handsofclay

It is obvious...The picture in the article actually depicts the Swindon Town back 4.

Quite right, that was really what I was referring to. There were a couple of seasons where had the table been based on the score after 80 or even 85 minutes I'm sure City would've finished top instead of mid-table, whereas in the play off Final season we would've finished mid-table instead of 4th. The latest goal City have conceded so far this season was in the 66th minute v Sheffield Wednesday.

Even better, we haven't conceded a goal in the last 20 minutes of any game this season!

I am the same, but take my cue from The Sunday People match reports in the 1970s. 6 was average, 5 below average and 7 above average, 4 was poor, 3 was a stinker and 2 and 1 weren't even listed but from what I can ascertain meant that any recipient of such a low mark should be seen queuing at the Labour Exchange first thing Monday morning. 8 meant very good, 9 outstanding and 10 was out of this world. In all the match reports I read in City's four years in the top flight in the 1970s, only one player ever received a 10. These tens were very, very, very rarely dished out. Maybe one player would be awarded a ten in all the matches the Sunday People covered each year. The 10 went to Liam Brady in Arsenal's 3-1 victory at Ashton Gate, and well deserved it was too. It still remains, for me, the best individual display I've ever seen at The Gate. The guy basically ran the show. Anyway, like yourself, Davefevs, I always think a 6 means a player has done what is expected of him, nothing more, nothing less, whereas a 5 means he has been a bit below par...yet, really 5 should mean what 6 means. Indeed, it wasn't until reading this thread that I realized that I had fallen into the trap of thinking that EVERYONE was using the same criteria as myself culled from the 1970s, and there have been plenty of times where City have got a half decent result and more than half the team have been given just 5 or less by posters on here that I've considered them barmy as surely a half decent result wouldn't have been achieved with more than half the team playing below par! Now I realize 5 could well have meant average.

Thus a lot of the decisive action in Johnson Snr matches occurred in the last ten minutes...no wonder he wasn't that popular in The Dolman (where Robbored is ensconced).

I was watching the Frank Lampard's Derby v Sheffield Utd game last night when Sky flashed up the following statistic to dishearten Blades fans: Goals Conceded In The Last 15 Minutes OF Games This Season .... FL's Derby County 0...Bristol City 0. I think another team was in the stats as having conceded 0 as well but I was so gobsmacked about us appearing that I instantly forgot who they were. This is totally at odds with the stats of Mr Johnson senior whose pretty successful tenure at our club was synonymous with conceding goals in the last 15 minutes....the last 15 seconds, even! Jeez, even if we fought back to level the scores, or take the lead ourselves deep into injury time, if there was just enough time left to punt the ball down field from the kick-off and an opposition player get a head or foot to it to steer it home they invariably did. So, it is an amazing stat that Johnson Junior's team hasn't conceded a goal in the last 15 minutes of a game this season. Cue a spate of late goals conceded from here on in and me having to do penance for opening my big trap!

Tickets will go very, very fast as it is the only time this season that Leeds aren't live on Sky.

Sir Alf Ramsey to Rodney Marsh in the dressing room before Marsh's England debut: RAMSEY: Rodney, I'll be pulling you off at half-time. MARSH: That'll be nice. I only get a cup of tea at Man City! Suffice it to say, Ramsey glared at Marsh and Marsh puts this down as the moment his international career under Sir Alf took a nosedive.

Went to 1st match aged nearly 8 and we lost to Sheffield Wednesday 2-1. The last City match I went to also finished 2-1 to Sheffield Wednesday. Hope this perfect symmetry doesn't mean I'm on my way out! I recall being in the enclosure and the most overriding memory is of the powerful smell of tobacco when I entered onto the terrace, the grimy stands and the contrast of the vibrant green grass of the pitch. I didn't follow much of the action as the surroundings themselves grasped most of my attention. Funnily enough, I'm pretty sure City were 2-0 down and got their only goal in about the 80th minute...so even more symmetry. Went again the following month on my 8th birthday v Carlisle United. I wore the City kit with a number 5 on the back for Dickie Rooks. I was in the East End this time and followed the whole match which we won 2-1.

Went to Mangos v Kidlington in the Trophy. Great 3-0 win for the Mangos, some great goals including a thunderous strike from Clayton Fortune.

I think it was an edition of That's Life. Someone complained that they had put an x exactly where the ball was shown to be the following week when the result was revealed. When That's Life got in touch with the pools firm running STB they found the bloke's coupon and showed that the x had moved a couple of millimetres. It was explained that it must've got damp in the mail system and when paper gets soaked writing on it can move a little bit when it dries out. The original cross could be seen but faintly and the bolder cross next to it where it moved to was the entry that was accepted. It was also shown that the pools companies decided where the ball was to be located and it was never where the ball in the original picture was before being rendered invisible. They also displayed that sticking a pin into the photograph and listening for any deflation of air rarely worked because the pools companies examined the submitted coupons and if they spotted anything suspicious the coupon was thrown out because they didn't want their prize money won by pricks. All of this shattered my illusions as up until then I genuinely believed one had to spot where the ball was if it hadn't been rendered invisible. I used to judge the look on the players faces, angles, the likely path of the ball in such situations etc. Once I knew that this wasn't the case I realized it was a lottery and not a game of skill. Incidentally, I never heard of anyone submitting a pools coupon and saying that actually they had no draws from 10 but would've had 8 score draws had they done the numbers next to their selected ones. Then, because of heavy rain they won the jackpot because all the crosses had moved once their coupon dried out in Liverpool.

Scotland had their best team, in recent decades, in 1978 and had they had a better goalkeeper, better full backs, a great centre back to partner Gordon McQueen, an extra two great midfielders to compliment Souness and Gemmill they would've been world class. They also wore a blue version of the City umbro kit at the time. It has to be remembered, however, that Scotland were consistently the world's number two ranked football nation for three quarters of a century from 1872. That takes some doing, although Wales and Ireland/Northern Ireland ran them close at times and the Isle of Man would've been ranked above them for most of that time but were banned from playing international football because they insisted on staging their home fixtures on a pitch which incorporated their flag in the design and the authorities didn't want to encourage the playing of international matches over three legs.

That's nothing, for quite a while last night I thought we were playing Barcelona at the Nou Camp.

I heard a rumour that the 2nd kit, the white and black one with the robin badge, sold so well that to make an extra bit of dosh the stock put back for the use of the players was sold as well. This is the only conceivable solution to the mystery of why the 2nd kit never gets an outing whereas the 3rd kit is always 2nd choice. My memory isn't playing tricks on me is it....The black and white kit with the robin badge was announced as our 2nd kit and the purple and lime as our 3rd wasn't it? Nothing against the purple and lime, but if that is really our 2nd kit of choice it should've been announced as such and the robin badge placed on there. There was a great fanfare about us reverting back to the robin badge for which the club received plaudits, then we discovered it would only be on the second kit and now we deduce that really it is the 3rd kit and will be lucky if it gets one outing this season. It hasn't made an appearance thus far.

Have listened to quite a few Sox games this season through the MLB app. They are certainly a force to be reckoned with and don't seem to be missing Big Papa at all. Must say I still can't make my mind up if I actually hate that Cars for Kids advert jingle thingy or love it because it is so horribly cheesy. A bit like the Shake n Vac jingle years ago in the UK.