Are we so poor? Not just right now, but for generations? Apart from our flirtation with the 'prem' in the late 1970s, we have bumped around the third tier mostly. Yet, we are the 5th (or maybe 6th) biggest city in the UK with an enormous fan base. There are enough people in Bristol and surrounding areas to provide packed stadia for both City and Rovers and yet our football clubs are barely clinging onto their professional status. We can't blame lack of money - Steve Lansdowne has put in millions - and is one of the richest men in the country. We have seen managers with pedigree fail in spectacular fashion. WHAT IS IT WITH US? Look at Norwich, Leicester, Ipswich, Burnley, Blackpool - tiny places by comparison, yet far far more successful with their football ventures. In theory we should be an established Championship side flirting with the prem occasionally. In reality Championship football is but a distant memory. We can blame bad decisions or mistakes, but our chronic sustained underachievement is bigger than a handful of poor managers - it is as if the great God of football has decreed that Bristol must never ever see any footballing success. I can't actually point to any one reason for this. Other sides would kill for our fan base and SLs money.
I don't get this just because we have a big city we have a god given right to be a top team. At the end of the day 9/10 times the team with the better 11 win the game. We don't have the better 11 at the moment. When we do we will shoot up the table. If cotts can by some miracle keep us up this season I think we'll be a much better force next season. Confidence goes a long way in this game. Ours is shot to pieces at the moment and our ship IS sinking...... but we are trying to stabilise it.. All will come good in the end
I didn't mean that we have any 'right' to success, but we certainly have an advantage over others when it comes to the likelihood of getting it. I agree we will bounce back if we go down, but only back to L1 (div 3). This seems to be where we belong.
We have failed badly because a wealthy successful businessman has ploughed millions of his pounds in to a club when he doesn't have the business acumen to run a football club despite his success in his other chosen field. Being owned by a wealthy man gives you no more right to success than being one of the largest cities in the country. Success may return when we have an owner who really understands what is required and hires competent managers and players to complete that task but right now we have neither of those ingredients. Unless we find a miracle potion to heal our ills then we are done in League 1 and the lower reaches may have to include a new owner and a total rethink of where we go from there.
Been saying this for donkeys years,it is almost like Bristol is cursed regards our football teams. Both city and rovers take massive amounts of fans for a big game. Both clubs are on it knees and i do not see either rising for a long time to come. Such a bad state of affairs. You only have to look at the continious rejection of football grounds for both clubs,everything is done by it own people to stunt progress for both clubs.
We live in a past dream of the days of playing in the top flight with sell out crowds. How many You mention Norwich and Leicester as two of the teams. When both of them was in this division they had crowds still in the late teens early 20 thousands. You look on here people are saying if we go down they are not going next season. I will be going because to me going without football to watch is like cutting my arm off. Even not having a summer holiday one year to pay for my season ticket. To survive hard times you need fans behind you, not just there on good times.
Quote: We have failed badly because a wealthy successful businessman has ploughed millions of his pounds in to a club when he doesn't have the business acumen to run a football club despite his success in his other chosen field. Our underachievement predates SL.
I know a bit about Norwich as my best mate is a fan - they are the only game not only in town, but in the whole of Norfolk (any sport) Lot's of wrong decisions made, but at least now there appears to be a plan.
Makes me laugh when people say it's his fault, then come transfer window time tell him to put money into the club.
Also, I hate to say it, but we really don't have one of the biggest fan bases... Maybe we do in league one, but baring in mind the size of Bristol our attendance really isn't that impressive I don't think. Decent away following though I think
Well said sir. I have been saying the same things to anyone who would listen for the last forty odd years. Some of the posters in reply are missing your point bcfcrw. This is not a recent happening! It is not a whinge about SL's wasted millions! It is not a fanciful dream about large potential attendance's that will suddenly appear. The failure of the two football clubs in Bristol goes back about one hundred years after City lost their First Division status in the Wedlock era, continued through the twenties and thirties with City bouncing between Leagues Two and Three and Rovers having to sell Eastville in the mid 1930's yo avoid bankruptcy. In the two decades after the second World War, with big attendance's, Harry Dolman did what SL is doing now. Both clubs survived in the Second Division for a few years but both were relegated in 1960-62. Since then City had a brief flirtation with the top echelon, but in general we have both been up and down between leagues Two and Three. During all these years clubs like Southampton, Leicester, Ipswich, Norwich and many others have been more successful for longer periods than Bristol. That is why their gates hold up better than ours when they do have a bad run. Four years in the top tier in the last hundred years means that we have never been able to build a fan base that will stay with the club at bad times. Just like bcfcrw, I cannot put my finger on one reason. But if we can still average over 11,000 at the bottom of the Third Division when there are so many counter attractions for families and anyone interested in sport, it clearly identifies the potential if either City or Rovers ever get it right.
Lansdown is in a distinct and embarrassing minority when it come to serious wealth and having the skill/foresight/ability to actually buy any success on a football pitch in this country. Jack Walker effectively bought a Premier League title with Blackburn having got them up first Forest went up in the 70's, won the 1st division title at the first attempt, and then won the LC, and 2 x European Cups - back to back ! Maybe more to do with Cloughie Al Fayed got Fulham up and kept them there for years on end Owen Oyston got unfashionable Blackpool up to the Premier League Dave Whelan did the same with Wigan and won a League Cup into the bargain Steve Gibson ditto with Middlesbrough and won a League Cup Then there are the owners of Cardiff and Hull All of these people were rich but Lansdown is richer than most bar Al Fayed I'd suggest ? We must be the biggest city on the planet with absolutely nothing to show for it football wise and a clueless billionaire owner. It's scandalous and that's why I wish he'd walk away now. We couldn't do any worse, really we couldn't, look at what a laughing stock we are under him. All people talk about is potential, from players that come here over the decades to managers and owners, but no-one has the plan that is needed for this city to ever compete at the top level and be able to stay there. We're not Man U but equally we are not Torquay either and we are right to have expectations to a degree. We have the fan base, and I maintain we could average 30,000 per home game in the top flight but will we see it in our lifetime ?
I agree with your comments bcfcred that our problems predated SL and it just goes to show how bad we are now. To ROD I ask the question of how many of SL's millions does he think were well spent and although I can appreciate his comment of us asking him to dig deeper at certain times I frankly think most of those monies were given away for nothing.
It's not just football, it's just about everything, what is Bristol good at? What is it known for what fantastic facilities does it have? The whole city/area needs a shake up to get it noticed. FFS we even get missed of the weather map on BBC at times.
Swansea success built on a chairman taking a chance on an unknown manager in Martinez. (Also needed two more managers after to finally get up) lucky to have a City wanting to build a new ground. Southampton in decline and bankruptcy, got a weathly backer and then taking a chance on a physio in Atkins also had a City to build a good stadium Norwich knocking around the leagues but finally got success built on a chairman/women taking a chance on a manager who beat them 7-1 in the league in Lambert. We took a chance on GJ who nearly took us up, but in fairness we all knew we was punching above our weight. A manager who proceeded to spend the chairmans money like it was his own on high contracts players. We then tried to get a well known manager in the game Coppell which didn't work for reasons known of us know apart from Chinese whispers. We then took a chance on someone who kept us up the previous year. We've then taken chances on these sort of managers, in the unknown manager McIness, we then took on a manager who who most thought was a fantastic manager mis- treated by Forest. Now we've gone for a manager who has not been relegated before, someone who installs discipline into the players. **** me I think SL has tried every permutation going, but because we wasn't lucky with our managers like the above the bloke don't have a clue. Apart from trying to get a new stadium and trying to get success for us when in fairness only had 4 years in the last 100 in the top division. If you believe in this day and age in football we can survive on gate receipts only, then you may as well get ready to support another club because it ain't going to happen.
