Yes a parallel could be Swansea, or Southampton - A regional powerhouse syphoning talent out of the South West. A powerhouse based on a strong structure and principles e.g. The Staplewood campus. A coaching adage. If you fail to prepare (and BCFC did) , you prepare to fail. Bristol City FC (Steve Lansdown) may be finally putting into place a infra structure that can compete and progress.
Interesting you say that Angelic. Mrs R&W was a teacher at Hartcliffe school in the 1980s and Bristol Rovers under John Ward were very active in the school scene back then. At the time they signed Marcus Stewart, Marcus Bent to name 2 - I can't comment on Bent, but Stewart was a city fan through and through and we ignored him. Both Hartcliffe lads and Stewart played to a reasonable level at his peak. Joe Jordan's Bristol City were nowhere to be seen. It's only now that we are starting to nurture homegrown talent.
Don't worry mate, one bad game and you can go back to rubbishing them again. You might even start a thread telling us you knew all along if it's two bad games
I'll say.. Stewart was 2nd Prem top scorer with 19 goals in 2001. Marcus Browning is a very good friend of mines brother in law..
Very interesting when it wasn't even their side of town. When I were a lad (quite a while ago !) I used to be in the Cub Scouts and one of the parents was friends with Dickie Rooks who was then one of the City centre backs. He came to give us some coaching sessions locally but this was all unofficial. Ina ll of my time, and also my kids time at school, the club never came near the area to the best of my knowledge.
Ward and his scouts used to visit Hartcliffe school regularly - the missus used to be involved because of her role as head of lower school. She used to have Ward's phone number to arrange visits. I assume that Ward was doing similar things at other local schools too - including North Bristol (Monks Park etc) but I only know about Hartcliffe through her. I can't remember City ever getting involved, but they must have done to a point - Gary Marshall and Chris Honor (I think) were both local - I used to go to school with Gary (Chew Valley) and I can't remember him being that good at football to be honest!
The disappointing part is that so many of the successful team of the 1970's were all living in places like Whitchurch and Stockwood. Ray Cashley, Trevor Tainton, Brian Drysdale, and Donnie Gillies at least were all based locally. My Parents In Law even bought Donnie Gillies house just off Petherton Road.
That is a little unfair on John Laycocks tenure as Chairman. At that point local recruitment was a fundamental building block of BCFC. The XI featured numerous local players. This lapsed/declined/? when Mr Lansdown took control of BCFC. Bristol City are now becoming more evident at junior levels now. There is a framework of scouts around local kids leagues and in situ at junior clubs not directly attached to BCFC.
But City, now they've finally cottoned on, find themselves competing with the likes of Aston Villa, WBA and Southampton at least for our local talent.
Add Cardiff and Swansea, however Bristol City could still put themselves in a primary position via running development centres, leagues, extend the community trust coaching - That is not costly. And creating a coaching centre at Ashton Vale - That would carry a significant cost, but would fit into BCFC's pathway / five pillars (??) and create an improvement.
Us being in the Premiership would also go a long way to keep the other sharks away, and the local top talent might be more interested in us.
To a degree. Southampton is a choice for kids not just because of their league status. It is also down to what they offer in the form of 1 - 1 coaching, educational facilities, how from the early ages they are looking to coach kids, and how broadly they are pursuing that aim. The latter is one area where City can improve their pathway to the academy etc.
