[Lord Snooty]

Bristol City v Huddersfield Town
The Sky Bet Championship
Saturday December 18th - 15:00 ko
at Ashton Gate

Huddersfield Town travel to Bristol to the Ashton Gate Stadium on Saturday afternoon for a must win game. Will head coach Carlos Corberán make many changes to the team that were unlucky to drop a couple of points to a late Coventry equaliser on Saturday? Will Jordan Rhodes get a game? Will Danny Grant make his long awaited debut after almost a year at the club? Will we have an exciting football feast for the Town fans making the long trip down south to a ground where we have been properly thrashed in the last few seasons?

Bristol City manager, Nigel Pearson has been complaining about the lack of goal scorers in his squad, with two players Andreas Weimann and Chris Martin scoring more than half of their league goals between them. Yet he keeps leaving proven goal scorer and Town legend, Nahki Wells on the bench. Well, surely a visit from Huddersfield Town will be the tonic they need. 

Tickets:

Adults - £28
Seniors (65+) - £25
Under-25s - £25
Under-22s - £21
Under-19s - £15
Under-12s - £10

Please note this is an ALL TICKET game, so please ensure you purchase tickets in advance. There will be NO pay on the day sales
Tickets will remain on sale until 3pm on Thursday 16 December 2021.

It is now a legal requirement for all supporters aged 18 and over to show proof of their Covid Certification status prior to being granted access to Ashton Gate on a matchday. As outlined by the Government any venue that has an attendance of more than 10,000 people is subject to the new rules.

A brief history of Bristol City: formed in 1894 as Bristol South End, they changed to City three years later when they turned professional. They joined the Football League in 1901, one of only a handful of southern clubs in a northern dominated competition. They won the 2nd Division Championship in 1906 and followed that by finishing as runners up to Newcastle Utd in their first season in the top flight. And they have never matched those heights since.

They did reach the FA Cup Final for their one and only time in 1909, but lost 0-1 to Manchester United at Crystal Palace. But then in 1911, after five years in the top flight, they were relegated back to Division Two and it would be another 65 years before they made it back.

They almost made it to the Cup Final again in 1920 and having been drawn against another 2nd division side in the semi finals, they must've fancied their chances. But they were beaten by the mighty Huddersfield Town, 2-1 at Stamford Bridge.

City didn't kick on from there and despite just missing out on promotion in 1920/21, they were on the crest of a slump and got relegated to Division Three (South) in 1922. They came back up again in the next season, went back down again and up again in 1927 by winning Div 3 (S), but were back down again at the start of the next decade. And they stayed there for a while.

Ashton Gate suffered extensive damage during the war, but after the hostilities, they managed to get their record victory in 1946/47, beating Aldershot 9-0. It wouldn't be until 1955 though that they made it back up to the 2nd division and that only lasted for five seasons. Then another five in the 3rd, before once again coming back up in 1965, this time as runners up to Carlisle Utd.

Alan Dicks became manager in 1967 and he would stay in the job for thirteen years, in which time they finally made it back to the top flight. That was in 1976 when they finished as runners up to Sunderland. They had five seasons back at the top, in which time they won a trophy. It was the Anglo Scottish Cup in 1977/78. After topping Group B, which included their local rivals Bristol Rovers, they then beat Partick Thistle 3-2 on aggregate, after being 2-0 down after the first leg. Then Hibs in the semi, 6-4 on aggregate, before facing a young up coming manager named Alex Ferguson and his St Mirren team in the Final.

The first leg started well, with Gerry Gow giving the Robins a first minute lead at Love Street. Peter Cormack made it 2-0 in the second half, but then the Saints pulled one back just before full time to make it interesting for the return fixture a couple of weeks later. And deep into the second half of the second leg, St Mirren made it level on aggregate to make it really interesting. But City weren't to be denied their glory as Kevin Mabbutt fired home the winner.

Mabbutt, who's brother Gary Mabbutt became the more famous brother, playing for Spurs and England, scored a hat trick in a famous 3-1 win at Old Trafford against Man Utd, but the Robins eventually went and got relegated again in 1980 and haven't been back to the top since.

Things got considerably worse. Another relegation and another. And bankruptcy as well. They started off the 1982/83 season for the first time as a 4th division side and had a couple of seasons there before ex Leeds full back and Rovers manager, Terry Cooper got them up again, sneaking into the 4th promotion place.

They won silverware in 1986, winning the Freight Rover Trophy (now EFL Trophy) by beating Bolton Wanderers 3-0 at Wembley. Two goals from Glyn Riley and one from Howard Pritchard doing the business for them.

They won promotion again in 1990, with another ex Leeds man in charge, Joe Jordan. They finished as runners up to Bristol Rovers. Jordan left during the next season to manage Hearts and after a few managers failed to get success, he returned in 1994, just as they were getting relegated back to the 3rd tier, by now calling itself Division Two, following the invention of the Premier League that messed everything up.

John Ward was in charge by the time they came back up again as runners up to Watford in 1998, but that was just for one season as they came back down finishing bottom of the table. Ex Barnsley and Sheffield Wendy boss, Danny Wilson took over and almost had them back up. But then in 2003, they had another trophy. It was the EFL Trophy again, this time known as the LDV Vans Trophy and they beat Carlisle 2-0 at the Millennium Stadium with goals from Lee Peacock and Liam Rosenior.

They had less happy memories of Cardiff though, losing to Cardiff City later that season in the Play Off semi finals. They made the Play Off Final in the next one, but got beaten by Brighton. This defeat cost Wilson his job and he was replaced by former player Brian Tinnion. He didn't last long after missing the Play Offs by finishing 7th and so Gary Johnson came in from Yeovil.

He was the one who finally got them up to the Championship, finishing as runners up to Scunthorpe Utd in 2007. They almost made it back to back promotions and a place in the Premier League, but faded badly after being top of the league at Christmas. They did however make it to the Play Offs and after beating Crystal Palace 4-2 on aggregate, they faced Hull City at Wembley. That was the one where Fraizer Campbell set up Dean Windass for a spectacular winner and the Robins had failed again.

Johnson stuck around for a while, but left in 2010 and by the time the team got relegated again in 2013, Sean O'Driscoll was at the helm. He got the boot and was replaced by Steve Cotterill, who got them back up again as League One champions in 2015, signing off in style by beating Walsall 8-2 on the final day. Not only that, they won the EFL Trophy again, for a record third time. This time it was known as the Johnstone Paints Trophy and it was those sad Saddlers as the opponents again, who they beat 2-0 with goals from Aden Flint and Mark Little.

They have been in the Championship ever since, with nowt to show apart from a League Cup run to the semis in 2018, famously beating Man Utd, before losing to Man City.

Head to Head



Town lead the head to head with 26 wins to City's 24, with 11 draws.

But Ashton Gate has not been a happy hunting ground for the Terriers lately, not having won there since 2013 when a James Vaughan hat trick gave us a 3-1 win. Overall, we have only won 8 of our 30 visits there, even getting hammered 4-0 there on a freezing cold Friday night game in our promotion season of 2016/17.

The first meetings came back in 1911/12, when in our second season of our Football League life, recently relegated Bristol City did the double over our brave boys. The lads did much better in the next season though, earning a point in a goal less draw, but then thrashing them 5-0 at Leeds Road with goals from a Frank Mann hat trick and one each from Thomas Elliott and Joe Jee.

It was a Bristol double over us in the next one, but we did the double over them in the 1914/15 season, the last before the war. The war had been raging for months and the season didn't get suspended. It was Easter before we played Bristol City, a Monday/Tuesday double header. I've often wondered how they managed to get all that travelling done in such a short space of time like they did back then. Obviously a better rail system, but still, that's a lot of mileage in two days. Did they go together on the same train? Anyway, we played down there first and Mann scored again in a 1-0 Town win. Then back at ours the next day, we beat them 5-3. Ralph Shields, who I mention almost every match thread, scored a hat trick this time, Jee got a penalty and the fifth came from George Richardson.

The war put a halt to the Football League then and so it was the 1919/20 season when we met up again. That was, as you will already know, the crisis season for Huddersfield Town, when we almost went bust and taken over by some crooks from Leeds. Both games in the league took place in November, just three weeks after the infamous Leeds takeover bid had gone in. Town won 1-0 at home, with Billy Smith scoring, but after the match, there was an extraordinary meeting of all the spectators present, as officials pleaded for more support in their bid to raise the money needed to stop the BellEnders from getting their hands on our club. They were encouraged by the amount already raised and were informed of another event, hosted the next day by club captain, Fred Bullock.

Ralph Shields scored again a week later down at theirs as we lost 1-2. However, as mentioned above, we then met up in the FA Cup semi finals. The crisis had been averted and the funds raised by the time this fixture at the back end of March came around. The Town were in second place in the 2nd Division and up against a fellow 2nd Division side for a place in our first ever FA Cup Final. The club's finances were helped considerably by the attendance in the previous round when 47,527 turned up at Leeds Road to see us beat Liverpool 2-1 and so it was down to Stamford Bridge for the semi, in which two Sammy Taylor goals gave Town a 2-1 win and a return to the Bridge for the Final, where we got beat by Aston Villa.

We got promoted at the end of that season and didn't meet Bristol City again until the 1950s. That was in 1956/57 after Town had been relegated to Division Two and there were 2-1 home wins for both teams. Bill Shankly was our manager for the next season when we went to Ashton Gate and won 3-1, with goals from Ray Wilson, Les Massie and Alex Bain.

City did the double over us in the next season, but we did it over them in 1959/60 with those two defeats for City helping to send them down. The game at Leeds Road on the 12th of December 1959 was our biggest win in the series of games against Bristol City. We won 6-1 with two more goals from Massie, one each from Peter Dinsdale, Denis Law, Ken Taylor and a penalty from John Coddington, who old geezers used to tell me took his run up to penalties from the halfway line. How true that is, I've no idea. 

We won down there as well, by a 3-2 scoreline this time. Massie again and Kevin McHale scoring as well as an own goal. They went down and came back up five years later, by which time, we were still a 2nd division team. We had another five seasons in the same division before we won promotion and we did the double over them in that 2nd division championship winning season of 1969/70. We beat them 3-0 at home in August, Bobby Hoy and Colin Dobson scored as well as an own goal. Then down at theirs in December, Steve Smith and Frank Worthington scored in a 2-1 win which took us to the top of the league, a position we held, apart from one week, right to the end of the season.

Viva Bobby Hoy

That success for Town didn't last and we met City for one season in division 2 on our long spiral down the league ladder. Our paths crossed again for one season in the 80s when it was the Robins taking a plummet down the leagues. That was in 1981/82 and the away game was a 0-0 draw. That was my first visit to Ashton Gate and was memorable only for a huge snowball fight that lasted throughout the game and afterwards when we were ambushed on the way back to the coaches. All good, harmless fun, considering that we were in the football hooligan era.

We beat them 5-0 at Leeds Road towards the back end of the season with David Cowling, Ian Robins (his 67th and final Town goal), Brian Stanton and Phil Wilson on target, as well as yet another own goal.

When we met up again, in 1988/89, it was them pumping us. It was 1-0 at Leeds Road, but then at Ashton Gate, they matched our 1959 victory by beating us 6-1 on a Tuesday evening. They didn't go up that season, but did the next. And so the next time we played each other would be in what was now called Division One, the 2nd tier of which we nowadays call the Championship.

That was in 1998/99 with Peter Jackson in the manager's office. We won down at Ashton Gate on an August Bank Holiday afternoon. Barry Horne and Bristol born Town legend, Marcus Stewart gave us a 2-1 win. That was the first game of a run of five wins that took us into top spot in the division. Sadly though, we had dropped to tenth by the time they came up here for their first visit to the McAlpine Stadium and drew 2-2.

We were a league apart again, but they came up here in 2001 and beat us 2-0 in the FA Cup. Our paths crossed again at league level for five of the seasons of that decade, all at 3rd tier level. Not many memorable ones. We did throw away a 3-1 lead in 2004 to draw 3-3 at their place.

When we went up in 2012, Bristol City were already in the Championship, but they went down at the end of that 2012/13 season, after we had done the double over them. Sean Scannell won it at home in a 1-0 win and then down there it was that game with the James Vaughan hat trick, our most recent win at Ashton Gate.

They came back up a couple of years later and our visits to Bristol since then have ended in defeats, 0-4 in 2015/16 and again in 2016/17, 0-1 in the FA Cup when we were a Premier League club, 2-5 in 2019/20 and then a 2-1 defeat last season. That last game was an absolute travesty. If you think Coventry were unlucky not to beat us last week, we hit the woodwork four times in this match at Bristol City and lost. Famara Diedhiou scored twice for them, before Juninho Bacuna pulled one back.

Can we break this hoodoo this Saturday?

So what's going on in the shadows of the Clifton Suspension Bridge? City are managed nowadays by Nigel Pearson, who skippered Sheffield Wendy to Wembley glory in the 1991 Rumbelows Cup Final.

He's 58 years old now and started his footy career in non league with Heanor Town, before signing professionally with Shrewsbury Town in 1981. The Shrews were a 2nd Division club back then and a regular thorn in Huddersfield Town's side. He had six years at the Gay Meadow before Howard Wilkinson forked out a quarter of a million quid to take him to Hillsborough.

It was boom time for the Wendys. They won Cups. Major Trophies. He went there in 1987 and in 1991 he skippered them at Wembley as they won the League Cup, beating Man Utd 1-0. He was their first ever Premier League goal scorer in 1992, but as the team got to both domestic finals that season, he missed both matches through injury.

In 1994, he left Hillsborough for Middlesbrough and more domestic cup finals. He won promotion twice to the Prima Donna with the Smog and in 1996/97 they made both Cup Finals. He managed to stay fit enough to play this time, but couldn't get a winners medal as Boro were beaten by Leicester in the League Cup and Chelsea in the FA Cup. And it was Chelsea again in the next season who beat them in the League Cup Final.

So when he retired in 1998, he had one winners medal, but an absolute boat load of runners uppers. He then went into management and his first job was down at the bottom end of the Football League with Carlisle United. He was boss there when they had a famous finish to the season, when goalkeeper Jimmy Glass came up and scored the winner against Plymouth Argyle to save them from relegation to the Conference.

It saved the club from falling out of the League but Pearson still got sacked and so he went as assistant to Gary Megson at Stoke. Then to West Brom as assistant to Bryan Robson, his former manager at Boro. He also had assistant roles at Newcastle with various managers and also with the England u21s, before in 2008 he landed his next proper manager's job when he became boss at Southampton.

That didn't last long though, despite him keeping the Saints clear of relegation from the Championship, he was sacked. His next job was at Leicester, who had slipped down to League One. He got them back up and followed that with a place in the Play Offs, losing in the semis against Cardiff.

He then left Leicester after falling out with the owner and went to Hull. But when Leicester got new owners, he went back there. He was manager there when they lost that famous Play Off match at Watford, the one where Anthony Knockaert missed a penalty and then Jonathan Hogg set up the winner up the other end for Troy Deeney.

So they went and won the Championship title in the next season and a place in the Prima Donna. He was sacked in 2015 following some indiscipline from his players (including his own son) on a pre season tour of Thailand and replaced by Claudio Ranieri, who took the Foxes to the Premier League title, with Pearson's side.

Since then he's had half a season at Derby, 18 months in Belgium with Oud-Heverlee Leuven and six months at Watford before landing the job at Bristol City in February last season following the sacking of Dean Holden.

Last week's line up away at Hull:

1 Daniel Bentley - Club captain, ex Southend and Brentford.
26 Zak Vyner - Defender, been on loan to Accrington, Plymouth, Rotherham and Aberdeen.
22 Tomáš Kalas - Czech Republic international defender.
5 Robert Atkinson - Defender, signed from Oxford in the summer.
36 Alex Scott - No not her, this one's an 18 year old midfielder from Guernsey.
42 Han-Noah Massengo - 20 year old French midfielder.
6 Matty James - Ex Leicester midfielder, missed the entire PL winning season through injury.
11 Callum O'Dowda - Rep of Ireland international winger.
14 Andreas Weimann - Forward, ex Villa, Watford, Derby and Wolves.
9 Chris Martin - Scottish international, been around a bit
18 Antoine Semenyo - 21 year old striker.

Subs:
3 Jay Dasilva - His only ever 1st team goal was against us last season.
12 Max O'Leary - Reserve keeper, spent a lot of time out on loan.
15 Tyreeq Bakinson - 23 year old midfielder.
16 Cameron Pring - 23 year old left back, been on loan at 8 clubs.
19 George Tanner - Defender, signed from Carlisle in the summer.
21 Nahki Wells - 25th on Town's all time goal scoring list with 49.
38 Ayman Benarous - 18 year old, local born midfielder.


Club connections: Well Nigel Pearson has signed on two of his Leicester City team who later played for us, Andy King and Danny Simpson. They also have two of Town's promotion squad in Nahki Wells and Kasey Palmer and last season they had Jack Hunt and Jamie Paterson. And before that they had Benik Afobe.

I can't be arsed doing any more, even though Town legend Marcus Stewart played for them a few years after he left us.

And Wayne Allison was their Player of the Year in 1993. As was Jamie McCombe in 2007 and Jon Stead in 2012.



Bristol in popular culture: The 7th of June 2020 was a momentous day in the history of Bristol. It was the day that the city finally came to accept it's horrendous past and it's connections to the Atlantic Slave Trade. For years, there had been arguments about the statue of Edward Colston in the city centre. The man was, after all, a philanthropist and obviously well deserved of such an accolade in his home city. Or was he?

Of course he wasn't. His company alone was responsible for the transportation of 84,000 West Africans to the Americas between 1680 and 1692 to be sold as slaves. And so after years of arguments about his statue, the people of Bristol took it on their own back and toppled the bastard. Not just that, they tipped the evil c*** into the harbour, the same harbour from where many of his ships had sailed all those years ago. Get in!

Here's a song by the Redskins, made many years ago (1985) but seems a great sentiment for today. Kick the bastards over!



The Slave trade was so evil, so horrendous, but made fortunes for many people, so that it only lasted for around 400 years. One of the voices against it was John Wesley, who founded the first Methodist chapel, the New Room, in Bristol. That was in 1739 and in 1774, he published  Thoughts Upon Slavery. I'm not gonna bang on about this much longer though on a football thread. So I will play this Christmas banger, written by John's brother Charles Wesley and sung here by Rita Simcock at the Angler's Club Christmas Party in 1989.



One of the best bands to come from Bristol actually named themselves after an area of the city. Well not actually in the city, but just to the west on the Severn Estuary. I talk of course, about the band Portishead. Formed in 1991 in Bristol, they are often considered one of the pioneers of trip hop music. Here's Glory Box......



'ow to get theere an' wheere to sup: The post code for sat nav is BS3 2EJ, but you won't be able to park there, unless you happen to be the team coach driver. When me and Chaffers went down there in 2017, we parked at Bedminster Cricket Club, which is just ten minutes walk away and well stewarded. It's on Clanage Road and the sat nav for that is BS3 2JX.

The bar is usually open on match days there, so you could get some pre match drinkies in there. There's bars and pubs down on the waterfront. The Nova Scotia is an away fans friendly pub and about a 20 minute walk from the stadium.

The nearest railway station is Parson Street which is about a mile away from Ashton Gate.

Recent form - last 6 matches:

Town 1-1 Coventry
Barnsley 1-1 Town
Town 1-2 Middlesbrough
QPR 1-0 Town
Twon 1-0 WBA
Cardiff 2-1 Town

Hull 2-2 Brizzle
Brizzle 1-0 Derby
Sheff Utd 2-0 Brizzle
Brizzle 1-0 Stoke
Brizzle 1-1 Blackburn
Coventry 3-2 Brizzle

Town are 10th in the Championship table with 30 points. City are 18th with 27. If they beat us 4-0, they will overtake us.

Leading scorers:

Terrys:
Danny Ward (5)
Matty Pearson (3)

Titties:
Andreas Weimann (7)
Chris Martin (5)


December the 18th down the ages: How did we get on in previous matches played on this date?

1909: Castleford Town (a) Midland League, WON 5-1 (William McCreadie 3, William Grundy, Joe Jee)
1915: Sheffield Utd (a) Wartime League, lost 1-5 (Billy Watson)
1920: Derby County (h) Div 1, WON 2-0 (William Wright, Jack Swann)
1926: Aston Villa (a) Div 1, lost 0-3
1937: Stoke City (a) Div 1, WON 1-0 (Willie MacFadyen)
1943: Leeds Utd (a) Wartime League, WON 3-0 (Billy Price 2, Harry Baird)
1948: Arsenal (a) Div 1, lost 0-3
1954: Blackpool (a) Div 1, drew 1-1 (Jimmy Glazzard)
1965: Rotherham Utd (h) Div 2, WON 4-0 (Kevin McHale, Allan Gilliver 2, Tony Leighton pen)
1971: Southampton (h) Div 1, lost 0-2
1976: Crewe Alexandra (h) Div 4, lost 0-1
1982: Reading (a) Div 3, drew 1-1 (Brian Stanton)
1993: Reading (a) Division Two (2nd tier), drew 0-0
1999: Grimsby Town (h) Division One (2nd tier), WON 3-1 (Clyde Wijnhard 2, Marcus Stewart)
2004: Bradford City (h) League One (3rd tier), lost 0-1


Played 15, WON  6, drew 3, lost 6.

There's a lot of Williams, Willies and Billys scoring on this date. Might have to put Levi Colwilly to score in this match.

Billy Watson, who scored in 1915 went on to have a stellar career with Huddersfield Town, his only club. He played in all but three matches of the triple championship seasons in the 1920s.

Willie MacFadyen, who scored in the win at Stoke in 1937 was a signing from Motherwell. He scored 51 goals for them in the 1931/32 season, a record for most goals in a season that still stands today. They won the Scottish League that season and he is their record all time scorer with 251. He came to us and played in our 1938 FA Cup Final side, but the 2nd world war came and his career was over by the time it ended. He served in the RAF during the war.

Harry Baird, who scored in 1943, was also an RAF Brylcreem Boy. He had signed from Manchester Utd, who he had just helped win promotion from the 2nd division. After the war, he signed for Ipswich.

Allan Gilliver, who scored against Rotherham in 1965, had two spells as a player for Bradford City. On retirement, he got the job as groundsman at Valley Parade and later became commercial manager. Sadly though, he is now on the long list of former footballers suffering with dementia and it was his diagnosis that led the Bantams fans to set up the Bradford Memory Walks which take place in aid of the Alzheimer's Society.

Tony Leighton, who scored in the same match, had a terminal illness much younger. He died of motor neurone disease in 1978, aged 38. But before that, after hanging up his boots, he had a sports shop in Heckmondwike.

We were top of the 2nd division when we beat Grimsby in 1999. Sadly, we drew at Crewe in the next game and it was downhill all the way after that.

Bristol Anagrams: Some Bristol City related, some not.

1. Cowan Toddlers
   
2. Inkwell Ash
   
3. Marianna Sweden
   
4. Canal Kids
   
5. Deja Snot
   
6. Algernon Pies
   
7. Testicle Revolt
   
8. Mr Christian
   
9. Johnny Argos
   
10. Doha Priest
    

[jjamez]

Thanks for this snoots. I look forward to reading it whilst watching cricket in the morning

[jjamez]

2 is nahki wells, 5 is Jon stead, 6 Nigel Pearson and is 7 Steve cotterill?

Don't have a good feeling about this one, we're well out of form and never ever seem to do anything down there although I don't see a big thrashing for us this time

[Lord Snooty]

Testicle Revolt. Great name for a punk band.

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Yes all 4 correct.

I reckon a good thrashing here will see Carlos sacked. The rumours now are getting stronger that Deano wants shut of him.

[jjamez]

If he's gonna get sacked it needs to be done before the new year so a new manager has as much time as possible to work out what he wants to bring in

[theo_luddite]

All he wants for Christmas is a
Striker ( ),
Midfielder ( ),
Defender ( ),
Translator( ),
P45( )

Tick as appropriate

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Beginning to think Aarons has handed in more sicknotes than he's had training days for us so far let alone appearances. 80 appearances (7 clubs, wherever) in 7 years says a lot.

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8. Chris Martin (afore there's any talk of a Mutiny on the Chocolate Bars Mr. Christian)
3. Andreas Weimann

[Lord Snooty]

Correct, theo.

[jjamez]

I hope he doesn't start sinani today, doesn't do enough for me, bit too much of a shadow when he's on the pitch.








Watch him go score a hattrick

[Lord Snooty]

We were saying the same thing just before he scored against West Brom.

[Lord Snooty]

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