cidered abroad

Well done City Women.

No complacency next week as Durham are tough opponents on their own patch.

I wonder if the comment from Guardiola will lead to a a bid from Man City?

They have the time and money to nurse him in the same way they have with Foden.

6 minutes ago, Red-Robbo said:

Yeah, probably true on average, but the huge Man City attendance that was quoted, along with the Charlton and Huddersfield records (and our record attendance if it comes to that) were all in the 1930s.  It seems like the absence of H&S legislation meant that when clubs pre-war had a big game, they could really pack 'em in. 

I was one of 39,000 in Ashton Gate in '77 to watch us play Liverpool (probably quite a lot more than that there, actually, considering that half the attendance money used to get pocketed quietly at the turnstiles) and it was both awesome and a bit terrifying for a 13-year-old. 

I was 15 in 1959 and 42,000 in Ashton Gate against Blackpool/ Stan Matthews in FA Cup and over 50,000 in Cardiff when I was 7 or 8.

Awesome yes but never thought about negatively about size of crowd. But you are right that there were some really big crowds at times in 1930's.

4 hours ago, Red-Robbo said:

 

Before-the-war attendances were massive at lots of grounds. Under circumstances you'd never be able to get folk in nowadays. I was talking about post-war attendances. It was almost like a different sport pre-1939.  Charlton got 75K and Huddersfield 67K.  Now, their stadium holds 24,000. 

But just to make clear:

• Things I haven't said:
   

Man City have small attendances

Bristol City have large attendances

Bristol City attendances have been higher than Man City (at least in my lifetime)

All Man City fans are dicks. We mostly seem to have good encounters with them

I'm sure they are all happy for fans love-in with them here... 

 

Just one error. The biggest attendances were post WW Two.

Before that war, attendances would not have been really high due to lots of financial ups and downs in the British and world economies. 

I'll give you an example. My Welsh father was out of work in the mining industry in mid 1930's, walked to Cornwall to get work on farms. So many with the same idea. He walked back!

( Before I was born)

55 minutes ago, Rudolf Hucker said:

That’s an anagram, right?  I’ve got pinwally (a word you’ll only find on the gas official website). 

No it's a village in the Rhondda next to Tonypandy.

But I missed a letter. It is LLWYNYPIA.

54 minutes ago, Montpelierblue said:

Little bit harsh but almost true. Put it this way, I reckon at least half our support when we beat you 1 nil in the first playoff match in 2003 won’t go anymore.  It’s way too sanitised for the old school, you step out of line you go to prison, end of. Now I’m not saying it’s all daisies and butterflies, a walk off the beaten track in grangetown and the locals will strip you bare anywhere never mind football fans.

I don’t think you have the same lively support shall we call it that you once had. If you ever do make it up you will find aswell as getting treated like a small child by the media, your club will get further diluted and sanitised to maintain the look of money and wealth which is all the PL is about. I’d also suggest after seeing brightons accounts(400 million in debt to owner)  that you need a miracle to even compete these days and a very wealthy owner……good luck, but for me and many others football died years ago.

give me the fans, team and owner we had in 2003 anyday.

You are very correct about how the support base has changed significantly in the past twenty five years. Too much money in the top league and clubs owned by foreign trillionaires rather than the local businesses.

I suppose that I'm one of the few Bristol City fans with any feeling for Cardiff. My first game at Ninian was circa Easter 1950 or maybe 1951. Dad came from Llwnypia and when I was old enough to watch a game for 90 minutes, he took me to City and Cardiff. So I watched my second league match Cardiff v Swansea Town. About 50,000 jammed in. In years that followed when you were in the First Division, en route to Nana's we would go to Ninian. I saw the cream of 1950's First Division with the household stars of the time. Spurs, Portsmouth and Wolves all First Division champions, Blackpool with Stan Matthews and plenty more.

Funnily though, Dad's Welsh team was Merthyr as they could walk to it over a couple of hills. So he took great delight at any win against the Bluebirds.

I hope for three points tomorrow irrespective of whether it's a decent game.

PS, I was there last Saturday for the miserable performance against the kick it high and rush English.

PPS. The Division Two Cardiff v Swansea game had 21 Welsh internationals and one England B cap (Swansea left back) An incredible statistic then. Now with so many foreign players and trillions of £'s it's not unusual in the Premier League.

I know that there is a "life span" for a Desso pitch but not sure how many years it is.

I'm wondering if the problems recently are due to the very cold weather in the last four months. The lighting panels used in the darkest months of the year to assist grass growth may not be as successful when minus temperatures are weeks long.

I also understand that the undersoil heating is there to also help grass to continue growing by keeping ground temperatures above 5 degrees. Is it used to warm a frozen pitch or do they cover it with a "blanket".

If the pitch now needs to be "renewed" I guess that is because the polypropylene strands in the pitch have lived their life span. They are there for grass roots to grow into so that if the grass leaves get kicked off, the grass root will continue to grow and replace them even in winter. If the strands are damaged there is nothing for the grass roots to cling to. That I suspect is the problem.

Go, go City Women. Keep fighting to finish top of the pile!

1 hour ago, bpexile said:

I've only just realised that I'm only 16,732 kms from you both, what a small world .

Seriously it feels a lot closer when on OTIB which is my most visited site , all the very best & a speedy & complete recovery to Rob.

Cheers from Oz 

Can you get a cheap day return from Oz to Bristle?

3 minutes ago, spudski said:

I find the Low situation interesting to follow. 

He has all the ingredients to become a decent CB, but in what I call ' the old fashioned way'. 

I thought Towler in his development looked a more accomplished footballing CB compared to Low. 

It'll be interesting to see how he develops and whether his urgency, awareness, speed of thought and distribution evolve. 

 

If we look at the Leicester City Premier League winners,  Wes Morgan was a typical big bruiser centre half rather than a footballing one. So the incomer could be either one similar to Morgan or a ball player with Low as the bruiser.

3 hours ago, LondonBristolian said:

So three signings, maybe four:

My guess is: Centre-Back, Left Back, Defensive Midfielder plus Attacking Midfielder if Scott leaves. 

I can't see we need a right back and can't see we need a forward. You could argue we need two CBs if we lose Kalas - although a defensive midfielder who covered centre-back feels a better option. Goalkeeper is the other possible but hopefully Bajic's temporary loan is just that. 

Centre back may only need one incoming (assume Kalas does stay) if Low who is on loan at Walsall) is considered good enough for a Championship club at the top end of the table. Initially he might be the fifth CB if Kalas stays.

23 minutes ago, Bazooka Joe said:

Biggest gripe was the constant tooing and froing to the bogs, through the game, by people who, presumably can't hold their drink.

Some of them  seemed to spend as much time dashing to and from the loo, and doing their business, as watching the game,

Worse still, it meant others were constantly having to stand up to let them in and out, and miss parts of the game,

Happens every time, but last night was particularly bad.

Not the club's fault.

 

It was similar to a Bristol Bears Friday evening home game which always seems to attract students and young men. It amazes me that they obviously come to the game for a piss up, yet are paying top price for drinks and entry ticket. Why don't they go to a local pub where no entry fee and drink prices are lower, if all they want is to get plastered.

Anyway, I'm going again this coming Friday to watch Bears against Northampton. I need the excercise of stand up/sit down.!

4 hours ago, Robbored said:

I thought the coverage was fine, relatively well balanced with equal time dedicated to both clubs. Wright and Keane bounced off each other well - the new ‘Saint and Greavsie?’…………,,,,,,

I thought our club was portrayed in a positive fashion. Well done ITV.

 

Were you not at Ashton Gate?

2 hours ago, Rudolf Hucker said:

I think that VAR in the Premier League has changed refereeing as it provides a safety net for them, correcting any mistake they make. It gets them off of the hook and as a consequence they ref differently.
 

When, as last night, VAR isn’t present the tendency of Prem refs is to sit firmly on the fence, hence failing to award a perhaps marginal penalty decision against the top Prem team as that will be more easily forgotten and forgiven than had TV subsequently exposed awarding it to be mistaken. VAR has made refs risk averse. I thought that Marriner and his Lino’s were poor last night. 

Well said. I know the person who was extracting the splinters before his after match shower.

28 minutes ago, Robbored said:

Scott will be off for sure. He’s a major asset for the club and as Nige said last night he’ll cost a lot of money. As for Kalas - he’s a very decent Championship CB but imo not quite up to PL quality and if he doesn’t get a new contract ( which he’s clearly playing for) he’ll either go abroad or sign for another Championship club - he’s a big earner as well so unless he’s prepared to accept less money finding another Championship club might not be easy.

As for Nige and his contract expiring next year. If I were SL I’d be offering him another contract asap. Question is tho at 60 would Nige want another deal?

No doubt that the players respect him and if he turns down a new contract and walks away then you’re right. The new man would inherit a weakened squad and he’d have really tough act to follow.

 

 

Is the age of 60 just too old for anyone to not be able to do a superb job and in addition, keep on improving themselves?

What a silly idea that Nigel Pearson is ready for the scrap heap!

4 hours ago, OneTeamInBristol said:

Bloke is hilariously amateur when it comes to football.

Club should get rid or let him stick to the rugby.

He isn't any better at rugby. How did he ever get the job is beyond me.

59 minutes ago, Wrongagain said:

Proud to be a fan - when we going to make the playoffs? COYR

When will we be promoted?

24 minutes ago, Super said:

Thought Williams was pretty poor last night. His passing really is dreadful.

Nothing to do with Man City internationals reading the game, positioning themselves better and thus being able to cut out passes that would be good at Championship level?

Joe is just a bad player?

2 hours ago, Bodiesaffer said:

He played well last night 1st half, showed he’s got the talent for the big leagues.  Bit more experience and fitness he can be a top top player.  Stand out for us with Kalas last night.
 

 

The extra fitness and stamina will come soon as he ceases being a late teenager and becomes a full adult. Just compare Foden now and two or three years ago as Man City used him more sparingly while he was where Scott is now.

9 hours ago, Steve Watts said:

He did make a few errors, but I felt for him at times. Some of the possession he lost was down to absolutely no outlet for him at all. The run into midfield immediately comes to mind. He only go so far because no-one peeled into space to receive a pass. That tonight goes down as his poorest display of the season is a testament to just how well he's done.

If he misplaced a few passes, he made up for it with his defensive performance. Maybe he was trying too hard to get balls forward to midfield and strikers.

As opposed to his other central defender, Kala's who I thought took the easy option a lot with passes back . Maybe not up to full match tempo and fine fitness tuning yet.

9 hours ago, Northern Red said:

Roy Keane has just made that point on ITV, that we could have sat in and been defensive and still lost 3-0 having not had a go, so far better to do it this way.

First time I've never agreed with Keane.

We lost a football match but proved that we have improved so much on and off the pitch since we started employing professionals in every part of our Football Club. From CEO, Football Manager, Coaching and medical staff, players with ambition and ability and a support from the terraces that they deserve.

Very proud of my club/team so now let's go where we should be.

Well done young one's.

I know I've said it before but our young ones are now winning games rather than times not so long ago, when it wasn't considered important by previous management.

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

Man City predicted team is-

Ortega; Walker, Akanji, Dias, Gomez, Rodri/Phillips, Bernardo, Gundogan, Alvarez, Haaland, Foden.

KDB likely to be on the bench as he still recovers from illness. 

 

Walker v Pring should be interesting. Both are very quick and hard in the tackle and don't take prisoners!

4 hours ago, Red DNA said:

Didn’t Bristol lose its county status during the time the county of Avon was created and then got it reinstated after that fiasco ended?

Yes.

Any decent government would insist that the Long Ashton park and ride is fully open with hours to suit for all evening City matches.

What the hell is a park and ride for if it's not open to suit the travelling public.