JamesBCFC

Derby are perennial bottlejobs. Every year is going to be their year and then they collapse.

I fully understand the lack of faith in Bruce, though promotion from this league is not easy by any stretch. I'm not convinced Pulis will be such a success. His time with us, admittedly a while ago, was utterly dire. For the last decade or so he has been tasked with losing as little as possible with limited teams, at Boro his remit will be the opposite.

An interesting set of fixtures at the moment, I believe (inlcuding yesterdays game between Cardiff and PNE) 8 of the top 10 are playing each other. A good set of results for you could see you gain on pretty much every team above you.

Booooo!

Balls, my covers been blown. I thought pretending to be a Bristol City fan would throw everyone off the trail.

I'll lump on a 2-1 away win then!

They are all injured anyway. Baker added to that list yesterday, his sub replacement managed 20 minutes before going off with an injury.

If you guys have written promotion this season could you let us win on New Years Day? Would be much appreciated.

I do think Villa need to make a decision of either stick with Bruce to the end of the season/until playoffs or promotion is impossible or to sack him now, and bring in a manager with a plan. But if the latter you may need to accept writing off this season while letting him have January and the summer to bring in his players and impliment his style. One thing Johnson talked about a lot from day 1 of joining was needing 3 transfer windows to get in the players to fit his system and to get them all playing it. His 3rd window was the past summers one.

Trying to remain respectful how I word this, but from the outside looking in there doesn't seem to be a real plan in place at Villa. What it seems you have done is just sign some very good individuals, but with no true direction behind it other than "promotion" When we were relegated in 2012/13 the club introduced a "5 pillars" plan. The article on the website has gone now, but I'll try and give and outline. 1) Academy - investing in the academy and young local players. 2) Community - the work of the Community Trust. 3) Facilities - commitment to improving facilities I.e. New stadium. 4) Financial prudence - being more sensible with our investments. No more splashing the cash for the sake of it. 5) Recruitment - as a general rule (but not a law), look to recruit young, up and coming players who are hungry and generally under the age of 24 rather than signing lots of old timers on big contracts who don't care and lose value, but with a few rare exceptions. Obviously not all of these would apply to your club, and you should just copy the ones that do apply, but there needs to be a decision made on what way you will set about getting promotion and sticking to it. Within 2 years of using this strategy we were League 1 champions and back into the Championship, 5 years down the line we have a cup semi final and are at least competing for another promotion. It hasn't been smooth sailing the whole time- 6 months in we were bottom of League 1, and we have had 2 relegation fights in a row, but things are paying off now.

Thing is Bristol City is Johnsons club. He played here for several years, missed out on the Premier League with us by 90 minutes and has had an incredible relationship with the owner from his playing days. Our owner was a reference for Lee when he got his first managers job and it was always intended he would manage us. When coming here he described Bristol City as "my Real Madrid". Obviously I'm not naive enough to believe he would turn anyone and everyone down, but Barnsley and Oldham we're 'just another club' to Johnson, we aren't. Why would he leave now, particularly as he has a point to prove about Lansdown being right to stick with him last season. From Johnson last year when things weren't quite as good as they are now. But Johnson has assured supporters he has no intention of moving on again. He told the Bristol Post: "Why would I want to leave when I'm so happy?" Johnson added: "I want people to know I'm doing nothing to put myself in the shop window or attract interest from outside." He's at a club where he knows the owner and has done for over 10 years, there is friendship and trust between them. He has bought into the project we are working towards and is starting to see some of the young players he signed develop into extremely good players. Why would he leave to join somewhere where there would be immense pressure from day one, where he would need to rebuild a squad into what he wants, and where he doesn't know he will have the time to turn things around? I don't see Johnson leaving for anyone at this point in time, none of the big clubs in a higher position would be after him, and that's what it would need to tempt him away.

Said he wasn't interested then, it amounts to the same thing.

Lee Johnson said no to the Villa job 13-14 months ago.

Thing is, the money Middlesbrough have spent, Sheffield Wednesday have spent, Wolves have spent, Derby have spent, etc etc automatics should be the target. Only 2 can achieve that target.

In a recent interview it was said he offered to resign, but the players said to Lansdown they didn't want him gone. ITKers have said that some of our players saying they wanted Lee Tomlin gone rather than Johnson gone is a bit closer to the truth.

Broke our previous record by a game, think at one point it was 12 defeats in 13 games. Certainly got to 15 in 19 by the end. Even at the last game of the dreadful run his overall record with us was top half, which showed how good he did saving us from relegation when he first took over and at the start of last season. Our owner is pretty patient and only tends to sack when we are in the relegation zone by a couple of points, which didn't happen last season despite that run. Johnson also had a great relationship with him before getting the job here and Lansdown played a part in Johnson getting his first managers job, first by recommending him, and then by being a reference for him.

You were in for Lee Johnson about a year ago. He stayed and got a new contract. A month later we started our record breaking run of defeats. And today we have just put Aden Flint up front.

Results not going your way so far, except for our game (of course)

It might just give the player the 'buzz' they need

Another boost to your promotion charge as we get weakened again. Yet another injury as Paterson injures his hamstring warming up. This means despite one ineligible player becoming eligible again on January 1st, providing no ones back from injury by the game we will have 10 out for the Man City first leg again. Some of these injuries have been bad tackles or awkward landings, but I'm wondering if the high intensity press we do and the number of games we've had is playing a part.

Blades are on 4 defeats in 5 aren't they? Wont be an easy game as they definitely deserved 3 points against us, but this might just be the time to play them.

Double post.

I hope that 1 comes today.

IMO next 4 games Wolves- 8 points Cardiff- 7 Bristol City- 8 Derby- 7 Villa- 6 But I think I only put 2 defeats between the whole lot there (none for you) and I'll probably be miles out. Could easily be Villa 8, Bris C 7 too, I had it as a draw initially but can see that game easily going either way

It wouldnt, and with a cup run fixtures would be a nightmare. But everyone dreams of seeing their club play the best and while the Europa League is far from the Champions League, 4 years ago today we were rooted bottom of League 1 with something like 2 league wins all season, if someone had said to me then that in 4 years Bristol City would be 3 games away from a spot in Europe I'd have had them sectioned. Of course it's still extremely improbable but there is a sense of something special happening in Bristol right now.