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Bristol City latest - One Team in Bristol
Bristol City’s season ended in playoff heartbreak, beaten by eventually promoted Watford, so we caught up with manager Tim Brown for a temperature check at Ashton Gate.
So, firstly, lets talk about last season - what was your review?
When we spoke last year before the season, it was clear that we had a fair bit of work to do with the squad. I went on record to say that i thought 10th position and some player development would be a good achievement, so to make the play offs was a massive bonus. Watford were too good for us on the day and definitely deserved promotion over the course of the season despite their form in the latter half. I think ultimately the boys can be proud of themselves, we learnt a lot about who is good enough to step up and who needed to move on in terms of personnel, and i was pretty pleased with that as a starting season.
No doubt Guirassy coming in was a massive boost, for this club to get into a position to sign one of the top strikers in the game was a massive sign of support from the board, and his goals made a huge difference, i think it was 16 from 20 or something like that which was phenomenal.
It was special to give the fans at Ashton Gate something to shout about, and we are looking forward to the next chapter…
So, next season, surely your ambition goes beyond 10th place?
Yes, we need to be aiming for playoffs minimum with the squad we have now - and there are 3 very good sides coming down in Brighton, Wolves and Sheffield United. They will definitely be there or thereabouts so we need to step up again. No doubt Boro, WBA, Stockport and Cardiff will challenge, and Millwall and Brentford and Huddersfield are all looking to improve all of the time.
So in terms of players, what sort of changes are we likely to see when the squad is unveiled?
I am over the moon to be able to announce the signing of international keeper Jordan Pickford, from Real Madrid. I tried to sign him last year but the previous manager wanted daft money, and now Ian Greaves has been appointed, we threw out a line to see what the plan was with Jordan. Greaves was not really looking to move him on, but once we dangled enough cash with David Bentley we did a deal and managed to get the lad in.
Wow! That’s a big signing, an older player though - is he not past his best?
32 is no age for a keeper, they go on and on - and Jordan was going to stagnate at Real Madrid on the bench, so he is raring to go. We are also announcing him as captain, so we will have the strongest keeper in the division which is an area we were average in last year. David leaves with our thanks for his efforts, but we really did need to strengthen that area.
Ok , so big news in goal, what about the defence?
Again we have strengthened in signing Ezri Konsa from Valencia, I’m delighted with this one as it brings in a class act who is also a little younger than our other central defenders. We’ve also brought in Matt Doherty from Bayer Leverkusen to bolster the numbers, and we thank Leif Davis and Reece Burke for their efforts, they are off to pastures new as is Kane Wilson.
In midfield we have made the biggest strides. Last seasons player of the season Joe Williams will be joined by Dwight McNeil, who is coming in from Liverpool. Dwight will offer us some genuine pace and width in midfield and again is a younger player. These are the sort of signings who can actually play at Premiership level so despite the loss of a key player which i will come to, this made a lot of sense to the club. We then pounced on Davide Frattesi from Ipswich in a massive coup deal for the club. David was the DM that we played against that impressed me most in the division, and when there was an opportunity to sign him we had to pull out all of the stops. We let Sensi and Burke go for him which was a wrench, but again at 24 Davide has age on his side and will be huge boost to us.
Campana, who was one of the top passers in the league last year stays on, and Massengo moves on to Valencia as part of the Konsa deal.
The biggest shock to some will be that we decided to let Seidiou Guirassy go. He was an absolute revelation for us at the end of last season, but he clearly needed to be playing at the highest level. I’ve always had a lot of respect for Liverpool manager Graeme Edwards and he didn’t muck about, came in with a great offer, of McNeil and Munir which i accepted, so Munir and Undav will be leading the line for us. We have also used our European scouting connections to bring in young Frenchman Ruben Beliandjou who will definitely get game time and will complete our line up.
OK, so a fair bit of activity, and clearly some squad improvements! And what about your future, there are rumours that you have spoken to other clubs?
I’m committed at City for the time being, I’ve done a lot of work close season to improve again, and if you look at what i picked up when i came here, you will see obvious progress. I did apply for the Inter Milan role early on, mainly for sentimental reasons having managed there before, and then the Villa job was one i was interested in, Ian had put together a great little squad there that i would have liked to have had a crack with. The only other club i would consider it Spurs, as a lifelong fan, but my home club Bristol City has a massive place in my heart and i know we are getting closer to the promised land. To be fair, promotion for us last year would have been a disaster, we weren’t ready - by the end of this season, we will be!
Bristol City’s season ended in playoff heartbreak, beaten by eventually promoted Watford, so we caught up with manager Tim Brown for a temperature check at Ashton Gate.
So, firstly, lets talk about last season - what was your review?
When we spoke last year before the season, it was clear that we had a fair bit of work to do with the squad. I went on record to say that i thought 10th position and some player development would be a good achievement, so to make the play offs was a massive bonus. Watford were too good for us on the day and definitely deserved promotion over the course of the season despite their form in the latter half. I think ultimately the boys can be proud of themselves, we learnt a lot about who is good enough to step up and who needed to move on in terms of personnel, and i was pretty pleased with that as a starting season.
No doubt Guirassy coming in was a massive boost, for this club to get into a position to sign one of the top strikers in the game was a massive sign of support from the board, and his goals made a huge difference, i think it was 16 from 20 or something like that which was phenomenal.
It was special to give the fans at Ashton Gate something to shout about, and we are looking forward to the next chapter…
So, next season, surely your ambition goes beyond 10th place?
Yes, we need to be aiming for playoffs minimum with the squad we have now - and there are 3 very good sides coming down in Brighton, Wolves and Sheffield United. They will definitely be there or thereabouts so we need to step up again. No doubt Boro, WBA, Stockport and Cardiff will challenge, and Millwall and Brentford and Huddersfield are all looking to improve all of the time.
So in terms of players, what sort of changes are we likely to see when the squad is unveiled?
I am over the moon to be able to announce the signing of international keeper Jordan Pickford, from Real Madrid. I tried to sign him last year but the previous manager wanted daft money, and now Ian Greaves has been appointed, we threw out a line to see what the plan was with Jordan. Greaves was not really looking to move him on, but once we dangled enough cash with David Bentley we did a deal and managed to get the lad in.
Wow! That’s a big signing, an older player though - is he not past his best?
32 is no age for a keeper, they go on and on - and Jordan was going to stagnate at Real Madrid on the bench, so he is raring to go. We are also announcing him as captain, so we will have the strongest keeper in the division which is an area we were average in last year. David leaves with our thanks for his efforts, but we really did need to strengthen that area.
Ok , so big news in goal, what about the defence?
Again we have strengthened in signing Ezri Konsa from Valencia, I’m delighted with this one as it brings in a class act who is also a little younger than our other central defenders. We’ve also brought in Matt Doherty from Bayer Leverkusen to bolster the numbers, and we thank Leif Davis and Reece Burke for their efforts, they are off to pastures new as is Kane Wilson.
In midfield we have made the biggest strides. Last seasons player of the season Joe Williams will be joined by Dwight McNeil, who is coming in from Liverpool. Dwight will offer us some genuine pace and width in midfield and again is a younger player. These are the sort of signings who can actually play at Premiership level so despite the loss of a key player which i will come to, this made a lot of sense to the club. We then pounced on Davide Frattesi from Ipswich in a massive coup deal for the club. David was the DM that we played against that impressed me most in the division, and when there was an opportunity to sign him we had to pull out all of the stops. We let Sensi and Burke go for him which was a wrench, but again at 24 Davide has age on his side and will be huge boost to us.
Campana, who was one of the top passers in the league last year stays on, and Massengo moves on to Valencia as part of the Konsa deal.
The biggest shock to some will be that we decided to let Seidiou Guirassy go. He was an absolute revelation for us at the end of last season, but he clearly needed to be playing at the highest level. I’ve always had a lot of respect for Liverpool manager Graeme Edwards and he didn’t muck about, came in with a great offer, of McNeil and Munir which i accepted, so Munir and Undav will be leading the line for us. We have also used our European scouting connections to bring in young Frenchman Ruben Beliandjou who will definitely get game time and will complete our line up.
OK, so a fair bit of activity, and clearly some squad improvements! And what about your future, there are rumours that you have spoken to other clubs?
I’m committed at City for the time being, I’ve done a lot of work close season to improve again, and if you look at what i picked up when i came here, you will see obvious progress. I did apply for the Inter Milan role early on, mainly for sentimental reasons having managed there before, and then the Villa job was one i was interested in, Ian had put together a great little squad there that i would have liked to have had a crack with. The only other club i would consider it Spurs, as a lifelong fan, but my home club Bristol City has a massive place in my heart and i know we are getting closer to the promised land. To be fair, promotion for us last year would have been a disaster, we weren’t ready - by the end of this season, we will be!