Gerry Gows Testimonial Match

[glynriley]

How about this for an alternative viewpoint?

Why should Gerry Gow even get a testimonial?

Yes, he was a great player, during a great era for the club, and yes he's a great bloke,

but remember he went for a very good fee (at the time) and so would have received a decent signing on fee,

and a tidy wedge for his time at Man City. So he is skint now? So am I.

So how about a testimonial for Geoff Merrick and the rest of the Ashton Gate 8, who stayed 'til the end and got bum deal?

I went to 'An evening with Gerry Gow' at Bristol Manor Farm FC last year , and he explained that he was due a testimonial due to his 10 years service with the club. Before that was arranged he was sold to Man City to help ease the clubs financial troubles and even waived a loyalty payment that was due to him. The testimonial game was still due but when the old club was wound up and BCFC82 was formed , the new board said it was nothing to do with the new company. Pretty shoddy if you ask me , but at least it seems that this long overdue game is now being sorted.

It has to be at Ashton Gate though , not Clevedon , as it seems that the whole world and his wife wants to be there.

[TRL]

About time city got their act together, seems a much smaller unit can, even if it isn't on of their own. Poor effort city

See link

http://www.handstadium.co.uk/hand-events.php

[Dolman Block B]

I am confident that we could se a crowd over 12,000 should the match be played at Ashton Gate against a decent outfit

He deserves that.

[Rowley Birkin]

Talking of testimonials, I'm still furious how they treated Walshy.

He gave 16 years fantastic service on and off the pitch to the club, and he didn't even get a simple thank you from Steve Lansdown, the Chairman or a single board member for his effort, it beggars belief!

The club is classless,discourteous and don't give a flying duck about ex players,or the mugs who turn up every week, they see you as a necassary evil.

They haven't a clue what loyalty means, and how to treat people who love the club.

I've follwed City through thick and thin,(mainly thin) all over this country for over 40 years and have finally had enough, and there are plenty more like me who feel exactly the same.

I do feel sorry for McInnes as he's got to reap the Karma of what's been sown.

I do hope the Directors enjoy their trips to Wycombe,Stevenage etc season, as that's about all they're worthy of.

Football in 2012 you can stick it up your Avon Gorge !

[myol'man]

Gerry did not want to leave Bristol city but was sold due to citys up and coming money troubles and he has missed out on what really should have been given to him 20 years ago.

The Ashton gate 8 all recived 10k when leaving city and went on to play for other clubs and 3 out of the 8 have had testimonials

ie: Geoff merrick in 1980 vs DEREK DOUGAN X1.. Trevor tainton had a testimonial in 1976/77 season vs Bristol rovers...

Chris garland had a testimonial in 1993 vs Man utd....

That leaves david rogers, jimmy mann & gerry sweeney who may not have had testimonials and peter aitken and julian marshall with respect don't even come close to being testimonial candidates.

Off the top of my head players who have had testimonials are gerry sharpe, andy llewellyn, john shaw, brian tinnion, brian drysdale, rob newman, terry bush, steve phillips, dave merrington, jack connor, les bardsley, buster footman, gordon parr, john ateyo and paul cheesley..

There could well be more (add if you think of any more), 4 other players i'd say deserve a testimonial for service given etc gerry sweeney, tom ritchie, louis carey and scott murray but i don't think it's too much to ask to add Gerry gow to those names who have already been given a testimonial during their time here at city.

I went to 'An evening with Gerry Gow' at Bristol Manor Farm FC last year , and he explained that he was due a testimonial due to his 10 years service with the club. Before that was arranged he was sold to Man City to help ease the clubs financial troubles and even waived a loyalty payment that was due to him. The testimonial game was still due but when the old club was wound up and BCFC82 was formed , the new board said it was nothing to do with the new company. Pretty shoddy if you ask me , but at least it seems that this long overdue game is now being sorted.

It has to be at Ashton Gate though , not Clevedon , as it seems that the whole world and his wife wants to be there.

Thanks for your answers guys. I know understand why Gerry should get his big day

[simonwheeler]

Talking of testimonials, I'm still furious how they treated Walshy.

He gave 16 years fantastic service on and off the pitch to the club, and he didn't even get a simple thank you from Steve Lansdown, the Chairman or a single board member for his effort, it beggars belief!

The club is classless,discourteous and don't give a flying duck about ex players,or the mugs who turn up every week, they see you as a necassary evil.

They haven't a clue what loyalty means, and how to treat people who love the club.

I've follwed City through thick and thin,(mainly thin) all over this country for over 40 years and have finally had enough, and there are plenty more like me who feel exactly the same.

I do feel sorry for McInnes as he's got to reap the Karma of what's been sown.

I do hope the Directors enjoy their trips to Wycombe,Stevenage etc season, as that's about all they're worthy of.

Football in 2012 you can stick it up your Avon Gorge !

The name Alan Walsh and shabby treatment also sprung to my mind. Heres an idea for you DL as we know you peruse this forum??? Instead of having "totally pointless" pre season friendlies against the likes of West Brom reserves, Wolves reserves, Blackpool reserves and Wycombe why dont we stage a testimonial for Walshy and another for the rest of the Ashton 8 who have never had the testimonial they so thoroughly deserved - Obviously that is after our leaders have sorted out Gerry Gow's game first.

[Portred]

Please forgive me if I'm wrong, but isn't the clubs refusal for a testimonial the reason Louis Carey left for Coventry??

[screech]

Please forgive me if I'm wrong, but isn't the clubs refusal for a testimonial the reason Louis Carey left for Coventry??

No, he left before he did his 10 years service. He left because he believed he was treated shoddily over a wages dispute if I remember, something about the local lads were not paid at the same level as players who arrived at the club through transfers.

[frenchred]

Gerry did not want to leave Bristol city but was sold due to citys up and coming money troubles and he has missed out on what really should have been given to him 20 years ago.

The Ashton gate 8 all recived 10k when leaving city and went on to play for other clubs and 3 out of the 8 have had testimonials

ie: Geoff merrick in 1980 vs DEREK DOUGAN X1.. Trevor tainton had a testimonial in 1976/77 season vs Bristol rovers...

Chris garland had a testimonial in 1993 vs Man utd....

That leaves david rogers, jimmy mann & gerry sweeney who may not have had testimonials and peter aitken and julian marshall with respect don't even come close to being testimonial candidates.

Off the top of my head players who have had testimonials are gerry sharpe, andy llewellyn, john shaw, brian tinnion, brian drysdale, rob newman, terry bush, steve phillips, dave merrington, jack connor, les bardsley, buster footman, gordon parr, john ateyo and paul cheesley..

There could well be more (add if you think of any more), 4 other players i'd say deserve a testimonial for service given etc gerry sweeney, tom ritchie, louis carey and scott murray but i don't think it's too much to ask to add Gerry gow to those names who have already been given a testimonial during their time here at city.

So let me get this right then two players who tore up their contract to save the club we all love, while earning not fantastic money as they do today dont deserve a testimonial, yet others say our current club captain who had a hisy fit over money, chased the cash at Coventry, didn;t like it so came back deserves one!

UNBELIEVABLE!!!

[cider head]

So let me get this right then two players who tore up their contract to save the club we all love, while earning not fantastic money as they do today dont deserve a testimonial, yet others say our current club captain who had a hisy fit over money, chased the cash at Coventry, didn;t like it so came back deserves one!

UNBELIEVABLE!!!

The 2 players in question were paid 10k each, as were the others (a lot of money in 1982) but JM & PA were not at the club long enough to qualify for what is a testimonial, the fact they ripped up their contracts is to be admired but to go down the road of a testimonial is a grey area as the players out of the 8 had money given to them, some already had testimonials and some not at the club long enough.

I'm all for something in the future to be done for the ashton gate eight but calling it a testimonial would not be the way foward it needs more thought and a different title.

I would also add whitehead and walsh to the list but then where do you stop when talking about names?

As for carey thats a matter of opinion if he deserves it or not but he's given city good service and back in the day of going to coventry

pushy agents do not help matters.

[frenchred]

The 2 players in question were paid 10k each, as were the others (a lot of money in 1982) but JM & PA were not at the club long enough to qualify for what is a testimonial, the fact they ripped up their contracts is to be admired but to go down the road of a testimonial is a grey area as the players out of the 8 had money given to them, some already had testimonials and some not at the club long enough.

I'm all for something in the future to be done for the ashton gate eight but calling it a testimonial would not be the way foward it needs more thought and a different title.

I would also add whitehead and walsh to the list but then where do you stop when talking about names?

As for carey thats a matter of opinion if he deserves it or not but he's given city good service and back in the day of going to coventry

pushy agents do not help matters.

Very good response and I do agree with you when it comes to the Ashton gate 8

[cider head]

Very good response and I do agree with you when it comes to the Ashton gate 8

Cheers, At the time of the AG8 in 1982 it was filled with politics on all sides so if a big event is to happen then a lot of home work needs to be done first as it would not be as straight foward as a long serving player testimonial.

Deryn Coller's story of 1982.

Around October 1981 I got in tow with a guy called Ken Sage, whose company was Called Alusage. We had a common denominator: his auditor was my auditor, Steve Gundry. He is the one person that nobody knows about, but he was the main Driving force behind saving Bristol city. He said to me, ‘’I want you to meet a guy called Ken Sage. He’s got this thing about Bristol city. He’s really cheesed off with what’s happening. He’s a dyed-in-the-wool Bristolian, He thinks the club is very badly managed.’’

I went along to have a chat with him, and I found he had visions. One of them was to return the club to the people, as opposed to the board. The board at the time held solid control, and if anyone outside it had an idea, it did not stand a chance. He wanted to change it all, but he also thought that the club was up the spout financially. I was a share holder at the time – I owned £500 worth of shares, about ½ % . There was a group at the time called Alternate Bristol city or something or other and we met them in the Dragonora hotel around about September or October. They had great ideas but with no substance. What the meeting did though was prompt Ken and myself to see if there were enough people out there who wanted a change, so we thought, we’ll try and change it. Ken was not a shareholder at the time.

I went along to the club’s AGM around about October, and you did not need to be Brain of Britain to see the club was in the proverbial. I asked a few pertinent questions and, as with all people that have the temerity to stand up and question the board, they gave you the answers they wanted to give you. Somehow I managed to get my feet inside the door, and in a corner I asked Archie Gooch, who was a gentle man, whether he didn’t think the club was in more trouble than he actually knew? We agreed to pay for an independent financial report, which was conducted by Arthur Young McClelland Moores, of which Steve Gandry happened to be an employee. They came up with an enormous debt, which we all knew was there but had been hidden.

They formulated a resue plan which was quite simple: from a new company; Place a moratorium on the creditors; unload your biggest liabilities. The accountant said you might be able to struggle on if you get rid of your liabilities. Terry boyle, Jan mollar and Mick Hartford were players who had value. So the rescue plan was: Do a deal with the creditors; do a deal with the Football league (for whom this was a New situation) ; do a deal with the old company on the sale of the ground ; and do a Deal with the eight players who comprised a large slice of the liabilities.

All of them were equally important. The company could not afford the eight players. Understandably Alan Dicks had tied them up on lucrative contracts based on First Division wages and the club was in the Third Division at the time. Every week we were losing another £1,000 – a lot of money in those days. A lot of people hold the Ashton Gate Eight up as saviours and to some extent they were. If they had not torn up their contracts the club would have folded. But if the club had folded they would have got nothing, not a carrot. The rescue plan was based on how much money was going to be paid out in the next twelve months. What you’ve got to bear in mind is the new club had nothing, not a penny. All it had was what the seven directors had put in, which was about £10,000 each. And around £50,000 of that had to go to the Football League as a guarantee, so the working capital was about £20,000. We were living from hand to mouth, week in week out. Often we had board meetings where we all had to stick £300 in the pot, put it in the club, and the club would buy this or that or pay wages. The Ashton Gate Eight all walked out with around £10,000 each and if they had not taken it the club would have gone down and the other staff would have lost their jobs. Whilst they made a sacrifice, a guy said to me once, ‘’your first loss is your best loss’’, to which was their contracts, they would have taken a bigger loss. And I think that at the end of the day Gordan Taylor of the Professional Footballers Association realised it was not brinkmanship or gamesmanship, but this was real. If they didn’t do a deal at 12 o’clock then he’s going to have to deal with the contracts of god knows how many creditors.

It was the first ever case of it’s kind and the Football League wouldn’t allow it to happen Again. It was a very good scheme to save the club. You talk about the Ashton Gate Eight, but there were a lot more people in Bristol who took a hit than just them. A lot of the creditors had to accept 10p, 15p, 20p in the pound, and they did it without whinging. A lot of them were pragmatic and said, we’ll take 20p, because we know what the Alternative is. By doing what we did the creditors got 19.9p more than they would have got if the club went belly up.

We were surprised at the level of debt, though not the overall tenor of the report, We were surprised at the level at which it was bust, but we knew it was bust. I do not belive Alan Dicks was responsible. My view is the buck always stops at the board, The board, Individually and collectively, had to be responsible for the decline of Bristol City. The report came out just before Christmas 1981. Ken and I met the directors and suggested certain routes they could follow, one being the BCFC (1982) Plc route. The directors realised they were in ‘no win’ land. It was almost relief for them that other people were prepared to take over. They cogitated for four or five days and agreed. Then we all had to find £12,500 each, as a minimum of £50,000 is needed to launch a new plc. We had to find two more people, who were Ivor Williams and Leslie Kew, and we formed a company. And of course we had the Ashton Gate Eight business to deal with, which went to the wire, becuse Gordan Taylor and his advisers belived it was a double bluff. But the one thing I know to be true, at one minute past 12 on Wednesday 3rd February, that the club was

going in to liquidation if the players had not signed that document. We were on deadlines as well. The Football League wanted guarantees which we couldn’t give paying those wages The club would not nescessarily have gone down at a minute past 12. Ken Sage and myself And the other two directors would have walked away, because we knew that we were on a hiding to nothing. There was no way the club could have been saved. It might have struggled along for another four to eight days, but it would have gone bust.

I was under a lot of stress, I nearly lost my house and my job. My marriage came close to finishing. I was doing eighteen hour days at city, as was Ken. We finished one particular board meeting at half past four in the morning. And I came home and my wife said to me, ‘’where have you been?’’ And I said, ‘’At a board meeting.’’ And she said ‘’Nobody works until half past four in the morning’’. And she thought that I was out with some floozy somewhere…….. This was during the crisis Which went on for months. BCFC 1982 started in Februrary, but we had to deal with the Ashton Gate Eight, the Football League, and acquire the ground through a share issue.

We closed the share issue out, because we heard rumours that Osbourne Clarke – [bristol based solicitors] was about to buy the million pounds worth of shares on offer. We also heard a rumour that the old Bristol stadium company, the greyhound people, wanted to develop their site [at Eastville stadium, now Ikea store] and were also looking at Ashton Gate, and through the share issue would acquire the ground and make Bristol City a tenant. So we had to close the share issue early, and the only way we could do that was to put in another £25,000 each, before, Osbourne Clarke got their mits on it.

David Russe put in £15,000 and he didn’t want to sit on the board or anything; he just said, I’ll do it. Bob Boyd put some money in; also Bob Marshall, John Pontin, and Des Williams… The amount of times that we had a board meeting where we needed to pay a bill of just £600; so the directors would put £75 or so each in the pot to pay that bill, and that happened more times than I cared to remember. It doesn’t seem like much now ---- but it was a lot of money in those days. My total commitment in to Bristol City for the first six months was over £70,000 which was all I ever had in the world and I kept it from my wife , because she would have gone absolutely ape, if she had known. She did find out Subsequently and went absolutely ape….

The first type friends of Bristol city groups were with John Southern and Alan Williams. They collected around £4,000 after writing to all the secretaries of local football clubs, and That made an enormous difference. A lot of people rallied round in very, very small ways, But those small ways made a big impact. You’ve got to put in mind that if you go home at night, open the fridge and there is nothing there to eat, unless someone comes round with a bowl of cornflakes, or someone brings you an egg and a piece of bacon, you can’t have break-fast in the morning.

AND THAT IS HOW IT WAS.

[Jordan Tansley]

thanks for posting that, CH. great read.

[cider head]

thanks for posting that, CH. great read.

No probs, tiz long winded (sorry gerry gow fans) but good for fans to read up on...

To say the gate 8 left with nothing and on the dole was not strictly true. All found other clubs, Jimmy mann went to Barnsley, Julian marshall went to Blackburn rovers, Trevor tainton and David rogers joined Torquay united, Gerry sweeney and Peter aitken went to York city, Geoff merrick and Chris garland flew out to Hong kong for a spell, Garland flew back briefly to play for city on a match by match basis the following season, Sweeney went on to become assistant manager at Walsall and later back at Ashton gate but Merrick retired a season later.

A special match was played for the Ashton gate eight at Ashton gate between Ipswich town and Southampton. A crowd of 6,020 helped raise gate sum of £82,750 shared between them.

About 1982...

It is now 30 years since City found themselves in a finacial situation which nearly forced the club out of buisness.

Many younger fans will not remember, others have forgotten, how bad the situation was. The facts were that city owed

£850,000 more than the value of their assets. The total debts included £500,000 to players, £12,000 to the inland revenue, £80,000 to customs and excise (for VAT) and over £120,000 in unpaid transfer fees. On the field things were just as bad, successive relegation found the club at the foot of the old Third division, heading for the Fourth. Gates were down to below 5,000 and morale was rock bottom. The situation was brought to a head by a spell of bad weather which meant that the club had no revenue at all from gate receipts, the only money coming in was from the lottery.

It soon became apparent that in order for the club to survive then eight senior players would have to tear up sizable contracts. In total the eight were owed £290,000 and at the 11th hour they accepted a payment of some £100,000. The following saturday City were at home to division pace setters Fulham, giving debuts to several youngsters including 18 year old Rob newman, the 0-0 result was a credit to all those who played. The attendance was some 9,000 and was by far the highest for a league game so far that season, and it was reported that the fans created an atmosphere suggesting that there was three times that number present.

The lessons from the near disaster would suggest the club had learnt by the club, perhaps too well. Before steve lansdown days there appeared to be a reluctance to ''speculate to accumalate'', a constant frustration to success hungry fans. However what all supporters of Bristol city should remember is that at one stage of the 82 drama a bid was put in by Martin flook and Barry bradshaw, the Chairman and vice Chairman of Bristol rovers, to purchase Ashton gate for £450,000. If this bid had been successful then, as today, there would be one team in Bristol playing at Ashton gate, only it wouldn't be Bristol City.

Bristol City 82

Further to this excellent article from The Swiss Ramble about Bristol City’s financials, it seemed relevant to post the following, which details some of the issues encountered by Roy Hodgson and Bob Houghton at Bristol City in the early 80s. The following was initially published in the latest Fulham Review (continues after the jump).

In 1978 the English PFA won freedom of contract for its players. Previously all control had been with the clubs, but now any player whose contract was over could force a transfer, whether his existing club agreed or not. Bristol City, then a first division team, lost a young player called Gary Collier to Coventry City this fashion, and manager Alan Dicks reacted by signing six players to eleven year contracts. Dicks reasoned that the long contract would give the club absolute control over its players, who could still be sold should the need arise.

In 1979-80 the club finished third from bottom of the old first division and were relegated. To take them back up they hired a young manager with a growing reputation: Bob Houghton. Houghton, of course, turned to his old friend, Roy Hodgson. “If Halmstad had still been in the European Cup I might have had difficulty in getting my release to come to Bristol and join Bob,” said Hodgson. “But the Swedish season only had another three weeks to run. Although I had a contract for another year, I wanted to make the break. Bob even asked me whether I would come to Bristol before he got the job.”

At this point Hodgson had been on the verge of moving to Dallas in the USA, having organised a meeting with the backers of the Dallas Tornadoes football club. But the Bristol offer changed his plans: “I would have made a lot more money there but, like Bob, I wanted to prove myself in England. After five years I had to decide whether to stay on in Sweden, where I was well known, for another five or ten years, or to make a break and try elsewhere. Bristol City seems well organised so I hope to be able to concentrate on the coaching side with Bob.”

Houghton and Hodgson really didn’t know what they were letting themselves in for. Relegation from the first division had caused gates (then a club’s main source of income) to drop from 18,000 to 10,000. Another relegation to division three would hit gates even harder. But Hodgson wasn’t to know what he had walked into, and continued to speak positively of his new opportunity.

“Both Bob and I had managerial experience at a young age in Sweden when we were confronted with lots of problems. My five years there offered a very good apprenticeship. This is a big club and we’re lying in a position that it totally unsatisfactory to all concerned. It is a matter of working hard. There is no magic formula. We just hope we can make the right decisions.”

It was around this time, late in 1980, when the question of Bristol City’s finances was first raised publicly. Local journalist Peter Godsiff noted that the club had been spending more than it had been bringing in for some time, and was moving in the wrong direction on the pitch, a dangerous combination. Indeed, Godsiff calculated that City’s operating costs were around five times its gate receipts.

Deryn Collar, a local businessman, went to the club’s AGM and noted that “you did not need to be Brain of Britain to see that the club was in the proverbial.” Collar organised an independent financial report and learned that the club was, as Godsiff had suspected, facing enormous debt, heretofore hidden.

Hodgson himself noted, later on: “When we came the club was rock bottom and the first thing we had to do was sell players. We ended up with a junior team playing in a league of men.” However, “we were not made aware of the situation before we arrived. The club had only just been relegated from the old first division. We thought it can’t be that bad, we’ll get them promoted. We were very confident in our coaching ability and thought we could turn the club around.”

But it was not to be. At the start of the 1981-82 season (City had been relegated again in 1980-81) Houghton warned that “the club’s cash position hasn’t changed radically overnight. We’ve taken a risk to give ourselves a chance of being successful. We now hope the supporters will back us. Our future depends on crowds averaging 8,000 or more this season.” The risk in question was the £150,000 signing of Mick Harford from Newcastle United, a big buy at the time and, in hindsight, probably a reckless one.

Houghton continued: “We are looking forward to a season that will stop the rot as far as the club is concerned. Two years of relegation and an exodus of good players has been little reward for our loyal supporters.”

The 1981-82 division three season began quietly, with only 6,586 watching the side draw 2-2 with Doncaster Rovers, while 7,471 came to the 3-2 win over Plymouth Argyle. The team lost at Portsmouth, prompting Houghton to threaten wholesale changes (“if things don’t improve I will bring young reserve players into the side”). Houghton was then linked with the Sweden international job, but was clear in his intentions: “I am very optimistic about Bristol City’s future. I returned to England 10 months ago because I wanted to become a successful manager in the Football League. Nothing has yet persuaded me to consider changing course.”

It would only be a matter of time.

For the visit of Reading, Houghton (showing extraordinary prescience) used his programme notes to complain about the way Match of the Day’s coverage was devaluing football: “the only selling factor for them these days is goals. A goalless game [Match of the Day had come to the Bristol City v Preston North End game a week earlier – attendance down to 5,389, “the lowest since the war”] especially a third division match, means that rather than a presentation of the match and 90 minutes on the park, they are more interested in the sensationalism and ask questions about whether managers should get the sack. It underlines the disappointing fact that televised football presented these days is unbalanced and is more involved in the personality cult in a quest for the next sensation.”

The plans for regular 8,000 attendances were going badly awry, as only 5,006 watched City beat Reading 2-0 in late October, at which point the team was in a safeish mid-table position. But money was running out, and the club sold young striker Kevin Mabbutt to Crystal Palace for £100,000, receiving defender Terry Boyle in exchange. The management had had high hopes for the Mabbutt/Harford partnership, and to see it dissolved so quickly must have been a huge disappointment.

At this point the club came clean, informing shareholders that it had made a loss of £400,000 in the preceding year, and that present losses were somewhere between £3,000 and £4,000 a week. Winger Clive Whitehead was sold to West Bromwich Albion for £100,000, and a new shirt sponsorship deal brought in £20,000. A new director, Leslie Kew, loaned the club £50,000.

But on the pitch the slide continued, with only five of 16 games won. Chairman Archie Gooch appealed to supporters for help. The 28 November programme noted that “he [Gooch] is looking for any ideas from people interested in the future of the club to help solve the acute financial problems.” Gooch was consigned to his bed soon afterwards, ordered by doctors to “slow down”. The club’s problems were taking their toll.

It got worse. Only 4,862 turned up to see City lose 3-2 at home to Burnley; 2,900 came to see an FA Cup 2nd round win over Northampton. Two directors resigned, and the aforementioned independent enquiry began. Gooch, fighting on, announced that he hoped to launch a £1,000,000 share issue in February. Now only four clubs had fewer league points than City, and a remarkable third consecutive relegation grew more and more likely.

In his programme notes, Houghton ended 1981 with a sombre sign-off:

“Relegation and a continuing financial crisis has left everybody deflated. I am sure I speak for the players, the staff, the directors, and perhaps most of all you, the supporters, when I say that our New Year resolution must be for a brighter, happier 1982. We all hope the year to come will help erase the memories of certainly the worst year I have ever had in football, and probably one of the worst the club has experienced.”

Then he resigned.

The club communicated the situation:

“Applications have been invited for the position of manager in succession to Bob Houghton, who resigned just before Christmas. The announcement was only made public after the last home match here against Wimbledon. Mr Houghton only signed a three year contract last March, so his decisions to leave came as a major surprise to everyone at the club. His assistant Roy Hodgson has taken over on a temporary basis, and made a magnificent start when he took the side to Peterborough and returned with a 1-0 victory.

“There has been considerable speculation about the identity of the club’s next manager, but Chairman Archie Gooch does not want to make a hasty appointment. One of the candidates for the vacancy will be Mr Hodgson. Roy understands the position and he is a very capable man and will be considered with others. My hope is that in the next few weeks the players will back Roy up and he gets success. Maybe then he’ll be the appointment.”

Hodgson’s first programme notes led with his mixed feelings about the circumstances surrounding his appointment.

“The pleasure from being given the opportunity of writing the manager’s column for the first time is tinged with personal regret that Bob Houghton has seen fit to resign. There are many people at Ashton Gate who realise the hard work and effort put in during his 15 months here. He worked for the long-term future of the club and made many personal sacrifices to keep the club going through a difficult period.”

Hodgson had only been in charge a short time before the Football League imposed a selling ban on the club, which still owed Newcastle United £100,000 of the £150,000 Mick Harford fee. At this point the club revealed that eight senior players must leave, so as to save money and stave off liquidation. These players, some of whom were on Alan Dicks’ long term deals and therefore would have been entitled to significant payoffs, became known as the Ashton Gate Eight.

The players were offered £58,000 between them in compensation, far less than the value of their remaining contracts. They were, very reasonably, not sure about this, but the club by now had an annual salary bill of £350,000, was losing £4,000 a week, and was somewhere north of £700,000 in debt. Something had to give.

The Ashton Gate Eight were, perhaps rightly, cast as heroes for eventually accepting this contract cancellation. Had they not agreed Bristol City would certainly have been in deeper debt, and would have had one more problem to worry about. As it was, many of the players in question felt that they didn’t have a lot of choice: if they stayed and the club went under they wouldn’t have received anything at all. So they left Bristol City, which, with Deryn Collar at the helm was about to be re-formed as a new company.

The news was coming thick and fast:

A STATEMENT FROM THE DIRECTORS OF B.C.F.C. (1982) LTD

It has been a difficult and worrying week for us all but here we are, B.C.F.C. (1982) Ltd. Quite a mouth-full!

We would like to think that it will still be known as Bristol City – The Robins. This could be the start of a new era. The last few weeks have been the most traumatic for everyone concerned with Bristol City Football Club, management, the players, the staff and the directors have been under great pressure but at the deadline hour of 12noon on Wednesday 3rd February the players co-operated and have given this great club a real chance of survival. We now need your support, bring your families, friends and neighbours to cheer your team. Many young faces will be on show, they need your vocal support. The new Board of Directors will work to their full capacity on your behalf. Remember, it is your club and we have the responsibility to look after it for you. Thank you for spending your Saturday with us, we look forward to seeing you much more. There is nothing to be gained from looking at the past – we have to look to the future and for the first time for many years this is bright and glowing as it has ever been. However, let there be no complacency, the club is dependent on the support. SUPPORT AND WATCH YOUR CLUB – IT’s GOING PLACES.

Roy Hodgson’s take:

“Everyone at the club was uncertain about the future and the game at Newport was played under the shadow of redundancies and closure of the club. It was hardly the ideal preparation and I must admit I was a little worried about how the players would react as we were going across the Severn Bridge.”

City were now only above the relegation places on goal difference. Hodgson himself noted that “Unless we get a couple of experienced players soon, I don’t give us much chance of avoiding relegation.” City were regularly playing teenagers, and had lost two their most important players, Terry Boyle (broken jaw) and Peter Devine (broken leg) to injury.

When you’re down, you’re down, and the Football League threw another spanner in the ever-complicated works by demanding a £250,000 performance bond (presumably as a kind of deposit against future issues), money the club clearly did not have. The City board flew to League HQ to negotiate this requirement, and emerged with a compromise deal that allowed them to press on with the planned share issue, seemingly the only hope of survival. Chris Curling, the club secretary, said “It is now up to the public and supporters to show that they want a football club operating at Ashton Gate in the future. The directors have picked up the gauntlet and have challenged people interested in the future of the club to support the share issue.”

Hodgson’s notes underlined the seriousness of the position:

“Everyone at the club was shocked last Thursday to find that the share issue for which the club has been preparing assiduously for the last few weeks was once again in jeopardy. This resulted from a Telex from the Football League stipulating that the club find a very large sum of money to be lodged as a bond in case the new company could not continue to run Bristol City in the first year. Such a claim was obviously an impossible one for the new board of directors to meet.”

The club got serious, with an advert in the programme leading with:

SUPPORT BRISTOL CITY FOOTBALL CLUB. NOW. OR NEVER.

Some excerpts from the BCFC (1982) prospectus that followed:

A lack of playing success leading to relegation in two successive seasons together with criticisms which have been made at the top levels of management have meant that the speed of decline in its fortunes has been almost unprecedented.

The new company therefore sees the situation as offering the chance of a fresh start.

We are determined to strive for a number of key objectives:

One – strict financial management

Two – shorter player contracts

Three – Strengthened youth policy

Four – a stress on attacking football

Five – matches to be good value. Reduced admission prices, etc

Six – Improved communications from the club

Seven – Alternative (profitable) uses of Ashton Gate

Eight – reversion to red and white, the club’s traditional colours

The new club needs to raise minimum funds of £600,000 to purchase the Ashton Gate ground, and to acquire other assets. A significant part of these funds must come from the share issue which should appeal not only to supporters but also to those interested in maintaining prestige and pride in the City of Bristol.

If the share issue fails to achieve sufficient support the chance of Bristol City surviving as a Football League club would be negligible. The Ashton Gate stadium might well be demolished to make way for building development.

In the next issue of the programme, before the April 6th game against Carlisle United, there are no notes from Hodgson. The club had lost six games in a row, including a 1-0 defeat in Chesterfield for which City had only 12 available players, three of whom were recovering from the flu, and had sold Mick Harford to Birmingham City for £122,000. Star goalkeeper Jan Moller had also been moved on, to Toronto Blizzards for £85,000.

In a column that might be filed under “deckchairs, rearranging”, Hodgson focused on the Harford sale in his next programme notes column, explaining to the fans why this would necessitate a change in the team’s playing style:

“I do think it is worth explaining a little about tactical formations and playing style as this is an area where there is much misunderstanding and certainly an area where people have been misled by some of the things they see and read.

“All playing styles are dependent on the players the manager or coach has to choose from. And I am sure I speak for most of my managerial colleagues when I propose that most of the styles adopted are based firstly on the relative strengths and weaknesses of the players available, and only secondly on the manager’s philosophy of the game. In recent weeks we have seen a further depletion of our staff with the departures of (goalkeeper) Jan Moller and, even more importantly, Mick Harford, who was a key figure in our attacking play.

“This has forced a change in our tactical thinking. We are obviously concerned about our lack of goals in recent matches and as time is beginning to run short we have decided to pursue a more adventurous playing style in the remaining games. This will hopefully make it easier to get players into goalscoring positions whilst making the task of defending that much more difficult.

“Against teams that play with only two players up front I shall be entrusting the task of covering them to two ‘marking players’, who will be supported by a sweeper. His job will be to cover the flick ons and support the markers if they are beaten in one-on-one situations. By then pushing the players who normally play full-back further forward to mark the opposing wide midfield players we shall have gained a man, who can play in a forward position. It concerns me that a move away from the traditional playing style our players have grown up with will be fraught with problems and that the amount of time available to sort out these problems in training is going to be limited. Perhaps we should take heart from the old cliche, nothing ventured nothing gained.”

Hodgson also stressed to the press that his team would attack at every opportunity for the rest of the season. “It is a tremendous gamble, but we have reached the point of no return.”

It didn’t pay off. The team lost 4-0, 2-1 and 3-0 in its next three matches, drew 0-0, lost 2-0, beat Gillingham 2-1 then lost 5-0 at Huddersfield and drew 0-0 at Wimbledon.

To make matters worse, the share issue failed.

Hodgson was scathing: “Once again we come to the end of a crucial week in the club’s history when the expected failure of the share issue has meant there is a large question mark hanging over the club’s league status and survival. Like everyone else I am surprised that the weight of opinion in favour of democratising the club with each shareholder having a say in running it has not provided a concrete response in terms of money invested. It would appear that the club’s critics in recent years who have been vociferous in those organisations affiliated to the club are happiest when criticising from a position of non-responsibility. When the chance has come to do something positive about altering the status quo, they have been found wanting.”

And then he was dismissed. According to the local press, he took the news with a resigned shrug, saying “it was not unexpected.” Hodgson’s return to England, his first managerial position in his home country, had ended in disaster.

On May 15th only 1,034 fans watched City beat Chester City 1-0. City went down again and Hodgson returned to Sweden.

Unless otherwise noted, all quotes from Bristol City FC Matchday programmes, seasons 1980-81 and 1981-82.

[myol'man]

Love your research CH, I'll read it in full when I have time.

[Esmond Million's Bung]

Well I have it from a reliable source (impeccable) that the club are actually dragging their heels, the feeling is they are not really interested because there is nothing in it for them, when the told that the fans really want this the reply was "that's probably why they are not that interested".

[Port Said Red]

I have it from an official source that the club are actively working on it.

#

Come on, you know that you should have your stick out ready to beat the club up about this and any other subject. If the club came out tomorrow and said we were playing Manchester City in honour of Gerry Gow, there would be people on here moaning that they should be concentrating on the league position instead of organising friendlies.

How can you call yourself a cynic when you are unable to see the negative in every story? Buck your ideas up

[Esmond Million's Bung]

I have it from an official source that the club are actively working on it.

and putting up unnecessary barriers, came from someone who will be part of the organising committee, I know who believe.

[Esmond Million's Bung]

#

Come on, you know that you should have your stick out ready to beat the club up about this and any other subject. If the club came out tomorrow and said we were playing Manchester City in honour of Gerry Gow, there would be people on here moaning that they should be concentrating on the league position instead of organising friendlies.

How can you call yourself a cynic when you are unable to see the negative in every story? Buck your ideas up

of course DMC will be given the job of organising the game won't he.

[glynriley]

of course DMC will be given the job of organising the game won't he.

By the same token , why are people so keen to hear from the board about events on the pitch ? Surely everyone moaning about silence from the club should be wanting an explanation from Del , not SL , CS or the board.

[Port Said Red]

of course DMC will be given the job of organising the game won't he.

There will be some who think so..........

[cider head]

testimonial for gerry gow has been confirmed 28th july at aston gate

source: gerry's son

https://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/13371724100/

[myol'man]

testimonial for gerry gow has been confirmed 28th july at aston gate

source: gerry's son

https://www.facebook...ps/13371724100/

testimonial for gerry gow has been confirmed 28th july at aston gate

source: gerry's son

https://www.facebook...ps/13371724100/

Who's playing?

[CiderSomerset]

Who's playing?

Got a feeling it will be against Man City after what I read in the Sunday People yesterday...

[italian dave]

Hope he can still get Shaun Goater and Jacki on that date - they'd add 1000s to the gate.

[RedZepperin]

testimonial for gerry gow has been confirmed 28th july at aston gate

source: gerry's son

https://www.facebook...ps/13371724100/

Great news.

[italian dave]

28th July now confirmedd on the OS. v Man City - it's an 'all stars/old players match so no Balotelli I'm afraid! But, better than that....JACKI said to be coming!!! That would be fantastic - and add 1000s to the gate. Also Brian Tinnion. If he can get Shaun Goater too that would be great!!