After an ultimately disappointing tilt at the play-offs last season, will the Cider Army be able to march on, following Liam Manning's exit to return closer to home at Norwich. and finally make Bristol home to a Premier League club? It oozes potential as we tick ever closer to the Championship's 2025/26 kick-off, after the aggregate 6-0 defeat by Sheffield United, across two three-goal encounters, ensured it was the Blades who went to Wembley to take on Sunderland for a chance for either to return to the top tier.
In spite of the man who got them that far exiting stage left and with the subsequent appointment of former Barnsley gaffer Gerhard Struber as his replacement in the dugout at Ashton Gate, there's possibly reason to hope/ expect next season could end with either automatic promotion or a successful trip to the national stadium.
Though, whatever happens, those on the terraces at Ashton Gate would be forgiven for shuddering at the memory of the only previous Robins gaffer from similar territory- Swede Benny Lennartsson Appointed a couple of months into, the 1998/99 season having arrived via Lyngby, he promptly presiding over relegation to Division Two before Tony Pulis took over and lasted a mere six months pre- a hasty departure to Portsmouth.
What happened next, the arrival of Danny Wilson, possibly offers a hint as to why the Lansdowns (owner Steve and chairman Jon) have now gone for the Austrian (who had the one season at Barnsley himself). Wilson joined from Sheffield Wednesday, having taken them to twelfth in the Premier League a season prior to his dismissal at Hillsborough, and his exploits at Oakwell were no doubt duly noted as he'd also taken them up in the 1996-97 season, though their stay was brief...
It was the failure to take Bristol City to similar heights (Division One at least) which brought the curtain down on what was otherwise a relatively bountiful four seasons in the West Country. His first ending a way outside the play-offs in ninth on 68 points, the second representing a slight improvement with a seventh place and 73 points (with only a post-Christmas slump costing them), and the third was their closest dance yet to what would eventually become the Championship.
Current club kitman Scott Murray's nineteen goals went some way to propelling them to third place and a play-off spot, as well as the Football League Trophy final. The script seemingly close to being written before defeat to Cardiff in a high-stakes Severnside derby consigned them to another season in Division Two.
Lee Peacock and Liam Rosenior were able to ensure at least a measure of success in getting them past Carlisle to cap off their Football League Trophy run. Peacock went on to top- score the following season with sixteen goals in all competitions, another third place securing a second go at the play-offs. While they would make the final, City lost to Brighton and Wilson's time in charge would end not long afterwards, former midfielder Brian Tinnion appointed as player/manager in his stead- he's now technical director.
Enter Gary Johnson, whose first full season in charge finally got City where they'd been aiming to be- automatic promotion. Clinched with second place on 85 points, behind champions Scunthorpe, after just nine defeats in the league. If that weren't enough he went on to take them to fourth in the Championship in their first season back in the second tier, Darren Byfield taking the top scorer crown with eight goals in his only campaign in the red shirt following a move from Millwall. It ended with another day out at Wembley, albeit ending in defeat to Hull.
Little wonder that the following season might've felt like a comparative slump into tenth, though the emergence of Nicky Maynard after his move from Crewe was a boost. Becoming a then- club record signing for a fee of £2.25 million he finished with eleven goals in his first season, having found his feet after a difficult start. And whilst he delivered a very productive twenty league goals in 2009-10, the club could only manage another tenth place finish.
A near-relegation under Derek McInnes, 20th in his first season having had to fire-fight after the one game tenure of Steve Coppell and the inexperienced Keith Millen, was a sign of things to come. Jon Stead's return of just nine goals as top scorer was a prelude to the fall back into what was now League One when they finished rock bottom the next season. McInnes was sacked halfway through 2012-13 and Sean O' Driscoll was parachuted in before City dropped to the third tier. The club bit the bullet in favour of Steve Cotterill from December 3 2013 and twelfth place was something of a salvage job for the new man, helped by Sam Baldock's twenty-six goals all told.
Just five defeats in the league next time out was enough to seal a top of the table finish, and a record third Football League Trophy was lifted after beating Walsall put a further coat of gloss on things. Though the Championship proved a harsh mistress as the man tipped by his own chairman as a future Premier League manager was eventually dismissed in January of 2016.
A possible sense of going with what they knew informed Lee Johnson's arrival to sit in the same dugout his dad had. Eighteenth at least ensuring they remained clear of League One and slow progress was made as he took them to seventeenth and eleventh as a build- up to 2018-19's eighth. However, momentum towards higher league aspirations was lost and arguably not regained until Manning came in from Oxford on November 7, 2023.
Struber, at least, can hopefully carry on the good work and look a lot further down the table than he could at Oakwell. His achievement in keeping Barnsley in the Championship was probably the deciding factor in being picked to get the Robins really flying. Having made quite the impact during a short spell in the English second tier, possibly the clincher over a glance at the history books!