And that was the end of that season’s run. I think had we won we would have been in contention that season as well.”

Caretaker manager Hodgson battled manfully to keep the club in the Third Division, but to no avail. They went down again, their third relegation in as many seasons. Yet the fact that the club survived was a victory. The match after the good news broke attracted the biggest crowd of the season, with Garland and Aitken among the 9,228 spectators at Ashton Gate for the visit of Fulham. Gary Collier: Central defender who now lives in Florida and has managed the San Diego Nomads and also coached children at San Diego Soccer Club and Rancho Santa Fe club.

It was a learning curve about what life is all about. It’s what football brings to the community and the lifelong relationship it has with people from the day they’re born to the day they die. We are never so impressionable as when we are young. Early devotions stay with us like first love, never forgotten. He was a boyhood hero from the moment I saw him, with his curly mop of blonde hair, Bristol accent and immaculate moustache of a Victorian cad. But we didn't want Bristol City to go out of business. We were all ardent City fans. We were kids who had grown up and spent all our life at Bristol City so, obviously, we sort of went along with it." I put it to bed a long time ago, you have to move on. I’ve had a family and loved it. I haven’t dwelled on it but it will be lovely to see the players at the reunion.” It wasn't my family, I've got to say, but it went on because some other people were thinking in terms of their own side of things.

It was last season that the club created history by securing promotion to the Western League, 'the invincibles' ending the campaign unbeaten with 25 wins from 30 matches. I looked at it as though, is this going to be the end of my career? It’s not what I planned. Because you knew that if a club of this size was going to the wall, you knew clubs were going to tighten their belts for next season.Having devoted so much time into this book, it’s a way for Matt to indulge in his love for Bristol City given his busy professional and family life: Read More Related Articles His career went from strength to strength. He was referred to as the 'Second Division's Bobby Moore' due to his cool head under pressure and an ability to make things look so easy on the ball. But the tale from behind the scenes is a far less fantastical one - threats to the players and their families, mounting pressure from the local press and the impending possibility of financial collapse.