Silvio Dante

After Benik scored the penalty he went to first celebrate, then stopped and held his hands up to apologise. So far, so against old club celebration. However, after the Millwall throng had cleared, he went to his knees and pointed to the heavens. We all know what happened when he was here and what that celebration meant. And the fact that, despite us conceding, a good number of city fans applauded him after it is something we should all be proud of. Some things are, and always will be, more important than football

Last season, when we played the kids, it was through necessity. Now it’s through choice - whether that’s because they’ve improved or because others have lost form. To me, that’s a huge positive.

Tends to be Keith Deller

All Anderson aren’t we?

Good Golly Miss Molly and Boats… On the 1,2,3… 1. Scott. I don’t think we realise how good he is. He’s 18, will end the season in the England set up with a minimum 5 goals and 5 assists and c40 games. I’m sticking my neck out - those numbers, those stats, at that age, at that level, in a lower half championship team will glean prem interest. I’m not talking Josh to Burnley, or Webster to Brighton. I’m talking Liverpool, Arsenal, Spurs. To those teams, £20m+ on a player like that with the growth level is nothing. I’m cheerful because he’s here, but I’m equally cheerful because he could wipe out any accounting deficits at a stroke. He’s that good. 2.Semenyo. Last night, one name came into my mind - Bobby Reid. Antoine, since coming back in, seems a different player. He’s pace. He’s power. He’s hard running. He’s gone up a level. All he needs is the finishing, and I think that’s in him. 3. I understand that Ian Gay has lost his voice. Hopefully it only lasts for 2-3 years ….Jump back in the alley and nanny goats..

I think we all knew this but it’s pretty stark. Do we run out of steam? Retreat into our shell? Not use subs well enough? Get figured out by other managers? Its not just late goals that explain this. Definite food for thought.

My only question here is this - have we ever had him and him not been incompetent to the extent of seeming corrupt? I remember the above games clearly, and if the only three times we’ve had him are those two and last night, the club should be at least making a complaint to the FA. However, if we’ve had him on a few other occasions and he’s been “fine” it just may be that he’s prone to a crap game and we’re unlucky.

I think the one that rankles is the yellow card for dissent. That’s a yellow that should never happen, particularly from an experienced pro. As for the second yellow, I think it showed King up a touch for sharpness/speed in the first part (he had the ball, but got it nicked away), but once that had happened, it was a foul I’d expect most players to make - they had players on the break and if the foul isn’t made, it’d be a very threatening scenario. It’s what most of us would describe as a “good foul”, it’s just that the wrong player, as he was already on a yellow, that made it. So bizarrely, I can kind of understand the second yellow more than the first. I’d want my players to make that foul in that position 99 times out of 100 so his instinct was to do that.

There’s a lot to unpack here: - Can you get half eaten chicken bones? You surely eat the meat and leave the bones. Are we looking for some kind of freak who munches on bones and foregoes the flesh? - If it was the car behind Chicken George, then he must have got out before CG returned, making the mocking of his driving skills a disgrace (otherwise CG would just have waited) - Most importantly, it seems like CG is intending not to clean his windscreen before the next home game. That feels a touch extreme, and can only lead to more damage. I think we can all agree though, that whoever did it is a clucking disgrace..

That’s who I’d go for. The only other blonde one on the committee was my old dear and it definitely wasn’t her!

I’ve mentioned before but my parents (John and Claire) were two of the main drivers of the Junior Reds, together with people like Carol, Stuart, Dawn, Terry, Jean, Joe and Lynne. Sadly too many of the above no longer with us. But it was a hell of a run - started in the mid 80’s after Ruth Thomas at the club had done the groundwork. First clubhouse was next to the old club shop by the Hirerite building and ended up in the bottom of the Dolman. IIRC, ended about mid 2000s for a variety of reasons - clubs weren’t as keen on reciprocal freebie tickets which meant the end of away game swaps, the tuck shop was no longer allowed as it wasn’t official club catering and most of the committees kids had got too old! But it was a hell of a run. To have away games (about 10 a season) where you represented city against other teams supporters in the morning and then went to the afternoon game - for a very small fee - hooked so many people in for life. Mum sorted the coach trips which just covered the cost of the coach hire, and a couple of video rentals. We even ran a Junior Reds to Liverpool, which meant a lot of unauthorised absences from school. I’m sounding Ron Manager here. But it was fantastic, and there is no reason why the club couldn’t start it again. With the morning games over Grenville Smyth. With the away trips. After all - what’s 50 tickets in lost income for 10 home games a season when it hooks kids for life?

I think you’ll find we did get promoted that season. Pesky Facts.

If you’re a certain age and you saw that yellow shirt and didn’t hear.. “Jordan was there poised..and the ball breaks and it’s a fine shot and it’s in..unbelievable! The youngster, Mardon, has given Bristol City the lead”… Then there’s something wrong with you.

This is one of the ones that sticks out for me (the bottom of the two). The stadium is, in normal times, a 24/7 venue, and has been designed to give us a bit of a leg up against those with parachute payments etc. Mark Kelly said we were looking at six concerts this year originally, and with all else I’d imagine we projected to be higher than that £16m in 2019. I’m not saying things are rosy. But I would think we’re probably £15m shy on commercial income of where we thought we’d be, and when you also add in the loss of match day income that £39m shrinks by a lot in a normalised season - even before we tackle the excessive wage issue.

Fixed.

I was, and am, a huge fan of Korey. But the bit that gets missed is we released him because we had his replacement signed straight after who is younger, and I think is likely better, in Joe Williams. Nobody could have foreseen Williams injury issues would make Smith look like someone who was never crocked, but at the time, with Smith likely behind Williams (and theoretically Walsh) last season keeping him on having had the injury spell he’d just had would have been questionable. I’d love him here now. But the decision at the time did make a lot of sense.

Yate Town currently 3-0 up at Merthyr. This will move them into the playoffs with games in hand on many of the teams around them. Top of the table looks beyond them, but this would (I think) represent Yates highest position and allow them a shot at making Conference South. Probably one of the smallest clubs in the Southern League. What with the cup run, this has been one hell of a season.

As per title innit:

£35 adults £30 OAP or 18-21 £15 Under 18s At a time when games are being called off left right and centre, when there is a degree of doubt if fans will even be able to attend and when people have just had the expense of Christmas that’s ****ing scandalous. It’d be bad at the best of times (and we may be reaping what we sow with what we charge away fans), but asking people to commit the above when they have no idea if the game will even be on/attended is scandalous. I could swallow the adult ticket (just about) but the high price relative to other away games for kids is the real thing that sticks. Guess we know which team drove the FA cup pricing.

Unpopular opinion: Think O’Dowda will be a big miss. He’s performed well recently. What it does say is how much on the outers DaSilva is. It’d have been easy to put him in LWB and go like for like.

If you didn’t watch Borland-Brooks do yourself a favour and find it. Insane. Best first round game you’ll see. 22 and 26, multiple ton plus checkouts, final leg 9 dart.

Well. That was basically nothing.

Both of these posts are in a way symptomatic of the problem. Starmer was on tv earlier and confirmed he would back the restrictions but also confirmed (again) more needed to be done to support aspects such as compulsory sick pay to keep adherence with self isolation and improved school ventilation. So, even today he’s not just “siding with the Conservatives”, he’s siding with the science and proposing things both him and his “smarmy side kick” would do different. In fact, if you go through the history of the pandemic, Starmer has called for measures before Johnson did - remember the circuit breaker in October 2020, and calling for urgent action on the 15th December when a certain party/quiz was going on. He’s been in lockstep with the science (when the Tories eventually shared sage minutes) all the way through, so we would have headed off things quicker, as opposed to playing PR. Off the top of my head, he’s also called for stronger border checks before they came in, support for the 3m excluded under furlough, and proposed contracts should go to firms that could deliver medical equipment as opposed to mates. So yeah, there appear to be a raft of policies. And ones that every medical and scientific expert conclude would have protected us better. There’s nothing wrong with backing the government and not playing politics in a pandemic. Saying he’s blindly backing and has no policies are incorrect, and frankly show no understanding of what he’s actually called for.

I’m sorry. This is nonsense. He campaigned for Brexit. If the daft blond **** thought it was impossible he shouldn’t have done so. In fact, I believe he thought he had things done and an “oven ready” deal. So it’s either not impossible or he’s a liar. And yes, literally anyone could have done better on Covid. The highest death toll in Europe kind of illustrates that even before you get to the double standards. (Feel free to move to politics forum but this attitude is precisely what allows him to be so crap and treat the nation with contempt)

You should always be aware of your Eaves height