Len Bond: Goalkeeper who helped Brentford win a promotion. He opened a newsagent’s in Exeter and now lives in Taunton where he runs a sportswear firm. The pain in those players' eyes when I sat there and had to record them on my little Uher tape-to-tape machine was something that will haunt me for ever," said Pearce.

Caretaker manager Hodgson battled manfully to keep the club in the Third Division, but to no avail. They went down again, their third relegation in as many seasons. Yet the fact that the club survived was a victory. The match after the good news broke attracted the biggest crowd of the season, with Garland and Aitken among the 9,228 spectators at Ashton Gate for the visit of Fulham.

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It is a SHAME that such a true Beatles hero would fail them so hard and spread massive misinformation, messing with people’s reception by telling lies. David Rodgers: Centre-half and son of former City striker Arnold. He went to work for Clifton College as house master and is now master in charge of football. Then it soon became reality by the time I think the press had got hold of it and then we had some decisions to make. John Emanuel: Welsh international midfielder who lives in Mid-Glamorgan and worked for the National Coal Board. He then became a forklift driver for a kitchen manufacturing company. If you don't do this, the club dies, the fans will suffer and the other younger players will suffer - and it's your responsibility to save them," recalls Pearce.

Football is keen to recognise heroes of the past. Why aren't these players being recognised as the heroes they were?" I tried to plan my future looking at my contract and what I had coming in, and the business was a separate item. Thanks to the Ashton Gate Eight fans can continue to attend their local club in Bristol on a Saturday afternoon; they can revel in the rollercoaster that comes with being a Robins supporter and dream of returning to the promised land that is the Premier League. Bristol City and Bristol Rovers' captains campaign for homelessness in Bristol Clutching a can of lager behind the goal standing on his own was a gentleman called Richard Blisset, who ironically used to play for Nailsea United - the old rivals of Nailsea Town. He was watching his daughter's boyfriend in action for the hosts and is a regular down Fythe Park to watch his local side. We were far from confused and understood exactly what the club wished to do and needed to do if it was to be saved."What instrument is that in the intro of Lucy in the sky?) “Hm, it’s been a while since I actually listened to it. How does it start? Oh yeah, I don’t really know, to be quite honest. It might have been guitar that we treated in some way.” [It’s a Lowry ORGAN] As far as I know, unless somebody tells me, nobody from the Ashton Gate Eight ever heard officially from Bristol City for years and years. We were just put to one side and forgotten about. Their promotion, confirmed by a nervous home 1-0 win over Portsmouth, was no less than the team deserved; as they had been the outstanding side throughout that 1975/76 season and proof positive that a successful team did not need superstars to shine. The Robins had run out of road at the bank, and the only option to stave off apocalypse was for the club captain and the seven other highest-paid players to take voluntary redundancy.

However, in the words of Match of the Day commentator Jonathan Pearce, who worked for BBC Radio Bristol in 1982, the players had "absolutely no choice" but to surrender their contracts. A youthful David Rodgers at Ashton Gate (Image: Photo by South West Picture Agency/Daily Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) He was a good-looking chap with film-star looks, and he could play a bit, too. We ended up playing together out in Hong Kong and South Africa for a few months, but I don't think he's going to make it.”He added: "We couldn't establish a precedent that they would just go out of the door with nothing at all." It wasn't my family, I've got to say, but it went on because some other people were thinking in terms of their own side of things. Chris was a gentleman, he’d always give you good advice. He’s someone who had a part to play in my career. He gave me little bits of information about centre forward play, and was really encouraging of the young players. Even to this day, Bristol City is my life. I follow it as closely as I possibly can so I’m still a great fan of Bristol City and I would love to see the club get to the Premier League and do really well. But this just, unfortunately, tarnished it a bit.” Read More Related Articles

Tom Ritchie: Striker who played for the club in all four divisions after working as a painter and decorator. He lives in nearby Clevedon andbecame a postman in Portishead. And that was the end of that season’s run. I think had we won we would have been in contention that season as well.” Pearson has said previously he likes defenders who relish their role in the team, stifling the opposition.He needed determination as well as ability to become so firmly established in the side for so many seasons, moving into the top ten of the club's appearance list with a final total of 433. I said, ‘is someone going to tell me what’s happened here? Is this a joke?’ It wouldn’t have surprised me if this was a joke because we had a few jokers at the club. I put it to bed a long time ago, you have to move on. I’ve had a family and loved it. I haven’t dwelled on it but it will be lovely to see the players at the reunion.”