Been Disappointed The Last Few Years?

[Eddie Hitler]

I went to my first game as a kid in 1979. We were mid-table in the top divsion, the same divsion we had been in for the last three seasons and there was no reason to think we weren't going to stay there. I didn't remember us being in any other division.

The crowd was 23,000 and the atmosphere was fantastic. I was vaguely aware of the gas as there was a football ground by Eastville market but I didn't even know what divsion they were in. There was One Team in Bristol and we were one of the best in the country.....

The end of that season we got relegated. And the next. And the next. We then basically went bust and spent five months of the 82/83 season in the bottom four of the bottom division. The club that had made me proud had become an embarrassment. I moved schools (not because of that!) but people still took the piss.

Since then it has got better (how could it have got worse?) but there have been a lot of false dawns and false starts.

Hopefully this is a real one and we'll get up and stay up. You reds!

[City Exile]

O yes.

Beating Arsenal away, abondoned games against Leeds United because of fog, standing in the East End, three relegations is a row, prospect of going bust, all stick in the mind of course.

Saturday hopefully we go up. I fully expect to. But you know what? We will still be there next season, whatever.

[Avonmouth Docker]

Hopefully this is a real one and we'll get up and stay up. You reds!

I went to Carlisle hoping for a draw, but in my mind i was prepared for a defeat, my expectations weren't high, saw a crap first half, but a great fightback, and i thought, this really could be it. I was on a high!!.

After the final whistle, i heard one City supporter, who could only of been in his early 20's saying; "I hope we do it at Millwall, as all us diehard fans who go to the Away games, deserve to see us go up, away, and not in front of the Home only brigade!".

So i went to Millwall, buzzing, had to endure a crap journey from St Pancras to the New Den via Surrey Quays, but i made it, in one piece, (see other threads for info on where were all the fans, coaches, Hoolies, etc) and what a cracking atmosphere!!,

then City started as they did ala Carlisle, and they lacked the fight of a team hungry for Promotion!!.

i wished that the 'Wall had scored first half, and maybe things would of been different??.

But reading this thread reminds me of those dark days from '82 onwards, where work allowed me cheap train travel all over the country, and every Saturday at a match, and i would go to places like Halifax, Hartlepool, Carlisle, Darlington with no expectation whatsoever, but just to see Bristol City play football.

But in this day and age of Sky and big bucks, and you look at a City like Bristol, and go back to Pounds, Shillings and Pence, and you think to yourself;

WHY ARE WE STILL IN THE THIRD FLIGHT OF FOOTBALL??.

After all, the Board isn't exactly lacking in the area of financial clout!!.

So this Saturday, i am traveling down to Bristol, as i have done for Donkey's Years, for the last game of the season, and i am NOT going to expect City to win!!.

If they draw, or lose, then thats Fate!!.

It's not our year, and there maybe players in the current squad, who haven't the fight or the pride to be wearing the City shirt, and the fans know who these players are, and Gary Johnson knows who these players are, and hopefully over the summer, he and Keith Millen will have a clear out, and next season, City will bounce back and hopefully win 2, 3, or 4 more games over the season, than they have this season, and maybe next season will be ours??.

Then again, it could go badly wrong, and we finish in the lower reaches, having just fought off relegation!!.

But if we happen to win??.

Then like everyone else, i shall party like we have just won the FA Cup, or having just won £5 million on the lottery!!.

But following City has never been easy, and i don't think it ever will be.

But you would think that at least in one season out of ten, they would do something to make you extra proud of them.

So, bring on Saturday,

Win, Lose or Draw..........

I shall always support City!!,

(by the way, the other 'alf thinks that the pressure heaped on the players by our high expectations has gotten to them, and they can't play to the best of their ability, as they can't relax and enjoy playing at their best!.

She may have a point there!)

[Eddie Hitler]

WHY ARE WE STILL IN THE THIRD FLIGHT OF FOOTBALL??.

(by the way, the other 'alf thinks that the pressure heaped on the players by our high expectations has gotten to them, and they can't play to the best of their ability, as they can't relax and enjoy playing at their best!.

She may have a point there!)

Your other 'alf is spot on.

Part of the reason we're still were we are (for the moment) IMHO is this pressure and ambition that means we chop and change managers who chop and change players. If you want to see where too much ambition gets you then look at Wolves; they've spent a fortune looking for instant success whereas if they just tried a settled manager and team for five years they'd go up.

The reason I support Steve Lansdown is he runs the club like I would run it; to be in a much stronger position in ten years time rather than gambling on outside chances. Leeds and Bradford spring to mind here.