THE CONCRETE ROUNDABOUT (TCR)

Shocking really - we went from nearly getting arguably the best player in league 1 (certainly right up there) last season to getting unarguably the worst

I rate Manning very highly and think he is a excellent coach. One of the best young coaches in the EFL with probably only Russ, Carrick and McKenna above him. He will go far I’ve no doubts and wouldn’t be surprised to see Bristol city sneak into the playoffs at the end of the season. I went back and forward on whether or not he needed sacked but ultimately when it happened it was the only option. We were truly dire.

Everything that happened after Mannings sacking was a disaster. Pete and Liam should be ashamed because they bottled it big time. Over the space of a few weeks they ripped up all the good work that had been done in the prior 3/4 seasons. To eventually end up in league 2 with a kick and rush dinosaur ball manager in charge is mind boggling. What is the point of a sporting director if you change tack 3 times in a year (I don’t just mean the manager but the whole style or play and therefore the player profiles required).

Thank god we’ve gone back to a familiar style under Williamson and it’s no surprise we are now seeing players like Lewie and O’Hora look reliable and solid again.

(Sent from my phone while on a bus so apologies for bad grammar or formatting)

The point about inability to press on after some level of success is spot on.

It must be systemic or culture based as its happened on various occasions in various circumstances. That comes from the top and i dont just mean Pete but the board as a whole. I recall a Winkelman bullshit piece about being caught out by the level of the championship and that tells you how short term the thinking was around that time.

We were a bettable prospect for promotion that season from around December onwards and I have never understood how we couldnt have done the most basic of due diligence to understand what was going to be required should we have gone up. Maybe we did but whatever the decisions made off the back of it, it certainly wasnt an all out push.

Even when the miracle happened, we pressed on as if we were still a L1 team and recruited to that standard. It was such a missed opportunity. Its not like we were getting battered every week. My memory was we basically got three results lose 1-0, lose 2-0 or lose 2-1

It really wouldnt have taken that much to have stayed up that season in my opinion

Yes, this is the risk of taking a good prospect from a higher level who has only ever played to a certain age group. Yes, there will be stars that shine but there will also be the likes of Oyekoke who in the end I felt really sorry for. So out of his depth is was hard to watch.

Looks like Liam has an upward battle on his hands to turn it round at Bristol City, only one win in the last six and only ten points from the last ten games. Obviously with us he couldn't get us out of a slump, at Oxford they were never in one under him so I wonder if he is able to turn it around? It won't help that fans are getting upset and the local paper is posting more negatives than positives.

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/sport/foo ... ff-9138398

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bristo ... 172547.amp

Football really is a seesaw. Months ago he was the best thing since sliced bread at Bristol, now quite a lot of their fanbase want him gone.

I haven't a clue what has or hasn't gone on there, but hes been under pressure for quite a while. I hope he turns it around, as hes a very good coach.

Perhaps he's a very good coach but not a good leader, especially in tough times?

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I don't need your ill-informed, half-baked, idiotic opinions. I have plenty of those myself.

Always the impression I got from him. He didn't know how to turn it round with us.

That's a fair question to ask.

His career prior to joining us would have been mostly coaching U21's in an environment that lacks the pressure of getting 3 points on a Saturday and with the focus being around developing talent ready for mens football. Whether he has adapted his approach and how he works with different pressures and older players for example remains to be seen. Top coach, no doubting it, but not sure whether there's a leadership element that is lacking, in tough times as Keyser says.

This sums it up perfectly for me.