Bristol Your City
I'd like to take this opportunity to welcome Martin
jol and his Ajax club to Ashton Gate for this
evening's pre-season friendly.
I'm sure this is Martin's first time back in England
since leaving Tottenham Hotspur. Many Spurs fans
felt he was unlucky during his time at White Hart
Lane and should perhaps still be there. The fact he
has moved to join clubs of the pedigree of Hamburg
and now Ajax certainly says something for him.
We certainly wish Martin and his team good luck for
the coming season in Holland.
Tonight is a highly prestigious game for us here
at Ashton Gate and it represents a good test for our
players.
The one thing these teams do well is retain
possession of the ball, and if you give it away you may
never get it back, such is the skill in their squad.
Our challenge tonight is to retain possession well
ourselves and give a formidable side like Ajax a problem.
It's certainly nice to get a home game in so early during
pre-season, and I'm sure there will be a good attendance and
atmosphere tonight.
Win, lose or draw, there's still plenty of pre-season to go, and
plenty of time to maintain our form or improve on it.
Our new players have settled in very well, I'm delighted to
report. People always ask will there be any more signings and we
always respond with the same answer - we are always looking to
improve our squad, and we will continue to try to do that.
However, this is our squad at the present time; they've worked
very hard up until now and I believe we're on schedule to ready
for the new season's big kick-off on August 8th at Preston.
I welcome back our fans to Ashton Gate and trust you will enjoy
this evening's entertainment.
Finally tonight represents the launch of Bristol's bid to host World
Cup football in 2018.
I very much hope Bristol becomes a host city if England and the
FA win the right to host the tournament.
Although it seems a long way off, it will soon come around
and for our city to play a major role in a World Cup would be
absolutely fantastic and would certainly live-on long in the
memory.
I've seen the plans for the new stadium and the work and
thought that's gone into it. It will be a fitting venue not just for
our club, but for the number one football tournament in the world.
