Rivalry

[Aizoon]

19 hours ago, ernie goodthing said:

It did throughout most of the 1950s and even in my time watching football, Bristol had a team in the old divisions 1 and 2 at the same time. (..although that didn't end well).   One reason people from my youth went to City one week and Rovers the next was that they could afford to and I can't see that happening again.  However the Bristol area has over 1m people , so I can't see why it can't support 2 successful clubs.  I live in Ipswich, which has a population of 120,000 and not more than a few small towns beyond, yet it supports a reasonably successful Championship team.

And Norwich is doing rather better than that. Just saying, like...

[Aizoon]

9 hours ago, ciderup said:

You'd better hope for more than 7,400 then Miah.

Just add the usual zero on the end - job done!

['Orns]

Was at a Christening yesterday, the fathers side are Londoners, but have relocated to Bristol, so are Tottenham through and through, but have picked up R*vers as their local team

I have the robin pin badge on the jacket I was wearing, and the in laws were giving me shit about being a City fan, which is fine, bit of banter never hurt anyone.....then all the bullshit started about the new owners, how I must wish that City had a billionaire owner in charge.....I pointed out not only have we had that for years, but he's a Bristolian, unlike their new guy. So they had to think of something else to point out how they are better off with us, so it got to the fact they are in or around the play offs and we've spawned 3 wins on the trot but still in relegation trouble. Pointed out we're now 8 points clear (in the Championship, not Div 4), and although it can change quickly, I'm certainly not as worried as I was a month ago, and that our three wins were against a very good Ipswich team and away wins, without conceding, at relegation rivals. I congratulated them on their massive win against Morecombe, said 'mind the gap' and went back to the family. For some reason they just wouldn't leave me alone, my daughter who has just started coming down with me, had her first introduction to the R*vers inferiority complex. It was like a little brother annoying the crap out of his big brother. I even tried swapping the conversation back to Spurs chances of winning the PL, wasn't interested, just wanted to give me shit for being City. I fail to see what they have to give me shit for right now?

As everyone on here, I've got R*vers mates, we have the banter and take the piss out of each other, love it - but deluded, part time fans giving me stick? **** off

[Jack Dawe]

12 hours ago, ciderup said:

You'd better hope for more than 7,400 then Miah.

And that's with the four for £20 vouchers in the Post helping to bump up the attendance. 

[Portland Bill]

On 21 February 2016 at 10:50, Miahdennehy said:

Really? With a population approaching 1/2 million, and a catchment area double that, I would have thought Bristol could easily sustain 2 teams at that level. Getting them both there may take a bit of time though.

We have the catchment area, we have the population.

What we don't have is enough people who are interested in Football.

[BCFC Jimmer]

Despite what some Rovers fans might say, in the cold light of day the two clubs are still galaxies apart.  In terms of stadium facilities, training ground, academy, etc it would take years for Rovers to catch up.

The only way we would be competing at a similar level anytime soon is if it all goes to shit for us, or they have significant investment and sort out all the bureaucracy which frankly has made them a circus in the last few years.

It will be interesting to see how they progress with these 'rich' new owners.  My thoughts is that they have a hell of a lot of work to do to make themselves an established league one club, let alone Championship and beyond.  In the meantime, I would hope that we will have also progressed.

I would put money on our paths not crossing in the league for the next 5 years at least.

P.s their reaction with these new owners has been completely over the top and embarrassing. It really is going down a route which is completely unknown. They now have a owner who isn't a fan of the club so could up and leave at any second. Not to mention the fact that he hasn't talked about how the club was bought or if he is going to invest his own cash. If it is a Glazier style takeover then I actually feel sorry for them.

They are so stupid!!!!!!!!!!

[Portland Bill]

3 minutes ago, cynic said:

One which doesn't pay its debts according to the winding up list for today.

http://www.ipswichstar.co.uk/news/ipswich_town_to_explain_winding_up_order_1_4427651

But yes, Ipswich are very well supported for the catchment area, similar to Burnley in that respect.

But I agree that its not inconceivable that Bristol could sustain two high level clubs based on population alone.

Ipswich and Burnley both won the First Division title in the very early 60's ( for younger fans, that is today's Premier League! ). Don't underestimate how much support both these teams gained from all over the country, this in turn goes down to sons and grandsons of these original ( probably glory hunting ) fans. It's the same with Leeds United for instance after their 1960's league title win.

Im not saying that Burnley,Ipswich and Leeds don't get good support from there locals, just that they do get a decent amount of support from outside there area.

For instance my brother in law started supporting Burnley  in the early 60's ( he's from Somerset) because they won the league. Now both his boys support them and go regularly ( from Somerset) . There sons will no doubt do the same.

Bristol's clubs will never attract fans from other areas in the country like these two teams have, unless we all of a sudden became glamorous like Burnley and Ipswich once did. 

 

[Bazooka Joe]

19 hours ago, YorkshireSection said:

20 hours ago, Miahdennehy said:

In a couple of years time there will be coaches from Manchester and Liverpool travelling down to see Rovers in our new 750,000 seater stadium.

I know yore only kidding but the other few thousand gas heads who support the "club" actually believe that!

There you go - you missed a zero.

[Jack Dawe]

7 hours ago, Portland Bill said:

Ipswich and Burnley both won the First Division title in the very early 60's ( for younger fans, that is today's Premier League! ). Don't underestimate how much support both these teams gained from all over the country, this in turn goes down to sons and grandsons of these original ( probably glory hunting ) fans. It's the same with Leeds United for instance after their 1960's league title win.

Im not saying that Burnley,Ipswich and Leeds don't get good support from there locals, just that they do get a decent amount of support from outside there area.

For instance my brother in law started supporting Burnley  in the early 60's ( he's from Somerset) because they won the league. Now both his boys support them and go regularly ( from Somerset) . There sons will no doubt do the same.

Bristol's clubs will never attract fans from other areas in the country like these two teams have, unless we all of a sudden became glamorous like Burnley and Ipswich once did. 

 

That's interesting about your in laws following Burnley. Both Burnley (53 years) and Ipswich (26) have had considerably more years of top flight football than us (9). Throw in a league title each, within living memory, and an FA Cup win and a European pot for Ipswich and it is no surprise these two are well supported when considering the small populations of both towns. Then you consider the number of years we have spent in L1 and 2 (47) to Burnley's (18) and Ipswich (11) and it's all you need to know why our support is at the level it is.

Our support or numbers are not much to shout about but nothing to be ashamed of either. 

The only clubs below us - in the lower leagues - with "better" or enviable support are Sheff Utd, Portsmouth and Bradford. Cov's support is about on a par with us. All these are from largely populated areas, and three have had more years and success than us in the top division. Bradford have bumped theirs up successfully by offering very affordable season tickets, a marketing move that coincided with a promotion season and a run to the League Cup final.

There's no one with "better" support than us with a track record of decades of L1 football/ underachievement like ours. We don't need to beat ourselves up about our crowds, nor crow about them.

I think though that the support has been great this season, just to crow a tiny bit for a moment, and people seem up for it this year. That's why this revival of late is so welcome. Just hope it lasts

 

[Mike Hunt-Hertz]

1 hour ago, Jack Dawe said:

That's interesting about your in laws following Burnley. Both Burnley (53 years) and Ipswich (26) have had considerably more years of top flight football than us (9). Throw in a league title each, within living memory, and an FA Cup win and a European pot for Ipswich and it is no surprise these two are well supported when considering the small populations of both towns. Then you consider the number of years we have spent in L1 and 2 (47) to Burnley's (18) and Ipswich (11) and it's all you need to know why our support is at the level it is.

Our support or numbers are not much to shout about but nothing to be ashamed of either. 

The only clubs below us - in the lower leagues - with "better" or enviable support are Sheff Utd, Portsmouth and Bradford. Cov's support is about on a par with us. All these are from largely populated areas, and three have had more years and success than us in the top division. Bradford have bumped theirs up successfully by offering very affordable season tickets, a marketing move that coincided with a promotion season and a run to the League Cup final.

There's no one with "better" support than us with a track record of decades of L1 football/ underachievement like ours. We don't need to beat ourselves up about our crowds, nor crow about them.

I think though that the support has been great this season, just to crow a tiny bit for a moment, and people seem up for it this year. That's why this revival of late is so welcome. Just hope it lasts

 

Bradford's attendances shot up from ~5500 to ~12000 in around 1996, due to very low season ticket deals (~£100). Before that, they were mediocre at best.

[Jack Dawe]

1 hour ago, Mike Hunt-Hertz said:

Bradford's attendances shot up from ~5500 to ~12000 in around 1996, due to very low season ticket deals (~£100). Before that, they were mediocre at best.

Even lower than that I believe. Certainly, I've been there many years ago and the ground was sparsely populated. Interestingly, I think I am right in saying that last season, despite a 13k average, they didn't have a lot to spend/ budget because of the very low cost of those season tickets.