40 years on … December 1982 …. Rochdale away … The 92nd days

[forbespm]

I was a regular in those days home and away.bleak times but made us all stick together,superb when we clinched promotion at chester

[sglosbcfc]

There is a fair amount of match action captured from 1982-84 but what a shame that there is so little crowd pics/videos. I remember sitting in the Dolman in 82-83, the ground held 35,000 ish and the gates were around 5,000. At some matches you could hear Terry Cooper bellowing instructions from full back.

[1960maaan]

41 minutes ago, forbespm said:

I was a regular in those days home and away.bleak times but made us all stick together,superb when we clinched promotion at chester

One of the best days out ever.

[Sweeneys Penalties]

the day we went 92nd....I remember those times well. Never mind. Good of The Gas to go one step further. Thats one contest they have beaten us at

[sugarwray]

17 minutes ago, 1960maaan said:

One of the best days out ever.

 I wondered why so many fans were leaving early and then I realised that they had all headed round to the home end for a good natured pitch invasion

[REDOXO]

8 hours ago, Rudolf Hucker said:

Loved reading that. Hated living through it. 

An effing nightmare. I’ve read here , people writing what a together period it was blah blah blah. It was an effing nightmare!

[1960maaan]

3 minutes ago, sugarwray said:

 I wondered why so many fans were leaving early and then I realised that they had all headed round to the home end for a good natured pitch invasion

We were in the enclosure, near where some lads cut the fence then just held it in place until the whistle 

[ralphindevon]

I wasn’t at the Rochdale game but I think I went to every home game that season, all the way from near Porlock in West Somerset.

As a youngster at school I had dreamt of the moment I had my own car and could go to all the games.

That dream of course was during our heady top flight days, by the time I was 17 and passed my test we were already sliding from top to bottom.

It didn’t stop me living out my dream though. 

[Alan Dicks]

7 hours ago, Sheltons Army said:

Legend

 

Absolute legend was Tony.

Always remember his usual chant

BARRRRRRISSSSSSTOOOL

[weepywall]

I remember being at school in the late '70s while we were playing the likes of Man U, Liverpool etc on a regular basis and me and a mate would say...imagine we were playing someone like Hartlepool, Halifax or Rochdale on Saturday and pissing ourselves laughing....little did we know !!

[Lanterne Rouge]

Tony bless him got me and a couple of mates a right good kicking at Grimsby. We were sneaking around to the away end when he spotted us and roared `Hello lads, we going to win today?`! Their meatheads went from laughing at him all decked out in his City gear to chasing us up an alley!

[glynriley]

51 minutes ago, Alan Dicks said:

Absolute legend was Tony.

Always remember his usual chant

BARRRRRRISSSSSSTOOOL

Travelled from Hemel Hempstead every week too. 
 

I guess any regulars from the 80’s will be familiar with that often lone refrain…

“Come On You Reds”

Edited December 1, 2022 by glynriley

[weepywall]

23 minutes ago, glynriley said:

Travelled from Hemel Hempstead every week too. 
 

I guess any regulars from the 80’s will be familiar with that often lone refrain…

“Come On You Reds”

The bloke was a legend in his time, anyone know why he started following City as he wasn't local ? Also not sure when he stopped going to AG.

[spudski]

4 hours ago, Rudolf Hucker said:

I used to stand in the Enclosure, with Tony Harling sat in the Williams behind. Towards the back of the Enclosure was a guy called Jack, with a Woodbine or equivalent in the corner of his mouth, who used to moan constantly, in particular about Keith Fear - “‘kin Feary, you’re a ‘kin waste of space …”. It was funny listening to him though (unless you were Keith Fear). A humorous bloke. 
 

Pre-dating him, there was a bus inspector (similar to ‘Blakey’ - long black raincoat and peaked cap) who only ever shouted “Come on the City, come on the Robins, come on the lads”. 
 

Blimey, there were some characters at AG back in those days!

I love that aneqdote. So true.

[ralphindevon]

1 hour ago, Alan Dicks said:

Absolute legend was Tony.

Always remember his usual chant

BARRRRRRISSSSSSTOOOL

That’s the main one I remember from first division days, usually when there was a lull in the game and the ground had gone quiet.

[GrahamC]

6 hours ago, Bristol Oil Services said:

44/46? In 82/3? Not bad, I must say.

So, you managed to miss Northampton away (1:7), what was the other one? 

Think it was a 1-0 defeat at Chester just before Xmas, I went to the work piss up instead.

Missed Northampton only because I played on Sundays.

Worst 2 were definitely Crewe away, a midweek 4-1 loss I think & the 3-1 defeat at Hartlepool.

4-1 FA Cup defeat at Leyton Orient where we brought the wrong shirts & so had to play in blue wasn’t all that great, either.

[sugarwray]

13 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

Think it was a 1-0 defeat at Chester just before Xmas, I went to the work piss up instead.

Missed Northampton only because I played on Sundays.

Worst 2 were definitely Crewe away, a midweek 4-1 loss I think & the 3-1 defeat at Hartlepool.

4-1 FA Cup defeat at Leyton Orient where we brought the wrong shirts & so had to play in blue wasn’t all that great, either.

[archie andrews]

Went to aldershot both seasons in 4th...made memorial stadium look like san siro.... 

[sugarwray]

1 minute ago, sugarwray said:

17 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

Think it was a 1-0 defeat at Chester just before Xmas, I went to the work piss up instead.

Missed Northampton only because I played on Sundays.

Worst 2 were definitely Crewe away, a midweek 4-1 loss I think & the 3-1 defeat at Hartlepool.

4-1 FA Cup defeat at Leyton Orient where we brought the wrong shirts & so had to play in blue wasn’t all that great, either.

Stockport away March 1983 may have been another instance of us bringing the wrong kit. If I recall we borrowed a very odd yellow based kit that Stockport’s reserves provided at late notice. Tony Harling didn’t miss his chance …. “Terry Coopers multi-coloured army” was another of his unique chants

 

[eardun]

12 hours ago, sugarwray said:

a season low crowd of 3,041 at Ashton Gate attended the 1-0 loss against Torquay United.

I was one of the 3k. I remember it solely because I arrived about 3 mins after kick off  and had already missed the only goal of the game! I haven’t been late since! 

[cityexile]

Went to just about all the home games that season. Only a couple of away games I can not in truth recall.

Used to go with three mates, always the same routine, and would place bets on size of the away crowd that was easily countable in the open away end. 49 was always a safe bet. Furthest away got the first round.

Tears at getting to Wembley in ‘86. Just because of the journey, and here we still were.

[Ska Junkie]

5 hours ago, forbespm said:

I was a regular in those days home and away.bleak times but made us all stick together,superb when we clinched promotion at chester

Bleak times but strangely enjoyable.

[Sleepy1968]

1 hour ago, eardun said:

I was one of the 3k. I remember it solely because I arrived about 3 mins after kick off  and had already missed the only goal of the game! I haven’t been late since! 

Me too. I think we beat them 5-0 the next season with all the goals coming in one half?

[Norn Iron]

3 hours ago, weepywall said:

The bloke was a legend in his time, anyone know why he started following City as he wasn't local ? Also not sure when he stopped going to AG.

I think he was on his way to Cornwall for a holiday and stopped off in Bristol to break up the journey. He liked the ground and that was it!

[sglosbcfc]

When/why did he stop going?

[Robbored]

Reading the OP is bitter sweet for me. Those were grim days after the heights of the old first division and brought back memories of crowds of around 4K…………….

Look how different the club is these days compared to those bleak times - it’s quite remarkable. 

 

[GrahamC]

7 minutes ago, Robbored said:

Reading the OP is bitter sweet for me. Those were grim days after the heights of the old first division and brought back memories of crowds of around 4K…………….

Look how different the club is these days compared to those bleak times - it’s quite remarkable. 

 

It really isn’t.

What was remarkable was that we got ourselves into that mess in the first place.

We were playing Liverpool & Arsenal in League games three years earlier & where are now is pretty much our usual place in the scheme of things, Jack Charlton famously said we were “14th in the second division” & give or take a few places that’s us.

The progress made is nothing compared to say Brighton, who were playing in a rundown athletic stadium & at Gillingham far more recently.

[red kev]

Should never be forgotten or underestimated how sir terry cooper pulled this club up by its boot strings. I loved that man!

[Robbored]

34 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

It really isn’t.

What was remarkable was that we got ourselves into that mess in the first place.

We were playing Liverpool & Arsenal in League games three years earlier & where are now is pretty much our usual place in the scheme of things, Jack Charlton famously said we were “14th in the second division” & give or take a few places that’s us.

40+ years ago finding out information from the club was dependent on on the local press with journalists like Richard Latham and we fans had little idea of just how poorly the club was being run the shit hit the fan and the AG 8 saving the club.

Things may have been different had the internet been accessible to us all back then.

[Tin Soldier]

13 minutes ago, red kev said:

Should never be forgotten or underestimated how sir terry cooper pulled this club up by its boot strings. I loved that man!

Agreed.

I’ve said it on here a few times, but TC was the guy who saved BCFC. The Lansdownes should remember TC with a statue or something to remember what he did for the football club. The south stand should be renamed the Terry Cooper stand IMO. Shameful how he is not remembered at AG. LEGEND!