New football season kicks off in Bristol tomorrow
Posted on: 04 Aug 2017Both Bristol City and Bristol Rovers begin their league campaigns on Saturday (5th September), with games against Barnsley and Charlton Athletic respectively.
.jpg "Football")
Few weekends in the sporting calendar bring more widespread excitement than the beginning of a new Football League season. After the weeks of transfer gossip, form speculation and whimsical conjecture with which fans must amuse themselves in the long summer break, things get back underway proper tomorrow with a big hit of footballing action.
The packs have been shuffled, dice have been rolled and the talking is done – tomorrow paper is swapped for pitch as the new Championship, League One and League Two seasons get underway. And both Bristol City and Bristol Rovers are involved.
City open their Championship season with a stern test as they welcome Barnsley to Ashton Gate in a 3pm kick off. Heading into their third term in the Coca Cola Championship, the Robins will look to consolidate a 17th-placed finish last time around, though will have to do it without talismanic striker Tammy Abraham, who scored 26 goals in his year-long loan at City.
.jpg "Bristol Rovers")
Rovers, meanwhile, make the trip to The Valley to take on Charlton Athletic in Sky Bet League One. The escalatory form of Bristol Rovers in recent seasons has been pretty extraordinary. Between 2014-2016 the Pirates gained back-to-back promotions, sending them into League One for the first time last season – and though they were unable to make it a hat trick of consecutive advancements, a top half finish is not to be sniffed at. Having had a taste of life in the third tier of English football, the coming season represents the perfect chance for Rovers to make a concerted bid to reach the Championship – and perhaps join arch rivals Bristol City.
To buy tickets to City’s clash with Barnsley, click here. For a full list of Rovers’ fixtures, click here.
Article by:
An ardent Geordie minus the accent, Sam seemingly strove to get as far away from the Toon as possible, as soon as university beckoned. Three undergraduate years at UoB were more than ample time for Bristol (as it inevitably does) to get under his skin, and so here he remains: reporting, as Assistant Editor, on the cultural happenings which so infatuated him with the city. Catch him at sam@365bristol.com.
