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

[MarcusX]

On 06/02/2024 at 11:26, reddogkev said:

Without listening to the consistently changing guff that comes out of the club hierarchy, what are the expectations of us, the fans?

Personally, I want City to develop and grow as a Championship club, which we are doing, and to get another long overdue crack at the play offs.

With that in mind, we're on the right track.  We'll definitely get there, my main frustration with the SL ownership is that it's taking far too long to achieve this.

Why can other smaller, or similar sized clubs overtake us so quickly?  That's the question I can never quite answer.

Expectation - remain competitive, win more than we lose, progress up the leagues, a few decent cup runs / away days. Keep the likes of Swindon / Rovers well away from us.

Hope - to get to the Prem and establish ourselves, bringing more support, backing and opportunities to the club. Be even more competitve in cup competitions and who knows? Push for Europe? 

When I was growin up we were a third tier team. Might occasionally reach the second but, it was something like 15/20 seasons in tier 3 growing up.

Since that promotion in 2007 it's now 14/16 seasons in tier 2.

So based on that, we have improved massively as a club. We're now an established Championship side (albeit sometimes that status looks a little precarious), with a great stadium, decent reputation amongst other fans with a few Prem "giantkillings" under our belts.

And we aren't a million miles off of challenging for the top 6, although it may feel like it after the last few games. Things could obviously be better, and I'm frustrated with a lot of the actions and statements made by the people in charge - but I believe we do have owners who genuinely want the club to do well. It could be much worse

[beaverface]

HOPE: I'd love to see the expansion of the stadium continuing. I don't want a replica South Stand where the Atyeo is, but a massive single tiered wall of noise home end (which unfortunately would need to demolition of the houses behind). I'd like to see the corners filled in, so that we don't have massive areas of space within the ground that makes everything feel disjointed. I'd like to see a 2nd tier on the South Stand, with executive boxes, and eventually the Dolman replaced (in the event that the block of flats behind get knocked down). All in all, raising the capacity to 35,000 and upwards. I'd like to see some serious ambitions with the stadium - we always seem to capitulate on plans.

As a city in the top 10 for population - and that's not even counting the greater Bristol\Avon region - we should be able to hold our own as a football club, and become established as a top 10, or even a top 6 club, with us maybe challenging for one of the cups i.e. league or FA Cup, especially now the big boys don't prioritise them as highly these days.

As with Oxford, one would hope that once Liam Manning has this season out of the way, all his new signings and philosophies will come together and we'll romp the league next season, and the club goes on to be 51% owned by the fans, with cheap tickets, and being self-reliant financially.

All the above, total fantasy!

EXPECTATION: I can see us continuing to sell the crown jewels to keep our heads above water financially, and we'll continue to flutter around mid-table, with us losing each time we play parachute payment teams. We'll continue to do this for a year or two, until the next latest fad of coaching comes in, LM gets found out and we continue to get out played, whilst rigidly sticking to our patterns of play. We'll get to the stage where the players won't be able to deal with it, and we'll start to slip down the table. LM will then get released, and we'll be onto the next rinse n repeat cycle of the latest buzz words and style of play.

I expect us to hire an experienced manager, then an up and coming manager, and then an experienced manager......see where I'm going with this?!

As time goes on, SL will either be too old to run the club, or alternatively (God forbid) he passes away, and the club gets sold onto anybody by JL after he's got so sick and tired of all the crayon jibes, and then we'll then go through a cycle of massive losses, gambles, and risk taking, leading to who knows where !!

All in all, nice and rosy :-s

[Roger Red Hat]

My expectation is that my hope will be dashed.

[phantom]

2 hours ago, Bat Fastard said:

But I would take a small wager that you really look forward to every next game!!!  Come on,  admit it that you are one of us "happy clappers" at heart!

I'm not sure what I keep coming back for to be honest

Long gone are the days where a result really gets to me, I can remember the days of getting home on a Saturday evening after a defeat and literally couldn't talk to anyone and would sulk for days

I think this came to a head after we lost to Hull at Wembley and a fellow Bristol City fan turned to me and said it's only a game, and no matter how you react you can't ultimately change anything

Nowadays I hardly blink if we lose, or are on the end of any controversy. Though I still get a buzz from watching those sat around me reacting how I used to 

To me attending a game is more about the match experience on the whole, meeting up with fellow supporters from different walks of life and interacting with them

I'm sure many can pick up on here, I suffered badly from depression etc, and have been well known for being a miserable sod and look for the worst in everything

Though I am not as bad as a friend I used to sit near, the season we won the league and spanked  Walsall he was still moaning things were not right

2 hours ago, The Journalist said:

I'm only in my mid-30s so you've endured this club longer than me, but scrolling through this thread I just kept coming back to this view - you can't really expect anything, can you?!

The older I've become the more I've realised how little influence we have over anything and, so, how redundant the concept of any kind of expectation is.

However, I do hope that at some point during my lifetime on the opening Saturday of the season I'm able to put Match of the Day on and see us among the running order. It's kind of remarkable that 50 football clubs have been able to experience that at least once during the course of the past 32 years... but we still haven't.

As much as I would like to see us compete in the Prem, I often wonder if you are a mid table side what you actually look forward to?

You will never challenge for the title, you will never get near European football and you will never go down - it seems such a boring future

[Mr Popodopolous]

I'd say the upside of being a solid midtable PL can be twofold. Well three.

One you can be financially stable. Big deal, Balance Sheets aren't what we cheer on a Saturday afternoon.

Secondly, if you have that solid base and yet have decent to good players you can target the Cups a bit more. Swansea 2013. They punched well above their weight financially for a while.

Thirdly you might just sneak into Europe. Either via a Cup win/final or thorough a good run in the League and carrying the momentum. See Burnley in 2017-18.

Edited February 7 by Mr Popodopolous

[phantom]

21 minutes ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

I'd say the upside of being a solid midtable PL can be twofold. Well three.

One you can be financially stable. Big deal, Balance Sheets aren't what we cheer on a Saturday afternoon.

Secondly, if you have that solid base and yet have decent to good players you can target the Cups a bit more. Swansea 2013. They punched well above their weight financially for a while.

Thirdly you might just sneak into Europe. Either via a Cup win/final or thorough a good run in the League and carrying the momentum. See Burnley in 2017-18.

I wouldn't swap our current position for that

[beaverface]

43 minutes ago, phantom said:

I'm not sure what I keep coming back for to be honest

Long gone are the days where a result really gets to me, I can remember the days of getting home on a Saturday evening after a defeat and literally couldn't talk to anyone and would sulk for days

I think this came to a head after we lost to Hull at Wembley and a fellow Bristol City fan turned to me and said it's only a game, and no matter how you react you can't ultimately change anything

Nowadays I hardly blink if we lose, or are on the end of any controversy. Though I still get a buzz from watching those sat around me reacting how I used to 

To me attending a game is more about the match experience on the whole, meeting up with fellow supporters from different walks of life and interacting with them

I'm sure many can pick up on here, I suffered badly from depression etc, and have been well known for being a miserable sod and look for the worst in everything

Though I am not as bad as a friend I used to sit near, the season we won the league and spanked  Walsall he was still moaning things were not right

As much as I would like to see us compete in the Prem, I often wonder if you are a mid table side what you actually look forward to?

You will never challenge for the title, you will never get near European football and you will never go down - it seems such a boring future

One could argue we're the Championship equivalent of that !

[Red Exile]

1 hour ago, Roger Red Hat said:

My expectation is that my hope will be dashed.

100% this! 

Hopes - a push at promotion to the top flight. Requires greater ambition and raised expectations at the very top. Jeez, if Hull (Hull!) can make a go of it every few years surely we can?!

Expectations - competitive in the second tier, which is where we were when I was first aware of following a football club in the late 60s/early 70s.

[Bristol Oil Services]

We've only managed two promotions from the second tier to the top division in 120 odd years, it's nowhere near enough and something of an embarrassment for a club of our support and standing. A promotion to the top level would provide the level of excitement and create the kind of memories that no L1 promotion will ever do. It would also cement a generation of support for decades to come, like many of the miserable old moaners on here that can remember 1976. It's absolutely worth hoping for and striving to achieve.

[Gert Mare]

My expectation is for the Doc to turn up in the DeLorean and then go back in time to just before the Cardiff game when I felt my club had an identity and was building something good with an experienced manager who stood to finally get his hands untied and have a bit of money to spend to move us on to the next level.

I’d start rounding up the troops (80+% of OTIB who were solidly behind what NP was trying to do), knowing that JL was about to lose the plot and fire the only top experienced manager we’ve had since we were actually in the top flight and would start a mass protest, banners, voting with feet, the lot.

Then we’d oust the muppets and snakes.

Anyway….back to reality….my expectations are that we’ll keep resetting and creating new pillars until I die.

[tin]

I hope the Lansdowns and Tinnion move on at the earliest opportunity because I’d like to see City in the top flight having waited more than three decades now. It sure as hell won’t happen on their watch, mind. 

Smaller clubs with less resources have done it time and time again; Lansdown and his long line of poor decisions over 20+ years is the one who has held, and continues to hold, us back. 

[Mr Popodopolous]

1 hour ago, phantom said:

I wouldn't swap our current position for that

Some of it could make a nice change for a while.  Otoh the hype over the big  clubs, the sheer mega money, the probably inflated season ticket prices, would some of our more loyal fans over time being priced out?

I strongly suspect the stewarding would be both greater in numbers and more stringent too.

There are clear good and bad points.

[Barrs Court Red]

1 hour ago, phantom said:

 

As much as I would like to see us compete in the Prem, I often wonder if you are a mid table side what you actually look forward to?

You will never challenge for the title, you will never get near European football and you will never go down - it seems such a boring future

Mid table prem? European football is very much on the radar. 
 

What it would mean, is that when we do have the likes of Alex Scott, we can keep them for longer. We could probably afford to sustain a cat 1 academy as well. 
 

 

[Mr Popodopolous]

4 minutes ago, Barrs Court Red said:

Mid table prem? European football is very much on the radar. 
 

What it would mean, is that when we do have the likes of Alex Scott, we can keep them for longer. We could probably afford to sustain a cat 1 academy as well. 
 

 

Agreed.

Why we haven't made a bigger play for Category One I'm unsure, it's probably been discussed on here but it would be exempt from FFP as all relevant Academy expenditure is.

You also can get an amount towards it, Middlesbrough and West Ham accounts show it. You do at Category Two and probably below as well but the higher the Category, the bigger the amount.

Edited February 7 by Mr Popodopolous

[phantom]

2 hours ago, Barrs Court Red said:

Mid table prem? European football is very much on the radar. 
 

What it would mean, is that when we do have the likes of Alex Scott, we can keep them for longer. We could probably afford to sustain a cat 1 academy as well. 
 

 

Not so sure that, mid table Prem sides still sell there best talent 

 

[Mr Popodopolous]

4 minutes ago, phantom said:

Not so sure that, mid table Prem sides still sell there best talent 

 

Bournemouth don't seem to sell especially, with the exception of when they came down of course.

Which makes me wonder how they defy the gravity of a lot of sides including PL to sell players for financial reasons but yeah a lot do you're right but they seem willing to let Lloyd Kelly e.g. run down contract, top dollar for Solanke etc.

[YorkshireSection]

7 hours ago, The Journalist said:

I'm only in my mid-30s so you've endured this club longer than me, but scrolling through this thread I just kept coming back to this view - you can't really expect anything, can you?!

The older I've become the more I've realised how little influence we have over anything and, so, how redundant the concept of any kind of expectation is.

However, I do hope that at some point during my lifetime on the opening Saturday of the season I'm able to put Match of the Day on and see us among the running order. It's kind of remarkable that 50 football clubs have been able to experience that at least once during the course of the past 32 years... but we still haven't.

For a city the size of Bristol that is a disgrace and for an owner so rich that has been in charge for so long, it is nothing sure of a huge failure, with mistake after mistake being made to the point of hilarity and embarrassment not just for us as fans but for Steve as a businessman. If anything is an indicator that you arent cut out for the role its a statistic like that. 

[noize]

Hope:
To do what Luton, Brighton, Blackpool, Brentford, Cardiff, Swansea, Bournemouth, Burnley, and Hull have all done, reach the premier league. Even for one "Derby" like season, i would take that before i die.

Expectation:
We continue to flounder as a mid table championship club for the next 20 years constantly looking over our shoulders, flirting with relegation. Whilst the people at the top constantly tell us they have a "plan", appointing unproven, uninspiring managers, and selling any talent we find to balance the books.

 

[LondonRobin]

Hope: Get into play offs and beat Hull at Wembley to make the promised land  

Expectation : Mid Table Champ

[cidered abroad]

When I started in 1950 we were a Division Three side who finished lower than the Gas for the next eleven seasons. And that even with the great John Atyeo and his six games for England.

And it would not surprise me if we ended up back in the Third Division and below them up in Horfield. Pessimist? Maybe or it could be called "Being Realistic".

[Midred]

70 next week so I hope for the promised land but remembering back a few years 2nd division/championship safety will do for me.

[Lorenzos Only Goal]

I hope that we stop ******* about committing hari-kari every bloody 4 years or so.

Expectations we will bobble around in this div for a few seasons before having a shocking slide back into league one, only to appoint a decent manager who wins everything in sight, then we won't back him, sack him and then we will have a bit of a wobble, followed by an financial blip, and another wobble some stability for a bit, and then rinse and repeat until I retire.

[Ivorguy]

Oh, I hope for a proper Board and a manager rather than a head coach, plus a good CEO..

 IMO when we had Gould and Nige we were two thirds there.  I had real hope at the time, and momentarily forgot it was SL and JL calling the shots, with BT in the background biding his time to strike.

We desperately need a reset, not on the pitch, but in the Boardroom.

 

[Tomo]

1 hour ago, cidered abroad said:

When I started in 1950 we were a Division Three side who finished lower than the Gas for the next eleven seasons. And that even with the great John Atyeo and his six games for England.

And it would not surprise me if we ended up back in the Third Division and below them up in Horfield. Pessimist? Maybe or it could be called "Being Realistic".

Will never happen. The other team in Bristol are a total shambles. Don't stress.

[joe_wmf]

Agreed. I lived next to 'the other team' for about 2 years during uni. Even as a student living in a mouldy house nearby it felt like the place was falling apart. They could use some football coaching for sure.

On 10/02/2024 at 09:53, Tomo said:

Will never happen. The other team in Bristol are a total shambles. Don't stress.