Spoonz Red E
Very well known Exeweb poster
A sobering stat from further down the thread:
"Bristol City have lost £412,000 a week every week for the last ten years from day to day trading."
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Gary's January Transfer Window
- Thread starter SaintJames
- Start date
"Bristol City have lost £412,000 a week every week for the last ten years from day to day trading."
Bridgy 81
Active member
I mean the suburbs/areas west and south of central Bristol so for example like Bedminster, Hartcliffe and Knowle would be Bristol City then south and west of Bristol e.g. Nailsea, Clevedon, WsM and then moving down into Somerset would be similar.
On the other hand Rovers support traditionally would come from areas of Bristol north and east of the centre e.g. Easton, Fishponds going north through Patchway to Thornbury and beyond and east of Bristol up to and to a certain extent including Bath (which is I think in part why Rovers relocated to Twerton Park for a while when they were homeless).
Happy for others based in Bristol to disagree but this is my take having lived in Somerset for almost 60 years.
arthur
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Yes, I agree with all of this, but the areas you mention are all in South Bristol or North Somerset. I still maintain there is no such place as "west Bristol".
Rovers were a run of the mill third divison club when they were at Eastville. Since they sold that they have struggled to establish themselves as a remotely credible alternative to Bristol City - as Max says, only the diehards go to Rovers. You only have to look at the comparative size of the crowds compared to their catchment areas - South/ South West of Bristol for City, the whole of the rest of Bristol for Rovers....
Moral - don't sell your ground unless you have a well thought out, financially viable alternative. Oxford and the old Wimbledon are examples and we nearly were.
Grecian Max
Very well known Exeweb poster
Yep, part of my point
Grecian Max
Very well known Exeweb poster
Yeah you’re correct. Who knows what the gentrification of South Bristol will end up doing to the support, although that only spreads so far into Bedminster at the moment.
Bristol City have positioned themselves as the lead representative in recent years whilst Rovers have a floundered a bit in that sense. Much more old school. I wasn’t/am not a fan of Bristol City’s rebrand, however it does seem to have coincided with a more concerted push to get people down to Ashton Gate.
Moving and purchasing the rugby club means Bristol Sport is the whole contained offering - both teams marketed using the same agencies for consistency. The idea being that for that middle class sport lover - ever on the increase in Bristol - has access to that every weekend. Given the changing demographics and influx of Londoners it’s arguably a smart move, but possibly at the expense of a bit of soul around the club and ground.
Meanwhile every time I go up to The Mem, my mate usually only has a new tent on a terrace to point out. The difference is huge.
Grecian Max
Very well known Exeweb poster
Personally I’d class Westbury, Shirehampton (having lived there) and Avonmouth as West Bristol. All Bristol postcodes still. Difficult to tell but it *seemed* more Rovers from the few times I saw any evidence (flags, car stickers etc)
Ummm Tim Dieng confirmed as going to Gillingham...
Not sure about this one myself!
Not sure about this one myself!
Willow & Stumpy
Member
Going to have to trust my sources more...You love to see it.
FWIW Tim Dieng to Gillingham is the next one on the rumour mill. I am not sure if I believe it, but it makes sense in terms of Gililngham splashing their new-found cash and Dieng seeming to be down the pecking order a bit...
Grecian in Guzz
Well-known Exeweb poster
Maybe we need to retitle thread as GC Clearance Window - how thin a squad will we have ?
Red Bill
Active member
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Rovers fans can be a bit delusional. Yes they had a few seasons in the championship, although ironically at a time when they didn't even have their own ground and were playing at Twerton Park, definitely not a ground to inspire delusions of grandeur. Their new stadium saga has been dragging on for years and predates the current owner by several years. However they do have huge potential were there new ground to be sorted out and rise up a division.
What a lot of visitors and people who move to Bristol don't realise, is that Bristol is a very working class city, with huge working class areas, many of them in the North and East of the city, which is tradionally the Rovers heartland. Having spent a few years working as a support worker in those areas, I noticed that the vast majority were Rovers fans. Even in areas like Knowle and Hartcliff that you geographically would expect to be City supporters, there are still a significant number if gasheads. Plus from their 10(?) Years playing in Bath, Rovers have big following in that City, which is 3/4 the size of Exeter. When they dropped to the conference, they were getting 10000 crowds and those fans seem to have stuck with them. From my experience of living and working in and around Bristol for the last 14 years, I would say that were they to get their new stadium and move up a league, they have the potential to draw in a fan base that may well out do their rivals across the city.
However, right now, the reality is that despite a short stay in the championship a few years ago, they are a small club playing in a ground they stole from Bristol Rugby (if you believe their fans) who have spent pretty much their entire existence in the bottom 2 leagues of the FL who have achieved the square root of sod all.
I'd be surprised if Archie would see this as anything other than a sideways move, and one in which he'd under play under a manager who is a racist, misogynistic, fascist little ***t!
What a lot of visitors and people who move to Bristol don't realise, is that Bristol is a very working class city, with huge working class areas, many of them in the North and East of the city, which is tradionally the Rovers heartland. Having spent a few years working as a support worker in those areas, I noticed that the vast majority were Rovers fans. Even in areas like Knowle and Hartcliff that you geographically would expect to be City supporters, there are still a significant number if gasheads. Plus from their 10(?) Years playing in Bath, Rovers have big following in that City, which is 3/4 the size of Exeter. When they dropped to the conference, they were getting 10000 crowds and those fans seem to have stuck with them. From my experience of living and working in and around Bristol for the last 14 years, I would say that were they to get their new stadium and move up a league, they have the potential to draw in a fan base that may well out do their rivals across the city.
However, right now, the reality is that despite a short stay in the championship a few years ago, they are a small club playing in a ground they stole from Bristol Rugby (if you believe their fans) who have spent pretty much their entire existence in the bottom 2 leagues of the FL who have achieved the square root of sod all.
I'd be surprised if Archie would see this as anything other than a sideways move, and one in which he'd under play under a manager who is a racist, misogynistic, fascist little ***t!