Respect And Wonderment......

[Cideriuplandlord]

.....to those of you who travelled to Underhill tonight. I would love to know what drives you to go to a game like that in a less than respected competition with the distinct possibility of standing for 90 minutes in the rain.

Now don't get me wrong, I think it is terrific that people have the love for our club to do this and wish that I could. I, for the record, am not a season ticket holder but go to a number of home games and maybe 2 or 3 away games a season. Now I can understand people getting excited about travelling away on a Saturday to a league game as it is a whole day and, as is often mentioned the atmosphere is better away from home. In fact if it were not for wife kids etc I would love to travel to every weekend away game.

However, I know how bad it feels to begin a long journey home at 5.00 on a Saturday having just lost. I still have the comfort of knowing I will be home at a reasonably respectable hour and I still have Sunday off. How this must feel at 9.45 at night with the thought of getting home in the wee small hours and then having to go to work the next day, I just can't imagine and fair play to you.

I am sure some will probably come on now and tell me I am not a proper supporter so hey ho, but I am genuinely interested to know the drive behind travelling on a wet Tuesday night. What do your wives and mates think, do you think to yourselves" god I am going to stop doing this" every time you suffer like last night. Is the perfunctory team clap to the fans enough thanks for your effort to get out and support them or is that something they just do . I have noticed with some away fans at the gate for evening games that especially if it is a northern team we are playing some players actually come over and have a word with some of their fans which is great, do the city players evar do this?

Finally, of the 1000 odd that were there last night how many of us were there.

Look forward to hearing from you, and WELL DONE !!

[december 1963]

Maybe it's something to do with being there when the team needs us most. I don't get too worked up about big games or small games. I went to Boston a few years back and enjoyed the journey and the game. They're all games and sometimes being there tells you something about the players. How are they going to respond to playing in one of the worst grounds and in front of the smallest crowd? Given that there were five goals and lots of action I suppose I was entertained irrespective of the result. Coming home from Barnet at 10pm isn't that big a deal compared to say Grimsby two seasons ago. Out of the 1000 I would say there were at least 200 down our end. We seem either to win this cup or go out at the first round.

I have a few views on the match though they don't seem much different to those of others. Barnet had a very bottom league defence and we seemed to run though it or knock the ball over it at will. I am amazed we didn't win. But... the 3 we let in were poor. Murray seemed confused about who to mark just before the first but, even when the lad got the cross in the scorer rose completely unchallenged from to head in from 6 yards. For the second we had four attempts ata clearing the ball and still they got it in. The second goal was against the run of play. Stewart didn't look disinterested to me, as some have claimed. I think he was unlucky with at least two chances and cleared the ball of our line once in the first half. He looked dispirited becuase he was chasing so much himself. We did have lots of crosses and most of them weren't good in that they didn't put Barnet under enough pressure. I htought it was a cast iron penalty but the City players didn't seem to complain much. I'd like to see a replay, not that it would change the result. I thought Cole Skuse missed the best chance in about the 46th minute. I think he should have beaten the keeper from where he was. Brown worked really hard. Sofira was excellent. Fortune - especially - and Woodman, like Clist, Spencer and Odejayi before them simply are never going to be outstanding Div 1 players. The substitutions were possibly made a little toolate becuase Barnet were much more on the rack when we had Stewart, Bridges and Madjo going for it.

Cold, wet and slightly bemusing - I thought we would win this one and I find it strange that we didn't at leatsa take it to extra time - but you can't let in 3 and win - that to me was where the biggest problem lay. A team minus Brooker, Partridge, and Heywood is quite a different team - in terms of experience - from what we saw yesterday.

[Guest bristolbred]

.....to those of you who travelled to Underhill tonight. I would love to know what drives you to go to a game like that in a less than respected competition with the distinct possibility of standing for 90 minutes in the rain.

Love of the Club!!

Simple really!!

[Cideriuplandlord]

Love of the Club!!

Simple really!!

Yeah I think you are right Bristol Bred. Argueing about who is more loyal is one thing when discussing season tickets etc but when it comes to the sort of commitment it must take for guys like you to go to these places on a wet Tuesday evening it is different. I love City, but I am not sure I could do what you do even if I had no other comitments. Must make you feel pretty special though to be one of the few to have made the effort though.

200 out of 1000 last night would not seem to be bad.

Just out of interest where is the furthest you have travelled for an evening game, and what is the smallest number of City fans at an away game you have been to?

[AdamB]

Finally, of the 1000 odd that were there last night how many of us were there.

Answer: Revealed Here

Adam

[Guest bristolbred]

Just out of interest where is the furthest you have travelled for an evening game, and what is the smallest number of City fans at an away game you have been to?

Travelled to//from Derby for last nights match, getting home at 02:30 this morning!!, :Sleep12:

Season before last, the wife and i flew back from Jersey for Grimsby Away, another midweek game!!

Was at Tranmere Away last season, (it was live on Sky) and there were around 150 odd of us, to enjoy an early goal, our first ever win there, and 80 mins under the cosh!!

[Cideriuplandlord]

Watched the Tranmere game, I'll leave it to you to decide if I was up there with you or sitting at home!!

Adam, thanks for that, interesting to see that although it was bottum of the league for numbers travelling it was top as a percentage of the total crowd. Well I found it interesting anyway!

My most memorable away game was back when Millwall were still at the Old then and a mate of mine who supported Millwall persuaded me to stand in the Cold Blow Lane End with him, I stupidly agreed, then spent 90 minutes keeping quiet, I think we beat them 4- 1!!