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1999-2000 video part 1, exciting? No, Tony Pulis


1960maaan

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We get to the end of the Century and we are still playing see saw with Leagues one and two. Back in L2 and now under former Rovers (insert word here) Tony Pulls. Now this was a low for City, not a Russel Osman low but very close. It was never going to work , ex squatter and a boring type of manager, absolutely no saving graces. I'll just add the Wiki bio for his time here

Pulis was appointed manager of Bristol City in July 1999, prior to the start of the 1999–2000 season.[8] A previous long stint at bitter rivals Bristol Rovers meant that Pulis' appointment was met with mixed reception. He made several reasonably big purchases including Steve Jones and former Rovers player Peter Beadle, but his popularity hit an all-time low only six months into his term as manager and when rumours surfaced of a switch to Portsmouth, home fans chanted for him to leave. He moved on to Portsmouth shortly, where Milan Mandarić had recently taken over as chairman.

He was THAT popular !!
Anyway I'm sure it will get better, no spoilers please, I give you August 1999 into 2000 .

 

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I recorded more than usual about 1999-2000 for some reason. As always please feel free to correct any factual errors.

In July 1999, Tony Pulis was appointed manager. He had led Gillingham to the playoff final only two months before, but had then been sacked for “Gross Misconduct”. Despite this, Gillingham still demanded compensation from City.  Lennartson would stay on for a hand over period. City had wanted ex City player David Moyes as manager, but Preston, who he now managed, twice refused permission for Davidson to talk to Moyes, who then led Preston to the division championship. Sean Dyche was sold to Millwall for £150,000, Rob Edwards signed for Preston as a free transfer, Colin Crambe went to Crewe for £200,000 and Soren Anderson returned to Denmark for the same amount. Keith Welch moved to Chesterfield. The arrivals were defender Gerard Lavin from Millwall and midfielder Paul Mortimer from Charlton. Apart from the annual change in pattern, the most obvious change to the shirts was the introduction of squad numbers.

                The 1999/2000 season began at Reading with over 4,000 travelling fans in attendance. Reading scored after 15 minutes; Lavin stopped another Reading attack by upending a home player, which resulted in a torrent of abuse from the Reading fans. Lavin then deliberately kicked the ball at some of them, and stewards had to prevent a pitch invasion. The referee sent Lavin off which led to fights breaking out. Tinnion equalised with a late penalty, but Reading rallied with their second goal just before the end. Tony Pulis announced that Lavin’s career was over, but the player testified that he merely meant to hit a hoarding and he remained a City player. In the first part of the season, more promising youngsters made their debuts; Alex Meechan as a substitute against Bury and Marvin Brown became City’s youngest ever player at 16 years and 2 months when he appeared as a substitute in a League Cup game. Others who had made some appearances, such as Andrew Jordan played more often. In September Wolves paid £3.5 million for Akinbiyi which was fortunate as it was announced that relegation had lost City £2 million. Steve Jones was bought from Charlton as a replacement for £500,000. Akinbiyi became the most expensive transfer between two League Clubs. Another arrival was midfielder Paul Holland for £200,000. In October Ashton Gate was used during the Rugby World Cup and produced a £100,000 profit. After 16 games, City were in a rut; unbeaten at home, 2 wins and 8 draws but poor travellers with just one win and two draws. When Wigan were top they managed to win with a last minute goal. A few games later, Rovers went top by drawing 0-0. Goalkeeper Mercer and striker Peter Beadle were signed but to no avail. To compound matters, defender Jim Brennan went to Nottingham Forest for £1.5 million. When struggling Cambridge visited and scored in the first minute, Pulis was vilified. Jones equalised but in the second half Tinnion and Goodridge, who had been providing the only sparks were taken off simultaneously and both teams played the final 20 minutes with only one player up front. The 8,000 crowd booed the team off the pitch. Results then improved with hard fought draws at Stoke, 2-2 and Notts County, 4-4.  A 2-0 win at Bournemouth in the FA Cup was followed up with league victories over Reading at home, where ’keeper Mercer saved a penalty and 2-0 at Chesterfield.  Tony Thorpe was loaned to Luton where he teamed up with Adam Locke who had moved there under the Bosman ruling.  Jones was dropped and goals were now being regularly scored by Tinnion and Beadle. For the FA Cup 3rd round City took 4,000 fans to Premiership Sheffield Wednesday where the home side won 1-0. Tony Thorpe played for Luton on Boxing Day and against them two days later in the last game of the century, a goal less draw watched by nearly 12,000 at Ashton Gate. The first game of the 21st Century was, like the first game of the 20th Century, an away league win, this time at Wrexham. This was followed by a goal less draw with Cardiff. Towards the end of the first half, the Cardiff ‘keeper punched out a cross which Tistimetanu immediately kicked past him into the goal. The “goal” was disallowed for offside, Tinnion protested and was sent off! The referee was Mr Dean from the Wirral who had given several surprising decisions against City in games during the previous season.

                Five days later Pulis resigned and became manager of Portsmouth. The following day City won 3-2 at Bournemouth whilst Portsmouth lost by the same score at home to Wolves, whose equaliser was scored by Tony Branch who Pulis had tried to sign for City and the winner came from Akinbiyi who Pulis had sold to Wolves only four months before.  The following week City were home to leaders Wigan. When City’s players took the field they were seen to be smiling and relaxed. One lifelong fan commented that was the first time that season that had happened. Afterwards, the same fan stated that he had never seen such a fit and workman like team at Ashton Gate as Wigan were that day. The draw that day was judged by all as a fair result. Two of the youth team made their debuts in defence that day, Joe Burnell and Martin Hill. Another debutant for the next game was Simon Clist in midfield. Two more starlets, Olukayode Odejayi and Damien Spencer made substitute appearances, a few years later both players scored regularly for Cheltenham.  Departing the scene were Steve Torpey for £20,000 to Scunthorpe and Lorenzo Pinamonte to Brentford for £50,000. Pinamonte had made a few first team appearances and had scored on his debut in the final game of the previous season.

                This injection of youth did not weaken the team that was now managed by a triumvirate. The three were Youth Academy director Dave Burnside, Coach Leroy Rosenior and Scout Tony Fawthrop who had final say.  Results improved so that a play off position became feasible and they reached the area final of the Auto Windscreen Trophy, a two-legged affair against Exeter. This tournament rarely attracted many spectators, yet over 8,000 turned up at Ashton Gate to see City beat Reading 4-0 in the semi-final on a cold, wet February night. The next game was a disappointment though. Earlier in the season, City had drawn 4-4 at Meadow Lane and in the return match City were 2-0 up at half time. In the second half, Notts County scored on the hour and then one of their forwards clearly dived in the penalty area. The dive was so blatant that even the linesman waved play on, but the referee awarded a penalty that levelled the scores. As a result of the decision, stewards had to control some of the 10,000 crowd as they surged from their seats towards the pitch. Afterwards the Notts County manager stated that they were the better team and should have won as City’s two goals were soft.  Tony Fawthrop won the Manager of the Month Award for February and on the 29th, Wembley beckoned.  The first leg of the area final of the Auto Windscreen Shield, watched by nearly 13,000, was a personal triumph for Scott Murray. After four minutes he crossed for Tony Thorpe to head home. In the second half he crossed for Beadle to side foot a shot past the Exeter keeper and then went on a powerful run and chipped the ball for a goal of his own. Joe Burnell scored his first goal for the club shortly after that and City had a 4-0 lead to take to Exeter.  City’s 15 match unbeaten spell finally ended with three defeats in eight days in early March, 4-1 at Millwall, 3-0 at Cambridge and 1-0 at home to Gillingham. The last of these was City’s first home defeat of the season in any competition. They then drew at Exeter to guarantee a Wembley appearance in the final of the Auto Windscreen Shield against Stoke City.

                Tickets sold rapidly at both clubs for the final at Wembley and on the day over 75,000 created a marvellous atmosphere. This was the largest crowd in the history of the club to watch a Bristol City match. The revenue went a long way to repairing the £2,000,000 loss of the previous season. A poor performance in the first half gave Stoke a 1-0 interval lead. Both teams played much better in the second half; Paul Holland equalised, but Thorne scored the winner from Stoke near the end. The match had been spoilt oddly enough, because the referee had tried too hard to allow flowing football. Both teams had players fouled in the penalty area and players of both teams blatantly handled the ball, yet the referee waved play on. The season wound up with City just below the play off places, yet the season did not end with a whimper. The penultimate game was at Colchester who took a 2-0 lead. Scott Murray then took a hand and scored. Early in the second half Colchester scored a third, but with Andrew Jordan and Joe Burnell refusing to give up, Murray turned the game with a succession of crosses into the Colchester box. One was converted by Alex Meechan and another was headed into his net by a defender. Micky Bell then scored a fourth to secure a victory. The youths who had debuted that season caught the national eye and that summer Marvin Brown played for England under 16s, Kevin Amankwaah for the under 17s and Jordan for Scotland’s under 21 team.  A split board then appointed Tony Fawthrop as manager with the chairman reconsidering his future as the season ended.  A fortnight later, Fawthrop resigned on personal grounds.

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2 hours ago, 1960maaan said:

We get to the end of the Century and we are still playing see saw with Leagues one and two. Back in L2 and now under former Rovers (insert word here) Tony Pulls. Now this was a low for City, not a Russel Osman low but very close. It was never going to work , ex squatter and a boring type of manager, absolutely no saving graces. I'll just add the Wiki bio for his time here

Pulis was appointed manager of Bristol City in July 1999, prior to the start of the 1999–2000 season.[8] A previous long stint at bitter rivals Bristol Rovers meant that Pulis' appointment was met with mixed reception. He made several reasonably big purchases including Steve Jones and former Rovers player Peter Beadle, but his popularity hit an all-time low only six months into his term as manager and when rumours surfaced of a switch to Portsmouth, home fans chanted for him to leave. He moved on to Portsmouth shortly, where Milan Mandarić had recently taken over as chairman.

He was THAT popular !!
Anyway I'm sure it will get better, no spoilers please, I give you August 1999 into 2000 .

 

Would rather Pulis than LJ

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8 hours ago, tinman85 said:

Would rather Pulis than LJ

490 minutes without a goal? 40 players swapped round and round endlessly with no idea who or what? 11 games on the trot(ts) without a win? 2 wins in 16? So many bloody 0-0s? Crowds of 8,000? Substituting Brian Tinnion? (Surely you remember that?!) Playing Gerard Lavin? Dire, absolutely dire (funny, Stoke fans and now WBA fans are saying the same about him, nearly 20 years later. A gAss never changes his spots) No thanks. I'll give Johnson the benefit of the doubt. His football hasn't been dire and at least we know he does like us.

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I usually relish looking at your uploads of City past but I'm struggling to bring myself to even press 'play' with this one.  

The only thing in my time to liken it to is S'OD but even with him he was partially excused due to cutbacks and spoke technically enough. Pulls was more depressing because it seemed he had every intention of making us into a hoofball 80's gas side. Lavin, Mullen, Beadle ...... I remember the gravity by the Rising  Sun: "Keep the ball on the grass or you're out on your ass"... and he was.  

It was at Brentford at Christmas us sing "Pulis for Pompey" once rumours circulated.

We also voted with our feet in those days.

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