reddogkev Posted August 28, 2018 Report Share Posted August 28, 2018 Reading a bit about the region's non- league results on the weekend, and I spotted the report of the Bath match (a 1-0 loss to Chelmsford). They are currently languishing in the Vanarama National League South. I then pondered the question, Why aren't they a bigger club? Is it because Bath is mainly invested in the Rugby, or is there just a lack of passion there for the football? With Bath being such an iconic city, surely they should have, at least, a League One Club? It could do wonders for the football in the region to have a few bigger clubs kicking about. Any thoughts / reasons? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pugofwar Posted August 28, 2018 Report Share Posted August 28, 2018 You might ask why Chelmsford are languishing down there, it's a bigger city than Bath in terms of population. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheshire_red Posted August 28, 2018 Report Share Posted August 28, 2018 Had enough to beat WSM yesterday keeping WSM firmly at the bottom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmissionImpossible Posted August 28, 2018 Report Share Posted August 28, 2018 The people of bath just don’t follow football, they were traumatised by the rovers years and who can blame them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marcofisher Posted August 28, 2018 Report Share Posted August 28, 2018 Growing up in Bath the interest was never there to go and watch Bath City languishing in the lower leagues, which is the sad reality of football nowadays. If they all of a sudden became a professional team rather than part-timers i'm sure it would make a world of difference, however it seems they do not have the financial backing. A few years ago it was bought by a crowdfunding campaign to make it a community run club, Eric Cantona allegedly throwing his hat in and buying a share as well as endorsing it. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-33699603 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calculus Posted August 28, 2018 Report Share Posted August 28, 2018 IMO ambition died there when it became a community owned club (I.e. supporters). All very well in some aspects but you can't see any significant investment in either team or stadium. Wouldn't be surprised to see Rovers back there at some stage once the AQs realise that's the best way of releasing the Memorial Stadium for the building project they always intended. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redland Posted August 28, 2018 Report Share Posted August 28, 2018 Was in Bath yesterday and noticed a couple of advertising banners around the city trying to drum up support for the club so at least they are trying to raise their profile. A city the size of Bath should be able to support a lower league or conference club but it's never really been a football city and always in the shadow of Bath Rugby. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Port Said Red Posted August 28, 2018 Report Share Posted August 28, 2018 34 minutes ago, reddogkev said: Reading a bit about the region's non- league results on the weekend, and I spotted the report of the Bath match (a 1-0 loss to Chelmsford). They are currently languishing in the Vanarama National League South. I then pondered the question, Why aren't they a bigger club? Is it because Bath is mainly invested in the Rugby, or is there just a lack of passion there for the football? With Bath being such an iconic city, surely they should have, at least, a League One Club? It could do wonders for the football in the region to have a few bigger clubs kicking about. Any thoughts / reasons? Yes, more of a Rugby town, but even then look how long it has taken them to get permission to build a new ground. Bath is quite rightly proud of it's heritage and has many reasons to preserve large parts of the City. Admittedly Twerton is not part of that, although it is a key residential area for many and the scope for developing the right kind of complex is limited. I think anyone likely to invest in them is put off by that and they have led a hand to mouth existence as long as I have been watching football. My dad used to go on about the great team that Malcolm Allison put together there, but I was too young to see that, they should have been promoted in 1978 but were hampered by the fact that two northern sides finished bottom of the 4th division and they lost the election vote. I used to go to there regularly for a period in the 70's and they had a good side that season, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheese Posted August 28, 2018 Report Share Posted August 28, 2018 7 minutes ago, Calculus said: IMO ambition died there when it became a community owned club (I.e. supporters). All very well in some aspects but you can't see any significant investment in either team or stadium. Wouldn't be surprised to see Rovers back there as some stage once the AQs realise that's the best way of releasing the Memorial Stadium for the building project they always intended. Works for Exeter City, Wycombe, AFC Wimbledon, Rushden and Diamonds, Barcelona and Real Madrid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lambo Posted August 28, 2018 Report Share Posted August 28, 2018 Early days yet, but they're looking at redeveloping parts of the ground - http://www.bathcityfc.com/fwp-join-team-to-work-on-twerton-park-redevelopment-plan/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Touch_my_butter Posted August 28, 2018 Report Share Posted August 28, 2018 I grew up there - outside of rugby, people have little-to-no interest in football. Any that do support Chelsea or Arsenal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
just like watching brazil Posted August 28, 2018 Report Share Posted August 28, 2018 Went yesterday to watch bath v Weston bath won 2-0 and missed a pen.jack batton looked solid, Artus was ok just over a 1000 there enjoyed the day out. weston was very poor but should’ve been one up at half time no surprise to see them bottom. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sweeneys Penalties Posted August 28, 2018 Report Share Posted August 28, 2018 I also grew up in Bath and have closely followed Bath City at various points...at one point when I was very young, my Dad took me and a friend to Ashton Gate one week and my friends Father took us to Twerton Park the following week. When at Secondary School visits to Twerton became rarer...but (for some reason) Monday night football at Twerton seemed to be a regular feature of the fixture list..rushed homework and a walk from Weston Village to Twerton and back was the order of the evening (via Chelsea Road Chip Shop on a cold night). Once my education finished, I moved away and never really saw "The Romans" after that. It never really has been a Footballing City...far more of a Rugby City. I often felt "The Gas" severely dented Bath Citys attendances as league football was suddenly available on a local basis (Bath City fans who are ST holders agree with me). Sadly, Bath City FC never really recovered from those days and money is a big issue. A big backer is required... a big backer is absent and there isn't one on the horizon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eddie Hitler Posted August 28, 2018 Report Share Posted August 28, 2018 2 hours ago, cheese said: Works for Exeter City, Wycombe, AFC Wimbledon, Rushden and Diamonds, Barcelona and Real Madrid. It works in the sense that it maintains them at the same level. Exeter are going along perfectly nicely but are never going to make the Championship let alone Premiership. The point was that for a club like Bath to significantly step up to a higher level you need big investment and that's only going to come from a single owner or small consortium. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davefevs Posted August 28, 2018 Report Share Posted August 28, 2018 Under Tony Ricketts in the mid 90s (?) they were challenging for promotion to the football league. Think they finished third and they had a pretty decent playing budget. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
underhanded Posted August 28, 2018 Report Share Posted August 28, 2018 Through my work I have a few dealings with those who run the club. It's amazing (and I'm sure not unique to them) the lengths some will go to keep a non-league club going. The guy I work with volunteers a huge amount of time towards communications and fundraising for the club. Pretty much everyone he works with are volunteers, and without them it would struggle to exist. I for one always look out for their results, and they weren't a million miles off promotion to the National League last year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZiderEyed Posted August 28, 2018 Report Share Posted August 28, 2018 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loderingo Posted August 28, 2018 Report Share Posted August 28, 2018 If we are looking at towns which should have a league team, I would suggest Warrington (165k people) and Slough (150k) are the biggest underperformers. Telford (140k) and Gloucester (135k) are another 2 that should be doing better. York would also make this list with York City now in the National league N. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashton_fan Posted August 28, 2018 Report Share Posted August 28, 2018 They used to be a Conference team and I remember watching them playing Fulham in the FA Cup. Think the problem is they've never had a rich backer and now can't afford the higher wages paid to Conference players. The higher wages paid in the Prem have had a ripple effect down all the leagues and clubs like Bath haven't had access to the extra finances required to compete at that level. Pity as the stadium and potential gates are there if they played in a higher league. If they had someone with money there they would be quite capable of emulating Forest Green. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Porto Red Posted August 28, 2018 Report Share Posted August 28, 2018 59 minutes ago, ZiderEyed said: Love that whole album from start to finish Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weepywall Posted August 28, 2018 Report Share Posted August 28, 2018 One word reason "rugby" attendances of 14k at Bath rugby and less than a thousand in general at Bath City just about sums it up, Bath is a rugby stronghold probably the same as Gloucester, there actually is a lot of football fans in Bath I see plenty of City on the the train to T Meads and there are a few pikeys about due to them squatting in Bath but I would say there are more Man U "fans" in Bath than Bath City fans. When Bath City played their play off game to win promotion to the conference premier or whatever its called the gate was over 5k so maybe their is some potential I certainly feel they should be at least be a" Forest Green" but as others have said they need investment and its not likely to happen, proper old school ground to visit though much better than the tent stadium !!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
22A Posted August 28, 2018 Report Share Posted August 28, 2018 9 hours ago, Pugofwar said: You might ask why Chelmsford are languishing down there, it's a bigger city than Bath in terms of population. Half way between Colchester and Southend. With the A12 nearby Ipswich and London are easily accessible. As a result income from fans goes elsewhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poland_exile Posted August 28, 2018 Report Share Posted August 28, 2018 Interesting thread. Would love to see them rise up a few levels. As many on here, have endured some horrifying times at Twerton, but always appreciated it as one of the great, eccentric grounds of the lower divisions. Actually, the last time I was in Bristol, was during an international break or something so went along to watch Bath City. Was amazing walking around the ground in entirely different circumstances to the ones I remember. Still noticed some gas graffiti on the terraces an all! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cidercity1987 Posted August 28, 2018 Report Share Posted August 28, 2018 Rovers should have stayed there and renamed themselves Bath Rovers. Probably have more fans than they do now, not hard to get there from their only stronghold around Kingswood. Leave Bristol for us, Bath get a league team, win win all round. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YorkshireSection Posted August 28, 2018 Report Share Posted August 28, 2018 6 hours ago, Loderingo said: If we are looking at towns which should have a league team, I would suggest Warrington (165k people) and Slough (150k) are the biggest underperformers. Telford (140k) and Gloucester (135k) are another 2 that should be doing better. York would also make this list with York City now in the National league N. Not forgetting Halifax (ex football league), York (ditto), Chester (ditto) and maybe Harrogate or Durham. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pezo Posted August 28, 2018 Report Share Posted August 28, 2018 Obviously some break the mould but generally speaking my experience of friends that are from Bath or even the ones that have moved there they are not going to be seen supporting a team outside the top division of any sport. Bath as a place seems to attract and foster glory supporters with very little loyalty, they seem to be more keen to boast about an event they have been to rather than actually going and its not like you can boast about going to Twerton is it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sweeneys Penalties Posted August 28, 2018 Report Share Posted August 28, 2018 28 minutes ago, Pezo said: Obviously some break the mould but generally speaking my experience of friends that are from Bath or even the ones that have moved there they are not going to be seen supporting a team outside the top division of any sport. Bath as a place seems to attract and foster glory supporters with very little loyalty, they seem to be more keen to boast about an event they have been to rather than actually going and its not like you can boast about going to Twerton is it. from many perspectives. Bath is no different from any other similar sized place (such as Basingstoke). Reading is up the road but I'm not sure the locals care much..you'd find more Tottenham fans than Reading or Southampton. Tradition and habit are important....there is no huge tradition or habit in Bath of going to Twerton Park. Trips to The Rec are a different story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chappers Posted August 28, 2018 Report Share Posted August 28, 2018 Bath just doesn’t have the support for a League club, rugby town and that area near the ground is full of students. The Non League dynamics have changed and, as proved a few years ago, the Club struggles to compete financially at National League level. Quite a decent squad this season, and a decent manager in Jerry Gill. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dolman Pragmatist Posted August 28, 2018 Report Share Posted August 28, 2018 I don’t buy this ‘rugby town’ argument. It certainly wasn’t always the case as Bath have only developed as a top rugby side in the last 30-40 years, and Bath City have been going long before that. In any case, rugby and soccer (as it used to be called in this country) have a different demographic and are mainly fishing in different ponds. The problem with Bath is that it is not big (population very similar to Weston SM); it’s dominated by the tourist trade; and Twerton is a dump. Football has moved on in the last thirty years, but Twerton is in a time-warp. There are really quite exciting plans to do something about that (Staines Town, who have transformed their revenue through use of an artificial pitch, is one model they are using) but time will tell. My own view is that they need to get out of Twerton, but Bath is surrounded by green belt land which limits possibilities, and the rugby people aren’t about to help, arrogant bunch. Ken Loach’s enthusiasm doesn’t waver, but they need a few more like him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pezo Posted August 28, 2018 Report Share Posted August 28, 2018 26 minutes ago, Sweeneys Penalties said: from many perspectives. Bath is no different from any other similar sized place (such as Basingstoke). Reading is up the road but I'm not sure the locals care much..you'd find more Tottenham fans than Reading or Southampton. Tradition and habit are important....there is no huge tradition or habit in Bath of going to Twerton Park. Trips to The Rec are a different story. The difference is Basingstoke to Reading is 30mins whereas Basingstoke to London is 50 mins so they could just be gravitating to bigger clubs within a fair commute. A number of friends all go and watch rugby in Bath on a regular basis and a couple of years ago when Bristol got relegated I asked what they would do if it ever happened to Bath, after all the disbelief that it could happen all of them said they wouldn't bother going and 3 of the 4 said they wouldn't go if Bath weren't winning regularly and relegation looked possible let alone in the league below. Completely alien to me, i couldn't really understand it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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