 5 pts from top 6 but there is more than half the division between that and us?
I was hoping we would settle into a rhythm from the start and average 1.6pts or better per game. First 10 we averaged around 1.3 ..this next 10 looked harder so 20 games and 30 points on the board looked doable.
I am hoping for 9 pts from next 6 games.....

 

It’s the manner that’s disappointing, I expected us to be more competitive than we are. Our home form is also simply not good enough, we have to beat Barnsley, the consequences of not are worrying.

 

Was going to add to my other post the same reasoning ref Barnsley, but XYL told me her brain scan results are done and has to go to SOUTHMEAD tomorrow to discuss with surgeon/ consultant... so hopefully not bad news!!!

on paper, from start of seasons projections our next 3 games were amongst the easiest... but we have seen we are not the team expected to be so much better than last season!!! mind you we have put more points on the board Than Nige ACCUMULATED last season via his efforts ............. less than 4 points will be a disaster .. thats a .... in any order W D L ... win 2 of 3 better scenario .......

 

I said Forest was a MUST WIN game, it was in a sense but Barnsley is definitely a MUST WIN game, lose that and I think even Nige will start to come under pressure, lose it with a bad performance as well , the consequences don’t bear thinking about.

 

At the present at AG is unrest. the players at the time were obviously up for PS when Dean left ... and has probably had a strong affinity with them since he took on the role as assistant manager .. and it could be hard for the players to sweep this aside immediately, especially as PS had been their mentor for about a year.
I also reviewed some of his past interviews and the odd few things are there that contradict what happens in the future like players making mistakes ....
I would say when appointed started off as a 9/10 [ they all do! ] after 6 games down to about a 7.5 / 10 end of season 7/10 ... 20 / 2021 2 games in 9/10 6 games in 8/10 12 games in 6/10 next assessment at 23 games in ?/10.
SO FAR compared to previous 3 managers /coach's starts [ scratch ] he is in last place but still got games to go to beat 31 points ...