Purely as a fan, what is your expectation / hope for City?

[redsquirrel]

1 hour ago, Natchfever said:

Are we on the right track?

Why will we definitely get there ?

Until Lansdown sells the controlling stake in the club, interference, nepotism and cronyism will continue.

On that basis, I just want to avoid relegation until the club is run properly.

Clubs that overtake us are usually better managed.

i read that as interference,nepotism and CRAYONISM , had a chuckle to myself thinking what a clever insult  then read it again  oops

[Mr Popodopolous]

18 minutes ago, Edgy Red said:

I might be in the minority but i'm happy to watch us in The Championship. I don't think The Prem is all its cracked up to be and is so heavily obsessed with the Big 6, that it wouldn't be as enjoyable as people think. Don't even get me started on VAR!

I would rather see us in a few Cup quarter/semi finals, playing attractive football with a sprinkling of local boys in the team.

I think as i've got older its become more about the day with my mates, and while a City defeat still ruins the weekend, i don't feel like i did 30 years ago.

I go to games with a number of mates who support other clubs and they all enjoy coming to The Gate and the matchday experience that we have.

If you're not turning up to compete to try and be the best you can be, in a sense what is the point?

Ask Luton and Brentford and Burnley for the years they were run well or Sheffield United in their first Wilder season or Swansea in the Rodgers and Laudrup years or I could go on.

Sure it can wear thin sure it (the PL) is top heavy and has got worse for it in the last decade maybe, but I do believe a bigger push is needed.

I felt under NP and Gould we were on something of a journey. Now we seem to have a number of correct pieces but the leadership is questionable.

Edited February 6 by Mr Popodopolous

[White Stripe]

I don't actually want City to get promoted. It's partly because I despise the Premier League. Although football is incredibly popular in terms of attendance, the money pouring in is distorting the game horribly.
I also don't want City to get promoted because we as a club would almost certainly be totally embarrassed week in, week out, both on the field but even more so off of it. Imo the current governance of the club would not survive a season in the Premier League.  The fiasco that was Nige's sacking proves it (that and many other shite strategic decisions). God knows where it would all lead.

In terms of what I hope for... well, the journey is the destination - the games week by week are the 'thing'.  Unfortunately, that ship has sailed for me.  I liked where Nige was taking us, my gut feel is that, given time and budget for reinforcements, he would have taken us forward, adding quality to a team of totally committed players. I would have loved to see that team going all-in, week after week. 
As always, our Top Brass drop a clanger, just as they did when Gary Johnson needed a goal scorer to get us over the line.

PS - I have a sneaking suspicion that SL doesn't want us to get promoted either.

Edited February 6 by Elmore James
slight retardation

[marmite]

Hope ......to be entertained and look forward to games for a whole season as per Cotts league one double winning season. (Yes I know, it was only league one but God it was fun). At the moment we only get the occasional 45mins of good stuff.

Expectation.......more of what we have now. Basically boring football.

I've been watching nearly 70 years and have never felt so disconnected and frustrated about the club. I've seen us in the top flight and bottom of league 3, but this football now is just a yawn fest for me.

[Wokingham Red]

I think the hope is always promotion. We have the infrastructure and we have the catchment area. If we were a Premier League team we would sell out Ashton Gate every week without fail.

The current challenge is how on earth do we achieve that. The current structure with parachute payments combined with FFP make it incredibly difficult for clubs like us to achieve promotion. In all liklihood Leicester, Leeds and Southampton will go straight back up this season. We've recently seen the quality of one of those teams  and over the next few weeks we could easily be on the end of hiding from the other two as well. The gap between those three and the rest of the league is absolutely huge and quite simply insurmountable apart from very odd occasions.

Which comes on to the typical examples where others have managed to do it. Brentford and Brighton are good examples. Forest and Luton possibly too but they will probably be back in the Championship by the start of the 25/26 season. In all of those cases they are extremely well run clubs who have recruited well both on and off the pitch. That is not easy to achieve. The Landsowns are far from perfect but we need to appreciate the incredibly difficult task they face. To those who think getting rid of the Lansdowns is the only way to achieve promotion all I say is be careful what you wish for. Given where I live all I hear about are my mates being concerned about if their club (Reading) will soon cease to exist. 

Being a Bristol City fan in recent years feels a little bit like Groundhog day. Not poor enough to go down, not good enough to go up. Which makes it all a little bit boring. Realistically, the only way we get to the Premier League is if the European Super League happens getting rid of the big money clubs. 

[ENOUGH]

I hope for a few seasons at least in the top div again and hope for a chairman that believes in the manager they have chosen and backs them and their players, instead of cashing in on the best and starting over again and again.

Alan Dicks had 67-1980 and brought us success, since then we change managers sometimes 2 or 3 or times a year and continue to sell the best players, that is not the way to progress its the way to start over and over again, madness and the road to no-where.

Edited February 6 by mason

[Bristol Oil Services]

What do I hope for? I'm not sure I should say, I think it better for now that I just be careful what I wish for ....

[spudski]

What I find most annoying, is the fact we have the stadium and facilities to get promotion, but we don't have the people in charge to take this club forward on the pitch. 

Sick of hearing we are a premier team in waiting etc etc blah blah blah. 

We have done nothing ever in this division to prove on the field we are good enough to go up.

Even if we had gone up under GJ through the play offs, we were making such crap decisions back then, we would imo spiralled afterwards. 

Hate the unjustified expectations. 

Just become top 10, solid entertaining football, unify the fans, make it more ' our Club' as it feels more plastic again. Get some passion in the ground somehow. 

Work with the council in making travel, parking etc easier, rather than such a ball ache ( it's the number one reason I stopped my ST)

Stop all the bullshit and empty promises. 

Sometimes I actually look at the Gas and think they have it better. Shit club, no expectations, shit ground...but at least they know that and aren't dieing from hope and bullshit.

Since getting promotion to the Championship again, I remember posting at the time, that  I hoped we didn't become a middle of the road boring Championship side.

To be frank...most games are boring, tedious, not worth the effort. 

I have more fun these days watching non league footy. 

Shame.

[Mr Popodopolous]

13 minutes ago, Wokingham Red said:

I think the hope is always promotion. We have the infrastructure and we have the catchment area. If we were a Premier League team we would sell out Ashton Gate every week without fail.

The current challenge is how on earth do we achieve that. The current structure with parachute payments combined with FFP make it incredibly difficult for clubs like us to achieve promotion. In all liklihood Leicester, Leeds and Southampton will go straight back up this season. We've recently seen the quality of one of those teams  and over the next few weeks we could easily be on the end of hiding from the other two as well. The gap between those three and the rest of the league is absolutely huge and quite simply insurmountable apart from very odd occasions.

Which comes on to the typical examples where others have managed to do it. Brentford and Brighton are good examples. Forest and Luton possibly too but they will probably be back in the Championship by the start of the 25/26 season. In all of those cases they are extremely well run clubs who have recruited well both on and off the pitch. That is not easy to achieve. The Landsowns are far from perfect but we need to appreciate the incredibly difficult task they face. To those who think getting rid of the Lansdowns is the only way to achieve promotion all I say is be careful what you wish for. Given where I live all I hear about are my mates being concerned about if their club (Reading) will soon cease to exist. 

Being a Bristol City fan in recent years feels a little bit like Groundhog day. Not poor enough to go down, not good enough to go up. Which makes it all a little bit boring. Realistically, the only way we get to the Premier League is if the European Super League happens getting rid of the big money clubs. 

Nottingham Forest are not extremely well run, they are chaoticallly run and have been for years.

They pushed once more and in some ways perhaps got a bit lucky with Covid add-backs..they turned down bids for Brennan Johnson after cumulative losses of £48m pre tax in the prior 2 albeit one was Covid impacted years..and they got up.

Brentford, Brighton, Luton are yeah. Burnley were, not sure about now.

We have Top 10, somewhere between 7th and 10th revenue in the League which means that there is a platform to at least contend for the playoffs.

The top 3 going back up, I think that would be unprecedented but then have 3 of such size and strength been relegated at the same time before?

Edited February 6 by Mr Popodopolous

[DaveInSA]

Hopes - that Lansdown sells the majority share and we get proper people who understand football in to run the club. I don’t want us to really be in the Prem as I have no interest in that at all. Must be competitive in Championship though - and if we go up so be it. 

Expectations - mid-table mediocrity.

AND it would be typical City to get knocked out in the FA cup 1/4 finals this year and be relegated next year.

[richyy66]

My expectations are to be bigger than Bournemouth, Luton and Brentford and play in the premier league. Until we have an owner that supports this dream we will be a bang average team floating around bottom half to mud table of the championship. For this season at least. 

[skinheadface]

Win lose or draw,the team plays with passion for the badge.

[Mr Popodopolous]

12 minutes ago, richyy66 said:

My expectations are to be bigger than Bournemouth, Luton and Brentford and play in the premier league. Until we have an owner that supports this dream we will be a bang average team floating around bottom half to mud table of the championship. For this season at least. 

How do we go about that. The be bigger than those 3 I mean.

Bournemouth cheated to get up and have reaped the benefits ever since.

Brentford if they drop will be incredibly well placed on every level to go back up and possibly even return stronger.

Luton are the ones..having to pay for their new ground could detract from an otherwise strong position.

Edited February 6 by Mr Popodopolous

[Stockwood gate]

If we were a telly show we would be only fools and horses , this time next year we will be millionaires, but rather have that than be a plastic prem team supporter 

[Merrick's Marvels]

To have a team whose achievements aren't a grave disappointment to the city it represents.  

I could write embarrassment but we're not munter fc from over the river, so lets stick with disappointment. 

[Natchfever]

1 hour ago, redsquirrel said:

i read that as interference,nepotism and CRAYONISM , had a chuckle to myself thinking what a clever insult  then read it again  oops

Hahaha Wish i'd thought of that.

New word in the otib dictionary methinks

[Rocking Red Cyril]

Expectation and hope ?

I been watching city since mid Seventies. So seen some incredible highs and lows. Do I think the premier league should be a realistic expectation? Hell yes. Does my head see it happening ? I doubt it. Would a new owner make it possible ? Likely yes. Do I want a foreign ownership ? Definitely not. 

Any expectation to build a premier league squad has to come with many compromises.

Does any of the above effect my support of Bristol City ? Absolutely not.

COYR 

[Davefevs]

1 hour ago, Elmore James said:

I don't actually want City to get promoted. It's partly because I despise the Premier League. Although football is incredibly popular in terms of attendance, the money pouring in is distorting the game horribly.
I also don't want City to get promoted because we as a club would almost certainly be totally embarrassed week in, week out, both on the field but even more so off of it. Imo the current governance of the club would not survive a season in the Premier League.  The fiasco that was Nige's sacking proves it (that and many other shite strategic decisions). God knows where it would all lead.

In terms of what I hope for... well, the journey is the destination - the games week by week are the 'thing'.  Unfortunately, that ship has sailed for me.  I liked where Nige was taking us, my gut feel is that, given time and budget for reinforcements, he would have taken us forward, adding quality to a team of totally committed players. I would have loved to see that team going all-in, week after week. 
As always, our Top Brass drop a clanger, just as they did when Gary Johnson needed a goal scorer to get us over the line.

PS - I have a sneaking suspicion that SL doesn't want us to get promoted either.

It’s kinda why I wanted those “big 6” to piss off to the Super League, English football get a reset, and see how things turned out.

[Fat Cigar]

3 hours ago, And Its Smith said:

A club that creates memories. That can be trophy wins or amazing nights like the Man United game. I don’t really care how it comes.  And to play attractive football.  No burning desire to get to the premier league. And to always have an eye on youth, which we are currently doing.  

This can't be underestimated. There have been few and far between since we got promoted in 2014/15. The first half of 2017/18 was great, the Man U win was an evening we'll never forget. But, there haven't been many in almost 10 years, which is damning. No play off campaign, no fight to get into the play offs in the last few weeks of a season. It's all been very samey and quite turgid. I'm very often bored when watching us, which isn't great.  

[Mihai]

My expectations ? It is feels weird because when I started to be a fan of this team, it was back in League one in 2007. Then it got promoted and in the first season after that we almost made it to the Prem. Since then, we are way worse in terms of a full season performance. We got more money but that didn't changed anything, we got relegated, we spent two season in League One and after that we became a mid table Championship team with only one kind of promising season, and that was under LJ which all of us wanted to leave, but if we look back, we were worse since then ( can be on his mistakes and Ashton but I am speaking about League Position ).

I am a bit tired to have expectations, look at this season...we get closer to top 6 and then we play 2 games without a single shot on goal, then we play one half good, 3 halfs horrible. I don't see this team playing in PL very soon and I don't know the reason of it. I am not from Bristol to know everything that happens at the club, things about the ownership and taxes and financial fair play. I know we can't spend a lot of money and I don't know when that will change, if it will change.

I would like a different ownership just to see if the things can get better, I would love to not be a feeder club and actually keep our best players or at least buy some experienced player not only player to develop and sell. I would love to see my team playing against the big boys every weekend, and it hurts me when I see Brentford there, when I see Luton Town there...when I see Bournemouth or even Brighton becoming a top 10 team. We had Swansea, we have Shieffield UTD which was almost relegating in League One not long time ago... It is very frustrating especially for a foreignm supporter which is hungry for results because we all know what Premier League means for other contries (the home of football, the best of the best). But I don't like this "arabic ownership" also, it kills the fun it kills the chances for the other teams, this sport easily becomes just a bussiness year after year. That is one of the reasons for us being in the second tier, that is the reason other countries can not go in advanced phases in European Cups.

With some lucky we may get to PL and maybe, just maybe...the team will know how to manage and not become a team which travels from PL to Championship every now and then.

 

 

[glynriley]

1 hour ago, Elmore James said:

PS - I have a sneaking suspicion that SL doesn't want us to get promoted either.

You do have to wonder, don't you. Crazy though, because one season in the Prem and he set's the club up for years and virtually negates the need for him to have to put his hand in his pocket as often.

Doesn't explain all the acts of self sabotage over the years though. This latest one will probably see us back in level 3 in the next couple of years as well. That's my expectation.

 

 

[Curr Avon]

I want to watch City compete in the Premier League, while I'm still healthy enough to attend Ashton Gate. That's it.

[Garland-sweden]

3 hours ago, Silvio Dante said:

Connection. Pure and simple - the sense that fans, players, management and owners all respect each other and are pulling in the same direction and transacting honestly, working together to be the best they can whatever the level.

Thats what I think most fans expect from their club 

Think we were in that track before NP was sacked.

[22A]

A similar question to this was asked nearly 20 years ago on this very forum.

Many people stated they wouldn't like the Prem due to plastic fans, high prices kickoff times and days changing at short notice etc. The overall consensus was for City to be a consistently strong 2nd tier team with a good cup run every few years.

Then came that play off final v Hull and everyone's opinion changed to We can do this".

[Super]

4 hours ago, W-S-M Seagull said:

The one thing for me that is a bare minimum is for the players to put a shift in. I'm quite picky about this because as a Bristol City fan I've watched hundreds of our players not put shifts in over the years.

Performances will always go up and down for a variety of reasons but putting a shift in and working hard should always be basic. That's what I was disappointed with against Leeds. 

 

 

 

It wasn't down to a lack of effort unless i watched a different game.

[Supersonic Robin]

 

1 hour ago, Edgy Red said:

I might be in the minority but i'm happy to watch us in The Championship. I don't think The Prem is all its cracked up to be and is so heavily obsessed with the Big 6, that it wouldn't be as enjoyable as people think. Don't even get me started on VAR!

I would rather see us in a few Cup quarter/semi finals, playing attractive football with a sprinkling of local boys in the team.

I think as i've got older its become more about the day with my mates, and while a City defeat still ruins the weekend, i don't feel like i did 30 years ago.

I go to games with a number of mates who support other clubs and they all enjoy coming to The Gate and the matchday experience that we have.

1 hour ago, Elmore James said:

I also don't want City to get promoted because we as a club would almost certainly be totally embarrassed week in, week out, both on the field but even more so off of it.

 

Personally, I think this viewpoint is a bit negative.

I don't blame you for that, I think it's the result of supporting a club who have continuously underachieved for many years.

But that's the frustrating thing and my main opposition to your points - there's no reason why we can't be a Premier League side who are competitive on the pitch, play reasonably attractive football, and have a sprinkling of academy talent in the team.

Equally, avoiding promotion is no guarantee of those things. Unfortuantely, we've seen our side play plenty of embarrassing, unattractive, academy-less matches over the years. Even the point re the Premier League being "top 6 obsessed" - I believe that no Championship team was selected for Sky coverage less than us last season.

We're very capable of being a respectable Premier League team, and we're also very capable of being an embarrassing Championship team 

[Mr Popodopolous]

27 minutes ago, glynriley said:

You do have to wonder, don't you. Crazy though, because one season in the Prem and he set's the club up for years and virtually negates the need for him to have to put his hand in his pocket as often.

Doesn't explain all the acts of self sabotage over the years though. This latest one will probably see us back in level 3 in the next couple of years as well. That's my expectation.

 

 

Mostly agree albeit how much would be swallowed up by fresh wages, fresh fees etc.

Putting aside breakeven at Profit and Loss level, if SL sticks in £15-20m or £10m a season...we'd have to hold back £10m, £15-20m of the cash in order for SL to have a year off.

Sensible business on relegation could extend it. Maybe promotion would help to enable a sale too.

Parachute Payments last for 2 years if instantly relegated, 3 if not. They also drastically drop by Year 3.

Central Award:

55%:45%:20%

Edited February 6 by Mr Popodopolous

[W-S-M Seagull]

8 minutes ago, Super said:

It wasn't down to a lack of effort unless i watched a different game.

I think most will disagree with you here. 

 

[Bris Red]

Just to see us in another Play-off campaign at this level would be a start. Getting to the play off final in 2008 was fantastic albeit we didn't go all the way but to have never got back to the play-offs at this level is shocking IMO considering the investment and money spent on playing staff amd facilities over the last 16 years.

Walking out of Wembley after losing to Hull in 2008 me and the old man both said it would be a while untill we are back challenging to reach the topflight.. 16 years later and it feels further away then ever.

[White Stripe]

38 minutes ago, glynriley said:

You do have to wonder, don't you. Crazy though, because one season in the Prem and he set's the club up for years and virtually negates the need for him to have to put his hand in his pocket as often.

Doesn't explain all the acts of self sabotage over the years though. This latest one will probably see us back in level 3 in the next couple of years as well. That's my expectation.

 

 

Aye.  Imo, maybe SL is currently in his comfort zone.  Secondly, at the Premier League level, the operations would need to step up to a whole new level and that would mean SL relinquishing some control to people who can operate at that level, and SL doesn't seem to be the relinquishing of power kind of guy. 

This is all speculation obviously but yeah, as you think back to all the 'close but not quite' of our time in the Championship, almost snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, plus the canning of Nige, as you wrote, you do have to wonder.

 

 

 

Edited February 6 by Elmore James
English isn't my first language