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Completely agree. Season ticket holder 20 plus years, since lee johnson and holden era have stopped enjoying it. Money and politics like. Marxist black lives matter hasnt helped the cause but generally last 5 years have been extreme effort at times to just watch or listen. Havent bought season ticket and no longer will

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3 minutes ago, The Dolman Pragmatist said:

I think I’m the one who’s alone.  I’ve been watching City for more than 50 years, and have hardly missed a home match for 35 years, but I continue to be excited before every game and hopeful of a good performance and three points. Of course some games have been less enjoyable than others, and some seasons have been less enjoyable than others, but City is part of my life and always will be, and I can’t wait for each match however we’re playing.  My frequent defence of the club has often resulted in the usual ‘happy clapper’ accusations or the witty “Hello Dean”, but the fact is that I love this club, and every season offers something different.  Promotion would be great but it’s not the be all and end all, and as long as we’re not plummeting down the league I’m happy to watch and be hopeful that things will pick up.  Ultimately it is only a game, and as long as I feel that the club - whoever it is - are doing their very best to progress (and I do believe they are, even though we may not have achieved success) that’s good enough for me.

Given the changes over 50 years I'd admire your enthusiasm but can't understand your acceptance of the current mediocrity and lack of progress.

We support Bristol City not Oldham or Swindon or Bradford City, all who have graced the PL .

We have a billionaire chairman in the most vibrant City in the UK with a huge potential fanbase and to promise so much and deliver so little would stretch the patience of Job.

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2 hours ago, Bassomylord said:

Yep all comes down to the dire football imo since Cotts.

We were spoilt under Cotts, such a memorable season and such optimism for the next at Millennium Square.

That great season was a long time coming and would have refuelled the enthusiasm of many already jaded fans.

Unfortunately the club didn't want Cotts and his single minded determination to build on the impetus of that promotion and strive to go further quickly.

Hence the jaded fans pre Cotts who's passion for the club was reignited when they saw real excitement and progression are sadly turning away now, realising not only is promotion a forlorn hope under the likes of LJ & DH, but the football post Cotts has far too often not been worth watching either.

 

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5 hours ago, Rocking Red Cyril said:

Brillaint post and very thought provoking. I have been watching the city for 45 years now through good bad and rubbish. And I do agree the passion seems to have gone.. But then has not the whole set up of football changed?   The prime directive now is profit, football is run as a business not an entertainment. I find watching live games now sterile, no passion, aderaline gone. And I agree the Manchester cup games brillaint loved it. But then I feel it not just with the city. The whole football dynamic of live what will happen next has gone. Its all regimented controlled sanitised. 

This pandemic crisis will hopefully make clubs relise who comes first? And that's the fans. We are the clubs heart. And any club needs a vibrant beating heart. Entertainment, value (in a cynical money centred industry) and show us the passion on the pitch that is each supporters heart. 

Will it happen?  I will be surprised if it does. but I live in hope 

COYR 

 

Find it hard to believe that football is all about profit when the vast majority of clubs are making a loss.

For me this is the problem. As it is virtually impossible to run a club commercially you need people who have enough money to treat it as a hobby.

Without SL and his millions we would be little better off than the Gas. 

When you see that many new owners simply mortgage the club to the hilt and make it buy itself rather than putting any actual cash in.

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Just want to join in with this one as it really reflects where I stand. 

Not seen all the posts but have been supporting the Reds now for 62 years - through thick and thin and nearly all the latter. There are relatively so few memorable over that time - considering as we all know, the massive potential there is for what could be the Premier club from Lands End to Birmingham or London. 

Through much of the disappointment I have not been able to break the habit and have often said I need hypnotherapy to do so - but no, City are my passion, my addiction and no club will ever replace them. The recent disappointments and decline however have finally got through, I cannot see us breaking through that barrier to being a top club. More recently the 17 / 18 season, the fantastic new ground really gave me hope.....again just memories left to excite. The momentum has been thrown away and we are back where we have been every decade I have been a supporter. 

Sadly, finally Covid, strangely, has come to my rescue, has become my hypnotherapist!! Covid, staying at home, the dross we have witnessed lately, the loss of good fit and experienced players replaced by unfit and now elder 'past their prime' players plus younger academy players (which I love to see - but they need to come into a team doing well with a positive energy playing positive football....not be expected to lift a poorly performing team. Its too much to expect. 

So now for the umpteenth time I am seriously expecting not to renew my ST. If I do hopefully it will kick start this club and I will be scrambling back to get a ticket. It will be just my luck!! 

If there is anyone out there willing and capable of getting a petition going to express the views of the fans, and believe me, they are not just Otib'ers! 

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I'm 57 and was born a City fan. I'm reliably informed my first cry on entering the world was "C'mon you Redzzz"  ;)

Well, maybe not that, but I apparently did attend a couple of City games while in the womb.

Like the OP, my interest has dropped a bit and I've only watched a couple of our games this season; in other seasons it's very rare for me to miss a home game.

The Holden appointment and the dead hand of Mark Ashton has soured my appreciation of the club hierarchy. I do acknowledge that there are many worse owners than Steve Lansdown and I'm certainly not a 'Lansdown out!' man. I'm a 'Lansdown wise up and stop throwing your money away due to poor decisions' man. 

Ultimately, we aren't Prem supporting plastics. We are City fans and we've seen this all before. A tedious season with a manager we have little confidence in, an underperforming team and a hapless board and club executive.

I think what makes football exciting is the upswings amid the downswings. Maybe that's why fans of non-Big 6 clubs seem to be more into the actual game itself, rather than the clueless plastics who seem to watch it (on telly, natch) without really understanding it.  Well, that's my theory, based on practical observations.

So why do so many of us feel particularly depressed at City now?

We've seen worse sides. We've been in considerably more dire straits. We've had worse boards (much worse, trust me on that!). We've played worse football.

The only answer I can come up with is the lack of actually attending.  There's something about going to a football match that makes every time you do so something of an occasion. Even for those of us who have been to hundreds of games.

You have a camaraderie with people you don't even know. There's the familiarity of the walk up to the Gate. The rituals you undergo. The bonding.

If we lose, you're in the same boat with thousands, and as you walk out the stadium you may even join in with conversations with complete strangers about the team's shortcomings. Because human connectivity is an important thing of what being in a football crowd is all about.  When we win, there's a great feeling of roaring the lads on to success. You walk out amid a sea of happy faces. Whatever is happening in your own life, it lifts you. It's infectious.

So, a long post for me, but my conclusion is that a poor season + a lack of live football is the perfect storm for making us disillusioned.

Hang in there. It'll get better. It always does.

And TBH I was born a City fan and I'll die one. Whatever division we're playing in at the time, as long as there's a BCFC I'm with them.

 

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23 minutes ago, Red-Robbo said:

I'm 57 and was born a City fan. I'm reliably informed my first cry on entering the world was "C'mon you Redzzz"  ;)

Well, maybe not that, but I apparently did attend a couple of City games while in the womb.

Like the OP, my interest has dropped a bit and I've only watched a couple of our games this season; in other seasons it's very rare for me to miss a home game.

The Holden appointment and the dead hand of Mark Ashton has soured my appreciation of the club hierarchy. I do acknowledge that there are many worse owners than Steve Lansdown and I'm certainly not a 'Lansdown out!' man. I'm a 'Lansdown wise up and stop throwing your money away due to poor decisions' man. 

Ultimately, we aren't Prem supporting plastics. We are City fans and we've seen this all before. A tedious season with a manager we have little confidence in, an underperforming team and a hapless board and club executive.

I think what makes football exciting is the upswings amid the downswings. Maybe that's why fans of non-Big 6 clubs seem to be more into the actual game itself, rather than the clueless plastics who seem to watch it (on telly, natch) without really understanding it.  Well, that's my theory, based on practical observations.

So why do so many of us feel particularly depressed at City now?

We've seen worse sides. We've been in considerably more dire straits. We've had worse boards (much worse, trust me on that!). We've played worse football.

The only answer I can come up with is the lack of actually attending.  There's something about going to a football match that makes every time you do so something of an occasion. Even for those of us who have been to hundreds of games.

You have a camaraderie with people you don't even know. There's the familiarity of the walk up to the Gate. The rituals you undergo. The bonding.

If we lose, you're in the same boat with thousands, and as you walk out the stadium you may even join in with conversations with complete strangers about the team's shortcomings. Because human connectivity is an important thing of what being in a football crowd is all about.  When we win, there's a great feeling of roaring the lads on to success. You walk out amid a sea of happy faces. Whatever is happening in your own life, it lifts you. It's infectious.

So, a long post for me, but my conclusion is that a poor season + a lack of live football is the perfect storm for making us disillusioned.

Hang in there. It'll get better. It always does.

And TBH I was born a City fan and I'll die one. Whatever division we're playing in at the time, as long as there's a BCFC I'm with them.

 

Nail: head. 
 

 

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I'm bored of City to be honest, and I've got to say I'm glad. Football has so much power over our lives, it always has done, but it's really lost it's grip on me the last 4-5 years. I'm far happier being a little bit detached from City, a little calmer when we lose, not so wound up by poor performance. I've developed an apathy and it's square on the shoulders of Lansdown, Ashton, Johnson, and latterly Holden. I'm in no real hurry to go back, and in no hurry to hand out several hundred quid every year to a company that doesn't give a **** about me.

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A great post, I am in the same boat as most on here. I started supporting the City from the mid 70’s, and became a season holder from 2002 as soon as I finished my time in the RAF. 
 

Getting my season ticket and looking forward to going to the gate on a Saturday or midweek was a real buzz, meeting up with your mates, sharing a beer or 3 these were such great days. But now, for me I just watch the games and have nowhere near the same passion as I did all those years ago, perhaps it’s sign of getting old. 
 

My father in law is 84 and he has supported the club since 1948 and he said his dream is to see the club play in the premiership before he departs this earth, but he has often said over the past few years it will never happen with the setup we have in place. 

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Been a City fan since I first turned up with my Dad in 1971 and sat in The Dolman with him. Perhaps it was an insight into the future because we lost to Fulham. Do I feel connected with the club? Absolutely not, though in fairness I'd have to wonder if that was because of Covid or whether the club has shifted or the game as a whole has isolated itself. Either way it isnt good. I used to watch a decent game on Sky featuring a team I've actually got 10p worth of time for. Now? Nah. Bored

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I suppose it all depends on what your reference point is. If you started to watch city during the League cup run season, where we played very good footy for the first half of the season and beat Manure, then you will be mightily frustrated at this moment in time. If you started to watch city in 1982, then you will have a very different perspective when you reflect on how the club has changed.

However I do feel, as many do, very frustrated right now. Irrespective of the poor quality football, for me its because i miss going to the games. Simple as that really. 

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14 hours ago, PFree said:

To position this, I’ve been a ST holder for towards three decades, that said purchasing one for the last couple of seasons has been out of loyalty to my team and club, rather than me looking forward to the football and going to the Gate.

I enjoyed our time under SC but I have to say that since then, perhaps with the exception of the two Manchester games in the FA Cup, I haven’t enjoyed anything about the club. I’m not sure why but I feel no part of it anymore.

It’s a sad thing to say but the only positive for me this season is that I haven’t spent a penny following City, I’ve only watched when we are on Sky or when Robins TV has been free.

I sincerely hope that DH succeeds as he seems a really genuine, passionate football man but, I have to say that to the best of my knowledge, no Assistant has ever really progressed a club further following a Managers dismissal - queue all the correction emails ?.

Finally, and I understand the current financial constraints, I haven’t really seen any drive from the club for many years, when was the last time we signed a player that to you represented a wow feeling?!

I’m not being negative, it’s realism I’m afraid, and I sincerely hope we turn it around one day soon. The South West offers a massive commercial opportunity as there is no competition down here at all, one that if sustained could see us become a stable Premiership side, it really is possible as much smaller clubs have achieved it, but, do we really want it?

 

Assistant appointed that progressed the club - see Brentford. 

Player we signed that made me wow? Webster, Kalas, Dasilva, Kodjia, JET... We're a mid table championship club in terms of budget (lower if you discount transfer income) so I have to hold a sense of realism in terms of the fact we won't be signing ready made Premier League starters! 

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14 hours ago, Calculus said:

Agree with everything the OP says. Would also add that I think the players are much less easy to identify with these days. Time was, with the likes of Murray, Tinnion, Carey, Bell etc. you felt more of a connection. There seemed to be fewer players then and they seemed to stay for a long time - giving time to feel a connection. Now we have so many players, and they seem to be here today and gone tomorrow. Connection with modern football seems much more difficult now. I haven't done the research on this - just how it seems to me, so could easily be bowlocks.

 

The reason for players not staying as long is due to the Bosman ruling around 1996, before that clubs still got a transfer fee for a player even if they were out of contract. That's nothing to do with club policy, it's happened everywhere but I agree it was better for fans as it was before (not for the players though).

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5 hours ago, Clutton Caveman said:

Find it hard to believe that football is all about profit when the vast majority of clubs are making a loss.

For me this is the problem. As it is virtually impossible to run a club commercially you need people who have enough money to treat it as a hobby.

Without SL and his millions we would be little better off than the Gas. 

When you see that many new owners simply mortgage the club to the hilt and make it buy itself rather than putting any actual cash in.

Yes I agree with your point. And maybe 'profit' is the wrong word. And yes without SL we would be like many clubs like the gas. But do you not feel that we as supporters are not seen as merely a means of maximising incoming monies. And are undying loyalty and support is taken advantage of? And we are purely treated as a means to maximise profit on merchandising and any other way that can see to get us to hand over hard earned cash to the club. And yes as a supporter I am OK with paying inflated prices to an extent but being taken advantage of I do not like. And I know at the moment the loss of income due to the covid crisis is a major loss to the club. But there is no Bristol City football club any more. There is Bristol sports. And do not get me wrong I applaud SL for his support and backing but Bristol sports is surely a business to make money is it not. 

Sorry for the rant but I do feel the club I support and love is just a part of a bigger business. And Bristol city football mo longer exists in its own right. 

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We are part of something else, SL`s dream/plan, not ours mine.

Would it not be now very difficult for anyone to come and just take over just the football club, they would need a ground as well so it would have to be the lot inc rugby, basket ball, and no doubt a hotel or 2.

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8 hours ago, Robbored said:

I haven’t been ‘wowed’ since the days of Danny Wilson. Great attacking football with the likes of likes of Tinnion and Murray.

It was dire under both Johnson’s and even under under SC it wasn’t as exciting as under DW.

I put it down to my age.

I agree totally with what uv said however you can’t knock SC for winning a double. Something I’m sure all us city fans will never see again in our lifetime. Then it brings me to the question would you want to see great football with no achievement or have a manager like warnock who plays boring long ball football but knows how to get out this division 

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7 hours ago, Nogbad the Bad said:

We were spoilt under Cotts, such a memorable season and such optimism for the next at Millennium Square.

That great season was a long time coming and would have refuelled the enthusiasm of many already jaded fans.

Unfortunately the club didn't want Cotts and his single minded determination to build on the impetus of that promotion and strive to go further quickly.

Hence the jaded fans pre Cotts who's passion for the club was reignited when they saw real excitement and progression are sadly turning away now, realising not only is promotion a forlorn hope under the likes of LJ & DH, but the football post Cotts has far too often not been worth watching either.

 

?This 100%

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6 hours ago, Red-Robbo said:

I'm 57 and was born a City fan. I'm reliably informed my first cry on entering the world was "C'mon you Redzzz"  ;)

Well, maybe not that, but I apparently did attend a couple of City games while in the womb.

Like the OP, my interest has dropped a bit and I've only watched a couple of our games this season; in other seasons it's very rare for me to miss a home game.

The Holden appointment and the dead hand of Mark Ashton has soured my appreciation of the club hierarchy. I do acknowledge that there are many worse owners than Steve Lansdown and I'm certainly not a 'Lansdown out!' man. I'm a 'Lansdown wise up and stop throwing your money away due to poor decisions' man. 

Ultimately, we aren't Prem supporting plastics. We are City fans and we've seen this all before. A tedious season with a manager we have little confidence in, an underperforming team and a hapless board and club executive.

I think what makes football exciting is the upswings amid the downswings. Maybe that's why fans of non-Big 6 clubs seem to be more into the actual game itself, rather than the clueless plastics who seem to watch it (on telly, natch) without really understanding it.  Well, that's my theory, based on practical observations.

So why do so many of us feel particularly depressed at City now?

We've seen worse sides. We've been in considerably more dire straits. We've had worse boards (much worse, trust me on that!). We've played worse football.

The only answer I can come up with is the lack of actually attending.  There's something about going to a football match that makes every time you do so something of an occasion. Even for those of us who have been to hundreds of games.

You have a camaraderie with people you don't even know. There's the familiarity of the walk up to the Gate. The rituals you undergo. The bonding.

If we lose, you're in the same boat with thousands, and as you walk out the stadium you may even join in with conversations with complete strangers about the team's shortcomings. Because human connectivity is an important thing of what being in a football crowd is all about.  When we win, there's a great feeling of roaring the lads on to success. You walk out amid a sea of happy faces. Whatever is happening in your own life, it lifts you. It's infectious.

So, a long post for me, but my conclusion is that a poor season + a lack of live football is the perfect storm for making us disillusioned.

Hang in there. It'll get better. It always does.

And TBH I was born a City fan and I'll die one. Whatever division we're playing in at the time, as long as there's a BCFC I'm with them.

 

Great post. Beautifully put. We're more or less the same age. Over the past 40 years what City have offered has been the release of just being part of a crowd...behaving a bit daft. A parallel life. I've so often looked at my watch towards the end of a match and thought **** reality beckons...sadly a really rather impoverished version of reality is all that's on offer at the moment.

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A friend of mine described supporting our club like trading in your kind and caring wife for a younger hotter one... Everyone is in awe at first, you are loving the banging body and people think you are punching well above your weight.. Until you start to realize that she may be hot, but is a bit of a bitch and only really wants you for your money... You then relaized how much you loved your wife just the way she was in the first place. she may have been a bit old and haggard but she had heart and soul

 

I thought it was spot on really. 

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15 hours ago, redrob said:

Assistant appointed that progressed the club - see Brentford. 

Player we signed that made me wow? Webster, Kalas, Dasilva, Kodjia, JET... We're a mid table championship club in terms of budget (lower if you discount transfer income) so I have to hold a sense of realism in terms of the fact we won't be signing ready made Premier League starters! 

We have some good players but no-where near a good team/squad, if we had we wouldnt miss our injured players or have to play inexp kids while more exp players sit on the bench.

We have no team spirit re the likes of Wells reaction when he does manage to score.We will also no doubt lose most of our best players this summer under the promises that we will build/go again next season. Many seem happy with that and the mid table roundabout we are on, as we seem to scared to commit to a sustained forward move, happy to be mediocre. IMO boring, boring.

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Taking a step back and trying to take the emotion out of my thinking.

We know that each year 3 clubs go up and 3 go down.

We know that some clubs are on an upward trend and others on a downward

We see clearly that some clubs gamble everything on one shot at the prem and the horrible impact when it fails

We see good managers without enough funds and bad managers with enough money

Part of the joy and pain of being a loyal supporter is experiencing all of these phases and hoping each year that we pass into a new and better phase.

This year we wont go up and we wont go done

SL probably wisely has decided to run on a very tight budget to make sure that when things pick up we are still in existence and hopefully still in the Championship.

All of the above I can easily accept

The 2 things I find hard to swallow are

a) the absolute boring and negative football we have played in the last 3 years

b) being treated like an idiot by the club when they either tell the supporters nothing or issue flashy cliché filled press releases worthy of Tony Blair at his worst.

Both could be corrected without increasing our spending and I think season ticket sales when the ground finally opens will depend on progress in both areas.

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44 minutes ago, Clutton Caveman said:

Taking a step back and trying to take the emotion out of my thinking.

We know that each year 3 clubs go up and 3 go down.

We know that some clubs are on an upward trend and others on a downward

We see clearly that some clubs gamble everything on one shot at the prem and the horrible impact when it fails

We see good managers without enough funds and bad managers with enough money

Part of the joy and pain of being a loyal supporter is experiencing all of these phases and hoping each year that we pass into a new and better phase.

This year we wont go up and we wont go done

SL probably wisely has decided to run on a very tight budget to make sure that when things pick up we are still in existence and hopefully still in the Championship.

All of the above I can easily accept

The 2 things I find hard to swallow are

a) the absolute boring and negative football we have played in the last 3 years

b) being treated like an idiot by the club when they either tell the supporters nothing or issue flashy cliché filled press releases worthy of Tony Blair at his worst.

Both could be corrected without increasing our spending and I think season ticket sales when the ground finally opens will depend on progress in both areas.

The thing is what you are asking for is not a totally unreasonable request.............not in the slightest. It doesn't make you entitled or ungrateful or that you should be careful what you wish for and all that other guff that a small number of performing seals, who think the club get everything right, trot out. There is clearly a minority on here who think if we aren't top 6, because Stevie Boy promised it to us, then everything is crumbling around us but they are very much that, a tiny minority, and if they honestly think that Dean has a balanced top 6 quality squad to work with then there is no point in debating with them.

I would suggest that a much larger number of people who are a bit pissed off right now fall into your category. As long as we are reasonably competitive in this division (like we were at Brentford the other night - you have to accept that right now they are simply better than we are and you also have to accept that we put up a fight and didn't completely capitulate, Sag style, like far too many bedwetters predicted we would) and as long as for more games than not the experience of watching Bristol City is an enjoyable one rather than one where you are wondering how an opposition Goalkeeper can still have clean gloves after an hour of play then I think the vast majority would be happy enough with that. I know I would because as I've said before I don't believe a word that comes out of that Boardroom when they start bullshitting about top 6 and the like.

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