If you would like to send The Incider a letter,
please email us at letters@theincider.com
Dear Incider,
A few years ago I was invited for a night out by an important
customer of mine. He was a Gashead who spent a lot of money and
time sponsoring games etc. The night in question was the Annual
Bristol Rovers Sponsors Dinner.
It was a posh affair, black tie, and we were to be treated to
after dinner speeches by Alan Ball and Bobby Gould. I thought what
the hell, a chance to get pi**ed and keep a very important customer
happy. We were seated at our table and I proceeded to enjoy my
bottle of red wine and the friendly banter that was coming my way.
An hour in and someone came around selling the raffle tickets
- £5.00 each!! I was certainly not going to buy a strip of
them! “I’ll take one thank you”
My curiosity raised, I asked what sort of prizes were on offer
for such an extortionate price. There was a day training with the
squad, long weekend aboard, golf with the players, etc etc, I remember
thinking that these sponsors had obviously gone to great lengths
to try and out doeach other.
I ate my food, ordered by second bottle of red and settled back
to enjoy tales of the ‘66 squad and Nobby Stiles’ dressing
room shenanigans. Time for the raffle. As the first number was
drawn I took a brief interest in checking my ticket and even less
interest in the guy who had gone up to choose his prize.
The second number was called out, after a short silence I was
nudged on the arm by the guy next to me, who said: “You’ve
won.” Indeed I had, but I was more worried about whether
or not my wine-filled legs would carry me to the front of the hall.
I got to the front and surveyed the assortment of envelopes, vouchers
etc that lay before me. Then I spotted it….. The Star Prize.
I could not believe that the Muppet up first had missed it. How
sick he must be feeling at missing the star prize and settling
instead for a days training with the Gas. I could believe my
luck. Nervously I stretched forward and placed both hands around
the object that was soon to be mine.
I turned to the massed tables of tuxedos and cocktail dresses
and lifted my quarry high above my head as if I was standing at
the top of the Wembley steps themselves. A Signed Bristol City
Football.
The noise was deafening, I could only imagine that the jeers and
catcalls being directed at me were because everyone else in the
room was jealous. As I proudly walked back to the table I was picturing
where I could display my new pride and joy. I would put it on a
shelf in the office, next to my BCFC clock. It would be passed
down as a family heirloom from father to son for generations to
come.
Later on I took the ball to the top table and got the signatures
of Alan Ball and Bobby Gould added. Geoff Dunford grabbed it and
wrote “Up the Gas”. A small blemish on my rare and
prized possession.
Well the story should end there but sadly it didn’t.
In my state of almost complete inebriation I somehow managed to
lose sight of the ball.
My taxi arrived and my customer assured me that he would find it
and bring it to my office later in the week. He turned up a couple
of days later holding a carrier bag and looking decidedly sheepish.
He explained that after I had left, a group had decided that it
would be funny to take the ball outside and scrape off all the
signatures on the car park floor. Leaving just the one from Geoff
Dunford.
They did a pretty good job as they had managed to remove most
of the printed BCFC lettering as well. My prized football was ruined.
The only thing left was the memory that it had once borne the names
of my heroes. The shelf that I had actually put up in the office
ready to home my ball was to remain bare.
So what happened to the ball? I let the dog have it in the garden.
It lasted a couple of years, and I suppose I took a small amount
of pleasure in imagining that every time she had it in her mouth
she was in fact chewing on the chairman of Bristol Rovers Football
Club.
Peter (Potbelly)
[Editor’s note: Click the T-Shirt competition
page to see how the Incider team have (sort of) come to the rescue.]
Dear Incider,
Thanks very much for the support which you gave the Evening with
Brian Tinnion. The prizes which you donated to the raffle helped
raise a fantastic £1,500 for the Academy. Indeed, I was
surprised that the first winner chose Brian Tinnion's signed
shirt from the
97/98 promotion season as his preferred prize, rather than the
Incider T shirt. There's no accounting for taste I suppose.
Thanks also to Tomarse for helping out on the door and taking
photos and to Edson for saying 'Tomarse seems to have the door
covered' and grabbing himself a beer whilst pretending he was selling
raffle tickets. And for being very good on the panel.
I was disappointed Red Top didn't make the effort to attend. A
quick Concorde to Heathrow and a helicopter to Ashton Gate could
have go him there in time to not get a beer at the end due to the
premature closure of the bar. And he could still have been back
at his desk by 8am the next morning, leaving himself plenty of
time to make up more cutting edge news stories about large breasted
skateboarding ducks.
I look forward very much to your next bumper Division One Here
We Come issue. Keep up the good work.
David Lloyd (Dave L)
Dear Incider,
Congratulations to all involved in the continued production of
an excellent fanzine - Edson who writes it, RedTop who claims it
and Tomarse who messes it up I believe?!
I'd like to take this opportunity to congratulate the players
for their magnificent win at the Millennium Stadium. It wasn't
the greatest performance but they did a solid, professional job
and kept it all square until the match-winning contribution of
Incider-sponsored Liam Rosenior, who turned the game. We must hang
on to this boy at all costs when his contract runs out at the end
of the season - what a fantastic player he will become.
Earlier in the season, I was among the leading critics of our
manager Danny Wilson. The dreadful spell of results in January
and February seemed to be coupled with some very dubious team selections
and one very poor loan signing. I honestly believed then that it
would have best for him to go, and spare us the ignominy of another
seventh placed finish. Some agreed with me, others did not.
So now that we look fairly certain of a play-off place, am I ready
to admit I was wrong? Well, yes and no.
Yes, because we have recovered from that awful, awful period and
have cemented ourselves a play-off place. We have dispatched the
lower-quality teams in this league excellently - something which
we were not doing last season. In terms of results, we have put
the teams in the bottom half to the sword.
But I will not admit I was entirely wrong. There can be no doubt
that Danny has made some mistakes in his tactics and team selection
at times this season. The loan of Craig Fagan mentioned above was
one such mistake, as was the team selection against Stockport where
seven members of the starting eleven could have been classed as
defenders. Wilson then changed it after 20 minutes -a clear admission
that he had made a ghastly error. This was not an isolated incident.
Our results against teams in the top half also leave a lot to
be desired - 5 wins, 6 draws and 8 defeats. Not bad for a play-off
team, some might argue. But, I say, we are not just a "play-off
team". We have a squad packed with quality - experienced,
talented pros alongside young players who have matured into fine
young players. Just look at the quality currently sitting on our
bench (alongside Peter Beadle), and the quality we have out on
loan to lower-placed clubs. We have a cracking squad and any less
than the play-offs this season would have been a total failure
- cup or no cup.
I am afraid to say that I am still not convinced by our manager,
and should promotion be achieved this year as we all hope and pray
for, I feel it will be largely despite him, not because of him.
I remain 100% behind the team and am not one to hurl abuse towards
anyone at games, but discussions in fanzines and forums are the
place to air these views. I truly, truly, hope Danny can prove
me wrong and lead us to glory.......but I have my doubts.
Keep up the good work and COME ON YOU REDS!
Andy (Bishopston Red)
Dear Incider,
Time to return the terracing to Ashton Gate?
Regarding the recently publicised ejections of BCFC supporters
for standing - Welsh Dragon etc. I wonder if you could print
the following article in the Incider and ask for the opinions
of other football supporters on this issue.....
Up until about 10 years ago the capacity at Ashton Gate was about
one third seating and two thirds standing. No-one that I know of
was consulted when it was decided by our aristocratic rulers that
Ashton Gate was to become an all-seater stadium. There is a strong
tradition in English league football of being able to stand on
terracing and move around at will for the best view etc. Ashton
Gate as an all-seater stadium therefore runs contrary to that tradition
and undermines our right of choice as consumers on whether to sit
or stand.
It is my opinion that the authorities are therefore wrong for
criminalizing football supporters by ejecting them for singing,
chanting and
standing when that is our tradition as football supporters. Small
areas of terracing should therefore be reinstated at Ashton Gate
so that our supporters can stand if they want to without the
threat of further bullying by the authorities. Clive Hudson (Red Goblin)
Dear Incider,
There were no highlights of the LDV final on HTV. I have written
to Carlton Television about this and I have yet to recieve a reply!.
But they did forward my email on to Jed Pitman at HTV and I was
very surprised to get a reply as I only sent the email to Carlton's
Duty office. Having written a complaint letter to Carlton, Mr Pitman
told me in his reply (as below) that there was more chance of Cardiff
City being in the Champions League than having highlights of the
final!
He said: “Having been forced to accept that, I asked if
a slot could be found early in the following week, for a colour,
reflective piece on the day as a whole. Because it's a Champions
League week, again I was told no chance.”
What I find even more amazing and shocking in Mr Pitman's reply
is that Carlton are not letting us have a 30 minutes highlights
of City v Cardiff game on the Tuesday night.
He said: “I was also told that there is no chance of a midweek
special for the City v Cardiff game for the same reason, although
myself and my opposite number in Wales have not stopped the fight
over this.”
It is not only HTV over here are getting treated like dirt, but
the WELSH as well. I am sure Cardiff fans will not be very happy
either as they will only have a very small following coming down
to Ashton because of their minority of idiots!
Jed wrote: “So often I am the one criticised but scheduling
decisions are way beyond my control, and seemingly beyond the control
of even the programme controller at HTV! Complaints to the duty
log do work.”
As you see from the above quote it is Carlton TV who basically
run the show and the only thing they have to bother about is local
news. Given half the chance they would not even want to produce
programmes about the Westcountry at all as it would divert their
precious profits from their already fat cat wallets.
So what about final day of the season? Lo and behold this is Carlton’s
reaction: “Carlton have previously told me that on F.A. Cup
weekends and Grand Prix weekends there will not be a show. This
includes the last weekend of the season, so as things currently
stand, we won't have a programme on the day that City could be
promoted.”
Remember Carlton are partly to blame for offering such a ridiculous
deal to the Football League for rights to show live Nationwide
games and has sent Football up the River without a paddle!! Please
could everyone email Carlton and complain about their shocking
decisions in putting Coronation Street on six days a week when
they can not even find a 30 minute slot for highlights of City
and others.
The email address is: dutyoffice@carltontv.co.uk
Thanks
Mark
Dear Incider,
I thought I’d write a reply to City3Rovers2's letter about
the whole away kit issue. The letter is about that disgusting white
kit someone decided to dream up as one of the options for the away
kit for the 2003/2004 season.
City3Rovers2 says: “East Dundry Red argues that we should
do away with tradition and stop looking to the past for what colour
our away kit should be. I was quite glad to see that not many people
agreed with him, because we have every right to look to the past.
We've got a great history. Yes, even the terrible 1982 saga is
part of our great history, because look what came out of that -
the Ashton Gate Eight.”
First of all, I did not say “do away with tradition and
stop looking at the past”. We should look to the past in
some cases, such as our “Premiership” days and, as
she has said, the Ashton Gate Eight. We will never forget things
like this (unlike one of the Ashton Gate Eight who bet me a pint
Arsenal wouldn’t beat Man Utd last season in the local and
still hasn’t paid up)! But we should be trying to move away
from the past and look to the future.
What I was trying to say is, why are we trying to bring back the
old kits and the past all the time? If we carry on like that players
will be playing in those tight 1980s shorts again that looked stupid
(although I’m sure City3Rovers2 and Citygal9 will have no
problem looking at Mickey Bell and Lee Peacock in them).
Let’s not look to the past but look to the future. Instead
of having to look all the way back at the great John Atyeo and
the Ashton Gate Eight, let’s give the fans something new
to be proud of. We shouldn’t be telling our grandkids in
years to come (remember I’m only 18!) about how our parents
told us about the old Division One days. We should be telling them
about the glory days when we were watching.
Come on City! Never totally forget the past but always look to
the future as it could be the boys in red like Mickey Bell and
Lee Peacock telling their grandkids about them winning medals and
cup while playing for Bristol City F.C.
Jason Smart (EDR)
Dear Incider,
Thanks for posting our latest team photo on the gas forum....
funniest thing
I've seen this season (err, except for every one of our home games).
Cheers
Charlie (Swindon Gas) Dear Incider,
Very witty pictures, carrot crunchers. Good to see.
Me thinks it will be roast pheasant all round come May. Enjoy
Plymouth away next season. Ooh and by the way where are you now?
Four points behind and we have a game in hand. Bottle. Who needs
it when u have Earnie?
John Buchanan Dear Incider,
Hi. I am a fan of Besiktas from Istanbul. I'm searching for information
about Alan Walsh, one of your legendary player.
I'm interested in his career before Besiktas and would like to
learn anything about him from his time at Bristol City. If you
can help me, please contact me at www.100yilbjk.com. I'll be grateful
to you.
Thanks and regards.
Ahmet Kisa
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