Adventures in Football #114: Ashton Gate (Bristol City) 

 

FEBRUARY 21, 2025 

 

BRISTOL CITY vs. MIDDLESBROUGH (Championship) 

 

54/92 

 

Those keen eyed among you may have noticed the number for this is wrong. “What happened to #113” I hear you cry? Well, sirs, I went to Banbury in November last year. I went with my wife, Maria, and we decided to go exploring around Banbury a little bit and we did some geocaching. Long story short, we missed kick off. It wasn’t so much the activities beforehand but rather the construction around the ground. So, we got there around 15:05 and missed a goal. I was a bit peeved at missing kick off so didn’t do the write up. But two takeaways; 1. Banbury are shite. They were dreadful. 2. I got to draw the 50-50. Which was quite fun. Anyway, let’s bring it forward to now. 

 

I’m meeting Mike Kilby for this game. It’s our first trip together since a trip to Scotland waaaay back in July. A cup game at St Johnstone before the English season had even kicked off. He bagged us tickets for Bristol City and it’s a Friday night game. The idea is to head into Bristol, have a mooch around, and then watch the football. The game ticket was £35, the train ticket to get there was £17.50. I left the house around 9am because I don’t trust the UK’s rail network to get me there and always leave earlier than I’m supposed to.  

 

The trip is a smooth one. I’m not used to going to Bristol but rather stopping my southbound journey around Worcester or Cheltenham usually. I got to eyeball some new countryside. Which in turn is good for my Geoguessr training. I think. I got into Bristol and hunted out Left Handed Giant’s brewpub, which provided me with a few smashing beers. Mike meets me there and we have some pizza, which is vegan because everyone in Bristol is woke.  

The hotel we’ve booked for this is outside of Bristol because the game finishes at 10pm and we aren’t going to hit the town that late at night. Mike has provided some beers and we’ll be tucking into those later on. Next door to the hotel is a KFC, so that’s dinner sorted too. Having had lunch, we stroll around for a bit and cross the river (the Avon) a lot.  

After a few hours of strolling around it’s off to Filton’s finest Premier Inn. Where you can get a room for £53. The room by the centre of Bristol is A HUNDRED AND FIFTY FUCKING POUNDS. An extortionate amount. It’s a Premier Inn, for fuck’s sake, where is that money going? Once we’ve dumped the bags off, it’s back into Bristol, and under the Clifton Suspension Bridge (the picture didn’t come out because it was dark, but it looked sick).  

 

Our parking spot for Bristol City is at Mardyke Wharf, which is, according to Mike, the noise a Bristol dog makes. WHARF, WHARF, WHARF. It’s a small car park, which has about a dozen spaces, but we secure one and stroll over to the ground. There’s been a lot of strolling. I ended up topping 20,000 steps on the day. We walk the mile to the ground, once again crossing the Avon, and going through a pitch-black park. There are no lights in the park because of light pollution and all of Bristol’s hippies want to smoke weed and watch the stars. So, anyone who wants to walk to the football has to suffer rolled ankles. 

We arrive at the ground, and it doesn’t look like much from the outside. You can barely see the lights from the park, which is next to it, and there’s a lot of housing obstructing views of the ground. By the time we get close enough to see it, we’re basically in the wings of the stadium. So far, it’s unimpressive. I pick up a program for £4, getting rid of some loose change in the process. The program is called “CIDEREDS”. They do love some scrumpy around here.  

The outside does start to come into its own with the various stalls. There was a bunch of street food and a band, in dungarees, singing some country inspired twaddle. Sorry lads, that’s not my bag. We scan ourselves into the ground and suddenly Ashton Gate goes from “meh” to “holy shit”. Just look at this fucking concourse lads.  

The majority of Premier League grounds don’t have a concourse this good. It is elite. Wonderful art and inspirational tales of Bristol City’s past adorn the walls. It makes the club feel far more important and interesting than anything I’d ever read about them before. All of a sudden, just like the flick of a light switch, I am all in.  

We head to the seats and Mike has bought seats directly behind the goal. This can always go one of two ways. Either the entire game happens at the other end of the pitch, and you can’t see anything, or it’s phenomenal and everything happens right in front of you. I will check back in on that later to tell you how it panned out. 

Due to our close promixity to the pitch I find myself slapping hands with the mascots, Red and Robyn. That’s a first. Let’s not dwell on why a bird has hands though. Bristol City attempt a pre-match light show. It’s absolutely shit and the fans, the ultras away in the corner to our right, loudly chant and boo through it. They’re not into it. At least the music is good to accompany it; AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck”. After that we hear Bristol City’s shit theme music. Mike is a huge fan of crappy football songs and is very into it.  

 

Among the front row gang for tonight’s game are two Spanish lads, who look very cold (I’m wearing a t-shirt). Off to my left is a guy with a strong Bristolian accent and another bloke who spends the 30:00 prior to kick off eating a Tupperware full of pasta with a fork. He gets through about six hot chocolates’ during the game too. I do love a character or two at the football. 

 

The ultras corner, which I neglected to take a picture of (sorry) are in fine voice. They’re fired up and while the constant singing could be an issue they vary their songs and ideas and are an excellent example of how the flag waving, drum banging section can work effectively.  

 

The tale of tonight’s game is of one Tommy Conway. A former Bristol City youth prospect who left the club to sign for Middlesbrough. The £4.5M transfer seems to have left a sour taste in Bristolian mouths and they fucking hate him. Due to his cocky behaviour during the game, I soon find myself joining in while City fans call him a wanker.  

 

Bristol City play some excellent free-flowing football and regularly get in and around the Boro box. It feels like they will just score at some point, but the goal never comes. Instead, it’s Middlesbrough who take the lead. Former Leicester striker Kelechi Ihenacho cuts in from the right wing and shoots. The shot is saved but it breaks loose to, who else, Tommy Conway who has a tap in for 0-1. The wanker. 37’ played. 

Not content with scoring against his former club he goes over to the ultra’s and celebrates in front of them by putting his fingers in his ears. The abuse gets much louder after that. Conway doesn’t help himself here. It’s clear he feels no concern for his former club. There’s an unwritten rule where if you score against your old club, you don’t celebrate. Tevez never celebrated against West Ham. Richarlison has never celebrated scoring against Everton. Conway? Wanker. 

 

The crowd serenade him by singing the Cranberrie’s “Zombie”. “We’re in your head, in your head, Conway, Conway, Conway”. The pasta lad excuses himself and comes back with a pair of hot chocolates in his hands. “Bournville handcuffs” as Mike notes. We go into half time and Bristol City trail, but they’ve been the better team and will feel aggrieved.  

 

The second half sees City attacking our goal and Middlesbrough keeper Mark Travers starts to come in for some flak. “HERE IT COMES TRAVERS”. “YOU’RE IN TROUBLE TRAVERS”. “YOU’VE FUCKED IT UP TRAVERS”.  

The second half sees more Bristol City domination in front of goal. I’ve circled our location on this replay. Mike’s red Dr Pepper hat making his location easier to pin down. City’s second half subs change the game. Winger Yu Hirakawa and midfielder George Earthy in particular. Yu makes a nuisance of himself down the right, Boro can’t clear and Earthy slots home in the middle. 72’. 1-1. Game on.  

 

Earthy strikes again when a free kick comes back off the bar. A few free kicks had caused Middlesbrough issues, but this one breaks the deadlock. 82’. 2-1 and City deserved to be in front. Our neighbours tell Travers he’s to blame for this. Three goals and they’ve all been tap ins into an empty net.  

In a sensational piece of banter, Earthy’s goal celebration is to mimic Conway’s “fingers in ears” moment from the first half. Same corner of the pitch. Excellent work. The ultras, who never stopped singing, are now beside themselves with joy. “Conway, what’s the score?” Having amused themselves by abusing Conway for a while, they switch attention to asking other parts of the ground to “bounce around”. It’s a fantastic bit. Crowd are fully invested in it. When requested, I bounce around.  

 

21,854 people just having a lovely time. Mike’s only criticism is people bringing kids to the football on a Friday night. “Friday night is for grown-ups and pints”. As we head out of Ashton Gate I’m left with one thought; this is a proper club with proper fans. I kinda loved it. 

 

FINAL SCORE: BRISTOL CITY 2 MIDDLESBROUGH 1 

And here are the scores! 

 

ATMOSPHERE: 

Banging. There was a lot of grumbling and complaining. A lot of passes went astray during one section of the match and the players probably could have used more support. Otherwise, the fans were brilliant. The ultra section was stunning, but the noise was coming from all over the ground. I love that level of passion. **** 

 

COST: 

£35 feels a bit steep but, on the other hand, it is a Premier League standard of ground. It just doesn’t have a Premier League team playing in it. Ashton Gate, when full, seats 27,000. That’s more than Palace, Fulham etc, etc. But more than that, the feel of the place is Premier League. So, I guess it’s not that bad. *** 

 

QUALITY: 

Both teams played expansive, attacking football and the game benefitted from the open approach. Bristol City were the better team, but it takes two to tango and Michael Carrick’s boys came and had a go. The story of the match is pure Hollywood and made it far more enjoyable. **** 

 

EASE OF ACCESS: 

The ground is two miles from Bristol Temple Meads, the main hub of Bristol’s train network. There’s nothing nearby. There are buses that will limit the trip to about 30 minutes but that’s about as good as it gets. Plus the parks around the ground are BLACK at night. You can’t see shit. **½  

 

MISC: 

The use of murals and artwork inside the concourses to demonstrate the history of the club was very impressive. It’s the kind of thing you want from a big club (Man Utd, Arsenal etc) but if you get it from a lesser club with lesser history it’s very impressive. The thought that has gone into Ashton Gate makes it feel like a great ground. Most impressively, it feels like a new build but has been there since 1887. **** 

 

OVERALL: 17.5 

A commendable score from a stadium I really enjoyed being in. It comes in with the same score as Charlton and Plymouth, which are other stadiums I really enjoyed. It’s easily the best stadium I’ve been to this season, pipping PSV’s women’s ground, which scored 16.5. Whats more is it’s completely changed my opinion of Bristol City as a club.  

With that said and done, thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time when I’m at Newport County.