Brunel City v Town
In the shade of Ashton Gate's Shiny New Stands
A short hop, skip and a jump from the Clifton Suspension Bridge
(I said from, not off)
Wednesday 31/Aug/2022
Kick-off 19:45



Pre-mumble

Town travel down the M1, M42 and M5 (unless our travel partner pays for a flight) to Isambard Kingdom Brunel's land of suspension bridges, railways and early steam driven paddle ships, looking to extend our unbeaten run to er, two games and maybe even crawl out of the bottom 3. We're only 8 points behind Reading after all, with a game in hand to boot that will now be rearranged to a point in the season where Coventry will likely run into some form, or at least better form than they have at the moment.

Hold on - here's a train announcement, they must be running again.



Hope you caught that. 

More from Network Rail on the bloke that built the railways down there.

https://www.networkrail.co.uk/who-we-are/our-history/eminent-engineers/isambard-kingdom-brunel-1806-1859/

On the tellybox

Not showing anywhere (legally) at the moment other than iPlayer - just saying.

Pies, Pees and Pints

Directions, where to sup, all the important stuff - all in here thanks to the boys and girls at The Football Ground Guide

If that's too confusing, you could try the official website stuff, including the what3words stuff, if that turns your crank!!

https://www.ashtongatestadium.co.uk/getting-here/



Er, quite. Glad that's all clear 

what3words do we use to find our turnstiles     


Latest news

There was a conversation I heard on Radio Local on Saturday on my way to the match that someone was a bit previous with the website update button over the weekend and a video of Tyreece Simpson in Town gear was accidentally released. Still not officially announced. Read all abart it here. The twitter capture of the video may or may not work, it does on my laptop but other devices may not be so decisive, or maybe divisive.

Hope we don't have to "Empty chair" him too. We've got previous. 

https://www.twtd.co.uk/ipswich-town-news/43226/simpson-huddersfield-switch-imminent

By the way what is it with Radio Local these days? I can listen on my little DAB radio all the way to the ground but as soon as I get close to a turnstile, "Nothing, Bugger all, Nada." I can listen to Sadfud City if I want though on the frequency I used to use.
Sort it out please BBC if you're taking any notice (I won't hold my breath).

There's also rumours of a kid coming in on loan from the Blue Mancs - Luke Mbete, a central defender?

Since originally writing this, Tom Lees has extended his contract to 2025

Out Injured/Suspended/Isolating

Kasumu and Pearson maybe belong in the group below, but I'll move them there when there's a chance of putting their boots on in anger.

Back training but not oven ready/Back in the frame

Hoggy picked up an injury late last week in training, his destructive influence in midfield was missed, hopefully he'll be back. Pat jones went down with an illness on Friday, might be back for bench warming duties, Tom Lees is available after his 1 match suspension. Not sure how long it will take us to get Tino fit enough to last 90 minutes, but if he keeps scoring now he's started, I'll make do with an hour or so.

Last time out

We snatched a draw from the jaws of a win v WBA and just maybe a defeat if that late penalty decision had gone the other way.
Then again, had Ruffels' shot not had quite as much bend on it, it might have gone inside the post for a late winner too.



Brizzle meanwhile, spent their Bank Holiday weekend giving it large on Blackpool Prom and similarly snatched a draw from the jaws of a win, with Blackpool equalising in added time at the end of the game.
I take it they didn't get stuck in the traffic. So one stick of rock each all round from all that.



How the rest got on



Only 3 teams won at home, but on the other hand, none of the Yorkshire clubs lost. It won't last (for long).

Musical Interlude

Portishead released this as a tribute to one of our local MP's, Jo Cox



A haunting version of an ABBA song if ever there was one.

Bananarama was formed in London in the 1980s, but two of its members – Keren Woodward and Sara Dallin – went to Bristol’s St. George’s School for Girls together and have been friends since the age of four. During their career they have earned 10 UK Top 10 hits. The pair are still together, plugging some new material or a tour (or both) on the radio last week - I must pay more attention.



Finally, nothing to do with Brizzle but all about building the railways - well anything to skweeze in a bit of Genesis no matter how tenuous. 



The Sack Race

Announced this morning (30th August)

After a very public outburst on BBC's Match of the Day (and not the first outburst of the summer apparently) criticising the recruitment policy at Bornmuff (of all places?!?) after being battered 9-0 by the Red Scouse, Boiler Repair Man, aka Scott Parker has won the Prima Donna League race to be first out of the door.



Boiler Repair Man
Now free to update his Gas Safe Certificates so he can do a few jobs on the side for cash.
His white van is park(er)ed on double yellows by the revolving doors, with an "On Call, Emergency" sticker on the windscreen, just in case. Del-Boy and Rodders left a few spare for the local tradesmen after filming "Only Fools and Horses" in Brizzle. Where else did you think that block of flats (Nelson Mandela House) supposedly in Peckham actually was?



He was however well beaten to the League of 92 finish line by Rochdale, who pushed Robbie Stockdale out of the revolving doors on 18th August, closely followed by Michael O'Neill, as covered previously on other threads, on the 25th.

Alex Neil, leaving Sunderland for Stoke as a result is seemingly just waiting for the ink to dry on the contracts. He was sat in the stand as Stoke won at Blackburn last weekend.

Tables, Form & all that stuff that means nowt at this time of the season - unless it gets you the sack

Brizzle are currently 9th on 8 points, 4 points and most of the rest of the table above Town. They'll be looking to extend their 4 game unbeaten run after losing the first two of the season.
OK, who put £100 on Rotherham being the only team to be unbeaten so far - no me neither. I wouldn't have (didn't) put £1 on it to be honest.



Innies and Outies

Brizzle owner, billionaire Stephen Lansdown, has spent nowt, received nowt and has royally reined in his spending in recent seasons as previous expensive signings continued to underperform compared to the levels expected. After being another club that played fast and loose with FFP, under FFP rules Brizzle have to sell someone for a significant fee in order to buy, so if anyone else comes in, expect another loan.

See the Pressers section from more on this.

Former Town loanee Kasey Palmer has turned up in Coventry.



Who's banging 'em in

Part of the Brizzle inconsistency (and bottom half-finishes) in recent seasons has been a lack of goals, another part being a leaky defence.



Their shy, retiring manager Nigel Pearson, yes that quiet lad formerly of Wendies and Leicester fame , has somewhat fixed things up front, they've score 11 so far which is the highest "goals for" at the moment alongside Burnley. Only Sheff U, Hull and WBA have also reached double figures so far. That said, Brizzle have also leaked 9 at the back, so not much change there then. Former Town player Nahki Wells is still playing down in this corner of the EFL.



The quiet lad - I'm sure his mum loves him - occasionally thinks he's a great wit, while mostly he's thought of as a grey twit.



Not to be confused with the other one that covered noisy stuff like Speedway and Darts on the tellybox with some really great wit and repartee (RIP).

They can't all lose

Take your pick as to whose going to beat who from this lot - everything is as predictable as usual at this stage of the season.



We've played 'em before

Our matches are usually full of goals, no reason to expect any different this time around either.
That said, if you want to bet away your next energy company payment/direct debit, some bookies are offering 10/1 for a 0-0 draw. Town aren't far behind for a win tbh.

We're about a neck in front on the Head2Head results.



Next up?

We have an 85th birthday celebration in our family next Saturday afternoon, so the club have very kindly moved the home fixture against Blackpool to Sunday so I can do both. Nowt to do with The Giants playing on Friday and the ground staff needing an extra day to swap the posts round, level the divots and repaint the lines at all, that's all just paper talk. You read it here first

Pressers

Danny's decisions

From the Town website

https://www.htafc.com/news/2022/august/schofield-previews-bristol-city/

Jack Rudoni on Radio Local

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0cx5mk8

The views from The Clifton Suspension Bridge

From the Brizzle website

https://www.bcfc.co.uk/news/press-conference-nigel-pearson-looks-ahead-to-terriers-clash/

The quiet lad's transfer thoughts in the local paper

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/sport/football/nigel-pearson-bristol-city-transfer-7522272

Kwik Kwiz

1. Who's ground, geographically speaking is further west, Carlisle Utd's or Bristol City's?
10. See Q's 1-9.

Told you it was quick.