Badger

Passing it around at the back drives me up the wall, even when in a more convincing and supposedly comfortable lead. We saw the inevitable consequences of this at home v Plymouth, and again last night. But it remains key in the RM mantra.

edited - double post

I had a feeling of this at West Brom on Friday on a few occasions. Despite the result and great win, there were moments I feared we were relapsing. On several occasions it appeared KWP was involved too far up the pitch, and they broke down the left with a man over. Reminded me of Sunderland and Leicester games at times, just that WBA weren’t up to exploiting it.

Jankewitz was less than a minute into his career at top level, Holgate has been around a lot longer.

Steve had two bothers, one of them also called Steve ??

Definitely a shame, was a good poster.

Aribo looks useful, but don’t think he offers the tackling in MF that Romeu did. Not that we want the thread to be about their respective tackle of course.

The biggest criticism of him last season seemed to centre around his approach which looked all too casual when he came on. He appeared to saunter around without any urgency when we needed it. Perhaps he was as pissed off as anyone with the managerial changes. That looks to have changed, and he looked quite motivated on Friday and before his departure for African Cup.

I didn’t think he could get near the opposition at Sunderland when I first saw him, so he must be improving.

Certainly one of the better ones. very fair, and complimentary about us.

Friday was the best support at an away game for some time, perhaps being a Friday everyone was up for it, as opposed to Ashton Gate which felt like a midweek chore for some. Agree that Football in a Library is tedious, and you can add the 'you're e a shit Wolverhampton/Bristol Rovers' to that as well.

Credit to those who started that. Thought it was a shame we might have lost that from the songbook.

Good interview and interesting read.

Would be quite happy with that. Wonder if they'd take Ross Stewart back in part exchange. Few big 'ifs' there though.

Its part of the folklore and etched in the psyche. At least there's a bit more history and substance to it than a mythical dock strike the blue few cling to.

I understand the question you raise re Willcox, although as a minimum I think it's accepted that things have been more positive with him at the helm. Second time on this thread though that you've raised the name Enzo, whether he was or wasn't our first choice we'll never really know, but personally I'm not sure we've missed out or things would have been different had he come here. The fact his team are top of the league probably has more to do with a better squad he inherited at Leicester to begin with, and them not wasting money on a crocked CF. There were mumblings of discontent among Leicester fans a few weeks ago with his style of play.

You've obviously been conditioned by one of our earlier Maestro's and are now in full "Les is relaxed mode"...

Not sure what you’re referring to here. Rovers played in Bath for a few years, but are now back in Bristol (have been for a few seasons).

or realism of being a Saints fan for many years.

Always expect the unexpected. But should we lose, we just draw a blue line under it.

I suspect opponents might see describing it as plain sailing as arrogant. Saints fans certainly regarded comments from Man Utd fans and the like of Sir Bobby Charlton in 1976 saying they’d win 6-0 as arrogant and dismissive at the time.

The post above might give fuel to their view of us. A lot depends on individual supporters you’ve worked with and met. Most Spurs fans I’ve met have been gobby fuckers so that’s the lasting impression. Probably unfair and in truth it’s only about 97% of them who are like that.

More ramblings from an old cunt: I remember winning there 1-0 in 1979. Friday night fixture days before Christmas. It was real brass monkey weather. Suspect the ground will be a bit more crowded tomorrow.

Probably too late for you but here's a few random recollections , as living up in Glos this is a fixture that I've kept a bit of a watch on over the last 50 odd years, but the matches have been quite infrequent. Before I started going, Mick Channon made his debut at The Dell against Bristol City, on Easter Monday 1966, and scored. Remarkable thing in those days was the arranging of fixtures so that we'd played you and lost at Ashton Gate on Good Friday. Unusually no fixture on the Saturday in between. (Listen to Klopp and Wenger bleat about fixture congestion... ). The first match I saw between Bristol City and Saints was Ashton Gate in September 1974. We'd just been relegated but were expected to bounce back with Channon and Osgood leading the charge. we made a poor start, but the week before playing City we beat Pompey 2-1 at The Dell (pretty ill tempered match on and off the pitch). Hoped we'd turned the corner, and in midweek I think we won at Glasgow Rangers in the Texaco Cup. All looking positive but Saints did what they've done many times and get your hopes up only to let them down again. We lost 2-0 at Ashton Gate, my first visit there. I think (and it would be good if one of your Statto's could confirm this) Geoff Merrick scored for you, (or his shot was deflected in and it was an OG). I think him scoring was a bit of a collectors item, from what some City fans around us said (no segregation in those days). If he didn't score he certainly celebrated in front of us (remember the typical 1970's perm and moustache... ). That and the Dolman Stand opposite were the two lasting recollections of the game (I think the Dolman was one of the first cantilever stands, not sure if Bristol City or Swindon were first). Bristol City were putting a decent team together at the time under Alan Dicks. After City's promotion I remember seeing a feature in the press, all 22 First Division managers asked questions on hopes for season, players to watch, who they expected to win the league type of bollocks. Final question was which manager they most admired and why. Most trotted out the usual suspects, Sir Alf, Revie, Shankly, Busby. Alan Dicks response was Ted Bates at Southampton for doing a fantastic job building a club on limited resources. Much respect for Mr Dicks thereafter from me.

Paul Tisdale also.