richwwtk

27 minutes ago, Sir Geoff said:

Blimey, only a couple. I would love to know which 4 games you enjoyed and were entertained watching out of these bore fests. Swansea, Cardiff, Millwall, QPR, Leeds and Sunderland.

OK, more than a couple, but I do still feel we are moving in the right direction now whilst things were beginning to stagnate under NP. We are inconsistent and that needs sorting, but when we are good we are better than anything from the past 5-6 seasons.

edit - I've been more active in the football forum than normal this morning, looking forward to my stalker coming along soon to facepalm every single bloody post!

25 minutes ago, Sir Geoff said:

The football has been poor to watch since Manning took over.

A couple of games aside I really don't agree with this.

I have been more entertained at Ashton gate under Manning than I ever was under the last couple of years under Lee Johnson, all of Dean Holden and a large part of Nigel Pearson's time with us.

31 minutes ago, Sir Geoff said:

I'm no financial whizz, but your monthly contract is with the finance company who make their profit from the interest you pay. Surely they pay the club up front for your ticket purchase.

Happy to be proved wrong.

I don't think it's a finance company involved, just Bristol Sport. There is no monthly interest or anything, just a £25 charge for paying in instalments rather than up front. The Direct Debits certainly show as Bristol Sport on statements

On 01/04/2024 at 19:51, formerly known as ivan said:

I would say most fans are fickle but reading the comments on here after back to back wins, I would say this is pretty special!

Three games ago it wasn’t even just a case of Manning (or Tinnion) out, it was the disconnect from the club completely. Now, back to back wins against a decent Leicester side who had 1 win in 5 league games, and relegation threatened Plymouth, we are suddenly building something special!

I stand by the fact that my passion for this club has it an all time low. No amount of wins under this leadership team, top to bottom, will change that.

1 hour ago, redsquirrel said:

ditto that,someone else who realises our problems are not going to go away with no real professional proven leadership anywhere now

I don't think people's connection to the club is ever going to be what it was 20 years ago, and that is a general thing in football at the higher levels, although the contrast from what it used to be to now is greater for City just because what the club went through in the eighties created a very special bond for a fair few people.

The way football is now, for clubs to compete in the top two divisions they have to become more businesslike and corporate, and that automatically reduces how much a part of the club the fans feel. I honestly believe that applies for just about every club at our level, and maybe even a few below but with ambitions.

Personally, the time I felt closest to the club was the late nineties, the early days of City fans connecting online and City with Scott Davidson in charge. Once Steve Lansdown took over and we started on the path to Bristol Sport I felt the disconnect, and complained about it quite vociferously at the time. I like to think that I have now come out the other side from that, and can actually see the sense in what SL is trying to achieve with Bristol Sport and I actually quite like it. What helped to reignite my support for the club was bringing my young son and watching him grow into a passionate City fan.

In recent times the club has certainly made mistakes. Jon Lansdown has been allowed influence above his abilities without doubt, and Tins as DoF doesn't sit well with me just because I know from personal experience that he isn't the brightest! Lovely bloke though.

Pearson was maybe sacked too early, though you never know behind the scenes precisely what is going on so maybe the timing was perfect, but I do think our progression under him was showing signs of plateauing so maybe it was for the best.

I also think people have been far too quick to turn on Manning, mainly because they are pissed off about Pearson, but I think some of the matches under him at home have been better than anything else we have been served up since the best days of Lee Johnson (the Man Utd match season in particular).

Football fans are certainly fickle, and your passion for football/City may have expired, but keep at it and it will return, maybe just in a different way. I don't think we will ever feel a 'part' of the club the way it used to be possible to unless something goes very very wrong and I personally don't want that to happen.

12 hours ago, MarcusX said:

If I had to guess I reckon it’d be quite high from the smaller squad / no sub days but would be interested to know!

Agreed, I would guess someone like Tom Ritchie or Ray Cashley might hold the consecutive appearances record for City but no idea really.

A couple of years on from them, Rob Newman felt like a permanent fixture in my early days as a City fan.

6 hours ago, 2015 said:

Personally prefer Liverpool's style of play to Man City/Arsenal. I feel Klopp allows his player's more freedom tactically which makes their games far more entertaining from a neutrals POV.

I am tired of seeing slow methodical passing to control games and positional play being the key to winning matches which is what Pep and Arteta are disciples of. 

I would take Liverpool's chaotic style of play to Pep's structured style any day of the week purely because I like to be entertained.

I have always had a dislike for Liverpool for no real reason other than growing up in the seventies and eighties you were pretty much a Liverpool fan or you despised them. I was the latter.

Klopp has conflicted me on that because he is just such a likeable bloke and the football he produces is unquestionably fun.

Damned bloke has made me actually want Liverpool to win stuff! Looking forward to next season when he's gone and I can get back to wanting them to lose tbh.

2 hours ago, ExiledAjax said:

I think Soccerstats do it better where they looks at the ppg of your remaining opponents v the ppg of who you've played. There's a lot of numbers in their table, but basically an easier run in is shown by a big +% in the final column. A big -% means a hard run-in.

Their system says yes we've got a gentler final 7, but it's not quite as easy a run-in as those off Rotherham, Sheffield Wednesday, Swansea, or Stoke.

Look at the top btw. Ipswich's final 7 is nails.

 

That table will have Blackburn very nervous!

12 minutes ago, Oh Louie louie said:

Lets not turn this into a character assination on robbo, he's part of the furniture here, adress the jonny come latelys

You're right, edited my posts out

20 minutes ago, Robbored said:

The reputation hasn’t been in use for that long Rich - Phantom would probably know. - Is that the @phantom with over 38,000 likes?

.

32 minutes ago, Robbored said:

Over 4300 likes would suggest differently Red……….……..

.

2 minutes ago, CiderJar said:

No it is hypocrisy to hate Sky TV but love the darts... as popularised by Sky TV. I suspect most know the tune from the darts rather than frome ' Chase the Sun' by Planet Funk.

Thank you for the name of the tune, I now know what it is! It's been sung as a tune at AG for ages, probably around most football grounds.

I would be prepared to bet that less than 1% of the people singing it are doing so because they like darts on Sky.

Wouldn't that be irony rather than hypocrisy? I doubt it was being sung because it was the darts theme tune and I doubt too many even know that's what it was!

Terry Hall/2 Tone night in general on BBC4 tonight. 1st up was Terry Hall at the BBC, Specials live in 1979 now and lots of other stuff later

7 minutes ago, deadredfred said:

make them £350 from the 10 they will sell. 

That's a very optimistic guess!

5 minutes ago, SecretSam said:

I believe the majority of England flags in '90 were still the union flag, but if you have evidence otherwise...(this is the semi, BTW)

I think Italia 90 was the start of the switch from the Union Flag to St George's. Pretty much complete by Euro 96.

Having said that I took a Union Flag to the 2002 WC

5 hours ago, Three Lions said:

he was and proper blokes raised two grand for that flag and more later to repair it not that this poster would remember it because he was a nipper when it was done.  Good to see it still surfing recently. 

Is it wrong to be wondering what on earth you could be meaning when you say 'proper blokes'?

Is it a badge of pride that no women were involved in the fundraising (not even ones pretending to be blokes)?

Or is there some kind of definition of bloke that only applies to people raising money to buy a flag?

I lost 3.5 stone with Man v Fat in the very first season in Weston before breaking my ankle and subsequently piling the weight back on. That season was amazing with a really good bunch. The focus was fully on losing weight, and the football every week was a bonus that nobody took TOO seriously.

I have tried a couple of times since, but it has completely switched. There are now teams getting sponsored, and some actually have stars on their shirts for how many times they have won the league. Weight loss is very much a secondary factor and the team seems to be overpopulated with blokes that really don't need to lose any weight but enjoy looking good in the lower standard of football being played.

Add to that they now want over thirty quid a month for the privelege I find I can't stick with it any more.

22 minutes ago, Three Lions said:

Read it again and that St George flag and St Georges are part of our footballing culture and traditions something you our culture warrior mate to laugh at and look down but important to many.

Just who do you imagine is laughing at and looking down on the England flag? Certainly not me, nor anybody else on this thread that I can see.

I would accept your saying that the St. George flag is now part of footballing culture, as for traditions it has only really been a major thing for about 30 years so a bit soon for that maybe?

And once again, it was @Cowshed being laughed at, not the flag, no matter who raised the money for it.

42 minutes ago, Three Lions said:

That is a St George bought by fans of BCFC including Scooter RIP who did a great deal of the fundraising. Not something to laugh at.

It was @Cowshed and his 'defacing flags is illegal' that was being laughed at, not the flag

37 minutes ago, Cowshed said:

That is not the flag of England. 

You're quite correct, it's a small motif at the back of the neck of the new England shirt. It would remain as such if it was just plain red and white.

You know it's not a flag, I know it's not a flag, why bring defacing flags into it?

1 minute ago, Cowshed said:

Yes defacing a flag can be a hate crime.

This?  

But nobody has defaced a flag. Are you just looking for something to be upset about?

10 minutes ago, Robbored said:

It’s woke because of Nike being concerned about the reaction of certain elements of English society. Nike are trying to placate the minority but it’s backfired.

That said it could have been a sales strategy. Any publicity even negative publicity is good for sales.

Where have Nike said they are concerned about the reaction of certain elements of English society?

What elements of English society do you think they are trying to placate and what evidence of it is there?

It is not in the least bit woke, I don't see how you came to that conclusion?

13 minutes ago, Robbored said:

If they have it hasn’t been reported.

Woke gone mad, either that or the design was decided over a liquid lunch.

How is it 'woke gone mad' what is even woke about it at all?

Looks to me like a designer just redesigned something for the sake of it, they have to earn their crust somehow!

I agree that the plain red/white cross would have been a better option there, but it really isn't woke. It's just the horizontal bar looking like it's based on the colours of the away kit and the vertical bar based on the reds that are often involved as well, so just the colours generally included on the kits. Certainly not a rainbow or anything like that.

12 minutes ago, JAWS said:

Spot in GC. Not forgetting Bristol is the 5th or 6th biggest city in the country! Pitiful indeed. Let's settle for mediocre shall we  Scott Davidson had a fraction of lansclowns wealth but had more ambition in the tip of his little finger! 

I liked Scott Davidson as well, and he did many things better, but we were stagnating just as much with him in charge.

And names such as Lansclown are uncalled for imo.

2 hours ago, Davefevs said:

I don’t think (only my opinion) you can take lots of different pros and cons and then just throw in an overall conclusion justified by league position.  You’d kinda hope a club that has spent £200m+ in that time had progressed a bit, wouldn’t you.  No other club in that time has spent more than us and not experienced the PL, we are an outlier.

 

Fair enough, although it isn't just league position.

You have a fan base grown beyond anything I have seen in my 40odd years of going to Ashton Gate.

You have the improved ground, the fact that we are seen ever more widely as the top club in the South West (I'm not 100% sure but has the gap as it is ever been wider?).

The training ground will take a while before it really shows its benefits, but is above what was there before.

And as for league position, we are now established in the Championship and it feels like home. 21 years ago we were at best a yo-yo club between League 1 and the Championship, and to be honest the times in the higher of the two divisions always felt like brief visits.

As for Bristol Sport, I have now got used to the idea and actually quite like it. The Sporting Quarter (or whatever it is called) looks very impressive and I am looking forward to it eventually being built.

I do think that Bristol Sport is, however, an indication that SL is most passionate about Bristol itself rather than City specifically, and whilst I can understand people not being comfortable with that it does no make him a bad owner.

I think maybe what does need to change is the mindset of the club. Things like celebrating the anniversary of 4th round cup matches etc show what is essentially a 'small club' attitude and maybe we really need to start thinking of City as bigger than we are in order to really progress. Another symptom is over promoting club 'legends' such as Tinnion. With the changes that have happened over the last few years maybe that will change. We will see.

All finally though, I really do not believe you can say that the SL era has, to date, been a negative one.