Guest WillsbridgeRed Posted December 22, 2003 Share Posted December 22, 2003 Always wondered what the crowds and grounds were like around our 82 time. What were the away trips like in those days? any horrible memorys of away ends in the vein of Exeter? Did people see us as a big club? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robbored Posted December 22, 2003 Share Posted December 22, 2003 aOther clubs nearly always saw BCFC as bigger than themselves - a bit like Sheffield Wednesday today. I can recall travelling by train or coach all over the Country and remember a particularly long trip upto H'pool and standing in the open end and getting cold and drenched for 2 hours and then sitting in wet clothes all the way back to Bristol on the coach.I can't even remember the result. The crowds at AG were alot smaller than now - about 6000 was average. Its memories like that that I think of when I see just how many partimers there are these days.Loyalty was an important word back then.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest WillsbridgeRed Posted December 22, 2003 Share Posted December 22, 2003 Those must have been quality times without the bandwagon jumpers and hangers on. I wish football wasn't "fashionable" like these days Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
England Posted December 22, 2003 Share Posted December 22, 2003 The crowds were as low as about 4,000 but still twice the average for the division and after the disastrous fall from grace it was great fun on the way back up with all the wins we saw - seems odd to say it now but they were really great times because to get promotion from any division is superb at the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheshire_red Posted December 22, 2003 Share Posted December 22, 2003 Robbored, that may well have been the game (especially as you mention it p155ed it down) that Jonathan Pearce always mentions on the radio, it was the game we went bottom of the 92, only a few years after being on the very top of the whole pile. I was living near Blackpool and only got to the games at Carlisle (about 30 of us), Bury and Rochdale, York etc and it was awful. Can't quite get the romanticism some are showing!! Didn't go to the Gate for 2 years or more and hated every moment of our dire existence then, having the p155 taken at our demise everywhere we went. Feel a little sorry for the Wendy's, well I would if they weren't so arrogant and MASSIVE. Have you read the 250 odd posts on their Rivals site: Dear supporters of Division 2!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Port Said Red Posted December 22, 2003 Share Posted December 22, 2003 The fourth division days coincided with the lowest point of my life, bought a flat in Clevedon then got made redundant and was out of full time work for nearly two years. The only games I got to were the ones where my dad was prepared to sub me, I remember the atmosphere being quite strange because a lot of young players were playing before they were ready. The crowd generally seemed to realise that it was pointless getting on their backs. The Hartlepool game that has been mentioned was a definitive moment, Cooper kept the team in the dressing room for two hours after and had "clear the air talks", I think I'm right in saying that then went the rest of the season without losing a game and finished mid-table. I remember going to Wolves and thinking "my god they are worse off than us" as their ground was just a building site at the time, little did I know............ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
REDOXO Posted December 22, 2003 Share Posted December 22, 2003 This was not a romantic time I was 20 living in London and getting it every Monday morning... does anybody remember 7-1 away at Northampton or putting out a team of 16 year olds against Fulham never never again........Tonight I'm going to wake up in a cold sweat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cider head Posted December 22, 2003 Share Posted December 22, 2003 7-1 beating away to northampton was the lowest you could get a terrible time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slartibartfast Posted December 22, 2003 Share Posted December 22, 2003 Away to Chester to clinch promotion (pipped ALDERSHOT!!!) Gate three and a half, City following 3000+.... MENTAL! Anyone remember the guy getting sent off and gesturing at the City mob? Hundreds poured down on to the running track (lucky for him there was a huge mesh fence around the tunnle) you couln't see the pitch for the dust-storm that was created! Drunk bottles of bubbly on our private mini coach on the way back. A good day! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Portland Bill Posted December 22, 2003 Share Posted December 22, 2003 7-1 beating away to northampton was the lowest you could get a terrible time At the time it was HELL, but looking back there were some good days out .Remember places like Shrewsbury when we had 500 fans doing the dying fly when we were 4-0 down!. I used to stand in the Enclosure at the time and remember nearly everyone getting behind the team and giving great support even though we were losing every week.Still remember when we were 92 nd and we beat Wimbledon 4-2, you would have thought we won the Cup that day by our reaction. This is why the young supporters of today REALLY get my back up with there there moan moan atitude of today .Especially as 3 years earlier the same fans who got behind the team when we were 92 nd had been going to Old Trafford and the like. We would have had every right to moan but we stuck with our team , as we do know Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cider head Posted December 22, 2003 Share Posted December 22, 2003 <br /> At the time it was HELL, but looking back there were some good days out .Remember places like Shrewsbury when we had 500 fans doing the dying fly when we were 4-0 down!. I used to stand in the Enclosure at the time and remember nearly everyone getting behind the team and giving great support even though we were losing every week.Still remember when we were 92 nd and we beat Wimbledon 4-2, you would have thought we won the Cup that day by our reaction. This is why the young supporters of today REALLY get my back up with there there moan moan atitude of today .Especially as 3 years earlier the same fans who got behind the team when we were 92 nd had been going to Old Trafford and the like. We would have had every right to moan but we stuck with our team , as we do know <br /> yeah, good points you make.... i also remember the dying fly must be one of the best things seen at a football match but yeah thinking about it what it was like in 1982 to what the team is playing like today we really can't complaine too much although we are still in the same league Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robbored Posted December 22, 2003 Share Posted December 22, 2003 I used to get about with a bunch of "lads" who were very much into drinking especially at away games.We all used to get so p!ssed that we would often forget the match afterwards and think it was funny that none of us could recall anything about the actual game, but there were loads of laughs. Thats why I don't have too many memories about those days. I miss them in a way - there was a great sense of togetherness which continued for many seasons.Then....we all got older and "matured" some setlled down(me included)the drinking slowed down and different priorities took over.A career for a start. Now I see the City "lads" doing what I used to do and it irritates me... I guess its called getting older..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimplyRed Posted December 22, 2003 Share Posted December 22, 2003 Having been a supporter for over 40 years, I count my blessings that I was not in the country during our darkest days as I was working in Seattle from 1980 to 1984. I had to follow from afar, getting snippets of information from telephone calls and letters (no internet then and no real coverage on US TV). It was bad enough following from a distance. I don't envy the fans that went through first hand - it must've been hell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin Maesknoll Red Posted December 22, 2003 Admin Share Posted December 22, 2003 4th division BCFC beat Div 3 Gas at Eastville in the FA Cup circa November 1983? Seemed like about 10,000 City in the Eastville open end going wild when we won 2-1. I was 20 years younger, had girlfriends instead of a wife - those days were better than now Wish I could go back to those days in a time machine. I'd set the time machine for five years earlier and go back to the top flight days.............. One abiding memory from the division four days, nearly everyone in the Dolman having a row to themselves. No queues to get in or out, no early leavers blocking the view, but the downside was no Red & White bar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swampy Posted December 22, 2003 Share Posted December 22, 2003 Back then I was a full time supporter. The catering was poor - remember the teaspoon chained to the hut? - there were few seats - there was no idiot on the mike going 'goalllllllll' when City scored - the atmosphere was far less sanitised - the ground often echoed to the sound of emptiness - there were no mascots - the half time scores were more important than the commercial marketing opportunities - the good old days. Now I am classed as a part-time supporter. Of course, City have progressed since those days ... today it is just £15 to watch a far better standard of football - the atmosphere in our all seater is electric - the catering is so much better - we are now 'customers' rather than fans - we are segregated from the contamination posed by rival supporters - paying old-fashioned cash on the gate has been done away with - the club value us so much more .... excuse my cynicism but! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
openEnd Posted December 23, 2003 Share Posted December 23, 2003 The catering was poor - remember the teaspoon chained to the hut? Remember the old stylee scoreboard? It was a series of letters A-Z (if I remember correctly) pitchside, that corresponded to selected matches from around the country. The matches were printed on the back page of the matchday programme. Quality! What about the cars being driven around the perimeter track at half time? Police horses at the bottom of the Dolman? More recent that one. Any more like that anyone, I'm feeling nostalgic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nosmo king Posted December 23, 2003 Share Posted December 23, 2003 I remember the cars, blue three wheelers, disabled people used them. What about the old floodlights and the bloke that walked around the pitch at halftime switching them on, or all the bus drivers and conductors that sat around the front of the dolman before it was built, they used to all get up and go ten minutes before the end, must be something about that side of the ground Remember Les Bardsley and his bucket and sponge ? thats all you got in those days for an injury, cold water. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cider head Posted December 23, 2003 Share Posted December 23, 2003 4th division BCFC beat Div 3 Gas at Eastville in the FA Cup circa November 1983? Seemed like about 10,000 City in the Eastville open end going wild when we won 2-1. I was 20 years younger, had girlfriends instead of a wife - those days were better than now Wish I could go back to those days in a time machine. <br /> yeah,, the 1-0 down 2-1 up we knocked rovers out the cup was always a classic song for city , i remember the winner by martin hirst a miss kick that went in, classic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cider head Posted December 23, 2003 Share Posted December 23, 2003 today it is just £15 to watch a far better standard of football - ... hmmm mabe but it don't change the fact and the point is that we are still in the same sodding league so nothing has really changed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bucksred Posted December 23, 2003 Share Posted December 23, 2003 "7-1 beating away to northampton was the lowest you could get a terrible time " Remember that didnt think we could get worse after that, all my mates who were Bournemouth, Pmpey, Swinden, Bradford, Rochdale! gave me ######## about it.. Hopefully never again will we sink that low!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
City Exile Posted December 23, 2003 Share Posted December 23, 2003 O, memories, memories. We used to have a 'guess the away crowd', who by and large you could count quite easily in the open end. One furthest away had to get the first round. The football was generally poor, but the 4th division sticks in my mind rather less than the preceeding 3 years of unmitigated misery, with 3 relegations in a row, nearly going bust and all that sort of thing. The 4th division itself had its moments. Difficult to describe the emotion of going to Liverpool for points, and then in a few years getting stuffed by Northampton. 7-1. I ask you. So why not more depressed in the 4th? I guess it ultimatley came down to most fans just being grateful we had a club - Ashton Gate eight and all that. If at that time somebody had said 'you will be playing 4th division football in a years time' I think we would have all seen that as a positive prediction, not a negative one. Also so many kids, many from Bristol, playing. Could have been worse. Half time scoreboard certianly the highlight - putting your scarf back on, and then carrying the tranny out of the ground - de de de de de de...its 5 o clock, its sports report, and the highlights are... As for 'I must not miss the gaols on telly - well!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redtrojan Posted December 23, 2003 Share Posted December 23, 2003 I remember those days with great fondness ,probably as i was about 18 yrs old and having lots of fun.Remeber,newport away and the police attacking us for no reason(really there wasn't,i think some routine anti welsh chant went up and they went berserk-strange),aldershot away in the cup,the classic hereford away with everyone in fancy dress.Great memories,and despite the lower crowds the atmosphere at the gate was far better than it is today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
22A Posted December 23, 2003 Share Posted December 23, 2003 Last game in Div 3, home to Chester the only team beneath us and 3,200 turned up at the Gate. To me they are City's true fans. As posted earlier, six years after winning at Highbury, losing at Hartlepool to go 92nd. We were there for a fortnight with Crewe and Hereford above us. City then won 3-1 at Hereford and the come back had begun. The following season began with papers stating if Bristol City don't go up this year a third season in Div 4 will kill them. We beat Mansfield 4-0 at home that day and there was some optimism. Table topping York visited on a Tuesday night in October and over 10,000 turned up to see City win 1-0 and go top! Tom Ritchie - super goal. A few weeks later, City lost 6 games on the trot, but still stayed in contention. On the last day of that season a win at Chester would see promotion and City had to send some of their Stewards to Chester to help marshall the large crowd of visiting supporters as Chester weren't used to such crowds! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest redrobin108 Posted December 23, 2003 Share Posted December 23, 2003 Did we not have a player on loan then, Gordon Clark or something like that, who broke his wrist while on loan, and scored in our last home match against Doncaster. Who was is who scored our 2 goals against chester. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
England Posted December 23, 2003 Share Posted December 23, 2003 think you will find our 2 goal hero was a certain mr Morgan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Port Said Red Posted December 23, 2003 Share Posted December 23, 2003 Yep, one was a free kick the only one I can remember him taking. A man for the big occasion for all his faults. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thornbury Red Posted December 23, 2003 Share Posted December 23, 2003 I remember a game against Rochdale when they had about thirty fans in the Open End - it was peeing down and the stewards took pity on them, and let them sit in the Dolman Stand! The game against Fulham stands out as well - first game at home after Ashton eight and a team of apprentices held the then league leaders 0-0. 10,000 gate and a fantastic atmosphere - none of the 'turn up and we will win' you get from todays supporters. Its matches and memories like that - that remind you why you support our club. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slartibartfast Posted December 23, 2003 Share Posted December 23, 2003 Last game in Div 3, home to Chester the only team beneath us and 3,200 turned up at the Gate. To me they are City's true fans. As posted earlier, six years after winning at Highbury, losing at Hartlepool to go 92nd. We were there for a fortnight with Crewe and Hereford above us. City then won 3-1 at Hereford and the come back had begun. The following season began with papers stating if Bristol City don't go up this year a third season in Div 4 will kill them. We beat Mansfield 4-0 at home that day and there was some optimism. Table topping York visited on a Tuesday night in October and over 10,000 turned up to see City win 1-0 and go top! Tom Ritchie - super goal. A few weeks later, City lost 6 games on the trot, but still stayed in contention. On the last day of that season a win at Chester would see promotion and City had to send some of their Stewards to Chester to help marshall the large crowd of visiting supporters as Chester weren't used to such crowds! er... did you not see my posting? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slartibartfast Posted December 23, 2003 Share Posted December 23, 2003 Did we not have a player on loan then, Gordon Clark or something like that, who broke his wrist while on loan, and scored in our last home match against Doncaster. Who was is who scored our 2 goals against chester. Colin Gordon from Reading> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Club and Country Posted December 23, 2003 Share Posted December 23, 2003 I love looking at the pictures of the old east end, packed full, with loads of barmy City fans, something you very rarely ever see nowadays. The closest you come now is at grounds like peterbroughs, which still sends a shiver down my spine every time we score there, Amazing! How i wish i was alive in those times, and unfortunatly, cant see football going back that way, with all seater stadia, and what have you! O well Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grebes Posted December 23, 2003 Share Posted December 23, 2003 Some great memories. The promotion win at Chester was fantastic, I remember a double decker Badgerline bus being passed on the motorway with the destination 'Bristol' on the front, with a lot of beer drinking going on. When we won 2-1 in the cup at Eastville (being the 80' and the time of Duran Duran, japan etc) I lot my Chinese Slippers as I bounced down the terraces with 1000's of other City fans. There were also people watching from the hard shoulder of the M32 till the Police moved them on. Have to say, the atmosphere at games then was better. It's all too fluffy and 'politically correct' now. Don't get me wrong, there was some #### then like the racist thing. I can remember when City made a couple of subs and on came Junior Bent and was it Wayne Alison or was it O'Connor from Leeds? People around could not believe we sudenly had Black players. But the chanting was intense. Anyone remember the away game at Northampton when we lost 1-0 I think, and a City fan climbed the floodlight column and tied a City flag at the top. The Police were waiting at the bottom, so his mates went to the other end of the packed terracing and started to fight, drawing the Police away whilst he climbed down into the crowd changing his top over! Class Aldershot away and again lost 1-0. Pay one price and go where ever you want in the ground. You could wander from one end into the other. They were not expecting so many City, and the local squaddies and away fans spent the whole game attacking each other. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weepywall Posted December 23, 2003 Share Posted December 23, 2003 those basement days gave us some of our best times supporting city in a funny sort of way, the defeat at northampton was a nightmare and if i remember right it was the first time i went to a game on a sunday. The win at hereford stands out, you would have thought we,d won the world cup that night, i can remember a gate of less than 3,000 for a night match against millwall. We used to stand in the corner of the eastend in those days and 40 to 50 people used to make more noise than you get at the gate these days. The darkest days in citys history gave me some of my happiest memorys and that win at chester to get us out of div 4 has never been matched since !!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JudgeRed Posted December 24, 2003 Share Posted December 24, 2003 Those days i remember well. I used to sit in the Dolman stand and used to talk to a steward on the way in to the game every game. One day he told me the club were looking for programme sellers so after the game i walked around to the office and asked for a job on match days they told me i would get 1p for every programme i sold and a free entry in to the game when finnished selling. I took the job on and started the next game when it came to me being paid i told them no thanks as the club need the money more than me and did the job for nothing for a whole season but took the oppertunity to get in to the match for free every week . 5 yrs later i got promoted to steward to the 'Openend' and stayed there for another 5 yrs getting paid £7 per game great days they were and memorys i will never forget. i could tell a few storys working for the club. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest pogue mahone Posted December 24, 2003 Share Posted December 24, 2003 some of the football was the worst i've ever seen, especially in the first season. we had a lot of young lads playing against big bruising oafs. players like economou, musker and bray - none of whom were very good but they played their hearts out for the club. we also had the emergence of newman, the return of pritchard and the acquisition of both crawford and riley. what i remember most was the camaraderie between supporters, there was a real sense of togetherness in that first season as we went all over the country losing to some really, really bad sides. in a perverse sort of way i don't think that i've ever attended so many away games as i did in those 2 years - i almost managed all 46 league games in the promotion season. by the way colin gordon was a few years later, as were bent and allison. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riaz Posted December 24, 2003 Share Posted December 24, 2003 The crowds at AG were alot smaller than now - about 6000 was average. Its memories like that that I think of when I see just how many partimers there are these days.Loyalty was an important word back then.. 6000? was this mid 90's? And whats your obsession with so called "part-timers"? Get over it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Horse With No Name Posted December 24, 2003 Share Posted December 24, 2003 Can anyone remember the incident with Tom Ritchie when he was being chased by an opponant who was tugging his shirt. Tom stopped and took his shirt off and handed it to him as if to say "if you want it that badly you can have it". But the funniest bit was, he then put it back on back to front, and spent the rest of the game ( a long time) with a huge white number 8 on his front. Can you imagine todays refs letting that happen today? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thornbury Red Posted December 24, 2003 Share Posted December 24, 2003 I remember the Ritchie incident well - we had two players with the same number on - 4 i think, and once the ref noticed about twenty minutes into the game he made Tom put on his correct number - Ritchie, being scottish, put it on the wrong way round and played the rest of the half like that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Horse With No Name Posted December 24, 2003 Share Posted December 24, 2003 Thanks Thornbury Red. My memory of the build up to the incident is hazy but I well remember him doing it, and there is a photo somewhere in my programme collection to prove it. Another funny incident I remember, was one of our players being substituted or sent off, not sure which, and then walking up into the Atyeo and sitting in amongst the fans. The referee stopped the game, upon noticing this, and ordered him into the dressing rooms. Much amusement all round, but who was the player involved? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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