Ashton Gate Eight midfielder gives his advice to Bristol City’s young players for how to get promoted

Bristol City’s record appearance holder Louis Carey paid tribute to Ashton Gate Eight member Gerry Sweeney this weekend when Carey revealed at the special Friday night dinner that he was set to be released by City at the age of 16 until Sweeney intervened.

Carey took that second chance in his teenage years, following Sweeney’s help, and the defender went on to amass 646 games for the Robins. One game more than the great John Atyeo, whose statue greets visitors to the stadium approaching the South and Lansdown Stands.

But third on that list of all-time greats is Trevor Tainton, a Bristolian who covered plenty of miles in the middle for the West Country men in a career that ran from 1967-1982.

Of course, that mileage ended in the early 1980s with the tearing up of Tainton’s playing contract. A selfless act, which along with seven other players - celebrated in style this past few days - enabled the club to go on and start again after financial mismanagement had led City to the edge of the precipice.

“It wasn’t an easy decision at the time. We only had two decisions to make. That was the main one: saving the club from going under, and us as an eight looking after our families and making sure that everything was okay at home,” explained Tainton, who can rightly be acclaimed as Bristol City royalty.

Tainton, who went on to play at Torquay United and Trowbridge Town after leaving Bristol City, eventually had to return to working life, and he worked at Oldbury Nuclear Power Station for 26 years “working 12-hour shifts”, which puts things in some perspective.

Football today is much different to that of 40 years ago, of course and Tainton highlighted one aspect in particular that he would have relished back in the ‘70s and ‘80s.

The Lansdown family have generously underwritten the building of top class facilities, and the hope is that more local talent will now flourish in BS, like in Tainton’s day as the club was promoted to the English top tier.

“We had a smashing day yesterday up at the High Performance Centre. And to see something like that, with all of the staff invited to welcome us in for the day, and they were really, really friendly with us,” he said.

“One thing that stood out from our day and their day now is what they’ve got now. What they’ve got up at the High Performance Centre is a bit special.

“I started here [at Ashton Gate] and there was an old wooden stand over there by the Dolman Stand, and I used to sweep that out as an apprentice going back to my early days here. What a difference it is here now,” he said. “Smashing stadium.”

As to the current side, Bristol City remain the first team that Tainton looks out for on a Saturday at at 4.50pm and he attends as many games as he can, including reuniting with his former team-mates.

We ask if City need a Gow-like menace in the middle currently, and also how the current generation can make the jump forward to get promotion like Tainton and his teammates did. The dressing room is key.

“Gerry would be worth an absolute fortune these days,” says Tainton, who played locally for the Imperial Bristol team after his professional days ended. “He was one of the best players I played with. Quite a player.

“It’s a hard, hard job to get into that Premier League, but hopefully some of the younger lads coming through at the moment - they look very promising - they can go on and have a career like I did,” said the player of 581 games for his home city.

“I would always say that the team spirit that we had was something special in those days. You could look all the way around the dressing room and we had characters.

“We had a real good blend of players. We had everything that everything in that squad that we needed in the ‘70s. And that was one of the biggest things that took us to the old first division,” he explained.

A nervy final league season game against Portsmouth was won by Clive Whitehead’s single goal, and that was enough to see City go up in 1976.

Manager Alan Dicks had been given the time to grow, it took nine years before success, and he rewarded Bristol City by piloting a side to the top division.

“Alan was the main guy at the time. He was a good character to have around and he treated us all well,” said Tainton.

“He did a really good job with not a lot of money to spend. And he got us into the old first division.”

Sound familiar? Nigel Pearson will hope to do likewise if given time to work too.