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A view from a City fan from far(ish).....


keflav

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I Have been reading this forum for a long time but never posted on here before (even during the good times and bad times), a bit about myself I am Bristol born and bread but now live in the northeast (the Mrs fault). have supported Bristol city all my life and am from a family of Bristol city fans (parents & grandparents) and despite living and being from the northeast of England I have indoctrinated my kids into supporting my beloved Bristol city (they get some funny looks running around in city kits amongst the northeast teams kits :laugh:) I try and get to city games as much as I can when visiting my folks in Bristol (but no where near as often as I would like) and follow city in every way I can (cut me in half I'm city to the core).... so there's a bit about myself before I get on to my main point....

Right here goes form living in the northeast for the last 16 years the perception of our club is as a small "tinpot" outfit who will never really challenge for anything above Championship level, this come from many supporters of clubs I know and work with (Newcastle, Sunderland, Boro (did get a bit of a laugh here, as did double), Hartlepool (far smaller than us but still laugh at us) and even Darlington fans (who went bust a few years ago!!!!). unfortunately it seems the way the club is run or the outwardly perception of how the club is run does nothing to detract from these accusations or opinions...

A Newcastle fan who I work with asked me if we had got a manager yet after talking about the sacking of SC, to which I replied no not yet and his was response was not surprised as who would want to manage your club the state it is in (although he did say ya ground is gonna be good when its finish, shame will be in lower league (backhanded complement))....!!!!! this seems to be the general consensus I get when talking to other fans about my club, it becomes a very depressing feeling, just why are we perceived so badly by other clubs and fans.... mind you the fans of these clubs are not always complimentary of the own clubs and the way they are ran (Mike Ashley anyone???)

unfortunately the current situation has done nothing to add to the opinion of our club, we dither on appointing a new manager, we seemingly don't want to spend any big money on the possible manager and players (the new ground gobbling up all the money) 2 weeks to get a new manager in with so many available good options out there and the transfer window closing soon is beyond a joke and adds to the perception others have of us.... we have made ourselves more of a laughingstock than we currently are (failed bids for lower league player and bids for player at clubs not paying wages (Bolton)..... the perceived lack of ambition for the club is really is damming at the moment, I hope and prey in time I am proved wrong as I so long for a successful team with big ambitions and challenging for the top half of the table and dare we dream of the prem.... but as it stand there is absolutely no chance of this happening (getting relegated and possible promotion again seems the level of the clubs ambitions at the moment)....

All I can say is that the view of my club from a far is not great and the lack of any leadership from the clubs management recently has made this situation worse... I would say living far away sometimes makes it hard to get a more informed opinion of the club as lots of the info I get come from the net (this forum, twitter, Facebook football sites) which are not always 100% accurate and from friends and family living in Bristol.... but the Club really lacks any communication with the fans

Oh and one more thing Please not Warnock, this would be and even bigger step backwards!!!!!!!

feel free to agree or disagree in any way, its just a different opinion from afar....

 

 

 

 

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I do think that fans of clubs in the Premiership do tend to look down patronisingly on clubs lower than theirs. It's just part of them 'talking themselves up'. I wouldn't take much notice.

My friends are Saints fans and couldn't bear to mention the fact that we did the double over them, but now are smuggly commiserating me in our relegation plight. I didn't go about them being relegated down to league one, I'm not interested in scoring points over fellow footie fans - only on the pitch.

 

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Tell your Newcastle supporting buddies that a lot of us on here remember when they weren't the best fans in the world, and most of us weren't born when they last won anything - that should shut the ******s up

As for Hartlepool and Darlo taking the piss......

Fair play for bringing your kids up correctly!

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I think we are "perceived so badly" by fans of other clubs @keflav , the big clubs, because we are generally struggling in the bottom third of this league - 20008 and 2009 aside - and disappear with barely a whimper, to spend years in L1, where no one notices anyone enough to "perceive" them at all, goodly or badly. Imagine being below L1!

You have to think that the way outsiders (fans) think about us cannot be a million miles from how players at other clubs - players we want to sign - think about us.

We need somehow to claw our way up this league and have four or five good or very good seasons near the top to change that perception, and attract better players. How we manage this, without better players, I just don't know!

Keep reading and posting!

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Dont worry mate, I had a pub 1 mile from the Reebok until 2009 and had to put up with what you had to put up with, they all bought me a drink when I got back from Wembley after our losing to Hull. The only thing I took pleasure in was pointing them to a Freight Rover Final programme, in a case screwed to the wall !!!

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1 hour ago, Woodsy said:

Fair play for bringing your kids up correctly!

Cheers @Woodsy I do try my best.... :thumbsup:

 

1 hour ago, Jack Dawe said:

I think we are "perceived so badly" by fans of other clubs @keflav , the big clubs, because we are generally struggling in the bottom third of this league - 20008 and 2009 aside - and disappear with barely a whimper, to spend years in L1, where no one notices anyone enough to "perceive" them at all, goodly or badly. Imagine being below L1!

You have to think that the way outsiders (fans) think about us cannot be a million miles from how players at other clubs - players we want to sign - think about us.

We need somehow to claw our way up this league and have four or five good or very good seasons near the top to change that perception, and attract better players. How we manage this, without better players, I just don't know!

Keep reading and posting!

agree 100% with this @Jack Dawe this was a point trying to make the perception of Players is never gonna be that far away from the fans..... club needs to improve upon this greatly...

1 hour ago, oldstandrobin said:

Dont worry mate, I had a pub 1 mile from the Reebok until 2009 and had to put up with what you had to put up with, they all bought me a drink when I got back from Wembley after our losing to Hull. The only thing I took pleasure in was pointing them to a Freight Rover Final programme, in a case screwed to the wall !!!

Ahh 1986 final I remember it well great day out at Wembley.... not great a year later losing on pens to Mansfield and unfortunately the last game I went to with my dad before he was ill and passed away....

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Gotta say based on those I know- PL fans in the main both here and when I lived in Canterbury, City don't feature on their radar much. I know someone from Bristol who bizarrely supported Villa for years despite no real success in his lifetime, no family ties either. When I met up with them for first time in a while, last July, they moved to London and it transpired they were a Chelsea fan and I saw them in January and they support Leicester now it seems. Perhaps they don't get football beyond EPL who knows.

More telling is what they said about City asked when they will be a success. Or words to that effect. I gave a good defence of the clubs progress but perception is hard to shake off. I think they expected us to be higher up this league also.

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4 hours ago, keflav said:

I Have been reading this forum for a long time but never posted on here before (even during the good times and bad times), a bit about myself I am Bristol born and bread but now live in the northeast (the Mrs fault). have supported Bristol city all my life and am from a family of Bristol city fans (parents & grandparents) and despite living and being from the northeast of England I have indoctrinated my kids into supporting my beloved Bristol city (they get some funny looks running around in city kits amongst the northeast teams kits :laugh:) I try and get to city games as much as I can when visiting my folks in Bristol (but no where near as often as I would like) and follow city in every way I can (cut me in half I'm city to the core).... so there's a bit about myself before I get on to my main point....

Right here goes form living in the northeast for the last 16 years the perception of our club is as a small "tinpot" outfit who will never really challenge for anything above Championship level, this come from many supporters of clubs I know and work with (Newcastle, Sunderland, Boro (did get a bit of a laugh here, as did double), Hartlepool (far smaller than us but still laugh at us) and even Darlington fans (who went bust a few years ago!!!!). unfortunately it seems the way the club is run or the outwardly perception of how the club is run does nothing to detract from these accusations or opinions...

A Newcastle fan who I work with asked me if we had got a manager yet after talking about the sacking of SC, to which I replied no not yet and his was response was not surprised as who would want to manage your club the state it is in (although he did say ya ground is gonna be good when its finish, shame will be in lower league (backhanded complement))....!!!!! this seems to be the general consensus I get when talking to other fans about my club, it becomes a very depressing feeling, just why are we perceived so badly by other clubs and fans.... mind you the fans of these clubs are not always complimentary of the own clubs and the way they are ran (Mike Ashley anyone???)

unfortunately the current situation has done nothing to add to the opinion of our club, we dither on appointing a new manager, we seemingly don't want to spend any big money on the possible manager and players (the new ground gobbling up all the money) 2 weeks to get a new manager in with so many available good options out there and the transfer window closing soon is beyond a joke and adds to the perception others have of us.... we have made ourselves more of a laughingstock than we currently are (failed bids for lower league player and bids for player at clubs not paying wages (Bolton)..... the perceived lack of ambition for the club is really is damming at the moment, I hope and prey in time I am proved wrong as I so long for a successful team with big ambitions and challenging for the top half of the table and dare we dream of the prem.... but as it stand there is absolutely no chance of this happening (getting relegated and possible promotion again seems the level of the clubs ambitions at the moment)....

All I can say is that the view of my club from a far is not great and the lack of any leadership from the clubs management recently has made this situation worse... I would say living far away sometimes makes it hard to get a more informed opinion of the club as lots of the info I get come from the net (this forum, twitter, Facebook football sites) which are not always 100% accurate and from friends and family living in Bristol.... but the Club really lacks any communication with the fans

Oh and one more thing Please not Warnock, this would be and even bigger step backwards!!!!!!!

feel free to agree or disagree in any way, its just a different opinion from afar....

 

 

 

 

Condensed Version

He lives in the North East and likes to embarrass his kids.

 

Welcome

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Good post Keflav. Very interesting to read about other fans' opinions on us, although, as others have said, take it all with a pinch of salt. Newcastle and their 14,000 not that long ago in footballing terms: best fans in the world? Not really. Barely best in the NE.

There's a lot of bravado in not knowing how another club is doing/laughing at their inabilities to do simple things (like sign players. Or stay up after promotion) but each and every club has its embarrassing features (Sports Direct; playing in Bath) or fans (punching horses or, um, punching horses).

The fact that many other fans' opinion on us isn't too far from our own view tells its own story, though.

We've got a long way to go and need to aim for the Championship before the Premiership.

https://thenatchwall.wordpress.com/ (not much bang up-to-date stuff, but plenty from past 2 seasons...)

 

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It's a fair point, although other fans I generally meet tend to think fairly well of us, but everyone is different. 

Lets not forget that for all the Bournemouths, Watfords and swanseas that have left is in their wake, there are plenty of Sheffield Uniteds, Oldhams, Coventrys etc. Plus many "bigger" clubs who are currently in the same division as us. 

Its a tough business and if managing/owning a club and making them successful was easy then a lot more people would be doing it. 

 

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6 hours ago, Woodsy said:

Tell your Newcastle supporting buddies that a lot of us on here remember when they weren't the best fans in the world, and most of us weren't born when they last won anything - that should shut the ******s up

As for Hartlepool and Darlo taking the piss......

Fair play for bringing your kids up correctly!

And the Geordies had a 9,000 home crowd against S****horpe when Ossie Ardiles was manager....they don't believe it but it's true....

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48 minutes ago, BS4 on Tour... said:

And the Geordies had a 9,000 home crowd against S****horpe when Ossie Ardiles was manager....they don't believe it but it's true....

One of the biggest myths in English football mate. They have the owner they deserve.....

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