handsofclay

Get well soon, lad.

When I was doing research to assist David Woods mainly at The Central Library but also other city libraries, I found myself at the Bath library and studying wartime matches discovered that a game between Bristol City and Bath City in about 1944 had live commentary on national radio.

I remember when Danny Wilson was manager, I think when we just missed out on auto promotion, we played at his old club Barnsley. Our away strip was either black or white that season but for some inexplicable reason City turned out in yellow. And won. When asked afterwards Wilson said that yellow is the best colour strip in football as it psychologically feels like the team wearing yellow has an extra player as the colour catches the eye more. Plus way back Herbert Chapman was the first to introduce hooped socks at Arsenal as he thought players are mainly looking down when the ball is at their feet so usually see the boots and socks of the fellow players first. Thus if teammates are wearing hooped socks that catches the eye that bit quicker than plain socks.

I think all the top flight games were off bar this one. I am fairly sure Radio 2 where the sports coverage was then (before Radio 5 Live) had commentary on the whole match as there was precious little going on elsewhere to report on. They usually only had second half commentary on a match. The fact WBA wore astro boots that gave them an advantage in the snow emerged the following day on the back page of the tabloids.

I don't know much about this Arron Banks or GoSkippy but judging by your comments it sounds like it would be more appropriate if it was our new Back of Shorts Sponsor instead.

Reminds me of how Rodney Marsh fell out with Sir Alf Ramsey. Ramsey had picked Marsh to play for England in one of the home international matches. Before kick off in the dressing room Ramsey turned to Marsh and told him that he would be pulling him off at halftime. To which Marsh quipped that it would be nice as he only ever had a cup of tea at Manchester City. Ramsey glared at Marsh and his opportunities with England went down the pan.

Cheers Malago, it was Ole who put me onto it thinking about the HTV coverage but as was pointed out Radio Times is a BBC publication so they wouldn't have been doing that which then made me think of Radio Bristol.

Didn't Radio Bristol start in 1970? Seeing as it's the Radio Times and the North East Edition is publicizing BBC Radio Durham, maybe the local copy NTTDS has is advertising the first Radio Bristol local sports coverage on a Saturday afternoon as it's near the start of the football season date wise for 1970

That's where I always go, too. There's nothing to know about our club that doesn't appear on here. I rarely go on the official site as anything of note or interest is always on here!

RIP Chris. You sounded a good hearted soul who put the welfare of his fellow human beings and community above other considerations. My condolences Phantom and his other friends and family for your great and tragic loss.

He was talking about how important it is to integrate academy players but only if they are good enough. He stated about how dispiriting it is for academy coaches if there is no pathway into the first team for the players in their charge. He came across well. Was pushed by Dion Dublin on where City are expected to finish short and longer term. He didn't really answer the first part but stated that obviously the aim is the Premier League long term but qualified that by saying that it's always the most important thing to keep one's eye on the here and now as with longer term aims one can easily become sidetracked and lose sight of short term goals. Said that the players are adapting quickly to what he requires and has been impressed by their application. Gave credit to the older players in the squad such as King, James, Andi and Wells. Also said about playing four games in ten days at a time when other European leagues are having a rest. Dublin cut in to say that he always enjoyed that period the most as it meant playing more matches and having less training. Came across well and knowledgeable. Wished everyone a Merry Christmas and apologised in advance for spoiling Watford's Boxing Day. Okay, he didn't do that last bit but I would like to think he did so under his breath.

Hull City had periods in the game where they were on top but I wouldn't say they had control of the match. A team that controls a match doesn't concede three goals and score fewer than that themselves with one of those goals being handed to them.

When I included Pearson I thought the Christian name Callum didn't sound quite right. Of course it was Sam who was around the first team squad for a little while.

Fascinating stuff. Thank you. The passage of nearly 4 years enables us to clearly evaluate who has or hasn't made it at this level for both clubs and apart from the obvious successes in Scott and Bell (and even with Bell there are some on OTIB suggesting he should now drop a level to League One) it makes fairly grim reading. Out of interest, how many of those players actually made League or Cup appearances for either club, such as Hinds, Britton, Towler and Pearson, and how many never even made the bench?

I am surprised nobody has suggested this before but Manningball when it finally comes to fruition will seemingly deny the opposition possession which will naturally dry up, or at the very least, greatly reduce attempts on goal. It is the general consensus on here that Max is a very good shot stopper but his distribution leaves a lot to be desired. As Manningball becomes more successful the former quality will become less important and the latter more. It seems to me to be a no brainer to thus try TGH between the sticks as he has a special talent for pinging the ball around with accuracy and precision. This will further decrease opportunities for our opponents to obtain possession thus further limiting their attempts on goal. By all accounts, each time TGH has picked up his wage packet he has yet to drop it, so that shows promise. Of course, this bold move would necessitate Manningball being extremely successful. On the odd occasion the opponents mustered enough possession to pose a threat, such as winning a corner etc, then Max could be quickly subbed on then off again when the danger was averted. I truly believe in about twenty years this will be the norm for most clubs and goalkeepers will be an even more specialised position confined to the bench and only called upon when briefly needed. The coach who first implements it and gives it his name will be hailed a tactical genius. When asked how he came up with such a revolutionary idea he will say that he had nothing to do one Sunday afternoon and just surfed football clubs fora around the net.

Yes I recall that game too. It finished 1-1, Heighway was superb. Liverpool outclassed us and he was the orchestrator. But what I found funny about that game was, I think about the only two times City bothered the Liverpool defence was when a ball was put into the area and Phil Thompson was harshly adjudged to have pushed Joe Royle and Peter Cormack missed the resulting penalty against his former club in the first half at the Open End, then about 9 minutes from time from a free kick near the Liverpool box, Cormack atoned by smacking in the equaliser. I left the Gate bemused by the fact City emerged with something from a game in which they'd been dominated by the European Champions. Yet, on Match of the Day that night, when a spoken round up of the other First Division games was given, (no visual highlights) the audience were informed that Liverpool had been fortunate to come away from Ashton Gate with a point as Peter Cormack had missed a penalty as well as scoring the equaliser!

Yes agree about Villa we had all heard about Ardiles he was the exciting one but on that difficult pitch Villa was superb that day. And it was pre 1981 Cup Final replay when he made his name. I remember in that match the Spurs keeper Kendall knocked himself out as the back of his head hit the part of the pitch at the covered end that was rock hard due to not getting the sun on it. The game simply wouldn't be played today.

As for Liam Brady out of all the opposition players I seen in our four year stint in the top flight he was the best.

Same here I was 13 in the summer of 76. You are referring to the same match I went to the following season in Feb or March 78. If I recall correctly we also hit the woodwork twice after Tainton's goal. Rovers were playing Spurs at Eastville that day in the return of the 9-0 drubbling they had experienced at White Hart Lane (they lost again 2-3 and again on Match of the Day). And when we were 4-0 down after 20 minutes I began to think we would experience a 9-0 hammering maybe worse! So thankfully it got marginally better and not worse.

I listened to the match on RB, I went to Highbury the following season when we were 4-1 down after about 20 minutes but thankfully it remained that way. As for the RB coverage I just remember it being updates with Herbie Gilliam, I think, on a phone every 10 to 15 minutes. I cannot remember if they announced that a goal had been scored and then went over especially to Highbury, or if they announced as the next report was due that a goal had been scored in that time. What I do recall is they never seemed to say who the goal had been scored for, it was left to the reporter to inform us at the start of his report.

Problem is it could be even more catastrophic keeping him in place. Damage limitation. Holden was dispensed with pretty quickly when it became apparent he was out of his depth after the Lansdowns had undergone a meticulous and lengthy process to hand him the job as the outstanding candidate.

We are so poor even the commentator is calling us Bristol Rovers now

That's what I thought as they are of little use to anyone else while he is a large majority shareholder.

I bought a handful of shares in 1982. When Scott Davison took over in the mid to late 90s I received a letter saying I had the right to sell them for double the price as that's what the new investors had paid for their shares. But Davison requested shareholders for the good of the club not to do this. So I didn't. However, like a lot of you other shareholders by about 6 or 7 years ago I thought the shares were pretty worthless and made enquiries and was told that someone was buying them, I wasn't informed who, and they were bought at the price I paid in 1982.

Plus I have a fear with the new tactics being adopted throughout the club that any veggie sausage roll I ordered will be passed around endlessly between the BS staff, particularly those at the back, and by the time it reaches me it will be stone cold.