handsofclay

A few years ago I was leaving Mangotsfield United's ground and put Radio Bristol on. Geoff Twentyman was talking to a young Rovers fan called iirc Ollie. He seemed to be on rather a lot at the time offering his observations on the Gas. They had beaten Swindon one-nil in an early kick off and Ollie was waxing lyrical about the match and how well Rovers had played. 'And what did you think of the goal?' Twentyman asked, realising there was no explanation of this event. 'Oh, I didn't see that, Geoff,' he replied. 'I was queuing to get a pie.' I couldn't believe it. I was literally shouting at the radio as I was driving and shaking my head and saying that one can go to Gregg's any day of the week and get a bloody pie!

One of the greatest Hollywood stars of all time used to watch us play.... Cary Grant. But we didn't make a song and dance about it like these other clubs. Joe Jordan said that the reason he continued to live in Bristol is because when he is out people don't bother him, they acknowledge him but then leave him be. I like to think that's what makes us appeal to Hollywood stars and Bollywood ones for that matter. That they can come to Ashton Gate and enjoy the game and atmosphere in a relaxed fashion and not be bothered by the demands of fans. We can simply give them a nod and a smile of appreciation and concentrate on the match and not act any differently than if we were sat next to Joe Bloggs from Bemmy. * *Obviously, though, if one of our players nears goal it's best not to shout 'shoot!' if Alec Baldwin is the star sitting next to one.

I wouldn't have thought O'Neills would want to jeopardize the contract they have with us by pulling a trick like that.

Awful from Scott

Billy's rider that famous day, PC George Scorey was born in Bristol in 1882.

PC Scorey

Jesus wept, is that a real horse? Either that or Gulliver wasn't alone when he ended up in Lilliput.

I suppose it was apt that The Trotters won the cup.

Doubt this will be of interest to many, but it was 100 years ago today that a white horse called Billy (iirc) wrote himself into football folklore at the first Wembley FA Cup Final.

And Downsy wasn't even born yet so there was no pre-match or halftime entertainment

Also there were no replays on the big screens when we scored

I agree but it was in black and white so not so good.

When I did my FA badge I was told that if the birthdays of those in the academies was analysed the majority are born between September to December. It's a bit like academic education too where those who are a bit older in the intake, born in the first third of the eligible period, have the advantage over those born in the last third. However, and this is the interesting thing, those who make it in the pro game are more likely to be born in the last third of any intake, May to August. So that last third are less likely to make it into an academy but when they do they're more likely to make it into the pro game. Had a quick look at the Bristol City squad and 13 players have birthdays between May to August out of about 28.

On Radio 5 on the morning of the Bristol City v Manchester City a Bristol City fan was interviewed and asked by Rick Edwards 'Do you think City will be putting out a full strength team?' He meant Manchester City, but good on the Bristol City fan she answered the question as meaning Bristol City and talked about Andi Weimann possibly not being fit etc. It's lazy journalism and simple arrogance to think that everyone in Bristol, Birmingham, Bradford, Stoke, Norwich, etc think of Manchester City rather than their own City club when they are asked a question about City.

I have noticed that the United meaning Man Utd and City meaning Manchester City has crept in far more since the BBC moved to Manchester.

I think I seen highlights of the match on Sportsnight With Coleman. But I could be wrong.

Hopefully if he can continue to score goals he can buy a bigger house for himself.

It's very difficult to evaluate what that £50 in 1905 would be worth today. 5k and 7.5k have been mentioned and are probably close to the mark. However, the average new house cost about £250 to £300 in 1905 so that £50 bought one fifth of a new house back then. Nowadays one fifth of a modest new house would be in excess of 50k. Also Alf Common became the first £1000 footballer in 1905. £50 would be 5% of that. A modern day large transfer of £100M, five percent of that would be five million quid.

Yes, correct. There were effectively two Football Leagues then although the Southern League was considered to be not as strong as the northern based Football League. It wasn't until after the Great War that the Southern League became severely weakened by its best teams joining the Football League which then expanded from its two pre- war divisions. So when Tottenham Hotspur won the cup in 1901 as a Southern League side they weren't really a non-league side as we consider it today. But the fact is used as a quiz question regarding which was the only non league side to win the FA Cup since the Football League's inception in 1888.

No way was that a penalty, it's embarrassing for Forest fans to claim that they were hard done by in this instance further compounded by their boss saying that Maguire would also have been given a second yellow if it had been given.

My favourite accumulator, when I bet, is both teams to score. I prefer that because one can still win big money and the bet stays alive until the very end of the game. Whereas if one is doing a results accumulator there's always one or two out of say the dozen where it goes wildly wrong so if one has put Norwich to win at QPR and with twenty minutes to go it's 4-0 to QPR it's highly unlikely that'll get turned around, whereas focusing on both sides to score it could be 6-0 to QPR going into added time but there's always a chance Norwich will get a consolation goal right up until the last kick. Mainly do that when I am at home on a Saturday afternoon, but that's rarely the case.

Luton fans who snipe at us for taking their better players should keep in mind that we let them keep Payne back then.

Colin Lee four v the Gas in 1978. He was our agent playing for Tottenham on debut, I think, having signed from Torquay whom he'd joined from us. I think with us he just made the subs bench once and I think unused v West Ham in a one all draw at Ashton Gate in 1976. Famous for the PG Chimps being the pre-match entertainment and a West Ham player breaking his leg (Holland?).

No they wouldn't because every other week they'd be serving a suspension so wouldn't be able to be sent off that week.

No you're not. First I seen of him was when he was advertising BT or something a few years ago. I don't keep up with Hollywood and stopped taking interest in the Oscars decades ago when I discovered that they cheated Rin Tin Tin out of being awarded the first Oscar. Then again when I heard a couple of years ago that The Killers had sold out Ashton Gate that's the first time I had ever heard of them!