The Depressing Dominance Of The Premier League.

[BCFC@Frome]

I believe in the past the club have tried a city centre store but location last time I think was poor. The fact is unless it's in Sports Direct next to the "big" clubs then they won't get seen. It's all down to marketing and getting out there to be seen. Hopefully a sizeable area could be given to local kids football clubs to bring along it gives the kids to see some live local football and the club to build for the future. My boy who is 7 will watch football no matter who was playing but is City through and through. I coach a couple.of local kids teams and we always get the EPL shirts but all I can do is talk to theme about City and hope the subliminal messaging gets through.

People like sky & BBC will never help the FL clubs except those relegated from the top flight. So its City V the world!!!

[Red-Robbo]

To be fair I have a newphew (in law) whos whole family so say support the gas (but have never been to a game) recon I can bring him along to the city and turn him onto the right only side. That would wind the mother in law up no end.

Do it KP. The lad'll thank you for it forever.

[CotswoldRed]

Should be a legal requirement to say "I follow" if you don't go to the games live.

 

"I support" only refers to those who make the effort to get to games.

 

And you must have some family connection, or live within 20 miles of the stadium.

[Reading Red UTC]

This is an interesting thread.

I wondered if anyone has any experience of this when living away from Bristol?

My recently born nephew has both parents who are absolutely city mad. However, they live in Cambridgeshire. There are no Cambridge United shirts in the schools in the area, Being one of these London commuter places you'll see a lot of Arsenal and Chelsea shirts. I can imagine him going to his first football training session wearing his city shirt and all his mates going "who the hell are they?". I have fears that he'll just follow his mates and go for Arsenal or Chelsea. Can you force a child to support the team you want them to?

 

Similarly, I live in Southampton. I would say a very large proportion of kids in the schools support Saints which is good following the "support your local team" philosophy. When ever I have a son (not in the near future) all his mates will support saints and it will be very difficult to force him to sit in the car with me every Saturday for the 5 hour round trip when he could just jump on the bus with his mates and head to St Marys.   

[BCFC Jordan]

Unless you actively seek out watching a game, you're extremely unlikely to see anything related to City around Bristol. The lack of exposure doesn't help our cause at all. It is depressing, the amount of Premier League fans vastly outnumber City or Rovers, and they'll only ever turn up at Ashton Gate if we were to get promoted to the Premier League - and most would soon stop again if we were relegated back to the Championship.

['Orns]

This is an interesting thread.

I wondered if anyone has any experience of this when living away from Bristol?

My recently born nephew has both parents who are absolutely city mad. However, they live in Cambridgeshire. There are no Cambridge United shirts in the schools in the area, Being one of these London commuter places you'll see a lot of Arsenal and Chelsea shirts. I can imagine him going to his first football training session wearing his city shirt and all his mates going "who the hell are they?". I have fears that he'll just follow his mates and go for Arsenal or Chelsea. Can you force a child to support the team you want them to?

 

Similarly, I live in Southampton. I would say a very large proportion of kids in the schools support Saints which is good following the "support your local team" philosophy. When ever I have a son (not in the near future) all his mates will support saints and it will be very difficult to force him to sit in the car with me every Saturday for the 5 hour round trip when he could just jump on the bus with his mates and head to St Marys.   

 

If I lived in Southampton I'd have no problem if they wanted to support their local side, but the bit in bold......I'm sure he'd regret that as the years went by. The ultimate father/son thing, an afternoon at the football

 

I've got 3 girls, my eldest (11) has just asked me to take her to City for the first time. Proud moment, just started secondary school and she's proud to tell them she's a City fan. This lady is not for turning!

[MarcusX]

Another twist on this that I've always thought about when this debate comes up.

 

I'm a City fan because my dad was. I don't live in Bristol, he nor his family ever have either.

 

I imagine City being relatively successful in the mid to late 70s, and going up to Division 1 was a key factor in them choosing City. Does that mean they are glory supporters of sorts? Swindon is closer than Bristol to us after all, so technically they are our "local" team.

[cider-manc]

 

Similarly, I live in Southampton. I would say a very large proportion of kids in the schools support Saints which is good following the "support your local team" philosophy. When ever I have a son (not in the near future) all his mates will support saints and it will be very difficult to force him to sit in the car with me every Saturday for the 5 hour round trip when he could just jump on the bus with his mates and head to St Marys.   

 

I've wondered about this to. If I have kids and remain in Manchester (Well Salford nowadays...) in the same area I am now, how can I preach to support your local club and then tell them they can't support United when you can see Old Trafford out the window!

['Orns]

I've wondered about this to. If I have kids and remain in Manchester (Well Salford nowadays...) in the same area I am now, how can I preach to support your local club and then tell them they can't support United when you can see Old Trafford out the window!

 

Give it a few years and I wouldn't mind betting Salford City might be in the FL......

[CotswoldRed]

Unless you actively seek out watching a game, you're extremely unlikely to see anything related to City around Bristol. The lack of exposure doesn't help our cause at all. It is depressing, the amount of Premier League fans vastly outnumber City or Rovers, and they'll only ever turn up at Ashton Gate if we were to get promoted to the Premier League - and most would soon stop again if we were relegated back to the Championship.

 

They may outnumber us, but they are simply TV fans.  Take TV away and they are nothing at all.

 

In essence they are no more supporters of football than fans of X-factor are.

[bearded_red]

Listening to 606 on the way back from Fleetwood on Saturday they took a call at HALF-TIME in the West Ham v Liverpool game from a Liverpool 'fan' with a cockney accent who proceeded to slag off Rodgers and numerous Liverpool players.

 

Firstly this really does highlight what is wrong with so much of football nowadays. In what crazy world do you react to seeing your team losing at half-time (from the comfort of your sofa) by ringing up 5Live? Secondly why on earth does a large section of the media think that is entertaining or that the majority of us have the slightest interest in what a plastic 'fan' of a team he has no connection to thinks about them at any stage, let alone while the game is still being played.

 

It will continue to be more and more a growing concern how clubs our size and smaller will continue to exist as more and more fans grow up thinking that supporting a team means watching SkySports, buying a replica shirt and pretending that the results of a team which you have no actual emotional connection to actually matter to you. I asked someone I know that pretends to support Man Utd yesterday why the Leicester result would even bother him and after a while of failing to give me an answer all he could come up with was that similar minded Liverpool fans (i.e- ones that would struggle to point out Liverpool on a map) were able to gloat about it. Incredibly that seems to be what supporting a football team has become for so many.

 

Footballl, like Test Match Cricket in some parts of the world, could become nothing more than something that happens on TV.

[CotswoldRed]

Listening to 606 on the way back from Fleetwood on Saturday they took a call at HALF-TIME in the West Ham v Liverpool game from a Liverpool 'fan' with a cockney accent who proceeded to slag off Rodgers and numerous Liverpool players.

 

Firstly this really does highlight what is wrong with so much of football nowadays. In what crazy world do you react to seeing your team losing at half-time (from the comfort of your sofa) by ringing up 5Live? Secondly why on earth does a large section of the media think that is entertaining or that the majority of us have the slightest interest in what a plastic 'fan' of a team he has no connection to thinks about them at any stage, let alone while the game is still being played.

 

It will continue to be more and more a growing concern how clubs our size and smaller will continue to exist as more and more fans grow up thinking that supporting a team means watching SkySports, buying a replica shirt and pretending that the results of a team which you have no actual emotional connection to actually matter to you. I asked someone I know that pretends to support Man Utd yesterday why the Leicester result would even bother him and after a while of failing to give me an answer all he could come up with was that similar minded Liverpool fans (i.e- ones that would struggle to point out Liverpool on a map) were able to gloat about it. Incredibly that seems to be what supporting a football team has become for so many.

 

Footballl, like Test Match Cricket in some parts of the world, could become nothing more than something that happens on TV.

 

Nail on head Sir!

[Dorset_Cider]

My dads one...

 

pst....... wannabe adopted

[WhistleHappy]

[Welcome To The Jungle]

What about wearing a football shirt of a team you don't support or have much interest in? I like football shirts and have them for teams that may seem odd or random (for example I have both old firm kits from two seasons ago). I have no premier league shirts yet because they rarely drop enough in price but if someone offered me a Chelsea or Man U kit for a good price I might take it. 

[cider11]

What about wearing a football shirt of a team you don't support or have much interest in? I like football shirts and have them for teams that may seem odd or random (for example I have both old firm kits from two seasons ago). I have no premier league shirts yet because they rarely drop enough in price but if someone offered me a Chelsea or Man U kit for a good price I might take it.

If you're looking for random teams either domestic or foreign check out - https://www.classicfootballshirts.co.uk

I've bought quite a bit from them, including some city shirts. All been brand new, original tags and bags the ones I've bought, or there are some used.

[richwwtk]

Could there be a slightly different reason for not so many local kids supporting City than there were? If that is even the case!

 

I grew up in Weston and was never taken to the football, my father had no interest in it. Because of this I did what most kids at school did and chose a favourite team, which was usually the most successful. Until age 14 (about 1983)  I was usually a Man Utd supporter, there are family photos in which I am wearing their shirt. I also claimed to be a QPR supporter for a season or so when they came runners up in the league (1978 from memory). My grandfather was a football fan with no particular affiliation and took me to Ashton Gate in the seventies when Man Utd played there, as well as taking my brother to see Liverpool there.

 

It was around 1983 that I was taken on a school trip to Eastville (???) to watch a rovers game. I believe it was a friendly but not entirely sure. My uncle also took me to Elm Park to watch Reading at some point.

 

I had a cousin a couple of years older than me who had started to go to Ashton Gate with his friends dad, and by 1983 was old enough to go on his own with friends. I was forever badgering him to let me go with him but it wasn't until 1983-84 that he agreed. From that point on I was hooked. From several false starts on the football supporting trail my path was now determined.

 

Back to my original thoughts on this......Even back then it was the 'norm' to support one of the successful clubs. I knew hardly anyone that supported a local side. If it wasn't for my cousins friends dad taking a bunch of kids that weren't necessarily his to Ashton Gate then I may well have never ended up a City fan. Things aren't so different now, apart from I can't imagine many adults now taking along children that aren't their own, and if people only take their own kids then the fanbase is never going to genetically grow that way, it will only stay stagnant.

 

The real way to build our local fan base is to become more successful. The only way you will ever eradicate the scourge of premier shirts in Bristol is to make sure that the majority of them are Bristol City shirts.

 

As it stands this is also why I disagree with most of you and would rather see premier league shirts being worn around the area than gas shirts. Once people are lost to the dark side we will never get them back. The premier fan on the other hand will readily switch to City once we are up there and competing. The only way we will take fans from the gas is if they stay in non-league and the kids start ignoring them, even if it's a family tradition to support them. but that will take generations no matter how successful we are.

['Orns]

[Sixtyseconds]

First bus buses are being used to advertise the rugby club.

There is no BS fanny logo.

There is no Bristol City.

Time for BCFC and the BS fanny on buses.

Every young lad wants a fanny.

[Fordy62]

I made a pact with the wife.

If our first born was a boy, he'd be a city fan. If she was a girl she'd be Forest.

She was a girl.

I lied.

[WhistleHappy]

I made a pact with the wife.

If our first born was a boy, he'd be a city fan. If she was a girl she'd be Forest.

She was a girl.

I lied.

...never trust a copper eh?

[WhistleHappy]

Primary school days included the 1966 World Cup (W Cup Willie, who remembers the song? ) and mostly due to this and England's success football in the playground was massive ... (also the FA Cup was a national institution back then too, whatever happened to that?) .. Anyway apart from the national & international stars created by the WC a knock on effe. was this playground interest in football.. (prior to 66, would you believe a popular playground song/chant was war related (We Won The War in 1964 was one :laugh: ) football in all shapes and sizes was the 'in thing' & everyone, EVERYONE became either CITY or ROVERS. ....

It was a standard question when meeting potential new friends etc "are you City or Rovers?" .

Interest waned slightly when attention was diverted by the popular TV show ' The Man From Uncle' when kids could join up as 'agents' we got a id badge & card etc and went about our missions to defeat the evils of 'Thrush' - I was deployed to the Illya Kuryakin team, others were with Napolian Solo..but we were all U.N.C.LE :laugh:) ...

Then it was back to the enduring no fence sitting, we had to be either City or Rovers, - of course it was just a fleeting kids fad in Bristol though .. It was never going to last.

Yeah right, ... COME ON YOU REDS!!! ... (almost 50 years on )

Who knows what the future holds for kids now though?... Theres Only One League Team In Bristol. ... What's the question in playgrounds now? .... erm,... ' Red or Dead?'.... perhaps?

(must admit the existence of Bristol Rovers added greatly to my enjoyment of being a City fan... We hated each other but the rivalry was really good fun and in a way I feel I owe them a grudging 'thanks' for that.

Much as we all enjoy, no, relish, watching them suffer & squirm that's still a bit of the old City or Rovers thing, and may they struggle on, providing the gift that keeps on giving, surviving on a little Gas head roller coaster for years to come... I'd miss em if they finally died altogether, love the Red /Blue thing and as they get weaker the rivalry has too, its still fun but compared to the past when they had something to challenge us with on ocasions there's nothing much there anymore.. In a funny way I kind of miss em for that.

Even if we England was to win the WC again I very much doubt the National feelings for football, international, national & local could ever reach the heights of 66 ... the knock on effects of an England victory would probably be massive for a while but have a legacy & longevity of a TV fad like The Man From Uncle.

(blimey, peeps - sorry about that, wtf?... I'm off for via lie down. )

[Southport Red]

I've wondered about this to. If I have kids and remain in Manchester (Well Salford nowadays...) in the same area I am now, how can I preach to support your local club and then tell them they can't support United when you can see Old Trafford out the window!

It's not actually a dilemma then though Cider-Manc because, in that scenario, your kids would not be 'plastics'

 

If a kiddy in Salford supports United, or another in Denton support Citeh, that is fine.  They have ties, roots and an affiliation with the place.

 

For me, the interesting question is, if City ever get promoted to the Premiership and you then find yourself sat next to someone with a Birmingham, London or Geordie accent, would we label them 'plastics' or 'glory hunters' or would we just say "welcome fellow Red"?

[cider-manc]

It's not actually a dilemma then though Cider-Manc because, in that scenario, your kids would not be 'plastics'

 

If a kiddy in Salford supports United, or another in Denton support Citeh, that is fine.  They have ties, roots and an affiliation with the place.

 

For me, the interesting question is, if City ever get promoted to the Premier League and you then find yourself sat next to someone with a Birmingham, London or Geordie accent, would we label them 'plastics' or 'glory hunters' or would we just say "welcome fellow Red"?

 

 

I know you're right SR but the truth is I will be doing my utmost to brain wash them if the time ever comes! 

 

If it were me I would consider them plastics- and I would get annoyed with the fact that they were taking tickets from the likes of us who have suffered for decades (because if we were successful we would sell out every week imo). However I don't think I would be as annoyed about them as other teams plastics...... I'm the same as every football fan and have a very one sided, bias opinion towards my team.

 

To be honest I'd be more worried about being labelled a plastic! I have no SW accent and the closet any of my family are to Bristol is about an hour outside! People would start questioning me and my reply would sound as generic as the Manchester United fans in Bristol sound now! "My dad supportS them...."

 

As a side note- It amuses me that no one questions your loyalty when supporting a team outside of the Prem. Manchester United fans are regularly asked how many games they attend, yet say you support Bristol City up here and they just assume that you do go to games!

[NiceRed]

Living in London, you still see loads of Utd/Liverpool fans, despite there being 6 local Premier League teams. On Champions League nights, most pubs (unless they're very close to a London ground, I'd guess), will show the Liverpool/Utd (well, not this season for Utd) game on the main screen, with the Arsenal/Chelsea game relegated to a smaller screen. So if City ever got to the Prem, it wouldn't completely stop locals supporting bigger teams. 

 

As a few have said, I don't think this problem is any worse than it was 10/20/30 years ago. City are getting roughly the same attendances as we've always got outside the top league. A lot of kids whose Dads/Uncles don't like City/Rovers/football (my dad was a rugby fan) will support a Premier League team until they're old enough to go to games with mates. That's how I got into going to City. 

[AshtonGreat]

At the end of the day, what exactly is 'Manchester' about Man United anyway? Falcao? DiMaria? What's 'Chelsea' about Chelsea? Costa? Hazard? And what's 'Bristol' about Bristol City? Frankie Fielding? Hardly locals are they? It's not like the old days where your team was made up of 11 local lads. I love City - they're my team - but the significance of any club to its local area seems to be waning.

[WTMS]

The real way to build our local fan base is to become more successful. The only way you will ever eradicate the scourge of premier shirts in Bristol is to make sure that the majority of them are Bristol City shirts.

Yes there always hope that BCFC will become BIG, but that is failing and more kids will grow up going about their daily lives barely realising there is a football club here.

Advertising and raising awareness does work. Businesses and another sporting brand within the BS family would not do it otherwise.

Clubs abroad get their communities working with them. Being visually invisible even around BS3 cannot be blamed on a lack of success.

[Red-Robbo]

At the end of the day, what exactly is 'Manchester' about Man United anyway? Falcao? DiMaria? What's 'Chelsea' about Chelsea? Costa? Hazard? And what's 'Bristol' about Bristol City? Frankie Fielding? Hardly locals are they? It's not like the old days where your team was made up of 11 local lads. I love City - they're my team - but the significance of any club to its local area seems to be waning.

 

Bryan? Reid?

 

We've consistently fielded a few Bristolian players.

 

I don't kid myself that this isn't because we can't afford the expensive foreign imports though... 

[Major Isewater]

To be fair, it's not rocket science. It's natural for a football fan to like watching good football. Back in the 90s, I used to love watching Man United: the arrogance of Cantona, the youthful confidence of Beckham, the drive and determination (and thuggery) of Keane, the flair of Giggs. I would watch their games on TV as often as possible. And nowadays, I like to watch Barcelona on telly as often as possible, because I think Messi is a genius. If you were a basketball fan in the 70s and the Harlem Globetrotters came to Bristol, you would go to watch them and may even buy their shirt. Bury and Rochdale don't have the same appeal, frankly.

 

Do Bury or Rochdale even have basketball teams ?

[Major Isewater]

Primary school days included the 1966 World Cup (W Cup Willie, who remembers the song? ) and mostly due to this and England's success football in the playground was massive ... (also the FA Cup was a national institution back then too, whatever happened to that?) .. Anyway apart from the national & international stars created by the WC a knock on effe. was this playground interest in football.. (prior to 66, would you believe a popular playground song/chant was war related (We Won The War in 1964 was one ) football in all shapes and sizes was the 'in thing' & everyone, EVERYONE became either CITY or ROVERS. ....

It was a standard question when meeting potential new friends etc "are you City or Rovers?" .

Interest waned slightly when attention was diverted by the popular TV show ' The Man From Uncle' when kids could join up as 'agents' we got a id badge & card etc and went about our missions to defeat the evils of 'Thrush' - I was deployed to the Illya Kuryakin team, others were with Napolian Solo..but we were all U.N.C.LE ) ...

Then it was back to the enduring no fence sitting, we had to be either City or Rovers, - of course it was just a fleeting kids fad in Bristol though .. It was never going to last.

Yeah right, ... COME ON YOU REDS!!! ... (almost 50 years on )

Who knows what the future holds for kids now though?... Theres Only One League Team In Bristol. ... What's the question in playgrounds now? .... erm,... ' Red or Dead?'.... perhaps?

(must admit the existence of Bristol Rovers added greatly to my enjoyment of being a City fan... We hated each other but the rivalry was really good fun and in a way I feel I owe them a grudging 'thanks' for that.

Much as we all enjoy, no, relish, watching them suffer & squirm that's still a bit of the old City or Rovers thing, and may they struggle on, providing the gift that keeps on giving, surviving on a little Gas head roller coaster for years to come... I'd miss em if they finally died altogether, love the Red /Blue thing and as they get weaker the rivalry has too, its still fun but compared to the past when they had something to challenge us with on ocasions there's nothing much there anymore.. In a funny way I kind of miss em for that.

Even if we England was to win the WC again I very much doubt the National feelings for football, international, national & local could ever reach the heights of 66 ... the knock on effects of an England victory would probably be massive for a while but have a legacy & longevity of a TV fad like The Man From Uncle.

(blimey, peeps - sorry about that, wtf?... I'm off for via lie down. )

 

 

Good post ,you can get cream for thrush these days .