Given the time , money , and support given to LJ should we already be amongst the front runners for promotion. Does losing our best players show a lack of ambition by the club, should we have done more to keep them, and added players of high end championship/premier league standard to complement them ?
The simple answer would be yes but other factors could be used as the reasons why we haven't achieved what we wanted. Given the time and money spent on upgrading Ashton Gate, to seemingly demand higher level football, combined with the cash dished out in the transfer market we give the opinion that we want Premiership football, and yet? Steve Lansdown has all the responsibility because the others in the equation are nothing more than puppets under his direction and will just do the job required. Most other owners would have fired Lee many moons ago based on the shocking runs of defeats under his stewardship and who could have blamed him? However he decided to give him much more elbow room than most others and we have to decide whether that was a good decision for our future. The players that moved on this summer were probably leaving anyway and I would suspect they probably didn't see the ambition by City to move their careers up a notch. All in all this season, despite my doubts, we are doing better than expected and I will stay on the bandwagon until my dreams of seeing Bristol City playing in the best league in the world come true. I think even though we have our eyes on the prize that we are still a long way from getting there and this campaign must surely be Lee's acid test,
Every club should strive to achieve the best they can - that’s what sport is all about. Our next level is the premier league - and I do genuinely believe that everyone at the club is committed to that aim. However they are also committed to keeping a lid on costs and maintaining a framework, in an industry where far more money is lost than is gained. When (if) we get there we want to stay there - not be a ‘boom and bust’ like Swindon, Blackpool or Oxford. Much as we love our club,in the wider footballing world we are still little ole Brizzle City - no bigger than Huddersfield or Bournemouth in the Prem.
You do underestimate our club. Right backing with success will bring sell out crowds at the 27200 Ashton Gate
A couple of clubs have thrown the dice and lost ...bear in mind only 3 go UP and you could finish on level points as THE second lose out by 1 gd, finish 3rd and fail in the PO'S... not so bad if you almost do a Brentford Sheff etc and spend little .. a disaster if you spend out like Villa Florest QPR etc.... with FFP to consider .. we know at least 4 teams [ 5 ? ] have spent out so far this season and one is going to be unlucky ………. so gently gently catchee monkee we have burned our fingers over a 5 year period and finally got some stability with the owner prepared to back the manager … maybe even it takes 3 or 4 years! ?
It depends on what factors you assess to form the should, you talk about the following, Money - We are not top 6, probably not even top 10 in terms of spend on players or wages - So no reason we SHOULD based on this Time - We have only been in this division for 3 full seasons, there are many teams in this league that have been around longer. Again, no reason we SHOULD. Support - Without doubt almost any other manager would have got the bullet 2 seasons ago for the run we went on, but SL had a vision, (not seen by all) that LJ was the right man. For many the jury is still out, but it is only the second time in over 30 years we have stayed into a 4th season in England’s second tier, so support has been a big factor for me, in us achieving this. Again, though no reason we SHOULD be challenging. Only in my wildest dreams do I see us challenging for promotion this season, I think we will be top half, maybe even top 10, and that's no bad thing. Many only equate progress to the division we are in. Our club has come so far in the last 3 years and still getting better with the announcement of the new training facilities. We are arguably, as a club in one of the best shapes we have ever been in. Many see the Premiership as the icing on the cake, and in terms of revenue and brand exposure for City it is, but for me it would be horrible, we could never compete with the wages and transfer fees in that league and it could financially ruin us trying to. I would like us to have a season to enjoy the hype, but I'm happy with being a competitive force in the Championship which is still for my money in the top 6 leagues in the world in terms of competitiveness.
I was trying to formulate my thoughts on this question but read your post and you'd already said exactly what I was thinking. Spot on imho.
Top 10 / challenging for the fans is a must, I would say top 12 is a fair result HOWEVER... History or "stats" intimate that certain teams have a regular "summer autumn winter spring [ seasons]" rotation. They come out of the winter, where just missing being relegated or finishing in bottom 6 -8 teams for a couple "football" seasons to have 2 or 3 seasons bouncing around the top 1/3rd?, maybe even making the play off's! then crash back to the winter, [or slip back to a few summers or worse in a lower division!] ………….. a few seasons of "rebuilding" viz... PNE, Sheff Wed, Birmingham even CITY! SL tried changing managers,tried a tight budget .. brought about maybe because he had to compensate "discarded managers" or paid high wages to journeymen players either on loan or short term? contracts. NEW broom …. 5 pillars, couldn't work out which 5 pillars! so swept them away and came up with 5 new ones but this time would put them on solid ground not sand ….. but pillars within walls the main pillar to me is consistency and continuity, = trust, then you build up the rest on a strong base = Ashton Gate …. staff/ players … academy … etc etc we suffered a bit as the distraction of the stadium led to hairy moments in the league .. maybe a factor in the support LEE got? Last season the wheels came off ! although we dropped out of the top 6 we didn't actually slide into regular massive defeats and finished mid table ...quite a few teams do the same [sometimes because of how the fixtures fall] where are we now? …… I would say still in the spring, our winter was putting in the base and now we are planting more seeds ………….
Let me clarify; I personally see us as a potential Burnley, Palarse or WBA -i.e. a club which should be spending a fair amount of time in the prem but will on occasion have to play in the championship sometimes. We will NEVER be a Manchester United, Arsenal or Liverpool - there simply isn't the level of interest in us either in Bristol or further afield for that. I can't see kids with Bristol City tops on walking around in London or Manchester any time soon, but we may possibly achieve a Leicester or Everton at some point in our future if we keep growing. Fans of OTHER clubs still see us as a L1 side at best, currently punching above our weight. This has been evident with the pre-season odds - I think that this season is the first since we arrived under Cotts that we are NOT one of the favourites to be relegated! This perception is changing - there have been many complimentary reports from away fans on their visits to the new AG, but the proportion of a fan base that travel is small, so the majority of FOOTBALL fans have not yet witnessed our rejuvenation. We spent most of the past 30 years with 11000 fans watching us playing Grimsby or Tranmere on a wet Tuesday night (no disrespect intended towards those proud clubs btw) so they can perhaps be forgiven for holding onto that impression. Gradually, a sustained period of stability in this division will update those perceptions of us and combined with more TV exposure our profile will rise - which would also make us a more attractive club in the eyes of some of the better players, who would be less likely to turn us down in favour of Burnley or Bolton for example.
getting that "long term" consistency is key take the prem LIVERPOOL CHELSEA MAN U MAN C ARSENAL SPURS EVERTON a third of the teams always in the foreseeable future will be top 10 -12 13 teams of which 3 will "rotate" leaves 10 spots of safety at present you have LEICESTER WATFORD BURNLEY SOTON PALARSE WEST HAM shown they can "survive and get near top 7 or 8..... WOLVES FULHAM CARDIFF... NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK LEAVE 4 teams that need to prove something currently Bournemouth, Newcastle, Huddersfield and Brighton are those ….! Early times yet, 4 games, but Bournemouth putting points on their board! … 38 points must always be a target ……………...
I think we should be challenging, but don't think the Premiership for us is the be all, of course it would be nice to get there, but as many clubs similar to us have experienced such heights we all know it will be a big struggle......We have big moaners as it is, can you imagine what it will be like when we are looking for our first win..............poor LJ...lol Seriously though.........success breads success and the experience of being there SHOULD be good for the club and the fans......but be warned, it didn't serve us well the last time we were relegated from the top flight!!!
things are much different now though.. just had a thought .. is the TV MONEY paid in advance for the season? in arrear for the season, and if up just one year how many payments? 1 plus 2 para chute 8 teams get a payment this season qpr hull villa midds bro and sunderland plus 3 relegated
If we get there again , big if, I don’t think we’ll make the same mistake as last time . The way we got there last time will be our best chance of making it again imo , bringing players through, but unlike last time once we get there we must not abandon the philosophy that got us there. Either way bringing players through using our training facility is the way forward in a sustainable way. If we sell some along the way , for a profit of course , then so be it. For me , at the moment, whilst the premier league would be nice it’s not the b all and end all , it’s more about achieving sustainability whether that be in the championship or premier league.
I think with our history anybody that expects us to be challenging for an automatic top two position is delusional. It would be nice of course and it may happen but nobody should be expecting it with the clubs we are competing against. A top half play off push is a more realistic expectation
Well we have had 30 plus years practicing for a return. I just hope I see it again in my lifetime. It was magical
It's a long season and we made a decent start last year and were well placed at Xmas. Lets see if we can maintain the current form for another 3 months and then see where it takes us.
