Drama, dispute, exhilarating highs and crushing lows: The story of Bristol City's 2023/24 season

Bristol City remain a confusing prospect: a steady 11th-placed finish displaying incremental progression, the highest average attendance at Ashton Gate for 40 years, implying a fanbase fully invested in the club’s vision and a talented squad for which the vast majority of individuals made definite steps forward in their development, offering optimism for the future.

These statements, and elements of them, are both true and false, or at least valid and objectionable, and the 2023/24 season really is one in which you can tie yourself up in knots about - to which we, and many other consistently do. The Robins were better than they were in previous seasons yet somehow, to many, seemed worse.

It was a tortuous time, with some truly memorable highs - Tommy Conway’s goal at the London Stadium perhaps the apex in terms of sheer, unbridled joy - but also some desperately dark and crushing lows, losing twice to Cardiff City in a season with awful performances in both accounts for two of them.

What’s more is so little of it could be forecast which is probably what keeps us all coming back for more. City are paradoxically the model of consistency in the Championship, in so many ways, but also a wildly unpredictable prospect, whether that be on a game-to-game basis or in a political sense.

Here are some of the main talking points and themes from 2023/24 as thoughts turn to the summer and what needs to happen next…

Low floor, high ceiling

It was a campaign punctuated by wild fluctuations, from the sublime to the risible, and it was fitting in a way that their last two away encounters witnessed one of their best overall performances in drawing 1-1 at Norwich City, a game in which they outplayed the Canaries in so many aspects and really should have emerged victorious, and then their worst in being thumped 4-0 at Stoke City; so devoid of the qualities they had displayed just two weeks prior in Norfolk.

City’s status as a mid-table side may be consistent but in reaching that point they are anything but. It’s hard to square the circle of how a team that could beat West Ham, take Nottingham Forest to a replay and a penalty shootout - another game they should, on the balance of play and performance, have won - overcome Southampton, Leicester City and Middlesbrough twice, not lost to Coventry City over two games and taken Ipswich Town all the way at Portman Road, could then fold so meekly against those eventually positioned below them in the table.

The Championship is just that kind of league, of course, and given their residency in the division - now the longest-serving team alongside Preston North End - perhaps the Robins have naturally and frustratingly evolved into becoming the embodiment of the division.

Even predating Liam Manning’s tenure, the 3-2 home defeat to Stoke City and the 2-1 win at Rotherham United - which required a late Conway masterclass - were evidence of the wild swings in quality, not just over a batch of games but inside 90 minutes. Those two games, incidentally, probably sealing Nigel Pearson’s fate more so than what followed.

The Stoke-style brain fades continued post-Pearson at home to Norwich, as City somehow lost a game from a commanding position through individual errors and ditto at Huddersfield Town, although they were able to salvage a point on that occasion. Every time they delivered something of promise, the devil of inconsistency seemingly lurked on their shoulder and was ready to tap away at their better selves.

However, at the same time, it would be remiss to overlook the positive periods of the season where they strung runs together to present hope for the future; the three wins over Christmas against Stoke, Hull City and Watford were impressive but, guess what, with Birmingham City - as Wayne Rooney clung onto his job - and Millwall up next they faltered to a draw and a loss, with the schedule catching up with the squad.

The FA Cup helped restore a sense of momentum as, Preston-aside, City looked a more settled and cohesive outfit under Manning after inevitable early teething problems. But as back-to-back wins over Middlesbrough and then that Southampton game brought play-off talk to a position of credible discourse, came the nadir.

Those two wins were built on energy - they had pressed Boro to death at the Riverside in thee first half, while at home to Saints they counter-attacked with clinical velocity - but the run that followed in losing to QPR, Sheffield Wednesday and Cardiff City proved the opposite. Two sides of the same team and, during the good times, it was hard to envisage old problems resurfacing and, when it was bad, tough to remember the team that had previously delivered such entertainment.

Given events earlier in the season, too many decided to err on the side of caustic caution and so whenever the Southampton result was held up it was seen by critics as a freak outlier, rather than any proof of what was possible.

An even-keel was finally restored after the March international break when a seven-game unbeaten run was secured, marked not just by the results but the manner in which they were secured because they weren’t always “on it”, like at Plymouth or Sunderland or home to Huddersfield, but they had found a way. Something that wasn’t apparent previously.

Throughout Pearson’s time at the club there was always the feeling that results were only ever achieved when City were playing at a level approaching 8/10, hence when the three points were in the bag they felt so triumphant.

But in the Championship, with a budget around the mid-tier, it’s not realistic over a 46-game season to hit those marks all the time, hence you have to drag draws out of certain defeats and somehow nick wins when a point looks to be destined (the 2-2 draw at Coventry City being a case in point as, what could and should have been an excellent win, ended up being something more underwhelming).

Manning certainly continued the previous trend early on, as points were either left out on the field or results regularly reflected just how well the team had played - they got what they deserved, for better and for worse.

Before May 4, and that god awful trip to Stoke, the narrative was slightly shifting that maybe City were lifting their floor slightly and perhaps keeping their ceiling at an aspirational level. It was typical then to sign the season off with a reminder of the depths that can be found when not quite on your game.

Trust in the recruitment process

A reason for the above could well be a product of some of which will be celebrated in this section because City’s transfer policy has, by and large, been driven by a desire to find value in the market through the recruitment of those in the early phases of their career who don’t command huge wage expectations.

There have been departures from such - Matty James, Kal Naismith and Rob Dickie being obvious examples in the post-Covid landscape - as you need to find a balance, but there’s a reason why League One has proven such a fertile ground for which to plunder.

Indeed, of the Robins last 10 first-team signings, on loan and permanents, eight have been aged 24 or under and only five had prior Championship experience. The idea therefore is for those individuals to grow with the club and, potentially - as annoying as this may be but it’s also sound business sense, plus also forms a degree of the sales pitch to get them here in the first place - generate some revenue in the transfer market.

As a result when you’re integrating so many young players into a squad, something which is further enhanced by the pathway from the academy, inconsistencies are a byproduct of that. Those highs and lows experienced by the team are also by each individual as, no matter the talent, when you’re aged in your teens up to about 24, outside of being a truly exceptional talent, it’s just kind of what happens.

Manning and Pearson before him regularly referenced this, not that anyone really cares to listen because ultimately they’re paying their money to see their team perform and have had almost five years now of being patient. But when you’re fishing in the pond that City are, with the rod they have in terms of finance, buying Championship-ready experience costs a lot, particularly in wages, an overhead they’ve strived to bring down over the last few years.

However, while that may remain, it would take a particular contrarian not to argue that, on the whole, their work in the transfer market has been very good over the last 2-3 seasons with few misses and a number of hits.

Taking this season into consideration, because that’s what we’re here for, Rob Dickie and Jason Knight were undoubtedly among the team’s best three or four performers over the course of the campaign, with Haydon Roberts making a late run to gatecrash that conversation but just running out of games, unfortunately.

Dickie doesn’t quite adhere to the policy we’ve described above and was also something of an opportunistic addition after a timely meal with former Oxford United teammate Mark Sykes, but shows that the club are flexible in their approach when the right situation arises and you have to say for the sum of £600,000, they absolutely nailed it.

It’s easy to forget despite a positive pre-season, he didn’t have the smoothest of transitions after a clumsy dismissal in the defeat to Birmingham City which kept him out of the side for a sustained period only to regain his spot due to injuries to Zak Vyner and then Kal Naismith.

Since the autumn, he was the foundation on which City’s defensive season was built - rarely wavering below a 7/10 and so important on and off the ball and a (quite literally) huge reason why the Robins were so strong in defending set-pieces (only Southampton conceded fewer goals from dead balls).

His consistency and performance was also sorely needed given Naismith and Rob Atkinson’s injury issues which meant that area of the field always felt on a slight knife-edge in terms of options but, in tandem with Zak Vyner, Dickie ensured that discussion could remain in the shadows.

And when he and Vyner did finally break down, a new figure emerged in Roberts who displayed a different aspect to the recruitment team in how they successfully pivoted from the disappointment of not bringing Joe Bryan back to BS3, to sign the 21-year-old.

With the greatest of respect to the Bristolian, the silver lining very much ended up outshining the cloud of him having cold feet about a Robins’ reunion. In Roberts, City have the perfect defender for Manning’s system, capable of playing a variety of positions and roles and with potential far beyond the form he showed towards the end of the season. And he cost nothing, folks.

Knight, in a way, became an unfortunate victim of the Alex Scott sale and the seemingly naive belief City could muddle their way through things without a natural No10. Imagining a team in which Knight could play in tandem with the now Bournemouth midfielder, is unfortunately for fantasy land but for a few weeks in pre-season it seemed possible, if only for one more transfer window.

Anyway, Knight stepped in as best he could and certainly, Preston debut-aside, started with real purpose and impact but that began to waver around Christmas time when it became apparent he was not the No10 we were all looking for, but needs must.

How he finished the season points to something exciting for 2024/25, where he can be firmly cast as a No8 - being defensive dogged while also supporting the attack - but over the course of his first season in red, it’s hard to reach a conclusion beyond him being anything but an excellent addition, emphasised by how effortlessly he took on a captaincy role, at the age of 22. A seriously impressive individual.

Two signings who create a little more contention are Ross McCrorie and Scott Twine, primarily because injury denied us a proper view of what they’re capable of over a sustained period of time.

In McCrorie’s case, in many ways it was just a success to get him on the field in the first place after a career-threatening bacterial infection in his pelvis and his emergence in January was a genuine boost - the 22 appearances he eventually made even surprising the player himself, given where he had been in September.

At his best in the right wing-back spot, he brought power and attacking penetration down that flank and a real unpredictability in the way City attacked. He can look ungainly, erratic and unorthodox at times but also has that knack of making things happen, breaking lines or beating a man to open up space.

There were some concerns, particularly from a defensive perspective, but the raw materials are there for McCrorie to become an increasingly vital player for the club next season. His presence also allowed George Tanner to settle into a role that suits him best and the 24-year-old often played his most impressive football with the Scot in front of him.

Just as Twine was getting bums onto seats and quickly off them again in excitement, as his performances and influence increased, we’re forced to talk about whether those 10 games will be it for him in a City shirt.

His quad injury sustained against Watford, lost him to the side for eight weeks and based on what we witnessed over the final month of the season, who knows the difference he could have made had he been fit during those dark days in March, when a moment of individual magic was required.

At the very least, the role he fulfilled and his importance to the overall structure of the team, emphasises just how important it is for City to secure a full-time playmaker this summer.

Taylor Gardner-Hickman certainly had his own moments, that goal against Middlesbrough, and after filling in at right-back for a portion of the season due to McCrorie’s illness found his place in the middle of midfield. Question marks remain over his consistency in such an important role but he carries himself with such maturity, a bit like Roberts, you have to repeatedly check he is still only 22. There is much more to come and it was unfortunate for the Midlander that he sustained an injury during City’s best period of the season.

Which brings us to the only real misstep of any significance and, in reality, it wasn’t that significant in the end given Dire Mebude arrived on deadline day in January as a low-cost, low-risk, last-minute addition.

The hope was for an x-factor that City didn’t have in wide areas, but evidently his performances on the training ground and in the few minutes he was afforded - 45 minutes off the bench against Southampton, QPR and Cardiff - led to nothing more than a big red cross against his name.

Does it mean City could have worked harder in finding an alternative in January? Perhaps, but on the balance of what did arrive at the club that undoubtedly enhanced the team against what didn’t, using his signing as some kind of stick to beat the club with seems a little disingenuous and unfair.

Finding an identity

City began the season much as they ended the last one, built around defensive containment and then pace on the counter - most successfully witnessed at Swansea City in September, probably Pearson’s high point of the season alongside the 4-1 win over Plymouth Argyle - but the limitations were evident when it all began to turn south for the 60-year-old.

The run of two wins in seven games which led to his dismissal were marked by a slightly one-dimensional approach in which while they were eternally competitive they never quite looked capable of breaking down teams who didn’t surrender to their whims.

Even the two victories in that span of matches, at Rotherham and home to Coventry were born out of slight fortune and individual excellence on the part of Conway; it could easily have been a winless run of seven, hence the decision that followed.

Manning was hired for a number of reasons but fundamentally to coach different playing styles into a squad which had ostensibly been constructed to play one way - hence the initial complications - and create the consistency that had so been lacking. The theory was that by playing off-the-cuff and in retaliation to the opposition as City had become slightly typecast as, it would only ever lead to ups and downs in terms of results because you’re so dependent on what the opposition do, rather than yourself.

That didn’t exactly stand up as the campaign progressed with the 38-year-old at the helm because the Robins remained, pretty much to the end, erratic but did develop characteristics taking them beyond one singular approach.

By his own admission, as he said post-Blackburn, Manning felt he and his staff had tried to do too much, too quickly, in overloading the players with information and the slightly muddled process was evident of that. Vyner’s mistake against Norwich was very out-of-step with what he had been as a player over the previous 12 months, summoning previous memories, so too Tanner with his struggles at the John Smith's Stadium. A more streamlined approach was required.

And so City did tend to prospect thereafter by reverting a little more to previous type, as the Christmas trio of wins emphasised, with the opposition dominating possession on each occasions and then when they were required to dictate matters against Birmingham and Millwall it fell apart a little.

The inability to “beat the block” was most painfully felt during those three successive defeats we keep harping on about but they really did prove so pivotal and symbolic of the season: a team in transition, stuck between the recent past and present, unable to break through.

Manning has pointed to the loss of Twine or, if you want to take identity out of it, a playmaker, as being fundamental to all this. If you want to control possession, you can coach that in defence and midfield, no problem, and City did keep the ball very well throughout this period, but once it progresses up the pitch it needs an individual to bring it all together.

City had lost Scott, but Pearson’s approach didn’t place so much emphasis on that kind of player because of the velocity the ball moved up the field, largely eschewing such patient build-up. And so therefore the problems of the summer, and of selling the teenager without providing a replacement, were actually more keenly felt by the coach who wasn’t in charge at the point of sale. Go figure.

Again, we’re delving into fantasy land again but picture Scott in that pure No10 role as City build from deep under Manning... Right, that’s the last we’ll be doing of that.

Once Twine/a proper playmaker was introduced, it all started to make sense because the vocal point wasn’t an overmatched Conway or Mehmeti or Knight who don’t retain possession in that way. The previously disowned pocket now had a regular occupant and someone who Roiberts, Dickie, Vyner, anyone really, could really look to pass into. Conway suddenly came alive as his tireless running was rewarded with a supply line and the chemistry they created towards the end of the campaign was unmistakable.

That type of playmaker changes momentum in a variety of ways, and Twine proved very-Scott like in his ability to win fouls high up the pitch, a huge weapon utilised during Pearson’s time and then seemingly lost until the 24-year-old finally found his feet in the closing stages. It makes finding that individual of primary importance for the summer if the Robins wish to take the best parts of 2023/24 into the next season.

Perceptions of progress

Just this week, City were described by one rival director of football as “overachievers” this season given they were the only club in the Championship to have spent less than £1m on agents' fees and finished in the top half of the division. How strong you value this as a metric is up to you, and naturally the more fierce critics within the fanbase may deem this as further evidence of a lack of financial commitment on the part of the ownership, but it’s noteworthy, especially when taken in context with the overall positive recruitment strategy.

City have gotten decent bang for their buck on that front, and while it may not feel like it, and I’ve seen plenty of fans stating they’re glad to have seen the back of his campaign, it’s still the clubs best league position since 2018/19, when they finished eighth under Lee Johnson, while in the 13 seasons they’ve been in the Championship this century, in terms of points total it ranks sixth.

Defensively, this has been a historic nine months, and I mean that. It’s the fewest goals (51) the Robins have conceded in a season since the promotion campaign under Steve Cotterill in 2014/15, while in a Championship context, it’s been their most formidable since shipping 50 in 1993/94 when Russell Osman was in charge.

Defence isn’t an easy sell, but while it may not produce flashy quick-cut videos on social media, it’s a pretty good base to start from and given the vast majority of this squad, particularly in that area of the field, should stay intact, with the prospect of Atkinson and Naismith also re-joining the department for 2024/25, it’s surely hard to be anything but optimistic.

Admittedly, City did overperform defensively to a degree as while ranked fourth-best overall for goals conceded, in terms of expected goals against they 10th overall (54.6), but even that is an encouraging number. And as challenging a watch as it may have been at times, there was method to the mundanity and Manning has very clear foundations in place to move forward with the other critical part of the equation.

Scoring goals has been an issue and not just in volume but in key moments of matches that have contributed to the final result. Just taking a cursory glance at the 29 games City didn’t win, had Conway taken one-on-ones against Southampton and Norwich, Anis Mehmeti headed in the right direction at Birmingham, and Twine not missed a hatful at Norwich, the season maybe takes on a different complexion, before other factors come into considerations around individual defensive errors in various other matches.

It, of course, works the other way because the Robins were beneficiaries of such profligacy by Middlesbrough at the Riverside, Sunderland at the Stadium of Light and at home to Leicester City, in particular Jamie Vardy, while Blackburn Rovers pitched up at Ashton Gate with a comedic box of tricks to gift three points.

But the point stands that City shouldn’t be going into next season from a standing start. How much they’re running forward will depend on the work conducted over the next three months which all brings a sense of deja vu.

It was this time last season where we were having roughly the same conversations around a settled squad in need of a few tweaks and the prospect of Scott leaving, while unpalatable, was understandable providing the money, which turned out to be £25m, was suitably reinvested. Some was, but perhaps not how supporters envisaged or in areas of the team it was felt to truly enhance this squad - namely, in attack.

It does feel slightly different this time around because the needs appear more specific, granted that may become a little more complicated should Conway be sold, but the defence is set and should receive further in-house reinforcements, Max Bird further boosts the centre of midfield, perhaps more pace and penetration is needed out wide - for which Mebude was hoped to provide - but fundamentally the weakness is for a playmaker and a striker of significant presence who is of a different skillset to Conway, Nahki Wells and more rounded in experience than the returning Seb Palmer-Houlden.

It’s not an easy assignment, given the competition across the league, but a straightforward one and has been planned for some time.

In league positions there is a clear trend emerging: 19th, 17th, 14th and 11th. Should all fall into place this summer, many of which is out of Manning’s hands beyond the pitch he can deliver as a hands-on, developmental coach - something which does bring another string to the bow particularly in attracting loanees, should they go down that path - then expectations should be for another leap upwards.

This does feel all a little familiar and we were writing similar things 12 months ago but turning a squad that finished 14th, shorn of Antoine Semenyo and Scott, into a genuine play-off contender, when additions have largely been made elsewhere on the pitch, was a slightly fanciful prospect, however skilled Pearson was a manager and organiser. To be hugely simplistic about it, the majority of City’s transfer spend went on defenders and, guess what, they got better defensively, but regressed slightly, or at least stood still, in an attacking sense.

Perceptions, of course, became further skewed by events of late October and the fallout of Pearson’s sacking. The hierarchy, in trying to react to the toxic atmosphere created, understandably wanted to present a message of maintaining ambition, that Pearson’s dismissal wasn’t a cloaked backwards step. But words were amplified, in some cases misconstrued, and the message became distorted.

There’s an irony that one of Pearson’s greatest achievements over his time in charge was in keeping expectations tempered to a level that allowed such a financial and sporting rebuild to take place, something which speaks volumes of his presence and role as a communicator.

Yet once he left the club, and as a result of the act to remove him, those expectations became dramatically over-inflated relative to the situation. Deep down, everyone knew the flaws in this squad, and what would probably hold it back from mounting any kind of sustained attack on the top six, Jon Lansdown, Gavin Marshall and Brian Tinnion included.

But the message to the fanbase couldn’t ever be that, so delicate were emotions at the time, and, quite clearly, how challenging it was to present the actual reasons why they chose to dispense with Pearson at that particular time: a lack of time on the training ground due to health issues, internal friction as a result of that due to the perceived impact on the squad, and the subsequent acceleration of a decision around his future that was likely to be made right about now, as he was in the final year of his contract.

The feeling heading into the season was broadly of further incremental improvement in league position, squad capabilities and individual player development - such notions don’t really lend themselves to a nice, snappy slogan or soundbite, sadly - and over the course of the nine months of what proved an incredibly over-dramatic and fractious season, you have to say they eventually got there.

Something greater will have to be mustered for 2024/25 to help heal the wounds of what’s transpired during that time, which has just about been one of progress, depending on your perception, of course.

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