BrizzleRed

I never had a kids shirt, as I’m from the lethal wooden hand rattle era, so shirts weren’t on the menu!!! I’ll have to get my stuff out of the loft one day and check what I’ve got, but I think my first was probably the special Wembley ‘87 shirt. Probably just nostalgia, but they felt more special back then, but that could just be because of what happened in ‘82. To me, out stuff now feels a bit cheap and nasty in comparison.

Cheers Sleepy I think the first replica shirts were sold by Leeds around ‘76 and it was a while before other clubs picked up on the trend and only in kids sizes at first I think. Maybe it was only the adult sized shirts that were introduced in the mid ‘80’s at City. I always used to get the new adult sized shirts and I think the first one I got was around ‘86. I definitely wasn’t aware of adult sizes being sold in the City shop before that, though I stand to be corrected on that. I’d always been under the impression that before the mid ‘80’s, if you wanted to get hold of a team shirt, you had to drag it off a player’s back during a pitch invasion!!!

You’ve got a load of info there, so seem the perfect person to ask. I’ve always really liked this particular shirt design, but I can’t remember this design ever being available for fans to buy, because I would certainly have bought one myself. I thought replica shirts first became available to buy from around ‘86 or ‘87, but do you have any info on that? I’m guessing this ebay shirt was part of the batch supplied to the club and would have been numbered by the club when required. With the number being stiched, it won’t have been officially done by the club, but there must have been a few un-numbered spares knocking around at the club and this could be one that someone has acquired and numbered themselves, couldn’t it? From what’s been discussed on this thread, it certainly isn’t one from the 1986 Wembley Final for sure.

Bloody right, I bet the visiting fans laugh their heads off seeing that. Fortress Ashton Gate my arse and don’t reckon it’s any coincidence that our home record has been crap for years. Don’t think the one at the top wants the Gate to be intimidating, we’ve got to just sit down and be nice and quiet. He wouldn’t want any of that partizan nonsense!!!

That's more than fair and makes sense. I think its proved to be a big step up for him, but to be fair, he's done enough to get his pre-season in and then has the chance to show what he can do with a fresh start next season. Now to keep others happy and getting the thread back on track, I wonder if Yeboah will be featuring next season!!!

Thanks Dave. Haven't seen that before and you seem to paint quite a positive picture of his style on there. We'll have to hope he can replicate that, now he's stepped up to this division I've also still got concerns about the lack of game time for our younger players too, though can't blame him for prioritising points on the board first I suppose. NP just didn't have the luxury of choice in that regard, as he had to chuck the young ones in, as he had nobody else available.

Thanks and fair shout for the answer. The issue for me is, you can see oddities in early season, where teams can string some early results together and find themselves at the top end of the table, but can ultimately fall off very quickly as the season pans out. It’s not unheard of for teams to make the early running and end up fighting relegation by the end of the season. I was taking a lot of interest in the Oxford forum and there were a good number who weren’t too optimistic that the early form would last. They were also making similar comments about drab, boring football. We really can’t put much weight on a short period at the start of the season at Oxford, particularly when you consider what happened during his second season at MK. It’s no use him saying it was due to losing a couple of his best players, as that’s par for the course at our club, so he needs to be able to work with that. Any sane City fans will want to see him succeed at our club, as we all benefit from that. That’s a very different from your apparent blind faith in him and claiming he’s a far better option than Pearson, whilst their respective records and circumstances tell a very different story. He could possibly turn out to be a gem, but there’s not too much to indicate that so far. There is one thing he’s given us evidence of though. Whilst NP publically stated he wanted to carry on and see this project through, I’d put money on LM being off like a shot if a better offer came in, as Oxford have found out. I think it looks very likely if he does achieve anything here, he won’t be hanging around long!

Completely with you there. The mindset in football has completely changed now and I hold the clubs completely responsible for that, as they are the ones who have distanced themselves from the fans in recent years. Like you say, you just wouldn’t consider walking out early in the distant past and booing at half time or the final whistle was pretty rare too. Still, the clubs have made their bed by trying to rinse the fans for all they can get, so they are now reaping the ‘benefits’! I can’t shake off the habit though and have only left early on a handful of occasions and would only ever boo the officials and never the team, as that’s ingrained in me now and I won’t be changing at this time of life. If I could boo the ******* running this club, I certainly would though!!!

I think so. Last season there was talk of adding a £10 charge to any fan requesting a card again this season, but I haven’t heard any more about fhat. I had a card this year, but haven’t renewed yet, so can’t advise on the current situation on that.

You’ve clearly got a great handle of the finances of the club Pop and my feelings are more conjecture. I just suspect that with SL’s financial background, he’s stuck strictly to the financial directives, while many other owners have bent the rules to breaking point, to try and get an advantage. I certainly wouldn’t condemn SL for playing fair with the finances. What bugs me is, we get our financial house in order, then without warning, he slams the wallet shut, just when we have some genuine financial leeway to be able to invest. Awful timing and I just wish he’d level with us fans on his plans, as you really can’t read where the club are going atm and it certainly doesn’t feel like any investment is incoming, either from him, or externally Add dumb and dumber into the mix, there doesn’t feel like much cause for optimism …… unless for some bellend named Cole not Gas of course

I completely agree we’ve seen far worse in the past …… on the pitch. I honestly can’t remember such a half arsed, shambolic, amateur, unqualified bunch running the club before though. How SL can think this mob is what’s required to run a successful Championship club completely baffles me and I think this is the root of the problems at this club, not the head coach, though he doesn’t help matters!

But to be blunt, your opininion is based on a single early season start by Manning at Oxford, when many of the Oxford fans weren’t even convinced he’d keep it up. Why does that trump all the years of experience Nigel Pearson had in the game? I’ve put a question mark there, though past experience tells me you won’t be arsed to answer a question!!!

I’d certainly like to know if he’s going to be permenantly sat on that effing nest-egg. At least we’ll then know if the Championship is the upper end of his ambitions, then we can make our decisions accordingly. I just don’t want to hear any more bullshit about Premier League, if he intends to continue to tighten the purse strings. Just be honest and tell us where we stand ffs

Very true. It certainly had that end-of-season atmosphere about it and as you say, you can bet it would have been very different with something riding on it. I still think the club have a hell of a lot of work to do to try and get more of the fans back on board for the new season though.

I think you’ll find this is what you get when you disconnect with a large number of your fanbase. They don’t feel invested any more, so find it far easier to walk away if they’re watching dross. I reckon you can put a large amount of blame down t when we turned from fans into customers. If the product is shit, you can then walk away without conscience.

Just replace Thatchers Gold with Clarks Pies and away you go

Thanks, I didn’t know these meetings were online. I’ll certainly check out

I’ve made no secret that I’ve got little time for the Lansdown’s or Tinnion, especially after recent events. I well remember Tinnion commenting after getting the Manager post that he ‘knew what fans wanted and would be working towards that’, or words to that effect. With the current lack of involvement by the SLO, someone at the club needs to make the effort to show they actually want to engage with the fanbase, rather than treat us as outsiders and largely irrelevant. This would now be a chance for Tinnion to walk the walk and actually prove how well he really does know the fanbase and start bringing some very disconnected fans back on board. As you say, regarding the Atyeo, there could be issues with FA cup games, though we aren’t usually in that competition for long anyway! Potential safe standing at the back of the SS is another subject that should come into play, particularly with the changes around no more new ST’s being allowed in that stand. Potential to introduce some safe standing would also provide some justification for those ST changes. It would also help foster the home advantage and atmosphere. It would be nice to see these things now being treated with some importance, rather than some tentative meetings that could drag on for ages before any decisions are made.

Thanks Phantom and I was aware something was going on between the club and the SC&T. While the SC&T are obviously the representatives of the fanbase, it would really help fix some of the damage in the relationship between club and fans if there was a more general connect, rather than just through private meetings. Maybe it’s just my perception, but it often feels like fans are viewed as just an irritation, rather than an asset and intrinsic part of the club. The club are quick enough to put out stuff on FB, Twitter and email about buying ST’s, so it would be equally easy to engage with the general fanbase on even potential changes for the future and gauge the interest. It just creates a togetherness vibe, rather than them and us, which seems the case atm.

It's these kinds of details where our owner could start rebuilding some bridges with the disenfranchised members of our fanbase. As you say, it may be a marginal % gain for the team at home, but every little helps and it also has the added benefit of making our fanbase feel more valued. There's currently such an aloof attitude from SL that it feels like he hardly cares if we even turn up on a match day. I't would be great to feel everyone was pulling together for the cause at the club, whilst maximising the benefit of us being the home side. That can only be done from the top, but there appears little effort from the top to engage with the fanbase, other than trying to get us to cough up for another ST!

Got a massive amount of respect for the Rotherham fans for how they conducted themselves that day. We’re all aware of some fanbases who can be right knobheads, like the lot in north Bristol for example, but always look on Rotherham fondly since then.

Yeah in all fairness, we’ve had plenty of trouble getting results against lower placed teams, but we certainly gave them a tonking tonight. Still not sure if it was just Blackburn being unbelievably shit, but considering their precarious position and we had nothing to play for, we looked far more up for it than they did and we can’t ask for more than that really. Well pleased tonight and got a nice little run going now

Just wondering, are you naturally a pillock, or have you had really practice at it??

Blimey, that 1930’s shot makes the Gate look more like an out of town ground, with the lack of housing around it. Makes you think what could have been, if there had been a bit of money to buy up a little more of fhe surrounding land for potential future expansion. I guess most clubs have been in a similar position in the past though.

are you sure? Someone else was quite recently.