RIP Bobby Jones

Bobby Jones, our manager back in the 80s, has sadly died. He joined the club during the slump which followed the breaking up of the great championship winning team of the late 70s and he endured a pretty tough time as we tried to become a force in the Conference. I guess the highlight was the arrival of Paul Bodin and the fantastic performance at Ashton Gate. I don't remember him being particularly popular but the goings on at the club during that decade would have driven anyone to distraction.

There is a report on the Rovers website...

http://www.bristolrovers.co.uk/news/article/booby-jones-2568103.aspx

Just done a piece for the website and it is interesting to see that despite the difficult end to his time at City he lead the club to four top ten finishes in the Conference, including a best ever 4th in 1984-85. And we would have won the league that season but for a one year experiment with 2 points for a home win and 3 for an away.

Based on that record he has a strong case for being one of the club's most successful managers.

Rip Bobby. We didn't know how good those finishes were in the Conference. Damn that freaky points system in 85.

I looked into this a bit further. It seems the experiment actually ran for a couple of seasons (according to Wikipedia anyway) which is quite bizarre.

I'll write a bit in the programme, with it fitting in with a tribute to Bobby. If anyone wants to include anything please give me a shout, deadline is next Tuesday. I've already obtained a Wealdstone perspective.