Imagine having to share your ground with your biggest rivals, what a load of bollocks that would be! But Bristol City muppets nearly had to deal with this shit.
Ashton Gate - home to the Robins for over a century
Ashton Gate has been the stomping ground for the Robins for over 120 bloody years. In 2016, the 27,000-seater stadium had a fancy makeover, upping its capacity from 21,000. Big deal.
The grand plans for a new stadium
But before this, the club had their sights set on an even bigger upgrade, in a completely different bloody place. In 2007, they announced plans for a new 30,000-capacity stadium just a kilometre away at Ashton Vale. Estimated to cost a whopping £92million, it was billed as a potential venue for major tournament football as part of England's 2018 World Cup bid, with Bristol chosen as one of the host cities. Flash bastards.
The World Cup dream
Even though the bid was a flop, there were hopes the capacity could be extended to 42,000 had it played host to the huge sporting event. Chairman and owner Steve Lansdown was all optimistic announcing the project at the club's AGM in 2007. He banged on about how "exciting" it was and how they owed it to everyone to build a stadium to be "proud of".
The reality check
But then reality hit. After local residents kicked off about the new site, Bristol City decided to stick with Ashton Gate and spent £45m doing it up instead. This saw three of the ground's original four stands converted into a linked horseshoe-shaped concourse. Fancy.
The sporting hub bollocks
Now, there's more plans to make Ashton Gate a "sporting hub", with work on the "Sporting Quarter" set to begin this year. This includes a new 5,000-seater arena for the city's basketball club, the Bristol Flyers. More money down the drain, if you ask me.
