The Dolman Pragmatist

To be fair, Gary Johnson made him do it (not the headbutt, the interview).

Murray Jones, promising striker signed from Palace in 1990. Never made an appearance.

We didn’t spend a lot of money on him , but I was always bemused by the case of Jim Harvey, a very good midfield player who we signed in 1987 and who only played three times for us. I remember him saying at the time that he couldn’t understand why Terry Cooper signed him if he didn’t think he was any good. There was also the strange case of Laurie Pearson, a left back who we signed from Hull in the summer transfer window of 1987, and then swapped for Russell Bromage before the season even started.

In France if there is a two-division or more gap between the clubs the lower team is automatically at home.

Yes we were poor today, but not as bad as your post suggests. Playing without any centre halves is always likely to be interesting and I’d have taken a point as soon as I saw the lineup. It was clear that we were being protective of the back line, which was hardly surprising. Yes, of course we missed Vyner, but we got a point which we probably just about deserved.

Don’t think it’s been mentioned, but John Galley’s debut for City in 1967 was a hat-trick at Huddersfield. Best ever debut by a City player?

What makes you happiest when you are walking away from a match at Ashton Gate? Having played poorly but scraped a victory; or having played well and lost. I know which I prefer.

Me too mate. Two on the same day. I don’t live in Bristol and I missed the sign completely.

The easiest games at this stage of the season are likely to be against teams with nothing to play for. Three of our games are against teams needing points to avoid the drop who will be fighting for their lives.

Who knows? If you’d asked me in Dicks’s first season if he could take us into the top flight, I’d have thought you were mad.

If social media had existed in the sixties, a section of the fans would have been screaming for Harry Dolman to sell up as we fought off relegation from the second tier several times. At least the Lansdowns (as far as we know) haven’t resorted to some of Harry Dolman’s more - ahem - unorthodox business practices…

Alan Dicks has a lot in common with Liam Manning. He was a young coach who no one had heard of when he was brought in as manager, and a very vocal section of the fans were screaming for him to be sacked in his first season at the club. Luckily Harry Dolman resisted that temptation, held his nerve, and eventually it paid off, big time.

Absolutely fantastic that this post got a face palm from one poster. Says it all about the current climate on OTIB. So much easier to be negative about a situation than to look for positives.

I’ve been a supporter for 60 years and there have been some difficult periods but I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. I’ll go into next season with a season ticket and with optimism, as usual.

If you’ve been supporting since 1971, you will have seen a lot worse than this season.