pongo88

This Rovers stand style of architecture goes back a long way before the 1930s. The new stand has definitely Mesolithic hunter-gatherers influence

That’s almost as bad as winning the manager of the month award.

It’s sliding doors for Gary Rowett. Millwall went into the final day of last season where a win would be enough for a top-six finish. They led Blackburn 3-1 at half-time, only to collapse to a 4-3 defeat to miss out on the chance of promotion. In a parallel universe Millwall won the Blackburn match and subsequently the playoff final and Rowett was a hero.

As Mrs Pongo was watching Bake Off on TV I decided to have a look at the Rovers forum. I actually found someone who posted a sensible comment: “Only QPR, Sheffield Wednesday, Bristol Rovers and Grimsby Town out of the 92 haven't built a new permanent stand or stadium in the last 30 years. Board after board after board have bullshitted the supporters with drawings, designs, campaigns, videos and appointing stadium advisors. How can 95% of the Football League something that is apparently not achievable for us?” Come on, which of you have joined their forum and pretended to be Gashead?

Bit of a slope? If you want a bit of a slope try playing on the football pitches at Purdown, assuming they are still there. They had a massive slope from side to side so that if you took a corner at the upper side you just had to kick it horizontally to reach head height in the penalty area. Trying to take a decent penalty from the lower side was an impossibility.

I was on the terrace behind the goal when this and the subsequent penalties were taken. I moved, with the crowd, a few yards to the left when the first penalty was taken and a few yards to the right when the second one was taken. So, after a fair bit of movement, I was back where I started. Packed terraces were “fun” but definitely not safe

After seeing this I had a look at their stadium on a football ground guide website. One comment was: “The main drawback to spectators in this stand as you would expect at an athletics stadium, is that the stand is set well back from the playing action….” For Rovers this would be an advantage as, ideally, if you’re watching them you would want to be as far away as possible.

That’s not a moustache.

He was a skilful player but a little bit slow. If he had a bit more pace he might have played at a higher level.

What a disappointment for Chelmsford and Whitby. They probably hoped to get a tie against a league team with a good ground and, instead, they’re away at conference standard embarrassment. After this experience they will wonder what’s special about league football

Poor old Lee Johnson has gone from managing Sunderland with attendances of 40k ish to Fleetwood with attendances under 5k. It's a downward trend. Manor Farm soon. I’m sure the Farmy Army will welcome him with open arms.

I’d like City to get Rovers in the third round, if they get far, as we could all give Joey Barton the welcome he deserves

IIRC this match was shown live on TV

I’ve played on worse. The youngsters of today are too soft

German managers are the current fashion but previously it was managers from Spain or Italy. In football image is everything so I’ve often thought that Steve Cotterill had the wrong image for SL. He was too traditionally British. If his name had been Stefano Cotterelli I’m sure SL would have given him greater backing

Yes, the conversation is about how much SL wants for the club, so whole point is what he’s trying to sell. He’s trying to sell a mid table Championship club with the potential to be a yo-yo club between Championship and the Premier League. Thus the point I made in an earlier post about the size of the ground is relevant - ie lots of yo-yo clubs have similar size grounds. I agree with you, the price he’s reputed to be asking is ridiculous

City being a yo yo team between the Championship and the Premier League would be absolutely fantastic compared to the last 50 years. In reality it’s the best City could hope for in the foreseeable future. Look at Burnley, for example. New American owners, investment in players, good manager but after walking away with the Championship last season they are now in the relegation zone. Some teams who are promoted to the Premier League survive but most come back down in a short time

The difference between you and Steve Lansdown, apart from the odd billion or two, is staying in your house won’t cost you anything apart from paying the butler, maid, gardener, chauffeur etc. With SL retaining ownership of City / Bristol sport means he has an annual expenditure of tens of millions of pounds. Admittedly this is loose change for him but as he’s from a financial background he might be fed up with spending money on something he’s not really interested in.

The size of the ground and lack of opportunity to expand is often quoted but is it really a problem? There are quite a few Premier League teams and Championship teams, with recent Premier League experience, that have grounds similar in size to Ashton Gate or smaller - eg Palace - 27k: Brentford 17k: Burnley 22k: Bournemouth 11k: Luton 10k: Norwich 27k: WBA 27k: Watford 22k: QPR 18k: Swansea 21k As for expansion it is technically possible, though difficult - ie expand the Atyeo end. The difficulty is, of course, buying the houses though would it be worth it? SL once said he considered this, during the planning stage of the redevelopment, which would have increased capacity to 35k. He said he thought it wasn’t worth it as there would only be a sell-out against the big teams and the real money comes from TV in the Premier League. Whether he was right or wrong is a matter of opinion. Obviously Ashton Vale would be a better selling feature but you can sell anything if the price is right. The fact that SL has been trying to find a buyer for some time, without success, indicates that his valuation (£140k?) is adrift from reality

An interesting case of how to sack a manager was when Gary Johnson left. They did a joint press conference

Perhaps he’s a fan of Morecambe and Wise - all the right notes but not necessarily in the right order

There was a thread created a few days ago entitled “What do we need for top 6”. There were a few options such as forward, midfielder etc but the answer is simple, assuming it refers to this season, - a £20m+ transfer budget in January and a total revamp to the internally imposed wage budget. It’s not going to happen, for obvious reasons, so Nigel has to keep working with young players and “bargain” lower league signings. That’s the difference between City and the top teams. Maybe, in a couple of years, if the academy produces some more players, if Nigel gets a contract extension if we get lucky with the bargain signings , if the wind blows in the right direction the miracle might happen

Please may he survive

Our head-to-head record is hopeless (@Pongo88 won’t be at all surprised)! Won: 8 Lost: 25 Drawn: 9 I’m not worried about this as there is one match that matters. I remember it well

I’m sorry, but saying they haven’t built anything permanent in the last 100 years is a slur on the good name of Bristol Rovers. Have you forgotten Santa’s Grotto?