'Fans struggle to understand where City are going'

I walked into Ashton Gate for the very first time on 25 March 1967. It was my 11th birthday "treat".

The opponents were Birmingham City and we won the game 3-1. So began my love affair with this football club which has now endured an incredible 59 years.

Why City, not Rovers? I guess living in Nailsea, I was the right side of town and my father was a Bedminster boy, although he had no interest in football whatsoever.

My teenage years were spent watching City slowly build - with a few dips along the way - a team that could reach the promised land of Division One.

Manager Alan Dicks was afforded a timeline that would be unthinkable these days, although he came close to being sacked more than once.

We finally made it by beating Portsmouth 1-0 on 20 April 1976. I was there that night almost 50 years ago and climbed over the back wall of the Grand Enclosure to be within touching distance of my heroes who were taking the adulation of fans as they emerged from the dressing room into the directors' box.

I was there four months later at Highbury on one of those hot summer days we had in 1976, stood with thousands of City fans at the Clock End as Paul Cheesley's powerful header gave us a 1-0 victory over Arsenal.

It was one of those rare days where expectations were exceeded.

I consider myself very lucky to have experienced the following four seasons when we did OK at English football's top table.

The fall was rapid and the circumstances leading to the Ashton Gate Eight saga are still in the memory.

I was there that cold January day in 1982 as we travelled the short distance to Newport County to watch what would have been City's last game had those eight players not made the ultimate sacrifice of tearing up their contracts.

Relegation to the fourth tier was inevitable and, for a couple of weeks in December 1982, City hit absolute rock bottom as they fell to 92nd in the Football League.

The climb back up the league ladder was led by Terry Cooper who, in the midst of his time in charge, gave the club its first ever Wembley appearance in 1986 and victory against Bolton Wanderers.

Joe Jordan finished off Terry's work as he led the team to the second tier in 1989-90, although it was a bittersweet success as we surrendered the title to Bristol Rovers.

We'll never know how far Jordan could have taken the club had he not chosen to return north of the border and take the managerial hot seat at Hearts.

His second spell at the club from 1994 to 1997 ended in failure as City bounced up and down between tiers two and three until Gary Johnson nearly achieved the impossible by reaching the Championship play-off final in 2008.

Bolder investment in the squad in that season's January transfer window may well have secured automatic promotion but by then the club was owned/run by its current custodian Steve Lansdown.

His cautious approach still prevails despite him investing more than £280m in funding losses while, in fairness, building a credible infrastructure.

As City stumbled to defeat against a very poor West Bromwich Albion on Saturday, chants of "I don't care about Lansdown, he don't care about me" were clearly audible around Ashton Gate.

This time it was not just coming from the Burberry-clad teenage set. Many fans, myself included, are currently at a very low ebb when it comes to understanding just where this club is going with the season effectively over in mid-March.

With Championship football guaranteed for a 12th successive season, should we just be thankful for that and pander to those among the fanbase who warn we should be careful what we wish for when calling for a change of ownership to trigger a change of approach?

More of the same is not enough in perpetuity which is where we seem to be heading.

What is the point of having a new sporting director if that individual's plans are thwarted by no upturn in investment?

Do we have to have a reset by getting relegated to League One and bouncing back?

Hoping the stars align one year and we get lucky is not really a plan. I wouldn't mind betting our representative's name was first on the sheet at the EFL meeting where the new eight-team play-off format was approved.

As I enter my 60th season of support, the club can be assured that I will be purchasing my season ticket but it will be interesting to see how many others will by the time we reach 15 August.

You can hear more from David Pottier on the Forever Bristol City podcast, external.