ChippenhamRed

On 23/01/2024 at 12:48, ChippenhamRed said:

The point is there is no point completely dismissing those games purely on the basis of the opposition's league position and/or form. It often doesn't work like that, especially in the Championship. And it does seem to suit us better playing against opposition who are on paper superior and play with more intent to win. When we beat Middlesborough earlier in the season, they were on a run of 1 defeat in 12 at the time.

Permission to feel smug sir?!

2 minutes ago, The Gasbuster said:

I think most of us would have happily settled for that at the beginning of those four games.

I think there was a thread on this block of four games and most people didn’t hold out much hope of getting much. But the Championship has never really worked like that and, Leeds aside, playing better teams does seem to suit us.

Fair play to Manning. You’ve got to say 7 points from four tough league games is a decent return.

2 hours ago, BigTone said:

We've done several and just love it.  Generally I think the drinks package is expensive so think you have done the right thing.  My Wife doesn't drink so I normally order a bottle of wine for myself at dinner, drink half and then they save the balance for me until next day.  Never been on Iona so unsure what facilities they have for the kids but would be 100% sure they will have plenty to keep them occupied.  Certainly always plenty for adults.

Some people find the formal dining nights a pain in the bum but we always embrace it, dress up in our bestest clobber and enjoy ourselves.

Ensure that you have a good comprehensive travel insurance as taking sick and ending up in the onboard infirmary can be an expensive experience as my Mother found out some years back.

Just enjoy yourselves, relax and take everything in.  BTW, I'm jealous !!!! 

2 hours ago, BigTone said:

Wife just reminded me that we always book the early sitting for dinner as it gives more time to take in the shows etc.

Thanks Tone, some great advice here. We think it should be a good fit for the kids at the age they are now. They’re just starting to become a bit more independent and need a little bit more to do than a straightforward beach holiday, and the ship will definitely give them that while also giving us good quality family time.

Will definitely embrace the formal nights, all part of the fun I think!

2 hours ago, frenchred said:

Hi Mate

Did our first ever cruise last year with p and o on Ventura went to Spain, Portugal and Guernsey and after all our apprehensions we loved it and can't wait to go again!

We didn't do drinks package either, drinks were cheaper on board than they are at hall and Woodhouse in portishead!

You are wise to not tick the upgrade, we choose a cabin similar to what you have and it was fantastic, the balcony is a great option

Loads for everyone, including kids to do, I'm sure you will love it.

You going from Southampton?

Great to hear, thanks! Yes we’re going from Southampton, easy drive from us in Chippenham.

Can’t wait!

1 hour ago, Slacker said:

I will be keeping an eye on this Chip as I am in a fairly similar boat to you as it were.Never done a cruise but do fancy the fjords one.Only thing I can add is friends of mine who gave cruised before always go on some kind of auction where you can bid to upgrade your cabin.Last time they went they bid a tenner and got upgraded to an outside cabin.Hope you have a great time. 

Thanks! When you book with P&O there is the option to tick a box to take a free upgrade if available - however I haven’t ticked it. The problem is you lose control over where on the ship you are located - and that matters a lot. Cabins towards the rear or front are more likely to feel uncomfortable in rough seas, or you could end up on a different deck near something noisy. As it’s our first time and we’re not sure how we’ll do on a boat, we’ve picked a safe option with a balcony on a quiet deck near the middle of the ship.

Very heavy doors in public places.

Hi all,

We’ve just booked our first ever cruise, on P&O Iona to the Norwegian Fjords in summer 2025. It’ll be me, my wife and our two kids who’ll be 14 (boy) and 11 (girl) at the time.

Excited about it but also slightly nervous - we’ve never considered ourselves to be “cruise people”, but it’s a great value family holiday and clearly a great way to see the Fjords. We’ve booked a balcony cabin. We haven’t booked a drinks package because we’re not big drinkers (generally maybe one with dinner and another at the bar later) so didn’t think it looked good value for us.

Really keen to hear people’s hints and tips to make the most of it - cruising generally but also Iona and the Fjords specifically.

Cheers!

11 minutes ago, cidercity1987 said:

I like Max but his records on penalties is not good

You need your keeper to save at least one out of the five 

That depends entirely on the quality of the penalties.

8 hours ago, reddogkev said:

Without listening to the consistently changing guff that comes out of the club hierarchy, what are the expectations of us, the fans?

Personally, I want City to develop and grow as a Championship club, which we are doing, and to get another long overdue crack at the play offs.

With that in mind, we're on the right track.  We'll definitely get there, my main frustration with the SL ownership is that it's taking far too long to achieve this.

Why can other smaller, or similar sized clubs overtake us so quickly?  That's the question I can never quite answer.

Depends over what timescale you mean.

I don’t just want us to have a crack at the play offs. I haven’t spent 40 years supporting this club just to watch us lose a two legged tie against Ipswich Town or whoever.

I want us to achieve what Luton, Blackpool, Huddersfield and countless other clubs smaller than us have managed; promotion to the Premier League.

We really need to set our sights higher than merely “reaching the play offs”.

PS - I’m far from convinced we’ll “definitely get there”. I can’t see many reasons to think we won’t just being mid table for the rest of eternity.

Really like Plymouth’s kit. Looks classy. Why can’t we have a proper kit made by a proper manufacturer?

21 minutes ago, Street red said:

Swindon and Bradford city have also been in the premier league.

The funny thing is, I was going through the league tables picking out small-ish teams that have got there and didn’t even get as far as League 2!

20 hours ago, luke_bristol said:

Interesting that they’re buying for next season and essentially writing this season off.

They should put “Jam Tomorrow” on the club crest.

10 hours ago, firstdivision said:

Nine seasons in the Championship is not to be scoffed at when you’ve seen us in L1 and L2.

I get your point. And you’re right, in the context of our history - nine seasons in the Championship is not to be scoffed at.

But there’s a wider context as well. The context that has us as the biggest club in the South West, with no Premier League club within 100 miles. A club in the 10th(ish) biggest city in the country. A club with a top class stadium and training facilities. A club capable of taking 45,000 fans to London for a game against Walsall. A club that has watched Bournemouth, Swansea, Huddersfield, Barnsley, Blackpool, Luton, Cardiff, Burnley, Wigan, Brentford, Stoke and Reading all surpass our own achievements in the modern era by playing in the Premier League.

Looking at our own history as a barometer for our success does nothing but highlight just how pathetically little we have achieved as a club for generations. I don’t want to be told to be grateful for 9 straight seasons in the second tier.

2 minutes ago, cidercity1987 said:

Out come the Bristol City are little brigade yet again

I'm not having any of it

Being the biggest historical underachievers in the country is no reason at all to continue to be the biggest underachievers.

We have a modern stadium, a decent upper Champ level training ground, fantastic crowds given our underachievement that are usually top third in this division, play in a great and rich city.

There is NO reason whatsoever to see lower midtable Champ as the best it can get for us. We should never be in danger of relegation from this league. 

Anything other than play off pushes is again, underachievement.

You wouldn't see this nonsense of sub par expectations at other clubs with far less fans.

We were writing very similar posts at the exact same time.

4 hours ago, Wanderingred said:

I made the effort to come on here and apologise to Spazza for stepping out of line. Are you going to do the same to me for this vile post ?

I wasn’t personally offensive towards you, I was highly critical of your post. I played the ball not the man.

You accused a fellow football supporter of “lacking loyalty” to his club because he couldn’t get a ticket for the away end. THAT was personal, needless, and showed a complete lack of understanding of the difficulty in getting away tickets if you follow a big club with a large fanbase and don’t have a season ticket.

You knew nothing of his personal circumstances, which for all of us dictate just how “loyal” we can be to our club. It crosses a line to judge other fans loyalty to the their club with no knowledge of their situation.

Credit to you for since apologising to him. But at the time of my post, you hadn’t done that. You chose to log onto the forum and post a very forthright opinion on another football supporter, and got very forthright opinions in response - and not just from me either.

26 minutes ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

Short memory, we had the go for it phase of 2-3 seasons before we had to slash the costs and scramble back into FFP compliance.

Deep into LJ's first full year we had a relegation scrap ..anyway for good few years before we were 3rd tier.

I wasn’t being literal. I was kidding, Mr Pop.

It just feels like we’re perennially mid-table at the moment.

Feels like we’ve been 14th in the Championship for about 20 years.

38 minutes ago, Leabrook said:

It might be like saying that in your head but it’s not in mine. Athletes aren’t allowed to take drugs. One of the worst analogies I’ve ever heard 

You’re so close to getting it.

5 hours ago, Leabrook said:

Fed up of people crying about it.  Plenty of teams without parachute payments finishing top 10 over the last few seasons and some have gone up.  

That’s like saying it’s OK to take drugs at the Olympics because some clean athletes have won bronze medals.

It’s not a level playing field, and just because some clubs have beaten the odds, doesn’t make it fair.

31 minutes ago, Shauntaylor85 said:

And we got lucky in that game, we were poor, red card won it for us. 

Good grief.

I’m going to be on my deathbed in the year 2069 with City in mid-table in the Championship, aren’t I.

4 minutes ago, cidercity1987 said:

The South Stand is sold out every game

And groups cannot get anywhere in together in the stadium unless buying weeks in advance

Doesn't seem difficult to me

The club must have all the stats. Non attending season tickets holders need to get kicked out 

Obviously that isn’t the solution.

Just now, And Its Smith said:

Prefer for kids tickets to remain cheap. Fans of the future

So make match tickets £2 or something and give people the option to move for free when they bring their kids.

This scheme isn’t working if it leaves loads of empty seats for “sold out” games.

4 minutes ago, And Its Smith said:

So the answer is to charge everyone who does go more money?

Not everyone. But there is certainly a case for making child season tickets more expensive if everyone is taking the piss.

Can’t really blame the club if a well-intentioned scheme is backfiring and stopping fans going to games while there are empty seats in the stands.

2 minutes ago, Peter1450 said:

Sky’s commentary is like listening to Elland Road TV 

You can’t blame them for only talking about one side when only one side has the ball.