HARRY DOLMAN OBE - A TRIBUTE (Merged)

[BCFC Rich]

A great write up on the official site here. A club legend and what a man, faught at the somme then joined the airforce. And that picture of him as a 16 year he already looks like a man! 

[Red Army 75]

Bristol City owe Harry Dolman a lot of gratitude. It’s fantastic his wife still attends . And is the club president. Respect to HD

[marmite]

That's a great article about a great Bristol City man, and to think he nearly went to Rovers. They were getting things wrong even then!! I've met his wife Marina, such a lovely lady.

[BRIAN WILSON]

many thanks for the heads up in respect of this article.

I have indeed shown this to (a red/friend & fellow Berkeley resident) his Grandson Alan Dolman - To say he is rather proud (or prowed) is an understatement

[eardun]

A good read. Given all HD did to get us to the old First Division, it is great that he saw us finally make it in his lifetime.

[Guest]

A proper legend and a great man, the book is a must get

[wendyredredrobin]

Shame that most of the youngsters will only remember him as a stand.

I remember the pride on his face the night we were promoted to the top flight and his Rolls Royce HD 11.

Without him BCFC would probably not exist.

[eardun]

3 minutes ago, wendyredredrobin said:

Shame that most of the youngsters will only remember him as a stand.

I remember the pride on his face the night we were promoted to the top flight and his Rolls Royce HD 11.

Without him BCFC would probably not exist.

Although impressive that his stand does not look out of place today nearly half a century later. The integration of the Dolman Stand is one of the clever/unique bits of the redevelopment in my view. 

[wendyredredrobin]

Maybe, but it does look small when looking down from the top of the west stand. That surprised me a lot.

[ZiderEyed]

If the Dolman ever gets redeveloped I really hope we don't get a name change. It'll always be a testament to the work the Dolman family have done for us all.

[hoxton casual]

What a brilliant and dedicated man. We are lucky to have had two such fantastic Chairmen. I hope SL gets to experiencce promotion to Div 1 like Harry Dolman did. 

[Marina's Rolls Royce]

My Grandad used to call at HD's offices in the 60's when Marina was HD's secretary. Years later she took me to my first ever City match in the RR. When I set up a business in Bristol- she came along as a guest at our opening  to support us which was such a big deal to us.

I cannot speak highly enough of Marina although I never had the honour of meeting Harry.

I used to go and play with her nephews at their house in Chew Magna- the favourite property of Cary Grant who went to dinner there with the Dolmans. Strangely enough the guy who bought it was none other than Peter Hargreaves.

[pillred]

1 hour ago, Marina's Rolls Royce said:

My Grandad used to call at HD's offices in the 60's when Marina was HD's secretary. Years later she took me to my first ever City match in the RR. When I set up a business in Bristol- she came along as a guest at our opening  to support us which was such a big deal to us.

I cannot speak highly enough of Marina although I never had the honour of meeting Harry.

I used to go and play with her nephews at their house in Chew Magna- the favourite property of Cary Grant who went to dinner there with the Dolmans. Strangely enough the guy who bought it was none other than Peter Hargreaves.

have spoken to marina a couple of times at city functions, she is more royal than the queen, lovely lady has had a fascinating life has some great stories to tell.

[zippycar]

.

[22A]

Harry had two season tickets for the Rovers(!) They invited him to become a Director of theirs. He attended a board meeting as a Visitor and they were discussing selling Eastville their then home. Harry declared that to be a backward step. He was told "If that's your thinking, you'ld be better off at City".........And the rest is history!

[ExiledAjax]

For me that was an education.

[Port Said Red]

13 hours ago, eardun said:

Although impressive that his stand does not look out of place today nearly half a century later. The integration of the Dolman Stand is one of the clever/unique bits of the redevelopment in my view. 

 

13 hours ago, wendyredredrobin said:

Maybe, but it does look small when looking down from the top of the west stand. That surprised me a lot.

I think it was said at the time to contain the longest single steel girder in any stand in the country (possibly europe?) , HD was involved in the design and wanted to make sure there were no pillars to spoil the view.

[wendyredredrobin]

Yeah, I remember that being said at the time.  It was the first time I had ever heard the term cantilever stand.

Didn't like the brick wall at the front though before it was eventually covered by the seats.

I started going to the gate around the same time that they started work on building it.

[JamesBCFC]

Its a great write up, but some really silly errors are bugging me

It wasn’t until the start of the 1970/71 season that the Dolman Stand was finally open but by then Fred Ford was no longer in charge, having been dismissed on September 19th 1968 after a poor start to the season had brought just 3 points from the first 8 League matches (equivalent of 24 points from eight matches today) 

 

Somehow I doubt that 3 points from 8 games in 1968 would equate to 24 from 8 now.

I'd also be flabbergasted if a manager was sacked after getting 24 points from 8 games.

[Mr Popodopolous]

An excellent and informative read.

Great chairman for us. I like to think the path we see now following under SL is panning and will pan out in a similar fashion...

[ollywhyte]

I wonder if our next attempt at a display could be to commemorate this occasion albeit a couple weeks late?

[cidered abroad]

I believe that we, the supporters of BCFC, are very fortunate that we have had Bristolians or those from the local area, financing and running our club.

I acknowledge that incorrect decisions have been made in the past that have hurt us, the club, players and supporters, but in the main people like Harry and now Steve have been good for the club and made decisions with our best interests in mind.

I remember Harry once saying at a shareholders meeting in the late sixties that "We'd never be a club like Tottenham Hotspur" meaning that we probably would never pull in crowds that they did or win as many trophies. But that didn't stop him funding as to the best of his ability / finance and we did go some way to matching Spurs during our four year spell in the First Division.

I also remember on a train back from Cardiff where we had just won 1-0, asking all the players and him for autographs. As he was signing, he said to me a 14 year old, "You should collect pound notes not autographs" but he declined when I asked for one instead of his autograph. Mean old ........!

[headhunter]

1 hour ago, JamesBCFC said:

Its a great write up, but some really silly errors are bugging me

It wasn’t until the start of the 1970/71 season that the Dolman Stand was finally open but by then Fred Ford was no longer in charge, having been dismissed on September 19th 1968 after a poor start to the season had brought just 3 points from the first 8 League matches (equivalent of 24 points from eight matches today) 

 

Somehow I doubt that 3 points from 8 games in 1968 would equate to 24 from 8 now.

I'd also be flabbergasted if a manager was sacked after getting 24 points from 8 games.

It was actually 1967 a few days after a rare MOTD appearance when they'd lost 4-2 at home to Blackpool. That game is available on You Tube I think. City were losing 2-1 with 4 mins to go. I left before the end!!! Still haven't learned my lesson!

[RedM]

13 hours ago, pillred said:

have spoken to marina a couple of times at city functions, she is more royal than the queen, lovely lady has had a fascinating life has some great stories to tell.

She is a beautiful Lady inside and out. Such a long time to be a widow though. Often see her at away games, she has lovely warm hands and greets you like an old friend! Grace and elegance far more than any royality. 

[Port Said Red]

14 minutes ago, RedM said:

She is a beautiful Lady inside and out. Such a long time to be a widow though. Often see her at away games, she has lovely warm hands and greets you like an old friend! Grace and elegance far more than any royality. 

She was only 24 when she married the 63 year old Harry Dolman,  some people would frown on that sort of age gap and talk about ulterior motives, but her long marriage to him and continued devotion to our club  after his death says so much about their relationship. 

[Ray White]

I’m not too sure about some of the comments on here saying he was a great man. He was certainly a devoted chairman. My uncle worked for Bracknell Dolman Rogers for many years and always said he was a nasty bugger. I just think it’s easy for people to imagine he was a nice bloke when in reality I doubt anyone on here actually met him to back that up. Excellent chairman though.

[Shtanley]

Anyone going to this? Not my generation but figure it'll be an interesting hour or two.

[E.G.Red]

2 page centre spread in today's Evening Post - 'Brilliant Inventor to Football Legend'

[Rudolf Hucker]

On 10/11/2017 at 14:33, headhunter said:

It was actually 1967 a few days after a rare MOTD appearance when they'd lost 4-2 at home to Blackpool. That game is available on You Tube I think. City were losing 2-1 with 4 mins to go. I left before the end!!! Still haven't learned my lesson!

12 year old me was standing at the Open End at that match - on the steps of the Hospital Broadcast box - watching Alan Skirton, then of Blackpool, run rings around us with blinding pace. The match featured on MotD but iirc, in those days the programme was shown on BBC2 which we couldn't receive in our house because we didn't have a BBC2 ariel. It's hard for younger supporters to realise how primitive technology was back in those days.

After the match, I walked to the back of the Grandstand (later to become the Williams) and watched a large and very agitated group of supporters standing under the boardroom window, chanting "Ford Must Go". A few days later, he did. We found out only when the story appeared in the Evening Post! Life was so much simpler then!