The Exiled Robin

A couple of weeks ago I asked three Nottingham Forest fans to give a view on our new signing Greg Cunningham.  The result was a resounding thumbs-up, a player they all had wished had returned to The City Ground following his loan spell last season. Derek McInnes has raided the former European Champions again, this time for permanent employee Paul Anderson, a winger who has dotted around league one and the Championship, often threatening to make an impact sufficient enough to earn a really big move, but without ever quite managing to maintain form on a consistent basis. So, how do the three Forest fans view City's signing of Anderson?  A perfect foil for Cunningham? A player to unlock the tightest of defences, or another once bright young prospect who sadly looks as if he'll never really make it in the top two divisions? Peter Blackburn @petermblackburn Peter is a trainee journalist and indicates City have a player who, given a chance, might just be...

Firstly apologies for the title of this article.  I don't normally indulge in tabloid style attention grabbers but I simply couldn't resist! The signing of a goalkeeper for City was hardly the biggest of summer surprises, it having been a position manager Derek McInnes had earmarked following the departure of David James, who left in May following his mixed two year pit-stop in BS3. The question really surrounded whether McInnes was after a number two - as cover for Dean Gerken, perhaps a young up-and-coming star - or a more genuine challenge for the number one jersey.  My belief is that Tom Heaton falls firmly into the latter category. The former Manchester united starlet has spent a couple of years across the Severn Bridge at rivals Cardiff City, but has largely had to make do with the occasional appearance as cover for first-choice David Marshall, and was first-choice for their Carling Cup games.  Now if that had been his situation at Ashton G...

The Bristol City Youth academy has often promised much and delivered, arguably, disappointingly.   That was certainly the impression given by the club this summer with a revamp ordered by Derek McInnes, frustrated at the lack of options available to him. http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/Tim-Kirk-aiming-improve-production-line-Bristol/story-16476765-detail/story.html In the first of a couple of articles on the youth set-up at City, guest writer Lee Molland got in touch with ex Bristol Roversfullback Trevor Challis and got a fascinating insight into some of the workings of City's Academy and what happens behind the scenes. Hi Trevor, thank you for agreeing to chat to us today, can we start by asking you about your professional background and how you’ve ended up at Bristol City? I played football from very young age and trained at Arsenal and Queens Park Rangers as a child and signed professional forms for Q.P.R. at 18.   I made my first team debut at 20, pla...

Is this the truth behind City's season? As any of you who follow me on Twitter will know, I follow many people with a different take on football and take great pleasure in retweeting the best and most interesting.   Most of these probably pass by relatively unnoticed, as so much on Twitter probably does due to the way the timeline works and the number of people everyone follows, but one in particular caught the imagination last year. City were unknowingly coming to the end of their worst run of the season – and that’s saying something considering the start we made! – but when I retweeted this article by Ben Mayhew  -   it had more reaction than to any other I can recall. If a dose of reality was required – although to be honest right at that time it really wasn’t – then these charts brought them home.   Poor in front of goal, yes.   The worst in the entire league…blimey! The interest shown in the charts leapt back into my consciousness when I saw th...

The Exiled Robin The signing of left-back Greg Cunningham on Thursday was arguably Bristol City’s most long-awaited incoming transfer.   Ever since our fateful trip to Wembley four years ago, fans have been acutely aware of the lack of any cover for Jamie McAllister in this position, and despite successive managers making the right noises no suitable cover, or, indeed as is now required, replacement has ever been sourced.   Mystifyingly it has seemed remarkably complex to sign someone to play in this position so let’s hope we have just found ourselves a new hero to play in the relatively ‘cult’ number three shirt.   Martin Scott, Mickey Bell and Darren Barnard have all been hero-worshipped by the Ashton Gate faithful to varying degrees in the past twenty years, so can the young Irishman become an established first-team performer? Although a Manchester City player, Cunningham’s only sightings for the new Champions of England were 45 minutes against Scunthorpe in an...

The final episode of the Exiled Robin’s series of six posts introducing you to the Championship’s newest members focuses on perhaps the most familiar of all to City fans, with regular clashes against Wolves over the past 10-15 years.   Find other posts in the series here: Welcome to the Championship (1/6): Blackburn Rovers Welcome to the Championship (2/6): Sheffield Wednesday Welcome to the Championship (3/6): Charlton Athletic Welcome to the Championship (4/6): Bolton Wanderers Welcome to the Championship (5/6): Huddersfield Town About……Wolverhampton Wanderers Nickname: ‘Wolves’         Manager: Stale Solbakken Play at: Molineux, 99 miles from Ashton Gate Capacity: 31,500; Last Season Avg Attendance: 25,682 Interesting Facts:   Wolves led the way in many aspects seen as standard in the modern game – although others had dabbled, Wolves hosted a series of floodlit matches against illust...

The penultimate post in this series of six presents the Yorkshire side who won promotion via the play offs, one year on from disappointment at the same stage. Find other posts in the series here: Welcome to the Championship (1/6): Blackburn Rovers Welcome to the Championship (2/6): Sheffield Wednesday Welcome to the Championship (3/6): Charlton Athletic Welcome to the Championship (4/6): Bolton Wanderers About……Huddersfield Town Nickname: ‘The Terriers’                Manager: Simon Grayson Play at: Galpharm Stadium, 207 miles from Ashton Gate Capacity: 24,500;   Last Season Avg Attendance: 14,146 Interesting Facts:   Huddersfield were the best club around in the 1920’s, becoming the first club to win the league title in three successive seasons in the 1920’s in a run of positions that went 3 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 2 – 2   >>> They won the FA Cup i...

The fourth in the Exiled Robin’s series of six posts introducing you to the Championship’s newest members focuses on perhaps the most surprising addition.  Bolton were an established Premier League club and in Owen Coyle had snared one of the brightest young managers in the game, yet found the going last season just too tough.   Find other posts in the series here: Welcome to the Championship (1/6): Blackburn Rovers Welcome to the Championship (2/6): Sheffield Wednesday Welcome to the Championship (3/6): Charlton Athletic   About……Bolton Wanderers Nickname: ‘The Trotters’ Manager: Owen Coyle Play at: The Reebok Stadium, 188 miles from Ashton Gate Capacity: 28,101; Last Season Avg Attendance: 23,669 Interesting Facts:   Bolton have spent more years in the top division (71) than any other side without winning the title >>> Two of the most famous FA Cup finals of all time featured Bolton, the 1923 ‘White Horse’...