One Team In Bristol - City news

[Timbro]

Bristol City are happy to confirm that former manager and club legend Tim Brown is to return to the club where he started his career. Brown takes over the relegated Robins with a rebuild remit and is up for the challenge. We went down to Ashton Gate to get an interview with the man himself ahead of the new season.

So, Tim, it's a surprise to see you back after you seemed to go somewhat AWOL in Italy and left the Inter job all those years ago?

Yeah - i can't say i expected to be here either to be honest! I had a great career in FFO previously, managing at Sheffield Wednesday, Malaga, and Inter which were all great gigs, but my first club was Bristol City, where my results eventually got me the job at Hillsborough which led on to everything else, but there's something special about coming back to your boyhood club - Ashton Gate is a magical place for me, that i have known since the early 80's so it's a joy to come back and have a direct influence on the club having watched my heroes like Joe Jordan, Bob Taylor, Jacki Dziekanowksi, Andy Cole to name a few. I had a number of serious personal issues towards the end of my time at the San Siro which ended up with divorce and a hospital stay, but otherwise i had a great time there and i am proud at how far we pushed Real Madrid and the self-appointed god of the time Andy Banks who only just pipped us to the post with all of their Galactico's. We also massively over-achieved at Sheffield Wednesday which was terrific fun and qualified for Europe for the first time in the clubs FFO history. Suffice to say, i am now fit, well and happy and looking forward to a new challenge with the club i have grown up with - i think it would only be them or Spurs that would lure me back in.

So, with limited time to play in the transfer market and the new season upon us, what are your thoughts on the squad that you inherit?

I'm not going to lie, if we want to move forwards with our ultimate dream of returning to the premiership, we need to do some work on strengthening the squad. We have a few older players who will need replacing eventually, but a solid core of lads who will certainly compete well in the Championship. I will work tirelessly to bring in some new faces to improve the team and the future of the club. I feel that we need a season of consolidation here before looking at a promotion push next season when i have 'my' squad, but we will see.

So what of the pre-season transfer moves? Can you talk us through your additions?

Yeah - we brought in Kenneth Taylor early - which basically took us out of the auction - which may have been a bold move but i like certainty. Yes we could have gambled and got a better player for less money, but we also could have been sat with money in the bank and no signing so i'm delighted to have grabbed Kenneth from Dortmund - he is an all-round quality midfielder who is very young and will improve us now and in the future so i'm really excited to see him play and it strengthens our midfield considerably. This then allows us to let Han-Noah Massengo go out on loan to Fenerbache which i think will be great for his development, so this is a good one for the club overall. I think the midfield of Taylor, Williams, Sensi and James should cope well at this level

[Timbro]

Any more deals in the pipeline?

We are hoping to announce a new striker signing fairly soon, we've been looking at many many deals and there is naturally a lot of interest in Joao Pedro, but really i am quite happy with the balance of the squad so any deals will need to bear that in mind. We will always look at deals to improve our team, but we do have 2 or 3 quality youngsters who won't go for peanuts and any potential suitors will need to get their wallets out properly!! I would like to think we will have one or two in before the season kicks off though.

What are your overall thoughts on the landscape of FFO as you return?

There are still lots of familiar faces - Jon Banks obviously has always been the beating heart of the organisation, nice to see some of the old faces that i did battle with before are still around, and some new ones in. I like the academy idea, i'm just getting my head around values, money and strategy but that will come over the next few weeks and looking forward to our first test away at Sunderland who have made a great signing in Tino Livramento. I can see from the teams in our league that nothing will be easy, but we will be up for the challenge!

And finally, what is the overall target for Bristol City this season?

Ok - i am looking at top 10 for us this season as a target, but more importantly to build a squad capable of pushing for the play-offs next season and if we don't achieve that, promotion the following year. It will take a little work, but we can get there eventually if we get our heads down. If we can get there, i'll be singing 'Drink Up Thee Zyder' with the rest of the city.

And looking at the title of your press release, how about a mention for your neighbours Bristol Rovers, any comment?

I can remember far enough back to the days when Rob Brunton made them a force in FFO, so to see them out of the league system all together, is .... hilarious, and something that pleases me enormously. Looking at League One, we have Swindon that are now our FFO closest rivals, another team of Robins, so we will look forward to any opportunity to play them, but as far as that other lot are concerned, it's nice to be able to breathe freely and not smell the Gas! We will continue to fly the flag for the West Country and put the reds back on the map.

Finally, for the fans - give us your best ever City X1

Ok i will go - Keith Waugh, Louis Carey, Joe Bryan, Rob Newman, Shaun Taylor, Marvin Elliott, Brian Tinnion, Alan Walsh, Darusz Dziekanowski, Bob Taylor, Andy Cole

Bench: David Bentley, Andy Llewellyn, Keith Curle, Gary Shelton, Mark Gavin, Louie Donowa, Tammy Abraham, Joe Jordan

Thanks very much, Tim, and good luck for the new season!!