Ashton Gate Eight....and TUFC

Yes, that's right, Rodgers and Tainton joined Torquay United almost immediately after leaving Ashton Gate.

It was an affair that illustrated the folly of a football club placing too many players on long contracts at too high a wage. Although certain players may have been worth that wage at the start of their contracts City were hit by players losing form, fitness (and value) as the club went through three successive relegations. As the article says, Bristol City nearly went to the wall early in 1982.

Of the "Eight", Garland, Merrick and Marshall were hardly playing any football at the time they left City. Then, once the deal was done, neither Merrick nor Garland played in the Football League again. As for the others, Tainton and Rodger's short-term experiences at Plainmoor were typical of the whole group because the six together didn't play another hundred league games between.

As an aside, one beneficiary was Russell Musker who became a first-team regular with Bristol City after the Eight had gone.

The caption from the Herald Express centenary supplement says it's Gerry Sweeney of Bristol City on the left. But who is the geezer in the Torquay United strip?

One Fulham no. 6 paying tribute to another Fulham no. 6.