Flags

[Matt Parsons]

11 hours ago, Tomarse said:

Not a big fan of the flags but for a one off fair enough.

However putting Come On You Reds on the TV screens please no. It’s the semi final of the league cup we don’t need a plastic generated atmosphere. @Matt Parsons BCFCSLO Not agaIn please! 

Hi all,

I just wanted to give some background on the "Come On You Reds"   messaging that went up onto the screens last night.  

A number of fans had been in touch to ask for the message to go up on the big screens at corner kicks, similar to how the message used to go up  on the old score board on the East End. I then went and spoke to former players who are now part of the 1st team coaching staff and others who are working at the club to get their views too. They all said how in the past they felt it helped to get fans behind the team when setting up for a corner kick and gave the team a boost.  

Unfortunately last night, we didn't have any corners so the message shouldn't have gone up at all. It sounds like there was a misunderstanding around when the message should have been used and ill be picking this up to ensure that its clear that it should have only go up on corners. It certainly wasn't the intention to generate an artificial atmosphere in the stadium last night. 

That said it would be good to understand if there is appetite (as some fans have requested) to put the message up for corners at all, or just leave things as they are on corners and let fans generate the atmosphere without the need for a screen prompt.  I guess there will be a split camp on this one as people have different views.

For my six pence worth, I used to like seeing it on the old scoreboard on the East End... but ONLY for corner kicks. 

Matt 

 

[Matt Parsons]

11 hours ago, RedM said:

Visually I thought they looked good under the lights and must have been quite a sight for the players coming out. I did feel quite sad though when the majority were just dumped afterwards and think a scarf/ material flag would have been more reusable, not just a one off. 

Hi RedM,

A few people asking about what is happening with the leftover flags. Any leftover flags have been scooped up and will be given to Section 82 to keep in their  store room in case they have a use for them in the future. Bristol City Community Trust will have also requested them as local schools have been in touch to reuse them too. 

Matt 

[Guest]

1 minute ago, Matt Parsons BCFCSLO said:

Hi RedM,

A few people asking about what is happening with the leftover flags. Any leftover flags have been scooped up and will be given to Section 82 to keep in their  store room in case they have a use for them in the future. Bristol City Community Trust will have also requested them as local schools have been in touch to reuse them too. 

Matt 

If you have any surplus my wife said she’ll have one for next years xmas Turkey 

[Port Said Red]

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

“Come on you Reds” on the screens was an attempt by the club to help the fans create an atmosphere. So you ‘are’ unwilling to embrace change!

No gimmicks were needed to encourage generations of kids to come back to Ashton Gate in the good old days. But come back they did. I was immediately intoxicated by the raw atmosphere back then and just couldn’t wait to go back. And when I went into the real East End for the first time it was an incredible experience....I didn’t need a piece of tin foil

Well as the man once said "and the world turns". Congratulations, you didn't/don't need it, I think you were in the minority last night. but hey. As for the Screen thing.... we all have our hills we would die on I guess.

[Sir Colby-Tit]

10 minutes ago, Matt Parsons BCFCSLO said:

Hi RedM,

A few people asking about what is happening with the leftover flags. Any leftover flags have been scooped up and will be given to Section 82 to keep in their  store room in case they have a use for them in the future. Bristol City Community Trust will have also requested them as local schools have been in touch to reuse them too. 

Matt 

Perhaps some should be sent to the blue few so they can make tin foil hats to wear whilst discussing SL's evil plans for world domination? 

[Welcome To The Jungle]

If S82 had funded and organised that by themselves we'd be hailing it as a great effort by them and how amazing it was. The fact that the club funded and organised it (despite consulting S82) it somehow becomes plastic. It looked good, and that's all that matters. 

S82 can't afford to get everyone involved (I imagine, unless they're sat on a Gold mine) so the club talking with them to sort last night was not only good in terms of communication but was fan influenced. 

Big thanks to @Harry and @Matt Parsons BCFCSLO and everyone else involved. 

[RedM]

19 minutes ago, Matt Parsons BCFCSLO said:

Hi RedM,

A few people asking about what is happening with the leftover flags. Any leftover flags have been scooped up and will be given to Section 82 to keep in their  store room in case they have a use for them in the future. Bristol City Community Trust will have also requested them as local schools have been in touch to reuse them too. 

Matt 

Thanks Matt I’m glad to hear that’s happening as they were too good to just be dumped after just one use. 

[Fiale]

They looked even more impressive when looking along the stands from the side from the SS - 

One of big games, your always going to get a bit of theatre, it's a big crowd with people who are not regulars and we want to imprint a memory on them, and this type of thing does it. If a few hundred people every sell out come back because they enjoyed the atmosphere then it can;t be a bad thing.

[BS4 on Tour...]

17 minutes ago, Port Said Red said:

Well as the man once said "and the world turns". Congratulations, you didn't/don't need it, I think you were in the minority last night. but hey. As for the Screen thing.... we all have our hills we would die on I guess.

I don’t need congratulating. I am in the minority but there were around 5,000 Bristol City fans there last night who don’t normally attend home games so it was inevitable that a gimmick for a one off event would sit well with them and most others. I’m certainly not belittling the club’s attempts to improve the atmosphere, I just didn’t like tin foil flags.....a lot of City fans ridiculed the ‘clappers’ that have been given out at clubs such as Leicester City....but now suddenly a similar gimmick is cool.

Crystal Palace is a great example of how a club works with its fans to significantly improve atmospheres without gimmicks.....it can be done. Their efforts have improved the Selhurst Park experience on a consistent basis....ours was just a one off....and Ashton Gate will sadly and inevitably go back to being a quiet stadium on Saturday with a largely flat ‘after the Lord Mayor’s Show’ atmosphere.

[Tinmans Love Child]

I couldn’t go to the game last night but watched on TV, IMO the flags looked great.  All this ‘it made us look Tin Pot’ talk etc is utter rubbish.  Why would anyone care what fans of another club think about it anyway, infant mentality

[exAtyeoMax]

Well, I liked the flags and there certainly was a wow factor as I entered S21 at 19:35. 

I know it's no everyone's cup of tea but thank you to Harry and co who sorted it out. I rolled mine up and have carted it back to London with me and will keep it as a memento of a great night down The Gate.

[Big C]

I do find it a bit funny when people say the atmosphere was so much better years ago. No it wasn't. I've been following since the 70's and yes there have been many games with a great atmosphere over the years but people looking back with rose tinted spectacles seem to be implying it was at every game, which really wasn't the case. Some of the games in the early 80's were absolutely dire. Not so much a library but a closed boarded up library. Football has changed but not the fact at some games you will get an atmosphere and at some you won't. 

[Fatalist]

I thought it got everyone involved in a way I haven't seen for years.

As for "tinpot", that was the super-fans not throwing the ball back on for a Man City corner. That was embarrassing, just made us look like a non-league club on their big day out.

[BigAl&Toby]

13 hours ago, RedRaw said:

Yea, pissing on the terraces and wearing marigolds! Jesus Christ, the world has moved on in every aspect from the 70s and 80s.....get over it

Funny you bring pissing up. With 20 minutes to go Toby leans past his sister and grabs my arm.

Dad, he says, I need a wee but don’t want to miss this.

Just kneel down son and wee behind that flag that someone has kindly tied to the barrier.

Sister says Dadddddd with a look of disgust.

Toby holds it in. 

[JamesBCFC]

3 hours ago, BS4 on Tour... said:

“Come on you Reds” on the screens was an attempt by the club to help the fans create an atmosphere. So you ‘are’ unwilling to embrace change!

No gimmicks were needed to encourage generations of kids to come back to Ashton Gate in the good old days. But come back they did. I was immediately intoxicated by the raw atmosphere back then and just couldn’t wait to go back. And when I went into the real East End for the first time it was an incredible experience....I didn’t need a piece of tin foil

In the "good old days" kids weren't saturated with seeing 4-5 premier League games on TV every weekend.

[RedRock]

Seen the response from the Club Official, my view remains  .... ‘Come on you Reds’ .... prompted by whatever moment in play is tinpot 

Utter embarrassment and best left to American-football sorts. 

When the opposition fans take the piss out of you , always best leave it, move on and try and save some face.

[BCFCinNW6]

2 hours ago, Fatalist said:

I thought it got everyone involved in a way I haven't seen for years.

As for "tinpot", that was the super-fans not throwing the ball back on for a Man City corner. That was embarrassing, just made us look like a non-league club on their big day out.

I was stood behind the aforementioned super fans and they were being nobbers for most of the night. 

[BS4 on Tour...]

1 hour ago, JamesBCFC said:

In the "good old days" kids weren't saturated with seeing 4-5 premier League games on TV every weekend.

They still aren’t, only 8 million UK households have Sky TV subscriptions - that’s around 1 in 4 ....

[JamesBCFC]

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

They still aren’t, only 8 million UK households have Sky TV subscriptions - that’s around 1 in 4 ....

But then how many stream games, go to the pub with family to watch a game, get a day pass, etc?

[Mr Popodopolous]

@JamesBCFC

I quite agree with this. However, nothing beats live football IMO at the game itself.

HOWEVER- the proportion of youth at football has been falling steadily across the UK for a generation (particularly in the PL). 

On balance, thought the flags thing passable- especially with this new reality- whereas other gimmicks, not so much.

[JamesBCFC]

8 minutes ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

@JamesBCFC

I quite agree with this. However, nothing beats live football IMO at the game itself.

HOWEVER- the proportion of youth at football has been falling steadily across the UK for a generation (particularly in the PL). 

On balance, thought the flags thing passable- especially with this new reality- whereas other gimmicks, not so much.

I fully agree that nothing beats going to the game.

But it's much cheaper to buy a tv pass or subscription* than to go to a game

* assuming you watch more than 1 game a month on the subscription

 

There will be kids growing up now who are the children of those who grew up just watching Sky.

Those parents will have a subscription and watch with their kids, the child not getting the exposure of experiencing seeing a match live, or having unrealistic expectations of their "local side" (if they even care enough to know who that is).

TV is killing football as a live sport, it will be a slow death and hopefully the TV bubble will burst before it happens.

[Mr Popodopolous]

5 minutes ago, JamesBCFC said:

I fully agree that nothing beats going to the game.

But it's much cheaper to buy a tv pass or subscription* than to go to a game

* assuming you watch more than 1 game a month on the subscription

 

There will be kids growing up now who are the children of those who grew up just watching Sky.

Those parents will have a subscription and watch with their kids, the child not getting the exposure of experiencing seeing a match live, or having unrealistic expectations of their "local side" (if they even care enough to know who that is).

TV is killing football as a live sport, it will be a slow death and hopefully the TV bubble will burst before it happens.

Agreed on basically all of that.

I think football as a live sport will endure though, but the fanbase will be increasingly aging as we have seen over the last 25 years. That's a slightly different factor though.

I in my working life have worked in quite young workplaces. Almost none proportionally, support, let alone actively follow, Bristol sides- either Bristol side- on a regular or even semi-regular basis. I'd say me and 2 other guys are the only people in my 3 or 4 companies who actively support/supported City...sad sign of the times.

[JamesBCFC]

9 minutes ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

Agreed on basically all of that.

I think football as a live sport will endure though, but the fanbase will be increasingly aging as we have seen over the last 25 years. That's a slightly different factor though.

I in my working life have worked in quite young workplaces. Almost none proportionally, support, let alone actively follow, Bristol sides- either Bristol side- on a regular or even semi-regular basis. I'd say me and 2 other guys are the only people in my 3 or 4 companies who actively support/supported City...sad sign of the times.

When I said slow death, I do literally mean decades.

The average age of those attendance can only rise to a point, then the attendances will start to drop.

Once they drop more and more clubs will suffer financial trouble, but the teams in the Premier League won't feel it as they dont actually need fans to turn up as that revenue is just a drop in the ocean for them.

But the teams like Oldham, Port Vale, even Leyton Orient and Charton and the jesters in blue will suffer to a far larger degree.

Part of the issue is that ticket prices being dropped cant fix it for them either. They may get a few more who turn up now and then, but will they sell enough extra to make up for the drop in price? The players will still want their wages at the same (increasing) level and the clubs still need to pay them.

 

 

[Mr Popodopolous]

20 minutes ago, JamesBCFC said:

When I said slow death, I do literally mean decades.

The average age of those attendance can only rise to a point, then the attendances will start to drop.

Once they drop more and more clubs will suffer financial trouble, but the teams in the Premier League won't feel it as they dont actually need fans to turn up as that revenue is just a drop in the ocean for them.

But the teams like Oldham, Port Vale, even Leyton Orient and Charton and the jesters in blue will suffer to a far larger degree.

Part of the issue is that ticket prices being dropped cant fix it for them either. They may get a few more who turn up now and then, but will they sell enough extra to make up for the drop in price? The players will still want their wages at the same (increasing) level and the clubs still need to pay them.

 

 

Correct. Agree on it all.

I fear, it's already happening- sometimes watch divisions below this one on Football League Highlights on Channel 5 and other week I saw Barnet. About 2 people on the terrace, attendance maybe 1,400 something like. Sad to see.

Ticket prices...dunno if they will help or if we are too far down the road to turn the tide.

[Welcome To The Jungle]

11 minutes ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

Correct. Agree on it all.

I fear, it's already happening- sometimes watch divisions below this one on Football League Highlights on Channel 5 and other week I saw Barnet. About 2 people on the terrace, attendance maybe 1,400 something like. Sad to see.

Ticket prices...dunno if they will help or if we are too far down the road to turn the tide.

The thing is that lowering ticket prices needs a long term vision. You need to make the football fan a causal City fan and the casual City fan a ST holder. Ticket prices will probably be the biggest factor in this after league position, but it needs time for everyone to change groups. 

[JamesBCFC]

18 minutes ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

Correct. Agree on it all.

I fear, it's already happening- sometimes watch divisions below this one on Football League Highlights on Channel 5 and other week I saw Barnet. About 2 people on the terrace, attendance maybe 1,400 something like. Sad to see.

Ticket prices...dunno if they will help or if we are too far down the road to turn the tide.

Getting a bit off topic now, but I think a wage cap would help, even if indirectly.

Even if those were still stupid wages to the average person for the top players.

For the sake of an example lets say a football career is 20 years, while the average persons is 50 (basic rounded numbers for simplicity).

A professional player retiring after 20 years should be able to be ok from that point with what they earn, so something like 3k a week as an upper limit in the lower professional leagues is probably about right, and not miles out from reality (maybe even a little higher than some clubs)

Moving up the leagues is where things change. A more skilled player would earn more by rights, but what increase is "right"? Double the limit? 

That would be circa 6k a week max in League 1, 12k in the Championship and 24k in the Premier League.

A player getting the top end over 20 years in that example still earns just a shade under £25m over their career.

But a salary cap brings other issues. Other leagues might not have them, so the best players go there. But would that then mean more English players get game time and a chance to impress, thus strengthening the national side?

 

Not saying capping the wages is right, or should be done, just something that could help clubs financially in a football world that is pissing money away.

[Mr Popodopolous]

2 minutes ago, Welcome To The Jungle said:

The thing is that lowering ticket prices needs a long term vision. You need to make the football fan a causal City fan and the casual City fan a ST holder. Ticket prices will probably be the biggest factor in this after league position, but it needs time for everyone to change groups. 

Agree in principle...but as I mean, in terms of football in the country as a whole. We're too far down the road nationally to really change anything. Wages would not drop quickly enough to make it viable, particularly with FFP. Maybe in the PL and maybe in a few cases- and I mean a few at most- but if we unilaterally dropped prices, we would suddenly start haemorrhaging money and have to reduce our wage bill drastically.

My view is that, ticket prices should not have escalated anything like they did post Taylor but now sadly the ship has sailed.

[Welcome To The Jungle]

7 minutes ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

Agree in principle...but as I mean, in terms of football in the country as a whole. We're too far down the road nationally to really change anything. Wages would not drop quickly enough to make it viable, particularly with FFP. Maybe in the PL and maybe in a few cases- and I mean a few at most- but if we unilaterally dropped prices, we would suddenly start haemorrhaging money and have to reduce our wage bill drastically.

My view is that, ticket prices should not have escalated anything like they did post Taylor but now sadly the ship has sailed.

I've said it many times but I'll raise again the case study of Huddersfield. Lowered ST prices to £179 anywhere in the ground. The same year they got promoted. It is doable and we should be following suit in my opinion. 

[Bazooka Joe]

18 hours ago, Tomarse said:

Not a big fan of the flags but for a one off fair enough.

However putting Come On You Reds on the TV screens please no. It’s the semi final of the league cup we don’t need a plastic generated atmosphere. @Matt Parsons BCFCSLO Not agaIn please! 

They did it to help us remember the words.

[Bazooka Joe]

5 hours ago, Big C said:

I do find it a bit funny when people say the atmosphere was so much better years ago. No it wasn't. I've been following since the 70's and yes there have been many games with a great atmosphere over the years but people looking back with rose tinted spectacles seem to be implying it was at every game, which really wasn't the case. Some of the games in the early 80's were absolutely dire. Not so much a library but a closed boarded up library. Football has changed but not the fact at some games you will get an atmosphere and at some you won't. 

God help us !    You've only gone and given them an idea for the next freebie !

 

I'll bring my own.