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1 hour ago, The Dolman Pragmatist said:

I didn’t read it as mocking, but we should be under no illusions about the extent of our underachievement in the past 40 years.  I have great admiration for our fans who travel, but really we should have being doing better since 1980.

I was mocking the Sheffield Wednesday "it's too much!" thing from 2015, to be fair.

Because that one game highlights the difference, in my opinion, between us and the clubs with the serious away followings that we know we don’t have but secretly wish we did. 

It was amusing following that thread on here, as people found what they really wanted - a valid reason not to be bothered to go through the ball ache of going all that bloody way, just to watch Bristol City. 

There was another thread about an away game a few years ago, Reading or somewhere, with people moaning about the difficulty of parking. The inconvenience of going away. Made me chuckle.

To me, going away is about devotion, it's about what you are prepared to endure and suffer in order to follow and back your team in often unwelcoming circumstances. It has connotations of religious devotion about it. As I see it.

This is why yer rotund northerner from Newcastle, Sheffield or Leeds will travel here, midweek, taking "two days off work" if necessary, in the depths of winter, and stand, not sit, in the freezing cold not wearing a shirt. What he is saying is: "look at me you soft southern shite! Look how far I've come! Look how much I love my club! Look how much passion I've got! Look how much passion we've got! Look at us! You're not as loyal/tough/great/passionate as we are!"

Following a football club involves a lot of suffering, going away even more so - suffering boredom, inconvenience, great expense, time, hostility, frustration, crushing disappointment and so on - and some clubs' fans are willing to go to greater lengths and endure greater suffering, to back their team, than other clubs' fans.

We have a couple of hundred heroic sufferers that do 40 plus games a season, but other clubs have more, in large part due to their historic record of much greater success than we have managed.

We all know this. 

It's not "bad" or anything other than what we decide to say it is. It just is!

36 minutes ago, Peter O Hanraha-hanrahan said:

 

That gives us an average attendance at MK Dons of 2766 travelling City fans.

I don’t think that’s bad for a club like ours? 

 

I don't, no. It's not bad. For a club like ours.

We do, "travel well," around much of the south of this country.

My point is just that some other clubs "travel" in greater numbers and further than we tend to for, amongst other things, the tradition of many years making originating in years when they were gloriously successful in a way we never have been.

30 minutes ago, Peter O Hanraha-hanrahan said:

God it’s so tedious how people choose to ignore that Preston match, a game where we were in with a shout of promotion and we took 2600 up there.

Drew, didn’t get promoted, then people criticise us for ‘only’ taking 900 all the way up to Bradford 3 days later on a Tuesday night where, once again, promotion wasn't guaranteed.. especially against a good Bradford side.

Personally I think 900 people being able to swing 2 days off work to travel 4 hours up the country on the off chance of promotion back to a division we’ve spent most of our history in is a decent effort.

That gives us an average attendance at MK Dons of 2766 travelling City fans.

I don’t think that’s bad for a club like ours? 

 

Two days off work? For an away game, in England? 

10 minutes ago, billywedlock said:

Go check out the Ipswich away following last time in the Championship . I get what you are trying to say but the facts don’t match the theory in the case of Ipswich. 

My point isn't only about Ipswich, it's wider than that. Please put the numbers up on here though. The "last time" they were in the Championship they were relegated. Let's put our away numbers up from 2012/13 if we're doing that.

30 minutes ago, Pezo said:

I think you might be overplaying how ingrained the support gets.

 

Yes, perhaps. But I maintain that the "tradition" in Ipswich of going to support the club (especially away) is stronger there than it is in Bristol. Even after all this time. And my theory for why this is so is that Ipswich won shiny silver cups in the 60s, 70s and 80s, cups that every club in the country - Liverpool, Manchester United, every club - wanted to win (ie not the Sherpa Van or L1 title), and they were regularly on Match of the Day playing attractive, winning football. 

Meanwhile, we were mostly bobbing between Div 3 and Div 2 (not scoring many goals in the latter).

That tradition, of "going to the match," of going away "with the boys," is more ingrained, even now, in Ipswich, than it is here. Our equivalent of Ipswich to MK, a trip of about 100 miles I think, and a huge away end, could be Coventry. We take a good following there, certainly, but not 6000. 

I'm not mocking anyone for that, merely trying to point out the difference between a club like ours, and clubs with greater success in their past.

1 hour ago, Numero Uno said:

How you can be that patronising against your own club astounds me. You would seriously be better off following Ipswich if that diatribe is the way you feel about it. In addition mocking people for not travelling three and a half hours and paying £40 to get in is a bit much too, in fact it’s out of order.

Didn't intend to antagonise, just a bit of a late night ramble in an attempt to say why we wouldn't take a following like that were we midtable in L1 and/or some way below our "natural" place in the pyramid. As I see it.

It's an anti "we're by far the greatest team, the world has ever seen" "we're massive" point of view. I don't see it as "patronising," just telling it "like it is," or as it is to me.

We're just not that into Bristol City, the way some other fans at certain other clubs are into their clubs, because, in my opinion, unlike them we have been spectacularly unsuccessful for 99% of our history, and so we shouldn't compare ourselves to clubs with great followings (which I think some might, reading Graham's OP, and possibly feel bad about ourselves, Ipswich being "beneath" us these days, a mere L1 club, and a bit of a "thing" to some currently due to MA).

9 hours ago, Sweeneys Penalties said:

may/may not have been the same time, but I was on a coach to Leyton Orient late 80's/early 90's and that coach got lost and eventually turned up at Half Time. Beryl's face was a picture when she saw what had happened. To be fair to the O's, their programme sellers negotiated with the Police on our behalf and then we went in for half a game for half price 

We got there early enough to 'ave a bit of a knees up on 'ackney Marshes v a team of Orient fanzine geezer fans for the 1990 game. If I remember kreckly @GrahamC was there too, goal-hanging up front and not pressing the Cockernee back four much, and @77 punk did a man-marking job on the one in their team who had a changing room to herself (I assume). Not in a pervy way, to be fair, more of a "if I stick near her I won't get embarrassed too much" kind of way. @Merrick's Marvels was likely involved too, and @British Steel. Possibly @Huntstile Red too, tagging along, and hogging the ball in midfield / dishing out some "bants" / bringing some Bez type vibes to things. Those were the days ....

We should organise a re-match (and take a defibrillator with us)

40 minutes ago, cidered abroad said:

City took around five thousand to MK in Cotterill's promotion season. I know, because I have as there.

Yes, sir. I know. When we were winning every week. How many went the season before that, or the season after? How many will go next time? Add them all up, then divide by 4 and you've got a more realistic idea of our away following.

You might as well say we took 42,000 to Walsall in 2015. 

29 minutes ago, Numero Uno said:

I'm not knocking the Ipswich support, far from it. Did they take 6,850 to MK last season? You can make that comparison with any club even clubs with the "quality of tradition" of Ipswich!! How many did they bring the last time they came to the Gate? I don't recall it being thousands whereas Newcastle pretty much sell out every time.

All I'm saying is that Ipswich are a "great" club in English football, and we are not. It's only the "great" clubs that can muster a following like this when they are relatively shite, by their standards. 

When Ipswich got to the top division, they achieved "great" things, great civic pride was fostered, great crowds attended. A tradition was laid down, and traditions in football tend to endure. Ipswich were even admired and respected far beyond their local area.

When we got to the top division for the only time in living memory, we were "workmanlike" and battled against relegation for three of the four seasons. No-one outside of Bristol remembers that team, less still admired it. It was a team, like all Bristol City teams, only Bristol City fans could love.

Like the Freight Sherpa Johnson Paintball Trophy, the Anglo-Scottish cup did nothing for "civic pride," and nothing for our away following 40 years later.

We are a club with a "big day out" away following, taking 25,000 to Coventry in 1977, a bit more than Rovers took to Anfield in 94, 9000 to Forest in 89, 8000 to Man City in 2018, 5000 to Sheffield Wednesday when on a record breaking club run, 5000 to MK Don's when running away at the top of the table (how many went to Bradford the night we were promoted though?) or 42,000 to Wembley.

Get to the Prem and play Burnley on a Monday night though, how many go to that? There'll be room on Coach 2, and you know it.

We have our tradition, but it's a smallish club tradition, a Division 3/Division 2/Division 3 tradition, "big day out/ up-for-the-cup big following" - nothing to be ashamed of given our modest/pathetic record over 100 years but never going to be like yer Wolves, yer Pompeys, yer (clubs that won something big once and so mean something to their local area).

In the 1970s and early 80s, little boys around the country wore Ipswich kits and pretended to be Terry Butcher, Arnold Muhren and Paul Mariner; no little boys beyond Bristol ever wore that Umbro City shirt and pretended to be David Rogers, Gueert Meijer or Tom Ritchie, sadly. We're just not in that league of historic, heritage, aristocratic clubs, unfortunately, and so we'll only ever take 6,850 to an away league game the day we get promoted to the Prem (just so long as it's a weekend game not midweek, and not too far north of Birmingham or east of London, or they charge the sort of money Sheffield Wednesday wanted that day in 2015 and everyone decided it was too much).

23 minutes ago, Numero Uno said:

Nailed it tbf. You could only ever imagine in your very wildest dreams a poxy little history-less club like us mustering up enough interest to even take 5K to Milton Keynes in League 1 or 180 miles away for that matter to a club like Sheffield Wednesday in League 1 (can't think why they entered my head). I mean, it would NEVER EVER happen would it?

I get giving others credit where it's due and that Ipswich support today certainly deserves that but why the **** would you do us down when facts prove otherwise? Just don't understand it.

Ipswich are ninth in L1, we were top. Sheffield Wednesday we were flying, too. How many would we take to MK if we were ninth in L1? How many do we take to Sheffield Wednesday as a rule?

On 10/02/2022 at 19:59, Merrick's Marvels said:

Not watched any of that netflix stuff. But their fanzine was one of my favourites, back in the day. And Jonathan Wilson of course. So not all bad. And little of the delusional entitlement found on the other side of the Tyne. 

I still have original 1980s copies of the somewhat sober and serious "Wise Men Say (Johnson Out)" If you'd like to buy

2 hours ago, Alex_BCFC said:

I think we are safe already. Can’t see us being much higher than where we are right now. 13th or 14th will be fine as long as we keep on involving the kids and prepare for next season. 

Yes, and all the Nige-haters be warned now: next season is all about preparing for the season after that.

17 minutes ago, Red DNA said:

Treacle was ok but condensed milk was / is so much better . 

To wade through?

11 minutes ago, Major Isewater said:

Not unlike football ‘ supporters ‘ to write off a young player prematurely is it? 

Certainty, old chap, certainty, that's what we all crave and need as much of as we can grasp on this uncertain, fragile planet. 

28 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

No, not yet another thread about Mark Ashton.

They were away to MK today (which is 100 miles each way) & took 6,850 fans.

Big ground with plenty of space but that’s incredible support, so fair play.

Only clubs that at some point in their history have been truly successful at the top level (ie not grim struggles against relegation from the top, and not promotions from L1 and Sherpa Van cups) have that level of interest, and that quality of tradition, handed down from one generation to the next, regardless of current status and regardless of the number of years since their glory days.

We're not in that category of club and never will be. No-one outside of Bristol remembers our Anglo-Scottish cup win, except for Alec Ferguson. 

11 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

Ipswich fan on Twitter a week or so ago said he ran like he was wading through treacle,

Yep.

For any young people browsing on here (unlikely, but just in case) treacle is a thick, sticky, gooey sugary gooey thing your grandparents used to eat in the 1970s, and when they were wading through it it was not very easy, and exhausting.

3 hours ago, Super said:

Best i would say Man United we outplayed a very good team full of internationals.

They had 55% possession that night. We had 11 shots and 6 on target, they had 19 and 5. I think they hit the post first half, at 0:0.

We definitely outscored them, and scored by far the quality goals, but "outplayed" them is a figment of your fertile imagination I would say. But don't let me get in the way of that, I'm sure I won't. You remember it as you please!

He doesn't appear to be much of a "January, February, March" sort of manager. I can see him working next in the southern hemisphere, Boca Juniors perhaps. Or Santos. Mind, he still won't get them promoted. 

2 hours ago, BTRFTG said:

To those still not getting why Sunderland acted as they did, let's put in terms you may understand.

There are two types in life: those who pay to take their perfectly performing cars in for service and those who think it wiser to save money and act only when the warning lights appear. They're easy to distinguish, the former putting miles very quickly between themselves and the latter who await rescue on the hard shoulder.

What about me - I don't drive?

11 hours ago, The Horse With No Name said:

Can you remember whether Harfords goal was a  shot or a header. I remember a towering header but other posters seem to think it was a shot.

We were defending a Newport corner. Mick rose at the near post and headed the ball away and it flew the length of the pitch and into the top corner, past a despairing Neville Southall, as @GrahamC will confirm.

1 minute ago, BTRFTG said:

I just hope she sang with the irony Randy Newman injected into the lyric.

Sang it like she meant it, maaaaan. 

2 hours ago, Fordy62 said:

 

I think “Pitch Personalities” is a new one on us!

Just watching Elaine Page (bird that used to sing musicals) on the telly singing 'Short People' (really), right now, and she goes:

"Short people got no reason 

Short people got no reason

Short people got no reason

To live

They got little hands

And little eyes

And they walk around

Tellin' great big lies ..... "

6 minutes ago, TomF said:

A top 10 finish next season will be progress imo 

That's good, but a bit dull. Try something more outlandish, like Silvia's doing here (taking the forum off somewhere different /livelier this evening)

7 minutes ago, Bcfc3660 said:

Sky Sports highlights of todays game

https://www.skysports.com/football/preston-north-end-vs-bristol-city/report/447684

We played well but most of the write up is about PNE. The highlights show us in a good light but for a neutral just reading the write up…

This happens a lot. If we win the other team were unlucky. If the other team win the only mention we get is who they were playing.

It pi55es me off! 

 

Preston are in the "not famous anymore" category. We're in the "meh, beige" category. We've been shite for 100 years, it's not the media, it's us! We're not interesting. It's our responsibility to be interesting, not sky's to be interested in us (when we're not interesting).

We were interesting for three months in 2017/18, and media were all over us (pissing off fans elsewhere) before quickly returning to our usual dull, shite, beige shiteness. Which isn’t of any great interest to sky or anyone else outside Bristol (and most people within it).

1 hour ago, bexhill reds said:

Sure, but I think you’ve got to look at the overall. Klose was excellent, Kalas looked even better beside him, Semenyo, HNM, Scott and Dasilva were excellent, Williams also very good when he came on.

Perhaps the final substitution with Cundy (nothing to do with him) coming on caused a loss of focus right and the end, but that is being really picky.

Overall a decent result and one most would have taken pre-kick off. But for some dodgy finishing and actually getting a penalty that could have been comfortable. 
 

This lot are getting my juices flowing. 

 

Long may they flow, Bex.