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So I met with Matt Parsons


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14 hours ago, Moments of Pleasure said:

Farming can be found across the country. Amazing, but true.

Not unique to us.

But whenever anyone is asked to do a farmer's accent, or is required to do one for a bit of acting and the like, it's far more often than not a (poorly constructed) WC one. Don't find many people trotting out a Shropshire one (plenty of farms there) or doing an impression of Barry from Ketts Hill in Norfolk (plenty of flat farms there).

It's cider for me. Simple as. "We Drink Cider, You Drink (Insert Poor Substitute Drink)", "Cider, Cider, Cider...." (sung beautifully and slowly as a lament), "Drink Up/I Am", and other assorted brand-specific cider songs... the list goes on and on (although, regrettably, not too much longer). Who has this many songs about a discrete cultural characteristic? Plymouth and Yeovil share an association with cider but sing much less about it. No-one else in the country sings about their drink (in the Sports Direct Stadium, do they sing about that drink with the blue star on the bottle? Who cares. The point still stands). 

Robin is out the window for me - too many other clubs have this plus, much as I am a birder (plenty to see on these ere Quantocks), birds and football...(I invite your best gags here). Nah. Birds and football don't marry up well, in my eyes. Unless it's some kind of a falcon or raptor, but then you're edging into naff Gridiron territory. Canaries. Magpies. Swans. Bantams. Eagles. Seagulls. Beagles. Bugles. All rubbish. Robins are top, top quality birds - not much more I like than to listen to their tinkle of an evening, supping a little glass of lager cider - but they haven't even got redbreasts!! They're only called that because, prior to exotic oranges arriving upon these shores, we didn't have a word for the colour orange and used red instead!! How factually incorrect is that! Robins play in orange, we play in red. There's summat amiss there. I'm happy that the Robin became part of our look in the 40s, but prior to that it was a Bristol crest and the robin went back into his hedgerow till 76. Which is why many of us have an emotional attachment to our fine-feathered friend. (Getting all a bit Clement Freudian, this) 1976 and all that. The robin kept us company in our darkest hour, too, and beyond, into the Glory Days of 89/90 and the early 90s. 

Surely an identity - whether we are looking in the mirror or others cast a glance our way - is at its best if it is unique. The further up the idiosyncratic scale it is, the more other clubs drop away until you're left with, "That says Bristol City to me". That, personally, is cider.

 

Signed, Martin Thatcher

 

(Before anyone points out an eagle is a raptor, eagle is so non-specific. What kind of eagle, Holmesdale? Golden? Sea? Bald? Might as well call yerslves "Birds". At least then when you play B&HA we can tell who's singing what).

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Reading this thread, the common things that encapsulate Bristol City can be boiled down to about 5 things:

The old Robin & Suspension Bridge badge back on the kit, and ideally visible somewhere inside the ground.

"The Cider Army" - made up of  Ciderheads, singing about cider.

"This is Ashton Gate" clearly seen on the outside of the ground.

"Pride of the West" (rather than "Making Bristol Proud", which is a Bristol Sport strap line) as our tag line and somewhere on our kit.

The purple & lime away kit - then every club we play at their ground will now that's our colours away from home.

I would be happy with all of those. Minimal rebranding, rather building on what we already have, and identify for ourselves, rather than being inflicted on us, like the awful "Bristol Bears".

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1 hour ago, phantom said:

Or is it just lots of smaller ones charading as one big one?

If it only needs one remote control I am classing it as one telly.If all the bar staff have to press a button to change channel at the same time it is more than one.Hope the TV licensing people aren't reading this.Could cost the club a fortune!

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On 30/10/2018 at 09:21, Nogbad the Bad said:

The Robins as a nickname is not distinctive, nor is a football.

The Suspension Bridge is synonymous with Bristol and the 3 together shout 'Bristol City'.

When we had the Robin and Bridge on our badge it was instantly recognisable as 'Bristol City' to fans around the country - the crest is anything but.

It's unique to us and should be a big part of our identity.

Bring back the Robin and Bridge on all shirts, merchandise, and on big signs round the ground, job done.

I like 'Welcome to the Gate' or 'This is Ashton Gate' too.

Well said.

If any of you read footy magazines, such as Four Four Two, whenever they run a retro kit articles, 90s football article or even 'the worst kits' list, Bristol City's infamous purple and lime Liverpool shirt, with the Robin crest and Blackthorn sponsor, always crop up. The colours, crest and cider scream Bristol City.

I also have a number of friends from my Uni days based all over the UK who support different clubs, some big, some small - and this particular kit seems to stick in their memories.

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15 minutes ago, Dave L said:

I like 'Pride of the West'. It sums up all the other aspects which have been discussed, and makes a strong statement about who we are and where we come from. 

 

A relative had a car sticker, the vinyl sort you could easily remove, with the City badge and Pride of the West written on it. Back in the day when he could only afford old bangers and changed his car often the sticker got moved from car to car until it fell apart, lasted for years though. Pride of the West always makes me think of this treasured sticker. Funny thing memories.

29 minutes ago, RedRaw said:

There is a prominent part of the ground, visible to most including tv cameras that is crying out for a strapline/branding/identifier/statement etc......

 

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Dolman-Stand1.jpg

I’d love to see Pride of The West written up there, and the old Robin and the bridge badge. 

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44 minutes ago, RedRaw said:

There is a prominent part of the ground, visible to most including tv cameras that is crying out for a strapline/branding/identifier/statement etc......

 

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Dolman-Stand1.jpg

Very true. It's also what the opposition would see when they walk onto the pitch. Some form of statement could work. 

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18 minutes ago, MC26 said:

Very true. It's also what the opposition would see when they walk onto the pitch. Some form of statement could work. 

Unfortunately it's long enough for someone to put #MakingBristolProud on it.

A hashtag I never really understood when Twitter was 140 characters as it accounted for about a 7th of whatever message they wanted us to buy in to.

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1 hour ago, RedRaw said:

There is a prominent part of the ground, visible to most including tv cameras that is crying out for a strapline/branding/identifier/statement etc......

 

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Dolman-Stand1.jpg

Yep, great idea.

‘THIS IS THE GATE’

’PRIDE OF THE WEST’

Also could make S82 colourful on the far right of the picture, there is enough space for a display. Think the work in around the concourse of the ground is great, maybe we could make Ashton Gate feel more like home inside the ground?

 

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2 hours ago, Merrick's Marvels said:

And it wouldn't generate revenue either, so no chance. It's all about sweating the asset, dontchaknow.

Quite true, but that gert blank space ain’t generating much right now either!

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43 minutes ago, Red Right Hand said:

We should make a lot more of the bridge, the SS Great Britain and all things Brunel IMO. Whenever you see documentaries on the great man Bristol is always front and centre and I think people associate the city with the man so why not capitalise on the connection?

I would scrap the robin which is not associated with us by anyone else and is a weak symbol in itself. 

Stick to the Suspension bridge which is right next to our ground and means Bristol to almost everybody.

The old badge with the bridge, robin and football is a right naff jumble and should be consigned to history.

 

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49 minutes ago, Red Right Hand said:

We should make a lot more of the bridge, the SS Great Britain and all things Brunel IMO. Whenever you see documentaries on the great man Bristol is always front and centre and I think people associate the city with the man so why not capitalise on the connection?

Well LJ likes to see himself as a fashionista so perhaps he could try rocking the stovepipe hat look on the sidelines??

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Quite a few people I know outside Bristol associate the Clifton Suspension Bridge with people committing suicide, rather than any positive association with Bristol City. 

Purple and Lime. Cider. West Country. Pride of the West. All good. This is why i wonder why we get so annoyed at commentators calling us Bristol. We are City. We ARE Bristol. 

11 minutes ago, Merrick's Marvels said:

Well LJ likes to see himself as a fashionista so perhaps he could try rocking the stovepipe hat look on the sidelines??

Similarly sized too. 

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1 hour ago, Red Right Hand said:

We should make a lot more of the bridge, the SS Great Britain and all things Brunel IMO. Whenever you see documentaries on the great man Bristol is always front and centre and I think people associate the city with the man so why not capitalise on the connection?

What about discovery Cabot and innovation Brunel. We are closer to the docks than those other seafarers.

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