Five Years Ago Today

[CyderInACan]

What a night. I really thought we were on the cusp of something amazing that season, that the future was bright and we were in the ascendency. Football eh. 
 

 

[Curr Avon]

Just now, CyderInACan said:

What a night. I really thought we were on the cusp of something amazing that season, that the future was bright and we were in the ascendency. Football eh. 
 

 

Two of the best ever City goals and 90 minutes of pure magic. 

[Denbury Red]

I woke up this morning to City’s instagram post about this and like others was appalled at the two inexcusable mistakes make by the media team (or whoever put it together) getting the score graphics wrong on two of the 7 pages.

Yet more shocking quality coming out of Ashton Gate!

Unbelievable that this was wrong in the first place - but didn’t anyone check it first before it was posted!!

Clearly not the standard of work many of us would accept!!

[One Team]

For me the best game I’ve ever seen at Ashton Gate. The atmosphere, the goals, the opposition, the timing of Korey’s winner…

There have been many great games over the years I’ve been going, Palace play offs and Hartlepool play offs being right up there along with some of the derby games, but this tops them all for me. 

[Port Said Red]

That Joe Bryan goal was almost the epitome of everything that Lee Johnson was trying to get from the team. Started brilliantly by Bryan himself, great running off the ball by him, slick one touch passing, the Pack reverse and a sublime finish. 

Playing the two Manchester clubs at that time allowed for us to compare and contrast. The absolute arrogance of the United team, was in stark contrast to Manchester City's, professional and more respectful approach. It was easy to see which had more class.

Also, for those who like to paint LJs tenure as completely devoid of excitement, he did give us nights like these.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid02oj7mS2rAEqC1kzLPnjofRev8Gz6iFmoLXvJM79CVuw7HaaEbNLg18oajoPpNx5Avl&id=100009614402109

Edited December 20, 2022 by Port Said Red

[View from the Dolman]

46 minutes ago, Denbury Red said:

I woke up this morning to City’s instagram post about this and like others was appalled at the two inexcusable mistakes make by the media team (or whoever put it together) getting the score graphics wrong on two of the 7 pages.

Yet more shocking quality coming out of Ashton Gate!

Unbelievable that this was wrong in the first place - but didn’t anyone check it first before it was posted!!

Clearly not the standard of work many of us would accept!!

The Insta shambles has now been deleted.

[GrahamC]

1 hour ago, Port Said Red said:

That Joe Bryan goal was almost the epitome of everything that Lee Johnson was trying to get from the team. Started brilliantly by Bryan himself, great running off the ball by him, slick one touch passing, the Pack reverse and a sublime finish. 

Playing the two Manchester clubs at that time allowed for us to compare and contrast. The absolute arrogance of the United team, was in stark contrast to Manchester City's, professional and more respectful approach. It was easy to see which had more class.

Also, for those who like to paint LJs tenure as completely devoid of excitement, he did give us nights like these.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid02oj7mS2rAEqC1kzLPnjofRev8Gz6iFmoLXvJM79CVuw7HaaEbNLg18oajoPpNx5Avl&id=100009614402109

Everyone understandably remembers the Smith goal but as you say, the Bryan one was brilliant play from start to finish.

People will already have forgotten that Luke Steele was in goal that night & he made 2 superb saves, without which we wouldn’t have been in position to win the game so late on.

[italian dave]

Only 5 years, wow. As you say, it was a time when it felt like we were on the cusp of something really special…….feels like such a long time ago now. 

[DaveInSA]

That was the day I landed back in the UK.

Needless to say, it’s all been downhill since then!

[Pezo]

Ahhhhh, this should be a moment of celebration and I'm sure will be in the future but every time I see this now I'm reminded of how long our football has been dull.

[italian dave]

1 hour ago, DaveInSA said:

That was the day I landed back in the UK.

Needless to say, it’s all been downhill since then!

Your fault then!

[Bristol Oil Services]

3 hours ago, GrahamC said:

 

People will already have forgotten that Luke Steele was in goal that night & he made 2 superb saves, without which we wouldn’t have been in position to win the game so late on.

I'd forgotten that, how do you remember these things?

[Bristol Oil Services]

2 hours ago, DaveInSA said:

That was the day I landed back in the UK.

Needless to say, it’s all been downhill since then!

Not quite. We were 1:0 up at half-time in the next round, the semi final, and 4th in the Championship at that point, just two points off second place, so it all went downhill in the second half at Man City, tbh, when Sergio Aguero scored with a bleedin header ffs....

[italian dave]

35 minutes ago, Bristol Oil Services said:

Not quite. We were 1:0 up at half-time in the next round, the semi final, and 4th in the Championship at that point, just two points off second place, so it all went downhill in the second half at Man City, tbh, when Sergio Aguero scored with a bleedin header ffs....

Oh, I don’t know…..being on the same pitch as Aguero was hardly downhill. Conceding a late headed goal to Ryan Bennett on the other hand…….

(As a slight aside, one thing I came across when I checked out the Wolves scorers that night, and I’d completely forgotten (if I ever knew!) - the Wolves team that night included one Romain Saiss.)

[Chrizzler]

I remember lots of moaning about some of the players we had at the time but what would we give to have them here now!

[Tin Soldier]

5 hours ago, CyderInACan said:

What a night. I really thought we were on the cusp of something amazing that season, that the future was bright and we were in the ascendency. Football eh. 
 

 

About as good as it ever got at AG (certainly since Div 1). What followed was a shambles. Mismanagement, poor decisions, selling all the family silver, etc. And here we are 5 years later. Real shame.

[glynriley]

1 minute ago, Chrizzler said:

I remember lots of moaning about some of the players we had at the time but what would we give to have them here now!

Couldn't afford most of them.

Then or now.

[GrahamC]

28 minutes ago, glynriley said:

Couldn't afford most of them.

Then or now.

Exactly this.

We could only afford them if we had gone up, as others have rightly said when we beat Reading 2-0 on Boxing Day 2017 we were in 2nd, NINE points clear of the team in 7th place, which was Boro, who eventually finished 5th.

We finished that season 8 points outside the top six, a drop of 17 points in the remaining 22 games over the 6th placed side.

We only won 4 league games in that period.

[Davefevs]

5 years ago to the day…

…we started to believe our own hype.

It was a great day, don’t get me wrong, one of my favourite football days with Joe. Out from lunchtime with Big Stan and kids, GBK, Hen & Chicken then onto Ashton Gate where the atmosphere was brilliant.

in fairness my opening point is massively cynical and inaccurate but it feels that way. We’d already started, breaking our transfer record (and some) on Fam, another circa £4m on a CB (Baker).  Had it stopped there and allowed to grow “organically”, tweak here and there, I think we might’ve really pushed for POs over next couple of seasons. I think we did try that in summer 18 with just Weimann, Hunt and Webster. By the winter we’d added the 3 Chelsea loanees and that was really the seismic shift away from the plan.

Sorry to be doom and gloom about a great day.

[Floatn Over]

49 minutes ago, Tin Soldier said:

About as good as it ever got at AG (certainly since Div 1). What followed was a shambles. Mismanagement, poor decisions, selling all the family silver, etc. And here we are 5 years later. Real shame.

Great to look back at that night of course, fantastic occasion for sure, up there on my list of highlights since I first walked into the open end in 1959 and caught the BCFC bug.

Really makes me so angry though conversely as to what was allowed to happen afterwards, and the current regularity of rolling out the “Oh well, we are where we are” phrase is so annoying.

Hopefully there will be other such nights in the future and one day we’ll actually capitalise fully as opposed to entering the usual dismantling it phase.

 

[Bristol Oil Services]

1 hour ago, GrahamC said:

Exactly this.

We could only afford them if we had gone up, as others have rightly said when we beat Reading 2-0 on Boxing Day 2017 we were in 2nd, NINE points clear of the team in 7th place, which was Boro, who eventually finished 5th.

We finished that season 8 points outside the top six, a drop of 17 points in the remaining 22 games over the 6th placed side.

We only won 4 league games in that period.

Not quite Devon Loch, but we were very Devon White from Feb onwards ....

[Lanterne Rouge]

6 hours ago, GrahamC said:

Everyone understandably remembers the Smith goal but as you say, the Bryan one was brilliant play from start to finish.

People will already have forgotten that Luke Steele was in goal that night & he made 2 superb saves, without which we wouldn’t have been in position to win the game so late on.

We defended brilliantly in all three games. I can still see that Joe Bryan tackle on Marcus Rashford when he was free and bearing down on goal in my mind now. How often does a piece of defensive play get the whole crowd off their seats and roaring?

As for Aden`s goal saving header from Sterling at the Etihad, I still can`t believe it now.

[Super]

6 hours ago, GrahamC said:

Everyone understandably remembers the Smith goal but as you say, the Bryan one was brilliant play from start to finish.

People will already have forgotten that Luke Steele was in goal that night & he made 2 superb saves, without which we wouldn’t have been in position to win the game so late on.

The save from Lukaku was World Class prob should have done better with the Free Kick though imo.

[marmite]

Unfortunately the club had reached base camp on Everest that night but we thought we had reached the summit and we didn't keep going.

We were dining at the top table yes, but only as guests. Some top people at the club began believing the media hype.

The slide in the new year was soul destroying.  A taste of what might have been was quickly lost back in the real world of league  football.

It was a great night though.

[Bernard Lerring]

Rubbish game. I'd have much rather been watching Love Actually in BS7 

[AppyDAZE]

All true, but we are still in The Championship.

Anyone who has been going for as long as I have knows full well that things have been far worse than the last 5 years.

Great to see that again. One of the greatest ever nights at AG.

There is no reason why we cannot pull through this less than perfect situation we are in right now.

We're Bristol City, we (should) always believe.

COYR!

 

Edited December 20, 2022 by AppyDAZE

[Reigate Red]

6 hours ago, Bristol Oil Services said:

Not quite. We were 1:0 up at half-time in the next round, the semi final, and 4th in the Championship at that point, just two points off second place, so it all went downhill in the second half at Man City, tbh, when Sergio Aguero scored with a bleedin header ffs....

I remember saying to someone at half time at the Etihad, somewhat tongue in cheek, enjoy it as this is "peak" city . I didn't really think I'd be so prescient with my ramblings.  It really does bring home how infrequent these moments are for us 

[TonyTonyTony]

It was a sensational night. I lost my son after the winning goal. He was several rows down in the Dolman.

Peak city in recent memory by some distance.

[Merrick's Marvels]

5 years of steady decline following the ManC games in the next round, yet some complain Pearson hasn't sorted the mess yet despite no money to spend and a weaker squad. Sorry wrong thread. 

Yes, what a night that was. Brilliant performance and the look on Mourinho's face was a picture. 

[ralphindevon]

 There were some massive names in that United team. The league cup is littered with upsets but when you look at the line ups of the big teams they’re often weakened sides.

God knows how many hundreds of millions we played against in those two ties.

With all that respect gained it was only a matter of time before we would be borrowing the best talent Manchester had to offer………before Lee eventually took over from Pep.

I guess the latter could still happen but……….

[Supersonic Robin]

My favourite game in my time supporting City, and my favourite City goal too (Bryan's). I also predicted a 2-1 win before the game (yes, I do like to mention that at every possible opportunity).

Unfortunately, I find the memory of the Man Utd game somewhat bittersweet these days. Yes, it was a great game, though it's slightly depressing that a cup game against a top 6 team is SO meaningful to us. Dare I suggest that our continued jubilation at such a game from half a decade ago is a little bit tinpot? Many other clubs of our size and smaller have gone on to compete against these teams regularly in the Premier League, while 5 years on we still celebrate "that time we caused an upset in the League Cup".

[reddoh]

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