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When Bristol City supporters wake up this morning, it will be with an overwhelming sense of pride in their football team.
A League One side before last night's fixture at Bradford City, the Robins came off the pitch having confirmed their Championship status courtesy of a stunning 6-0 victory that will linger long in the memory of all who witnessed it.
After two seasons in the third tier, City are back where their supporters feel they belong, in the Championship and once again living the dream of one-day making it to the Premier League.
Although virtually impossible to envisage when they were rock-bottom of the League One table just 16 months ago, City have since undergone a remarkable transformation in fortunes to achieve a notable lower league double of Johnstone's Paint Trophy and promotion.
While everyone connected with the club, from owner Steve Lansdown and his board of directors to manager Steve Cotterill and his players, deserve credit for the part they have played in a truly wonderful season, it is the fans who should be walking tall today.
Thousands of diehard City supporters lived the dream when the Robins last won promotion to the Championship in 2007 and went on to reach the play-off final at Wembley 12 months later. Their disappointment knew no bounds when Hull won that final to take their place in the top-flight and leave the red half of Bristol's football divide to reflect what might have been.
Several difficult years ensued as City, hampered by spiralling debt and a team that gradually lost its way under a succession of different managers, slipped down the Championship rankings in an inexorable decline that culminated in the pain of relegation two seasons ago.
Worse followed at the start of the 2013/14 campaign when the Robins, with then-head coach Sean O'Driscoll in charge of a young and inexperienced team, plummeted to the foot of the League One table.
Through it all, a hard-core of supporters remained loyal to the club, keeping the faith despite the many trials and tribulations that were sent to try them. No doubt, the 903 hardy souls who made the long trek to Bradford on Tuesday were among them.
It is those same City loyalists who deserve to stand tall, throw back their shoulders, puff out their chests and bask in the glory of a promotion won in style when they arrive in the work-place this morning.
Some have been virtually ever-present both home and away, ploughing their hard-earned cash into following their team the length and breadth of the land, in the process clocking up a monumental number of miles on the nation's motorways.
Those who witnessed last night's incredible 6-0 triumph at Valley Parade will at least be able to say "I was there" to see one of the great nights in this club's recent history. Not only did Cotterill's charges clinch promotion in West Yorkshire, they did it in a style which will make a lasting impression upon all those who were present.
It was a fitting reward for all those who have stood by the club through lean times since defeat in the 2008 play-off final. When the realisation that City are once again a Championship club finally sinks in, those same supporters will begin to look forward to next season with a sense of genuine excitement and anticipation.
And thanks to the unstinting support of majority shareholder Steve Lansdown, who continues to dip into his own personal fortune to finance the club, those supporters can look forward with a sense of optimism that is not at all miss-placed.
Fiercely ambitious, Lansdown will not rest until he has returned City to the top-flight status they enjoyed briefly in the 1970s, and the programme of team rebuilding and squad strengthening that commenced last season will continue apace this summer.
A redeveloped state-of-the-art 27,000 all-seat stadium is in the offing and manager Cotterill and director of football Keith Burt, with Lansdown's backing, are determined to fill it for every home game.
These are exciting times at Ashton Gate and today ought to represent the beginning of a new era in which Bristol holds a more prominent position in the nation's sporting tableau
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