It's been a galling slog of a rebuild for Nigel Pearson at Bristol City, but with big money from the January sale of Antoine Semenyo to attack the summer with Dave Featherstone hopes several years of lower midtable fare could be at an end in 2023/24.
So how was Bristol City's season overall?
Okay, as expected based on pre-season expectations but maybe a little lower than the raised expectations I had before our game against you at Ashton Gate in September. We did get the cup-run and a big-money tie, but it wasn’t in the Carabao Cup where Lincoln City dumped us out, but the FA Cup and Manchester City.
Bristol City league results thus far…
Hull 2-1 Bristol City Tufan pen 72, Seri 90 — Weimann 30)
Bristol City 2-3 Sunderland Weimann 10, Martin 51 — Simms 4, 53, Stewart 71
Wigan 1-1 Bristol City Keane 67 — Weimann 6
Bristol City 2-0 Luton Wells 5, Conway 27
Bristol City 2-0 Cardiff Conway 41, Atkinson 64
Blackpool 3-3 Bristol City Bowler 7, Yates 55, Corbeanu 90 — Conway 44, Semenyo 63, Ekpiteta og 70
Bristol City 2-0 Huddersfield Wells 35, Semenyo 80
Blackburn 2-3 Bristol City Diolan 71, Brereton 90 — Conway 42, Wells 55, 73
Norwich 3-2 Bristol City Pukki 11, 23, Sargent 65 — Conway 44, Semenyo 77
Burnley 2-1 Bristol City Benson 4, Rodriguez 67 — Wells 27
Bristol City 1-2 QPR Wells 61 — Johansen 19, Roberts 22
Bristol City 0-0 Coventry
Birmingham 3-0 Bristol City Trusty 3, 43, Sanderson 75
Bristol City 2-1 Preston Atkinson 54, 90 — Hughes 82
Bristol City 1-2 Millwall Hutchinson og 71 — Bradshaw 44, Flemming 76
West Brom 0-2 Bristol City Williams 32, Wells 45
Reading 2-0 Bristol City Loum 52, Carroll 90
Bristol City 1-1 Swansea Conway 24 — Ntcham 76
Bristol City 0-1 Sheff Utd Ndiaye 49
Boro 1-1 Bristol City Akpom 47 — Weimann 10
Bristol City 0-0 Watford
Rotherham 1-3 Bristol City Ogbene 25 — Harding og 14, Williams 30, Pring 73
Bristol City 1-2 Stoke Wells 33 — Delap 45, Brown 57
Bristol City 0-2 West Brom Phillips 9, Thomas-Asante 75
Millwall 0-0 Bristol City
Coventry 1-1 Bristol City Bidwell 12 — Semenyo 28
Bristol City 4-2 Birmingham Semenyo 17, Wells 21, Sykes 47, 66 — Deeney pen 34, Khadra 76
Bristol City 1-1 Blackburn Semenyo 68 — Dack 54
Preston 1-2 Bristol City Evans 61 — Sykes 6, Bell 45
Bristol City 1-0 Norwich Sykes 24
Bristol City 1-1 Wigan Atkinson 36 — Fletcher 65
Sunderland 1-1 Bristol City Clarke 59 — Wells penalty 90
Bristol City 1-0 Hull Wells penalty 70
Cardiff 2-0 Bristol City Kaba 52, Philogene-Bidace 70
Huddersfield 0-0 Bristol City
Bristol City 2-0 Blackpool Weimann 58, Scott 81
Luton 1-0 Bristol City Morris 4
Swansea 2-0 Bristol City Cullen 34, Ntcham 77
Bristol City 1-1 Reading Conway 45 — Joao 72
Stoke 1-2 Bristol City Powell 36 — Vyner 72, Mehmeti 85
Bristol City 2-2 Boro Bell 45, Cornick 49 — Ramsey 58, Crooks 64
Watford 2-0 Bristol City Cornick og 6, Pedro 54
Sheff Utd 1-0 Bristol City McAtee 77
Bristol City 2-1 Rotherham Conway 15, Weimann 90 — Hugill pen 67
Bristol City 1-2 Burnley Conway 60 — Benson 33, Rodriguez 62
How 'on the beach' are you ahead of Monday? Needless to say we're glad there's nothing on it for us now with Nahki Wells loitering.
I think last weekend’s defeat at home to Burnley, where we gave a real go second half, shows we are still up for trying to add three more points to our total. A couple of players maybe playing for their futures too. And whilst you mention Nahki Wells, the 32-year-old is in danger of losing out on the golden boot to young upstart Tommy Conway, who went one ahead of him with his 12th of the season against Kompany’s Clarets. There is some nice, friendly rivalry between the two, fostered initially in the u23s last term, but blossomed this season. My tip to be our top scorer this season is now plying his trade with you!!! What was I thinking?
Current status of Nigel Pearson, how's he done, will he be back next season?
As you know I’m a Pearson fan, so I think he’s done a good job, and he’ll definitely be in charge next year. This summer represents his first real chance to shape the squad properly after the loose spending days prior to him coming to our rescue. I think you can see an upward trend this season, even if points in the bag aren’t wholly representative. By July 1, only one player in the squad (Joe Williams) won’t have either been signed by Nige or re-contracted by him. It’s his squad next season, but one that’s been based on a lot of compromise, so still plenty of work to do, but the building blocks are in place.
Money in for Semenyo, presumably a big fee coming for Scott? Is that disastrous losing good young players, is it going to finance some big squad rebuild, or does it pay down debt?
First re Antoine. I honestly think this was done in January to allow us to be on the front foot this summer in terms of recruitment. It’s probably cost us a few points, maybe a couple of places in the table, but it was a sacrifice worth making. It also allowed us to bring forward the signings of Mehmeti and Cornick and start to integrate them into the squad.
Re "Starboy” Alex Scott, although it seems likely he will leave, and for a huge fee, he has the u20 World Cup first so I think any exit will be much later in the window. If you’re waiting on that deal to finance a summer recruitment drive, then you’re gonna miss out on those players who decide their fate early in the summer. So Semenyo’s sale allows us to be proactive. Last summer we tied up Mark Sykes, Kal Naismith, and Kane Wilson very early, but they were all out-of-contract and therefore free. This summer we will be looking at paying some fees, so the chance to court our Wishlist early is helpful.
The money will of course offset losses, but the wage bill has been reduced significantly in the last two years. The owner is happy to cover these losses.
Summer Ins >>> Stefan Bajic, 20, GK, FC Pau (France), Free >>> Kal Naismith, 30, CB, Luton, Free >>> Kane Wilson, 22, RB, Forest Green, Undisclosed >>> Mark Sykes, 24, CM, Oxford, Free
Summer Outs >>> Callum O’Dowda, 27, LW, Cardiff, Free >>> Kasey Palmer, 25, AM, Coventry, Free >>> Robbie Cundy, 25, CB, Barnsley, Free >>> Tyreeq Bakinson, 23, DM, Sheff Wed, Undisclosed >>> Nathan Baker, 31, CB, Retired concussion >>> Taylor Moore, 25, CB, Shrewsbury, Loan
Winter Ins >>> Harry Cornick, 27, AM, Luton, Undisclosed >>> Anis Mehmeti, 22, AM, Wycombe, Undisclosed
Winter Outs >>> Antoine Semenyo, 22, CF, Bournemouth, £10m >>> Daniel Bentley, 27, GK, Wolves, Nominal >>> Ryley Towler, 20, CB, Portsmouth, Undisclosed >>> Han-Noah Massengo, 21, CM, Auxerre, Loan >>> Stefan Bajic, 21, GK, Valenciennes (France), Loan >>> Chris Martin, 34, CF, QPR, Free >>> Tim Klosse, 34, CB, Released
Player of the season candidates?
Alex Scott, Zak Vyner, Cameron Pring for me, although Pring was out of favour for the early portion of the season. Tommy Conway and Rob Atkinson might’ve made the mix had they not got injured, whilst Matty James is just our Mr Consistent, so rarely grabs the attention his performances deserve.
Scott has been excellent, carrying us at times. The hype is real.
Vyner might’ve been out the door last summer but has been very consistent whilst also leading a young back-four at various times this season.
Weak links in the side?
I think I’d say our weakness is lack of depth. It only takes a couple of injuries, especially to key players to expose our small squad. The two spells where we lost James and Naismith were when we had our tough runs, the second run also saw Williams ruled out for the rest of the season (although he has managed to come back early) and Conway out too for a long period. Conway has made a massive impact in his first full season. He is the real deal in my eyes. He has that edge, that lack of fear that a lot of youngsters have, he’ll go toe-to-toe with any big, ugly centre-back. An ice-cold finisher too. The other weakness is an aerial ball-winner at the back…still. Hopefully we will finally address this in the summer. Martin and Dykes might be looking forward to Monday. Even Elias Chair might fancy his chances.
What lies in store for City next season?
I will of course have City bias, but we really are ready to progress. That doesn’t mean we are going to go mad in the summer, but I really think if we can get recruitment right (an Achilles heel in the past), especially at centre-back, we can be in the shake-up for top 6. That’s a bold assertion, but I do think its possible. Most clubs will probably say similar, but I don’t think we are a million miles from turning "being competitive, being in games” to getting results from those close games. When at full(ish) strength this season we’ve shown that we can put together runs that move us up the table. It’s about stopping the poor runs, and that is mitigated by having depth. That doesn’t mean sacrificing the small squad, just equipping it better. A big summer ahead!
Links >>> Bristol City official website >>> The Exiled Robin — Blog >>> One Team In Bristol — Message Board >>> Bristol Post — Local Paper >>> One Stream In Bristol — Podcast >>> Fevs Football Analytics - Contributor's page
The Twitter @loftforwords, @fevsfootball
Pictures — Action Images