Whilst I agree in principle what Inver and Shiny are saying, regroup, rebuild etc BCFC (for me) have always, in the recent 15 years or so been happy to be the bigger fish in a smaller pond, good league position keeps the 8-10k fans happy, occasional bigger crowd for a cup game or possible play off decider suits our club. If you think that we are likely to get promoted this year via the automatic route you are not seeing the 'game plan' of BCFC, just a 5% reduction of prices should be enough for you to be suspicious. What our club are planning is to keep in touch with the top 8 or 10, get into a playoff place, maybe even a decent cup run in one of the minor cups and KERCHING, we sell shirts and other merchandize, maybe even a trip to Wembly, loose in the play off final, lots of well dones and maybe next years, lets increase the prices.........................more champers lads?http://www.not606.com/images/smilies/1980_boogie_down.gif
Cynical, but............... It's not the last 15 years that we've been more comfortable as the big fish in little pond. It's been forever. AD: we can all be cynical and many of us have very good reason to be so. But unless we are all positive and behind the club, we'll wander around in the quagmire for far too long. So come on and try to be a bit more hopeful that things will change for the better at BCFC. Best Regards, Cidered Abroad - nicknamed Moaner by a young Chris Garland and a typical "glass is half empty" where City are concerned. But we have to be positive.
Appreciate your comments AD and you are so right that we have been swimming in the minnow pond for way too long. Looking back over my 60 years of following Bristol City I have often wondered why we never seemed capable 0r even interested in improving our lot in the overall scheme of things. Our history shows us that we have never really achieved anything and our status in the Football League as a whole is pretty poor at best and diabolical for the size of Bristol. We have won the 3rd tier of English Football many times and with record numbers of points on some occasions, so why have we never been able to scale the next peak and achieve more. Various owners have taken us down the same old road to nowhere and it looks like we are destined to stay as an also ran in the competitive sense for ever. Yes I know we were in the top division for a while, which I unfortunately missed in it's entirety, but look where that almost took us. Please tell me that I am wrong in saying that I follow a club that totally lacks ambition to achieve what I believe we should be trying to attain and that is at least a competitive challenge in the Championship or who knows even higher. Bristol City never seem to get it right by many peoples definition, and I think that is what you are trying to say AD and if it is then I am in total agreement with your thoughts. Over 60 years of constant frustration interspersed with rare moments of adulation just doesn't cut it in my book.
Part of the problem is lack of interest by the people of Bristol in their football teams compare the support the two Sheffield teams get despite having many other league sides round and about them with the support for the two Bristol sides. It is not a coincidence that the teams with the biggest followings tend to be more successful over time, but even big clubs suffer blips, but they have the resources to get themselves out of the mire again. Even back when City were in the top flight we didn't fill the stadium week in week out just for the bigger sides. It's a two way situation the more support usually the better players so more success - More success - more support.
Why is there this apathy towards the football teams in Bristol hawk? I don't know what the percentages of population attending matches in Bristol are compared with the rest of the country but I would guess they are way below the national average.
Something I've never understood but then I've been a City supporter for over 58 years and a genuine football nut for over 50( I will watch other teams if City are not playing or If I can not get to the City game for some reason,) I've even watched Gascellona, Baadiff, Newport County, Cheltenham and Forest Green Rovers when I lived in Bristol, Arsenal, Spurs, West Ham, Brentford when Lived in London, City and Utd when in Manchester plus Bury and Rochdale. For some reason all the teams outside of Bristol seem to have a closer place in their fans/locals hearts than either Bristol Clubs have. Looking at the size of the City and surrounding catchment area one would expect one of the clubs to be averaging 20,000 and the other at least 12,000 obviously I think it would still be City with the higher gates if only for the fact that we have spent longer in higher divisions than the Gas, nad they have been in divisions higher than us for a shorter period..
