2003-04

[22A]

Found this by chance on Youtube. A few more City clips on the side.

I remember one Tuesday night City had won 2-1 at Grimsby, hearing Plymouth had lost 3-0 at Tranmere and we all thought We are going up!

That season is summed up by one of the accompanying comments to this clip;

"Eleven in a row and still didnt go up.....that was the most heartbreaking season ever".

 

[sephjnr]

Lee Miller slicing that shot just outside against Swindon....

[cellist]

There are some cracking videos up on youtube from that era. I wish the club would put more up more from 90s-00s (or earlier!) when they put up footage of a so called "classic match" on twitter/robins tv - much more interesting that what they usually put up. I guess in fairness we don't play Oldham, Chesterfield and Port Vale very often anymore.

Was looking through some highlights from 2000-2002 the other day - had forgotten what a player Tinnion was. The range of passing, quick vision, the weight of the ball, absolute quality. 

 

[BCFC1512]

1 hour ago, sephjnr said:

Lee Miller slicing that shot just outside against Swindon....

I was right behind the goal that day! Still haunts me!! God knows how he missed!!

[AshtonRobin21]

This was the team that made me fall in love with city as a young kid. 

Tommy Doc was my hero as a kid. Tinnion and Bell were great to watch. 

[22A]

MODS; just a thought. Should this be merged with the Danny Wilson thread?

[archie andrews]

6 hours ago, sephjnr said:

Lee Miller slicing that shot just outside against Swindon....

and their equaliser an absolute fluke even though a good goal...

[Baba Yaga]

Remember on the day of the Brighton final game feeling confident that we were going to get promoted, whoops.  Also felt confident after the QPR and Plymouth wins, and after the 11 game winning run. Was shocked to see such a terrible game and then getting beat with a late penalty. A season with some massive games and great moments but a brutal ending.

Edited September 8, 2022 by Baba Yaga

[Robbored]

8 hours ago, sephjnr said:

Lee Miller slicing that shot just outside against Swindon....

That miss cost City automatic promotion and we’d have had no need for the pray-offs.

[AG City]

Like David Kelly was our nemesis in the late 80s, Steve Howard at Luton took that mantle in the early 00’s

[Lack of Action Man]

What a bloody good team we had that season. Happy memories. 

 

Until we fluffed the POF of course.

[2015]

10 hours ago, AG City said:

Like David Kelly was our nemesis in the late 80s, Steve Howard at Luton took that mantle in the early 00’s

Howard was an absolute handful, strong as an ox. At that time during 90s and 00s our defenders could never handle big strong men up front

[Lorenzos Only Goal]

Don't forget James Hayter of Bournemouth always seemed to rain on our parade. 

[redsquirrel]

49 minutes ago, Lorenzos Only Goal said:

Don't forget James Hayter of Bournemouth always seemed to rain on our parade. 

your post make me think of mickey droy from chelsea,seem to remember him being one aswell

[Red-Robbo]

On 08/09/2022 at 21:38, Baba Yaga said:

Remember on the day of the Brighton final game feeling confident that we were going to get promoted, whoops.  Also felt confident after the QPR and Plymouth wins, and after the 11 game winning run. Was shocked to see such a terrible game and then getting beat with a late penalty. A season with some massive games and great moments but a brutal ending.

 

As soon as we saw Lita not involved myself and the minibus of supporters I'd gone up with, knew what would happen.

Had a good sup in Cardiff mind. 

[Offside]

On 08/09/2022 at 21:25, TomF said:

City drawing 0-0 at home to Brighton when QPR had lost. The real day we threw it away 

And that result gave Brighton the knowledge and confidence that they could nullify us, which they went on to do in that horrendous play off final. 

[Wanderingred]

What a waste that season was. We had all the talent in the world, but no backbone.

[Lorenzos Only Goal]

9 hours ago, Wanderingred said:

What a waste that season was. We had all the talent in the world, but no backbone.

 

10 hours ago, Offside said:

And that result gave Brighton the knowledge and confidence that they could nullify us, which they went on to do in that horrendous play off final. 

 

10 hours ago, Red-Robbo said:

 

As soon as we saw Lita not involved myself and the minibus of supporters I'd gone up with, knew what would happen.

Had a good sup in Cardiff mind. 

Just remember failure isn't failure is can sometimes be success. Or whatever he said to boil the piss of the board. 

[GrahamC]

6 hours ago, Lorenzos Only Goal said:

 

 

Just remember failure isn't failure is can sometimes be success. Or whatever he said to boil the piss of the board. 

He said losing the final “wasn’t a failure”. Despite our performance being a cure for insomnia & on a par with anything Pulis served up.

Bit like bottling the playoffs against Cardiff the year before.

Having a £1m striker to pair with one he paid £600k for (in third tier football), boring us all rigid in 03/04 with just 59 goals scored in 46 games (champions Plymouth only scored 7 fewer than this at home).

The bloke was a serial failure over 4 pointless seasons who presided over a totally unprofessional, spineless group of pissheads, but we scored more than anyone else in 02/03 (when we failed to go up again).

Myth.

Edited September 10, 2022 by GrahamC

[Alan Dicks]

Was this the ………POP……. Season?

[Wanderingred]

8 hours ago, Alan Dicks said:

Was this the ………POP……. Season?

I still remember some of those names… greengob, argyle Ive, Ian Newell…  Disappeared without a trace back in 2010, never to be heard from again.

[phantom]

On 08/09/2022 at 15:53, Taunton_BCFC said:

I was right behind the goal that day! Still haunts me!! God knows how he missed!!

That moment was surreal it honestly felt like time stopped 

To this day I have no idea how he missed 

The scariest thing is that season doesn't feel like it was that long ago 

[Barry Sheene]

On 08/09/2022 at 21:25, TomF said:

City drawing 0-0 at home to Brighton when QPR had lost. The real day we threw it away 

Remember it well Charlie Oatway handling the ball in our area so bad he almost caught it. The Referee that day Lee Mason who waved play on. 

[2015]

It was the 0-0 at home to Brighton, 3-2 defeat at Luton and 3 defeats in a row in the March that did us over. All we needed was to not drop 2 points

01-02 and 02-03 saw similar end of season collapses

[Port Said Red]

Was this season when Aaron Brown broke his leg? Such an underrated player with a lot of the crowd, but we looked completely unbalanced without him at the end of that season.

[phantom]

54 minutes ago, Port Said Red said:

Was this season when Aaron Brown broke his leg? Such an underrated player with a lot of the crowd, but we looked completely unbalanced without him at the end of that season.

I honestly can't remember him breaking his leg with us. 

I can remember him and Clayton Fortune were in that car accident in March 2002 and that seemed to change his game 

The only time I can remember him breaking a leg was with QPR when he was out for over a year 

[GrahamC]

2 hours ago, Port Said Red said:

Was this season when Aaron Brown broke his leg? Such an underrated player with a lot of the crowd, but we looked completely unbalanced without him at the end of that season.

Edited September 11, 2022 by GrahamC
Error

[Port Said Red]

1 hour ago, phantom said:

I honestly can't remember him breaking his leg with us. 

I can remember him and Clayton Fortune were in that car accident in March 2002 and that seemed to change his game 

The only time I can remember him breaking a leg was with QPR when he was out for over a year 

Maybe it wasn't a break, but he got stretchered off and it finished his season. I remember posting here under my old username how shocked I was by a small minority of our fans cheering when he went off. Disgusting behaviour.

[bearded_red]

2 hours ago, Port Said Red said:

Was this season when Aaron Brown broke his leg? Such an underrated player with a lot of the crowd, but we looked completely unbalanced without him at the end of that season.

Yeah went off against Rushden at home if my memory is correct..

[RedHienz]

2 hours ago, phantom said:

I honestly can't remember him breaking his leg with us. 

I can remember him and Clayton Fortune were in that car accident in March 2002 and that seemed to change his game 

The only time I can remember him breaking a leg was with QPR when he was out for over a year 

Wasn't that Kevin Amankwah? 

 

 

Edited September 11, 2022 by RedHienz

[eardun]

On 08/09/2022 at 14:24, 22A said:

Found this by chance on Youtube. A few more City clips on the side.

I remember one Tuesday night City had won 2-1 at Grimsby, hearing Plymouth had lost 3-0 at Tranmere and we all thought We are going up!

That season is summed up by one of the accompanying comments to this clip;

"Eleven in a row and still didnt go up.....that was the most heartbreaking season ever".

 

Must admit I’d forgotten we won so many in a row that season. I had also forgotten that Denis Smith was managing Wrexham then. Basically I’ve tried to forget everything about that season after that horrendous Play-off final! Still the lowest I’ve felt after a City defeat. 

[Elruliri]

The worst final I've every seen us play in to be honest. Danny Wilson had all the backing in the world in a league where we were a big fish. He deserved the sack and it goes to show that he wasn't upto it if you look at his managerial appointments after he left us. That final was utterly pathetic.

[2015]

I'm sure Aaron Brown picked up a horrible injury in a 2-0 defeat to Oldham at AG infront of the EE. We were woeful that day after that

[Wanderingred]

That season’s results:

Notts County H Won 5-0

Chesterfield A Drew 1-1

Hartlepool H Drew 1-1

Colchester A Lost 1-2

Grimsby H Won 1-0

Bournemouth A Drew 0-0

Oldham A Drew 1-1

Tranmere H Won 2-0

Port Vale H Lost 0-1

QPR A Drew 1-1

Plymouth A Won 1-0

Swindon H Won 2-1

Peterborough H Drew 1-1

Wrexham A Drew 0-0

Wycombe A Lost 0-3

Sheff Wed H Drew 1-1

Luton H Drew 1-1

Brighton A Won 4-1

Barnsley H Won 2-1

Blackpool A Lost 0-1

Rushden A Drew 1-1

Stockport H Won 1-0

Brentford A Won 2-1

Bournemouth H Won 2-0

Notts County A Won 2-1

Chesterfield H Won 4-0

Hartlepool A Won 2-1

Colchester H Won 1-0

Brentford H Won 3-1

Peterborough A Won 1-0

Grimsby A Won 2-1

Wrexham H Won 1-0

Sheff Wed A Lost 0-1

Wycombe H Drew 1-1

Stockport A Lost 0-2

Rushden H Won 1-0

Oldham H Lost 0-2

Tranmere A Lost 0-1

Port Vale A Lost 1-2

QPR H Won 1-0

Swindon A Drew 1-1

Plymouth H Won 1-0

Luton A Lost 2-3

Brighton H Drew 0-0

Barnsley A Won 1-0

Blackpool H Won 2-1

Playoffs

Hartlepool A Drew 1-1

Hartlepool H Won 2-1

Brighton Lost 0-1

[2015]

1 hour ago, Logical-City said:

QPR and Plymouth had terrible squads in comparison to us we had all the resources and the miss against Swindon not starting to win games until October drawing at home to Chesterfield and other shocking teams beating us away is what cost us

QPR had a good squad for that level. Kevin Gallen, Gareth Ainsworth, Paul Furlong, Marc Bircham, Martin Rowlands, Danny Shittu and Jamie Cureton were players who were playing beneath their level at that time. 

The only thing I'd say about that City side is which player really kicked on at the higher level to do well? Carey? Hill? 

[Robbored]

1 hour ago, Logical-City said:

QPR and Plymouth had terrible squads in comparison to us we had all the resources and the miss against Swindon not starting to win games until October drawing at home to Chesterfield and other shocking teams beating us away is what cost us

My point was that had Miller scored City would have won the match and been automatically promoted. Those lost two points led ultimately to the pray offs and we all know what happened there…………….

Edited September 12, 2022 by Robbored

[archie andrews]

Losing to luton away was far more damaging than millers miss.... 

[archie andrews]

On 11/09/2022 at 11:36, phantom said:

I honestly can't remember him breaking his leg with us. 

I can remember him and Clayton Fortune were in that car accident in March 2002 and that seemed to change his game 

The only time I can remember him breaking a leg was with QPR when he was out for over a year 

Wasnt it the 98/99 season west brom away? Game...? 

[2015]

5 minutes ago, Logical-City said:

Players in their prime is what we had:

Doherty, Tinnion, Bell, Coles, Carey, Peacock, Hill , A.Brown I would argue better than what QPR had I rated Roberts’s also as someone who could have done some damage in Division 1, we also resigned Murray for £650,000 the squad was there 

Each to their own, we were pretty even with QPR i'd have said. We both finished on 83 points in 02/03 then in 03/04 1 point between us. It was a hard league back then, even though we had a good side and I think we should have been promoted as we were certainly better than Brighton.

[Boston Red]

The maddening thing about the Swindon away game was that Christian Roberts was playing the game of his life and ripping Swindon to shreds. They equalised and immediately Wilson took off Roberts and brought on Lee Miller. When the chance came to Miller he hadn't been running around, in the flow of the game, with his head and his legs connected, and he missed. Roberts would have buried it but Wilson had taken him off. 

Another maddening thing about that season is that all we had to do was beat Brighton once in two games, one at home, and one at a neutral venue. One defeat and one win would have done it. But we couldn't.

Another maddening thing is how easy it would have been to go up that season if we had not sold Scott Murray. The season before he had scored 26 goals from the right wing. We had scored 106 goals in total, league and cup in 2002/3. All we had to do was tighten the defence, which we did by playing centre-backs at fullback. Carey played right back and Hill played left back. We only conceded 37 goals in 46 league games in 2003/4. With last season's attack did we then cruise to promotion? No. Because Steve Lansdown has two heads, a football fan's head and an accountant's head. Scott Murray was in the last year of his contract, so Lansdown the accountant took £600 000 from Reading for Murray. If that money was really necessary for the club to survive then you accept that, but the next day Lansdown put his football fan's head back on and spent that money on Lee Miller and Luke Wilshire, who were both useless. It would have been better to keep Murray, even if you lose him for nothing a year later, because his extra goals would easily have got us the extra points for promotion. At which point he would probably have signed a new contract anyway. Oh and by the way, we re-signed Murray anyway along with Tony Rougier and Darren Caskey ten months later, waiving some of his fee from Reading, so a 'financial' decision made us no money at all, and cost us our best player and promotion. But this sort of thing happens often with Steve "accountant-head football fan-heart" Lansdown. The decisions sort of cancel themselves out and you get the worst of both worlds. 

I am horribly biased, but I still think to this day if Mickey Bell and Brian Tinnion had been playing in the top division, they would have been picked for England. Both could cross perfectly left-footed, with Beckham-esque curl on the cross, and could put free kicks and penalties in the top corner at will. England needed left sided players in that era too. I remember sitting away at Leicester amongst the home fans, and they were amazed when Tinnion hit the bar twice from two 30 yard free kicks. 

Something died in me that day at the Millenium stadium. I've hardly been back since.