live soccer tv: Bristol City live

English FA Cup
England

The FA Cup, 1 of the 2 English Cup fights.

Bristol City vs Cardiff City

Match scheduled:
Date: 02-01-2010
Time: 12:30 until 14:30
The Third Round - Proper games :: The FA Cup 2009/2010 :: Bet365/Betfair not in the UK and Ireland!

Jordan moved to Heart of Midlothian in September 1990, and his successor Jimmy Lumsden remained in charge for 18 months before making way for Denis Smith. Smith's first signing was the 20-year-old Arsenal striker Andy Cole, who was an instant hit with fans and quickly established himself as one of the finest goalscoring talents ever to wear a Bristol City shirt. But he was sold to Newcastle United in February 1993 and later established himself as a world class goalscorer, most prominently with Manchester United, where he collected five Premier League titles, two FA Cups and the European Cup.

Meanwhile, City remained in the new Division One (no longer the Second Division after the creation of the Premier League in 1992) and Smith moved to Oxford United in November 1993. His successor Russell Osman was sacked within a year, being a very unpopular figure with fans. One of Osman's few successful moments with City came in January 1994 when he led them to a shock 1-0 victory over Liverpool in the third round of the FA Cup.

Joe Jordan was brought back to Ashton Gate in September 1994, but was unable to prevent relegation to Division Two.

Pitch invasion at Ashton Gate after securing promotion

Johnson arrived in September 2005, making the move from Yeovil Town, with whom he had gained two promotions. His first game in charge (only hours after meeting the squad) saw City win away at Brentford 3-2. After a short spell of decent results, City were plunged into the relegation mire, enduring a club record of nine successive defeats, leaving them at the foot of League One. Much criticism was aimed at Gary Johnson at this time; the Chairman of Bristol City Supporters Club labelled him a 'Conference Manager' and contended that he was 'totally out of his depth'. The run was brought to an end with a 2-0 victory at home to Huddersfield on 10 December. City then lost just three of their next 16 games, and this fine run of form was capped with a 6-0 win over Gillingham, in which defender Louis Carey scored a brace. This was City's largest league win since late 1969, and was an encouraging sign of things to come, although they didn't quite make playoffs in 2006.

Club badge used for the 2007–08 season

Having sold his interests in Wimbledon, Sam Hammam purchased control of Cardiff City in August 2000, for a sum believed to be in the region of £11.5 million. Sam Hammam quickly picked up where he left off with the Crazy Gang. Shortly after taking over at Cardiff, Hammam controversially pledged to get the entire Welsh nation to support Cardiff by renaming the club "The Cardiff Celts" and changing the club colours to green, red and white. However, after lengthy talks with senior players and fans, Sam Hammam decided that the best policy was not to change the name of the club; however the club crest was redesigned. This new design incorporated the Cardiff City mascot Bartley the Bluebird, in front of the Flag of Saint David; and featured the Club's nickname superimposed at the top of the crest. Lennie Lawrence guided Cardiff to promotion via a Division Two playoff triumph in 2003 against Queens Park Rangers Cardiff City finished in 6th position and played Bristol City in the Division Two playoff semi-finals. On May 10, 2003; Cardiff City beat Bristol City 1–0 on aggregate, having won the match at Ninian Park 1–0 , and drawing the away leg 0–0 on 13 May 2003. Queens Park Rangers drew with Oldham Athletic away from home 1–1 on 10 May 2003, before claiming the advantage at Loftus Road on 14 May 2003; going through to the playoff final with a 2–1 aggregate victory.

Cardiff City playing against Nottingham Forest during the 2008–09 season

The new ownership has brought a degree of stability back to the club. After being £40 million in debt, most of which has been cleared, Cardiff City will hopefully be playing for years to come. Despite a promising start to the 2006–07 season, when Cardiff were early season pace-setters, a miserable run of form towards the end of the season was responsible for causing Cardiff to plummet down the table; finally finishing with 64 points and 13th position.

The Cardiff City manager, Dave Jones promised a clear-out during the summer holidays, with around 17 players being shown the exit door, either by contract termination, transfer to another club or no contract extension. Although many may have considered Cardiff to be worthy promotion contenders, their lack of top-class training facilities, an over reliance on Michael Chopra and a small squad cost them dear.

The club added several big name signings in the likes of Robbie Fowler, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Trevor Sinclair for the 2007–08 season but a mediocre start to the season saw them hovering above the relegation zone by mid November, before they managed to pull themselves out of a possible relegation battle to become one of the form teams in the division by January as they sat on the brink of a play-off place, settling into a mid-table place by early March. The season was boosted by Cardiff reaching the semi-final of the FA Cup for the first time in 81 years after beating Middlesbrough 2–0 on 9 March. After coming through their semi-final against Barnsley with a 1–0 win at Wembley Stadium on 6 April with a goal from Joe Ledley,^[9] eventually lost 1–0 to Portsmouth in the final.

The front of Ninian Park

Cardiff's first ground was at Sophia Gardens recreational park where they played from their founding in 1899 until 1910^[21] when, due to the lack of facilities at the ground and the increasing amount of support for the club, Bartley Wilson contacted Bute Estate, who owned large amounts of Cardiff at the time, in an attempt to find land suitable for building a stadium. They eventually agreed on an area of waste ground on Sloper Road. The land was a former rubbish tip and required extensive work to get a playable surface, but with the assistance of Cardiff Corporation and volunteers the work was completed. The ground was originally to be known as Sloper Park but was instead named after Lord Ninian Crichton-Stuart, who was a large force in helping the club get the ground built, and became Ninian Park.

English Coca Cola Championship
England

The English Coca Cola Championship is the 2nd league in England behind the big EPL. Ofcourse it's interesting to watch the teams that might be promoted to the Premier League.

Queens Park Rangers vs Bristol City

Match scheduled:
Date: 26-12-2009
Time: 13:00 until 15:00
Week 23 :: English Championship 2009/2010 :: Bet365/Betfair don't have the tv rights for the UK, Ireland, China and Middle East

In 1980 Terry Venables took over as manager and the club installed a 'plastic pitch'. In 1982 QPR, still playing in the Second Division, reached the FA Cup Final for the only time in the club's history, facing holders Tottenham Hotspur. Tottenham won 1–0 in a replay. The following season 1982–83 QPR went on to win the Second Division championship and returned to English football's top division. After a respectable fifth place finish, and UEFA Cup qualification, the following year, Venables departed to become manager of Barcelona. Over the next seven years, various managers came and went from Loftus Road and the club spent many seasons finishing mid table but avoided relegation. The most successful season during this period was the 1987–88 season in which QPR finished fifth, missing out on a UEFA Cup campaign due to the ban on English clubs in European competition as a result of the Heysel Stadium disaster. They were also runners up in the 1986 League Cup, losing to Oxford United.

Old logo used from the 1980s until 2008

Gerry Francis, a key player in the 1970s QPR side who had proved himself as a successful manager with Bristol Rovers, was appointed manager in the summer of 1991. In the 1991–92 First Division campaign they finished mid-table in the league and were founder members of the new Premier League which began in 1992. Francis oversaw one of QPR's most famous victories, the 4–1 win at Old Trafford in front of live TV on New Years Day 1992. They finished the first Premier League season in fifth place, and in the following season Francis guided them to a ninth place finish. Midway through the 1994–95 season Francis resigned and very quickly became manager of Tottenham Hotspur and Ray Wilkins was installed as player-manager. Wilkins led QPR to an eighth place finish in the Premiership. In July 1995 the club's top goalscorer, Les Ferdinand, was sold for a club record fee of £6 million to Newcastle United.

QPR's struggled in the following season and were relegated at the end of the 1995–96 season. QPR then competed in Division 1 until 2001 under a succession of managers. Gerry Francis returned in 1998, however the 2000–2001 season proved to be a disaster, and Francis resigned in early 2001. Charismatic former player Ian Holloway became manager but was unable to stop Rangers from being relegated to England's third tier for the first time for more than thirty years. Following the 2003–2004 season QPR returned to Division 1 and struggled for consistent form over the next two campaigns before Holloway was suspended amidst rumours of his departure for Leicester City. A poor series of results and lack of progress at the club saw Holloway's successors Gary Waddock and later John Gregory (both former players) fail to hold on to the manager's job.

Pitch invasion at Ashton Gate after securing promotion

Despite a slow start to the following season, which saw a vocal minority of fans calling for Johnson to be sacked after a 4-2 home defeat by Blackpool(who were eventually also promoted), City were in the top six of League One by November and at the end of the month began an 11-match unbeaten run which drove them to the top of the division. They also hit the headlines with an impressive FA Cup run, being knocked out in the 4th round on penalties after a replay in which they held Premiership side Middlesbrough to a 2-2 draw in both ties. They knocked out Championship side Coventry City in the 3rd round. They also reached the Southern Area Final of the Johnstone's Paint Trophy, but were knocked out over two legs by local rivals Bristol Rovers after a 0-0 draw at Ashton Gate and a Rickie Lambert goal condemned the Robins to a 1-0 aggregate defeat in the 2nd leg. Promotion to the Championship was confirmed on the final day of the season with a 3-1 win over doomed Rotherham. David Noble scored two goals and Alex Russell scored once, securing runners-up place in the division and resulting in automatic promotion and joyous scenes of celebration in the city and even more so on the pitch at the full time whistle.2007-08 is the first season in almost a decade that has seen Bristol City playing at this level of English football.