Ask yourself this question

[SoLongSoBlue]

Is lower league football dead in the water?

Most people who support a football team imagine that some how their club are gonna be successful win everything be top of the entire league structure so on and so forth, if you think about it logically BRFC will never be that club probably along with all the others in the bottom leagues, the best chance of this happening is if a rich foreigner buys the club up and pumps billions into it, but ask yourself this question, do you want this senario to happen to us?
As much as I want our club to be the best I think I would rather stay how we are, well not quite how we are, I want my club to compete in the league were in and serve up some entertainment for me, and most important I want to feel some connection to it feel part of it!!

For instance I would hate to be an older Chelsea fan who actually has lived in the area all their life, yes the club enjoys great success and all that but at what cost? The club has been hijacked by money men and quite frankly Abromavich is about as connected to the simple fabric of Chelsea as I am to the queen! If he got fed up he could leave in the blink of an eye without so much as a second thought.
I would suggest that most of the players and management feel nothing for the fans or the club as they have been numbed by rediculous pay packages and celebrity status and all that goes with if, most dont even come from the UK so have no infinity to the locals let alone the country they ply their trade in, I would suggest the only Chelsea fans who are happy with what goes on at Chelsea today are the guys from other parts of the country who travel hundreds of miles out of their area every weekend to chase the glory?

Look at Cardiff chasing the glory of the premier league, get a wealthy backer so probably will get there sometime soon, but at what cost already they have had to change the colour of their first team kit, can you imagine if we were told here have the money but on the understanding you have to lose the quarters and play in Red!!

Money and greed in football if it has not already is killing the game as we know it and worse still is breaking bonds between clubs and fans (local communities to their clubs) which fundamentally is what has made football clubs what they are and the game as we have known it in the past.

Finally what is the point of it all just look at our good neighbours and I mean this sincerely not as a jibe, what is the point of chasing glory and where will the money come from to do that if it takes being 14 million pounds in debt to just to fight relegation from the championship for several seasons in a row, its all madness me thinks.

 

[Captain Jack Sparrow]

maybe im stuck in the past but all i want is what we were like at twerton....

players fighting for each other and players fighting for every ball.
players wearing their heart on their sleeve.
players who thought it was a priviledge to wear the blue and white shirt.
players who gave everything they had all game every game.
players who had passion and determination and never gave up.

even if we lost, we still applauded the players for their efforts. The players cared for teh club they were playing for. To them it was more important than money they were earning.

i want to be able to leave the ground at the end of the game even if we win lose or draw and say im proud to be a gashead. been a long time since i said that.

 

[Ron]

True fans.

 

[mark1gas]

I dont think it is! Local teams still have a huge impact on there surroundings and communities..

But what i would give for the Trumpton park days right now! Watching players give it there all like Ian Alexander getting stuck in or Astafjevs controlling the midfield..

Thats what we are missing, passion and players proud to play for the shirt!

 

[Royal Mail Gas]

I agree with the original post and I don't think the board have a clue where they are taking us. What is the point of the UWE Stadium if you haven't got the money as well to build the football side up. No one answers that question which makes me even more suspicious the board are selling the Mem to get their money back somehow. If Mr Lansdown can't keep City in the championship with tens of millions how are Rovers going to do it with the little left over after the Mem is sold.

No one ever talks about using half the money from the Mem to build a tidy little 10 000 capacity ground with terraces as well as stands where the atmosphere would be good and fans would feel at home. That way we could keep half the money back and use it carefully over a number of years to make the football team successful in league 1 and the cups. I'm not saying we shouldn't ever try to get to the championship but that it's better not to put all your eggs in one basket and to do things one step at a time.

 

[RedorDead]

Don't want to jump in on your discussion about Rovers but I would say on the bit about Caaardiff.

As you can see from my location that I know a few Caardiff fans who are very quick to defend the shirt swap. They say that Red was their away colours quite a few time's, it is the national colour and most importantly it is not a colour of as they call it their rivals.

What they also say is when ever we (city and rovers) think about it we imagin playing in our local rivals colours. Sorry to sound naive here but I don't know what your away strip is so lets say it's White, if a someone chucked 100 million into the club for you to play in your away strip would you think about it. Now imagin Bristol is the capital of England so now your asked to play in your national colours aswell.

Some of them hated the idea but a majority did not really care.

I did have great fun today as my nephew is one of them so of course I took the piss out of them being turncoats and calling them franchise city. Could not argue when he asked if we wanted to swap league positions though.