The Exiled Robin

The countdown is over, the new season is almost upon us and with that comes the introduction of a brand new feature on The Exiled Robin. Each week, with the help of some esteemed fellow writers, I'll be bringing you a fan's take on the opposition, giving you the chance to find out a little more about them ahead of the match. Now you may have thought we'd been relegated but as we kick off the season against last season's League Cup runners-up, a side that went on to win at Wembley, surely that's not true? Bradford City had a remarkable season last time out, one which they surely can't repeat, although you can't help but feel we may have drawn the short straw in pulling them first, whilst last years elation and confidence is still so prominent. I spoke to Mahesh Johal from " The Width of a Post " - a thoroughly comprehensive website following the Bantams and he gave me a in-depth view of what we can expect from Phil Parkinson's Clar...

When a Huddersfield fan asked me for my thoughts on Jon Stead's recent form following his move 'home', I put this together.  Thanks to @Terrier1987Cas for the opportunity to write about one of my favourite recent City players for his site:  http://htafcblogspace.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/AreTownReady.html It's probably safe to say that when Jon Stead signed for Bristol City, fans were excited about the prospect of a 'big' name joining us and boosting our strike force, but there was undoubtedly an element of concern at the prospect of another journeyman footballer turning up, someone whose career appeared to be on a downward trajectory and of whom the main memories were long barren, goal-less runs of games in the Premier League for Blackburn and Sunderland. Thankfully, he leaves us three years later as one of the most popular players to have pulled on a red shirt in recent memory. If you want a 25-goal a season striker, then Stead isn't your man. That...

Rarely can a signing have been made so under the radar as Scott Wagstaff's arrival at Ashton Gate last week.  Not a hint of a rumour until the day before, and not one of the more famous names around the leagues, Wagstaff's introduction had many a fan scrabbling around in their memory banks to work out who he was, where he played, and in some instances, when they'd seen him play. Totally overshadowed by the signing of Jay Emmanuel-Thomas and his #WED explosion onto City fans' Twitter timelines, Wagstaff has been portrayed in the local media as the sort of industrious wide man we haven't really seen since Michael McIndoe left the club - not that any of the more recent inhabitants were particularly lazy, but the balance O'Driscoll is clearly looking for certainly involves all of the midfield tracking back and being part of the defensive unit - something which leads me to suggest he'd be one of the least unhappy to see Albert Adomah leave Ashton Gate, as ar...

Undoubtedly the headline signing of the summer so far, Paul Anderson made way this week for Jay Emmanuel-Thomas' arrival from Ipswich Town, a somewhat maverick character but one City fans will remember in particular for a stunning performance when directing unfashionable Doncaster (now, who was their manager that day?) to a 5-2 demolition at Ashton Gate. The flourish of his signing was matched by significant fan's excitement, at the potential of having an impact player who can unlock games and score stunning goals as well as cause havoc amongst the opposition defence, the type of player we've seen all too rarely over these past few, fairly barren years.  A crescendo was reached when 'JET' took to Twitter, engaged in mass interaction with his new fans and introduced them to #WED (apparently an abbreviation of an East-London phrase What Else Den), seemingly exclusively used by JET.  If he'd had a massive and expensive PR team behind him, I doubt they could have...