The Exiled Robin

A few weeks back, in one of my more frustrated moments of attempting to access the Bristol Post website through the jungle of adverts, I sent my second lot of tweets to the Local World address - the group that runs the paper.  When I looked back on what I had written, and saw the encouragement I received from others who felt exactly the same, I decided that a good old-fashioned letter to the editor - or Chief Executive - could be the order of the day. I know that even for the best social-media focused companies, unfortunately tweets often get lost in the masses and don't reach the people they need to so I figured this was perhaps a more constructive way. Below is my open letter, penned to the CEO of Local World, Mr David Montgomery. The reason I have decided to publish this online is because they have been good enough to send me not one, but two, positive and communicative responses, of which I give full credit to them for doing so. Even a written letter is so easy to igno...

I'm dreading the sort of autobot tweets that might head my way calling this blog post that, but as I review Cotterill's policy of not picking a youth player to fill the bench, you'll understand the heading! The bulk of the article looks at the nervousness and lack of confidence seeping through the club at a pace right now, whilst I finish on what is sure to be a topic to get you talking - Cotterill's lack of willingness to put a youngster on the bench when there's a spare spot, something I personally feel quite strongly about. http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/BRISTOL-CITY-BLOG/story-27966626-detail/story.html Please let me know you thoughts, via the blog comments, the Post comments box or via more traditional channels such as Twitter/Facebook Thanks all for reading! The Exiled Robin Follow me on Twitter  --- 'Like' us on Facebook http://exiledrobin.blogspot.c om www.facebook.com/theciderdiaries --- www.twitter.com/th eciderdiaries

With memories of a 6-0 drubbing, amongst other Portman Road defeats, still relatively fresh in the memory, as well as Ipswich’s pedigree at this level, then Suffolk is probably one of the last places City would choose to head towards to right the wrongs of a difficult start to the season. Saying that, a win at Middlesbrough earlier in the season should give them confidence that, on their day, they can go anywhere in this division and get a result. A game that at the start of the season where many might have thought “ah, we’ve got ‘x’ points, it’s not been a bad start and we never do well there. A loss may not be too hard to take” has suddenly into another critical test of City’s credentials at this level. Given the start to the season and our inexperience at this level, many managers of many sides would head into this match considering a 4-5-1 formation to bolster the hitherto porous defensive record. Get ten men behind the ball, keep it tight and if we can snatch a b...

My latest blog for the Bristol Post is here, focusing on our start to the season, whether or not we are in a false position and examining whether wholesale changes are required to reverse results in our favour http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/BRISTOL-CITY-BLOG-Robins-doing-doing/story-27817156-detail/story.html Thanks all for comments, shares, RTS etc - the reaction to these so far has been tremendous!

Last week an email popped into my inbox from my Dad, who had decided to pick up the virtual pen and key some thoughts on the start to City's season.  Unfortunately I haven't had a chance to upload this until now, so some comments (especially those on the transfer window) are a touch out of date, albeit, ultimately prophetic!  Over to Mr Binning Snr... "Gary Johnson always used to say that you have to wait for ten games to assess how you are  doing in a new season, and then reassess in ten game blocks. Well as we are fans we don't  need to wait ten games, do we?  We now have an international break after five games and I am  off to the sun (hopefully!) for a week, so that I don't miss a City match. Having seen every minute of every League game so far, I think that four points from five games is  harsh, when set against our performances so far. I suppose it could be a bit of a  reality check that in this much tougher D...

My latest blog is now up on the Bristol Post website, the link is here: http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/BRISTOL-CITY-BLOG-Robins-speculate-accumulate/story-27673657-detail/story.html In it I offer my views on the recent big money bids, and reflect upon many of the fans reactions to those huge offers and look at some of the reasons the bids were made when they were, and not earlier. Views, comments and shares as welcome as ever! The Exiled Robin Follow me on Twitter  --- 'Like' us on Facebook http://exiledrobin.blogspot.c om www.facebook.com/theciderdiaries --- www.twitter.com/th eciderdiaries

"So there you have it.  After wins galore, unbeaten runs, two trophies and 99 points, the Championship  is going to be just a little bit tougher....." Wes Burns, Frankie Fielding and defending set-pieces all a part of my Bristol Post contribution to this week's blog, following the first league game of the season. http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/Heady/story-27594151-detail/story.html *Please note this was written before the Dwight Gayle news broke and before the Luton game! The Exiled Robin Follow me on Twitter  --- 'Like' us on Facebook http://exiledrobin.blogspot.c om www.facebook.com/theciderdiaries --- www.twitter.com/th eciderdiaries

Ahead of the new season, Lee Molland www.twitter.com/Molls28 has written a short-pre-season opinion and issues a rallying call, reminding us all of why we should be so excited about this new season and new adventure "We’re now hours away from the start of the Championship season, and for the first time since his perhaps slightly controversial arrival, Steve Cotterill has City fans split. Not because of results (nobody could doubt that incredible record he has) but due to the lack of transfer activity. Although, let's not forget that we have spent £2.1 million on Jonathan Kodjia. I broke my own rule of getting excited over a YouTube clip! It looks like the boy can get behind defences, but more importantly, finish. Pre-season has been full of speculation over incomings to Ashton Gate, but as time has ticked on, only Kodjia has arrived. Some fans are nervous, some relaxed, some even angry.  Me? I’m backing whatever Mr Cotterill perceives as the right decision f...

As the regular readers may have noticed, blog posts have become significantly less frequent over the past year or so and non-existent over the summer. For a number of reasons, I've been unable to commit the time to producing the materials I love writing and, from the feedback, I know many of you enjoy reading. Family commitments, my wife's wedding planning business and a new role for myself at work which involves more travelling have all contributed to this and when given an opportunity to try something new this summer, I decided it was the right time for me to try and re-invigorate myself and my faithful quill! Also, as you may have noticed from social media if you're on it, it's actually far harder to generate interest and comment when everything is going quite so bloody well on the pitch! I struggled to come up with a decent end of season review because actually I knew pretty much everyone would just agree with what I said and other than "wasn't tha...

It wasn’t Luke Freeman’s skill, Joe Bryan’s crosses, or Aden Flint’s heading. It wasn’t the goals of Aaron Wilbraham or Matt Smith and it wasn’t the agility of Frankie Fielding. It wasn’t even the astute summer purchases, tactical nous and tremendous man management from the gaffer, Steve Cotterill. Hell, it wasn’t even Steve Lansdown’s millions. Nope, the reason Bristol City have had such an incredible season, such success, is down to my lucky purple and lime loom band bracelet! Football people are funny folk, “queer as”, they might have said in the olden days, before it became so politically incorrect. Tales of superstition amongst sportspeople are commonplace, not least with Bristol City’s own manager. Steve Cotterill revealed more than a shade of belief in old gypsy tale style stories in this tremendous Guardian blog http://www.theguardian.com/football/football-league-blog/2014/oct/30/bristol-city-chelsea-steve-cotterill-jose-mourinho-unbeaten and it is clear he is the...