Bristol City - All You Need to Know in 5 Minutes
Posted On 24/12/2009 at at 16:31 by Alistair Kleebauer
Bristol City Team News
The most significant absentee for Bristol City could be on the bench, where manager Gary Johnson may miss out with a chest infection. Perhaps the temptation of staying home for some Christmas telly was just too enticing.
Two midfielders could also be snug in front of the box rather than travelling to Loftus Road. Marvin Elliott is far from certain after picking up a knee injury against Reading whilst Ivan Sproule will almost certainly not play after suffering a hamstring injury in the recent match against Doncaster.
Bristol City - A Potted History
Only the galactically stupid would dare to instigate a North-South debate of any kind, even less one that relates to football. A quick look at a list of English top-flight winners suggests that the North has the advantage in bucketfuls though. Of the top 13 clubs in terms of league wins, only two could be truly classed as coming from the South (Arsenal and Chelsea) with 9 clubs north of the Midlands.
All that is a very protracted way of saying that the south of England has been far from a footballing hotbed. Up to 1920, Bristol City were the only non-London club south of Birmingham in the Football League and they took advantage of that unique position to enjoy their most successful period. They achieved a historical high of second in Division One in 1906/7 and lost out to Man United in their solitary FA Cup Final appearance in 1909.
Far from repeating those successes though, after relegation in 1911, they didn't return to the top flight until 1976 under the stewardship of Alan Dicks - a thirteen-year manager of the club who was subjected to chants of 'Dicks Out' whilst managing Fulham in the early 90s. Once again, that promotion failed to usher in a golden age for the club which hit the rocks and almost went out of business in the early 80s (see below).
The closest City have come to the top flight since has been under current boss Gary Johnson who guided the club into the Championship during the 2006-7 season and then to within a whisker of the Premiership when they lost the 2008 play-off final to Hull City. Along with possibly 12 or 13 teams in this division, they will be hoping to go one better come May.
Highest Point
As the eighth largest city in England, it would seem appropriate that Bristol should have at least one club in the top-flight. For much of the last decade though, neither Bristol club could even grace the second tier of English football. City came far closer than their Rovers rivals though. With Danny Wilson as manager, they reached the 2003 League One play-off semi-finals only to lose out to another set of rivals, Cardiff City. The next year they went one better but were duly dumped out in the final by Brighton & Hove Albion. When Gary Johnson first took over the club in September 2005, they were actually far closer to dropping into the bottom tier.
Is it any surprise then that when he steered the club to an automatic promotion to the Championship less than two years later, there was such a public outpouring of emotion from the club's fans. A 3-1 win over Rotherham United on the final day of the 06-07 season guided City into the second tier for the first time in almost a decade. From there, the dream of going one further could begin.
Lowest Ebb
Relegation to the fourth division is pretty bad. If your club goes bust and eight of your best players have to accept redundancy to ensure its survival, then you know you're in quite a tough spot. As Churchill once said, "never was so much owed by so many to so few", though he may not have been referring to the Ashton Gate Eight as they became known. Following pressure from their board and despite some being on ten-year contracts, Julian Marshall, Chris Garland, Jimmy Mann, Peter Aitken, Geoff Merrick, David Rodgers, Gerry Sweeney and Trevor Tainton all tore up their contracts at the eleventh hour to save the club from extinction. They are pictured in happier times below:
The Grass Is Always Greener - Life as a Bristol City Supporter
Despite the upturn in their side's expectations in the last few years, City supporters are far from the most content bunch at the moment looking at the opinions proffered on one of their forums: Bristol City's Fans' Forum. Whilst admitting that the club has the best squad he has seen in 29 years, one member was particularly aggrieved at the 'boring, negative' football currently on view at Ashton Gate. Tactically, a lack of width and anyone to cross the ball was another common gripe. Whilst they class themselves as optimistic in general, it would seem that optimism is being tested right now.
Star Man
QPR know all about one of the most potent talents in the City squad. As they closed in on a fortunate draw at Ashton Gate in August, they were eventually undone by a roasting strike from Nicky Maynard, the club's record £2.25m signing from Crewe Alexandra in the summer of 2008. With his pace as a prime asset, the player quickly moved up from the youth set-up at Crewe and mustered a commendable 37 goals in 59 games.
In his first Bristol season, he struggled to find the net on a consistent basis but this time out, in a side which has been lacking in an attacking edge, his goals so far have kept the club on the fringes of the play-offs. Paul Hart looked to have shorn up some of the frailties in the QPR back-line last weekend, but there would be worse bets than backing Maynard to find the net on Boxing Day.
Team news on QPR and a commonly woeful prediction to come Saturday morning. In the meantime, Merry Christmas.
Posts
