| Ashton Gate this Wednesday 18:03 - Oct 23 with 11430 views | Jerseybean |
Hello from a Bristol City fan in peace.
Ahead of our forthcoming game I’m putting together the opening post for our forum’s (One Team in Bristol, https://www.otib.co.uk/?_fromLogin=1) match thread, which will be posted the day before the match.
I would like to include some perspectives from your fans so if anybody would like to share info please do, anything would be appreciated, fans thoughts about the game, players who have represented both clubs, tales from when we’ve met previously, a fans view on your season, etc, etc.
Look forward to receiving info and to a great game.
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| Ashton Gate this Wednesday on 21:13 - Oct 23 with 3521 views | HungryLikeTheWoolf |
Looking forward to the game, can't say I know too much about any of your players or how you play. I feel the Mark Ashton element has added a bit of extra spark in pre game discussions online, if it wasn't for that then this would be one of the less exciting games this season for both teams. |  | | |
| Ashton Gate this Wednesday on 21:39 - Oct 23 with 3474 views | EatonBlue |
Steve Stacey played for both. Fun fact - John Atyeo played his last game for Bristol City against Ipswich Town on 10th May 1966 - and he scored twice in a 4-1 win. |  | | |
| Ashton Gate this Wednesday on 21:43 - Oct 23 with 3446 views | bluebudgie |
| Ashton Gate this Wednesday on 21:12 - Oct 23 by Lord_Lucan |
I went to the FA Cup game.
Almost every window of our train got bricked in. |
Remember the match well we all travelled on the train and it was a lively experience after the game! During the game the Bristol City fans were shouting "Dicks out" as their manager was Alan Dicks ,I seem to recall Kempy was sorely tempted [thumbsup
Steve Stacey was a player Town signed from City in the 60s I saw his debut he only lasted 29 mins didnt see much of him after that as Bobby Robson replaced Bill McGary and in his book called Stacey one of the worst players he had seen. |  | | |
| Ashton Gate this Wednesday on 21:50 - Oct 23 with 3421 views | farkenhell |
| Ashton Gate this Wednesday on 20:16 - Oct 23 by Churchman |
I was at that game. The locals were throwing stones at the Boardroom windows after it. They weren’t happy. I think the game was 1980.
We actually played them in the FA Cup the following week and won 2-1. The game was much tighter.
Edit: I was also there in the 91/92 promotion season game. We travelled in numbers and thought promotion might be secured. Nope. Andy Cole thought otherwise and we deservedly lost 2-1.
Russell Osman is the obvious player for both clubs and the centre half (Webster?) Bristol City bought from us and made a fortune on. [Post edited 23 Oct 2023 20:24]
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The fortune that they made from Webster was due to Mark Ashton. But you're not allowed to mention that. | | | |
| Ashton Gate this Wednesday on 21:58 - Oct 23 with 3427 views | unstableblue |
Apologies for the mixed bag of responses so far to your request.
First off Town are in a good place and thoroughly deserve to be second, six points clear of Leeds in third with a game in hand. We’ve transitioned seamlessly from League One, where frankly we were playing football more suited to the Championship, and we recruited Championship quality players in the January window, looking forward always.
We have a superb, young, technical and progressive manager in Keiran McKenna, who‘s stock is rising very fast, which leads to concerns on how long he’ll be with us. But I do think he’s committed to the Town project and getting us to Premier League.
We play a pressing, high energy game, playing out from the back in a 4-2-3-1, with a strong central midfield two and dynamic front 4. With 3 attacking midfielders who work their socks off around the excellent holding and running of the central striker George Hirst. We tend to replace that front 4, fully or in part, on 70mins to keep up the momentum.
On Weds we will lose some of the attacking depth with the injuries to Burns and Ladapo. But have a very exciting young loanee from Chelsea - Omari Hutchison - who can beat any defender in this league, but also under McKenna’s tutelage is now pressing/tackling like a beast. He’ll probably replace Burns down the right channel. Broadhead on the left is the danger man, and I’d suggest City will look to close him down from the get go.
Morsy, our captain and enforcer, missed the away game at Huddersfield recently where we drew, and you realise how central he is to the team. He’s aided by the fan favourite Luongo, who is having an evergreen stand out season playing further forward of Morsy in the central two. And yet is being pushed for a place by Jack Taylor who has now settled into the McKenna system and looks to be fulfilling his Town potential and the fee from Peterborough.
Our two centre backs (one of our own) Wolfenden and Burgess could have been questioned as to whether they’d make the step up, but have both done well. And looking forward again, Town have invested and taken a risk in bringing in super talented but injury challenged Axel Tuanzebe from Man U, to provide real competition at centre back.
Our full backs are a big part of our game. And in ex-Leeds Leif Davis and Man U loanee Brandon Williams we have the quality and energy to make the system work.
The concern on Wednesday is whether an 18 day gap in competitive games means we’re going to have lost some sharpness and the winning momentum that’s been driving us forward. But in McKenna we trust. Should be a good game, where City will need to play at their best to compete.
Finally, I know Mark Ashton has a terrible reputation at Ashton Gate, amongst the City fans. But he has been excellent for our club. He was instrumental in identifying and securing McKenna. He’s built a structure that is transforming the club. Crucially it’s very different to the environment he was in at City. He has a football savvy part time chairman, financial and sporting organisation savvy owners and investors, and clearly he is leaving the football side of things to McKenna. In short he has governance, oversight and competent people around him. [Post edited 23 Oct 2023 23:14]
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| Ashton Gate this Wednesday on 22:03 - Oct 23 with 3396 views | Lord_Lucan |
| Ashton Gate this Wednesday on 21:43 - Oct 23 by bluebudgie |
Remember the match well we all travelled on the train and it was a lively experience after the game! During the game the Bristol City fans were shouting "Dicks out" as their manager was Alan Dicks ,I seem to recall Kempy was sorely tempted [thumbsup
Steve Stacey was a player Town signed from City in the 60s I saw his debut he only lasted 29 mins didnt see much of him after that as Bobby Robson replaced Bill McGary and in his book called Stacey one of the worst players he had seen. |
Then that must have been just before I met you as I went with another crowd.
I think it was a few months later that I started knocking about with you and the other bigger boys. |  |
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| Ashton Gate this Wednesday on 22:19 - Oct 23 with 3358 views | WestStanderLaLaLa |
| Ashton Gate this Wednesday on 20:32 - Oct 23 by PhilTWTD |
Russell actually played for Bristol City late in his career, managed them as well. Signed Andy Cole. |
Don’t think Russell signed Cole. Pretty he sure he wasn’t manager when we played them when Cole was on loan. |  |
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| Ashton Gate this Wednesday on 22:37 - Oct 23 with 3301 views | Lord_Lucan |
| Ashton Gate this Wednesday on 22:03 - Oct 23 by Lord_Lucan |
Then that must have been just before I met you as I went with another crowd.
I think it was a few months later that I started knocking about with you and the other bigger boys. |
By the way.
Sweaty text me the other day
How old are we for crying out loud!
I think it was FA Cup 3rd round against Villa when I first met you “Older boys”. | |
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| Ashton Gate this Wednesday on 22:39 - Oct 23 with 3292 views | PhilTWTD |
| Ashton Gate this Wednesday on 22:19 - Oct 23 by WestStanderLaLaLa |
Don’t think Russell signed Cole. Pretty he sure he wasn’t manager when we played them when Cole was on loan. |
No, I think you're right, think he actually sold him. |  | | |
| Ashton Gate this Wednesday on 22:54 - Oct 23 with 3248 views | Vegtablue |
A warm welcome to you Jerseybean.
There's a probably small but very vocal bunch on your forum who were pretty rude about us in the not so distant past; relishing our further misery at the hands of marvellous Mark so they were! We were in the midst of our worst decade in living memory and this anti-cult of Mark wasn't nearly as welcome as you are today: they stopped posting on our forum a while ago of course once the schadenfreude well dried up; hopefully we don't provide cause for their return on Wednesday night.
Re our season so far, clearly it's been a dream return for us. We knew our football would make us competitive but we also knew the challenges of the Championship better than most. 17 consecutive seasons of 2nd flight football prior to our L1 humbling, that leaves its mark. What brings the most pleasure is that today we're exactly where we deserve to be; we may have ridden our luck to the tune of 2-4 points more than performances would typically warrant but no more than that. Unstable provides great detail on the team so I won't add to that.
Onto Wednesday night, my understanding is you take no risks at the back and are closer to Huddersfield than Hull in your style of play. Huddersfield was an incredibly tough game for us, while Hull was arguably our most dominant win. Real shame it isn't at the weekend as Bristol's a great place to visit. | | | |
| Ashton Gate this Wednesday on 22:55 - Oct 23 with 3237 views | Jerseybean |
| Ashton Gate this Wednesday on 21:58 - Oct 23 by unstableblue |
Apologies for the mixed bag of responses so far to your request.
First off Town are in a good place and thoroughly deserve to be second, six points clear of Leeds in third with a game in hand. We’ve transitioned seamlessly from League One, where frankly we were playing football more suited to the Championship, and we recruited Championship quality players in the January window, looking forward always.
We have a superb, young, technical and progressive manager in Keiran McKenna, who‘s stock is rising very fast, which leads to concerns on how long he’ll be with us. But I do think he’s committed to the Town project and getting us to Premier League.
We play a pressing, high energy game, playing out from the back in a 4-2-3-1, with a strong central midfield two and dynamic front 4. With 3 attacking midfielders who work their socks off around the excellent holding and running of the central striker George Hirst. We tend to replace that front 4, fully or in part, on 70mins to keep up the momentum.
On Weds we will lose some of the attacking depth with the injuries to Burns and Ladapo. But have a very exciting young loanee from Chelsea - Omari Hutchison - who can beat any defender in this league, but also under McKenna’s tutelage is now pressing/tackling like a beast. He’ll probably replace Burns down the right channel. Broadhead on the left is the danger man, and I’d suggest City will look to close him down from the get go.
Morsy, our captain and enforcer, missed the away game at Huddersfield recently where we drew, and you realise how central he is to the team. He’s aided by the fan favourite Luongo, who is having an evergreen stand out season playing further forward of Morsy in the central two. And yet is being pushed for a place by Jack Taylor who has now settled into the McKenna system and looks to be fulfilling his Town potential and the fee from Peterborough.
Our two centre backs (one of our own) Wolfenden and Burgess could have been questioned as to whether they’d make the step up, but have both done well. And looking forward again, Town have invested and taken a risk in bringing in super talented but injury challenged Axel Tuanzebe from Man U, to provide real competition at centre back.
Our full backs are a big part of our game. And in ex-Leeds Leif Davis and Man U loanee Brandon Williams we have the quality and energy to make the system work.
The concern on Wednesday is whether an 18 day gap in competitive games means we’re going to have lost some sharpness and the winning momentum that’s been driving us forward. But in McKenna we trust. Should be a good game, where City will need to play at their best to compete.
Finally, I know Mark Ashton has a terrible reputation at Ashton Gate, amongst the City fans. But he has been excellent for our club. He was instrumental in identifying and securing McKenna. He’s built a structure that is transforming the club. Crucially it’s very different to the environment he was in at City. He has a football savvy part time chairman, financial and sporting organisation savvy owners and investors, and clearly he is leaving the football side of things to McKenna. In short he has governance, oversight and competent people around him. [Post edited 23 Oct 2023 23:14]
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Excellent, thank you. | | | |
| Ashton Gate this Wednesday on 23:12 - Oct 23 with 3180 views | Jerseybean |
| Ashton Gate this Wednesday on 22:54 - Oct 23 by Vegtablue |
A warm welcome to you Jerseybean.
There's a probably small but very vocal bunch on your forum who were pretty rude about us in the not so distant past; relishing our further misery at the hands of marvellous Mark so they were! We were in the midst of our worst decade in living memory and this anti-cult of Mark wasn't nearly as welcome as you are today: they stopped posting on our forum a while ago of course once the schadenfreude well dried up; hopefully we don't provide cause for their return on Wednesday night.
Re our season so far, clearly it's been a dream return for us. We knew our football would make us competitive but we also knew the challenges of the Championship better than most. 17 consecutive seasons of 2nd flight football prior to our L1 humbling, that leaves its mark. What brings the most pleasure is that today we're exactly where we deserve to be; we may have ridden our luck to the tune of 2-4 points more than performances would typically warrant but no more than that. Unstable provides great detail on the team so I won't add to that.
Onto Wednesday night, my understanding is you take no risks at the back and are closer to Huddersfield than Hull in your style of play. Huddersfield was an incredibly tough game for us, while Hull was arguably our most dominant win. Real shame it isn't at the weekend as Bristol's a great place to visit. |
Thank you | | | |
| Ashton Gate this Wednesday on 01:49 - Oct 24 with 3055 views | Tractorboy24 |
| Ashton Gate this Wednesday on 20:33 - Oct 23 by PhilTWTD |
Ah, Gerken! Was also a free.
This post has been edited by an administrator |
Kind of offended autocorrect did me like that, but also Gergen wasn’t obvious enough for it to be initially recognised as an autocorrect error for Gerken!!! |  | | |
| Ashton Gate this Wednesday on 04:30 - Oct 24 with 3019 views | BlueBadger |
| Ashton Gate this Wednesday on 18:57 - Oct 23 by Jerseybean |
The short answer is no 😀 and let’s simply say that he was not very popular with the majority of City fans who considered that he enjoyed too much power and influence and was too interested in his ego and self promotion. |
LOL |  |
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| Ashton Gate this Wednesday on 07:49 - Oct 24 with 2914 views | Herbivore |
Gavin Williams and Jon Stead are two to add to players who have played for both Town and Brizzle.
As for the game, I think it's going to be close as all of our away games have been. A couple of them could have been more comfortable had we been a bit more clinical but we're yet to transfer our free scoring home form into our away performances. That's partly as we set up slightly differently away and that's also reflected by our defence away from home being significantly more stingy than at home.
We're a good side so don't be under any illusion that we're in a false position, the underlying stats show us to be a top 2 side based on how we're playing so far this season and the eye test would suggest this isn't luck, we have deserved the results we've been getting. That said, we have to work very hard and be at close to our best to win at this level and we're taking nothing for granted. I'd like to see us pick up another 3 points tomorrow and I feel we're very capable of doing so but I'd be pretty happy with a point as well. |  |
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| Ashton Gate this Wednesday on 08:26 - Oct 24 with 2847 views | Bobbychase |
Bedminster based Ipswich fan here. Thanks for redeveloping Ashton Gate. My memories of the old away end are the seats with no backs on them, and people falling backwards when they sat down for half time. |  |
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| Ashton Gate this Wednesday on 09:47 - Oct 24 with 2726 views | Nthsuffolkblue |
| Ashton Gate this Wednesday on 20:38 - Oct 23 by StevieH |
Louie Donowa |
That's a good shout. My memory of him is standing just outside our penalty area when we were defending corners and clearances being aimed towards him and him clearing the ball upfield with an overhead kick! It probably never happened but that's what I recall! |  |
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| Ashton Gate this Wednesday on 09:51 - Oct 24 with 2686 views | Nthsuffolkblue |
| Ashton Gate this Wednesday on 21:13 - Oct 23 by HungryLikeTheWoolf |
Looking forward to the game, can't say I know too much about any of your players or how you play. I feel the Mark Ashton element has added a bit of extra spark in pre game discussions online, if it wasn't for that then this would be one of the less exciting games this season for both teams. |
Why would playing Ipswich be one of the less exciting games of the season for anyone? I suppose if winning is the only pleasure they get, but if they enjoy watching quality entertaining football, it should be just about the highlight! | |
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| Ashton Gate this Wednesday on 10:45 - Oct 24 with 2631 views | monty_radio |
If we sound rather upbeat, then look down to the recent thread "ITFC players that define the banter era". We're primarily talking 2016 until the arrival of our American owners, Ashton and McKenna. Many younger fans have never seen us as anything worth watching until that time. Nearly all the named players in that "banter era" will be either unfamiliar to you, and should have remained unknown to us. Or they are names who you thought had retired before their time here - actually, we discovered that they had.
So, enjoy the game and marvel that the number of Town fans who make the journey will be only slightly less in number than the home attendances at some of our most embarrasing fixtures in our long period of under-investment and decline. | |
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| Ashton Gate this Wednesday on 11:12 - Oct 24 with 2574 views | BlueStreak |
| Ashton Gate this Wednesday on 19:21 - Oct 23 by _clive_baker_ |
Ellis Harrison was Gas as well. Peak banter era signing him for 3/4 million. |
Peak banter era? No way, doesn't even make the top 20. |  | | |
| Ashton Gate this Wednesday on 12:52 - Oct 24 with 2450 views | lizzibee |
| Ashton Gate this Wednesday on 18:59 - Oct 23 by Cheltenham_Blue |
But I thought you were all massive fans of 'The Office'? |
About 74 pages worth if I'm correct | | | |
| Ashton Gate this Wednesday on 13:12 - Oct 24 with 2395 views | Kievthegreat |
| Ashton Gate this Wednesday on 12:52 - Oct 24 by lizzibee |
About 74 pages worth if I'm correct |
76. Keep up! |  | | |
| Ashton Gate this Wednesday on 13:36 - Oct 24 with 2339 views | unstableblue |
| Ashton Gate this Wednesday on 10:45 - Oct 24 by monty_radio |
If we sound rather upbeat, then look down to the recent thread "ITFC players that define the banter era". We're primarily talking 2016 until the arrival of our American owners, Ashton and McKenna. Many younger fans have never seen us as anything worth watching until that time. Nearly all the named players in that "banter era" will be either unfamiliar to you, and should have remained unknown to us. Or they are names who you thought had retired before their time here - actually, we discovered that they had.
So, enjoy the game and marvel that the number of Town fans who make the journey will be only slightly less in number than the home attendances at some of our most embarrasing fixtures in our long period of under-investment and decline. |
To summarise the 'banter era' further: under our previous owner, Marcus Evans, we had shockingly bad club management and a paper thin strategy from 2007 to 2021. Dark times littered with dross.
Zero alignment through the club, appalling CEOs, and a real lack of a coherent strategy/plan. Our current/newish US directors (4 football savvy characters - including nephew of Galatasaray chairman, and people involved with the Phoenix soccer franchise) owners (pension fund), your favourite Mark Ashton as CEO, and chairman Mike O'Leary have shown us what a true objective aligned structure can look out like, with competence and ambition cascading down.
Perhaps parallels between the Evans era and Lansdown? where clearly Mark Ashton was not in the right structure.
The banter era had shocking managerial appointments such as Roy Keane, Paul Jewel and Paul Hurst. We had a brief rally under the divisive Mick McCarthy who had good managerial attributes that took us to a play-off semi-final, but he came from the Jurassic period and should have been a stop gap only, turning fans away in their droves for two seasons, with 'top bloke' trios of defensive midfielders, and with a 'I'll take an away point before travelling mentality'. Keane was just a summary of how clueless the owner Evans was - management by fear! completely outdated.
Loanees and characterless players traipsed in and out of the club - the complete antithesis of a current squad deeply involved in the community and loved by the fan base.
So whilst we wax lyrical about our current state, some dark times are very very recent. With away defeats at Charlton and Carlisle seemingly the bottom of a very dark pit, where we have now emerged blinking into the sunny uplands of the Championship. In short football fortunes can change very quickly - and the 3000 blues travelling a fair old distance tomorrow to a game they can get on-line/Sky very easily.. are going to savour every second of this positive period. [Post edited 24 Oct 2023 13:49]
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| Ashton Gate this Wednesday on 13:40 - Oct 24 with 2317 views | NthQldITFC |
| Ashton Gate this Wednesday on 20:38 - Oct 23 by StevieH |
Louie Donowa |
Another one with parents who couldn't think up an original middle name for him. |  |
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| Ashton Gate this Wednesday on 13:42 - Oct 24 with 2312 views | Churchman |
| Ashton Gate this Wednesday on 13:12 - Oct 24 by Kievthegreat |
76. Keep up! |
Yep, 76 pages. Its momentum seems to have stalled a bit. Maybe they’ve run out of hate or have other worries now.
One thing I did notice is that the main dispenser of ‘you need to know/just warning you’ on here a couple of years ago was somebody called Fevs. He posted an awful lot of unpleasantness in those 76 pages as DaveFevs. That name now posts quite a lot on Benjamin Bloom’s podcasts. If it’s the same dude, maybe he’s let go some some of the ITFC bile and dialled down his cursing of Satan Ashton a little. |  | | |
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