Same as it ever was

[Jefferz]

Against the background of Premier league football and billions of investment in the elite game, our fans yearning for promotion and a seat at the top table seems nothing more than a fantasy. 
it got me thinking about the late 1960s when I first watched the City with Mike Gibson, Jack Connor, Chris Crowe, John Galley etc and the fans enjoyed the ups and downs of second division football. We’d have good days and not so good days and we’d catch a glimpse of former greats like Johnny Haynes at the back end of their careers but I don’t remember any hysteria about playing  in the first division: nothing like the almost rabid, frothing at the mouth you get on the forum. We wanted success for the club and we wanted them to play good football. Of course, things changed in the mid-seventies and there was a growing excitement about our prospects culminating in promotion. The boys were brilliant in staying up for as long as they did with Gerry Gow as our driving force. The injury to Paul Cheesely was heart breaking for everyone. But my point is that the promotion seems now almost as unlikely as the Leicester City Premier league title. The subsequent demotions and the financial catastrophe that followed really sending the club into near  fatal tail spin. I suppose  those with better memories and more knowledge will be able to explain the ‘76 success and the set of circumstances that produced the promotion in the hope of using the same blue print. For me, the prospect is light years away. We have a billionaire owner who has given the club millions regardless of peoples opinions. What will it take to transform our fortunes? Let’s not forget that the second city of the country, Birmingham have fared little better. 

Im starting to feel sorry for the promoted clubs like Luton and Burnley. Surely, our fate would be the same even in the unlikely event of promotion. 
 

(As Ian said on the FBC podcast, it’s the same churn of failed managers recycling failure as they go on their merry way from job to job.

 

my suggestion would  be to drop the ludicrous idea of imminent promotion and get behind the players  trying their best for a club riven with injuries. 
 

We are not Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Manchester City. We all watch them play on Sky and marvel at their pace and skill. The  Chamionship is not on the level. It’s like comparing Usain Bolt with a club runner from Westbury Harriers

 

Edited October 30, 2023 by Jefferz
Typo

[Full nelson]

I said straight after the Man utd win, I'll never be so overcome with so much joy again like I was that night watching City.  

[Jefferz]

I felt the same when Keith Fear scored against Leeds in the FA cup

[ZiderEyed]

1 minute ago, Jefferz said:

Against the background of Premier league football and billions of investment in the elite game, our fans yearning for promotion and a seat at the top table seems nothing more than a fantasy. 
it got me thinking about the late 1960s when I first watched the City with Mike Gibson, Jack Connor, Chris Crowe, John Galley etc and the fans enjoyed the ups and downs of second division football. We’d have good days and not so good days and we’d catch a glimpse of former greats like Johnny Haynes at the back end of their careers but I don’t remember any hysteria about playing  in the first division: nothing like the almost rabid, frothing at the mouth you get on the forum. We wanted success for the club and we wanted them to play good football. Of course, things changed in the mid-seventies and there was a growing excitement about our prospects culminating in promotion. The boys were brilliant in staying up for as long as they did with Gerry Gow as our driving force. The injury to Paul Cheesely was heart breaking for everyone. But my point is that the promotion seems now almost as unlikely as the Leicester City Premier league title. The subsequent demotions and the financial catastrophe that followed really sending the club into near  fatal tail spin. I suppose  those with better memories and more knowledge will be able to explain the ‘76 success and the set of circumstances that produced the promotion in the hope of using the same blue print. For me, the prospect is light years away. We have a billionaire owner who has given the club millions regardless of peoples opinions. What will it take to transform our fortunes? Let’s not forget that the second city of the country, Birmingham have faired little better. 

Im starting to feel sorry for the promoted clubs like Luton and Burnley. Surely, our fate would be the same even in the unlikely event of promotion. 
 

(As Ian said on the FBC podcast, it’s the same churn of failed managers recycling failure as they go on their merry way from job to job.

 

my suggestion would  be to drop the ludicrous idea of imminent promotion and get behind the players  trying their best for a club riven with injuries. 
 

We are not Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Manchester City. We all watch them play on Sky and marvel at their pace and skill. The  Chamionship is not on the level. It’s like comparing Usain Bolt with a club runner from Westbury Harriers

 

The main reason promotion to the Premier League is SO important, increasingly so as the gap grows wider and wider, is the massive financial uplift it gives. If you have the correct non-playing staff in place, and understand that you are likely to get relegated in the first season, you're in a different world to the other clubs in the Championship, and you've got a significantly better chance of challenging the the autos and playoffs, and yo-yoing up and down. Like I said, the gap is widening year-on-year between the haves and have nots. What is that gap going to look like in 10 years? If you assume that parachute payments and the current structures stay in place, I can only see it getting harder for us to ever go up

Burnley have had the ride of a lifetime, been away to some of the biggest and best teams in the country, won some huge games, claimed some big scalps, and if they get relegated, they'll be a favourite for top 6. I want to see City play against the best teams in the country. Why settle for Fleetwood away?

Not that we'll have the correct people in the correct positions because we're an absolute basket case mind. 

[BCFCGav]

I too feel sorry for Luton and Burnley, the memories they made last season marching to the title and winning promotion at Wembley respectively will surely haunt those fans forever. And now they have to suffer away days at Anfield and the Emirates, battling together to try and survive. Then if they do go down, only a few hundred million in parachute payments to secure the club and try to get promoted again. 
 

Why on earth wouldn’t we clamour for that? Why follow a club if you don’t believe they can win something? I agree promotion feels a way off right now, but just accepting the ups and downs of the Championship and existing in a never ending purgatory at this level? I’d rather go down and climb back up then stagnate forever.

[Jefferz]

I agree that we should strive for success but do you have a solution. Would you like to be owned by a foreign repressive regime with human rights abuses. Why has no one come in to buy the club.? 

[BCFCGav]

10 minutes ago, Jefferz said:

I agree that we should strive for success but do you have a solution. Would you like to be owned by a foreign repressive regime with human rights abuses. Why has no one come in to buy the club.? 

The solution is having an owner with the stomach to hire a manager and trust his expertise. He’s a roadblock to our success at this point.

No idea re selling the club, but I’m sure buyers are out there. I concur on not wanting to be state owned, and certainly not by a state with sketchy human rights records.

[Jefferz]

I agree with all the considered points you make in your first post but I’m arguing for a sense of proportion at the same time as striving for success. If we are hysterical about promotion it hardly leaves any room to actually enjoy the games when we play well and critique sensibly when we fall short. 
when you say ‘what’s the point of following a club with no chance of success’ I refer you to the loyal fans from 1913 and Billy Wedlocks followers to 1976 and those of us who were ecstatic at promotion. That’s a lot of fans who stuck by the club in those years. 

[Dr Balls]

Ironically the lyric “Same as it ever was” comes from the Talking Heads track “Once in a Lifetime” - which obviously also refers to how many times City will get promoted to the top flight!

I also went to the Watershed on Thursday night to watch “Stop Making Sense” the film of a Talking Heads live show. Stopping making sense also fits  perfectly with the owners’ decision on Pearson!

[Lanterne Rouge]

22 minutes ago, Dr Balls said:

Ironically the lyric “Same as it ever was” comes from the Talking Heads track “Once in a Lifetime” - which obviously also refers to how many times City will get promoted to the top flight!

I also went to the Watershed on Thursday night to watch “Stop Making Sense” the film of a Talking Heads live show. Stopping making sense also fits  perfectly with the owners’ decision on Pearson!

As does `Road To Nowhere`

[Merrick's Marvels]

1 hour ago, Jefferz said:

Why has no one come in to buy the club.? 

Because no-one's imterested in paying the price Guernsey wants for a middling Championship club, never mind a middling Championship club that comes wrapped up in a netball team, some egg chasers and a second rate girls soccer outfit.

If we were a Premier League club, he'd have Yanks and Arabs queueing round the block, chequebooks at the ready.

Which, btw, is why he's desperate for promotion - as it's his way out.

A shame, then, he's just ditched a manager, and associated staff, who are better qualified to achieve that than anyone else he's appointed in his decade upon decade of failed leadership.

Edited October 30, 2023 by Merrick's Marvels

[GrahamC]

1 hour ago, Dr Balls said:

Ironically the lyric “Same as it ever was” comes from the Talking Heads track “Once in a Lifetime” - which obviously also refers to how many times City will get promoted to the top flight!

I also went to the Watershed on Thursday night to watch “Stop Making Sense” the film of a Talking Heads live show. Stopping making sense also fits  perfectly with the owners’ decision on Pearson!

Saw it a few weeks ago in Cardiff in an IMAX, incredible film.

Have to say by the time I was a third of the way down reading the original post I found it sounded like it was Ron Manager from the Fast Show, but that might have been just me.

[Ivorguy]

3 hours ago, Jefferz said:

I agree that we should strive for success but do you have a solution. Would you like to be owned by a foreign repressive regime with human rights abuses. Why has no one come in to buy the club.? 

1. The alternative to present owner is not necessarily a foreign repressive state

2.  BS must be a huge factor in no serious buyers coming forward.  Something I have been saying for years.

a

[Robin101]

1 hour ago, Merrick's Marvels said:

Because no-one's imterested in paying the price Guernsey wants for a middling Championship club, never mind a middling Championship club that comes wrapped up in a netball team, some egg chasers and a second rate girls soccer outfit.

If we were a Premier League club, he'd have Yanks and Arabs queueing round the block, chequebooks at the ready.

Which, btw, is why he's desperate for promotion - as it's his way out.

A shame, then, he's just ditched a manager, and associated staff, who are better qualified to achieve that than anyone else he's appointed in his decade upon decade of failed leadership.

The ‘second rate girls soccer outfit’ are the only Bristol City team likely to be playing at the top level of their sport any time soon, so they deserve more respect than that.

[RedLionLad]

2 hours ago, GrahamC said:

Saw it a few weeks ago in Cardiff in an IMAX, incredible film.

Have to say by the time I was a third of the way down reading the original post I found it sounded like it was Ron Manager from the Fast Show, but that might have been just me.

I remember pre-ordering the VHS from HMV for around £12.99. Still got it somewhere.

[Merrick's Marvels]

12 hours ago, Robin101 said:

The ‘second rate girls soccer outfit’ are the only Bristol City team likely to be playing at the top level of their sport any time soon, so they deserve more respect than that.

Sorry but they're rubbish. There's a clear disparity in ability in that league. Good luck to them but don't kid yourself when 12,000 people turn up to watch - a sizeable portion of that lot are there to see the girls who've played for England not plucky little City who will need a miracle not to be relegated. That makes them second rate, in my book. Apologies for your sensibilities were offended by my calling a spade a spade.

Edited October 31, 2023 by Merrick's Marvels