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Bristol City F.C.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Bristol City | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Bristol City Football Club | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Nickname(s) | The Robins | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Founded | 1897 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ground | Ashton Gate, Bristol (Capacity 21,497) |
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| Chairman | Stephen Lansdown | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Manager |  Gary Johnson |
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| League | The Championship | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2006–07 | League One, 2nd (promoted) |
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Bristol City Football Club is one of two football league clubs in Bristol, England, (the other being rivals Bristol Rovers). They play at Ashton Gate, located in the south-western portion of the City. Gary Johnson has been the team's manager since 23 September 2005, succeeding Brian Tinnion. They were promoted to the Championship in the 2006-07 season after finishing second in League One.
Bristol City reached the 1909 F.A. Cup final where they lost to Manchester United, but they did win the Welsh Cup - despite being an English team - in 1934. In 1907 they finished runners-up in the old-league one, which is their highest-ever final position.
In 1982, Bristol City became the first English team to suffer three successive relegations and just before falling into the Fourth Division the original team went out of business. A new company and team - BCFC (1982) Ltd took their place, and by 1990 they were back in the Second Division. Another relegation followed in 1995, when City finished second from bottom in the new Second Division, and a return to that division three years later lasted just one season. Most of their seasons between 1999 and 2006 were spent challenging for promotion in the upper half of the division.
The club's nickname is "The Robins", and a robin featured on the club's badge from 1976 to 1994. Official club merchandise, including replica kits, still has a label showing a robin. A recent attempt by the club to alter the club's badge was abandoned after the club was criticized fiercely by fans.
Bristol City currently play at Ashton Gate stadium in the Ashton/Bedminster area of the city of Bristol, which has an all-seater capacity of 21,497. There have been plans, if the need arises, for expansion work to be carried out at their current ground. There have also been proposals to build a new stadium, the first option being a 36,000-seat stadium at Hengrove Park. In 2002, the local council was looking at possible sites for a new 40,000-seat stadium which would house both City and Rovers, but these plans were scrapped and it is widely accepted that this would not have been welcomed by the majority of supporters from both clubs. Ashton Gate's current capacity is a average size for Championship grounds, and it is still to be seen if the attendance figures in the Championship would require further expansion to the ground.
The club was founded in 1897, when Bristol South End F.C. turned professional and changed its name to Bristol City. In 1900 the club merged with local rivals Bedminster F.C., who had been founded as Southville in 1887. The side joined the Football League in 1901. They first entered Division 1 in 1906 as Second Division champions, and as newcomers became known as the "Bristol Babes", a nickname that would last into the thirties. They were runners-up in their first season in the top flight, and in 1909 reached the FA Cup final, where they were beaten by Manchester United at the Crystal Palace in London. But these achievements were not consistent, and in 1911 City were relegated back to the Second Division. They have not repeated the heights of the 1906-1909 era since, and did not even return to the top flight for 65 years.
The 1920s were a rocky time as City bounced between the Second Division and the Southern Section of the Third Division. By the 1930s they had slumped into the lower division, and stayed that way until the Second World War. Harry Dolman became chairman in 1949, a post he would hold for over 30 years. An engineer who had bought out the firm he worked for, he designed the first set of floodlights installed at Ashton Gate in the early 1950s. The late 1950s were a better time for City, with a five year stay in the Second Division, a league they returned to for a further spell in 1965.
In 1967 Alan Dicks was appointed manager, and things gradually began to improve. Promotion to the First Division was finally achieved in 1976, ending a 65-year exile from the top flight.
City's second stint in the top flight was less successful and memorable than the club's first, with 13th position in 1979 being their highest finish during this era. Stars of this era included Geoff Merrick, Tom Ritchie, Clive Whitehead, Gerry Gow, Trevor Tainton and Jimmy Mann.
City were relegated back to the Second Division in 1980, but this was only the beginning of their problems. Debts mounted and losses increased, with two successive relegations following. In 1982, City fell into the Fourth Division and went bankrupt. Luckily, a new company - BCFC (1982) plc - was set up to allow the club to continue playing. Their survival was confirmed when eight highly-paid senior players (the "Ashton Gate Eight") accepted redundancy. These players, who all agreed to half their contract if they left the club, were: Peter Aitken, Chris Garland, Jimmy Mann, Julian Marshall, Geoff Merrick, David Rodgers, Gerry Sweeney and Trevor Tainton.
City spent two seasons in the Fourth Division before winning promotion under Terry Cooper in 1984. They consolidated themselves in the Third Division during the later part of the 1980s, and in 1990 Cooper's successor Joe Jordan achieved promotion as Third Division runners-up. This was easily the most successful footballing year to date for the city of Bristol, as neighbours Bristol Rovers were also promoted to the Second Division as champions.
Jordan moved to Heart of Midlothian in September 1990, and his successor Jimmy Lumsden remained in charge for 18 months before making way for Denis Smith. Smith's first signing was the 20-year-old Arsenal striker Andy Cole, who was an instant hit with fans and quickly established himself as one of the finest goalscoring talents ever to wear a Bristol City shirt. But he was sold to Newcastle United in February 1993 and later established himself as a world class goalscorer, most prominently with Manchester United, where he collected five Premier League titles, two FA Cups and the European Cup.
Meanwhile, City remained in the new Division One (no longer the Second Division after the creation of the Premier League in 1992) and Smith moved to Oxford United in November 1993. His successor Russell Osman was sacked within a year, being a very unpopular figure with fans. One of Osman's few successful moments with City came in January 1994 when he led them to a shock 1-0 victory over Liverpool in the third round of the FA Cup.
Joe Jordan was brought back to Ashton Gate in September 1994, but was unable to prevent relegation to Division Two.
Jordan remained at the helm for two seasons after City's relegation, but left in June 1997 after failing to get them back into Division One. Former Bristol Rovers manager John Ward took over, and achieved promotion in 1998 as Division Two runners-up. But City struggled back in Division One, and Ward stepped down in October 1998 to be succeeded by Benny Lennartsson. City were relegated in bottom place and Lennartsson was dismissed in favour of Gillingham's Tony Pulis, who lasted six months before being dismissed as manager of perhaps the worst City side since the one that completed a hat-trick of successive relegations almost 20 years earlier. Coach Tony Fawthrop took over until the end of the season, when Danny Wilson was appointed. Wilson was arguably the most prominent manager to take charge of a City side since Denis Smith, as he had guided Barnsley to promotion to the Premier League in 1997 and Sheffield Wednesday to a 12th place finish in 1999.
City were regular Division Two playoff contestants during Wilson's spell as manager. City tasted the agony of failing to reach them in 2002, although he paid back his debt by almost making automatic promotion, and winning the LDV Vans trophy in Cardiff in 2003. The taste of the play-offs was bitter though, losing to rivals Cardiff City 1-0 on aggregate in the semi-final. In his final year - 2004 - they reached the final, but lost to Brighton and Hove Albion. He was sacked within days and replaced by veteran player Brian Tinnion.
City failed to make the playoffs in Tinnion's first season as manager, and he stepped down in September 2005 after a 7-1 defeat at the hands of Swansea City. This rounded off a dismal start to the season in which City's form had slumped even further despite the addition of high profile players including Marcus Stewart and Michael Bridges. Yeovil manager Gary Johnson was recruited as his successor.
Johnson arrived in September of 2005. His first game in charge (only hours after meeting the squad) saw City win away at Brentford 2-3. After a short spell of decent results, City were plunged into the relegation mire, enduring a club record of nine successive defeats, leaving them at the foot of League One. The run was brought to an end with a 2-0 victory at home to Huddersfield on 10 December. City then lost just three of their next 16 games, and this fine run of form was capped with a 6-0 win over Gillingham, in which defender Louis Carey scored a brace. This was City's largest league win since late 1969, and was an encouraging sign of things to come, although they didn't quite make playoffs in 2006.
Despite a slow start to the following season, which saw a vocal minority of fans calling for Johnson to be sacked (their anger no doubted fuelled by the sale of David Cotterill to Wigan), City were in the top six of League One by November and at the end of the month began an 11-match unbeaten run which drove them to the top of the division. They also hit the headlines with an impressive FA Cup run, being knocked out in the 4th round on penalties after a replay in which they held Premiership side Middlesbrough to a 2-2 draw in both ties. They knocked out Championship side Coventry City in the 3rd round. They also reached the Southern Area Final of the Johnstone's Paint Trophy, but were knocked out over two legs by local rivals Bristol Rovers after a 0-0 draw at Ashton Gate and a Rickie Lambert goal to kill the Robins in the 2nd leg.
Promotion to the Championship was confirmed on the final day of the season with a 3-1 win over doomed Rotherham. David Noble scored two goals and Alex Russell scored once, securing runners-up place in the division and resulting in automatic promotion and joyous scenes of celebration in the city and even more so on the pitch at the full time whistle. 2007-08 is the first season in almost a decade that has seen Bristol City playing at this level of English football.
In the summer between City's promotion and the start of the Championship season, Gary Johnson made a number of signings. This included the capture of Swansea City's star player, Lee Trundle for a reported fee of £1 million. In addition, pacy winger Ivan Sproule was bought from Hibs, Marvin Elliott signed on a Bosman ruling after leaving Millwall, Darren Byfield signed, also from Millwall and Stephen Henderson arrived from Aston Villa. Michael McIndoe was also bought from Wolves, reuniting him with his former boss at Yeovil, Gary Johnson.
City had a good start to the season, briefly topping the table after their 4th game (a 0-1 win at Sheffield Wednesday) and again later after beating Championship leaders Coventry City 3-0 at Coventry's Ricoh Arena. They were narrowly beaten by Sven Goran Eriksson's resurgent Manchester City in the League Cup.
On 6 September 2007 Gary Johnson and assistant Keith Millen signed new contracts, keeping them at the club until 2010.
Since then, City have gone from strength to strength, winning against recent Premiership clubs, Sheffield United, Norwich City and Southampton and also defeating a Stoke City side managed by former City boss Tony Pulis, reaching the dizzying heights of 2nd place and starting talk of a second successive promotion that would take them to the Premier League. A run of poor form began in November with just 2 points from a possible 15, including a 6-0 thrashing away to Ipswich Town. A poor November was followed by a good start to December. A dramatic 94th minute winner by Darren Byfield got city a first win in 5 away to table toppers Watford, televised live on Sky Sports. Revange came against Ipswich Town 4 days later as City beat them 2-0 at home, and gave them a huge boost in the table once again. A draw away to West Country rivals Plymouth Argyle followed, leaving them 5th in the table and unbeaten in December. City then beat fierce rivals Cardiff City 1-0 at Ashton Gate. Cardiff went down to 10 men after a quarter of an hour due to a despicable lunge on Adriano Basso by Steven Thompson.
The team played in the FA Cup final, losing 1 - 0 to Manchester United at Crystal Palace, London, on April 26, 1909, and won the Welsh Cup in 1934, defeating Tranmere Rovers 3 - 0.
Their highest finishing position in the League was in the 1906-07 season when the team were runners-up to Newcastle in Division 1.
Minor honours include: Second Division champions 1905-06; Third Division South champions three times; Associate Members' Cup winners 1985-86 (as Freight Rover Trophy); Football League Trophy ; Winners 2002-03 (as LDV Vans Trophy); Anglo-Scottish Cup winners 1977-78.
The 2007/2008 season's kit, made by Puma (in the 2nd of a 4 year deal) has matching home and away strips. The away shirt this season is quite similar to last year's very popular black third kit. The shirts retain the same sponsors as last year's (Bristol Trade Centre and Blackthorn). The socks on the home kits have changed from white to red, with white trim. There is no third kit this year.
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| Position | Name | Nationality |
|---|---|---|
| Manager: | Gary Johnson | English |
| Assistant Manager: | Keith Millen | English |
| Development Coach: | Alan Walsh | English |
| Goalkeeping Coach: | Stuart Naylor | English |
| Chief Scout: | Pete Johnson | English |
| Fitness/Conditioning Coach: | Glen Schmidt | English |
| First Team Physio: | Nick Dawes | English |
| Academy Director: | John Clayton | English |
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| Name | Club | Sold For |
|---|---|---|
 David Cotterill |
Wigan Athletic F.C. | £2,000,000 |
| Scott Golbourne |
Reading F.C. | Undisclosed |
| Leroy Lita |
Reading F.C. | £1,000,000 |
| Liam Rosenior |
Reading F.C. | Tribunal |
| Name | Period |
|---|---|
| Sam Hollis |
1897-1899 |
| Robert Campbell |
1899-1901 |
| Sam Hollis |
1901-1905 |
| Harry Thickett |
1905-1910 |
| Sam Hollis |
1911-1913 |
| George Hedley |
1913-1917 |
| Jack Hamilton |
1917-1919 |
| Joe Palmer |
1919-1921 |
 Alex Raisbeck |
1921-1929 |
| Joe Bradshaw |
1929-1932 |
| Bob Hewison |
1932-1949 |
| Bob Wright |
1949-1950 |
| Pat Beasley |
1950-1958 |
 Peter Doherty |
1958-1960 |
| Fred Ford |
1960-1967 |
| Alan Dicks |
1967-1980 |
| Bobby Houghton |
1980-1982 |
| Roy Hodgson |
1982 |
| Terry Cooper |
1982-1988 |
| Joe Jordan |
1988-1990 |
| Jimmy Lumsden |
1990-1992 |
| Denis Smith |
1992-1993 |
| Russell Osman |
1993-1994 |
| Joe Jordan |
1994-1997 |
| John Ward |
1997-1998 |
 Benny Lennartsson |
1998-1999 |
| Tony Pulis |
1999 |
| Tony Fawthrop & David Burnside |
2000 |
| Danny Wilson |
2000-2004 |
| Brian Tinnion |
2004-2005 |
| Gary Johnson |
2005-present |
Bristol City play at Ashton Gate in the south-west of Bristol, just south of the River Avon. The ground has an all-seated capacity of about 21,500, with an effective capacity (depending on how many away tickets are allocated, and how they are segregated) of around 19,100. It was the home of Bedminster F.C. until the 1900 merger, and the merged team played some games there the following season, but it did not become the permanent home of Bristol City until 1904.
The East End at the south-east end of the ground is the traditional home fans' end. However, since 1994 it has controversially housed visiting fans. During the late 1990s, it was named the Database Computers stand and then Blackthorn Wedlock stand. It has since acquired a new name, the Micra Wedlock Stand.
The Williams Stand,. on the south-west side, which includes the directors' box and press box, was built in 1958. The Williams stand also contains the premier seating.
The Dolman Stand, which lies opposite The Williams Stand, was built in 1970. The stand previously contained a lot of wooden seats which were removed at the start of the 2007/08 season and replaced with more modern plastic seating.
The most recent addition to the stadium is the Blackthorn Atyeo Stand at the north-west end, which was built in 1994 to replace an open terrace, and contains new dressing rooms and a large gymnasium. The Atyeo has in recent years become a stand which seems to cater for a more family orientated supporter.
Ashton Gate has also played host to many big music concerts in recent years. They have had such stars as Rod Stewart, Bryan Adams, Elton John, Neil Diamond, The Who, Ronan Keating and Meat Loaf.
On 29 November 2007 it was announced that after over 100 years at Ashton Gate, Bristol City would be moving to a new stadium in South Bristol. [1]This brand new state of the art stadium will have a capacity of 30,000 seats and possibly extend to 40,000 if England win the bid for the 2018 world cup.
Famous fans of Bristol City include:
- John Cleese - Comedian who has starred in Monty Python and Fawlty Towers.
- Justin Lee Collins - Comedian.
- Scott Davidson - ex-Chairman of Bristol City and ex-keyboard player with Bros and Pet Shop Boys.
- Tony Robinson - Actor who has starred in Blackadder and presenter of Time Team.
- Mark Dudbridge - Professional darts player.
- Ian King - Financial Journalist for The Sun Newspaper
- Dominic Mohan - Deputy Editor The Sun Newspaper
- 3D (AKA Robert Del Naja) - Member of Bristolian band Massive Attack.
- Jonathan Pearce - Football Commentator.
- Richard Scudamore - Chief Executive of the F.A. Premier League
- Marcus Trescothick - Somerset and England cricketer.
- The Wurzels - Somerset-based band.
- Gareth Chilcott - Former Bath and England Rugby Union player.
- Mark Watson - Welsh Comedian
- Tim Lovejoy - announced himself as a bit of a Bristol City fan after watching their skillful highlights and unusual incidents (including Bas Savage's "dive" and Lee Trundle's showboating).
- Record League victory — 9-0 v. Aldershot F.C. (December 28, 1946)
- Record FA Cup victory — 11-0 v. Chichester City (November 5, 1960)
- Record League defeat — 0-9 v. Coventry City F.C. (April 28, 1934)
- Highest attendance — 43,335 v. Preston North End (February 16, 1935)
- Most League appearances — 597, John Atyeo 1951-66
- Most League goals scored — 314, John Atyeo 1951-66
- Most goals scored in a season — 36, Don Clark 1946-47
- Record transfer fee paid — £1.2 million to Gillingham F.C. for Ade Akinbiyi, May 1998
- Record transfer fee received — £3.5 million from Wolverhampton Wanderers for Ade Akinbiyi, July 1999 (plus subsequent revenue from a sell-on clause realised by his move from Wolves to Leicester)
- Record sequence of League wins — 14; September 9, 1905 - December 2, 1905 - This is a joint league record.
- The BBC comedy show Only Fools and Horses features a block of flats called Nelson Mandela House. These are intended to be in Peckham, South East London, but the flats used for filming are in fact right next to Ashton Gate, Bristol City's ground.[2]
- The club's mascot is Scrumpy the Robin who has been the club's mascot since 2005.
- The club's official anthem is One For The Bristol City by The Wurzels. First released in 1976, it is the tune the team run out to at home matches. A newly-recorded version of the song reached number 66 in the UK charts in September 2007.
Woods, David M. (1994). The Bristol Babe: The First 100 Years of Bristol City F.C.. Harefield, Middlesex: Yore Publications. ISBN 187442795X.
- Official website (requires registration)
- Skysports.com - Bristol City
- football365.com - Bristol City
- TEAMtalk.com - Bristol City
- sportinglife.com - Bristol City
- Fans' forum
- Bristol City Supporters Trust
| Preceded by Wigan Athletic |
Football League Trophy Winners 1985-86 |
Succeeded by Mansfield Town |
| Preceded by Blackpool |
Football League Trophy Winners 2002-03 |
Succeeded by Blackpool |