Hurt, Shame and Misery (and expense)

Hi All

I am (like most of you) thoroughly fed up with what's happened since the Gary Johnson era came to a close.

There is a cancer at our club - no, wait, there is a cancer in Bristol football as a whole, and some of the highest-rated managers in the land have been unable to cut it out; Gary Johnson's cure was only temporary and we have had Coppell, Millen, McInness, and now Sean O'Driscoll all failed to stop the rot. Out of those individuals, only Keef was inexperienced. Coppout ran after a couple of weeks.

Even the bookies are fooled - and they are professionals - they predicted us to shine under Coppell - and again under SoD - but even they are left scratching their heads as to our unbelievable underachievement - and, given the size of Bristol and the investment we have had - it is indeed, unbelievable.

We have no leadership on the pitch, and seem rudderless off it. The new stadium is just a distant dream but I don't care about that - I personally think we'd be even more of a laughing stock with our 9k fans rattling around in a 30k seater stadium watching Rochdale or Halifax Town in a mid-week L2 - DIVISION FOUR - battle in the rain.

I have ALWAYS backed successive managers - and I certainly accept SoD's pedigree - he got Donny and Forest out of the ****, so why not us? Well, there must be some other stuff going on when, with all due respect to these teams, Donny, Blackpool, Palace, Norwich, Millwall, even Peterborough, are healthier than we are - look at Yeovil FFS - they can merrily get dicked every week and still be a division higher than us come the end of the season when they are in Div 1 and we are in Div 2.

Sorry Sean - I think your days are numbered - but I don't blame you entirely. I think you (like all football managers) will be the sacrificial lamb - the 'Jesus' that Pilot crucifies to appease the baying crowds. As you have been successful at 'smaller' clubs, I can only conclude that you have some restrictions that are preventing you from sorting things out. What those restrictions are we will probably never know, but I bet Coppout knows.

Where Sean has been wrong though is with some of his criticism of the fans.

Football is a strange animal - where the men at the 'coal face' earn more than their manager, who will be ritually sacked if the men themselves fail to perform. At the same time, the 'customers' are expected to spend £20-£30 a ticket every week, to see some utter dross, and if they can be patient enough to stay after a dicking, watch their 'heroes' who's wages they have just bolstered, drive away in their baby Bentleys or Range Rovers to lick their wounds in one of the local nightclubs.

I do not earn anywhere near a footballers wage. My annual salary (which is not a bad one by national standards) probably equates to one weeks salary for an average championship player. To tell us fans to be patient whilst the new team is built, to continue to buy out tickets, not complain, whilst they fail to address the fundamental issues that have blighted this club since GJ 'left', is quite frankly an insult.

I know Rome wasn't built in a day, but look at the time and money that has been made available to Bristol City Football Club since Steve Landsdown took over. Then compare it to the funds that Blackpool, Norwich, Palace etc etc have had at their disposal and yet those clubs have maintained some dignity at least - Blackpool even had a spell in the PREM ffs. Southampton were bust a few seasons back (remember Sproule's goal?) and now they are enjoying their 2nd season in the top division. We have had time FFS - we have been patient for YEARS - there aren't many football fans as used to near misses or underachievement than a Bristol fan (of both red and blue persuasions).

We are rotten from the very top to the very bottom. I don't have the answers, I don't know the real reasons why we (BCFC) have underachieved so spectacularly, or why well-respected managers have failed, but I do know that I do not feel that my £20+ ticket price is being sensibly spent when I turn up at the gate.

The fix:
- A proper leader on the pitch ie: Caulker, Carey Tony Adams, Sean Derry, Roy Keane, John Terry - someone who commands the back line and marshals the defence. DO NOT HAVE A CENTRE-FORWARD AS CAPTAIN - all the play is behind them.

- an old-fashioned centre-forward. Forget all this pretty pretty twinkle-toes stuff - get onto the end of a hoof and head the f-ing ball into the back of the net. Worry about playing pretty football when we can either keep a clean sheet or score more than the opposition. WE NEED TO START WINNING GAMES FFS.

- Stop telling us fans to be patient, whilst still expecting us to put our hands in our pockets every week. 'we dominated the play - but conceded 2 late goals' only works once or twice. It doesn't work week in week out - and we have had it for Fing YEARS.

Rant over. Thanks for reading.

 

Good rant,he needs to play two strikers tight,and two bloody wingers and have a go,not worry about the opposition,let them worry about us.

 

Have we got 2 wingers?

 

Waggy ,bryan,the guy with the funny haircut,jet can play out there and cutt in.

 

'jet can play out there and cutt in"

He does play out there! this manager will lose his job off the back of this bloke unless he wises up..

 

I agree with every word BCFC RED AND WHITEWHITE.
I have absolutely nothing to add.
I too do not know the solution but it is breaking my heart to see such inept and sad performances. Where will we be before the tide is turned? League Two, Conference or worse?

 

Fully agree with you bcfcredandwhite- I went on to Rovers site, I think for only the 2nd time tonight- The general tone is they are just as pissed off as we are and seem to be split for and against Ward.
They lost last night to Accrington Stanley after being an early goal up. Both sets of fans cant seem to be bothered to take the p*** out of eachother at the moment, as quite honestly, we are as embarrassing as each other and sadly, most seem to accept it too.

I went out with a friend last night that I hadn't seen for a while. Some time into the evening, he said that I hadn't mentioned Bristol City tonight (usually takes me all of a few minutes).I said that was easy, theres nothing to cheer about or feel able to defend at the moment. Very depressing really.

 

Your grandsons, the pundits, the bookies, even your average premiership fan - probably even gasheads - but most of all us long-suffering city fans are all pondering this question.

 

We do desperately need a true leader on the pitch but we also need leaders off it, and in the board and SOD I don't think we have the fight or can do attitude between them

The blind leading the blind

 

I am moving to live in Frome sometime in the next two or three months so will continue to support the Robins.
But whether it is still BCFC or Frome Town depends on whether the Ashton Gate board, team management and team itself, sort out the mess we are in, or not.
I just feel very sad, almost totally disinterested and almost fall asleep during home games. What have we come to?

 

My feelings change from anger to resentment to plain indifference day by day.

I think a lot of people have become disenchanted with Bristol football and the gates at both clubs reflect the downward spiral

Its probably worse for those of us old enough to remember what a vibrant and successful club we were in the early to mid 70's. We held our own at the very top although our stay there was way too short and it's been Ski Sunday ever since.

Despite all of the rhetoric from previous chairman and owners, no one has ever truly had the vision, will, or drive to get us back on an even keel and going forwards again.

We had one chance of glory in 2008 and we blew that in spectacular fashion too.

 

Wouldn't it be boring if we supported a good team - when we finally achieve something think how good it will feel!!

It's the hope that really hurts.