WBA at home match thread

[Jerseybean]

Hope you had a great Christmas (if you haven’t and don’t have the energy to wade through the following, perhaps just fast forward to the last paragraph.)

Here’s to a cracking Boxing Day fixture at Ashton Gate. In case not take a look here: https://www.bcfc.co.uk/news/six-of-the-best-boxing-day-down-the-years/

It will be available to stream on Robins TV both domestically and internationally and it’s on the red button.

The Baggies will bring a full allocation of 2,503 supporters and a 23,000 + attendance is expected, which, given our last home performance, is something of a Christmas miracle!

Their expected line up: https://www.westbromnews.co.uk/2022/12/23/west-brom-predicted-xi-v-bristol-city-semi-ajayi-to-start-carlos-corberan-to-make-four-changes/

City are partnering with The Teddy Trust this game to bring joy to children around the world who have experienced war, abuse or poverty. The Teddy Trust collects teddies from children and families across the UK and sends them to countries including Iraq, Kurdistan, Nepal, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Ukraine and many more. The simple gift of a teddy will often be a child's first gift. The work of the Trust brings comfort and joy to children who need it most. City fans can donate new or pre loved bears on Boxing Day's match up with the Albion. There will be a collection point under the clock in the South Stand concourse were you can drop off teddy bears. Teddy Bears must be in good, clean condition and without an internal mechanism. The trust will only accept Teddy Bears and no other soft toys.

We are now halfway through the season and City sit three points above the drop zone in 18th. At this stage last season, 23 games into the campaign, we were on the exact same number of points and were sitting five adrift above the drop-zone. In comparison, we’d won seven games at this stage last season, the same as this time around, scored five goals more this season but have also conceded three more. The inconsistencies have remained and that's a big concern.

NPs (IMO) excellent pressers:

 

Nahki Wells presser:

 

Programme: https://www.bcfc.co.uk/news/joe-ho-ho-the-robins-online-programme/

On Wednesday WBA faced Coventry which ended with a 1-0 victory for the Sky Blues, thanks to Viktor Gyokeres' stoppage-time penalty which ended West Bromwich Albion's five-game winning run.

Our Championship form: D L D D W L Our form (all competitions): L D L D W L

West Bromwich Albion Championship form: W W W W W L

We beat them 2-0 at their place in October thanks to a solid, determined team performance and first half goals from Williams and Wells, so this is our first opportunity this season to do the double:

 

Match officials - ref Stephen Martin. After starting refereeing in 2003, Steve Martin ran his first line in an EFL match in 2007 after quickly progressing through the ranks. His rapid rise saw his appointed to the EFL assistant referee list in 2008 and to the National League referee list in the same year. After four years he became an EFL referee. He will be assisted by Robert Merchant and Mark Pottage. The fourth official is Mark Scholes.

They allegedly have a huge list of famous fans! https://www.baggies.com/celebrities/

Over the years we have won 16, drawn 16 and lost 23 against them.

My friend Nick lives in Guernsey, so has watched Alex Scott through the early years and Nick is also a bonkers Baggies fan, as it’s Christmastime we’ve struck a deal - we’d both settle on a draw, with the caveat that Scotty scores.

The game will be affected by a national closure of the railway network and no public bus service on the local First Bus network (except A1 and A3 Airport Flyers). As a result the AG3 match-day bus will not operate for this fixture but additional capacity will be added to the AG1 and AG2 services which will operate at an increased frequency: https://www.bcfc.co.uk/news/ℹ-important-travel-information-west-bromwich-albion/

Ten WBA facts

1 – West Bromwich Albion have been champions of England once, in 1919/20. Albion finished nine points clear of second-placed Burnley and 11 points clear of Chelsea, who ended the campaign in third.

2 – West Brom are one of the most successful clubs in the FA Cup. The Baggies have won the competition on five occasions, with their last success coming in 1968.

3 – Although known in their early days as “the Throstles”, the club’s more popular nickname among supporters came to be the Baggies.

4 – At an altitude of 551 feet above sea level, the Hawthorns is the highest of all 92 Premier League and Football League grounds.

5 – Albion’s current ground, the Hawthorns, was named after the hawthorn bushes that covered the area and were cleared to make way for the stadium.

6 – West Brom adopted an all-red away strip towards the end of the 1950s, but after defeat to Queens Park Rangers in the 1967 League Cup Final, it changed to an all-white kit.

7 – The club was founded as West Bromwich Strollers in 1878 but they were renamed in 1880, becoming the first team to adopt “Albion” in their name.

8 – After turning professional, West Brom reached the FA Cup final in 1886, 1887 and 1888, losing the first two before beating Preston North End to win it for the first time.

9 – The 2004/05 season saw West Brom become the first team in the Premier League to avoid relegation having been bottom of the table at Christmas.

10 – West Brom are the only club to have survived relegation when heading into the final game of the season bottom of the Premier League table, again in the 2004/05 season.

Early history

Albion were among the inaugural 12 members of the Football League in 1888, winning their first game, 2-0 at Stoke's Victoria Ground.

The club that became West Bromwich Albion was formed in 1878 by a group of young workers at the George Salter Springs factory, appropriate for a club whose terrace celebration would more than a century later become "boing-boing".

Legend has it that the paucity of sporting retailers in their home town forced these early pioneers to walk to neighbouring Wednesbury to buy a ball, thereby becoming West Bromwich Strollers before taking on the Albion mantle.

Just eight years after forming, in 1886 they became the first team from the Midlands to reach an FA Cup final, losing in a replay to Blackburn Rovers.

The following year, they lost the final to Aston Villa, but it was third time lucky in 1888 when they defeated Preston North End 2-1 to claim the trophy.

Recent history

The first decade of the century saw Albion yo-yoing between the top two divisions.

In the summer of 2016, the Club's ownership switched to foreign hands for the first time when the Chinese entrepreneur Guochuan Lai became the controlling shareholder in an agreement which saw owner and chairman Jeremy Peace step down.

Lai Guochuan is a Chinese businessman and investor. He is the controlling shareholder and director of private investment firm Yunyi Guokai Sports Development Limited. Lai is largely a private person; however, according to a report by the Birmingham Post, a loose estimate of his total wealth is £2.8 billion.

Peace agreed to stay on as a consultant for a further year but the chairmanship was taken up by John Williams, who had successfully occupied the role with Blackburn Rovers in the Premier League.

Albion's first season under this new regime saw the Club finish 10th in the Premier League.

The Baggies were relegated a year later with Alan Pardew taking the reigns after Tony  Pulis departed midway through the season. Darren Moore took caretaker charge for the final six games of the campaign, winning three, drawing two and losing just once to so very nearly keep Albion up. 

Albion finished fourth in their first Championship campaign for nine years, missing out in the play offs to Aston Villa on penalties after a 2-2 aggregate draw. 

The Baggies appointed Slaven Bilić as Head Coach in June 2019, with the Croatian leading the Throstles back to the top flight at the first time of asking.

After Bilić's departure in the following winter, Sam Allardyce became Albion's next boss on December 16, 2020 - but he couldn't prevent the club from relegation back down to the second tier and left at the end of that season.

Valérien Ismaël was named Head Coach in the summer of 2021 and he guided the Baggies to their longest ever unbeaten start to a league campaign (10 matches). A tough spell and subsequent slide down the table resulted in his departure, though, and Steve Bruce took charge in February 2022. When he departed, in early October, the Baggies appointed Carlos Corberan as their new manager at the end of October. Corberan’s previous position was in charge of Olympiacos, the most successful club in Greece. He only lasted two months in that role, though, as the Red-Whites won just two of their opening 11 league matches and were defeated in both of their Europa League outings.

This season West Brom were one of the pre-season promotion favourites in the Championship, and although they currently sit in 16th place their recent form has been much improved. As mentioned the recent defeat against fellow form side Coventry City was the result of a 92nd minute penalty which brought a five-game winning streak to a halt during which they only conceded once in those games.

It’s fair to say that this resurgence has largely been down to the appointment of former Huddersfield boss Carlos Corberan. The task facing the Spaniard when he arrived at The Hawthorns was an unenviable one. After a sorry start to the season, the Baggies were seemingly set for a long fight against relegation, sitting 23rd in the table - their lowest ebb in 21 years.

Despite losing his first game in charge to Sheffield United, Corberan has since guided his side to wins over Blackpool, Queens Park Rangers, Stoke, Sunderland and Rotherham. Albion's form has taken them from being three points adrift of safety to five points clear of the bottom three and only five points away from the play-off places.

Players at The Baggies claim he has made a "huge" impact on and off the field since becoming West Brom head coach with record signing Grady Diangana claiming, "On the training pitch he goes into finer detail to help us understand - and that's everyone, every single player on the pitch.”

He has also been helped by players returning from injury such as the giant USA Striker Daryl Dike who missed out on the World Cup following an injury in January which up until his recent inclusion in the side had limited his involvement over the last nine months to just minutes. A return to form of John Swift and Jed Wallace who were summer additions from Reading and Millwall alongside the classy Tom Rogic from Celtic has also supported the climb up the table.

Understandably the Baggies fans will be boinging their way to Ashton Gate full of optimism having found the knack of keeping clean sheets through the excellent form of former number 2 keeper Alex Palmer and also scoring more freely with goals coming from a range of players within the side.

With the club now only five points adrift of the play-off places, West Brom seem keen to capitalise on this upturn in form with the controversial Chinese owner Guochuan Lai promising funds for the club to dip into the January transfer market.

It would not be surprising to see West Brom achieve what Steve Cooper and Nottingham Forest did last season in reaching the playoffs after spending the start of the campaign in the bottom three, and considering how tight the Championship is, Albion could be entering the top six sooner rather than later.

Why it’s called Boxing Day and football at Christmas

The specific origins of Boxing Day are not universally agreed upon, but various origin stories help unpack its history and original meaning.

On explanation is that Boxing Day got its name when Queen Victoria held the throne in the 1800s, and is borne out of the tradition of wealthy families boxing up gifts to give to the poor. Since servants of aristocrats were required to work on Christmas, the following day became the time when their employers filled up boxes with gifts, money, and Christmas leftovers for them, much like a holiday bonus. Servants could then go home to share the gift boxes with their families.

Another theory is that the name arose from alms boxes placed in churches for the collection of donations for those in need. On December 26, clergy members would give these funds to the poor in honour of the feast of St. Stephen, a Christian martyr known for charitable acts. St. Stephen holds so much significance that in Ireland, Boxing Day is referred to as St. Stephen’s Day.

Yet another clue to the holiday’s moniker can be found in the song "Good King Wenceslas." this carol tells the tale of the Duke of Bohemia in the 10th century. On St. Stephen’s Day, he observed a poor man on his land, struggling to gather wood in the middle of a snowstorm. He was so moved by this sight that he gathered food and wine and delivered it to his door, inspiring a tradition.

With so many competing narratives, it’s difficult to know exactly how Boxing Day began. It’s clear, however, that what they all have in common are themes of charity, gift-giving, and celebrations, which have lived on and are present in how this holiday is observed today.

While Boxing Day has nothing to do with the sport of boxing, it has now come to be associated with watching football. Prior to the days of television, Christmas Day would feature a full schedule of football matches for fans to attend after they had eaten. During the 1950’s however, attitudes towards playing sports on Christmas Day changed.

Christmas Day 1957 was the last with a full league programme. The arrival of floodlights and evening games had removed the need for fixtures to be squeezed into public holidays, and many fans were preferring to stay at home with their families on Christmas Day. In the First Division on December 25, 1957, Blackpool beat Leicester 5-1, Manchester United beat Luton 3-0, and Sheffield Wednesday and Preston drew 4-4. Chelsea beat Portsmouth 7-4, with 17-year-old Jimmy Greaves scoring four for the Blues.

In 1958 there were only three First Division matches played on December 25, and in 1959 just one. The last English League match played on Christmas Day was Blackpool versus Blackburn in 1965. A crowd of 21,000 turned up to see Blackpool win 4-2.

A planned revival of Christmas Day matches failed in 1983. Third Division Brentford had arranged to play Wimbledon at 11am on Christmas morning.

“We hope to revive the old tradition of the husband going to football on Christmas Day while the wives cook the turkey,” said Brentford official Eric White. However, the rather sexist plan backfired, and protests by both sets of fans saw the match brought forward to Christmas Eve. Wimbledon won 4-3.

The most famous Christmas Day football match took place in 1914, when one of the deadliest conflicts in human history was paused for a kick-about. The First World War 'Christmas Truce' saw around 100,000 troops along the Western Front exchange gifts, sing carols, and play football. The match has attained mythical status, but letters from soldiers provide evidence that it did take place. A recently-uncovered letter written by Staff Sergeant Clement Barker of the 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards explains how the match started.

“A German looked over the trench – no shots,” he wrote. “Our men did the same, and then a few of our men went out and brought the dead in (69) and buried them. The next thing, a football was kicked out of our trenches and Germans and English played football.”

https://fb.watch/hBGODd8Rcf/

And finally. For so many reasons and for lots of people this can be a very lonely and difficult time of year. Whatever your own situation if you’ve got this far through such a monster post (or just skipped to the end) it suggests you are very much part of the worldwide and wonderful Bristol City family. If you are struggling for any reason at all please reach out to someone, either on this forum or simply wherever works for you.

Two years ago almost to the day Phantom started the superb thread ‘Never feel alone, it’s good to talk’ in the opening post he said:

‘Please, if you feel alone or are struggling, try to talk to someone. Life might not always feel like living and you may feel like you are at rock bottom, but the world is a much better place with you in it. Personally this site really helps me, I have really low and negative days but keeping in touch with the Bristol City family is a massive thing.  If anyone ever feels alone, please reach out.’

Sixteen pages on it is as relevant and important as ever it was.

 

[BigTone]

5 minutes ago, Jerseybean said:

Hope you had a great Christmas (if you haven’t and don’t have the energy to wade through the following, perhaps just fast forward to the last paragraph.)

Here’s to a cracking Boxing Day fixture at Ashton Gate. In case not take a look here: https://www.bcfc.co.uk/news/six-of-the-best-boxing-day-down-the-years/

It will be available to stream on Robins TV both domestically and internationally and it’s on the red button.

The Baggies will bring a full allocation of 2,503 supporters and a 23,000 + attendance is expected, which, given our last home performance, is something of a Christmas miracle!

Their expected line up: https://www.westbromnews.co.uk/2022/12/23/west-brom-predicted-xi-v-bristol-city-semi-ajayi-to-start-carlos-corberan-to-make-four-changes/

City are partnering with The Teddy Trust this game to bring joy to children around the world who have experienced war, abuse or poverty. The Teddy Trust collects teddies from children and families across the UK and sends them to countries including Iraq, Kurdistan, Nepal, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Ukraine and many more. The simple gift of a teddy will often be a child's first gift. The work of the Trust brings comfort and joy to children who need it most. City fans can donate new or pre loved bears on Boxing Day's match up with the Albion. There will be a collection point under the clock in the South Stand concourse were you can drop off teddy bears. Teddy Bears must be in good, clean condition and without an internal mechanism. The trust will only accept Teddy Bears and no other soft toys.

We are now halfway through the season and City sit three points above the drop zone in 18th. At this stage last season, 23 games into the campaign, we were on the exact same number of points and were sitting five adrift above the drop-zone. In comparison, we’d won seven games at this stage last season, the same as this time around, scored five goals more this season but have also conceded three more. The inconsistencies have remained and that's a big concern.

NPs (IMO) excellent pressers:

 

Nahki Wells presser:

 

Programme: https://www.bcfc.co.uk/news/joe-ho-ho-the-robins-online-programme/

On Wednesday WBA faced Coventry which ended with a 1-0 victory for the Sky Blues, thanks to Viktor Gyokeres' stoppage-time penalty which ended West Bromwich Albion's five-game winning run.

Our Championship form: D L D D W L Our form (all competitions): L D L D W L

West Bromwich Albion Championship form: W W W W W L

We beat them 2-0 at their place in October thanks to a solid, determined team performance and first half goals from Williams and Wells, so this is our first opportunity this season to do the double:

 

Match officials - ref Stephen Martin. After starting refereeing in 2003, Steve Martin ran his first line in an EFL match in 2007 after quickly progressing through the ranks. His rapid rise saw his appointed to the EFL assistant referee list in 2008 and to the National League referee list in the same year. After four years he became an EFL referee. He will be assisted by Robert Merchant and Mark Pottage. The fourth official is Mark Scholes.

They allegedly have a huge list of famous fans! https://www.baggies.com/celebrities/

Over the years we have won 16, drawn 16 and lost 23 against them.

My friend Nick lives in Guernsey, so has watched Alex Scott through the early years and Nick is also a bonkers Baggies fan, as it’s Christmastime we’ve struck a deal - we’d both settle on a draw, with the caveat that Scotty scores.

The game will be affected by a national closure of the railway network and no public bus service on the local First Bus network (except A1 and A3 Airport Flyers). As a result the AG3 match-day bus will not operate for this fixture but additional capacity will be added to the AG1 and AG2 services which will operate at an increased frequency: https://www.bcfc.co.uk/news/ℹ-important-travel-information-west-bromwich-albion/

Ten WBA facts

1 – West Bromwich Albion have been champions of England once, in 1919/20. Albion finished nine points clear of second-placed Burnley and 11 points clear of Chelsea, who ended the campaign in third.

2 – West Brom are one of the most successful clubs in the FA Cup. The Baggies have won the competition on five occasions, with their last success coming in 1968.

3 – Although known in their early days as “the Throstles”, the club’s more popular nickname among supporters came to be the Baggies.

4 – At an altitude of 551 feet above sea level, the Hawthorns is the highest of all 92 Premier League and Football League grounds.

5 – Albion’s current ground, the Hawthorns, was named after the hawthorn bushes that covered the area and were cleared to make way for the stadium.

6 – West Brom adopted an all-red away strip towards the end of the 1950s, but after defeat to Queens Park Rangers in the 1967 League Cup Final, it changed to an all-white kit.

7 – The club was founded as West Bromwich Strollers in 1878 but they were renamed in 1880, becoming the first team to adopt “Albion” in their name.

8 – After turning professional, West Brom reached the FA Cup final in 1886, 1887 and 1888, losing the first two before beating Preston North End to win it for the first time.

9 – The 2004/05 season saw West Brom become the first team in the Premier League to avoid relegation having been bottom of the table at Christmas.

10 – West Brom are the only club to have survived relegation when heading into the final game of the season bottom of the Premier League table, again in the 2004/05 season.

Early history

Albion were among the inaugural 12 members of the Football League in 1888, winning their first game, 2-0 at Stoke's Victoria Ground.

The club that became West Bromwich Albion was formed in 1878 by a group of young workers at the George Salter Springs factory, appropriate for a club whose terrace celebration would more than a century later become "boing-boing".

Legend has it that the paucity of sporting retailers in their home town forced these early pioneers to walk to neighbouring Wednesbury to buy a ball, thereby becoming West Bromwich Strollers before taking on the Albion mantle.

Just eight years after forming, in 1886 they became the first team from the Midlands to reach an FA Cup final, losing in a replay to Blackburn Rovers.

The following year, they lost the final to Aston Villa, but it was third time lucky in 1888 when they defeated Preston North End 2-1 to claim the trophy.

Recent history

The first decade of the century saw Albion yo-yoing between the top two divisions.

In the summer of 2016, the Club's ownership switched to foreign hands for the first time when the Chinese entrepreneur Guochuan Lai became the controlling shareholder in an agreement which saw owner and chairman Jeremy Peace step down.

Lai Guochuan is a Chinese businessman and investor. He is the controlling shareholder and director of private investment firm Yunyi Guokai Sports Development Limited. Lai is largely a private person; however, according to a report by the Birmingham Post, a loose estimate of his total wealth is £2.8 billion.

Peace agreed to stay on as a consultant for a further year but the chairmanship was taken up by John Williams, who had successfully occupied the role with Blackburn Rovers in the Premier League.

Albion's first season under this new regime saw the Club finish 10th in the Premier League.

The Baggies were relegated a year later with Alan Pardew taking the reigns after Tony  Pulis departed midway through the season. Darren Moore took caretaker charge for the final six games of the campaign, winning three, drawing two and losing just once to so very nearly keep Albion up. 

Albion finished fourth in their first Championship campaign for nine years, missing out in the play offs to Aston Villa on penalties after a 2-2 aggregate draw. 

The Baggies appointed Slaven Bilić as Head Coach in June 2019, with the Croatian leading the Throstles back to the top flight at the first time of asking.

After Bilić's departure in the following winter, Sam Allardyce became Albion's next boss on December 16, 2020 - but he couldn't prevent the club from relegation back down to the second tier and left at the end of that season.

Valérien Ismaël was named Head Coach in the summer of 2021 and he guided the Baggies to their longest ever unbeaten start to a league campaign (10 matches). A tough spell and subsequent slide down the table resulted in his departure, though, and Steve Bruce took charge in February 2022. When he departed, in early October, the Baggies appointed Carlos Corberan as their new manager at the end of October. Corberan’s previous position was in charge of Olympiacos, the most successful club in Greece. He only lasted two months in that role, though, as the Red-Whites won just two of their opening 11 league matches and were defeated in both of their Europa League outings.

This season West Brom were one of the pre-season promotion favourites in the Championship, and although they currently sit in 16th place their recent form has been much improved. As mentioned the recent defeat against fellow form side Coventry City was the result of a 92nd minute penalty which brought a five-game winning streak to a halt during which they only conceded once in those games.

It’s fair to say that this resurgence has largely been down to the appointment of former Huddersfield boss Carlos Corberan. The task facing the Spaniard when he arrived at The Hawthorns was an unenviable one. After a sorry start to the season, the Baggies were seemingly set for a long fight against relegation, sitting 23rd in the table - their lowest ebb in 21 years.

Despite losing his first game in charge to Sheffield United, Corberan has since guided his side to wins over Blackpool, Queens Park Rangers, Stoke, Sunderland and Rotherham. Albion's form has taken them from being three points adrift of safety to five points clear of the bottom three and only five points away from the play-off places.

Players at The Baggies claim he has made a "huge" impact on and off the field since becoming West Brom head coach with record signing Grady Diangana claiming, "On the training pitch he goes into finer detail to help us understand - and that's everyone, every single player on the pitch.”

He has also been helped by players returning from injury such as the giant USA Striker Daryl Dike who missed out on the World Cup following an injury in January which up until his recent inclusion in the side had limited his involvement over the last nine months to just minutes. A return to form of John Swift and Jed Wallace who were summer additions from Reading and Millwall alongside the classy Tom Rogic from Celtic has also supported the climb up the table.

Understandably the Baggies fans will be boinging their way to Ashton Gate full of optimism having found the knack of keeping clean sheets through the excellent form of former number 2 keeper Alex Palmer and also scoring more freely with goals coming from a range of players within the side.

With the club now only five points adrift of the play-off places, West Brom seem keen to capitalise on this upturn in form with the controversial Chinese owner Guochuan Lai promising funds for the club to dip into the January transfer market.

It would not be surprising to see West Brom achieve what Steve Cooper and Nottingham Forest did last season in reaching the playoffs after spending the start of the campaign in the bottom three, and considering how tight the Championship is, Albion could be entering the top six sooner rather than later.

Why it’s called Boxing Day and football at Christmas

The specific origins of Boxing Day are not universally agreed upon, but various origin stories help unpack its history and original meaning.

On explanation is that Boxing Day got its name when Queen Victoria held the throne in the 1800s, and is borne out of the tradition of wealthy families boxing up gifts to give to the poor. Since servants of aristocrats were required to work on Christmas, the following day became the time when their employers filled up boxes with gifts, money, and Christmas leftovers for them, much like a holiday bonus. Servants could then go home to share the gift boxes with their families.

Another theory is that the name arose from alms boxes placed in churches for the collection of donations for those in need. On December 26, clergy members would give these funds to the poor in honour of the feast of St. Stephen, a Christian martyr known for charitable acts. St. Stephen holds so much significance that in Ireland, Boxing Day is referred to as St. Stephen’s Day.

Yet another clue to the holiday’s moniker can be found in the song "Good King Wenceslas." this carol tells the tale of the Duke of Bohemia in the 10th century. On St. Stephen’s Day, he observed a poor man on his land, struggling to gather wood in the middle of a snowstorm. He was so moved by this sight that he gathered food and wine and delivered it to his door, inspiring a tradition.

With so many competing narratives, it’s difficult to know exactly how Boxing Day began. It’s clear, however, that what they all have in common are themes of charity, gift-giving, and celebrations, which have lived on and are present in how this holiday is observed today.

While Boxing Day has nothing to do with the sport of boxing, it has now come to be associated with watching football. Prior to the days of television, Christmas Day would feature a full schedule of football matches for fans to attend after they had eaten. During the 1950’s however, attitudes towards playing sports on Christmas Day changed.

Christmas Day 1957 was the last with a full league programme. The arrival of floodlights and evening games had removed the need for fixtures to be squeezed into public holidays, and many fans were preferring to stay at home with their families on Christmas Day. In the First Division on December 25, 1957, Blackpool beat Leicester 5-1, Manchester United beat Luton 3-0, and Sheffield Wednesday and Preston drew 4-4. Chelsea beat Portsmouth 7-4, with 17-year-old Jimmy Greaves scoring four for the Blues.

In 1958 there were only three First Division matches played on December 25, and in 1959 just one. The last English League match played on Christmas Day was Blackpool versus Blackburn in 1965. A crowd of 21,000 turned up to see Blackpool win 4-2.

A planned revival of Christmas Day matches failed in 1983. Third Division Brentford had arranged to play Wimbledon at 11am on Christmas morning.

“We hope to revive the old tradition of the husband going to football on Christmas Day while the wives cook the turkey,” said Brentford official Eric White. However, the rather sexist plan backfired, and protests by both sets of fans saw the match brought forward to Christmas Eve. Wimbledon won 4-3.

The most famous Christmas Day football match took place in 1914, when one of the deadliest conflicts in human history was paused for a kick-about. The First World War 'Christmas Truce' saw around 100,000 troops along the Western Front exchange gifts, sing carols, and play football. The match has attained mythical status, but letters from soldiers provide evidence that it did take place. A recently-uncovered letter written by Staff Sergeant Clement Barker of the 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards explains how the match started.

“A German looked over the trench – no shots,” he wrote. “Our men did the same, and then a few of our men went out and brought the dead in (69) and buried them. The next thing, a football was kicked out of our trenches and Germans and English played football.”

https://fb.watch/hBGODd8Rcf/

And finally. For so many reasons and for lots of people this can be a very lonely and difficult time of year. Whatever your own situation if you’ve got this far through such a monster post (or just skipped to the end) it suggests you are very much part of the worldwide and wonderful Bristol City family. If you are struggling for any reason at all please reach out to someone, either on this forum or simply wherever works for you.

Two years ago almost to the day Phantom started the superb thread ‘Never feel alone, it’s good to talk’ in the opening post he said:

‘Please, if you feel alone or are struggling, try to talk to someone. Life might not always feel like living and you may feel like you are at rock bottom, but the world is a much better place with you in it. Personally this site really helps me, I have really low and negative days but keeping in touch with the Bristol City family is a massive thing.  If anyone ever feels alone, please reach out.’

Sixteen pages on it is as relevant and important as ever it was.

 

Condensed Version

WBA

I had been pre-warned but this one is a doozie. Have a good one Bean old chap. Keep up the good work.

COYR

[joe jordans teeth]

Santa out sorry Pearson out 

[Son of Fred]

They are in fine form...

I'll be polite in saying we are inconsistent.

For us a draw is the best I can see.

[FForbes]

The last time we had Stephen Martin was against Sheffield United at home on 1st November 2022. we lost 0-1 with Tanner sent off in addition to two yellows for us and five yellows for Sheffield United !!

What could go wrong this time ?

 

[Lanterne Rouge]

26 minutes ago, FForbes said:

The last time we had Stephen Martin was against Sheffield United at home on 1st November 2022. we lost 0-1 with Tanner sent off in addition to two yellows for us and five yellows for Sheffield United !!

What could go wrong this time ?

 

The bloke who missed the push by Billy Sharp for their goal you mean? Oh good!

[maxjak]

Home defeat on the cards?  Really hoping i am wrong...........but....if he continues to pick King at centre back, I cannot see us winning?

[Sir Geoff]

1 hour ago, maxjak said:

Home defeat on the cards?  Really hoping i am wrong...........but....if he continues to pick King at centre back, I cannot see us winning?

Not a chance King starts at CB tomorrow.

[Guest]

Will be a tough game but 100% hoping for a repeat of our away game win back in Oct, will be a tough ask though against a ressurgent WBA; we need to stop the rot of 13pts from the last 45pts available.

Millwall away thursday then high flying Coventry away on the 1st will also be tough asks, hoping for a mistake free game and a desprately needed 3pts and dont care how well we play we need points all of them today.

Edited December 26, 2022 by gl2

[Tinmans Love Child]

I am sensing a horrible 4-1 defeat after we take the lead, maybe it's too many sherries over Xmas blighting my positivity so I hope I'm very wrong!  I'll take a draw no problem COYR

[Guest]

4 minutes ago, Tinmans Love Child said:

I am sensing a horrible 4-1 defeat after we take the lead, maybe it's too many sherries over Xmas blighting my positivity so I hope I'm very wrong!  I'll take a draw no problem COYR

Obviously 3pts would be great but just had a look at teams below all face tricky games today and Blackpool play Hull so things may turn out not too disasterous should the worst happen.

[Tinmans Love Child]

Just now, gl2 said:

Obviously 3pts would be great but just had a look at teams below all face tricky games today and Blackpool play Hull so things may turn out not too disasterous should the worst happen.

[Guest]

12 minutes ago, Tafkarmlf said:

I'm hoping for a draw today. Wba look in imperious form on the face of it. I'd be happy with round pegs in round holes too

A win would be lovely but unexpected and unlikely.

Should we lose, then it would be the manner of defeat that will need looking at. @gl2 has pointed out in another  thread that there's something like 3 wins in 16 (Happy to be corrected, I've not checked) that really needs to change tbh

 

 3 wins from 15 league games the other was a cup game....we lost to Lincoln; but we need to sort things soon;

[Sir Geoff]

31 minutes ago, gl2 said:

 3 wins from 15 league games the other was a cup game....we lost to Lincoln; but we need to sort things soon;

Or only one (undeserved) defeat in the last 3.

Edited December 26, 2022 by Sir Geoff
Extra text

[spudski]

On Monday 26th December 1977, we played against WBA at home. 45 years ago today. Exact same fixture, on same day and date. 

We beat them 3-1. 

Hoping for the same, to make it a complete coincidence.

[ashton_fan]

This match is on Sky Red Button. I have discovered how to watch it on NOW TV (I have a monthly Sky Sports subscription, it doesn't work on a day pass), I use an Amazon Fire stick to watch NOW. On the Home screen for NOW scroll to the bottom and there is an item 'Bonus Streams' (it only appears on match days), click on this and it shows the red button games:

 

Apologies if this was known already but it was news to me! Probably better coverage than Robins TV.

[gornagain]

Private Eye skewered Adrian Chiles in their review of the year.

 

[BigTone]

1 hour ago, ashton_fan said:

This match is on Sky Red Button. I have discovered how to watch it on NOW TV (I have a monthly Sky Sports subscription, it doesn't work on a day pass), I use an Amazon Fire stick to watch NOW. On the Home screen for NOW scroll to the bottom and there is an item 'Bonus Streams' (it only appears on match days), click on this and it shows the red button games:

 

Apologies if this was known already but it was news to me! Probably better coverage than Robins TV.

That is very handy to know. Ta muchly

[RedLionLad]

1 hour ago, spudski said:

On Monday 26th December 1977, we played against WBA at home. 45 years ago today. Exact same fixture, on same day and date. 

We beat them 3-1. 

Hoping for the same, to make it a complete coincidence.

 

[spudski]

3 minutes ago, RedLionLad said:

 

Decent size crowd as well.

[Lanterne Rouge]

3 minutes ago, RedLionLad said:

 

Decent Baggies side that.

[CodeRed]

4 minutes ago, RedLionLad said:

 

Not a bad City team !

[22A]

We're 1-0 up (morally), WBA do not have a match day thread.

http://westbrom.com/forum/index.php?PHPSESSID=4cc549c32ad47e92606d13d821eb858e&topic=27400.0

Sorry mods I could not put this in the matches section there is no sub-thread available yet
As far as I can tell from Albion website tickets are never going to be available for purchase by fans of our low (no) loyalty status. Can anyone kindly sell us 3 or 4?
Otherwise we might do what we have done at a few grounds years ago....go in the home section and just ask stewards to transfer us once inside 

 

[JoeAman08]

Anyone know if they will be showing prem early ko at AG bar? On amazon so wasn’t sure. 

[tin]

On paper, West Brom should canter to victory today, but if there’s one thing about this consistently inconsistent City side it’s to write us off at your peril.

Most people did that in the reverse fixture yet we got our first win, and a comfortable one at that, at the Hawthorns in donkey’s years.

All bets are off for me and it wouldn’t surprise me if we get a result today. Pick King in the middle or defence again and that opinion will change, though. 

[Major Isewater]

1 hour ago, spudski said:

Decent size crowd as well.

Although there weren’t that many actually in the ground. 

[Bedred31]

Outstanding OP - and much appreciated.

Christmas exile to family in rural Suffolk- no Sky.

Personally would take a draw now.

[spudski]

1 minute ago, Major Isewater said:

Although there weren’t that many actually in the ground. 

There was a time, where there were more fans in the ground than the official numbers given

[Bedred31]

3 minutes ago, Major Isewater said:

Although there weren’t that many actually in the ground. 

Yeah, I remembered about 16k! We had some good Boxing Day results. Encouraged by this one, whole family went to the Hawthorns on Boxing Day a couple of years later and we were thumped 3-0. My mum was so appalled I don’t think she went again until the final in 1987- which we also lost.

[City Rocker]

1 minute ago, Bedred31 said:

Yeah, I remembered about 16k! We had some good Boxing Day results. Encouraged by this one, whole family went to the Hawthorns on Boxing Day a couple of years later and we were thumped 3-0. My mum was so appalled I don’t think she went again until the final in 1987- which we also lost.

In the snow with an orange ball? Yeah I was at that one too, sat near the legendary Tony Harling who spent most of the game chanting on his own, as usual.