Olé

I had no idea the location (Hotel im Park Bad Radkersburg with cycling to FC Bad Radkersburg ground) is where Leicester did pre-season prior to winning the Premier League.

Pearson had been taking them there for several seasons prior, and on that occasion it was even where Claudio Ranieri was actually appointed and introduced to the first team.

And made all the more ridiculous by the fact that we tend to sell out of gear quickly in popular sizes so you have the farce of a loyalty scheme that'll only really reward people only for buying leftovers with credit to buy even more leftovers.

Part of me thinks this is by design - not to sound too business like but from a yield perspective you're guaranteed sales at launch, you only need to reward when sales dip, and ideally you only reward with access to products that don't sell. 

11 hours ago, LandOfSticks said:

It's gotta be 2023 because of vacation day resets at work :laugh:. I'm looking mainly at the mid Feb three games and the mid March with an away derby vs Cardiff, but don't know how dicey getting a ticket for that would be

If you've come all the way from Canada I'm sure the club (or a kind hearted season ticket holder) will be happy to ensure you get a ticket to Cardiff away no problem at all.

You should take into account that based on all recent trips to Cardiff they will probably require us all to travel via Canada (and by bus) so we could pick you up on the way.

10 hours ago, headhunter said:

Join DaveP, Ian, Mark & Neil from 8.30 AM in the build up to the release of the 22/23 Season fixtures at 9.00 AM.

Only just realised you all work on the trains.

Alex Scott will be in his thirties before any of the U19 strikers return a pass to him. Looks like a talented age group but they have a lot to learn about teamwork. Am almost certainly biased but so frustrating watching these Premier League nobodies do anything but play the easy ball to their playmaker.

10 hours ago, GrahamC said:

Would also say though that he spent last season on loan in L1 at Pompey & wasn’t an automatic choice. Fit, hard working, athletic full back & his old man was a writer of some pretty decent tunes in the very late 80s..

I have watched Romeo a few times down here going back as far as 2016 when he was linked with Arsenal and have always been impressed, though the time to sign him was back then as he's not kicked on in the Millwall team.

For one thing, in the games I have been at however well he plays he never seems to fully inspire confidence of the home fans in a way other defenders are more immune to. Can't quite put my finger on what made him different....

Speaking of which, what did for him was the taking the knee stuff. Because Millwall don't do it he raised a fist instead in a Black Power gesture and the vast majority of Millwall fans have been hounding him out of the club ever since. 

On that basis he probably represents value for money as Millwall managed to devalue him for non footballing reasons. But he hasn't consistently held down a right back role by making it his own, and at his age he needs to prove he can. 

This is a surreal thread based on a surreal claim.

Just to calm it all down a bit, FIFA has a huge amount of branding rules which include requiring their sponsors and other “partners” to always refer to a specific tournament with the hosting country as part of the given name (which is designed to be a perpetual marketing benefit to the host nation). As such FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 is just a name.

An email to Downsy about being selected for FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 is not the same thing as being selected to be at the World Cup IN Qatar. Plenty of people in the UK will have roles linked to “FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022”. I’d have thought the most logical thing is he is DJing a sponsor fan park in Bristol or a slot on an official tournament internet radio.

And if this isn’t surreal and he is going to Qatar then good luck to him - hopefully the slaves and bonded labour didn’t die for nothing building stadiums and they put in a better sound system than the Dolman. Stadium announcers at FIFA/UEFA tournaments just play Shaggy, mention FIFA and sponsors all the time and then start a countdown for kick off. *cringe*

You don’t need to wait for the Premier League fixtures John, international breaks are decided by UEFA long in advance.

Weekend of 23/24 September (2-3 weeks later than normal) and 25/26 March. Only two breaks due to the World Cup.

I was randomly looking at a list of retained players and became quite panicked when I did not see a number 10 and realised I could not remember who our number 10 last season was (I'll let you have the same fun finding out).

5 of the 11 are empty now. 2, 4, 7, 10, 11. Who steps up into them? 2 and 4 might seem obvious from summer signings. But do Weimann or Semenyo (assuming we retain them) move up or are they attached to their numbers?

Who takes on the coveted mantle of Callum O'Dowda's largely unworn number 11? Will Alex Scott be moving up into number 7 or even number 10? Will 42 or 45 still be here and will they still want to play with those numbers?

• 1 Bentley
• 2
• 3 DaSilva
• 4
• 5 Atkinson
• 6 James
• 7 
• 8 Williams
• 9 Martin
• 10
• 11

Discuss.

There's an absence of overtly dissenting voices on this thread so if for no other reason let me try out the argument against (besides the revenue/attendance point several have flagged*).

It comes down to whether people who follow football see themselves as supporters or spectators. I think the vast majority will say the former - and I think the two are materially different.

Support is active not passive, it's meant to represent a level of effort and investment to consummate your allegiance. A spectator is a viewer: passive and purely entertainment focussed.

Every one of us I hope remembers their first game, the first time they walked out into a stand (normally into Ashton Gate), the first time they saw live football and the scale of their ground.

We need to protect the effort required to experience that buzz, to be able to properly support your club. Otherwise some people will never experience it or others never get addicted to it. 

Football is not meant to be 'Netflix' or fans will get bored at Bristol City Season 3 Episode 9 and switch over to Forest Season 1 Episode 1 and that might be that. Allegiance requires effort.

Allegiance is also about proximity - a convention that would be destroyed by unlocking TV access to any club. And it is about being able to support (as in physically get behind) your team. 

Even for away games the VPN stuff hasn't sat right with me. How many people hand on heart would have ever made that extra effort to get to an amazing away game if they never had to?

Making an alternative and universal point of access to football that requires no effort may stop large numbers - even generations - of people from having experiences that bond them to us.

You don't build affinity and loyalty without effort and experiences. A viewer is someone who can switch off. Get people hooked on these experiences, and as we all know, we all come back.

(*And obviously the revenue/attendance point is not to be ignored: at a time when football finances are precarious, it's insanity to introduce a lower cost / lower commitment access point).

From the @Davefevs equivalent  on the Cardiff forum I was interested to read he's never in his career ever started more than 20 games in a season "The most league games he's started in a season is just 20 (2014/15 in League Two for Oxford and 2018/19 in the Championship for Bristol)."  The record laid out isn't pretty:

Quote

O'Dowda's Championship starts for Bristol City:

2016/17 - 15
2017/18 - 13
2018/19 - 20
2019/20 - 17
2020/21 - 14
2021/22 - 16

Basically, an average of 16 league starts a season during six years at Ashton Gate.

His Championship goal tallies during the same period:

2016/17 - 0
2017/18 - 1 (against Cardiff)
2018/19 - 4
2019/20 - 1
2020/21 - 1
2021/22 - 1

Let's be honest, Bristol City have been far from good during the last six years and O'Dowda apparently couldn't hold down a place in their starting line-up. He's just turned 27, so it'll be a surprise if he improves significantly on what he's shown so far.

It's a shame on the blackout and khaki gear with the chest badges that they didn't do them in the same laser-cut rubber crests as on the player matchday/training gear (albeit in the black or khaki colour).

Hard to see from the photos but our new badge never looks as sharp or professional when embroidered, even a little cheap. Go and look at gear in our first season with the new crest to see what I mean!

So for the 68th (me either) anniversary of once wearing white sleeves in 1954 we're going to pretend we're Arsenal (or Rotherham). Absolutely embarrassing attempt to use a bit of history for yet more gimmicks on the kit front. Bristol City may not have the biggest identity in football but couldn't we at least protect what we have. All red shirts, white shorts - after Man Utd at least fairly distinctive in the top two divisions.

For once just keep it simple and classy, rather than appearing to have no identity at all by messing about so much. Other clubs will take the piss out of us and rightly so, why are Bristol City wearing Arsenal or Rotherham's kit? Also, from memory the last time we messed about this much with the home strip - putting a black hoop around about a third of the normally all red home shirt, we got relegated from the Championship.

Rant over. BTW feel a bit sorry for Hummel who produce really good gear, but no doubt are working under instruction from team Comic Sans.

2 hours ago, !james said:

That was Steve Walsh

Garth Butler (RIP)

https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news/leicester-news/football-scout-who-spotted-talent-5099324

15 hours ago, steveybadger said:

Never been a fan of his - always seemed a bit self serving.

But credit where it’s due - well done that man.

I had the same view of him, it's weird as I think it all came from his Newcastle days and their fans spreading rumours he was one of Mike Ashley's mates from the casinos. 

Random story - Euro 2016 I was flying back on an early morning Easyjet from Lyon after the Portugal/Hungary 3-3. Wales played in the city a few days earlier and loads of their fans were on the flight.

The queue for the gate was full of noisy half cut Welsh fans and who pops up at the back of it but Alan Pardew - carrying nothing, so I guess on a rapid 24 hour round trip to scout a Hungarian signing.

There were the usual French airport strikes which meant it took a chaotic, disorganised rabble of a queue of Wales fans over an hour to get through passport control to the gate, and the flight was full.

Pardew was the opposite of what I expected - neither aloof or self-entitled, he waited patiently at the back, spoke quietly to people who acknowledged him, he didn't push past or use speedy boarding. 

On the plane he politely navigated through loud mouth groups of Welsh fans to get to a random seat assignment right at the back - his demeanour was anything but supposed billionaires playboy mate.

Not sure why I'm sharing this, it means very little, but at the time and in the circumstances I suppose I was expecting a very different attitude based on everything that was said about him at Newcastle.

23 hours ago, TonyTonyTony said:

Interesting article on him here.

Genuinely interesting article but also nice to see the Championship has a new David Brent incoming after a few years absence. 

1 hour ago, GrahamC said:

Monza won 4-3 on the night, 6-4 on aggregate.

Another season in Serie B for Adam.

Make that another ex City player in Serie A - for Monza! Although he wasn't reunited with Nagy in either of the play off final legs having been injured in the semi.

Lewis Grabban going full John Terry, even taking the captains armband off Worrall who actually played the game as captain 

Glad Forest didn't score a winning goal in normal time which spared us the commentator doing his usual THIS CLUB. THIS TOWN. THIS TIME. THEY WILL NOT GO QUIETLY nonsense.

Fantastic goal by Sheff Utd - they were being kicked, pulled and pressed on every touch, even retreating to begin with but so strong and quick thinking with the touches to keep the ball moving and work a route back. 

There would be a weird bit of symmetry with his old assistant if he went there - perhaps the two have spoken.

Heckingbottom took over from him at Barnsley as caretaker when LJ joined us and duly won the JPT and Play Offs and leapfrogged us in the Championship the following season before getting Leeds job (only match vs City 2-2 at Elland Rd).

He was binned off after only half a season for Bielsa - and rebuilt his career managing Hibernian before returning south to coach and then manage Sheffield United who he now has in the Championship play offs. Hibs seemed a useful reboot.

What a goal!!