The Exiled Robin

Bobby Gould talks City, Rovers, the Steve’s Lansdown and Cotterill, Wimbledon and Gareth Bale It’s not often one gets the chance to interview a footballing star, someone who has played at the highest level, won trophies as a manager and become a household name, so when I was offered the chance to interview ex-City player Bobby Gould, I jumped at the chance. Bobby started his career at Coventry City alongside then assistant manager Alan Dicks, before a series of moves every couple of years. He was one of the first ‘nomadic’ footballers, quite uniquely playing for nine different clubs, never playing fewer than 34 games but never more than 82 in any one place. Bobby’s Bristol City career never really got going, despite joining because of the influence of then-manager Alan Dicks who he had played with at Coventry City. “I came down in 1972 from West Bromwich Albion who I thought were going to get relegated, and Alan had been assistant to Jimmy Hill but also played in the res...

With two cup games in four days, I fully expect boss Steve Cotterill to give some of the players who have been on this amazing unbeaten and ever-present run a break and get some of the fringe players involved, with the likes of Adam El Abd, Karliegh Osborne, Greg Cunningham, Marlon Pack, JET & Wesley Burns likely to feature prominently and try to propel City into the next round of the respective competitions. First up is another cup trip to Kent as Gillingham have once again been drawn out of the hat as our opponents, as they were in the league cup last season.   Stu Radnedge spoke to Gills fan James Tong https://twitter.com/jamesthegill to find out more about our potential banana skin. “After scraping our way to a respectable 17 th  place last year after promotion the year before, most fans were hoping for a slight improvement this time around, without necessarily pulling up trees. Reducing the number of goals conceded was a priority – we had the joint 2 nd ...

This new series on The Exiled Robin threatened to come a cropper in its early days with a fixture against Franchise FC, as I wasn't prepared to seek an opinion on a club created in such a fashion.  Not that I doubt that those supporters who follow them do so in the same irrational and desperate manner we all do with our clubs, but the way they came about, with the corresponding direct negative impact on another community-based club, manes they are - ironically enough - disenfranchised from the football community as a whole.  Anyway, as a result I decided to instead focus on their predecessors, a club reborn and one that has found it's way back into the football league for a second time. Chris Lines, (NOT the ex-Gas player, as far as I know!) writes his own blog and occasionally offers his view for the fabulous Two Unfortunates, as well as spending his weekends following the fortunes of AFC Wimbledon. You can follow Chris on Twitter @NarrowtheAngle : ...