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| - Bristol City Football Club is the sole football league club in Bristol, England. Their ground is at Ashton Gate, located in the southwest of the city. They play in Sky bet league One, the third tier in the English football league system. They were promoted to the Football League Championship in the 2006–07 season after finishing second in League One but failed to make a second consecutive promotion to the Premier League after they were defeated 0-1 by Hull City in the 2008 Football League Championship play-off Final at Wembley Stadium. Bristol City won the Welsh Cup – despite being an English club – in 1934. In 1907 they finished runners-up in Football League Division One, which is their highest ever final position. In 1909 they lost the FA Cup final to Manchester United, their only final. Since relegation in 1911, however, they only returned to the top division from 1976 to 1980 and did not contend for any honours then. In 1982, Bristol City became the first English club to suffer three consecutive relegations. By 1990 after going bankrupt and failing to pay their debts they were back in the old Second Division. Another relegation followed in 1995, when City finished second from bottom in the new Football League Division One and a return to that division three years later lasted just one season. Most of their seasons between 1999 and 2006 were spent challenging for promotion in the upper half of the Football League Second Division. The club's nickname is "The Robins", and a robin featured on the club's badge from 1976 to 1994. Official club merchandise, including replica kits, still has a label showing a robin. An attempt by the club to alter the badge was abandoned after it was criticised fiercely by fans. Bristol City play at Ashton Gate Stadium in the Ashton Gate/Bedminster area of the city of Bristol, which has an all-seater capacity of 21,497. Ashton Gate is the only ground in the English football league not to accommodate executive boxes. Bristol had been chosen as a host city for the 2018 World Cup, but England were not awarded host nation status.
- The club were founded in 1982 by a group of disgruntled local muck-hurlers. They were immediately accepted into the third tier of the Fizzy Drinks League, and gained their first promotion two years later. Their first trophy win came in the 85-86 season in the Mickey Mouse Cup with a 1-0 win over rivals Walt Disney Wanderers. Their victory was owing to a late own-goal from Goofy, a player that later signed over to BC. In 1990 they finished second in the Fizzy Drinks League to Bristol Rovers in a season which included a 4-0 loss to their Bristol rivals -- thanks to a hat-trick from City fan Marcus Stewart. Oh the irony. The team remained mediocre until 2004. That year they reached the play-off final before bottling it against Brighton and Hove Albion -- although, to be fair, they were playing against two teams at once. More recently they beat local rivals Bristol Rovers, a famous win, highlighting the differences in the quality between leagues. They have had further success in the Mickey Mouse cup with a win over another local organisation, the German National team. The Germans choked when the team was struck by lightning; police later found the team captain four meters up a plane tree with a sheep in his arms. In 2008, plans were announced to relocate to a brand new, 80,000 all-seater stadium at Ilminster Avenue, in Knowle West, a pleasant, leafy, Bristol suburb. The site was chosen for its proximity to City's traditional fan base, plus the excellent public transport infrastructure and plentiful supply of recreational drugs and prostitution.
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