1998-1999 video , quick return to L2

[1960maaan]

After a good promotion year the following year was a horror show. I honestly can't remember what I thought of the squad at the time, but remember Ward saying he didn't know what else he could do. After that there was no option but to make a change. Watching these clips it brought home how weak we were in midfield, and the recruitment was pathetic, millions spent on forwards while ignoring the rest of the team, rank amateurish . 
I remember losing at Swindon, I think we left a little early to see an England game and they lost too. Conceding 11 in two games, at Bradford and home to Wolves. The one good thing about this season is it meant we got season tickets in the middle of the Williams , cracking view, until they took them away to make them 'cooperate' . But that's another story.

 

[WTFiGO!?!]

A lot of very clear memories, there.  Most of them sad, unfortunately.  Oxford 2-2, Bolton 2-1 and Crewe 5-2 feels like only yesterday.  

A certain Mr Windass scoring a quality goal from the edge of the area is particularly painful!

[Shtanley]

Really enjoying all these uploads. Keep it up. Only being 21 I can't remember any of these games. 

[22A]

At the start of the 1998-99 season, City, Rovers, Bournemouth and Cardiff all had their reserves expelled from the Combination as clubs in the South East didn’t want to travel too far. The clubs set up their own league with Bath, Yeovil and the three Devonshire clubs. City won it, but the competition was poor. To enhance the prospects of attracting youngsters to the Youth team, City formed a partnership with Clifton College and Bath University so that teenagers would have the benefit of a good education by joining Bristol City.

                To prepare for a higher division, City spent more in the summer of 1998 than ever before. 7,500 season tickets had been sold, a third of the ground’ s capacity. Forwards Ade Akinbiyi came from Gillingham for £1.2 million, Tony Thorpe from Fulham for £1 million and Danish International Soren Anderson was secured for £700,000. Other International players to arrive were midfielders Moldavian Ivan Tistimetanu and Hungarian Vilmos Sebok. This proved to be a dubious advantage later in the season. One night as defender Brennan played for Canada and Sebok scored a hat trick for his country, City were losing a vital game against fellow strugglers.  It was to be a season where they scored in nearly every game, but with Sean Taylor missing through injury and other stalwarts absent every few weeks, the defence was just not strong enough. Watford visited in August and won 4-1, in late Autumn City lost consecutive matches 5-0 and 6-1. The first win had not occurred until late September, 5-2 against fellow strugglers Crewe. In four consecutive games City had been winning, but conceded an equaliser in the last minute. After 16 matches, Benny Lennartson was brought in as a specific defence coach. John Ward felt this undermined his position, so he departed leaving Lennartson in charge. He had the worst start of any manager in the club’s history, just two wins in the first 22 games. Keith Welch was replaced in goal by Phillips, a local lad. Bo Anderson had been signed but Phillips kept him out for two months. Welch was released at the end of the season. Dyche, Torpey, Crambe and Thorpe all finished the season on loan to other clubs. The first three because they had not regained their places following long injuries, Thorpe because he was a disappointment. Hope had emerged at Easter when three consecutive victories were recorded, but then City slipped up as the others around them achieved shock results. City finished bottom of the division.

            There had been bright moments though; Akinbiyi scored 23 goals, Sunderland had been running away with the division, but were held to a 1-1 draw at Roker by City. Aaron Brown and Matthew Hill progressed from the Youths into the first team, attendance’s never dropped below 11,000 and many managers stated they wished they could have the support at home that Bristol City had at away games. After the game that saw City relegated at Sheffield United, several thousand fans stayed to salute their heroes and their efforts. At home a set of Samba drummers in the Atyeo Stand maintained a great atmosphere throughout all games. It was suggested the reason for the great atmosphere was due to “fair weather” fans staying away and only the true fans still attending.  The aim for the coming season was immediate promotion therefore to reward these stalwarts. Frustratingly, the next few seasons ended in promotion near misses.

[1960maaan]

1 hour ago, 22A said:

To prepare for a higher division, City spent more in the summer of 1998 than ever before. 7,500 season tickets had been sold, a third of the ground’ s capacity. Forwards Ade Akinbiyi came from Gillingham for £1.2 million, Tony Thorpe from Fulham for £1 million and Danish International Soren Anderson was secured for £700,000.

For a club like us to spend nearly £3m on strikers was massively disproportionate, as I said you look at the midfield and defence and wonder how different it could have been.