Not Man City! Not Birmingham City, Not Cardiff City etc. I shouldn't have to say Bristol before City when in Bristol! All these people creating hype about Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, Man City, Man U!! Support your local team, they need you! All these people glorifying these billionaire fantasy teams while the local teams aren't doing great. I somewhat feel that we are being overlooked.
How do you make it happen? Support your local club! There is not one local lad in the starting XI. Youth development? Clubs like Southampton and WBA are all over kids football in Bristol from mini teams upwards. City's player pathway is not broad enough and the club needs to take on these clubs at development level to increase its reach. Club relationship with fans? Poor. Abysmal for one particlular stand. Club involvement with community? Improving, but nowhere again broad enough. Bristol City FC needs to defind what it is. Support, play for or get involved should be at its core.
City make themselves invisible though. There was a thing around the Lions pub Eastend etc which was called Support your local club. Thats what City need to be doing advertising themsleves and fighting back because they will wait for ever to become "big".
Naive ! Man City do not have any local lads in their team, but its 'City or United' in Manchester. United or Wednesday in Sheffield The club is mightier than the sum of its parts, and the geographical root of the young players from clubs in any other part of the UK is irrelevant Personally I couldn't care less whether our players come from Pakistan or Timbuctu, as long as we are developing as a team and as a club. However I do agree that our academy is our lifeblood. Just that I don't think its necessary for our kids to be from within eye-shot of BS3
Well said BRR. Some of our greatest players were not Bristolians but ended up with City Red blood in their veins and a passion for the club. John Atyeo Gerry Gow Marv Elliott Tom Richie Gerry Sweeney Terry Cooper player and manager Do I need to keep going? I could add hundreds. It is what they do while at the club and wearing the red shirt that is most important. Not their place of birth.
Naive would be comparing a FC with a turn over of millions just over a ten to a club that can spend hundreds of millions. I mention the word reach. Reach = Beyond BS3. The club is mightier than the sum of its a parts? No the club is its parts. It should be a regional representative of the West, active in its community playing football for the benefit of its fans. City are barely visible in Bristol because of their lack of foresight. Fans join in as well blaming things on a lack of success, its not a football City = Not working hard enough. Being apathetic is small time. The academy has to become a fundamental part of the FC. The academy should be attracting players from further than BS3 e.g. Wiltshire - Atyeo and Newman were from West Wiltshire. City are getting duffed up in their own backayard right now with kids from South Bristol going to development centres of clubs from the coast, the Midlands and Wales. The starting eleven is an example of how well the FC performs. It is always important. Eleven mercaneries is failure. That is a maxim clubs abroad use. It extends the clubs credit amongst fans and community when "we" includes one of "us". I coach kids they wear too many Chelsea shirts, even WBA ... Hardly suprising when BCFC has little to no contact with them. Near to nada is being done to change it. I hope to point towards a XI with local players in it, " look lads, you graft, you can achieve and play for City ...!" Above all the club have to extend that reach by as many means as they can. I am taking the unders six's sevens down Ashton Gate. I had to contact City to do it. Question is why are they not knocking on every door?
I don't CARE where they come from. I want WINS. I want BIG. That is the attitude that will keep City small. It all has be about more than I don't CARE where they come from. I want WINS. I want BIG.
Fundamentally I agree with most of what you say (and I wasn't comparing Man City with us - just pointing out a flaw in your argument) Where we truly differ is in the importance you place on 'west country boys' filling up places in our academy/first 11. Here I am afraid I really don't agree. As Cidered says, many have come from Scotland to represent City, some with distinction. I never saw Ayteo play (i'm not that old yet thank God), but I regard Gerry Gow and Tom Ritchie as otherwise the best we have delivered to the world of AF - and they certainly never came from up the M32. Very few clubs these days do have 'local lads' playing for them. That might be to the clubs' detriment - I don't know. But we are not 'pure blood' fanatics are we ! (at least I sincerely hope not). There should be room for all dialects/nationalities at Ashton Gate, where the only criterion should be - Do they have what it takes ?
Nowhere have I said a kid from Morton should not be brought into BCFC. The model here is an abject failure. Neglecting the academy and getting them in from anywhere has seen the club relegated and a small club losing forty million. It was and is indefensible sheer stupidity. The club is in a worse position, far worse than when emphasis was placed on providing a constant stream of players for the starting XI. A poster on here sent the team I coach packs of stickers, City stickers. Even the Chelsea kids liked them. That is an example of increase contact, increase interest, potentially increased support. No results needed. Coaching, contact of all sorts increases reach. Local lads made good should be a large what the FC is about. A model that works abroad v global superpowers sometimes on the doorstep of clubs. City have the Gas.
'I am taking the unders six's sevens down Ashton Gate' Do you have any knowledge of the City under 9's. Pretty sure a young Phillips played in goal for them last week.
I have been hammering on about the academy since before the play off final had finished. MY model had Spanish, German or French professionals running the academy, and money previously available for expensive loan-ins invested in bringing the best available kids in FROM ACROSS EUROPE. Other clubs are not precious about recruiting young lads from their locale. Southampton for instance - (Walcott (Stanmore), Wilshere (Stevenage), Lalana (St Albans), Rodreguez (Burnley), Luke Shaw (Kingston), all products of their academy or youth signings That is how it must be done these days, because we no longer live in the 1950s, and Sir Stanley is sadly gone. BUT I do agree that our way forwards is via the academy. In fact it is the only way forwards for us, because our average gate in the Championship was well below the level where we can afford to compete with bigger clubs from elsewhere. Unless of course we are filling up our club with their youngsters, and then we can sell to survive and develop a young team that will be good enough. They may not all speak in a Bristol accent, but they would give this club a real presence - something not seen here since Whitehead (Birmingham), Gow, Ritchie, Sweeney, Shaw (Scotland), Mann (Yorkshire) trod this turf in the 70s The mantra MUST be If they are good enough then they ARE local
Other clubs are not precious about recruiting young lads from their locale. Southampton for instance ... Are taking potential player after potential player from ths area. Bristol is now their locale. One was training with Bristol City but due to lack of development centre opportunities joined Southampton then later their academy. There is more than enough talent in this area to provide players for what should be its regional representative. City have failed to nurture the potential.
