Watershefd

[newboy]

I've held back from commenting on BT up until now as it's hardly been fair to base an opinion on a man's first ever five games as a manager.

Especially since it started so promising - anybody who saw the first 20 minutes of the WBA game could see that we completely outplayed them with some flowing football.

So who's to blame for the current malaise?

No-one.

SL took on BT as a calculated risk:

- cheap

- knowledge of City

- past history of ex-players/inexperienced managers doing well

BT can't be faulted - he's only had five real games and has been thrown into the deep end.

Thing is, just because no-one is to blame doesn't mean that something shouldn't happen.

After only five games there's no sign of progress. I wouldn't expect to see miracles, but if anything there's a downwards trend.

From an outside perspective, the current manager is in a no-win situation. He doesn't appear to have the faith of the team, and once confidence starts to slip it takes a massive amount to turn it around.

Quite a bit to ask from someone so inexperienced.

Ultimately the manager must be doing a bad job - good players (and we have plenty, or at least we should given the money we've spent as opposed to the rest of the teams in our division) don't turn bad overnight and forget to play football.

Something stinks in BCFC at the moment and the buck has got to stop at the manager. You've got to feel for the guy.

So what's to do?

Trust that the inexperienced BT can turn things around? Very unlikely given his lack of time in the job?

Replace him? What else can SL do?

If BT was a calculated risk which SL made then fair play to him. It could have turned out great. Unfortunately in hindsight it appears to be a bad decision unless BT performs miracles in the next week or so, and there's no sign of that happening.

You can't blame a guy for making a reasonable gamble that doesn't come off. However you can blame a guy who persists with a mistake.

I've heard a saying somewhere - you don't judge a person by whether they make mistakes - you judge a person by how they act when something's gone wrong.

The next few weeks will be very interesting.

If the current rot isn't sorted out in the next few weeks I seriously fear for the ongoing survival of City.

[jimmyb]

Think that summs it up quite well

[terry]

Until we sign a proper centre forward, who can lead the attack and be seen as a confident leader for us the supporters, we are going to continue to struggle.

Every match we have 4 or 5 changes, and it makes no difference.

We are trying to play in a mans league with a team of young boys - this will not do.

SL must find the money to bring 2 or 3 experienced players to then club next week. This is URGENT.

[elko]

BT can't be faulted? I think he can actually. No wins in the league is not good, and he must take some responsibilty.

[Guest StapletonGas]

Can I offer a serious point of view.

I was at Ashton Gate the day it emerged that Brian Tinnion was taking over because I was taking part in the Bristol Fans Derby. In fact I actually heard the news when I was substituted 5-10 mins from time in the charity game and there was Brian Tinnion 5 yards away managing the City fans team. My initial reaction was one of surprise that City had opted to appoint an inexperienced manager.

I believe that when any club not only goes through the play offs and fails, but also gets to the Millenium Stadium and fails, then job the following season is huge. Many times we have seen clubs do this then go on to struggle the following season, some even getting relegated.

Hell, look at us, we didn't even make the play offs in our fall from grace in 2000 and look at what we did the following season.

The shear impact of failing in the play offs cannot be underestimated. It completely knocks the stuffing out of many clubs, not all I accept. To stand any chance of challenging again the following season the club needs a strong experienced manager and some tough genuine pros in the squad who are prepared to grow horns and fight back.

The manager's role is crucial and it takes experience to man manage through that period and get the players heads right come August. It also needs an experienced head to weed out the dead wood and brighten the squad up with some useful additions. You don't want a manager who is getting his first taste of the transfer market and the wheeling and dealing.

Maybe Steve Lansdown saw something in Brian Tinnion, but which ever way you look at it, it was always going to be a gamble.

[newboy]

BT can't be faulted? I think he can actually. No wins in the league is not good, and he must take some responsibilty.

←

What I was trying to say is that given his experience, he can't be faulted for the current performance.

The expectation of him was simply too high.

Some exceptional sorts may not need the experience and are born to do it, but the percentage of those types of people must be exceedingly low.

He is doing poorly in unlocking the undoubted potential of the squad, but given the time he's had on the job you can't really blame him.

SL took a calculated risk, and although it's early days the stakes are very high (increasingly so as money continues to migrate up the leagues) and the gamble is appearing to fail.

There's no evidence either that the gamble will work, so why throw good money after bad, figuratively speaking...

Time to change or at least get some decent support unless there's real evidence of things improving.