Bristol City's summer previewed: Who stays, who leaves and who Lee Johnson will target in transfer market Bristol City could be set for a ‘difficult summer’ in part due to their own successes this season. If the Robins – as expected – finish outside the play-offs and fail to win promotion then the club could well receive a lot of interest in its key players. BristolLive has regularly spyed heads of recruitment from several Premier League club and top sides in the Championship attending games at Ashton Gate in the last few weeks. And CEO Mark Ashton confirmed back in October to us that there was interest in City’s players that was consistent with where the Robins were in England’s second tier. Make no mistake. Clubs will be coming for the likes of Bobby Reid, Joe Bryan and Aden Flint in the summer and that is what you want because it means that they’re top players. There may be tough decisions to be made and Lee Johnson alluded to such recently when he confirmed that “potentially it could be a very tough summer ahead” when also warning that some decisions might be made that might not go down too well with the fans. However, the club is primed to achieve success over the long run and is in a good position regarding most of its key players. Who goes? The problems for Bristol City are that several key players are reaching the end of their current deals. Both Bobby Reid and Marlon Pack have just one year remaining. Joe Bryan has two while thankfully Aden Flint added a year to his when he signed fresh terms earlier this year. The two key players then are Pack and Reid. And it could well be that City may have to entertain offers if the duo decide to not sign new contracts at Ashton Gate. Reid in particular is likely to be in huge demand given that he is the most potent player in the Championship when analysing both goals and assists. The Bristolian also works his socks off every game and has made more tackles this season than any other forward in the Championship to have played a decent amount of games. There is likely to be Premier League offers coming. If Reid doesn’t renew – and Reid recently explained that he was putting off talks and discussion until the end of the season – then City will surely countenance offers rather than potentially lose him for nothing the season afterwards. However, there is still a chance that Reid could sign a new deal at City. Let’s hope so. Ashton and Johnson must persuade the 25-year-old that his prospects are best served remaining in BS3. Meanwhile Pack has been at City for five years now and we recently asked him about his future. While praising the club’s short future the central midfielder stopped short of saying that he would definitely be there in the future. Joe Bryan and Aden Flint could also be targeted by other clubs while even the likes of Famara Diedhiou and Josh Brownhill could be eyed by some, although given that both signed new deals in the last 12 months it’s highly unlikely that either could be prised away for anything short of a mega bid. Loanees Cauley Woodrow, Lois Diony and Ryan Kent will all return to their parent clubs, of course, while Scott Golbourne, Paul Arnold Garita and Gary O'Neil will be out of contract. Who comes in? Regarding incomings City will continue their recruitment policy as is: looking to recruit players t good value. This means they will try to snipe the occasional Championship bargain like they did with Nathan Baker but more realistically they will look to find the next Famara Diedhiou playing abroad or look to bring in good talent from the lower leagues, like the Robins have done previously with Matty Taylor and Callum O’Dowda. Walsall’s attacking midfielder Erhun Oztumer is one player of interest to the Robins. Cheltenham Town striker Mohamed Eisa is another. Johnson has taken in games at Yeovil and Shrewsbury in the last few months and also watched the England C team play at Barry Town where he will have kept a close eye on lower league talents. A new attacker will be sought and the funds that would have been allocated for bringing in Lois Diony will be able to be used here. A club record fee was mooted for Diony so that shows that there are funds available for the right player to come in. A new central midfielder and another defender will also be sought. Johnson may look to use the loan market once again to further bolster the squad if the right talent can be found. Who stays? While there will be some wheeling and dealing to be done, the Robins do have several things going for them. Firstly, the squad is relatively young – the fifth youngest on average in the Championship – and will develop further as the players mature. We can expect more goals from Diedhiou next season for example, and more consistency from the likes of the blossoming Callum O’Dowda who is so highly rated by the Ireland national team that Roy Keane watched the talent against Hull up in the Lansdown Stand. The squad also needs little upgrading regarding the replacing of the old guard. Gary O’Neil will leave at the end of the season while Jens Hegeler’s future must be in doubt too given his relatively paltry playing time since Christmas. Secondly, City have more young talents that need to play next season. Llloyd Kelly is one and Zak Vyner is another. Both need to play more next season and the club is committed to doing so. Space may need to be freed up to clear the pathway. But there are others in with a shout too, such as Jonny Smith and Joe Morrell. Finally, with no players out of contract then other teams will need to match the prices set by Mark Ashton and co. Though Reid and Pack only have a year left driving any possible fees down for them, there would still be money coming in if either were sold (and even higher fees for any other players) that could in turn be used to reinforce the squad, either by replacing the departing player or strengthening another part of the team. Should no-one leave then few players would need to be recruited to see the Robins challenge for the top six again. City have a good squad that will only play better next season. Any outgoings will be balanced by incomings and the promotion of youth. Even in the worst case scenario, if City can trade decently then the Robins should challenge for in the top half of the Championship again next season if not higher. https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/sport...ws/bristol-citys-summer-previewed-who-1506122
Bristol City’s Bobby Reid: the ‘wind-up toy’ who cannot stop scoring Reid was uncertain when his manager, Lee Johnson, switched him from midfield to a striking role last summer but he could end the season with the Championship’s golden boot please log in to view this image Bobby Reid has scored 21 goals in all competitions for Bristol City this season, almost twice as many as he had from the seven previous seasons of his career. Photograph: Rogan/JMP/Rex/Shutterstock As Bobby Reid says, this season everything has clicked. A quick glance at his numbers tells you as much: 21 goals and counting, almost twice as many as he mustered across his first seven years as a professional. What has changed? As the maxim goes, the lifespan of a manager depends on their decision‑making and Lee Johnson’s move to turn a dainty midfielder into a shimmering striker last pre-season has proved a masterstroke. For Reid, it could prove a decision that elevates him to the next level. “Lee mentioned it to me and I wasn’t too sure about it at the time, I’ll be honest,” Reid says. “I didn’t want it to happen and to not be scoring goals because in that time my midfield position would probably be taken. I started in pre-season, scoring a few goals, and that gave me the belief. I hit the ground running and look where I am now.” please log in to view this image Lee Johnson puts Bristol City back on map and plots Premier League course Read more Reid was selected in the PFA’s Championship team of the season and has a realistic chance of securing the division’s golden boot. He has 19 league goals; only Derby’s Matej Vydra, with 20, has more with two matches of the standard season remaining. For those closest to Reid, there is little shock at his breakthrough but surprise it has taken this long. In a way, Johnson is one of them. He was a player at Bristol City when Reid was coming through the academy and remembers him, in his early teens, struggling to hit the crossbar from the edge of the box “because his legs were so skinny”. Johnson later took Reid to Oldham Athletic on loan. At 25, Reid is no longer the new kid on the block. He is making his mark as City’s bustling bumblebee and trusty goal-getter. Central to his rise has been Rayan Wilson, the brother of the Macclesfield Town striker Scott, one of Reid’s best friends and a former City youth team-mate. Wilson is the founder of Back2Action, an elite performance centre a mile from Ashton Gate, and works closely with Reid as a physical consultant and mentor. “I’ve known Bobby since he was knee-high, about six,” Wilson, who used to taxi his brother and Reid to training, says. “I remember doing a coaching session, a fitness session with the under-14s coach back then. Bobby hated to run – getting fit in his eyes was not football – he just wanted to run and play with the ball. “As long as he had the ball, he was happy. Running didn’t seem a key part of the game for him. As he got older he thought: ‘Hang on, I might be gifted with the ball but a lot of these other lads are gifted without it; they are stronger, faster than me, or I’m not as fit as they are.’ He made a decision, he said: ‘Rayan, I need to do more.’” Loans to Cheltenham and Oldham were an eye-opener but it was on loan at Plymouth, Wilson says, that Reid realised he had work to do. “He was quite weak in very important areas: his core was weak, his legs. He was not a strong runner. He could cover distances but he fatigued quite early on in games, after about an hour.” please log in to view this image Facebook Twitter Pinterest Bobby Reid scores against Hull last weekend. Only Derby’s Matej Vydra has more league goals. Photograph: Graham Hunt/ProSports/Rex/Shutterstock When Johnson returned to City as head coach in 2016, it was the perfectappointment for Reid. “He knew him inside out,” Wilson, who works in tandem with Johnson and City’s staff, says. “Lee – out of all managers out there – was probably a blessing in disguise. I’ve said it to various coaches: ‘Watch out for Bobby Reid.’” Reid is fitter, stronger and more streetwise than ever. “He’s like a little wind-up toy that you’ve wound up as much as you can,” Wilson says. “You take it to the end of the table, it doesn’t just fall off and stop, it falls off and keeps going until the batteries are done. Bobby’s like: ‘I’ve got this energy, and I’m going give the manager everything I’ve got because he’s put me in here.’” David Horseman, the club’s head of academy coaching, who worked with Reid from the age of 11, says: “Bob had it quite tough – he played down a lot in the age groups. It was: ‘What are we going to do?’ He would never have been ready for the first team so him and his friend, Cameron Brown, who at that age was probably more talented than Bobby, were offered one-year schoolboy forms as opposed to a two-year scholarship. They were both tiny, very slight at 16 and that allowed them more time to develop and meant they could be judged at 19 rather than 18. Others would have had a smooth path but he has had nothing but hurdles.” Bob would be the first with the ball, he would play all night, him and his mates still playing in the road walking home With no under-23s football at the time, it meant Reid, who joined City as a seven-year-old, had three years instead of two to convince before signing his first professional contract in 2011. As is common in academies, Reid rotated around, playing every position except centre-back. Physically, though, he was often overpowered. “Bobby had to meander around a little bit,” Gary Probert, the academy manager, says. “It’s a great example to show the younger boys, that perseverance and resilience.” His willingness to run continues to set him apart and he has relished the responsibility of leading the line. “I have never met a kid with more energy than Bob,” Horseman says. “Bob would be the first one with the ball, he would play all night, him and his mates still playing in the road walking home. His energy now, that’s just Bob, even the way he talks is energetic.” Reid, born in Easton, in inner-city Bristol, is part of a Bristolian core with Joe Bryan, and another academy graduate, the England Under-20 defender Lloyd Kelly, has made big strides with the first team this season. “They are boys from our city and the supporters have that affinity,” Probert says. “Everyone has an association with them – he shops in my supermarket or his mum lives down my road or whatever it is.” https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...-lee-johnson-striker-championship-golden-boot
Hello everybody, I hope the day is going well so far, on with the news. * For all of you away day specialists I see it's pay on the day at Nottingham. https://www.bcfc.co.uk/news/pay-on-the-day-at-forest-1/ * Ashton Gate is backing the stand up for choice campaign. https://www.bcfc.co.uk/news/ashton-gate-back-efls-stand-up-for-choice-campaign/ * Luke Williams' side host Barnsley U23s at the Failand training ground today (Friday, April 27th, 3pm kick-off), in their final game of the 2017/18 Professional Development League. https://www.bcfc.co.uk/news/final-league-outing-for-under-23s/ * Fielding thanks fans. https://www.bcfc.co.uk/news/we-cant-thank-the-fans-enough-fielding/
When does 2018 summer transfer window open and close? Deadline day dates for Premier League and EFL https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/2018-summer-transfer-window-open-1488269 Open - May 17 ~ Close - August 9 at 17.00pm.
The table doesn't lie for Bristol City - they don't deserve to be in the play-offs https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/bristol-city-michelle-owen-column-1501539
