Red-Robbo

Indeed. They played a lot fewer internationals back then and you didn't get England meeting the likes of Albania, North Macedonia, Estonia and Malta in Bloomer's day.

C'est le Bebefoot!

Back in the 50s, my dad used to stand (on Crackers' Corner) behind an old bloke who had a glass eye. One game this fella got particularly wound up and he popped out his eye and rolled it on the pitch: "Yur ref. Thee can use 'ee!"

I agree. Mental toughness is just as important as physical toughness.

Whether it is right or not, it's life and they have to just focus on the game. And that's what the really successful players and managers do. Lots of us have jobs where our work is on show to the public and we might get unfair or OTT criticism from people not particularly qualified to pass judgement. Football is more immediate, more visceral, than most disciplines, but 'twas ever thus. The growing of a thick skin is essential for development.

Every away game players are called on to play before hostile, jeering and often insulting crowds. Players are often fans themselves and they know from their time in the stands that when someone drops an appalling clanger or when someone has not been playing that well, but is subbed on, there is often a little groan. TBH they are paid silly money amounts to cope with that. Let negativity fire you up to show the doubters wrong. I've never booed our own players, but we pay money to watch the team and we are the lifers at City. They are the men being paid to perform and often see Bristol City as just another job in a career that may encompass many. If we feel let down, crowds are entitled to show that, rather than being asked to clap crap performances. I don't boo our guys, but sometimes my silence (and those of fans around me) speaks volumes.

C'mon. He had a dodgy antiques business to run.

Fair point.

If you're a professional sportsman you have to shut that sort of background noise out It's just about you, the men around you, and the men facing you. And your gaffer, I suppose I should add. You perform for you. You do your best for your own pride, self worth and self challenge. AG is no different from other grounds. Despite people occasionally trying to paint our supporters as negative, I don't think they vary that much from other fans I know. Bit quieter perhsps than some, but we haven't had much to cheer in recent seasons. In terms of me being a "different sort of supporter" than you. I support the club. I have been doing so for all my life and have 50+ years of attendance. I even flew in from America for some games , when I lived there. Every game I'm willing Bristol City to win. So I want them to put out their best side possible. I support the club, not individual players, and if some are not performing I don't want them selected and I'd rather they leave if they can't or won't improve*. That's basically where I'm coming from and if that upsets some of the highly paid professionals out there then they might be in the wrong job. * Not talking about Cornick here.

They also encourage opponents to deliberately target players on a yellow, looking for a reaction that will lead to a sending off.

Only players themselves can prove themselves to fans. And if their appearances are underwhelming then they aren't going to be popular. That's the same in Ashton Gate as it is everywhere. No one makes up their mind about a player before seeing him play a number of times and no player runs out and thinks "I've read nasty things on social media about me. I'm going to play shit." Players who were not crowd favourites, like Vyner, have managed to turn perceptions around by cutting out the silly mistakes and is now favourite for supporters' club POTY. Other fans' favourites lost public support when their form plummeted: I'm thinking Liam Fontaine among others. I don't remember people being particularly negative about Cramby, he was part of a promotion side. But he wasn't as good as Akinbiyi, so he lost his place. I'm with you that it's too early to pronounce Cornick "a dud". But I don't approve of blaming the paying crowd for players' performances. That's Barton-esque.

I can't see how he reduced our cost base. If Wiles-Richards is good enough to deputise for Max - as he now apparently is - then we didn't really need to sign him at all. I'm sure he wasn't on big bucks, but anything we've paid him over the past 2 months + has been a bit of a waste. Still, it was a nice sign off message he wrote us.

Seems like a bit of back-justification to me. We needed Haikin in case Max was injured in February or March, but we can get by perfectly well with Wiles-Richards - who was available then - if Max is injured in April? I do not think a return to Norway within two months was what was intended when we signed Haikin. I think with Haikin and also the Cornick situation, a lot of posters have adopted an "in Nige we trust" attitude. I guess I do a bit myself, but that doesn't mean in any project, whether you're building a house or building a sustainable club, there won't be missteps along the way. I'm sure Pearson had some at Leicester: it wasn't all unalloyed success. The cornerstone of his success with the Foxes would seem to be a very canny recruitment strategy and I'm not sure we have the personnel supporting NP to match that here. What he has helped and encouraged no end is the development of our academy and development of other young players at the club, and that's very pleasing to see. Maybe the Haikin move is part of a clever strategy to bring Wiles-Richards on. I doubt it, though.

Barnsley go up at the expense of the Owls? It could 'appen!

Not to mention the Boca Juniors of Horfield....

Love to share your confidence in that, PSR, but whether he comes good won't depend on fans, but on him. He scored one league goal this season in 21 appearances for Luton (some were from the bench) and he also only scored one league goal for them in 20/21 (against us!) so I don't know if his 21/22 season is enough to say he has a good record in the Championship.

C'mon Dave. I think you're falling for the "let's defend Cornick at all cost" faction that has mysteriously taken root here - but not among many on the terraces. You cannot question that both Wells and Bell have had more successful games in a City shirt than Cornick has. The fact that the afore mentioned haven't shone recently might be in part due to the team consistently looking poorer and less likely to score when HC is playing. That sounds harsh, but I'm being realistic. He hasn't established himself as a player who'll take us forward, nor even - this season - as a squad player "club in the bag". That could change, and obviously his record from last season suggests he isn't "L2 standard". But this season, he'd only scored two for Luton, so it could be he's one of those players that has extended periods of poor form. He's in one now and I'd rather not see him playing on April 1st. Anyway, I don't want to divert the entire thread from the discussion about our paucity of goalkeepers and a signing that, by any standards, hasn't worked out.

Easy enough concept to grasp: there are players who can look good in a training scenario, but who'll not make it to elite levels of the game. Only a minority of players will do so.

But they have at other times for us: unlike Cornick....

Didn't work out though did it. We lost to a team that hadn't been able to buy a win before meeting us. So, I conclude, an error of judgement. The list of players that train fantastically, but don't perform as well in a competitive game is much longer than the list of those that do.

No, but I think you'll find you don't win any points by training well....

I cannot for the life of me see how Pearson can have watched Cornick's performances for us and thought "he's won a place in the starting XI" last weekend, so it's either true or he made a big error of judgement. In my opinion, of course.

*cough, cough* Harry Cornick ?

I think he's destined to become a very tough to answer question in a future City-based quiz in a few year's time.

I don't care if he runs like a dog with three legs, my main issue is he's had 390 minutes, spread over 10 appearances and hasn't produced anything of note, so - while we have other options who have produced results for us - I'd go with them. At least until summer. If he starts scoring and providing assists, I will "take to him", as, I imagine, will most others.