CITY FROM THE BLUE HALF

As a boy I lived in South Bristol, Southville to be precise. An area which we all know is of a large City following. But I chose to follow in my dads and two older brothers footsteps and support the boys in blue and white. I never really gave Ashton Gate a try, to be honest I probably would not have been permitted to by my two older brothers! But from an early age the old Eastville ground was where I would spend most my Saturdays cheering on the likes of Paul Randall and Steve White.

It was a decision that did not go down too well with some of my school friends and I always felt a little left out wearing my blue and white quarters, while everybody else wore their Bristol City shirts in the playground of Southville School. Although I must admit I always enjoyed the banter between myself and my City fan friends.

Well some years on I found myself working at Bristol City, yes Bristol City under the management of Joe Jordan and I must say it was not a happy camp. However it was a completely different story under John Ward, Everyone from the tea lady up seemed to be involved. It was a real happy workplace and everyone wanted to be part of it. That did not seem to be the case under Brian Tinnion, he did not seem to have the respect of the players and slowly but surely he seemed to dispose of all the Bristol based players, like Tommy Doherty. Now in my eyes you could really do with Tommy now, I may be wrong?

Under the management of Johnson you seem to be on the right track, Murray seems back to his best and as if he wants to play again as well as the rest of the team. In my eyes you are two or three players away from a team that can challenge for promotion. Steve Brooker is a great player with some one half decent along side him they could be a real force in this division. City have now shook off the threat of relegation and your record under Johnson is good, who knows what would have happened if Johnson would have come in sooner??

Well I hope the Gas can get into the play offs this year because I really do miss those Derbys and under Johnson, Trollope and Lenny the future seems to be bright for Bristol football.

Thanks Phil for an excellent article. More on City from the Gas Man next month.