cidered abroad

7 hours ago, maxjak said:

Around 20 years ago we played Brighton at the Millenium Stadium, and we actually appeared at one time to have a certain symbiotic relationship with the South Coast side.  We lost that day to a late goal, and   from then on in   our trajectory's have veered in very different directions?  We had the major advantage of a Millionaire.....subsequently...... Billionaire owner, yet Brighton, 20 years on, are playing in Europe and sitting comfortably in 7 th place in the Premiership, while we continue to languish as a mid table Championship side, seemingly no closer to the Prem than we were 20 years ago?

 It seems to me that the difference between Brighton and Bristol City appears at first sight......... to be all about....recruitment, recruitment and recruitment?   Choosing the right manager, and having the right scouting system,  which allowed them to identify and recruit exactly the right type of player, whom they then sold on, and then continued to replace   with other excellent footballers, and in the meantime seek out outstanding manager/coaches to keep their ambitions nicely simmering away?

Is it that simple?  Is it purely their ability to find and recruit exactly the right players and management over the   years, which has allowed them to leave us in their slipstream, and all this, despite Bristol City seemingly   having all the advantages and support that should have allowed us to also reach and thrive in the Premiership, as they have?    What is the fundamental difference between our two sides, that has eventually ended up with such a massive disparity in our current positions?  Is it really all about buying the right players and employing the perfect manager/coach, or is there more to it?          I WANT to know?   Ha!!

Simply the difference is that Lansdown is an accountant without one ounce of football knowledge and also he hasn't employed football people to run the club. Eg. his son!

And when he has employed football people, they don't last long enough to change and improve the FOOTBALL CLUB before he gets rid of them. 

2 hours ago, City Rocker said:

Great point, and not only that, you could argue he played at the top of Division 1 (after two games in August 76), and the bottom of Division 4 (little over 6 years later). I doubt any other player for any club has done this!

I'm guessing that Steve Bull of Wolves did so.

@City Rocker

I had a pair of Co-op boots in the mid 1950's with Stan Matthews signature on them and they were mid grey.

I believe that Matthews boots were sponsored by Co-op, the first such player in UK, and as part of the deal, he visited the major Co-op shops in cities/towns on the Saturday morning where Blackpool were playing a First Division away game.

Dad took me three times to Cardiff City in the hope that I'd get an autograph but each time he was injured so didn't travel. Cardiff fans said it was because he didn't want another kicking from the Welsh captain, Alf Sherwood, who played left back!

2 hours ago, GrahamC said:

Legend, possibly my favourite player of all time (in our best team of all time) & far, far too modest.

An all time great.

Was astonished when he wasn’t one of the first 11 players inducted to our hall of fame, as there’s been no better striker in my 50+ years of supporting.

Said this in a post about him last week, he scored league goals against Liverpool, Man City, Spurs & Everton.

Who can else claim that whilst playing for us?

Number one striker/goal scorer is obviously Big John.

But for me there is another one who could be number two. 

Jimmy Rogers, promotion 1955 with 102 goals, a superb good amount for one who played mostly on the wing except for two seasons at number 9. Two consecutive seasons of 25 per season.

Tom Ritchie who was also not considered as the major striker a superb 132, 40 of which were scored in Division One

Both of these were highly responsible for significant promotions so I won't add any others.

13 hours ago, bs3 said:

 

That is the only time in my life of supporting City, when I could not stop laughing when we had conceded. And I still laugh every time it's heard again.

2 hours ago, JP Hampton said:

I thought Joe has been showing some really energy and commitment since returning.  
 

Thought the overall performance was very average, very predictable and held little interest. The one who played really well was Cam Pring and has been doing, certainly, in the last few matches. Worked for every ball with some great defending.

TGH not his usual self at all, Tanner seems stuck with the reverse pass and doesn’t look happy in that position. I think being up front as a lone striker is not a good match for Tommy, too much of a responsibility, his confidence seems low and the one real chance he had, he blew it. He’s lost a lot of his bravado( for want of a better word). Pair him up with Wells where he had previously played very well.

 It just all feels over managed, there’s little consistency from one game to the next and little individual prowess or spontaneity. 

I can see Tommy wanting to leave this summer if the new head coach, what's his name? continues to play him on his own without any decent passes to use and expecting him to score from the pathetic service he's receiving.

2 hours ago, formerly known as ivan said:

Manning has been winning me round in recent weeks, which is natural given the results. Still find the football a bit boring, but everyone will have their own opinion.

So this isn’t a dig at him, but can you name a worse city game than what we witnessed today? Everything from performance to atmosphere and even the weather was just completely not there today. It has to be the one of, if it the worse, days at football for a long long time.

Considering the league that we are in, the playing staff and recent performances, I consider this match is one of the worst that I've seen in decades.

Tiredness due to a high number of games in a very short time?  Nonsense because all clubs have the same number of matches. Long distance travelling? Nowhere near the trips to the north.

Utterly terrible performance. Absolutely pathetic attacking. Defensive clangers yet again.

To sum it up, the negative performance of one player who shall be unnamed, highlights how weak we are at playing passes forward through the central territory.

Add to this match, the pathetic Bears performance last Friday, and the inept one today, what a waste of time following City and Bears.

1 hour ago, spudski said:

Local radio broadcast live commentary of games during the 60s. 

BBC covered all Div 1 games in the 50s. 

So I'm guessing we had commentary way earlier than 76. 

The only regular football commentary that I can remember in the 1950's was on The Light Programme, precursor to Radio 2.

It was the second half of a Football League match; totally random choice of game and from any of the four leagues, Div 1, Div 2, Div 3 North and Div 3 South. The match chosen by BBC was not publicised before the programme, as far as I know.

1 hour ago, spudski said:

This is some great footage that shows what the ground looked like clearly in 1947. 

https://cutt.ly/vwGQye5B

 

Three years before my first match at Ashton Gate. That was before the stand was built, became Williams stand after 1982.

We got three regular in the first team from that youth team. Taints, Chrissy and Danny Bartley who made his first team debut when the new floodlights replaced Harry's original ones against Wolves Christmas 1965. He also took the corner in Atyeo's last match that, allegedly, brushed Big John's eyebrow for his second goal of the game.

The biggest disappointment to the club and himself I guess was John Giles who many City fans who followed this youth team, thought was a certainty to become a first team regular. It just proves.es how hard it is to makthee it to League status.

I met Bob Boyd in 2015 when I moved to live in Burnham on Sea and had a good chat about those days and the events of 1982.

4 hours ago, City oz said:

Great memories in the 70s at Ashton Gate. My spot was the old enclosure next to the tunnel.

End block of Dolman at Covered End. Those were the days.

28 minutes ago, Atyeo's lift said:

Ditto - I was at BGS too, but didn't get given any time off that day

Mr Osborne the Form and German Teacher, who was a Lancastrian and a thoroughly decent person unlike some of the bullies that posed as teachers.

7 minutes ago, Frenchay Red said:

When I was a young lad Wally was my favourite player. I remember him being outstanding when we played Blackpool in the cup and the great Stanley Matthews was playing. Distant fond memories.

Thanks @Frenchay Red

I was there for that match. Biggest crowd at Ashton Gate in my lifetime of 42,594.

I went to BGS and we had lessons on Saturday mornings. Our Form Master gave three of us an early end to school because we had tickets.

And one more for Red Alligator. Wally Hinshelwood played 149 games for City so a significant part of our history.

8 hours ago, Red_Alligator said:

Now that's a worthy piece of trivia. 

Well played from overseas.

Sorry to have bothered you.

But having watched the great-grandfather play for City and provide goals for Atyeo and others in a decent Second Division team and then seeing or reading about the various offspring playing league football for clubs like Crystal Palace, I find it very interesting that five generations of the same family have made it to top league status.

A very rare football achievement.

Jack Hinshelwood scored for Brighton this evening.

His Great Grandfather Wally played for City from 1956 to 1960.

And his father, grandfather and a couple of cousins have all played professionally at decent levels.

Now that is a real football family.

 What about the rearranged evening game in our promotion season?

Sweeney scored just before half time and Albion laid siege as we defended that lead at the Brummie Road end.

Then there was a Boxing day when a divot in our penalty area scored the very late winner. A back pass to Keith Welch and as he was about to kick it clear and the ball hit a lump of mud and went over his foot and trickled into the net.

On 26/12/2023 at 16:47, Ziderarmy said:

Fair play, I honestly couldn’t think of anything work. I only dance when drunk  

Learning to dance is very good for everyone. When my first wife died, I was lost for things to do, apart from City and Bears.

I went to a singles club, which did dances, social evenings and weekend walks and cycle rides. Going to dances when you just shake yourself soon got boring so I joined lessons for salsa and le roc. Met lots of people of both genders, went to rock n roll weekends at Pontins and have been happily married to one of the women I met there for 23 years. Still think about first wife almost every day but not in a negative way.

Life is not a rehearsal for another time. So enjoy it now.

7 hours ago, Harry said:

We saw a very well coached team today. 
 

A team where confidence is visibly growing match by match. There is improvement all over the team and while the Mehmeti performance is a stand out one, the subtle differences with Tanner and Williams are helping just as much.

I was upset when Pearson was dispensed with but it's not unusual in any walk of life, that a change is as good as a rest. NP did a fantastic job in helping us to become a proper football club again. Now it's Manning to guide us forward without having to right what was wrong three years ago.

COYREDS!

1 hour ago, BS3_RED said:

What a day and what a performance.

 

All I can say is that this is why we put up with the shite away days for the odd day like today.

Perfect in every sense of the word.

 

 

Thanks @BS3_RED and all the other Reds for going to support the team. I've done with away matches as travelling there and back on a day is too much now at my age.

Coincidentally, my last two away games were at Watford around 2010/13 when we got one draw and a win.

So thanks to you and all the others who were there today.

Another one for the Over 50 City Goals board in the concourse.

I have seen all but six of the existing ones, because they were all pre WW2. 

Let's not get too excited as too much pride comes before a fall.

One game at a time and don't forget that we travel to the Bluenoses on Friday. A jinx team for us, so any result other than defeat will be a magnificent achievement.

Could be get Conway to do a Bob Taylor and stick it right up them?

My Man of the Match?

Everyone in the squad, the Coaching team and those great supporters.

Have I missed anyone?

28 minutes ago, Mad Cyril said:

Formed a great partnership up front with Junior Bent.... Remember him very clearly

Are you sure that you're not confusing him with Malcolm Allyson?

8 hours ago, Ivorguy said:

Oh, you are all so young.  Mike Thresher was one of our best LBs.

And so he would have been if he could have played in any of our sides since. He was very quick and not many wingers got the better of him. Not even Sir Stanley Matthews who, having pulled in a post war record City crowd, was kept very quiet by The Threshing Machine.

19 hours ago, Bristol Rob said:

Having looked at the First Bus website, it looks as if the only bus running on New Year's Day is the A1 airport bus.

Which leaves only a few options.

Uber - New Years Day, likely to be expensive.

Drive - Entirely dependent on how much I enjoyed NYE, but it comes with a parking challenge.

Walk - Never gonna happen.

Try and find a stream - looking increasingly likely.

Should the driving option be an option, what are the parking areas most likely to have availability (happy to pay) and how late/early do you need to be there to get a spot.

Buses in Bristol on New Year's Day are running on a Sunday service. Whatever made you think otherwise.

If you live near Mem that's not a problem at all with several routes going down Gloucester Road from top of Muller Road.