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Brizzle fan in peace
at 21:01 14 Apr 2021

Hi all,

After the recent departure of MA to you guys and reading some of the posts on your forum, I thought I would sign up and give you my opinion on Mark Ashton and his time with us.

Firstly as you may have read he is very unpopular with much of the fan base and some fans have been crying for him to leave all season. Such disdain was said by previous clubs Watford and Oxford and when he first joined us.

The reasons for such dislike amongst City fans especially this season Is because some blame him for our horrendous injury crisis. We have had the most in the championship and our situation has been so bad that we were forced to bring in second string and youth players. Now the reason he gets the blame is because he controls the medical section and hired the staff. One of which was previously at West Ham when they had an injury crisis and then moved to Arsenal about 5 years ago. Now there's not really any evidence to suggest any incompetence but we have had an issue with Hamstrings throughout our team and reoccurring ones at that. Two of our central midfielders have made one or two appearances before getting injured again. There have been several reoccurring injuries relating to soft tissue Injuries and we have had over 10 first teasers out all season and the players agents publicly questioned how the club dealt with the players. Nigel Pearson has also said he has never known situation like it and an inquiry will be made.

The other reasons for dislike are that people perceive him as a 'suit' who throws around corporate slang too often. He appears more when things are going well and seems to contradict himself alot when discussing transfer policy and contracts. I feel sorry for the guy though and dont think he deserves all the abuse he is getting.

He gets given in my opinion false plaudits for the Stadium which was with our owners money and was always going to be redeveloped after our move down the road was cancelled due to a bunch of dog walkers.

Did he single handedly improve our standing...somewhat you could argue but he's not the only man in the building. Lee Johnson was very innovative but after a while things go stale and we have became a really soft touch with half the team showing no desire and fight whilst being low on confidence. Its been a tough season and we have been lucky not to be in the bottom three and as I saw last night Cook also alluded to a soft touch culture at your club, so we know the feeling.

Time will tell but overall our standing has improved and no doubt he has contributed to it and he commanded some great fees for some of our players but our club needs a complete overhaul and we are looking forward to a fresh start.

You could still get promoted this season but if not there's always next season. Strange to think when I stated watching football you got promoted to the prem and finished 5th! Good luck for the rest of the season.

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BristolCityFan20

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