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So you are comparing a season where we only had approximately half the capacity available due to a rebuild? A season where we had to give a big section of the ground over to the away support, whether they had any chance of filling it or not, due to segregation? With logic like that I am sure you might actually survive the Gaschat censorship, if you decided to post over there.

If you build it, they will come. If you steal it, only 8,500 will bother.

Almost as if he wasn't an actual City fan .

When we were bottom of league one, having not won a league game all season on a Tuesday night in October at home to Brentford, we still had an attendance of 10.6k. Rovers have yet to have an attendance higher than that this season....

That'll be a Bentley Consonantal then!!

He will. I did.

When Rovers have a new stadium and are top 6 in the Championship, they will be getting crowds of around 20k as well. There are just a couple of problems with that plan...! It’s like saying that when I’m a millionaire stock market dealer, driving around in a Bentley, i’ll be married to Rachel Riley..!

It’ll be good for ‘Bristol football’ if City get promoted to the Premiership but there won’t be any Gasheads rooting for that. Personally I don’t care about Bristol football, I only care about Bristol City who IMO are the only club in this City who have ever shown any real ambition anyway. As we’ve seen this season we are perfectly capable of providing a good impression of football in this area on our own. The longer they stay in our shadows the better. Having them in the Championship is like putting Holloway on TV....does very little to improve the tinpot, bumpkin image many outsiders have of our wonderful City.

The thing with all this "my dad's bigger than your dad" support comparisons and the entire Bristol "rivalry" is that they - The Few - have got a target and something to aim at/match/be better/get/take more than, something to drive them on (they're going to be seriously unhappy if Man City do not give them a 7,801, minimum, allocation, next time Citeh have the privilege/pleasure of a visit from those tossers); but what have we got? What and whom are we aiming at/trying to match? Who is driving us on, on and off the pitch? Let me get us started: next time we play Walsall/Shrewsbury/Notts County/a L2 playoff final at Wembley, let's get organised and make sure we take more than The Few. I'm in. What about you?

They have had him in Boxing News this week too, did the Mail lift it from there I wonder? I thought this was the most interesting quote from Booth: “In terms of difficulty, Eubank is tougher than anyone Groves has boxed. If he can’t keep Eubank on the end of that long jab, the fight is incredibly hard for Groves and Eubank will be the hardest opponent he has fought. “A lot depends on whether Groves can control the distance and whether he’s emotionally and technically competent enough when he can’t control the distance. But they are both wrong for each other. Eubank is potentially going to be hit harder than he ever has been hit. I don’t think George will be hit harder than he ever has been hit, but, if he allows Eubank to claim that space, he will certainly be hit more than he’s ever been hit.” From here: http://www.boxingnewsonline.net/adam-booth-on-george-groves-and-chris-eubank-jr-spars-there-was-only-one-occasion-when-one-was-slightly-hurt/

Well so much for “faithful and true” then eh!? You saggies can't have it both ways.. you can't claim to be such wonderful fans then say that thousands are staying away because of the state of the ground and the fact you are crap. That would make you just as fickle and fairweather as anybody else wouldnt it? So which is it? Either you have a fan base that is loyal but much smaller than ours, or you have a potentially bigger fanbase that can't be arsed to go and watch second rate football.

Hi Newbie. We haven’t had a year where we have spent most of the season mid table League 1 for ages. In 2013/14 we’d been relegated back to League 1 after one of the most depressing seasons in my memory. We sold approx 8.5k STs that year iirc (unlike the Gas who only managed to shift 5k after promotion). We spent the first 6 months of that season in the bottom 4, even finding ourselves bottom at Christmas and we averaged 12k. Yes, we had a reduced capacity that season of around 12.5k/13k including whatever allocation away fans were given. Basically the home sections of AG were pretty much full for most of the season. I’m surprised you don’t remember this? Neither us or Rovers have a big fan base considering the size of a City like Bristol. Looking at the historical attendances of the two clubs however you have to conclude that either more Bristolians are City fans or City fans in general are more loyal and more willing to put money into our club than Rovers fans do. I don’t buy the facilities argument. The old Ashton Gate was hardly an example of modern day luxury. Rovers fans bang on about how they’re ‘real’ fans whilst we are ‘plastic’....it’s bollocks. When push comes to shove the whole facilities thing is just excuses not to go and watch the team they say they love on a Saturday afternoon. Lets not forget all the ‘if they play on the road we’ll watch from the pavements’ nonsense they were spouting when the UWE went down the bog. If ‘loyal’ Gasheads won’t show up unless they’ve got a nice comfy seat to sit in Ive got to say that sounds pretty ‘plastic’ to me.

It’s amazing isn’t it? A local amateur rugby team who get crowds of a hundred or so get an £8m stadium. At the same time a football team, with the 6th richest man in the world as owner, just gets new sprinklers

Groves always looks drained before any fight but he isn’t,he could eat 8 kebabs and still wouldn’t change shape the lucky git

I see Dings RFC are opening their new £8m stadium tomorrow. Nice to see one North Bristol sports team getting on with it

Adam Booth in the Mail today revealing some sparring stories from last year. Said the last time Groves sparred Eubank, he wobbled Junior quite badly with a left hook. So it certainly looks like natural weight may play a part in this bout..........if you believe these sparring stories of course.

Ring walks expected 10pm mate...

Markred isn't exactly James Bond with his rather transparent undercover job is he!? Hope we've answered your questions pal!

That's probably the most likely to happen. Enjoy

But what a way to make a living!

I agree there are always people who will attend for a day out, I've been to every Wembley match and the Millennium but, apart from taking three kids to the Freight Rover in 87 (two still go), I've honestly never come across an attendee who never went to the football on a regular basis, by regular, I mean at least annually or, a lapsed supporter. Even a modest crowd of 7-9k attending the dark side will be made up of about 12k-15k who attend regularly, 4k every match, 2k every other match 2k every 3 matches etc, not scientific I know but, it is in that region. I remember back when I think it was Davidson was chairman, possibly Sexton as CEO, he claimed our supporter base at that time was in the region of 20k who regularly attended, they'd done a calculation based on their information, yet our average was less than 15k. What I was trying to highlight in my post was that, their supporters would have targeted that match to try and emphasise their massive fan base, by inviting all an sundry to tag along.

Fair play mate. Despite the knobend he latterly morphed into, I still love Froch and his belligerence as a fighter. His bouts against Taylor, Bute, both Kessler fights and the first Groves one were absolutely mint. No shame in being outsmarted by Ward either. Granite chinned bastard haha. Edit, never get tired of the end of the Taylor fight To quote Rob McCracken 'he's ******* hard, Froch'

As I remember it, he was invited to show proof of this disabled red, supposedly attacked by our supporters in the stadium, and didn't, it was denied by both the football club AND Avon and Somerset police, wasn't seen by anyone in the 20,000+ crowd and was proven to be bullshit! IIRC, wasn't there talk of a libel suit against Henbury numbnuts for blatant lies? If that's 'proving us wrong', I would love to know what the weather is like on his / her / it's planet? What a bell end!

No. I hope they get relegated, get relegated again and go bust. My real preference would be to see them simply go bust and disappear without having to wait a couple of years.

Why do people care about bristol football? I genuinely dont understand it, how on earth can it be a good thing for bristol city? I care about bristol city, not bristol football.

Hope Plymouth go up. Been skulking around the lower leagues for too long, good set of fans and all mind.

Sooner the better.

Also very excited for the fight, can't beat an evenly matched domestic fight like this. Keep changing my mind but I'm going for Eubank on points. Much prefer Groves but it's probably better for British boxing if Eubank wins, although I'll l be cheering for Smith against either if he makes the final. Edit - Eubank to win on a controversial split decision.

Interesting point Rob. I've discussed the following point elsewhere on OTIB but what if Bristol Sport did a deal with Rovers? The deal being if you, BRFC, get into the Championship, you can use our ground for a nominal fee. In return, Bristol Sport owns the Memorial Stadium which means the Rugby Team can return to its rightful home. Would the gas fans turn up to Ashton Gate? When they had to in the 80s because of 'that' fire, the normal Rovers Eastville attendance dropped by around 2,000 for an Ashton Gate fixture. No doubt a few, as a matter of principle, would still stay away. What could happen if the deal was signed? Rovers would get relegated and go into liquidation. At the very least, Bristol Rugby would be back at the Mem.....until Bristol Sport sells it to Sainsburys. The money raised would be used to put a roof on Ashton Gate!