G is for Gas
by Martin Bull
The season starts in September?Last week I gave an outline of what Gasheads might expect from a season back in League Two. Sadly I didn't have space to add that it is traditional to have a poor opening game, pluckily lose in the First Round of the League Cup to a Championship team, and then see the Mem gate drop by at least 1,000 souls a fortnight later.
I'm not suggesting that Gasheads are fickle, more that there is something about the first home game of a season that brings many casuals and friends to the game, and that the poor performances usually witnessed can hardly encourage them to return quickly. Rovers always seem to be slow starters; in seasons and in each individual game. Maybe it's a rare downside of the laid back Bristolian culture most of us know and love?
In the last 11 seasons we've only won one of our opening fixtures, Paul Buckle's first ever game as manager in August 2012. It was beamed around the world by Sky to capture AFC Wimbledon's first game in the Football League. The AFC incarnation are generally considered to be the spiritual successors of the famed 1889 club who rocked the football world with an FA Cup win in 1988, and 14 consecutive top division seasons despite only being elected to the Football League in 1977. Kevin Keegan would have been proud of the pulsating 3-2 ping-pong match and the utter inability to defend.
Last season's no-score draw opener to Grimsby Town turned out to be a decent result in the long run, and the 7,019 gate was higher than every match in League Two and half the matches in League One, despite being live on TV. This Saturday's loss to Northampton Town attracted 8,712 and was beaten by only two crowds in League One and League Two. I would wager that less than a handful of League Two crowds (bar Portsmouth of course) will top that this entire season.
The crowd against the Mariners was actually our lowest opening day home gate since the famed August 1996 match against Peterborough United which was supposed to be our first ever game at the Memorial Ground, but ended up as our last ever home contest at Twerton Park.
Our average gate for the five opening day home matches since 2004 has been 7,842, and the average of all our last dozen first home League matches of the season, which include three Tuesday night matches, is still an impressive 7,393. The problem though is that the average turnout for the second home League match since 2004 is only 5,918, and that included two bumper crowds against Nottingham Forest (2007) and Southampton (2010 - yes, the game where Saints manager Alan Pardew was sacked afterwards for only murdering us 4-0; meanwhile Rovers shipped in 16 goals in their five games in August).
No-one, literally no-one, can remember the 2-1 loss at Exeter City in August 2013 (Shaquille Hunter came on as sub - enough said); the tame home loss to Oxford United in 2012 was the first of many nails in Mark McGhee's coffin; a 3-0 execution by the Posh at London Road in 2010 gave us an immediate sense of foreboding in what became a relegation season; Leyton Orient said 'thank you very much' in 2009 after taking home a 2-1 win despite Rickie Lambert's goal in his last appearance for Rovers; Carlisle United put three past Steve Phillips in 2008 during a 3-2 win; Andy Williams scored on his debut to rescue a 1-1 draw at Vale Park in 2007; the Posh thrashed us 4-1 in Northamptonshire in 2006, yet we were promoted that season, suggesting that losing to them on first day never leads to a dull season; and Junior Agogo scored against his old club in 2005 to earn us a 1-1 draw at Barnet's quaint old Underhill ground.
So that's one win, three draws, and seven opening day losses since 2005.
I often take solace in life though from knowing that there is always someone worse off than you. Our record is positively superlative compared to that of my best friend's team, Norwich City. No opening day win since 2002, and even that was against a Grimsby Town team who ended up bottom that season whilst plummeting from the Championship to the Conference in a mere eight seasons. And literally EVERYONE on the planet remembers that 7-1 mauling at Carrow Road in August 2009 to neighbouring minnows Colchester United in their first match back in the third tier for half a century. One brave (or foolhardy?) fan threw his brand new season ticket at Bryan Gunn and harrumphed off in a petulant fit not seen since Bonnie Langford's "I'll scream and scream until I'm sick…and I can!" outbursts in Just William. The Canaries went on to win the League that season, so there is clearly no need for panic in our ranks yet.
The First Round of the League Cup shows a similar story, with seven loses in the past 11 outings, five of them 'plucky' defeats to a Championship team. In fact we haven't beaten a team in the same division as us or higher, during normal play since beating newly promoted Brighton & Hove Albion in 2004, courtesy of Lee Thorpe's first Gas cup goal and a pirate poach from Richard Walker on his first Rovers start.
There were real signs of life in the performance against Birmingham City though, and a boisterous atmosphere on the terraces. The lopsided wing-back system didn't seem to click in the first half, as no-one seemed to spot Daniel Leadbitter hugging the touchline, getting lost against the advertising hoardings. It seemed to become a true 3-5-2 formation after the oranges, although the more extroverted we got the more vulnerable we became at the back. Our near misses were eventually punished by a team who seemed to exemplify several aspects of modern football better than we did.
Last season I remarked in this column how tall Rovers were, with several traditionally 'small' positions regularly filled by Tom Lockyer, Lee Brown, Daniel Leadbitter & Andy Monkhouse, all six footers. These days you can maybe get away with a couple of very talented little un's on the pitch but that's about it. Ditto ball-players. Successful modern teams can just about carry a brace of players whose feet are merely there to keep them standing upright and to clog a ball up to a target man precisely every 97 seconds, but apart from the odd old-school centre-back, a crunch tackling central midfielder, and a shambling target man perhaps, they just cannot be tolerated if you want to get higher up the leagues. Most League Two teams won't have enough of them, including us, although I was impressed by the comfort that new signing James Clarke showed on the ball.
When Tyrone Mings moved to the Premier League for £8m after only 49 professional starts, it must have given heart to any ungainly wide player out there who looks like a horse who has mistaken a football pitch for its paddock. Welcome to modern football, where you are expected to defend, win headers, go on galloping runs, score goals, be strong, yet light, possess after-burners and carry a 6' 3" frame around … all at the same time.
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Martin Bull became a Gashead in 1989 and immediately fell in love with Twerton Park, standing near G pillar. In 2006 he wrote, photographed and published the first independent book about the artist Banksy. Having been exiled for much of his past, away games have always been special for him; so much so that with 40 other fans has published a new book about them -
www.awaythegas.org.ukRead more:
www.bristolpost.co.uk/BRISTOL-ROVERS-BLOG-G-Gas-season-started/story-27602704-detail/story.html#ixzz3imsMozIw
