2001-2002 Video Danny Wilson continues

[1960maaan]

First part of the season starts with a bang, Thorpe hat trick. Enjoy.

 

 

[22A]

Quite a bit about this season; one that had promised so much, but produced nothing tangible.

There was very little transfer activity in the summer of 2001, but Mike Stowell was signed from Wolves as a goal keeping coach.  When the season began, he was preferred in goal ahead of Billy Mercer and Steve Phillips. Another surprise was Kevin Amankwaah replacing Scott Murray in midfield. Steve Jones and Tommy Doherty had returned from long term injury and Jones was paired with Tony Thorpe for the opening fixture of 2001/02 at Northampton who had Keith Welch in goal and old adversary Marco Gabbiadini playing up front. Thorpe scored a hat trick in the first 26 minutes of the season and City won 3-0. Jones had hit a post and was on target in the next game, a 3-1 win over Swindon. Cheltenham were then beaten 2-1 in the League Cup and that score line was repeated at Wigan in the league to give City their best start to a season since 1927. The 100^th anniversary of City’s first League match occurred in September when Port Vale visited. City had to battle all the way for a 1-1 draw. City’s first defeat did not occur until mid September when they crashed 4-1 at Peterborough. They bounced back to win their next game, then lost 1-0 at Huddersfield, won and drew at home before visiting the leaders Oldham where they won 1-0 to go third with Brentford and Brighton above them, with Stoke and Reading immediately behind them.  By chance, City’s next three games were Stoke away, Brighton at home and Reading away.

At Stoke Scott Murray was sent off for two bookable offences as City lost to a late Brynjar Gunnarsson strike at the Britannia Stadium. Murray had been cautioned in the first half for shirt-pulling and then controversially dismissed for an alleged injury-time dive with City appealing for a penalty. Stoke had the lion's share of possession, but were restricted to very few clear strikes at Mike Stowell, recalled in goal for City in place of Steve Phillips. That was one of four changes made by Danny Wilson, who drafted the fit-again Aaron Brown and Louis Carey into midfield and preferred Steve Jones to Lee Peacock up front.  Mark Lever, Matthew Hill and Joe Burnell excelled at the back and City's entire team worked hard, without being able to create much against Stoke's strong defence. The talk afterwards was of Murray's red card, with many travelling fans considering their team had been robbed of a possible spot-kick equaliser. A week later the team had a bad day en masse and lost 1-0 at home to Brighton. The match began and ended in awful fashion for City as Steve Jones limped off with a hamstring injury after only five minutes. Brian Tinnion was then sent-off with only two minutes of normal time remaining for a second bookable offence. At Reading, City crashed to their third successive League defeat but played their part in an entertaining battle at the Madejski Stadium. Backed by an estimated 3,500 travelling fans, Kevin Amankwaah and Tony Thorpe twice put City back in the game after Reading had grabbed the lead. The following week, Orient won at Ashton Gate in the FA Cup first round before less than 7,000 spectators.

Two days later Tony Thorpe turned down a contract renewal and was placed on the transfer list prior to the next fixture, away to Bury. The game ended 2-2, but it was an unhappy night for Thorpe, who missed a penalty two minutes after the opening goal, scored by Peacock and was substituted midway through the second half. The draw was well deserved after the string of defeats and Danny Coles, preferred to the more experienced Mark Lever in defence, had a sound game alongside Hill and Louis Carey.  The rot had been stopped and a late injury time goal from Scott Murray was enough to earn City all three points in the next match at home to Blackpool. Tony Thorpe had given City the lead in the last minute of the first half after latching on to a poor back pass. Blackpool equalised from a penalty after a deflected shot hit Mickey Bell’s hand. Deep into injury time Lee Matthews spread a pass across the width of the pitch to find Scott Murray who ran directly at goal and curled a superb left-footed shot past the outstretched hand of the Blackpool keeper and into the corner of the net. It gave City a deserved win after a gritty match which seemed to have slipped away.  City continued this winning streak over the next few weeks, moving up to third position as they won six consecutive matches. Remarkably City started three successive League games in this run with seven players who had come through the club's youth ranks. They also progressed to the area semi final of the LDV trophy, a home draw against Rovers. The good run ended 1-0 at Port Vale on Boxing Day, but they bounced back three days later by winning 3-1 at Cardiff and so ended the year top of Division 2. In addition City boss Danny Wilson was named Nationwide League Division Two Manager Of the Month for December. It was his second such award that season, having already scooped the prize for August and the match day programme also won an award. Programme Monthly stated: “This has been one of the unheralded gems of the programme world for some years, and "Well Red" is another splendid production from Ashton Gate”. Finally, 2002 began with Dani Rodrigues rejoining the club for a second loan spell, this time for the remainder of the season.

City had a fine January reaching the southern final of the LDV trophy by beating Rovers 3-0 and maintaining a position in the top three.  In February the influential Scott Murray broke a cheek bone and during his absence City lost four consecutive league matches.  In the LDV area final they drew nil-nil at Cambridge with another missed penalty and lost the home leg 2-0. At the start of March the top two, Reading and Brighton dropped points and City were home to fifth placed Brentford. The clubs swapped places as Brentford won 2-0. 20 year old Harpal Singh was then signed on loan from Leeds and there was talk of City signing Paul Gascoigne as another loanee. Singh could play on the left wing or as a striker. His debut was a 2-0 win over Cambridge who appeared doomed to relegation, the two goals being scored by full back Micky Bell. That night Kevin Amankwaah and Aaron Brown were involved in a car accident.  Brown had whiplash injuries and a suspected broken collar bone while Amankwaah suffered a broken neck. Fans of many clubs sent messages of sympathy to the players. Having lost four out of five games, City dropped to seventh position. In late March, Steve Robinson was secured on loan from Preston and Scott Murray returned ahead of schedule and a fine 3-1 win was recorded at Bournemouth, lifting the club back into the play off positions although 7^th placed Cardiff had a game in hand.  Bustling centre forward Christian Roberts was then signed from Exeter.

Easter Saturday saw City home to top placed Reading who scored from a corner, then netted a penalty. Peacock pulled one back and Bell equalised with a penalty, only for reading to retake the lead. This was all in the first 14 minutes. On the hour Robinson smashed a shot past the Reading keeper to make it 3-3. Two days later, City visited 2^nd placed Brighton and lost 2-1.  Bury were beaten and on the penultimate game of 2001/2 City were three points behind 6^th place Huddersfield. 2,500 fans travelled to Blackpool to see City fall to their biggest defeat of the season, 5-1 in a game they had to win. The final game, against Stoke, saw fine performances from youngsters, Darren Jones, Craig Woodman and Liam Rosenior, son of Leroy. For the second half, City had nine players on the field who had moved up from the youth team.
 

[Wanderingred]

Another good year was that. Would have made the playoffs if it werent for the insane strength of some of the teams we were competing with (all the teams that finished above us bar Brentford have gone on to play in the Premier League) and some unfortunate injuries towards the end. We had a largely home grown squad that were starting to hit their stride (the following season, they would peak).

My favourite games that season were beating Cardiff 3-1 at Ninian, smashing the Gas in the LDV and a home game against Hollowheads QPR where we won 2-0 and looked absolutely superb. Worst games would have to be the 1-5 mauling at Blackpool and bottling the LDV semi final against a pathetic Cambridge team. 

The Gas finished second from bottom in league 2, thus qualifying for the League Cup preliminary round. That was the last season in which only one team would be relegated. They wouldnt be so lucky 12 years later.

[BS15_RED]

Hey, Hey Jonesy, ohhhh ahhhh, I want to know where you got that tan! Please tell me that there'll be a 2002-03 video in the coming weeks?

[One BCFC]

Great season IMO, back when we won our local derbies. Cracking football, Tinman pulling all the strings, unfortunately 2nd half of the season slump, Thorpe wanting to leave and the fact we only had 1 win against any of the top 6 left us 7th.

[22A]

Looking at that league table, 15 years ago Bournemouth were relegated to the obscurity of the bottom Div.

[1960maaan]

4 hours ago, BS15_RED said:

Hey, Hey Jonesy, ohhhh ahhhh, I want to know where you got that tan! Please tell me that there'll be a 2002-03 video in the coming weeks?

Nearing the end of my tapes, might be one full year left but not 100% sure.

[tinman85]

9 hours ago, 22A said:

Quite a bit about this season; one that had promised so much, but produced nothing tangible.

There was very little transfer activity in the summer of 2001, but Mike Stowell was signed from Wolves as a goal keeping coach.  When the season began, he was preferred in goal ahead of Billy Mercer and Steve Phillips. Another surprise was Kevin Amankwaah replacing Scott Murray in midfield. Steve Jones and Tommy Doherty had returned from long term injury and Jones was paired with Tony Thorpe for the opening fixture of 2001/02 at Northampton who had Keith Welch in goal and old adversary Marco Gabbiadini playing up front. Thorpe scored a hat trick in the first 26 minutes of the season and City won 3-0. Jones had hit a post and was on target in the next game, a 3-1 win over Swindon. Cheltenham were then beaten 2-1 in the League Cup and that score line was repeated at Wigan in the league to give City their best start to a season since 1927. The 100^th anniversary of City’s first League match occurred in September when Port Vale visited. City had to battle all the way for a 1-1 draw. City’s first defeat did not occur until mid September when they crashed 4-1 at Peterborough. They bounced back to win their next game, then lost 1-0 at Huddersfield, won and drew at home before visiting the leaders Oldham where they won 1-0 to go third with Brentford and Brighton above them, with Stoke and Reading immediately behind them.  By chance, City’s next three games were Stoke away, Brighton at home and Reading away.

At Stoke Scott Murray was sent off for two bookable offences as City lost to a late Brynjar Gunnarsson strike at the Britannia Stadium. Murray had been cautioned in the first half for shirt-pulling and then controversially dismissed for an alleged injury-time dive with City appealing for a penalty. Stoke had the lion's share of possession, but were restricted to very few clear strikes at Mike Stowell, recalled in goal for City in place of Steve Phillips. That was one of four changes made by Danny Wilson, who drafted the fit-again Aaron Brown and Louis Carey into midfield and preferred Steve Jones to Lee Peacock up front.  Mark Lever, Matthew Hill and Joe Burnell excelled at the back and City's entire team worked hard, without being able to create much against Stoke's strong defence. The talk afterwards was of Murray's red card, with many travelling fans considering their team had been robbed of a possible spot-kick equaliser. A week later the team had a bad day en masse and lost 1-0 at home to Brighton. The match began and ended in awful fashion for City as Steve Jones limped off with a hamstring injury after only five minutes. Brian Tinnion was then sent-off with only two minutes of normal time remaining for a second bookable offence. At Reading, City crashed to their third successive League defeat but played their part in an entertaining battle at the Madejski Stadium. Backed by an estimated 3,500 travelling fans, Kevin Amankwaah and Tony Thorpe twice put City back in the game after Reading had grabbed the lead. The following week, Orient won at Ashton Gate in the FA Cup first round before less than 7,000 spectators.

Two days later Tony Thorpe turned down a contract renewal and was placed on the transfer list prior to the next fixture, away to Bury. The game ended 2-2, but it was an unhappy night for Thorpe, who missed a penalty two minutes after the opening goal, scored by Peacock and was substituted midway through the second half. The draw was well deserved after the string of defeats and Danny Coles, preferred to the more experienced Mark Lever in defence, had a sound game alongside Hill and Louis Carey.  The rot had been stopped and a late injury time goal from Scott Murray was enough to earn City all three points in the next match at home to Blackpool. Tony Thorpe had given City the lead in the last minute of the first half after latching on to a poor back pass. Blackpool equalised from a penalty after a deflected shot hit Mickey Bell’s hand. Deep into injury time Lee Matthews spread a pass across the width of the pitch to find Scott Murray who ran directly at goal and curled a superb left-footed shot past the outstretched hand of the Blackpool keeper and into the corner of the net. It gave City a deserved win after a gritty match which seemed to have slipped away.  City continued this winning streak over the next few weeks, moving up to third position as they won six consecutive matches. Remarkably City started three successive League games in this run with seven players who had come through the club's youth ranks. They also progressed to the area semi final of the LDV trophy, a home draw against Rovers. The good run ended 1-0 at Port Vale on Boxing Day, but they bounced back three days later by winning 3-1 at Cardiff and so ended the year top of Division 2. In addition City boss Danny Wilson was named Nationwide League Division Two Manager Of the Month for December. It was his second such award that season, having already scooped the prize for August and the match day programme also won an award. Programme Monthly stated: “This has been one of the unheralded gems of the programme world for some years, and "Well Red" is another splendid production from Ashton Gate”. Finally, 2002 began with Dani Rodrigues rejoining the club for a second loan spell, this time for the remainder of the season.

City had a fine January reaching the southern final of the LDV trophy by beating Rovers 3-0 and maintaining a position in the top three.  In February the influential Scott Murray broke a cheek bone and during his absence City lost four consecutive league matches.  In the LDV area final they drew nil-nil at Cambridge with another missed penalty and lost the home leg 2-0. At the start of March the top two, Reading and Brighton dropped points and City were home to fifth placed Brentford. The clubs swapped places as Brentford won 2-0. 20 year old Harpal Singh was then signed on loan from Leeds and there was talk of City signing Paul Gascoigne as another loanee. Singh could play on the left wing or as a striker. His debut was a 2-0 win over Cambridge who appeared doomed to relegation, the two goals being scored by full back Micky Bell. That night Kevin Amankwaah and Aaron Brown were involved in a car accident.  Brown had whiplash injuries and a suspected broken collar bone while Amankwaah suffered a broken neck. Fans of many clubs sent messages of sympathy to the players. Having lost four out of five games, City dropped to seventh position. In late March, Steve Robinson was secured on loan from Preston and Scott Murray returned ahead of schedule and a fine 3-1 win was recorded at Bournemouth, lifting the club back into the play off positions although 7^th placed Cardiff had a game in hand.  Bustling centre forward Christian Roberts was then signed from Exeter.

Easter Saturday saw City home to top placed Reading who scored from a corner, then netted a penalty. Peacock pulled one back and Bell equalised with a penalty, only for reading to retake the lead. This was all in the first 14 minutes. On the hour Robinson smashed a shot past the Reading keeper to make it 3-3. Two days later, City visited 2^nd placed Brighton and lost 2-1.  Bury were beaten and on the penultimate game of 2001/2 City were three points behind 6^th place Huddersfield. 2,500 fans travelled to Blackpool to see City fall to their biggest defeat of the season, 5-1 in a game they had to win. The final game, against Stoke, saw fine performances from youngsters, Darren Jones, Craig Woodman and Liam Rosenior, son of Leroy. For the second half, City had nine players on the field who had moved up from the youth team.
 

That Reading game was crazy. Remember sitting next to my Reading mate who said the last thing we want is an early goal. Cracking game 

[tinman85]

1 minute ago, 1960maaan said:

Nearing the end of my tapes, might be one full year left but not 100% sure.

I am loving watching this.  Danny Wilson's city better to watch than any other 

[BS15_RED]

1 hour ago, 1960maaan said:

Nearing the end of my tapes, might be one full year left but not 100% sure.

I do have a vhs in the loft of a season review with Steve Lansdown, I think it was called That's Entertainement, I could try and dig it out if you're struggling?

[BS15_RED]

1 hour ago, tinman85 said:

I am loving watching this.  Danny Wilson's city better to watch than any other 

Not so much in his last season when he went Ultra defensive. 2002-03 was an absolute treat though.

[OutstandingMixer]

4 minutes ago, BS15_RED said:

Not so much in his last season when he went Ultra defensive. 2002-03 was an absolute treat though.

It almost worked though. It's just a shame DW couldn't find the right balance between the 02/03 team and the 03/04 team...

[BS15_RED]

Just now, OutstandingMixer said:

It almost worked though. It's just a shame DW couldn't find the right balance between the 02/03 team and the 03/04 team...

Or if Lee Miller hadn't hit the post with an open goal at Swindon! Very fine margains between him being a success and a failure.

[1960maaan]

37 minutes ago, BS15_RED said:

I do have a vhs in the loft of a season review with Steve Lansdown, I think it was called That's Entertainement, I could try and dig it out if you're struggling?

That would be good, even if I have some tapes it's always nice to see the clubs perspective.

[1960maaan]

@BS15_RED looks like this is the last full year of highlights. I have a random tape I've not checked, then it's HTV programs and full matches .

[BS15_RED]

2 minutes ago, 1960maaan said:

@BS15_RED looks like this is the last full year of highlights. I have a random tape I've not checked, then it's HTV programs and full matches .

Ok mate, I've got to put my suitcase back up in the loft then I'll have a dig round up there and see if I can find it

[22A]

13 hours ago, 1960maaan said:

Nearing the end of my tapes, might be one full year left but not 100% sure.

Found a few for 2002-03 here's the links;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfvWqL3BudM   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wi5N2e4Zk_g    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyabLtG9kFU 

 

 

  

[1960maaan]

The Mansfield one is mine , good spot for the others.

[22A]

13 hours ago, BS15_RED said:

Not so much in his last season when he went Ultra defensive. 2002-03 was an absolute treat though.

In case no video of the full season is available, here's my version of 2002-03.

During the summer of 2002 as England battled to the World Cup quarterfinals, ten players left City; Tony Thorpe went on a free transfer to Luton and Steve Robinson followed him for £50,000, whilst Steve Jones was released, as were seven youth and reserve players. ITV digital, a company that had bought the League’s TV rights for three seasons ceased trading and all clubs were facing a future without planned for income. Nationally, over 600 players were released by their cash stricken clubs. With no obvious striker in the team, many fans feared the worst for the coming season.

The season began with a 2-0 win against Blackpool with Peacock and Murray scoring. This was followed by a 1-0 defeat at Brentford where Aaron Brown was sent off and a 2-0 defeat at Wigan when Danny Coles was showed the red card. The bank holiday weekend brought a 3-0 win against Wycombe with Micky Bell scoring against his former club, Scott Murray hit the second and then set up a tap in for Christian Roberts’s first goal for the club. This was followed two days later by another defeat, 2-0 at Plymouth. Defender Tony Butler was signed on loan from WBA and put in an impressive display in his first game, winning 50/50 balls and setting up attacking moves. In mid September City won away for the first time that season, 3-2 at Cheltenham who had twice taken the lead. This win moved City up to 2nd place, 1 point behind Wigan, but they fell back following defeats at Oldham and at home by QPR.  City then went on a 19 match unbeaten spell beginning with a win at Port Vale.  In that match City had taken a 2-0 lead, only for Vale to fight back and equalise in the 90th minute. In stoppage time 17 year old Leroy Lita got on the end of a long through ball, held off a defender and smashed the ball past the keeper from outside the box to give City a 3-2 win. Off the field, Mr Laycock stepped down and was replaced as Chairman by Steve Lansdown. The unbeaten spell saw City go second in the table, progress into the semi finals of the LDV trophy and the FA Cup 3rd round.  The first round had been a 7-0 romp at Heybridge followed by a 3-1 win at Harrogate.  The most memorable game though was in the league at Mansfield. 4-2 down with three minutes to go, City won 5-4! Many people put the player’s mental toughness down to a sports psychologist the club had employed. The run finally ended 2-1 at Wycombe on New Year’s Day 2003.

In fact the first three games of 2003 were defeats; after Wycombe, came defeats at Leicester in the FA Cup and at home by division leaders, Wigan in a televised game.  They maintained a position in the top five however with draws at home and away.  In the LDV trophy, a 3-1 win at Bournemouth put City into the Area Final where they met Cambridge United again with the first leg at Ashton Gate this year.  Mark Robins, a loanee, made his debut and scored in that game and City came from 2-1 down to win 4-2. The next game, at Northampton, was 10 years to the day since Brian Tinnion had joined the club.  Fittingly, he scored the winner in a 2-1 win, Mark Robins had scored City’s first. City’s fortune continued with a 3-0 win at the Abbey Stadium in the LDV 2nd leg game and then they beat Oldham, who had not lost away all season, 2-0. A 1-0 defeat at QPR was a minor reverse as City continued picking up points in their subsequent games. Robins was recalled by Rotherham after scoring five goals in eight games and scored on his return to the Millers. The same day City won at Huddersfield with their 2nd being a spectacular header from Lee Peacock, his first goal for three months. City’s unbeaten spell continued; at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium City beat Carlisle 2-0 to lift the LDV Trophy whilst in the League, draws at Crewe and Luton coupled with home wins over Cardiff lifted the team to third place with two games to go.  City could still make 2nd spot if they won at Chesterfield whilst Crewe lost at QPR. City and QPR both had two men sent off in those games and City conceded two goals in the last four minutes, so they had to settle for the play offs.  The final game was a 2-0 defeat of Port Vale which secured 3rd position for City.  Kevin Amankwaah came on for the final 20 minutes, his first appearance since that horrendous car crash of over a year ago and received a standing ovation from the 12,000 crowd.  As they had finished third, City played Cardiff who had finished 6th.  The only goal was scored in the first leg by Peter Thorne who had scored Stoke’s winner at Wembley three years before.  Sam Hamman, Cardiff’s chairman afterwards declared it was wrong that third placed City had not been promoted.  City had scored 79 League goals that year and another 27 in cup matches.  That total of 106 made this City’s second best season ever for scoring.  Scott Murray had hit 26 of them and contributed many more with his passing in his 45 League appearances. Goalkeeper Steve Phillips was the only ever present.

During the close season Scott Murray was on the fringes of the Scotland team, Christian Roberts played for Wales in a defeat against America and Tommy Doherty played twice for Northern Ireland, a friendly in Rome and a competitive match against Spain in Belfast.  Spectators judged him to have put in very solid displays. Against Spain, Tommy Doherty tried to lob Iker Casillas from 20 yards, the Real Madrid goalkeeper showing good reflexes to get up and turn his effort over the bar as the crowd held its breath. Northern Ireland defended stoutly in the 75th minute when Doherty cleared off the line after Taylor had turned away a rasping shot from sub Fernando Morientes. Finally early in July 2003 after 271 appearances and 60 goals, Scott Murray was bought by Reading for an initial £400,000 rising to £650,000 dependant on appearances and success. 

[ballwinningcentrehalf]

As terrible as we were in the game, I have a vivid memory of Armand One being miles offside for one of the goals in the 2-0 home loss to Cambridge in the LDV semi-final, second leg.

The memory has haunted me ever since  

[North London Red]

44 minutes ago, ballwinningcentrehalf said:

As terrible as we were in the game, I have a vivid memory of Armand One being miles offside for one of the goals in the 2-0 home loss to Cambridge in the LDV semi-final, second leg.

The memory has haunted me ever since  

I remember the game and the sense of outrage (much of it directed at the linesman) after One's goal that appeared to be miles offside...however unless my memory is failing me, I'm sure someone on here proved that Aaron Brown had actually played him onside, from the other side of the pitch (and just out of eyeshot of fans who were watching the ball, myself included).

[Offside]

I've got very clear memories of the first and last away games of that 2001-2002 season. What a contrast they were. The 3-0 win at Northampton was as clinical a performance as you can get and made me think that maybe it would be our season. The 5-1 defeat at Blackpool was a shockingly bad performance in front of a large away following - the game was pretty much over after about 30 mins with lots of City fans making an early exit for the pleasure beach. Long journey home that day.

The final table sums up what we were like that season - with 15 defeats we were just too easy to beat.

[1960maaan]

10 hours ago, Offside said:

I've got very clear memories of the first and last away games of that 2001-2002 season. What a contrast they were. The 3-0 win at Northampton was as clinical a performance as you can get and made me think that maybe it would be our season. The 5-1 defeat at Blackpool was a shockingly bad performance in front of a large away following - the game was pretty much over after about 30 mins with lots of City fans making an early exit for the pleasure beach. Long journey home that day.

The final table sums up what we were like that season - with 15 defeats we were just too easy to beat.

That Blackpool game was a shocker. 3 of us up for the weekend , one left before HT, and we met him at the pub after. Spent the evening arguing about everything City, turned out a good drunken night.

[BS5_RED]

On 20/06/2017 at 07:34, OutstandingMixer said:

It almost worked though. It's just a shame DW couldn't find the right balance between the 02/03 team and the 03/04 team...

They played some brilliant football at times. Bloody weak as p**s at other times as well - especially away.