City oz

4 minutes ago, BTRFTG said:

This crops up every year and amazes me the difference between those who were there at the time so recall what happened and those younger who now lionize 8 'martyrs' who are nothing of the sort. I've previously referenced the excellent history of the PFA that covers our decline in detail, so worthy to recall the facts:

The 8 were never "forced" to sign away their contracts or livelihoods, they tore nothing up, they mutually agreed to terminate their contracts voluntarily and in doing so were given (gratis) their registrations to trade. The fact they struggled to find careers at other clubs says more of them than the club;

They didn't leave without compensation, the 8 shared circa £100k in compensation (a pretty sum in those days, not all of which was taxable.) In 1982 £12,500 would have gone a long way to buying a house in Bristol;

The 8 could have held onto their contracts and become creditors and left with nothing - they didn't. Sadly, quite a few local suppliers to the club did go unpaid and it's to them we owe a debt - they got now't but grief from some fans. Remember, too, the other City employees who were laid off without compensation, save of nobody does appreciate their nameless sacrifice;

The fact few of the 8 went on to have further careers in football had everything to do with the fact they were either past it, not very good or both (which beggars why they were on such long contracts in the first place?)

Several were vocal and highly critical of the club and remained so for years afterwards, blaming many of their future ills and mistakes on this one event. Contrast the spate of redundancies around Bristol at the time, many associated with the decline of the docks and supporting industries with few of those impacted, including many City supporters, receiving nowhere near such level of support from their employers. It was therefore no great surprise the 8's initial 'testimonial' wasn't that well supported.

What happened to the 8 was deeply regretable, as was the impact on local creditors and the decline of the club, but the world didn't stop turning. The club exists wholly because of the actions of a few clever directors who saw a way forward and executed their plan. It's to them, not the 8, we owe thanks each week.

 

 

 

I was in my teens then and always remember the famous 8 that saved the club. Sweeney, Rodgers (what a great centre half he was) Aitken, Garland, Tainton ( great on the right wing) Jimmy Mann, Marshall and Sir Geoff our Captain. We do owe them big time 

On 13/10/2019 at 01:19, mozo said:

After Eliud Kipchoge's incredible achievement this morning, today is probably a good day to see how many runners we have on OTIB. 

Do you run? If so, what have you done, what do you have planned? 

Let's talk running...

My quickest run was about twenty meters about ten years ago. We were at a remote location in the Northern Territory of Australia. One shop, one pub with a bottle shop. The locals are not allowed within 100 meters of the bottle shop for obvious reasons if you are aware of the indigenous communities in these remote locations. Usually the locals will approach you as soon as they see you with a green slab of beer on your shoulder (Victoria bitter cans) we walked out of the bottle shop one night the two of us waiting for them to approach and they didn’t. This was unusual and when we looked around we saw a croc about six feet long to the side of us. We ran like hell. I have never ran so fast in my life. Me and my mate drank the 24 stubbies between us afterwards.

14 hours ago, Seneca the Younger said:

I feel its a valid point & suggestion, a lot of pork on Otib tonight 

Totally agree. English woman’s super league is getting stronger and stronger and does deserve some merits. I posted three months ago about the quality of a player playing for Perth glory and the Ozzie matildas team and her name his Sam Keer. Sammy is currently playing for Chelsea and if any of you get chance to google her the quality of her play is exceptional and it has even reported Chelsea paid a record fee to bring her from OZ to the uk. 

If we had a mix gender team then what a partnership she would be with Fam. Now that’s another story for another day.

With Rovers top scorer out Johnson Clarke - Harris (what a mouth full ) and the loss at Bolton 2-0 I see the Rovers drawing a boring 0-0 today. Both are sitting mid way in the table and respectively Rovers on 21 points and Portsmouth on 16, I see this as a bit of an incorrect position similar to Stoke as I expect Portsmouth to be in with a shout near the end of the season.