Son of Fred

On 19/11/2016 at 21:35, Sticks said:

For what it's worth I never really post on games but today we were really unlucky we rode our luck a little first half but second half was excellent and a good away performance and deserved much more, especially Tomlin's free kick. We bossed it and only a poor couple of minutes ruined it. Joe Bryan's skewed clearance was the reason they had the corner and poor defending for the goal

We were fortunate to be on half way line and had a great view (normally south stand) a few seats behind Mark Ashton who was covering for Mr Lansdown and boy that man cares, we tried our hardest to keep emotions under wraps to avoid unwanted attention but he didn't...out of his seat a few times giving it his opinion..especially when Joe Bryan was shoved over hoardings by Cotterill. He also was at a loss how we lost.

we play like that in more games we've will do ok, just not getting the luck. Mom was there keeper which says a lot

I'm not 'at a loss' as to how we for long periods outplayed a strong Birmingham side on their own patch..and contrived to lose.

Over to you,Mr Ashton.

Interesting to know how opposition fans view a game-Brum opinion of us seems to be pretty complimentary...

40 minutes ago, brizzlelou said:

An inch to the right and it could have been a different story 

Said the actress to the Bishop.. 

13 minutes ago, Full nelson said:

People need to wake up!! we're shit and haven't played well for ages.

Played very well second half-by far the better side.. two top class saves kept them in it,their keeper mom so says a lot.

Dead ball delivery dire,short of options up front-created quite a number of chances,so many that you just have to take one at this level..or. .......

Worked hard,good energy,we will play worse and win.

January window will be interesting.

Need to get out of the blocks today or it could be a long 90 minutes...

Line up looks ok,with exception of Little -they will target him for sure.. 

A good start,maybe a point,a sleepy one,3-0 to Brum..

1 hour ago, havanatopia said:

Good day everyone. 

As a crow might fly St. Andrews is a mile closer to Ashton Gate than The Hawthorns, 78 miles to 79. By car St. Andrews becomes a rather awkward place to reach and according to various maps is between 92 and 100 miles with The Baggies easily reached off the M5 in 89 miles. All in all though rather little difference.

The history of our opponents has been well discussed in previous threads of the same fixture so I would like to talk about China and the West Midlands today folks.

There is a rather cold wind blowing through the UK's second city in recent times. That, according to some fans from the four largest clubs in the West Midlands, is because of the Chinese revolution of takeovers. First it was Hong Kong based Carsen Yeung who bought Birmingham City in 2009 and then, this summer, Dr. Tony Xia bought Aston Villa, Guochuan Lai bought West Bromwich Albion and Mr. Guo Guangchang's Fosun International bought Wolverhampton Wanderers. The company was founded in Hong Kong but has its HQ in Shanghai. Apparently Wolves now have the fourth wealthiest owner amongst the 92 league clubs with Guo's personal wealth of 4.1 Billion according to Forbes.

250 miles south west of Shanghai is Quzhou, the birthplace of Xia Jiantong now known as Tony Xia and the new owner of Villa. His background is rather more, shall we say, obscure, than that of Guangchang and I, for one, would be a lot more comfortable and optimistic with the prospects of Wolves in the relative near term. But of course reputation and perceptions can be misleading and mired in obfuscation. 

Meanwhile, its back to Shanghai for the new owners of West Brom. Guochuan Lai's Yunyi Guokai (Shanghai) Sports Development company bought the Baggies in September claiming to have been a supporter since 1978. Somewhat of an odd statement considering he would have been just two years old at the time. That might have been around the time City went up to the Hawthorns and won with a single goal from Gerry Sweeney. As I recall my Dad and eldest brother went for that match and promptly broke down a few short miles from the ground courtesy of the 'big end' going according to a later mechanic report in the Morris 1800. 

And so back to our opponents today; Birmingham City have recently completed the majority sale, presumably by representatives of the Hong Kong incarcerated Carsen Yeung, to a Paul Suen Cho Hung and his Trillion Trophy Asia company. In turn this company is owned by Wealthy Associates International Limited registered in Tortola, British Virgin Islands. And that offshore company is wholly owned by Paul Suen. Suen has holdings in energy and marine businesses as well as other diversified interests. 

From the relatively little one can dig up from openly available sources it appears, at least on the face of it, that both Villa and Birmingham have less reason to be cheerful, if any cheer can be had at all from a foreign takeover, than either Wolves or West Brom. While all 4 clubs are now controlled by men of Chinese birth they all possess an international education and global business interests. The latter two clubs just seem to have made more clean and better sales than either Villa and Birmingham City. The one possible shining star, for Birmingham fans at least, is the fact that Paul Suen has a reputation for clearing up the mess of distressed companies and the club most certainly fits into that category; they should have a man who can invest in the club, perhaps not to the extent we will likely see at West Brom and almost for sure at Wolves, but make them challengers for promotion. Hong Kong's Suen is, after all, known as 'The King of Penny Stocks'.

All of that aside my burning question is why 4 clubs within a radius of about 30 miles have all fallen to Chinese owners, three from in or fairly close to Shanghai and one from Hong Kong? That journey started with Birmingham, of course, in 2009 and since which the Chinese community in the West Midlands, which is significant, has watched Brummie football. There are, for example, around 35,000 Chinese students, alone, studying in the West Midlands so its a bit of a magnet. The Chinese also tend to buy things well over perceived market value, because they can. So, en masse, the 4 clubs probably have huge potential to now market themselves to China and that was no doubt a partial reason for all 4 clubs falling into Chinese hands in fairly quick succession; and not when they became publicly available or at least rumoured to be. There were, for example, discussions going on behind the scenes at West Brom for some months. The challenge will be to grow these clubs all of which, including Villa, are not modern day household names outside the UK or Europe. There is also the question as to whether these owners have the acumen or understanding to do so. We have all seen how a savvy foreign businessman has come in and completely messed up a football club with its peculiar idiosyncrasies and Britishness.

One thing I do find interesting and I think probably bodes well is how all four now have British coaches or managers. How much time each one is given remains to be seen but perhaps the Chinese owners prove more competent and more patient than the likes of those at the helm of Charlton, Leeds and Blackburn and two of those have now gone back to British managers. 

Gary Rowett seems to have managed the turbulence at St. Andrews rather well and he has Birmingham purring along rather nicely. I believe he and Lee know each other well. It will be an interesting spectacle with both men on the touchline today. And, like most of our matches this season, a close encounter seems to be a likely outcome. I am quite happy if we win by a Fulham style thrashing of course.

Can we edge it by a single goal? The international break in football can throw up bizarre results so who knows.

Well done to all those going today, hope its an enjoyable drive and we have a positive result at 5pm. 

UTC.

 

 

 

Thanks Hav,interesting read-wonder do the gas have such insightful match day threads I wonder??!..

9 hours ago, Smaller than a flea said:

I'll quote you on that when we beat you home and away next season. Unless DC has gone by then.

Its too much too soon-you need a couple more seasons to be ready for the step up,and could be detrimental.

You will face tougher task's in the Championship than going down to ten v a very average Millwall side-meet a similar situation if you go up and it could be a cricket score.....

Let's hope we meet in the FA Cup...

2 hours ago, Bar BS3 said:

 

I believe it's called "karma"

 

"Korma,Rodders".....

12 hours ago, Smaller than a flea said:

Hello.

We had a shocker today. But playing with 10 men it's never easy to avoid defeat. 

It's so long since we had a genuine hammering that I'm in group therapy. But it's coffee break time, so I have just popped in. Popping out now.

Bad day. These things happen.

Still 5th though.

You were lucky to get away with four-could easily have been seven or eight-your defending today was hilarious,the last goal was a classic!.....

You just didn't deal with it,simple-if you go down to ten and defend as abysmally as this in the Championship next season you will get nine or ten going past you.

2 minutes ago, Doozerchris said:

I totally agree . 

Apologies-systems failure(like the gas yesterday).

11 hours ago, Red Right Hand said:

I`d be more worried about the 600 of your fans that had clearly been abducted by aliens in between being counted by your twitter bloke and appearing in the stadium. Where are they? Are they OK? Are they being probed as we speak?

Not Aliens-time travellers,us from our own future-supporters of a shit future football team with few fans,hoovering up a few bus full of mysterious appearing/dissapearing super fans for their own use..

On 29/10/2016 at 19:14, Doozerchris said:

 

14 minutes ago, Major Isewater said:

We looked good up to the flukey first goal then we just lost our belief. 

It's like men against boys at the moment ( we're the ' boys ' in case you were wondering)

Tammy looks isolated. 

I still think we lack width and penetration.

Said the actress to the Bishop......  

12 minutes ago, Nogbad the Bad said:

Brighton have won 2 more games than City after 15 games and we are the home team.

We should not be defeatist about this match.

If LJ picks our best team in the correct formation, and fires them up to go at Brighton from the first minute there's no reason why we should not be confident of victory.

A poor 45 mins as poor as some we have seen this season will see the game effectively over..

We can't have that luxury today and need to be out of the blocks.

The only chink of light for me is they are so forwards looking,attacking at every opportunity-could leave them open to the counter,so need a bit of pace in our side today.

2 hours ago, glynriley said:

TBF, If Roverzzz do secure 3 consecutive promotions it will be a fantastic achievement.

However, as I pointed out to a gAsshole at work the other day, 1 of those would have been from a semi professional league,so the first one isn't much to crow about.

Would actually make it all the more remarkable-they have momentum and belief-crucial ingredients,so no surprises to anyone should they do it.

The surprise would be if such a rapid rate of ascent is sustainable,and that they were to flourish at such an altitude.

My money would be on sudden decompression,with emergency descent to a less rarified environment..

6 minutes ago, st andrews gas said:

I don't apologise for others- I will however do so to BS3, at least the Gas supporting one- actually meant briz red who often verbally defecates on our forums...now I'll f"ck off...toodlepips...

Off you go then.....maybe as a replacement for coming here you could get in touch with 'Mike' who txt's Twentypence every week at rb with his drivel..

You would make a lovely pair(i use the term very loosely)and be in text heaven!

17 minutes ago, Fordy62 said:

I can only imagine how different the ending to The Martian would've been had it starred some of you lot rather than Matt Damon. 

Chins up eh? 

The book was much better,Fordy....

14 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

That'll be the pizza burning

 Or pooh time again....

Saved!!

Penalty..shit

1 minute ago, EstoniaTallinnRed said:

Why are we getting beaten by headers lately with the height in our defence, and now RB have lost the commentary, seems like a lot of gremlins about today.

Zonal marking..…...

24 minutes ago, havanatopia said:

Good day everyone.

Oakwell is a special ground for me. Not only because I find the walk over the hill and down into the 'well' of the stadium a very pleasing one where mingling with the Tykes seems such a natural pre match day experience but also because it was the last away match I attended with my Father. And He shared my sentiments about the place; his words to me were that 'Barnsley has a grand stadium, one you would not expect to see as your eyes turn downhill after walking over the brow'. I probably have that program tucked away somewhere and I will treasure it. For now, I am not entirely sure what year that was but one of the seasons we spent in the Championship before our last relegation. We have a significant upper hand over Barnsley in all competitions though, W41, D20 and L30.

Barnzli as a local would have you pronounce the town was rather a hanger on to the practice of work houses and did not adopt the Poor Laws until 1850 some 16 odd years after the first enactment. Barnsley, of course, was the quintessential northern coal mining town and was at the forefront of the struggle against the government in the 1980's against mass closures. Many will remember Arthur Scargill, born in Barnsley, leading the march to the Orgreave Colliery in 1984. Barnsley was and remains rather poor but those attitudes of holding back the tide of progress and change, for good or for ill, somewhat epitomises the spirit of the culture of the West Riding of Yorkshire. Barnsley sits half way between Leeds and Sheffield and lost out to both in terms of development and cultural inflows over many decades. That indomitable spirit grew from that and perhaps explains why the locals are some of the friendliest I have had the pleasure of meeting in my lifetime. 

Barnsley Football Club is no doubt a fairly common bond between the 100,000 souls who call the town their home. Born in 1887 as Barnsley St. Peter's and for all but one of the years since the club have played at Oakwell. On previous Barnsley match day threads I have talked about the club and its supporters in more detail. The club have had some fairly well known characters manage them down the years though such as Norman Hunter, Viv Anderson, Mel Machin and Danny Wilson of course on two occasions. And it was Danny who famously took Barnsley to the Premier League for their single season in the top flight in the 1997/98 season. in 1922 they almost made it to the top flight, missing out by a single goal. They did produce some rather special players though but alas selling them on to First Division clubs all but ended their dreams of reaching that pinnacle of English football. The likes of Danny Blanchflower and Tommy Taylor being sold on in the 40's and 50' to Villa and Manchester United respectively. And for the majority of their existence they have lived in the 2nd tier with regular relegations to the third. 

Today, with Lee Johnson returning to Oakwell for the first time since his departure, will of course make for a more interesting than otherwise it would have been. Paul Heckinbotham reckons Bristol City is Lee's Real Madrid management job in a rather cheeky yet innocent remark he made earlier this week. After the rather dour performances of late, especially the QPR game, I suppose we would all rather like a sea change in quality on the pitch and anything remotely approaching that quality would be most welcome would it not?

I suspect the two teams might just cancel each other out today though as both managers know a lot about each other. However, you would think that Lee has a slight advantage with his knowledge of Barnsley, the team. I shall just sit on the fence on this one and predict a 1-1 stalemate.

I salute all the marvellous City fans making the long journey today. Hope you all set off in good time and bring back the spoils.

And finally....'One for the Bristol City' is still ringing in my ears as the 150 filed out of the funeral to my Father on Thursday.. a marvellously fitting send off. Good day all.

 

With you on this one..

Barnsley chop 1,Real Bristol 1....

Pleased to hear your Dads funeral went well...

11 hours ago, Smaller than a flea said:

Not at all. The Gloucester Road is a great place to be, and far better in my opinion than your location, but we have no room to expand there and the nimbys will not allow it.

So we have to move half a mile north of ye olde Bristol border into to the as-yet unexplored jungles of South Gloucestershire to find some space. 

It's going to be difficult getting there, if we ever do, since it is about 2 miles from where we are now.

Shanks's pony???

5 hours ago, Red Army 75 said:

So we would desire 10000 gates . Dopey and Taylor u can keep . We've had Stewart he was shit . And u nicked the pasties of the rugby along with something else . See nothing u chat shit

How about we swap Engval for Taylor??....

But we keep our pies.....

And Clarke??.....classless,graceless,senseless.........

44 minutes ago, havanatopia said:

Good day everyone,

This is without doubt the saddest match day thread I have ever written. I have no possibility to even begin to study and research our opposition this evening. Clearly you will all ask why that should be.

Yesterday at 0730 UK time my 95 year old father died. 

Dad was a Burma RAF veteran who served as a Corporal Radio operator directing the Bristol Beaufighters in to bomb the Japanese positions in what ultimately became the longest battle of the Second World War; The Imphal Kohima campaign. Relatively little was written about this long struggle yet the victory that ultimately followed turned the tide of the war in Asia. My father, although one might consider had a great innings, was taken a little before I wanted him to go. He also wanted that letter from the Queen and I wanted to write his memoirs.

He was a life long Bristol City fan. Let us win tonight and win promotion for him, for Gerry Gow for all those who will not see the promised land again.

God bless everyone and god bless my Dad. I miss him too much already; back to Blighty it is for me next week and I shall watch a City match as a result entirely in his honour.

Love to all.

Rich.

Bless you Hav,and may your dear dad rest in peace-he will always look over you,and has the best of all seat's for tonight..sincerest condolences to you and yours..