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The term "totaalvoetbal" not being employed that much, one would imagine?

No room inn the away end?

I thought it was Camberwick Green they played? Or was that way back when they were at Trumpton?

....where does it end? Where did it end? When will it end? Why did it end?

It was the worst of times. It was the worst of times. It was .... (hang on, while I google) ... the age of foolishness .... the epoch of incredulity ...... it was ... season (s) of Darkness .... winter(s) of despair .... etc, etc. For yer @Davefevs and yer other data sorts, it was ten games without a win*, and more than four years, from Gary Smart's somewhat freakish and speculative hoik from 25 yards in Jan '87 to Louie Donowa finally shutting them up in March '91. It was our worst run in Bristol derbies. It was the worst time to be a City fan, in terms of local rivalry and statistics. Some of us were heroically there for every one of those ten games without a win, as well as being "there" in 1982, and we therefore reserve the right to moan about everything and anything to do with City we feel the need to. Because we were there. From '64 to '81 we went eleven consecutive derby games without losing (League and FA cup games). We also had a ten game run of not losing to them in the 30s. We weren't all there for that. I think Joe Jordan managed us for six of that ten game run-of-shame and he never got the better of Gerry Francis but what he did do was, in his second full season as a manager, get us promoted. And Rovers had to share the headlines and the euphoria and the acclaim, because we went up at the same time as them. Then Joe's team beat them six months after he left. Although Joe had the money to spend that Francis didn't have, GF had more experience as a manager, and had failed at Exeter (always a useful experience to those able to learn from it). They had the edge in coaching at that time. It was a difficult time to be a City fan, failing to get out of the Third Division and having 5000 of them crowing like they had never crowed before (or since). It seemed to be neverending. But it didn't last. Looking back, it was only four and a bit years, about the same amount of time LJ was our head coach (not that I'm comparing the two eras). * (We won a Glos cup during this run, I do believe).

The thigh-slappin' badge, the novelty kit, the theatrical nickname, the comedy antics, it all makes me want to shout: "it's behind you!" They are a bit pantomime. "Oh no we're not" no doubt they would retort. And what would we say to that children/Otib?

I reckon Monday 24th October 1977 must've been an enjoyable morning to walk into school or work. For us lot (even if we lost at home to Arsenal that weekend).

Ben: You're always running here and there (here and there) You feel you're not wanted over there (over there) If you ever look behind (that grotto) And don't like what you find (do not touch, or pick it up) There's something you should know You've got a place to go And that place is AG and OTIBs. Ben: Most Few people would turn you away (you away) We don't listen to a word they say (it's all LIES and bullsh1t) They don't see you as we do (one win in twenty two) We wish they would try to We're sure you'd win again (they'd think again) If they had a coach like Ben, You are a one (win; given a penalty and/or a red card for the opposition) in ten, You've got a friend in us. We love you, Ben. Not "let's sleep in the same bed" love, just .... you know .....

"It's not like we were playing Reel Madrid, Geoff" opines a fellow from north of the Avon, and east of the Frome (probably). True, but it's not like you're not Bristol Rovers.

I'm thinking us and injuries is a bit like This Septic Isle and this bloody "China" virus - soon as we start playing again, we'll be picking up serious injuries like Freshers picking up the virus in their flats.

The big stand to the left at Hillsborough - knocked up for the '66 World Cup. The Dolman was designed and built shortly after the Morandi bridge in Genoa that collapsed a couple of years ago. Just saying, like...

My oh my.

It is. But we cannot go on forever saying: we're doing better than when we were shite; had a crumbling old ground; attendances of 147 to 16k; had very little income beyond season tickets and matchday tickets; were hopeless in the transfer market. Comparing ourselves now to what we were before the ground was modernised is lazy, complacent and no longer of any merit. SL won't be thinking like this, nor LJ or MA; why would you or we think like this?

1. SAG. Then nothing for a while. Before eventually 2. CARE 3. FAMILY 4. CONNECTION

The first word I saw was 8 rows down, about half way along. Truly. I can only conclude, I must be "obsessed."

Apparently, the first four words you see here reveal your subconscious mind. According to someone on twitter.

This is so pre-Covid, get with the programme fella - work from home, shop from home, exercise from home, protest from home, school from home, watch from home - get into the post-Covid, 21st century rest of your life. Going to AG is over.

Elon Musk perhaps (rumoured to have been in Bristol last week)?

Clap piping, tent erecting, boob juggling, erotica watching, fact "bending," myth peddling, plain lying, Memorial trashing, horse assaulting, minibus abusing, rival envying, ground hopping/thieving hoof ball League One parasites, then. To sum up.

Great moments from Rovers 1300 year history: Winston Churchill helps to count the number of gas sadly locked out of their first away game in London following Victory in Europe.....

I put that up by mistake. Funny, though, Bill "Artful" Dodger going on about a lack of support, and the "fickle" support, at Eastville. As the letter writer above suggests, if they had some level of home support (instead of going to away games in tens of thousand) they might've still owned Eastville, and, like, built new stands, like we have done (and almost every other football club has done), instead of burning their stands (like we also have done. Burnt their stands).

Football enjoyed it's boom years after the Second WW, lasting most of the 1950s, but then beginning to tail off and slowly decline through the 1960s (coinciding with the abolition of the maximum wage, and a widening of leisure pursuits and opportunities). There was a spike post 1966, what with us being World Cup winners and all that, with crowds going back up again, lasting two seasons, before attendances again continued to decline. Crowds shrank steadily through the 1970s, as fewer goals were scored, players were paid more and wore their hair longer (then having it permed, and blow dried) and behaved more "unsportingly," the game became more "professional" and increasingly less like it had been during the post war boom years, reaching a low point in the 1st Division in 1984. Crumbling grounds and crowd violence contributed to the decline. And unemployment and recession. People were giving the game a miss (just as we were getting our act together on the pitch). Crowds were made up of a greater proportion of young (angry) males. Attendances didn't really recover until the late 90s. We - City - missed a great opportunity to cash in on potential support by messing about in the bloody 3rd division for much of the 50s, and the lower half of the 2nd when we finally got out of the 3rd. The advent of televised football, from the mid 60s, was a great time to have a great team. Leeds United timed this perfectly (and still enjoy the benefits of this today). Liverpool did nicely from it to, as did some smaller but also successful clubs (eg Ipswich, Forest, Derby). By the time we got to the top in 1976 the game was becoming deeply unpopular, loathed by much of the rest of the country. Crowd violence at home and abroad (eg England games) helped to turn thousands of those who might be tempted into armchair viewers, if that. We missed out again by only playing top class clubs on a regular basis as football across the country began to nosedive into its greatest unpopularity. Interestingly, although Fewers like to seize upon our disappearing support through three successive relegations, the 4th division's lowest two seasons for support in its existence were the two seasons following our promotion out of it in 1984. To suffer an unprecedented "trauma" of three successive relegations and play two seasons of 4th division football at the same time as football was at it's least popular and support nationwide was at its nadir was bloody unfortunate / typical for us, and is the context that Fewers always neglect to include, or simply don't understand, when saying how massive their support was in the Banana pub league (when football's popularity, and attendances, across the country, the game and the divisions, was the polar opposite of the game in 1983 and 4). Wolves' support dropped lower than ours, when they were in the 4th in the 80s (a greater decline from bigger crowds than ours during the good times). Cardiff's attendances in the 4th were thinner still, sub 3k average in more than one season). Our support was ok, in the circumstances, more than ok, and only less than theirs, Rovers,' for one of those dismal seasons: the first season down in the 4th, when we were 92nd for a week or two. And they were a division higher than us, chasing promotion/having a good season. So, in conclusion: we're more bigger-er than Norwich; they're more bigger than Northwich.

Played alongside John Byrne, who went on to better things. They had John McPhail at the back, too; McPhail and Byrne played all 46 games that season, Walwyn 45. Managed by Denis Smith, of course, who bought Keith Houchen in the March deadline. Smith had already signed the 16 year old Marco Gabbiadini, but I don't think he played until the following season. And Ricky Sbragia was part of that York team, and that's a name that sticks.

Just as an interesting comparison betwixt us and them, from a 1970s perspective: Rovers v Tommy Doc's exciting young Man Utd + the Red Army, at Eastville, 1974/5: 19,337 City v Tommy Doc's exciting young Man Utd + the Red Army, at Ashton Gate, 1974/5: 28,104. And they wonder why we went on to do better than them? And have our own ground? And bounce back from adversity? And attract millionaires and billionaires? While they bitterly reject the notion that we are the preeminent club in this city (they did back then). But to go back to the "we're bigger than Norwich!" idea, they, Norwich, also played Tommy Doc's dashing young team that season, so let's have a look at how many turnt up there in Norfolk back then: Norwich v Tommy Doc's exciting young Man Utd + the Red Army, at Carrow Rd, 74/5: 24,586. It would appear to me, then, from a careful analysis of the numbers: City v Man Utd: 28 thousand Norwich v Man Utd: 24 thousand Rovers v Man United: 19 thousand ...that it is us! We are more bigger than Norwich, not them! Unbelievable. Who'd have thought it?! This won't go down well with the Few ("yeah, but ... we took loads to Braintree .....")

We did. But not through invitation (or officially). I don't think.