Bristol City F.C.

Gary Johnson| league = League One | season = 2005-06 |

  position = League One, 9th |
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Bristol City Football Club is one of two football clubs in Bristol, England, (the other being Bristol Rovers) which plays in Football League One. Its ground is Ashton Gate Stadium, located in the south-western portion of the City. Gary Johnson has been the team's manager since 23 September 2005, succeeding Bristol City legend Brian Tinnion.

The Bristol City kit this season has been produced by famous sports brand 'Puma'. Home colours for 2006-7 will revert from all red to the traditional red shirts and white shorts. The away kit will be white with gunmetal grey shorts, and a black third kit will also be used. In the past a variety of away combinations have been used, particularly white shirts and black shorts, but yellow, green-and-purple, all black, all white and "champagne gold" have also been seen in recent years. The club's nickname is "the Robins", and a robin featured on the club's badge from 1976 to 1994.A recent attempt by the club to alter the clubs badge was abandoned after the club was slated fiercely by fans and many supporters still choose to sport the clubs old Robin and suspension bridge badge.

Bristol City reached the 1909 F.A Cup final where they lost to Manchester United, but they did win the Welsh Cup - despite being an English team - in 1934. In 1907 they finished runners-up in the league, which is their highest-ever final position.

In 1982, Bristol City became the first English team to suffer three successive relegations and just before falling into the Fourth Division they almost went out of business. But a takeover deal saved them from going under, and by 1990 they were back in the Second Division. Another relegation followed in 1995, when City finished second from bottom in the new Division Two, and a return to that division three years later lasted just one season. Most of their seasons since 1999 have been spent challenging promotion, but so far all of their promotion challenges have been unsuccessful.

Bristol City currently play at Ashton Gate stadium, which has an all-seater capacity of more than 20,000. There have been plans, if the need arises, for expansion work to be carried out at their current ground. There have also been proposals to build a new stadium, the first option being a 36,000-seat stadium at Hengrove Park. In 2002, the local council was looking at possible sites for a new 40,000-seat stadium which would house both City and Rovers, but these plans were scrapped and would not have been welcomed by many of either of the two clubs supporters. Ashton Gate's current capacity is adequate, and it would probably take at least one promotion to demand an expansion.

Honours

The team played in the FA Cup final, losing 1 - 0 to Manchester United at Crystal Palace, London, on April 26 1909, and won the Welsh Cup in 1934, defeating Tranmere Rovers 3 - 0.

Their highest finishing position in the League was in the 1906-07 season when the team were runners-up to Newcastle in Division 1.

Minor honours include: Second Division champions 1905-06; Third Division South champions three times; Associate Members' Cup winners 1985-86 (as Freight Rover Trophy); Football League Trophy winners 2002-3 (as LDV Vans Trophy); Anglo-Scottish Cup winners 1977-78.

History

The club was founded in 1897, when Bristol South End F.C. turned professional and changed its name to Bristol City. In 1900 the club merged with local rival Bedminster F.C., which had been founded as Southville in 1887. The side joined the Football League in 1901. They first entered Division 1 in 1906 as Division 2 champions, and as newcomers became known as the "Bristol Babes", a nickname that would last into the thirties. They were runners-up in their first season in the top flight, but couldn't match this performance again, and were relegated in 1911. They would not return for sixty-five years.

The 1920s were a rocky time as City "yo-yoed" between Division 2 and Division 3 South. By the thirties they were solidly stuck in the third division, and stayed that way until after World War II. Harry Dolman became chairman in 1949, a post he would hold for over 30 years. An engineer who had bought out the firm he worked for, he designed the first set of floodlights installed at Ashton Gate in the early 1950s. The late 1950s were a better time for City, with a five year stay in Division 2, a league they returned to for a further spell in 1965. In 1967 Alan Dicks was appointed manager, and he eventually led them back to the top division in 1976 when they were runners-up in Division 2.

Surviving just four seasons in the top division and only managing a peak of 13th position in the 1978-79 season, they were relegated in 1980 and plummeted to Division 4 in straight seasons. The club went bankrupt and was only able to continue playing under the ownership of a new company, BCFC (1982) plc, because eight highly-paid senior players (the "Ashton Gate Eight") accepted redundancy.

City's stay in the basement was short - just two years - since when they have remained in the middle two divisions of the League structure. The late nineties were a period of instability for the club, with five managers in four seasons. Danny Wilson was appointed as manager in June 2000, but left by mutual consent in June 2004 after successive seasons of finishing 3rd but narrowly failing to win the play-offs. Long-serving City midfielder Brian Tinnion became player-manager in his place and led the team to a place just outside the play-offs in his first season.

The summer of 2005 saw a major rebuilding of the squad, bringing in the Premiership strikers Marcus Stewart (who supported City as a boy) and Michael Bridges. Three games into the 2005-2006 season City were one of only two clubs in the entire league without a goal; the drought ended abruptly in their fourth game, with three goals in the first quarter hour of a 4-2 victory over Port Vale. Results remained poor, however, and Tinnion resigned as manager after a 7-1 thrashing by Swansea. He was replaced by Gary Johnson, who was lured from west country neighbours Yeovil Town. A club record of nine successive defeats was brought to an end with a 2-0 victory at home to Huddersfield on 10 December. Since then, a continuous run of only three defeats in sixteen games was capped with City beating Gillingham 6-0, with defender Louis Carey scoring twice. This was City's largest league win since late 1969. They progressed well throughout the season â€" without Bridges (released) and Stewart (loaned out) â€" but just missed out on the League One playoffs, finishing ninth.

Current squad

(As of 11 August 2006)

(1)

(On loan to Brentford)

(1)

(On loan to Leyton Orient) (On loan from Wolves)

*(1) Has been transfer-listed.
*(2) Has signed a permanent contract, with compensation to Fulham being discussed.

Famous players

*Billy Wedlock
*John Atyeo
*Gus Caesar
*Andy Cole
*Brian Tinnion
*Dariusz 'Jacki' Dziekanowski
*Ade Akinbiyi
*Shaun Goater
*David Moyes
*Steve McClaren
*Norman Hunter
*Gerry Gow

Managers

* Sam Hollis (1897-99)
* Bob Campbell (1899-1901)
* Sam Hollis (1901-05)
* Harry Thickett (1905-10)
* Sam Hollis (1911-13)
* George Hedley (1913-17)
* Jack Hamilton (1917-19)
* Joe Palmer (1919-21)
* Alex Raisbeck (1921-29)
* Joe Bradshaw (1929-32)
* Bob Hewison (1932-49)
* Bob Wright (1949-50)
* Pat Beasley (1950-58)
* Peter Doherty (1958-60)
* Fred Ford (1960-67)
* Alan Dicks (1967-80)
* Bobby Houghton (1980-82)
* Roy Hodgson (1982)
* Terry Cooper (1982-88)
* Joe Jordan (1988-90)
* Jimmy Lumsden (1990-92)
* Denis Smith (1992-93)
* Russell Osman (1993-94)
* Joe Jordan(1994-97)
* John Ward (1997-98)
* Benny Lennartsson (1998-99)
* Tony Pulis (1999)
* Tony Fawthrop (2000)
* Danny Wilson (2000-04)
* Brian Tinnion (2004-05)
* Gary Johnson (September 2005-Present)

Ashton Gate

Bristol City play at Ashton Gate in the south-west of Bristol, just south of the River Avon. The ground has an all-seated capacity of about 21,500, with an effective capacity (depending on how many away tickets are allocated, and how they are segregated) of around 19,100. It was the home of Bedminster F.C. until the 1900 merger, and the merged team played some games there the following season, but it did not become the permanent home of Bristol City until 1904.

The Wedlock Stand at the south-east end of the ground was the traditional home fans' end until 1994, and has since housed visiting fans. It was due to be redeveloped at the end of the 2004/05 season but problems with funding saw the project put on hold for the foreseeable future. The Wedlock Stand [East End] has been an issue of some debate amongst City fans as supporters have tried to have this stand returned to use by City fans. The stand was briefly reopened for City fans but this practice was abandoned in 2005 after allegations from the club of poor behavior by supporters which were denied by many fans. Bristol City fc now state because of policing costs it would now be uneconomic to reopen this stand to City supporters even if the majority of City's support wished this to happen.

The Williams Stand, on the south-west side, which includes the directors' box and press box, was built in 1958. The Williams stand has from 2006 a "premier" seating area which has caused some controversy among supporters, as some felt that the moving of five hundred season ticket holders was handled poorly by the club, with a lack of consultation.

The Dolman Stand, which lies opposite The Williams Stand, was built in 1970. The stand contains a lot of wooden seats, many of which were replaced with more modern plastic seating before the start of the 2006/07 season.The Dolman stand generally houses City's more vocal support concentrated around block G.

The most recent addition to the stadium is the Atyeo Stand at the north-west end, which was built in 1994 to replace an open terrace, and contains new dressing rooms and a large gymnasium.The Atyeo has in recent years become a stand which seems to cater for a more family orientated supporter.

Ashton Gate has also played host to many big concerts in recent years. They have had such stars as Rod Stewart, Bryan Adams, Elton John, Neil Diamond, The Who and Ronan Keating.

=External links=
* Official website (requires registration)
* Fans' forum