Bristol R*vers dustbin thread

[italian dave]

19 minutes ago, ExiledAjax said:

Answers above. I'm glass half full.

Me too: but if we lose today then the ‘unbeaten in xx’ goes out the window, and that’s the ‘half full’ side of the equation! 

Seriously, I think the past few years tells us that confidence is a huge factor, and also that we are prone to allowing home form to become that monkey.

But I don’t want to argue the detail - as I said, I’m not disagreeing that, in a literal sense we don’t need a win. And we could lose and end up no worse off (except Birmingham themselves would be moving clear of is). 

But I still think that if we don’t get a win out of today or next week then we’ll be in real trouble. 

[cidered abroad]

38 minutes ago, Port Said Red said:

I was actually thinking I could have taken a similar picture from the back of the old Open End in the 80's.

Shhhhhh!

[Open End Numb Legs]

Can they make up their minds please, are they a massive club or plucky underdogs? Can't have it both ways. 

[Mendip City]

Neither team appears to be wearing quartered rags. Maybe it was an international match? Did England ever play there???

[pillred]

40 minutes ago, Port Said Red said:

I was actually thinking I could have taken a similar picture from the back of the old Open End in the 80's.

To be fair we had by then suffered 3 consecutive relegations, I'm not sure what our lowest gate ever for a league match was but I can safely say I was probably there I reckon we still made as much noise as crowds much larger (or is that rose tinted specs).

[slartibartfast]

21 minutes ago, City Cat said:

Last time I stood where the photo was taken was 74/75 season and it was totally rammed with Red&White....

I was in the North (Harold) Enclosure, that to was rammed with red & white !

[Davefevs]

3 hours ago, italian dave said:

Nice work; enjoyed reading it. 

It highlights the dilemma that is NP and his spell here - as you say it can be spun several ways.

Interesting to read @Davefevs s response to - feels a bit like that’s a response from someone who spins it one way (the “Nige” camp) - and makes that case really well too. Although have to say Dave, it’s stretching it a bit to count Idehen as one of those who’s come through the academy? 

It would be interesting to see a similar response from someone spinning it the other way - I’m not offering though! 

Re Idehen - yeah, how do you classify a player signed into the Academy (by Tins), who just happened to progress quickly / get given a chance to show what he can do?  That’s a genuine question btw, not a sarcastic one!

At the time he signed, he went into my Academy spreadsheet…then moved across as he started to get around the match day squad.

I’m happy to accept its 9.

We might have a similar debate with Ewan Clark if he gets into the first team.  Idehen’s rise was pretty rapid though.  His decline almost as quick!

Why is this in the Rovers thread?

[Major Isewater]

2 hours ago, firstdivision said:

When you are as talented as I am at what I do

Such a modest man. 
 

10 minutes ago, Open End Numb Legs said:

Can they make up their minds please, are they a massive club or plucky underdogs? Can't have it both ways. 

They are the massivest of plucky underdogs.

[pongo88]

13 minutes ago, Mendip City said:

Neither team appears to be wearing quartered rags. Maybe it was an international match? Did England ever play there???

Rovers haven’t always worn their world famous quarters. There was a period in the 60s when they had stripes or all blue kit 

[And Its Smith]

He’s hugely dislikable and I wouldn’t want him within a mile of City but he is doing a very good job at Rovers.  Certainly has an eye for a player. Some very impressive loan signings and permanent signings 

[RedRaw]

3 hours ago, firstdivision said:

We are crying out for a modern stadium,” al-Qadi says. “What we have now [the Memorial Stadium] is an old, dilapidated rugby stadium. Bristol Rovers are like the Boca Juniors of Bristol, the first club of Bristol — five generations of fans come to games and it’s truly great to have. This my passion, my love.”

Well, stick your hand in your f’ing pocket and get the stadium built if it’s your ‘passion’ and ‘love’ and stop whining about needing a new stadium when the facts clearly suggest the stadium is big enough to cater for the ‘five generations of fans’

You are no different to every other lower league club who wants a new stadium/better facilities….there are no handouts, you had your best chance at UWE and you blew it.

Bristol Rovers….Always the victim, always on the scrounge. 

[italian dave]

16 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Re Idehen - yeah, how do you classify a player signed into the Academy (by Tins), who just happened to progress quickly / get given a chance to show what he can do?  That’s a genuine question btw, not a sarcastic one!

At the time he signed, he went into my Academy spreadsheet…then moved across as he started to get around the match day squad.

I’m happy to accept its 9.

We might have a similar debate with Ewan Clark if he gets into the first team.  Idehen’s rise was pretty rapid though.  His decline almost as quick!

Why is this in the Rovers thread?

Not sure I have the answer to either question

I guess the first one is just subjective/length of time, but wouldn’t know how you define that. Idehen certainly was at one extreme: signed Jan, into the squad Feb, starting XI April. I think you can safely say that we might have sprinkled a few hundreds and thousands, but we certainly didn’t bake the cake or even do the icing! 

Just out of interest (and pre-NP) - was Massengo the same? He was only 17, so clearly younger than a lot of academy players at the time - but it always felt like he was bought as a player already close to the starting XI - and again it didn’t take long.

Why is this on the Rovers thread? - baffles me too!!

Edited January 14, 2023 by italian dave

[spudski]

33 minutes ago, City Rocker said:

I remember the days when those terraces were rammed every week.

Crump, Gresham, Langli and the rest. Great team, the Bulldogs.

Friday nights in 77/78 at the Bulldogs. Absolutely loved it as a young en. Great nights out, and as you rightly say, bigger crowds than the Gas.

Just a shame there is literally no footage available to the public, apart from the well known Bob Coles crash that made the World if Sport.

There must be loads of it stashed away in the local BBC and HTV vaults.

There are loads of images from there though on this link. You just need to flick left or right on the images to see them all.

 

[Mendip City]

8 minutes ago, pongo88 said:

Rovers haven’t always worn their world famous quarters. There was a period in the 60s when they had stripes or all blue kit 

I didn’t know that! 
 

I do remember their Tesco bag phase. 

[Bazooka Joe]

3 hours ago, firstdivision said:

Gorringe moved from Brighton & Hove Albion because he could see Rovers’ potential. “If you look at the city, we are the people’s club of Bristol, hard-working, give everything you’ve got, a community club, authentic, unbelievable fans,” 

Can't argue with the "unbelievable fans" bit.

Only a fool would believe anything they say.

[Mendip City]

1 minute ago, spudski said:

Friday nights in 77/78 at the Bulldogs. Absolutely loved it as a young en. Great nights out, and as you rightly say, bigger crowds than the Gas.

Just a shame there is literally no footage available to the public, apart from the well known Bob Coles crash that made the World if Sport.

There must be loads of it stashed away in the local BBC and HTV vaults.

There are loads of images from there though on this link. You just need to flick left or right on the images to see them all.

 

I Remember that Eastville had a covenant on it that it could only be used for sporting purposes. 
Bristol City Council allowed IKEA and were supposed to be providing a facility for speedway and dog racing….. whatever happened? I’m no still waiting!!! 

[spudski]

Just now, Mendip City said:

I Remember that Eastville had a covenant on it that it could only be used for sporting purposes. 
Bristol City Council allowed IKEA and were supposed to be providing a facility for speedway and dog racing….. whatever happened? I’m no still waiting!!! 

It's pretty much the same for all Speedway Clubs across the country.

It's a dieing sport. 

Promotors very rarely invested in their own stadiums and often rented. 

Plus the nimby's don't like the noise. Instead they end up with a new housing estate or the likes of IKEA. 

Swindon, Newport, Somerset...all shut now. There is no Speedway for miles now. I think Poole is now the nearest.

Sad really...it was the second highest attended sport for many years.

Re the Gas kits...all can be seen here.

It's a great resource for all British clubs kits through history, including our own.

http://www.historicalkits.co.uk/Bristol_Rovers/Bristol_Rovers.htm

[Bazooka Joe]

The (keep it in the) "Family Club" that requires more "financial" incestors.

[Guest]

"It’s a wind-blown morning on a strip of land next to where the M5 crosses the M4"

You mean it's a s**thole, Henry?

[BrizzleRed]

45 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

Remember my last couple of visits, by then those crush barriers had certainly seen better days, I had no confidence at all that they were safe & the bit you walked through to get to the turnstiles resembled an obstacle course, full of rubble, divots & huge puddles.

For the very last one I stood on the side where the burned down stand used to be, easy to get on the pitch when Steve Neville scored, as a far few of us discovered.

Yep, nothing there at all.

Was there too at that game, somwere around the halfway line if I remember rightly.

We talk about the Mem being bad, but that place really was a total stain on the Bristol landscape.

[Sir Colby-Tit]

My old man took me and my brothers to watch the speedway at Eastville in the 70's.

The first time we went it was pretty busy and the old man managed to find a spot for us that was less packed.

It was on a corner and we all got pebble dashed.

[Mendip City]

20 minutes ago, spudski said:

It's pretty much the same for all Speedway Clubs across the country.

It's a dieing sport. 

Promotors very rarely invested in their own stadiums and often rented. 

Plus the nimby's don't like the noise. Instead they end up with a new housing estate or the likes of IKEA. 

Swindon, Newport, Somerset...all shut now. There is no Speedway for miles now. I think Poole is now the nearest.

Sad really...it was the second highest attended sport for many years.

Re the Gas kits...all can be seen here.

It's a great resource for all British clubs kits through history, including our own.

http://www.historicalkits.co.uk/Bristol_Rovers/Bristol_Rovers.htm

Thanks mate. 
I’ve lost track of speedway - I’m sure many have. sad, it’s a good sport but sounds like it’s on its last legs/wheels. 

[Peter O Hanraha-hanrahan]

2 hours ago, sticks 1969 said:

Mind the gap

1970s Eastern European looking shithole.

 

[spudski]

6 minutes ago, Mendip City said:

Thanks mate. 
I’ve lost track of speedway - I’m sure many have. sad, it’s a good sport but sounds like it’s on its last legs/wheels. 

I think there are less than 20 tracks in the UK now. 

The sport has never been run properly. It's a complete farce. 

Everything about it is now a joke.

[bearded_red]

Bristol Rovers- Boca Juniors.

I’m gone here.

[Peter O Hanraha-hanrahan]

2 hours ago, Olé said:

Might need to notify the people about this because more than twice as many of them keep accidentally going to Bristol City games

Yeah, it’s funny how the ‘peoples club of Bristol’ are not (and never have been) particularly popular with actual Bristolians.

Strange that…

 

 

[Peter O Hanraha-hanrahan]

The ‘Boca Juniors’ of Bristol 

La Bombonera

 

 

La Bomb Scare..a

Edited January 14, 2023 by Peter O Hanraha-hanrahan

[Open End Numb Legs]

2 hours ago, sticks 1969 said:

Mind the gap

There is something a bit sad about the body language of the young lad in the foreground.

'Dad, can we go home now?'

[Malago]

5 minutes ago, Peter O Hanraha-hanrahan said:

The ‘Boca Juniors’ of Bristol 

La Bombonera

 

 

La Bomb Scare..a

La Boganera more like.

[Open End Numb Legs]

1 hour ago, Mendip City said:

Neither team appears to be wearing quartered rags. Maybe it was an international match? Did England ever play there???

Boca Juniors were playing that day.

[Gimme Shelton]

2 hours ago, Lanterne Rouge said:

Ah. The mythical `packed out Eastville`.

There was a graffiti slogan on a pillar underneath the M32 for years saying 'Don Megsons loyal 6000' -they admit their poor attendances!

[shahanshahan]

I haven't seen that photo before, so thanks for sharing. I was born in the late 80s, so the only memories I have of that site are the greyhound track and now the IKEA...

[Davefevs]

La Camp-anero

[fatchers]

You can make out the Gas works around the ground. Shame the photo don't have the benefit of 'scratch and sniff' for the stench of gas. That's why they were called the gas heads by City fans, because they stunk of gas. Now they just stink of sxxx

[CHIPLEY RED]

I like many of my generation have spent many Saturdays on those terraces. I lived not far from the ground and me and my mates would watch the first half from the old railway embankment where you could see about 1/3 of the pitch and then get in for free at half time when the opened the big gates. I've also been in there when its been rammed, the old Gloucester cup games were always good and remember some big cup games. looking back its funny remembering the away fans invading the pitch to get to the Tote End but because of the dog track oval it was ages before they even got to the pitch, or in those days watching the lads try and go around the outside along the river to get at the Tote.

The the M32 first opened cars would stop on the hard shoulder to watch for free.

When I was born parents lived in Coronation Road so was brought up a City fan but we moved to Eastville when I was at primary school some many memories of the place. My mum actually worked in the Tote when the dog racing was on.

Happy days they were 1 Saturday Ashton Gate the next Eastville on the cheap.

[Numero Uno]

The Boca Juniors of Bristol, the Barca of League 2 and also the “People’s Club” (Everton). What was Gorringe saying about being authentic?

I wonder if Boca label themselves as the Bristol Rovers of Buenos Aries?

[Sleepy1968]

1 hour ago, Loïs said:

"It’s a wind-blown morning on a strip of land next to where the M5 crosses the M4"

You mean it's a s**thole, Henry?

...where I've gone a slash, whilst waiting for the AA van to turn up. I see a few builders knocking a football around during their tea break. (Don't give up the day job lads.) Looking on is a short, shifty looking, ne'er-do-well ...

[sglosbcfc]

That photo was not taken in the 1980s, just look at the clothing of the supporters. There were several seasons when Rovers wore all blue in the 1960s and the the quarters. Another point, there was 1000s locked out in the car park that day.

[elhombrecito]

3 hours ago, sticks 1969 said:

Mind the gap

Still infinitely better than their current "stadium".

[chowie]

al-Qadi says. “What we have now [the Memorial Stadium] is an old, dilapidated rugby stadium."

Playing the petty card again.... was only a few weeks ago they named it Membley.

[Open End Numb Legs]

21 minutes ago, chowie said:

al-Qadi says. “What we have now [the Memorial Stadium] is an old, dilapidated rugby stadium."

Playing the petty card again.... was only a few weeks ago they named it Membley.

Maybe it wouldn't be so dilapidated if they employed professionals to keep it well maintained rather than appealing for retired trades people on social media to do things on the cheap.

If they build and pay for a new stadium themselves (as everyone else has to) then there can be no complaints from us, but the feeling in that interview is they want it on the cheap out of some sentiment of being the plucky underdog.

If they don't have the money then understandable but we are told the owner is mega rich? This all reminds me of my sister in law who apologised once that my birthday present was so modest, but they were struggling financially (no problem at all of course) then turned up boasting about their new car and holiday booking a week later (that was a problem).

[Bazooka Joe]

2 hours ago, bearded_red said:

Bristol Rovers- Boca Juniors.

I’m gone here.

It get's worse. Don't forget how they compared themselves to Barca.

so it's  . . .

Bristol Rovers- Boca Juniors-Barcelona

[Bazooka Joe]

48 minutes ago, chowie said:

al-Qadi says. “What we have now [the Memorial Stadium] is an old, dilapidated rugby stadium."

Playing the petty card again.... was only a few weeks ago they named it Membley.

Why not use one word instead of four.

"Shithole" is sufficient.

[italian dave]

6 hours ago, ExiledAjax said:

What would change if we lose or draw today?

We could go down a place before we’ve even kicked off

[ExiledAjax]

2 minutes ago, italian dave said:

We could go down a place before we’ve even kicked off

Is there really a difference between 19th and 20th? In the grand scheme of it? It's relatively meaningless.

Anyway, Blackburn are clearly shite away from home at struggling teams. Lump on us to beat them whatever happens today.

[Ska Junkie]

7 hours ago, cidercity1987 said:

Boca Juniors of Bristol 

He meant 'Boco', mistype I assume.

[MrBibs]

1-0 down at Accrington (As they continue to come for us)

[DaveInSA]

This might not age well.

”who are dey?”

[GreedyHarry]

**** me they’re precious aren’t they. I only enquired if they had any updates on the city matchas they got a bit excited when we conceded a penalty.

[Malago]

Pray tell.  How did the Boca Juniors of Bristol get on against the mighty  Accrington Stanley?

[Ronnie Sinclair]

Astley scores for Accrington

[Numero Uno]

Accrington 2 Boca 0. Got to be the biggest result in their history, surely?

[southside]

5 hours ago, Gimme Shelton said:

There was a graffiti slogan on a pillar underneath the M32 for years saying 'Don Megsons loyal 6000' -they admit their poor attendances!

Also in the subway that led out to the Tote turnstiles

[MrBibs]

All the  ‘people’ of Bristol will be wounded tonight with the people’s club losing, albeit against a superior opponent they have a terrible record against.

They should get a chance to put things right very soon in one of their regular  derbies against their fierce rivals over at Ashton (River) Plate

[TV Tom]

5 hours ago, Gimme Shelton said:

There was a graffiti slogan on a pillar underneath the M32 for years saying 'Don Megsons loyal 6000' -they admit their poor attendances!

Wasn’t it Bobby Campbells loyal 6,000 ? He was also known as a meatball

[Banjo Island]

5 hours ago, Peter O Hanraha-hanrahan said:

The ‘Boca Juniors’ of Bristol 

La Bombonera

 

 

La Bomb Scare..a

Wow the similarities are uncanny

[Unan]

[Peter O Hanraha-hanrahan]

Thought this Slaghead was talking about Rovers at first but it turns out he’s talking about their opponents today who have been in the Football League longer than them.

This is why they’re ‘loved’ the World over.

Arrogant belters

 

 

 

[Gillies Downs Leeds]

 

[Engvall’s Splinter]

Barton’s interview

[Taz]

Just now, Engvall’s Splinter said:

Barton’s interview

Go on fill us in, could do with a laugh 

[chucky]

1 minute ago, Taz said:

Go on fill us in, could do with a laugh 

It was the refs fault, basically. 

[MrBibs]

7 minutes ago, Gillies Downs Leeds said:

 

Wow that away end looked packed

[Banjo Island]

10 hours ago, firstdivision said:

A few from the blue quarter of the city getting carried away in The Times this morning - the giddiness of being in the national press. 

I'll leave you to source JB's wide-ranging, guileless comments and make your own judgements. 

But this from the owner:

 “We are crying out for a modern stadium,” al-Qadi says. “What we have now [the Memorial Stadium] is an old, dilapidated rugby stadium. Bristol Rovers are like the Boca Juniors of Bristol, the first club of Bristol — five generations of fans come to games and it’s truly great to have. This my passion, my love.”

And this from the chief executive:

Gorringe moved from Brighton & Hove Albion because he could see Rovers’ potential. “If you look at the city, we are the people’s club of Bristol, hard-working, give everything you’ve got, a community club, authentic, unbelievable fans,”  

Amazing what a few wins can do for your hubris.

I think he means bocco juniors that plays at greenbank road up hnham

[bearded_red]

I don’t know a lot about football, but Accrington Stanley beating Boca Juniors strikes me as a big result?

[RedLionLad]

“What's going on with Radio Bristol, its all the 82ers, been walking the dog for 20 minutes and they mentioned us about 10 seconds”

[cider hoss rules]

From the BBC website….

Accrington moved out of the bottom four with a comfortable victory over play-off chasing Bristol Rovers.

[Lanterne Rouge]

2 minutes ago, RedLionLad said:

“What's going on with Radio Bristol, its all the 82ers, been walking the dog for 20 minutes and they mentioned us about 10 seconds”

Ten seconds too long IMO.

[Peter O Hanraha-hanrahan]

23 minutes ago, Gillies Downs Leeds said:

 

Off to crack open a box of cigars for the post match team talk.

[WessexPest]

Hopefully that’s dealt a mortal blow to the Gas w@nks’ playoff pretensions.