New Dazzler

Would definitely go, voted as non STH as had not bought one, but would have bought it by the start of the season if things had been "normal".  I am pretty confident I could negotiate my way to ground and around it, probably safer than going to Tesco the pub etc. I am mid 60s, not the thinnest or fittest chap in the world, but I would love to go.  Only trouble is I will be on holiday in Turkey for the SW game.  I also totally appreciate that many people would not fancy going for reasons given.

6 wins in a row in the T/20 Blast for Glos, just watched the live stream of them thumping the Birmingham Bears yet again!

12 minutes ago, Super said:

Looks like another 20 over defeat against Glos

Yes, as a Glos fan really enjoying watching this one - just as i write this Somerset hit a six and a four! 

Glos top the T20 table after taking Northants apart, well done lads

That was brilliant from Glos, dominated the Bears in all departments. I was a bit worried when they were matching us after the power play though!  Tom Smith with a five wicket best ever performance from just 3 overs, but would agree that Cockbain batted Birmingham out of the match, so just shaded MOM.  Thoroughly enjoyed that watching that!!

18 hours ago, New Dazzler said:

2 needed now, not even Glos can screw this up!

Well we nearly screwed it up, the boys just teased it out until the last 5 overs!  Never in doubt

6 minutes ago, cidercity1987 said:

3 now, up the Glosssss

2 needed now, not even Glos can screw this up!

31 minutes ago, cidercity1987 said:

Tight finish coming up at Nevil Road

Yes good match, watching on the Glos TV stream, 4 wickets needed now, can only see a Glos win or a draw (famous last words!) as Warwickshire's run rate has slowed right up.

Tony Brown, former captain and very successful all round cricketer died aged 83 RIP.

https://www.thecricketer.com/Topics/news/gloucestershire_cricket_captain_chairman_president_tony_brown_death.html

I love the way that this thread has brought the beautiful spirit of this forum to rise to the top, and forget our petty squabbles, to promote a feeling of love, help, and total support for all humanity.

8 hours ago, BTRFTG said:

This crops up every year and amazes me the difference between those who were there at the time so recall what happened and those younger who now lionize 8 'martyrs' who are nothing of the sort. I've previously referenced the excellent history of the PFA that covers our decline in detail, so worthy to recall the facts:

The 8 were never "forced" to sign away their contracts or livelihoods, they tore nothing up, they mutually agreed to terminate their contracts voluntarily and in doing so were given (gratis) their registrations to trade. The fact they struggled to find careers at other clubs says more of them than the club;

They didn't leave without compensation, the 8 shared circa £100k in compensation (a pretty sum in those days, not all of which was taxable.) In 1982 £12,500 would have gone a long way to buying a house in Bristol;

The 8 could have held onto their contracts and become creditors and left with nothing - they didn't. Sadly, quite a few local suppliers to the club did go unpaid and it's to them we owe a debt - they got now't but grief from some fans. Remember, too, the other City employees who were laid off without compensation, save of nobody does appreciate their nameless sacrifice;

The fact few of the 8 went on to have further careers in football had everything to do with the fact they were either past it, not very good or both (which beggars why they were on such long contracts in the first place?)

Several were vocal and highly critical of the club and remained so for years afterwards, blaming many of their future ills and mistakes on this one event. Contrast the spate of redundancies around Bristol at the time, many associated with the decline of the docks and supporting industries with few of those impacted, including many City supporters, receiving nowhere near such level of support from their employers. It was therefore no great surprise the 8's initial 'testimonial' wasn't that well supported.

What happened to the 8 was deeply regretable, as was the impact on local creditors and the decline of the club, but the world didn't stop turning. The club exists wholly because of the actions of a few clever directors who saw a way forward and executed their plan. It's to them, not the 8, we owe thanks each week.

 

 

 

This is as good a representation of the events at the time that I have seen on here, you have absolutely hit the nail on the head. 

2 hours ago, Nogbad the Bad said:

When you become old enough to have lived through events which are now referred to as 'history' it's only natural you want it reported as you remember it from the time.

From that point of view I concur with the gist of the above.

That's not to say Sir Geoffrey, Jimmy Mann, Trevor Tainton, Gerry Sweeney, and Chris Garland (during 2 spells at the club) should not be forever remembered by the club and fans with gratitude as outstanding servants to BCFC - they truly were, and remain some of my all time City heroes.

David Rodgers is not a similar all time great imo, but he had a good City career and there was never a doubt that he gave his all for the club.

Aitken and Marshall barely featured for City by comparison, and I've always thought of Aitken as primarily a Rovers' man both before and after his short stint at AG.

The true heroes of the hour for BCFC afaic were, and always will be, Deryn Coller and Ken Sage, and they deserve far more recognition for everything they did to save the club.

You, and the others who have pointed out the truth and facts of how this whole A8 saga played out, have hit many nails on the head, and yet we still have this ridiculous song about "8 men had a dream".  They were all having nightmares on the pitch, as we fell from Division 1 and were fast approaching Division 4 with these players at the core of these abysmal performances and results. 

As you say, 5 of those players were integral to our promotion and/or performed admirably in the top flight.  My personal opinion is that I would add David Rodgers to the 5 as his partnership in central defence alongside Norman Hunter in 78/79 was extremely effective, I would also say that Geoff Merrick was brilliant in getting us to the top flight, but he suffered being shuffled out to left back, and then lengthy spells out of the side due to injury.  However, by 1982, as shown by the results and league position, these players were way past their best,  and basically bleeding the club dry, as the administrators quickly realised that their contracts were unsustainable. It always makes me laugh/cry that anyone could seriously consider Aitken and (especially) Marshall to be Bristol City "heroes".

I also think that if OTIB/Social Media had existed at the time, the view of the 8, and their performances in 1981/82, would have been torn to shreds by most on here.  But back then we were drip fed news by the EP and local media (and in this case the national media) tended to make out the Ashton 8 as the victims and therefore the heroes who "saved" the club.  As has been said, and nobody likes to see anyone lose their job, they had no choice, if the club had folded, they would not have got a penny in compensation.

3 hours ago, The Dolman Pragmatist said:

Has anyone actually read BTRFTG's post above?  Its a very accurate summary of what happened.  Though their departure played a part in City staying in existence, I'm afraid that the Ashton Gate weren't eight selfless, altruistic individuals who willingly sacrificed themselves for the good of the club.  They were unwittingly caught up in the middle of a situation that should have been avoided, and took a course of action which was probably the best for them at the time.  I'm very glad they did what they did, but to say that they were the ones that saved the club is simply wrong.  

I don't think anyone who sees the 8 as visionaries with a "dream to save our team" wants to hear the truth about what happened. There has not been one serious counter argument to the "alterative" view from a few of us on this thread who were obviously there at the time (not just as kids under the age of 10), but quite a lot of happy-clappy "we must name the stadium after the A8" nonsense.  I also get the impression that, as NTB alluded to, that many on here have had the story handed down to them, and don't want the facts to get in the way of their perception of this part of our history.

On ‎22‎/‎10‎/‎2019 at 18:24, ralphindevon said:

Although I'm 100% opposed to the tournament I don't blame the players one but dating a big payday. 

Some excellent and unexpected contracts for some Somerset players, Gregory and Abell getting £100k contracts must give them a huge boost. Banton is just printing money atm. As for Eddie Byrom getting picked on the back of 198 career T20 runs and 1 decent innings is remarkable. 

Well done to them and the 3 others but remember, do your best to make sure your county survives 

Totally agree with that, from the Glos point of view Benny Howell (who I'm sure would be knocking on the England T20/ODI door if he played for Surrey or Yorkshire) pockets £75k, and David Payne and Ryan Higgins each getting £40k for a few weeks of "cricket"

18 minutes ago, slartibartfast said:

Just been on BBC cricket website.......still pushing everything Hundred, but I did notice they have taken down the "quote" section. Could it be because out of the literally hundreds of quotes, 99.9 % were totally disparaging of this competition ?

Haha, was typing my "99.9 %" quote at exactly the same time as you, actually I think we are both wrong.  I think the figure is 100%!  

6 hours ago, Super said:

Anybody else hope this fails massively?

As I get notifications from the ECB on my Facebook feed and, sometimes when "an announcement" is made  about this competition I read some of  the hundreds of comments about this farce.  I would say that at least 99.9% of comments are basically against this competition, and these obviously from a broad church of cricket fans be they supporters of International/County Cricket red/white ball cricket.  One of the ECB reasons for introducing this is to attract "new" fans who have no interest in cricket!  So I think it is not a matter of hoping it will fail, it will be a miracle if it doesn't fail.  

Locally, I am a big Glos fan and, although I love Test cricket and the red ball game generally, time and convenience means I generally only to go  to T20s and England ODIs/T20 at the Bristol County Ground.  I will NOT be going to watch my "local team" Welsh Fire at Cardiff.  I very much doubt if any Welsh cricket fans will be going either.. Even if Bristol had been chosen to represent the West Country and/or Wales I would not go.  So if cricket fans are almost universally dissing this thing, and they are looking to attract new cricket fans, who the hell will be going?

Even worse is the fact that the ECB are still going ahead with it despite the opposition from cricket fans!

Good win for Glos, wrapped it up in less than an hour.

Here we go!

https://www.wccc.co.uk/match-centre/#m0b83d7b7-d893-41c2-b1ba-be3d0534999a

I think  all of us Glos fans have a feeling that this won't be a walk in the park!

1 hour ago, cidercity1987 said:

Gabriel you absolutely hero, now clean up the other two

Just saw him bowl Finch on the live stream on the Worcs. web site! (can't see a stream on the Glos site).

56 minutes ago, cidercity1987 said:

Gabriel you absolutely hero, now clean up the other two

Let's hope he's not needed in the run chase!!

1 hour ago, cidercity1987 said:

Gabriel strikes again, 6.50 runs an over no wickets. Who is this guy and why is he playing? Only known for calling Root a gayboy.

He is a genuine all rounder (totally crap at everything). With no wickets and conceding a bucketful of runs, his total of 3 runs at an average of 1.5 means his batting is slightly better than his bowling.  I do not know if he had any commitments (so not sure if this would have been possible), but surely  they could have kept AJ Tye for a few weeks of red ball cricket.  Or actually any one of us would have done better!

Not to mention what were they thinking about signing a player who has been suspended due to homophobic abuse!

1 hour ago, cidercity1987 said:

Shannon Gabriel, 12 overs 0-73 on debut. How much money spunked on this West Indian guy?

Now 0-94 off 16, no maidens.  Payne and Higgins have bowled a combined 15 maidens from 40 overs, plus Payne has taken 3 wickets!  However, as we all know, OTIB is not a place where players are written off after one poor start.

12 minutes ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

200 ao.

That bonus point could be crucial in the final reckoning- hope the wicket has a certain amount in it, we were 97/2 not long after lunch so that to 188/9 was a bit of a fall!

Mid order collapse followed by a bit of a recovery, but disappointing but, as Sir Geoffrey Boycott once said, "you don't know how good a score is on any pitch until both sides have batted"! Unless, of course, one side outplays the other!

On ‎04‎/‎09‎/‎2019 at 10:15, cidercity1987 said:

Yes absolutely, shame it's not a sell out yet. I would have expected the tickets to fly out.

Just saw this on my facebook feed, looks like they have sold over 75% which if the Somerset game is anything to go by is 6,000 out of 8,000.  So gradually getting the tickets shifted, not forgetting there will be a large contingent of Gas walking down Muller Road.  They are probably not used to the process of purchasing tickets for a sporting occassion in advance, so could be hundreds locked out on the night!

75% of Quarter-Final tickets sold

75% of tickets have already been sold for the highly anticipated Vitality Blast Quarter-Final between Glos and Derbyshire on Saturday 7th September.

Be part of the action on Saturday night!!

2 hours ago, cidercity1987 said:

Yes absolutely, shame it's not a sell out yet. I would have expected the tickets to fly out.

Well they reckon they sold over 50% of the tickets by Sunday morning, having only had the fixture confirmed around 10 o'clock on Friday night, so hopefully will be a near sell out if not a total sell out.  Anyway, still looking forward to it