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Pelle or Rickie ?

Discussion in 'Southampton' started by AberdeenSaint, Oct 31, 2014.

  1. TheSecondStain

    TheSecondStain Needs an early night

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    My sympathies go to Bristol Rovers, if you'll accept them. The respective fortunes of the clubs [Saints and Rovers] are how easily things can go in a short time. One club had money, a vision and a deep desire to return and eclipse anything it had achieved before, and the other one was happy just to bumble along, largely without ambition.

    I'll suggest something now that will be somewhat akin to heresy. Merge with City. You could have one very powerful club in Bristol. It's a major city, but it can't sustain two major teams. I think until you do that you'll always fall short.

    I know I should be struck down in the street for suggesting it, but I say it as a person who would love for the southern teams to dominate the upper echelons of football. To me, a united Bristol club could go places the two will never get to. Forgive me..? :)
     
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  2. - Doing The Lambert Walk

    - Doing The Lambert Walk Well-Known Member

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    *ducks for cover*
     
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  3. Beef

    Beef Well-Known Member

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    Suggesting two rivals should join as one team. <laugh>
     
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  4. TheSecondStain

    TheSecondStain Needs an early night

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    Guys, I know it was utterly foolish, and no doubt I shall now be cursed by every gas and robin from here until eternity, but how else are they going to make the big time..?

    BTW, Beef, it isn't quite as simple as that. I would never suggest Liverpool and Everton get together, or the two Manchesters, or anything of that nature. Not even the two Dundees, but the two Bristols [oh dear] might get a big advantage [where's that spade] by uniting. :)
     
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  5. Beef

    Beef Well-Known Member

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    What did you say when people suggested us and Pompey should merge when we were in the crap?
     
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  6. TheSecondStain

    TheSecondStain Needs an early night

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    I believe I said NO, but that a Solent City team may happen one day. I never rule anything out in life. I think I subsequently suggested to Pompey supporters that they should join us, when it looked as if they were going down the toilet.
     
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  7. fran-MLs little camera

    fran-MLs little camera Well-Known Member

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    When people suggested a merge with Portsmouth, I thought ignorant bastards. No one would suggest a merging of the 2 Manchester clubs. I imagine that is how the 2 Bristol clubs would regard it...why would the more successful club want it and the struggling club would sooner pull their nails out. I would rather Southampton folded and my memories remained intact...I would give up football at that point. Now I accept younger people would start to drift towards the remaining club,,,but that could be Bournemouth as much as Portsmouth,
     
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  8. fatletiss

    fatletiss Well-Known Member

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    Or the way things are going Fran, Eastleigh. Anyway, you could go back to watching the mighty Newport.
     
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  9. Lff

    Lff Well-Known Member

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    Money is the key though. WIthout that it wouldn't have mattered what our vision and desire were. So its hard to blame Bristol Rovers for "bumbling along".

    However, given that we have the money, the vision and desire bit becomes critical. Loads of teams have money these days but they don't spend it as sensibly as we have done.
     
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  10. ChilcoSaint

    ChilcoSaint What a disgrace
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    I can reliably report, TSS, as someone who knows quite a few people from North and South of the Avon, that most Bristolians would rather eat their own children than see City and Rovers merge, even if it means that neither club makes it to the top flight. Anyway, City are doing OK at the moment and could find themselves back in the Championship next season, so who knows?
     
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  11. fatletiss

    fatletiss Well-Known Member

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    The big problem with having one big Bristol team is that they would have no home grown players .... we pinch those through our Bath academy :)
     
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  12. TheSecondStain

    TheSecondStain Needs an early night

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    OK, Pepys. I knew it was a futile suggestion. I take your point Chilco, and I almost knew that was the case, but Rovers are doomed to obscurity, in my opinion. Whenever I've looked at Bristol in terms of its ability to sustain two football clubs, my final thought is always that the two fatally handicap each other. The city just cannot sustain two clubs successfully. Then again, their separate fortunes look to be sorting things out. Rovers are now non-league, and maybe will settle out as such. Inevitably, fans will migrate across to City. It may take years and years but they'll do it eventually. Or stop going entirely, which is like cutting your nose off to spite your face.

    Other teams in the past have done the same. For example, the two Bradford teams hamstrung each other, but Park Avenue have almost disappeared, and City have potential.
     
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  13. Bluebaldee

    Bluebaldee Total Git

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    I will indeed accept your sympathies TheSecondStain, however, I'd also far more readily accept a hungry young striker from your reserves!

    A Bristol United will never happen - there is far too much hatred and bitterness between the two camps for that. As some of your colleagues have suggested, I would rather remove my eyes with a rusty spoon that support such a hybrid bastard monstrosity.

    Despite, or maybe because of the relative lack of success of the two clubs the rivalry is intense and hostile - an article in the Telegraph has us as the 8th fiercest - you and Pompey are 13th http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/fo...ies-in-English-football-by-Jonathan-Liew.html

    And of course why would Bristol City want to merge? They are owned by a billionaire, are on the verge of the Championship and are renovating their stadium to a 28k Premiership-standard ground. We, on the other hand, are in the Conference, playing in an elderly former rugby field and have a plump impecunious berk as a Chairman.

    No, it'll never happen.

    However, I do take issue with the assertion that Bristol can't support two football clubs. I firmly believe it can, for the following reasons:

    The contiguous urban area of Bristol has over 600,000 inhabitants, in the entire metropolitan area there are 1.1 million - that's approximately the same population as South Hampshire. There are no larger English cities for 90 miles in any direction and it's also a wealthy city.

    Whenever either club gets the occasional day out at Wembley we take 40k minimum. The latent potential support is huge. Even in the Conference Rovers are averaging 6k - more than most League 1 and 2 clubs. When we were in League 1 we were regularly getting 9-10k and that was mainly constrained by a dilapidated ground dominated by terracing.

    I look at the likes of Millwall, Blackpool and Wigan in the Championship with their miserly attendances and I know that Rovers would easily eclipse them given the chance. There is a core of very loyal Gasheads - twice as many as the next best supported Conference club - that will eventually see us reclaim our league status and with some investment I firmly believe that the club will rebound and be successful.

    Every club goes through dark days - Bristol City, Pompey, Luton, you, us, but if the support is there the club will always bounce back. Bristol City with their new ground and financial backing will probably do well over the next few years (<cry>), and we'll take a little longer, but Bristol can definitely support two clubs. <ok>
     
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  14. The Archers

    The Archers Well-Known Member

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    Seems an age since I went to your place and you beat us 1-0 in the cup....think Lambert got the goal?? My memory of that was a dire performance by us but the thing I'll never forget is.....a Saints player who never put one ounce of effort into that game...Marek Sagnowski, seen millions of Saints players have bad games but that day he was a disgrace, it was obvious he didn't give two f**ks.
     
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  15. Bluebaldee

    Bluebaldee Total Git

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    Hi The Archers - I was there too. Rickie scored a deflected free kick in what was, in truth, a pretty poor game until the last 15 minutes. Sagnowski was poor but I though Viafara was truly dreadful. Our 3-2 victory at St Mary's was a fantastic game, for us anyway. Those were your dark days and now you're 2nd (second!) in the Premier League and rightfully so.

    Hope springs eternal <ok>
     
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  16. Captain Jack Sparrow

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    we should be saints feeder club. they get good young hungry players which we can benefit from. that should have been part of the lambert deal when we let him go for peanuts!!
     
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  17. Gregm88

    Gregm88 Active Member

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    It only seems like peanuts with the benefit of a lot of hindsight. At the time over 1m for a 27 journeyman striker from the lower leagues who had only ever scored goals at a league one level seemed like a lot. League one goals was what we needed but no one expected him to make it in the premier league.

    Even after top scoring in the championship no one expected it. He didn't even start our first premier league game...
     
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  18. Captain Jack Sparrow

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    in all respect, any gashead could have told you he would make it at championship and prem level if given the chance and thankfully you gave him that chance. yes hindsight is a wonderful thing to those who didnt know what potential lambert had in him but we gasheads seen a lot of him and knew exactly what you would be getting. what he has done with your club has proved us was right <ok>

    even on the old bbc606 i predicted while he was still with us that if he was given a chance he would make it in an england shirt.
     
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  19. ChilcoSaint

    ChilcoSaint What a disgrace
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    Personally, I would rather see Rickie playing for Rovers again and getting them back into the Football League than watch him sitting on the bench every week for Liverscumpool. Sadly, Rickie and his bank manager would probably disagree.
     
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  20. fran-MLs little camera

    fran-MLs little camera Well-Known Member

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    Rickie's autobiography should finish with his England debut. That was a wonderful moment. I hope just being at Liverpool is enough for him...I hate to think of him being sad :(
     
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