Bristol Oil Services

41 minutes ago, ChippenhamRed said:

You’re probably right. But at least today’s 80 year old city fans can at least look back on time in the top division playing - and occasionally beating - the best in the country. Currently I have next to nothing.

It was three years of struggle, mate. And one year finishing 13th. A lot of losing and drawing, and not scoring enough. And disappointing crowds, that moaned too much.

Loads of scrapping though ....

2 hours ago, The Dolman Pragmatist said:

Given that they lost to Chippenham at the weekend, we’re on a hiding to nothing here.

Difficult place to go, Chippenham mind. From Lincoln. 

I miss Deano. Where is he now?

Football lads: don't do that (coke) do this:

1 hour ago, Simon79 said:

This will be seen in three ways, those who are seemingly in the Pearson ‘ out ‘ brigade, who will use it one way, those in the Pearson ‘ in ‘ brigade, who will say he’s said nothing wrong & those who just see it as it is, which is obviously strange. Has anyone ever heard another manager comment on a substitution/formation change & referenced an opposition player not running? Bizarre thing for Nige to comment on. That will be Khadras motivation for the away game sorted, unless Nige convinces him to come here in January obviously! COYR 

Yeah, me. I have. Jimmy Sirrel did this years ago, when we went 4-2-4 from 4-4-2, and something about Forbes Phillipson-Masters not running (very fast). 

9 hours ago, GrahamC said:

 

Horrible, cynical, dirty side assisted by a spineless ref.

Pretty much what Nige said he wants us to be.

Why don't the club put away fans in the upper Lansdown, so we can have City fans behind both goals and improve the atmosphere? 

9 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

The point I was making was that it was an established part of going to football well before our promotion year, so I didn’t see it as the factor that others did.

Doesn’t mean I’m right here, either, but your background, I had a working class father who even at 81 still remains obsessed with the game, also plays a big part, too.

No argument at all from me about how “uncomfortable” it was, my brother got a few smacks when we were leaving The Hawthorns (he was about 14) & I still remember being scared at St.Andrews, Upton Park & Selhurst Park. Nor about the fact if I’d been a father & applied today’s values (which many of course didn’t) I would have thought long & hard before taking children along.

From this distance I look back & am amazed at the fact I went (away, on my own from 14) & also that on reflection the grounds weren’t just scary then but were downright dangerous, as Bradford & Hillsborough later showed.

I would say though @Swede is spot on, it was a very different time, many things that fortunately we would just see as completely unacceptable now (casual racism, sexism, indifference to this level of violence) were ignored, if not possibly tolerated.

I think AD was racking his brains for the reason our gates were poor, but in reality the reasons were numerous, including West Country apathy.

 

Yes, that's my point: it's a number of factors. Increasing violence being one of them. And apathy around here too, that can be factored in.

When we got to the top the club expected old fans to come back, and new ones to be made, but that mix of 1970s factors contributed to that not happening, with these people. I reckon.

The first programme I picked up was Man City Feb '78, and of 46 lines on AD's page, 38 are about dart throwing and the potential closing of the ground and playing at a neutral venue, and the consequences of that. AD wanted us to "grass" on whoever was chucking darts.

We perhaps forget now what an issue it was, 45 years ago. Or maybe the club went on about it too much?

Interestingly, we're 14th in the table at that point, and 15th in the attendances table. Getting more than Wolves, Boro, Ipswich and Norwich. Not too shabby. And we hadn't played Liverpool or Manchester United by that point.

If I had to pick one crowd deterring factor from that era it wouldn't be your economics or violence, it would be that we were a bit disappointing and struggled for three of the four seasons.

14 minutes ago, Merrick's Marvels said:

That's the plan.

Really? Not: "When you gonna get yer cheque book out?"

This could be a shite appointment, to be fair/add some balance to this thread.

35 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

I think the violence stuff is a complete red herring.

It was really bad from the very early 70s, certainly as far back as I can remember.

If you were going it didn’t put you off (very scary at times) but it was no different, possibly even slightly on the wane, by the time we got promoted.

"If you were going it didn't put you off," fair enough. But what if you weren't going? Why weren't you going?

Because it didn’t put you or others like you off doesn't mean it didn't deter others, might I point out. It was part of a "package" into which we might add televised football, that made football very unpopular for a time and coincided with a sharp decline in attendances.

You didn't have to be in the thick of it - the violence - to be uncomfortable at least, if not deterred. @77 punk wasn't, I know, deterred by the "action" at his bus stop after the game the night Tottenham were relegated here but if we'd been playing them in the cup the following Saturday I reckon he would not have waited for the 339 at 5pm at that stop, not if we'd beaten them again, just in case, and maybe gone and seen The Clash in town first or something or other. 

Alan Dicks was clear in his programme notes that the behaviour of some (young) supporters was making Ashton Gate unattractive to some potential supporters. 

If you went in the 1950s as a teenager then stopped, and thought about going again in your thirties maybe with a child in 76 or 77 you would not have found everything to your liking, I'm sure.

2 hours ago, ashton_fan said:

I can't agree that the support was luke-warm in the First Division era, there weren't so many season ticket holders so gates fluctuated more, yes there were some lower gates in midweek games against teams lower in the table but for example when we played Liverpool at home at the end of our first season we got 38,688. Me and my mates certainly didn't stop watching them when they went down either although we did lose a lot of fans who used to travel from around the south-west just to see a first division game as there was nothing else anywhere close. You wouldn't expect to get the same number of fans willing to watch Notts County rather than Arsenal, say.

Reading back through the matchday programmes from that era the club clearly considered the attendances to be disappointing. Alan Dicks also often grumbled about the crowd 1. Moaning and 2. Swearing, and other undesirable (and potential-family-supporter-keeping-away) behaviour. 

I think the club had thought: we get to the 1st division and the crowds will be huge, only by the time we did get there, crowds are declining across the whole game and around the country because of a number of reasons, not least the violence and the poor facilities and grounds (AG only had 7,500 seats, if we had had more seats then .... ) but also the football itself was in decline as a spectacle, culminating in changes in the early 80s such as 3 points for a win and the new pass back rule.

We just got there too late. We needed to get there in the 50s when we had Big John and crowds were huge after the war. The boom didn't last and we got there as the game was going bust.

The other thing to remember is that this fabled era in our history was in fact 3 seasons of either fighting off relegation or being relegated, in 4 years. No-one back then, other than Man Utd, pulled in bumper crowds for a team struggling at the foot of the table.

Truth is, we were a pretty poor and unattractive team to the uninitiated with only Norman Hunter as any sort of "star" scoring not enough goals playing in a ground in need of modernisation with regular fighting in the East End and Grev Smyth park, to attract these potential new supporters on a regular basis.

Getting to the 1st division was the only "success" in that time, where we needed to have more success whilst up there to pull in local people not already regulars, like other similar clubs such as Norwich and Southampton enjoyed.

20 hours ago, Champfan45 said:

Not sure I understand the earring thing. What's that all about 

It's about attention, and a bit of "look at me!" I got me ears pierced in 1982, just for that. Worked a treat! Girlies loved it. Teachers hated it. Result! Did one ear the old fashioned way, ice cube behind and through with a needle. Ouch. Should've made a preparatory hole with a bradawl first. School boy error. After that, got the other - the right ear, that was considered a bit "gay" back in them days, a little bit out there - one done proper job, in a shop in Broadmead. 

Moved on to DIY tatts after that, another school boy error (although I wasn't at school by then). That's another "look at me!" "Because I'm worth it" thing, tatts. Every one's got a bloody tatt nowadays, yer local vicar, yer lady administering yer covid jab this morning, yer Liz Trust - I bet she's got "Growth" tattooed on her bleedin arse or somewhere. And ear rings.

Just now, Marina's Rolls Royce said:

I think your comments were lost in the supermarket

I can no longer browse happ-i-lee

1 minute ago, Tafkarmlf said:

Sorry luv, firmly on the fence, can see the benefits of both, worried about league performance from others 

Different approach could work, Nige could unlock the key too.. 

Dunno not reaching a strong decision either way

 

Come on and let me know ....

10 minutes ago, Tafkarmlf said:

I don't think he 'must' stay, I don't think he 'must' go either. 

 

This indecision's bugging me

52 minutes ago, ExiledAjax said:

Have spoken about this over the last few seasons. We have very few in that late 20's age point. There's valid reasons for it, financial mainly, but yeh it's absolutely a weakness in our squad.

Not a terminal weakness that guarantees relegation, but certainly enough to make promotion more of a doubt.

Clearly some doubts about our promotion prospects, as things stand

4 minutes ago, daored said:

I just wish that when the comment is made that Pearson must go , a REALISTIC alternative is provided. None ever is , if you want change you have to have an option to replace 

Disagree. It’s only Stevie Gee  (Gee for Guernsey) that has to have an option to replace, cos he's the bloke that will replace Nige, when Nige gets off his arse and walks

1 hour ago, Supersonic Robin said:

I find it incredible that stuff like this genuinely bothers some people.

And to suggest his reason for being sat down is that he's "bored, run out of ideas, or couldn't give a toss" is just ridiculous.

Alan Dicks sat on his arse during games for 13 years, and it never did us any harm. Well, not until Gary Collier took his classy  arse to Coventry 

1 hour ago, RedM said:

Look, I've just sat through that absolute shambles. I'll say what ever I flippin well want thanks.

Did he look like he had a clue how to get the players to get a grip of the game, nope. Maybe he was silently fuming or written the match off, who knows. But as the Manager he has to take some responsibility and not slump back and sit on his arse. 

To be fair to Nige, you were both sat on yer arse. For all we know, Nige might've glanced over and thought: well, if she's sat on her arse ....

1 hour ago, Major Isewater said:

Our results are not surprising due to the inbalance of our squad.

We have many ,quality, but past their prime, Martin, James, King … and the others ,in the main quality , yet to reach their prime Scott,Conway, Vyner …

Can we expect them to perform at the top of their games twice a week? 
 

I think @GrahamC was highlighting this a few weeks ago, we got no prime age players in the 25 - 28 years category. Although we had one in his prime last season, but that's over now

1 hour ago, Oh Louie louie said:

Western daily used to cover city . Evening post.was evening then, was a early one star or 2. I forget. But the western daily was the only option for a weekday morning city write up.

Yeah, the Evening Post was evening, the Western Daily was daily, the Green 'un was green, and WellRed was, er, red

13 hours ago, Simon bristol said:

Ordinarily id agree, but in this case, each game hes on the bench is humiliating, he is and has been a sensational footballer, and not getting a game if rashford is fit is embarrassing!

He's a goal-scorer, mate. Messi's a (the) footballer.

14 hours ago, ExiledAjax said:

Ha fun turn of phrase but from what I see and hear Kalas does come across as a bit of an unusual personality. His stints as a commentator on RobinsTV in particular have exposed his sense of humour as being drier than the driest Somerset natch you can ever find. I suspect he's got some pretty niche interests (no not that sort). 

Then on the pitch he's a a physical mad man who throws his body and head at all sorts of shots and kicks. 

He's a bit mad.

33 minutes ago, hinsleburg said:

I'm fortunate to have a friend who works in football in quite a Senior Level albeit at another club, he was telling me he was down here a short while ago to watch an U23 game but also have a tour around the HPC.

Kalas was in there doing some Rehab work and as he was introduced Kalas stood up, basically squared up to him and before shaking his hand put his head in really close and just sniffed him... He then said 'very good' before shaking his hand, turning round to get back to what he was doing but not before pulling up his shorts so high it resembled a Mankini by all accounts. The member of staff with him was in tears of laughter but also said he got off lightly by all accounts...

.... well, maybe "that sort" @ExiledAjax?

... to the visitors.

But only after the ref was encouraged to have another look at the video footage and see that he should've given it but somehow, inexplicably failed to do so. Wonder how often a ref has failed to give a pen that was a pen against the home team at Anfield, Old Trafford etc down the years?