The new Ashton Gate

[That Louie Donowa goal]

Was just wondering what people’s opinions were on fans expectations since the rebuild.

It seems when we had the old Ashton Gate we were very happy to survive in the championship, remember a few close scares where we we’re overjoyed to just stay up.

The majority of supporters nowadays seem to think we should be a top six side at least, my point is, is it now we have the new stadium we now think we deserve to be a big fish and have progressed so quickly would we feel the same in the old Ashton gate as little Bristol City?

[City Cat]

Ultimately, it's the players that steer the club to higher things, not the stadium

[ZiderEyed]

Give me the old one every day of the week.

Prefer it personally. Had everything I grew up with. Wooden seats in the Dolman. East End backless seats nobody dared sit on. Massive graffiti of Ernie. Proper deafening racket under the old tin roof. Tinpot dugouts and cider company branding everywhere. Wouldn't have fallen in love in the same way I did walking in to the South Stand as I did going in the East End for the first time.

However if we're set on making the Premier League I suppose it's necessary. I don't think anyone is adamant we should be a top 6 side, but the noises from the club imply that that's our goal so it's only natural that the fanbase start looking up rather than down.

At the moment we're sacrificing the 'club' for a midtable finish. I think we'd all be alright with it if we sacrificed parts of the 'club' for the PL.A part of the sacrifice has been the feel of the old AG. If the club think that needed to happen to give us a better shot at promotion then so be it.

The club are the ones responsible for fans being demanding now though.

[That Louie Donowa goal]

I agree your right but expectations seem to have changed this time since our promotion with Cotts. Previous we were happy to just stay up and there was not clubs with premiership payments back then. It’s such a competitive league.

[That Louie Donowa goal]

Spot on Zider I love the old East end the atmosphere was amazing. Match days so different now with the boxes and bars and it was needed. Just don’t feel as close to the club as we did back then. I’m happy to progress slowly each season and then we may attract better players as they see a team going places and want a piece of it. 

[ZiderEyed]

3 minutes ago, That Louie Donowa goal said:

Spot on Zider I love the old East end the atmosphere was amazing. Match days so different now with the boxes and bars and it was needed. Just don’t feel as close to the club as we did back then. I’m happy to progress slowly each season and then we may attract better players as they see a team going places and want a piece of it. 

I'm just glad I got to experience it briefly, that side of the club is dead forever, nothing will bring it back.

The boxes and bars are necessary if we're gonna match the ambitions of SL. I wouldn't resent it as much if we didn't chuck it all away on Swedes who never play. Proper recruitment and I could 100% cope with the new AG. 

[BS4 on Tour...]

29 minutes ago, ZiderEyed said:

Give me the old one every day of the week.

Prefer it personally. Had everything I grew up with. Wooden seats in the Dolman. East End backless seats nobody dared sit on. Massive graffiti of Ernie. Proper deafening racket under the old tin roof. Tinpot dugouts and cider company branding everywhere. Wouldn't have fallen in love in the same way I did walking in to the South Stand as I did going in the East End for the first time.

However if we're set on making the Premier League I suppose it's necessary. I don't think anyone is adamant we should be a top 6 side, but the noises from the club imply that that's our goal so it's only natural that the fanbase start looking up rather than down.

At the moment we're sacrificing the 'club' for a midtable finish. I think we'd all be alright with it if we sacrificed parts of the 'club' for the PL.A part of the sacrifice has been the feel of the old AG. If the club think that needed to happen to give us a better shot at promotion then so be it.

The club are the ones responsible for fans being demanding now though.

“Backless seats” in the East End...sorry mate but the proper East End didn’t have any seats....gutted for you that you’re obviously too young to remember the proper East End in its pomp.....what a place to be, utter bedlam, deafening support, a seething mass of Bristol’s finest....not a seat in sight, a proper old school terrace, I am so grateful to have been there in those days...

[ZiderEyed]

1 minute ago, BS4 on Tour... said:

“Backless seats” in the East End...sorry mate but the proper East End didn’t have any seats....gutted for you that you’re obviously too young to remember the proper East End in its pomp.....what a place to be, utter bedlam, deafening support, a seething mass of Bristol’s finest....not a seat in sight, a proper old school terrace, I am so grateful to have been there in those days...

Yep, spent most of my life hearing stories about the old-old East End from my family. Feels terrible that I'll have never experienced the pure, unbridled passion I fell in love with this club for in the way it was originally, but I just count my lucky stars that I'm not (that) young now.

I can't imagine what it's like to be a kid nowadays, South Stand as it is isn't really comparable! Hardly menacing!

[sticks 1969]

Don’t miss pissing against a brick wall in the open rain ,or only 1 bog that the lock was always smashed off. 

[Guest]

6 hours ago, BS4 on Tour... said:

“Backless seats” in the East End...sorry mate but the proper East End didn’t have any seats....gutted for you that you’re obviously too young to remember the proper East End in its pomp.....what a place to be, utter bedlam, deafening support, a seething mass of Bristol’s finest....not a seat in sight, a proper old school terrace, I am so grateful to have been there in those days...

Exactly this,^ Saturday football ended with the chopping of the Eastend for me, late 60`s early 70`s was the dogs wotsits wouldn`t have missed a game home or away for anything back then;

 Great days supporting a great club and the promo to the top div was the highlight, not interested in the new age tarty ground(s) anymore and my club is so far in the distance now I cant even see it, its gone off down the current owners highway

[Sixtyseconds]

7 hours ago, City Cat said:

Ultimately, it's the players that steer the club to higher things, not the stadium

If Frankie Fielding is doing the steering North will be East or West.

[Robbored]

Despite the crap view, like others I loved the old EE. Great atmosphere, almost endless songs/chants but that said the old stadium was a run down dump on two sides after the Atyeo was built. I was in my teens and 20s and an enthusiastic 'lad'  who loved the craic.

Now tho, when compare the new AG I'm delighted that I no longer have to stand in others piss or queue up for an age just take a piss. The food now is far better, the stadium modern and cleaner with fantastic facilities. I love the fanzone and a live band just add to the matchday experience.

Should the new AG mean we're a 'big fish?'. No is the answer. I'm sure the Coventry or Blackburn fans didn't think that either.

As others have said, the sparkling new stadium is nothing if the manager hasn't yet created a team to get us to the promised land.

 

 

 

[exAtyeoMax]

8 hours ago, That Louie Donowa goal said:

Was just wondering what people’s opinions were on fans expectations since the rebuild.

It seems when we had the old Ashton Gate we were very happy to survive in the championship, remember a few close scares where we we’re overjoyed to just stay up.

The majority of supporters nowadays seem to think we should be a top six side at least, my point is, is it now we have the new stadium we now think we deserve to be a big fish and have progressed so quickly would we feel the same in the old Ashton gate as little Bristol City?

No, I don't expect the stadium to have much, if any effect on our performances…I guess the only reason that people may think that it may, is because we don't have restrictions on capacity as we did when constructing it and that the management/Board can focus on recruitment of players and staff, and exploiting all ways of building revenue for the club. 

[054123]

8 hours ago, That Louie Donowa goal said:

Was just wondering what people’s opinions were on fans expectations since the rebuild.

It seems when we had the old Ashton Gate we were very happy to survive in the championship, remember a few close scares where we we’re overjoyed to just stay up.

The majority of supporters nowadays seem to think we should be a top six side at least, my point is, is it now we have the new stadium we now think we deserve to be a big fish and have progressed so quickly would we feel the same in the old Ashton gate as little Bristol City?

I think you’ll find Steve Lansdown sets the expectation level and his plan says that the stadium and off the field progress is his how he will achieve his personal goal of premier league football.

[sglosbcfc]

1 hour ago, Bri Stool City said:

Exactly this,^ Saturday football ended with the chopping of the Eastend for me, late 60`s early 70`s was the dogs wotsits wouldn`t have missed a game home or away for anything back then;

 Great days supporting a great club and the promo to the top div was the highlight, not interested in the new age tarty ground(s) anymore and my club is so far in the distance now I cant even see it, its gone off down the current owners highway

This is not meant as a criticism, simply a question, if we could travel back in time to the pubs of Bedminster and Southville in the 1960s I wonder if old timers in there would have been saying the same thing. Ashton Gate isn't like it was in the 30s, young uns don't get the same experience etc etc.

what cannot be disputed is that gates are at the highest level since the late 1970s so the club has got something right.

[ashton_fan]

If people want a reminder what it was like to stand with hardly any facilities at all just go to the Mem for one game. Gas fans don't think it's so wonderful and are wanting a new stadium desperately. I used to stand in the East End and the atmosphere was great but I was 20 then, I don't think I would enjoy it now. Over time your brain seems to remember the good things about the past and forgets the others, if I could go back now I think I'd hate it. It's possible to get a great atmosphere in the new stadium, we've had it on occasions like the Man Utd game but I think the average age of a supporter has gone up a lot from the old days when it was 50p to stand in the EE.

[cidered abroad]

I started on Good Friday 1950.

Before the Williams was built. The Cowshed where the Dolman is. The Park end where you always got wet. 

And the largest toilet in Bristol which the Club used to advertise as "Covered accommodation for 20,000".

It was what it was, atmospheric on good days, a miserable place to be on bad days when it was cold and we lost. 

So would any of you prefer to live in a 1950's house? No central heating, tin baths in front of a fire in the kitchen because the outside loo was frozen. No TV, no Internet, food rationing. 

We don't live in caves anymore, so why should we have to watch our football in a stadium where one end had a kiosk for tea that served about a couple of dozen during half time and one small toilet. 

No thank you. I'm not a Neanderthal! 

[ChippenhamRed]

8 hours ago, That Louie Donowa goal said:

Was just wondering what people’s opinions were on fans expectations since the rebuild.

It seems when we had the old Ashton Gate we were very happy to survive in the championship, remember a few close scares where we we’re overjoyed to just stay up.

The majority of supporters nowadays seem to think we should be a top six side at least, my point is, is it now we have the new stadium we now think we deserve to be a big fish and have progressed so quickly would we feel the same in the old Ashton gate as little Bristol City?

I don’t agree with the suggestion that we were “overjoyed just to stay up”. Celebrating a narrow final-day escape doesn’t equate to satisfaction with the season as a whole, or with meeting expectations. It just means you’re relieved and pleased you avoided the trap door. There was a lot of dissatisfaction with our low league position in those years before our relegation in 2013.

I also don’t agree with the statement that “most fans think we should be a top six side at least”. What evidence is there of that? I think most fans think we should have been able to have finished top six having been 2nd at Christmas, but that’s a different statement. Before the season started the consensus view was that a mid table finish would have been satisfactory. It was the shambolic nature of our post-Christmas decline that has left the bitter taste.

[Portland Bill]

1 hour ago, Robbored said:

Despite the crap view, like others I loved the old EE. Great atmosphere, almost endless songs/chants but that said the old stadium was a run down dump on two sides after the Atyeo was built. I was in my teens and 20s and an enthusiastic 'lad'  who loved the craic.

Now tho, when compare the new AG I'm delighted that I no longer have to stand in others piss or queue up for an age just take a piss. The food now is far better, the stadium modern and cleaner with fantastic facilities. I love the fanzone and a live band just add to the matchday experience.

Should the new AG mean we're a 'big fish?'. No is the answer. I'm sure the Coventry or Blackburn fans didn't think that either.

As others have said, the sparkling new stadium is nothing if the manager hasn't yet created a team to get us to the promised land.

 

 

 

There is no “promised land” though.

I presume your talking about a place where there are 6-7 big clubs and 13-14 fighting to avoid relegation. Where a successful season means ending 4th from bottom and playing a weakened team to go out of both cup competitions as early as possible. 

It really isn’t something I strive to become part of!

[ChippenhamRed]

4 minutes ago, Portland Bill said:

There is no “promised land” though.

I presume your talking about a place where there are 6-7 big clubs and 13-14 fighting to avoid relegation. Where a successful season means ending 4th from bottom and playing a weakened team to go out of both cup competitions as early as possible. 

It really isn’t something I strive to become part of!

That’s one way of looking at it.

The other way is relishing the prospect of welcoming the likes of Arsenal, Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea and Spurs to Ashton Gate for the first time in many years. A chance to pit ourselves against some of the best players and managers in the global game. A sold out stadium every week. City on Match of the Day. Something some of us approaching even 40 have never witnessed in our lives.

Achievements mean different things to different clubs. In the context of our history, it absolutely WOULD be a fantastic achievement to finish 4th bottom of the Premier League and I for one would love to see us have the opportunity to do it.

[Loco Rojo]

I don't think there has been much of a difference. Fans expectations at City have always been very high - sometimes too high. Time blurs the memory but I'm sure if you trawled back through Otib you'd find very similar threads that demonstrate this pre and post the stadium change.

[pillred]

9 hours ago, BS4 on Tour... said:

“Backless seats” in the East End...sorry mate but the proper East End didn’t have any seats....gutted for you that you’re obviously too young to remember the proper East End in its pomp.....what a place to be, utter bedlam, deafening support, a seething mass of Bristol’s finest....not a seat in sight, a proper old school terrace, I am so grateful to have been there in those days...

you forgot ending up miles from where you were stood after we scored.

[BS4 on Tour...]

1 minute ago, pillred said:

you forgot ending up miles from where you were stood after we scored.

Yep, those 30 seconds of utter madness where you managed to be transported about 75 yards while going berserk was one of the best parts of the day!

[Robbored]

1 hour ago, Portland Bill said:

There is no “promised land” though.

I presume your talking about a place where there are 6-7 big clubs and 13-14 fighting to avoid relegation. Where a successful season means ending 4th from bottom and playing a weakened team to go out of both cup competitions as early as possible. 

It really isn’t something I strive to become part of!

I would - despite City losing most weeks just the experience of seeing PL football at AG would excite me. I'd definitely start attending away games regularly again after years of not traveling away that often in recent years.

[Lord Northski]

Anyone got any ideas as to when we might see provisional plans for all the land that's been purchased alongside Ashton Gate? I had City on the phone last week asking if I'd like to renew my parking in Wicks, so any immediate bulldozing of those buildings isn't likely to be immediate. 

[sticks 1969]

Went to walls and ceilings next to the cherry picker hire place and there is a massive steel structure going up on the old bmw show room . Is that for the basket ball?

[BS4 on Tour...]

1 hour ago, Portland Bill said:

There is no “promised land” though.

I presume your talking about a place where there are 6-7 big clubs and 13-14 fighting to avoid relegation. Where a successful season means ending 4th from bottom and playing a weakened team to go out of both cup competitions as early as possible. 

It really isn’t something I strive to become part of!

Totally take your point PB - although I think your dissection of the premier league is a bit simplified...I don’t think there are 13-14 clubs fighting relegation....last season clubs like Burnley, Leicester, Bournemouth, Watford, Everton were never in serious danger of going down...but I get your drift, is there any point in joining a division where we would have zero chance of ever finishing in the top 6 for a considerable amount of years?! 

[Lanterne Rouge]

42 minutes ago, sticks 1969 said:

Went to walls and ceilings next to the cherry picker hire place and there is a massive steel structure going up on the old bmw show room . Is that for the basket ball?

I think that`s probably the steel frame for the flats that are going on that site - I think it`s about the only bit SL doesn`t own.

[Lanterne Rouge]

43 minutes ago, BS4 on Tour... said:

Totally take your point PB - although I think your dissection of the premier league is a bit simplified...I don’t think there are 13-14 clubs fighting relegation....last season clubs like Burnley, Leicester, Bournemouth, Watford, Everton were never in serious danger of going down...but I get your drift, is there any point in joining a division where we would have zero chance of ever finishing in the top 6 for a considerable amount of years?! 

I agree with you mate. Apart from the obvious financial reasons where would be the pleasure in being in a league we could never win (OK, Leicester I know) and where your only real target is staying up each season? Southampton are probably a good case in point - used to play some lovely football but now just grind out results to keep their premier league place. I`ve got friends who have STs down there and some are starting to wish they were back in the championship so they could start enjoying their football again.

I make no secret of the fact that I love the championship and am happy going toe-to-toe with the likes of Derby, Leeds & Boro rather than wondering how many Liverpool are going to put past us this week.

I remember talking to a Derby fan after we beat them this season and asked him about their one season up there and whether he enjoyed it - his answer was `not really, I`m glad we`re back in the championship and competitive again`. Says a lot really, be careful what you wish for I suppose - perhaps the best for us is to go up for one or two seasons and come back down again with all the dosh, who knows?

[BS4 on Tour...]

2 minutes ago, Red Right Hand said:

I agree with you mate. Apart from the obvious financial reasons where would be the pleasure in being in a league we could never win (OK, Leicester I know) and where your only real target is staying up each season? Southampton are probably a good case in point - used to play some lovely football but now just grind out results to keep their premier league place. I`ve got friends who have STs down there and some are starting to wish they were back in the championship so they could start enjoying their football again.

I make no secret of the fact that I love the championship and am happy going toe-to-toe with the likes of Derby, Leeds & Boro rather than wondering how many Liverpool are going to put past us this week.

I remember talking to a Derby fan after we beat them this season and asked him about their one season up there and whether he enjoyed it - his answer was `not really, I`m glad we`re back in the championship and competitive again`. Says a lot really, be careful what you wish for I suppose - perhaps the best for us is to go up for one or two seasons and come back down again with all the dosh, who knows?

Great post RRH...