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Why City? What keeps you interested?


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On 11/10/2020 at 06:54, Oh Louie louie said:

It was a pound to get in the dolman for junior reds in 1985.

I reckon standing up was 70p for juveniles.

Im no einstein, but how ticket prices have gone up over the last 35 years, by 2055 only be 1600 pounds to watch a home game!

That pound according to the UK inflation counter would be valued at £3.05 today, so very good value at the time. Yes it does show how much prices have gone up since.

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On 11/10/2020 at 03:02, downendcity said:

My Dad had little interest in sport, let alone football. My Grandad loved football but as he lived on Muller Road he took me to Eastville when I was a nipper. 

In '67 I took myself to AG for a cup tie v Southampton. A huge crowd,  a City win and more excitement than I'd ever experienced got me hooked. 

I remember that cup game, Downend. The atmosphere was electric. I recall Jimmy Melia getting some serious stick from the crowd for passing back to his keeper from the halfway line.

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29 minutes ago, Final 3 Star said:

I remember that cup game, Downend. The atmosphere was electric. I recall Jimmy Melia getting some serious stick from the crowd for passing back to his keeper from the halfway line.

1-0 win with, I think a Terry Bush goal.  Crowd was about 37,000 and I’d never seen so many people.

I remember going through the turnstile between the enclosure and the East End and as the pitch came into view the combination of the green pitch, haze and smell of cigarette smoke ( I wasn’t and never have been a smoker) and the press and noise of the crowd created an excitement that I’d never experienced before. 

At the end of the game I was carried out of the ground by the press of the crowd and my feet hardly touched the ground. 

All for about a tanner and at that point the best day of my life !

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For me Bristol City have been the one constant for most of my life.

At school Chelsea and Leeds were the teams everyone supported? My father was Rovers and started taking me in 1970 to matches at Eastville, as a 7 year old I was bored senseless.

His sister (RIP Deb) was City through and through and said if I wanted to watch a proper team, she would take me down The Gate. Right in the middle of all the noise and flags, pushing and shoving, suddenly football came to life for me. Like a few others that first match was in 1971 but vs Leyton Orient. 0-3 down at half time and we won 5-3. Think John Galley was bought on at half time?

I was hooked and went to every match. always thought I had a season ticket, but it seems I was just chucked over a fence and met up with them inside! There for the promotion season and as many matches as possible for the rest of the 70's. Got into a spot of bother and joined the Army to get away from it.  Had to follow from afar, but even in The Falklands, had a local journalist on the evening post sending me all the match reports and information. Always had a City poster with me wherever I was on operations.

Managed a few away games in the following years, but when I retired 24 years later, got a season ticket again and now rarely miss a match. Now my daughter, her fella and mates all have season tickets and love matchdays, home and away.

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1 hour ago, Old Rascal said:

For me Bristol City have been the one constant for most of my life.

At school Chelsea and Leeds were the teams everyone supported? My father was Rovers and started taking me in 1970 to matches at Eastville, as a 7 year old I was bored senseless.

His sister (RIP Deb) was City through and through and said if I wanted to watch a proper team, she would take me down The Gate. Right in the middle of all the noise and flags, pushing and shoving, suddenly football came to life for me. Like a few others that first match was in 1971 but vs Leyton Orient. 0-3 down at half time and we won 5-3. Think John Galley was bought on at half time?

I was hooked and went to every match. always thought I had a season ticket, but it seems I was just chucked over a fence and met up with them inside! There for the promotion season and as many matches as possible for the rest of the 70's. Got into a spot of bother and joined the Army to get away from it.  Had to follow from afar, but even in The Falklands, had a local journalist on the evening post sending me all the match reports and information. Always had a City poster with me wherever I was on operations.

Managed a few away games in the following years, but when I retired 24 years later, got a season ticket again and now rarely miss a match. Now my daughter, her fella and mates all have season tickets and love matchdays, home and away.

Great story ??????

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Its in the blood. I take immense pride in telling people up here who I support. 

Every low makes the highs feel higher. Its the chase. The dream that one day we might actually get there is more thrilling to me than the idea of watching a club I have no connection to on TV and expecting them to win trophies every year as some sort of right. Its real football. Not a TV product.

People will say he came close to leaving. But Steven gerrard struck a chord with me when he said one trophy at liverpool was worth more than multiple trophies at Chelsea. Can anyone here say different regarding city? Even those who also have a "favourite" prem team. I honestly can't put into words what it would mean to me if we were ever to win a major trophy.

But the biggest thing for me is the friendships made along the way. I've made life long friends who I know will be there if we are rock bottom of league 2 or in the champions league final. We celebrate together and we suffer together. Frankly, I wouldn't have it any other way.

 

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One of the things I like about being a City fan is something Nick Hornby touched on in Fever Pitch. 

He mentioned a friend of his who is, IIRC, a Luton fan. And is the only Luton fan he knows, compared to all the Arsenal fans he knows. So, everytime he thinks of his friend, he thinks of Luton, and similarly every time he hears a reference to Luton he thinks of his friend.

Outside of my circle of friends who support City, I have friends who support a vast range of clubs (Premier league, Football league, foreign clubs), and for many I am likely the only City fan they know. Whether or not it actually happens, I like the fact that this "Luton effect" might apply to me and City.

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6 minutes ago, Oh Louie louie said:

One of my fave all time finals from the 80s, was the gunners, vs luton.

Big Mick hartford, bashes one of our club legends, gus caeser allover the pitch.

I recall Hornby wrote about this too: basically detailing all the levels that Gus would have excelled from school teams, through district and county levels, through to being a stand-out apprentice at Arsenal. And despite all that, he was still nowhere good enough.

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11 minutes ago, One Team In Keynsham said:

One of the things I like about being a City fan is something Nick Hornby touched on in Fever Pitch. 

He mentioned a friend of his who is, IIRC, a Luton fan. And is the only Luton fan he knows, compared to all the Arsenal fans he knows. So, everytime he thinks of his friend, he thinks of Luton, and similarly every time he hears a reference to Luton he thinks of his friend.

Outside of my circle of friends who support City, I have friends who support a vast range of clubs (Premier league, Football league, foreign clubs), and for many I am likely the only City fan they know. Whether or not it actually happens, I like the fact that this "Luton effect" might apply to me and City.

I have a friend whose husband survived a cardiac arrest.  Poor bloke is only mid-40s but the lack of oxygen destroyed the part of his brain that deals with short-term memory.  Went from being a very hard-working man to being unemployable. My mate has to write him out lists of everything he has to do and he has to set a timer so he doesn't, for example, spend an hour cleaning his teeth.

Why I mention this is I saw him for the first time in years just before the lockdown.

"Rob, isn't it? You're the Bristol City man!" he said.

We supporters truly are the club. It's us and we are it. 

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My earliest memory of Ashton Gate is being close to the railings behind the the open end goal in the early 60's, trying to catch a glimpse of the action around the people standing in front of me. I'd go to the ground with my Dad, then find a place to stand while he went off to commentate in the Hospital Broadcast box. The whole experience was magical - it was pretty much my only passion growing up. Back in those days, with hardly any tv coverage and only basic newspaper reports (other than Charlie Buchan's Football Monthly), the chance to see a famous player in person was a real event. My Grandad played a few games for City alongside Billy Wedlock and was offered a contract, but decided on a more secure profession as a bookkeeper! So Bristol City is definitely in the family blood.

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My dad has been going to AG since he was a child, and his family were all City supporters, so it’s in my blood. 
 

He took me to my first game in 1981 (I can still remember the smell of the ground) - we sat up at the top of the Dolman and I loved it. First season ticket was in 1998 and I’ve had one ever since. My first away game was in 1989 at Cardiff (3-0 win, including a fantastic volley from Super Bob) and I have travelled all around the country to watch City play. I don’t get to many away games since having kids of my own (both of them are season ticket holders), but I try to get to a couple a season.  I’ve always loved away days (despite some really grim performances and results, and freezing cold grounds like Oldham and Port Vale). 
 

Amongst all the heart ache there have been some amazing moments, the most recent being that win v Man United. Winning at Wembley in 1986 will always be etched in my memory, as will moments like the winner in the 5-4 Mansfield game, Donowa’s late goal against the gas, Flint’s hat-trick, some amazing goals, and moments that still make me laugh (like Bas Savage falling over).


I’d absolutely love to see City win the FA Cup. I’m more ambivalent about the Premier League - yes I’d like us to get there, if only to get that monkey off our backs, but I imagine the journey is better than the destination. 
 

I can’t wait to be able to get to games again. There’s nothing quite like that first pre-match pint. 

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Born and bread in Longwell Green, so was my dad, luckily his dad was from South and they were both great fathers so I was always destined to be a red.

 

I have no real aspirations re City. Obviously winning is great, finishing as high as possible. As others have said, you need to be realistic and a lot of the time it's not about being the best, or not being the worst.

It's about those fleeting moments, whether in Divison 1 or Division 4, those moments that seem insignificant to others but ones you'll remember for the rest of your life.

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For me it is an interesting story. I wrote that down few years ago, on OTib.

I follow City since 2006, I was a kid back then. Passionate about football, Fifa games and even a junior footballer, my dad was into football ( former professional footballer in the first league for a few years, he quit that to study for a normal job ) so I had it in my blood. At that time Steaua Bucharest was my main attraction, and that was normal but I enjoyed watching English football a lot.

One day I asked my dad if I can bet on some football games on his account and I did, and crazy from all leagues I went to bet on League One football league. I was betting regulary on Nottingham and Bristol City,  I remember Nottingham having a good half season but eventually they got worse and Schuntorpe and us got promoted.

Since League One games, Bristol got my attention and after that promotion, the good start from Championship I got a lot interested and I was checking the league results every day, I started to become happy for every win. Such a small team for me ( got promoted from League one while watching Steaua playing big names in Champions League ) but kinda big spirit even If I saw no video about any game.

I watched that semifinals with goosebumps and 100+ heart rate. I remeber screaming when Noble scored the grest goal in stoppage time. I remember us getting lucky with that red haired Palace player (watson i think) missed that penalty, I remeber getting angry for no away goal rule when I saw that we go in stoppage time, I remeber the Mcindoe goal that decided the game and Trundle showing us his love with his hands.

And of course..I remember that final against the old man Windass. Even if that City best season since I support city, I always believed that we can make it one day. 

As any of you I m used to be disappointed, I am used to have bit expectations that fail, I am used to 5 wins in a row and the feeling that we will win the league and in the end we end 15th. I am used with all that you are even if i m away.

So, yeah, I am a young Romanian  supporter of City, in fact I m not a young but old supporter  ( it s been already 14, years, some of you can be newer than me ).

Some of you are thinking that I am a troll probably even if my account it is 11 years old, but I can bet on anything that I am equal when it comes to passion about the club. I can not even play a single game football manager game that is not with Bristol City ?, I get bored in 1 hour.

So, it may be hard to be a City fan but it is something special about this team, something big will happen with this brand, that is the reason I will support City all of my life.

 

P.S. sorry for my mistakes I'm on a subway trip and I wrote kinda fast and let it in the original form.

 

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I'm not a Bristolian, but Bristol has been my home since a teenager.

I've lived in the north side of Bristol ever since (other than when in the forces) and I just can't bring myself to support Rovers - I think it must have been the smell?

It would be easy to pick some very successful team elsewhere in the country, but I just don't get that approach (I can't even bring myself to have a 'second' team).

City was the natural choice.

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