Hi, I have recently returned to this forum (former 606 poster) been a city fan for 40 years or more, now live in deepest pembrokeshire. I have been a season ticket holder up to last year. A home game is a 300 mile round trip at a total cost of about £200 (a bit more if the beers are flowing!) I have not been to a game this season and watched the 'Hull game' on sky, I thought we were second fiddle in most departments and only had about a 15 minute spell either side of our goal. I had a lot of hope when D-mac came on board, thought we showed spirit and heart last season to turn it around and retain championship status, got quite excited about the signings pre season, and was planning several trips, especially after the magic week of the cardiff and palace victories. I ask the same question of SL et al, why have we not got the RCB and 'enforcer' in MF that this side and set up needs? I just don't understand it. The obvious falling attendances must alarm all at the gate, but if fans like me are to return these issues must be resolved, or at least been seen to be attempted to be resolved. i do not expect us to be pushing for promotion, and sometimes relegation befalls a club like ours, but even in the dismal times when we fell from top to bottom, we still managed a team that looked to be trying, even if they were outplayed. This is a plea to whoever makes the decsisions at AG, just act and act now and fans like me will support effort and industry and accept times when we are beaten or fail, just sort it out PLEASE!
Welcome back ADremembered. Your thoughts echo the way most fans on this site and elsewhere feel about the ongoing saga at Ashton Gate over the last few seasons. I live a lot further away than you and get to see a game about once a year as I travel through England visiting family. Even when we got promoted to the Championship I thought the overall shape of the team was poor and when we went to the Playoff Final I was absolutely shocked that we had reached Wembley with such a poor squad but there we were. Since then we have fallen from grace and can consider ourselves very fortunate to still be in the second tier. The overall dynamics of the game appear to have passed by the City management but even more important is the fact that the inmates have regained control of the asylum. Derek got their attention for a short while but it was only a matter of time before they came back to rule the roost and I, like a lot of others, believe that he has lost control over his players. Did Coppell leave Ashton Gate so quickly because he saw the writing on the wall or was he a victim of the same inner discontent? We can all be armchair managers and come up with our individual take on the matter but we aren't Derek deep in the trenches and in him we have to trust, because there is no alternative. A culture exists in the current game that would make us old timer's heros turn in their proverbial graves and ask, like us, "what the hell happened"? That question I can answer and it is that we have allowed other people (use your own analagy here) to take over our game and the so called guardians of our sport have just stood idly by and let it happen. Regrettably I think it is beyond the point of fixing and the game that so many of us loved has disappeared from the radar never to return. So as long as you are prepared to stump up your hard earned money to go and watched a bunch of overpaid no hopers, so wrapped up in their own importance that they don't even care a toss about you, then good luck. I don't think for a moment that Bristol City is alone in this saddening scenario but a word to the wise for those screaming for foreign investment - go and ask Darlington and Kidderminster supporters how they feel and you will probably get short shrift.
Mike, I like you believe that the dressing room has got control of our destiny but not in a positive way. I sincerely believe that the only way for McInnes to get control of it is to just leave out all the muck spreaders and malcontents. I don't know who they are but it is becoming glaringly obvious all is not well at City. He must play his own men that he has signed and fill in the gaps with the Academy boys who will certainly work hard for him and themselves if they really want a career in football. If we go down so be it but we may get a much brighter future if we can break this syndrome once and for all!
Poor team selection probably, individual errors, but most importantly the team collectively does not a fall back into a defensive shape quickly. The latter is a rudimentary skill, so overall poor management/coaching.
