Ahead of tonight's home game with Bristol City, LFW caught up with The Exiled Robin to discuss his team's fine start to the season

How would you assess last season for Bristol City? Having been promoted in such emphatic fashion I was quite surprised you struggled as much as you did…

TER: Yes, so were we. It was very disappointing in the main — the players who had performed so brilliantly took a while to adapt, whilst the manager took even longer and he, ultimately paid the price. We had a shocking summer’s transfer window. Cotterill got starry-eyed with the money available and went chasing Dwight Gayle, Jesse Lingard and Andre Grey, So, we were left with only one permanent signing although in Jonathan Kodjia we got 20 goals and a £10m profit within 12 months so it could have been worse.

To give you a taste of what happened in a microcosm, Luke Freeman had vied with, and possibly surpassed, Dele Alli as League One’s best player the previous season. He was outstanding. Yet he ended last season sitting on the bench in the Championship having failed to make an impact, whilst Alli went to France as first pick with England.


And having won that promotion, Steve Cotterill didn’t even last the whole of the following season, why?

TER: Steve Cotterill kept complete faith with the players who had got us up — rightly, many would argue — but didn’t build a squad around them and the failure to add experience or that little bit of extra quality showed through.

Cotterill also persisted with a 3-5-2 formation which everyone else could see wasn’t working (everyone knew they just had to get in behind our wing-backs) and wouldn’t change it. He wouldn’t bring on substitutes early enough when the game desperately needed it and, worst of all in my book, was so busy stubbornly trying to prove a point about the lack of support he felt he’d got in the transfer market that when we had some injuries, he failed to name some of our promising Academy players on the bench and give them valuable match-day experience and left empty spots instead.

A foul-mouthed bust-up with a fan at the end of one home match seemed to seal his fate. With the money that owner Steve Lansdown has invested in the stadium, the club and the Bristol Sport brand, he wants a positive environment at all times to help achieve a financial return and the boss of the brand’s main club arguing with fans wouldn’t have gone down well.

He was sacked, his assistant John Pemberton took charge with Wade Elliott, and in the first game they changed formation, mixed the team up a bit, played three local lads and one of them scored the goal as we beat then league leaders, Middlesbrough, 1-0. From that moment on we really haven’t looked back — it just showed we had some of the players there to do a job, but for whatever reason Cotterill couldn’t work out how to make it happen at this level.

How did you, and the rest of the fans, greet and assess the appointment of Lee Johnson, because although he was a former City player my recollection is City fans weren’t overly keen on him and tended to think he got in the team through nepotism?

TER: It seems very topical this week but Lee Johnson was very much a Marmite player with City fans, but he was always available for selection. Some really rated him and the quiet job he did, sitting in midfield, taking the ball off the defence and moving it along, but for others he didn’t tackle enough, didn’t score enough and, generally, wasn’t Roy Keane or Frank Lampard so was, therefore, ‘shit’.

I personally have always valued that sort of player — they keep the game moving and keep possession instead of trying too much and losing the ball. Funnily enough Marlon Pack is the equivalent of the current batch and had a similar couple of years of mixed reviews, but under Johnson has come into his own and is now one of the first names on the team sheet in everyone’s view

The reaction to his appointment was quite polarised, more because he wasn’t the big name some fans seem to always want and because he hasn’t won anything than his playing history with us, I believe.

And how has he done so far?

TER: The table tells its own story. We were bottom when Cotterill was sacked, Pemberton and Elliott steadied the ship but Johnson added his own panache and got us comfortably clear by the end of April.

Like his Dad he’s media-friendly. He dresses smartly and he’s always ready with a good one-liner and a quip, and when things are going well that’s the sort of thing the fans love. His Dad’s old songs have been dusted off, the fans are all right behind him and some are even talking about him managing Tammy Abraham for England one day.


£11m in for Kodija, and Abraham to replace him for next to nothing — can you believe your luck?

TER: Not at the moment — Tammy’s grabbed all the headlines, has scored a lot of goals, and won us a lot of points already, but if you cast thoughts forward a few months, Kodjia will still be scoring goals for Aston Villa in the Championship next season (unless someone buys him) and Abraham will be with someone like Newcastle or Everton in the Premier League.

That sort of fee wasn’t even being dreamed about for Kodjia by the most one-eyed, greedy fan. Even Lansdown came out and said we wouldn’t sell for less than £10m, and probably thought that would be the end of the matter — but the bar has been set for 20-goal strikers in this league now with McCormack, Gray and now Kodjia. My view has always been that it’s still a bargain, IF their goals fire you to promotion and a £160m+ payday. If you were in a normal business and had the chance to invest £10-15m in an asset that gave you a great chance of achieving a 1000% return on investment within 24 months, most wouldn’t give it a second thought.



How would you assess your season so far?

TER: I’d say 7/10. That may seem harsh given we’re fifth in the league and in the fourth round of the League Cup (something we never usually achieve!), but there have been some let downs and if you look closely you can see some warning signs.

When a side has won more points than any other from losing positions it certainly indicates a great team and club spirit — which we’ve got — but it also shows we get ourselves into losing positions too often.

We have weaknesses at the back still — Adam Matthews’ injury means we’re struggling a little at right-back, whilst Joe Bryan is still learning the defensive elements of his game on the opposite side. I feel we need a better goalkeeper to take the next step too. Up front you have to ask where we’d be without Tammy’s goals — and if you work on the assumption he’s not going to score a goal-a-game all season, and at some point will need a rest, someone else has to step up and take on the role effectively.

But saying all that it’s been exciting and fun so far — we’re fantastic to watch when we get going and against Villa, Rotherham and Fulham in particular we’ve put in displays that are simply unbeatable — scintillatingly quick in attack, both on and off the ball and when we play like that, we can beat anyone in this league comfortably.

Best players and weak links in the side?

TER: The outfield spine is strong — Aden Flint and Magnusson have had some shaky moments but generally look like a decent pairing at the back, Gary O’Neil has come in and given us the midfield quality and experience we need and with Korey Smith, Marlon Pack and local lad Bobby Reid all vying to play alongside him, we’re a bit spoilt in there. Abraham has obviously been banging in the goals but Lee Tomlin’s tucked in behind is the real enigma and catalyst of the side. Much of what we offer going forward goes through him at some point, he can score some great goals and if he just keep his petulance temper in check (he’s already been suspended this season for too many yellow cards!), could be one of the best players in the division.

I’ve already mentioned the goalkeeping position. Frankie Fielding is a great shot-stopper, very agile, but has never convinced me with how he comes for crosses and that nervousness can spread to the back line. The full backs are great bombing forward but can be suspect with their defensive duties, whilst up-front we have very little cover for Tammy.


I’ve got you down as a dark horse this season, how do you see it going? And what are the medium and long term aims?

TER: The first aim was to not get involved in yet another relegation battle, as we have been in five of the last six seasons at one point or another and that, for now at least, looks like it won’t be an issue.

We’re in the play-off positions at the moment but it’s going to be very tight behind Newcastle and Norwich this season and there are a lot of strong sides vying for position. Derby and Villa have just appointed new managers, Cardiff will recover under Neil Warnock so even if you look below the mid table positions, any one of about 16 clubs could probably have a good shout of the play-offs.

Despite our start, I think most fans would be more than satisfied with a top half finish to build on again in the summer and push harder next year.

The Twitter @loftforwords, @theexiledrobin

Pictures — Action Images

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TacticalR added 17:52 - Oct 18 Thanks to The Exiled Robin. Steve Cotterill is a strange character and has had some ups and downs as a manager - perhaps he just has a right level (League One) and will always struggle in the Championship? I am not sure why he was so wedded to 3-5-2 (Harry failed with it too). It sounds like City are now going in the right direction under Lee Johnson.
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