Red-Robbo

To misquote Field Of Dreams, "if you build it, they still won't bloody come". That is the one defining characteristic of Gasheads I know in my part of Somerset: They've not been to a Rovers' game for years, though some have watched their "other" PL teams live. However, thanks for your considered post, which I pretty much agree with line-for-line. Like the majority of Gasheads who post here, you're a decent addition to this board. There are indeed idiots in every support. It's just that there have been such a number of Mickey Mouse elements to the Gas in recent years, that it's impossible for us in red not to chuckle over some of the inanity.

It's one of the things that warms your heart. There's much to be concerned at, at City presently, but our youth set-up has arguably never been better and we have produced (or at least developed on) players good enough to meet the exacting standards of the Championship.

There are Bosnian refugees here, one works in my local boozer as a cook, but not as many as in places like Germany and Sweden. Most Albanians now are purely economic migrants and while we have shortages of unskilled labour, I have no problems with them coming over on temporary visas. The applications should be sifted and sorted through a process under way in Albania, not in the UK with folk forbidden to work for years while their cases are decided and, in the meantime, having to be boarded at government expense.

Yup, probably even more - as a percentage of population - in Switzerland than Italy. Xhaka and Shaqiri are only two of a number of Albanian-Swiss footballers to represent the country.

As Dave will know, there are many, many more Albanians in Italy than those coming to the UK. Some estimates suggest 800,000 there. If you've stopped to buy fags or sweets from an Italian tabacchi recently, it's likely an Albanian served you.

They'd rather jack than take a Fleetwood mac.

Well said Fevs. I don't think Nigel Pearson is beyond criticism and I believe some of his substitutions in particular have been needless or overly cautious and have cost us, HOWEVER, you succinctly set out the big picture there. The bloke has been operating with so many limitations, leading to a small squad (and small squads get impacted more by injuries) and not necessarily a squad he'd choose. In fact, no "not necessarily" about it. His interviews make quite clear he can see our weaknesses. Given those challenges, the fact he has been able to improve the performance of a number of players and continues to introduce young players to the second tier of English football - and they've mostly held their own or better - is something we can all thank him for.

Maybe he kept picking up the paychecks till then! (I wonder who Evil Twin will vote for in the 2000s category? )

My usual swears at Ashton Gate is a muttered "Oh FFS". Said about once every 3 minutes in an average game.

The contact looks like it's outside the box for one thing.

I'm guessing you're behind the home dugout. Naughty Nige.

Released in 1984, I think it's not on Spotify.

I know Downsy was asking fans to suggest music to play before games, but I might hold fire on sending him this suggestion: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_*******_Cunts_Treat_Us_Like_Pricks

3. Why is the man behind the jumping thug drinking an invisible pint?

If I were manager, I'd be looking at players that are performing well in relatively unresourced and unregarded clubs like Fulham, Brentford and Brighton this season, rather than the usual focus on the prima donnas of the Big Six.

I'd be embarrassed as, er, fudge, if I swore to the extent that anyone reported me. So, yes, I would do.

When I took my daughters to AG the first time, I cautioned them that they'll hear adults swearing. En masse at times, several songs have fairly unnecessary c-words added to them. If I was uptight about this, I'd never have taken them, though I do try and moderate my language if a junior Robbo is with me. Mind you, they probably hear almost as bad when I'm driving ?

If the solution is to start out-of-form Chris Martin and give him a run of games then I beg to differ. He has one goal in 9 hours of football this season. I expect he may start (and may score) against Lincoln, but if we're talking about second tier, he's gone off the boil and the same rules must apply to him as they apply to Bentley and any other out-of-form player who have to wait until they get another chance to force their way back into contention. In his case, with goals.

Apart from in extreme circumstances, losing a 90-minute game of football is never one player's "fault" is it. Even if some defender/keeper committed a clanger, where was the midfield cover? Why hadn't the forwards taken their chances? For me, Martin's a "club in the bag" as good old Gary J would say: Just not necessarily a club I'd employ at present unless there were no other options.

None of those shots looked likely and Martin also wasted a very decent opportunity when he was to the left of their box. I'm certainly not saying his introduction and 28-minute in play is why we lost, but it's about more than just that one game. His only goal this term came on 6th August and since then he's played over 460 minutes of football without getting a sniff. Some players are "super subs" and can come on change the entire direction of the game. Nothing I've seen suggests that Martin is able to do that this season. By his standards, he is out-of-form. As I say, I'd have left Martin on the bench last night, and depending on who's available, I might not even grant him a bench berth if Conway, Wells, Weimann and Semenyo are all available.

Twas only yesterday I was listening to some Ethiopian jazz - as you do - and realised he's a legend over there as well...

For once I'm going to have to disagree with you. We looked a blunt blade once CM was on and Wells off. We were much more of a threat with the Wells-Conway combo on and the only way I'd personally have considered Martin as the magic formula to break the deadlock was if one of those 2 was injured or carrying a yellow. It isn't about finding a scapegoat. It's about identifying why we can't get back into games against negative teams.

Well, I can see us winning it, because apart from a minute of inattention that led to their goal, we were pretty decent and play like that and we will win more than we lose. HOWEVER, we aren't great at unparking parked buses and when teams decide to defend for 38 minutes and time waste, we've never been good at unpicking them. Perhaps because we don't really have any battering rams up front.

The point is we had no real need to take Wells off. He was still running, we were making breaks, getting close to getting the equaliser. Taking him off and putting on Martin just slowed us and CM's main impact was to lose possession. I agree it's not Chris's fault. It's Pearson's for persisting with this pointless "sling on Martin near the end" tactic. It's almost like he feels obligated to play him.

To my mind her first statement was either correct, in which case the charge should never have been dropped, or she made it up to get at St Joseph B, in which case she should be done for wasting police time. A day hearing at a London magistrates' court cost £10K, not counting the background CPS and fuzz hours put in on this.