Editing Bristol City F.C. (section)

===Financial difficulties and revival (1980–2000)===
In 1980, the City team went back to the Second Division in the first of three relegations, their debt mounted and their financial losses increased, with two successive relegations following. Thus, in 1982, they fell into the [[Football League Fourth Division|Fourth Division]], and were declared bankrupt. A new club was formed<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bcfc.co.uk/fanzone/club-history/potted-history/|title=Club Legends|website=Bristol City|access-date=10 May 2018|archive-date=7 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180507100228/https://www.bcfc.co.uk/fanzone/club-history/potted-history/|url-status=dead}}</ref> and BCFC (1982) Ltd acquired the club's player contracts. The highly paid senior players Julian Marshall, [[Chris Garland]], [[Jimmy Mann (footballer)|Jimmy Mann]], [[Peter Aitken]], [[Geoff Merrick]], [[David Rodgers]], [[Gerry Sweeney]] and [[Trevor Tainton]], who became known as the 'Ashton Gate Eight', each accepted termination of his contract for half the amount due. The club's previous owners had failed to pay its debts to many local businesses. The resulting ill will towards the club made it difficult for the new owners to obtain credit.

City spent two seasons in the Fourth Division before winning promotion under [[Terry Cooper (footballer, born 1944)|Terry Cooper]] in 1984. They consolidated themselves in the Third Division during the latter part of the 1980s, and in 1990 Cooper's successor [[Joe Jordan (footballer)|Joe Jordan]] achieved promotion as Third Division runners-up to local rivals Bristol Rovers.

There was a tragedy for the club, however, in that promotion campaign. In March 1990, two months before the club sealed promotion, striker [[Dean Horrix]] was killed in a car crash barely two weeks after joining the club, and having played three league games for them.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.royals.org/deano.html|title=Hob Nob Anyone? – Reading FC – The Royals – Articles}}</ref>

Jordan moved to [[Heart of Midlothian F.C.|Heart of Midlothian]] in September 1990, and his successor [[Jimmy Lumsden]] remained in charge for 18 months before making way for [[Denis Smith (footballer, born 1947)|Denis Smith]]. Smith's first signing was the 20-year-old [[Arsenal F.C.|Arsenal]] striker [[Andy Cole]]. He was sold to Newcastle United in February 1993 and later played for Manchester United, where he collected five [[Premier League]] titles, two [[FA Cup]]s and the [[UEFA Champions League|European Cup]].

Meanwhile, City remained in the new [[Football League First Division|Division One]] (no longer the Second Division after the creation of the Premier League in 1992) and Smith moved to [[Oxford United F.C.|Oxford United]] in November 1993. His successor was [[Russell Osman]]. In January 1994 Osman led City to a shock 1–0 victory over [[Liverpool F.C.|Liverpool]] at [[Anfield]] in a third round replay in the FA Cup, a result that would cause the Liverpool manager at the time, [[Graeme Souness]], to resign. Osman was sacked within a year of taking charge.

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

Jordan remained at the helm for two seasons after City's relegation, but left in March 1997 after failing to get them back into Division One. Former Bristol Rovers manager [[John Ward (footballer, born 1951)|John Ward]] took over, and achieved promotion in 1998 as Division Two runners-up. But City struggled back in Division One, and Ward stepped down in October 1998 to be succeeded by [[Benny Lennartsson]], their first non-British manager. City were relegated in bottom place and Lennartsson was dismissed in favour of [[Gillingham F.C.|Gillingham]]'s [[Tony Pulis]], who lasted six months before leaving to take over at Portsmouth. During his time at Ashton Gate he was manager of perhaps the worst City side since the one that completed a hat-trick of successive relegations almost 20 years earlier.

Coach Tony Fawthrop took over until the end of the season, when [[Danny Wilson (footballer, born 1960)|Danny Wilson]] was appointed. Wilson was arguably the most prominent manager to take charge of a City side since [[Denis Smith (footballer, born 1947)|Denis Smith]], as he had guided [[Barnsley F.C.|Barnsley]] to promotion to the Premier League in 1997 and [[Sheffield Wednesday F.C.|Sheffield Wednesday]] to a 12th-place finish in 1999.