Skip to main content

EXCLUSIVE - The Sean O'Driscoll interview on The Cider Diaries (Pt 1)

When you've only recorded seven shows of your new podcast and the gaffer gets in touch to say he'd like to come on, it leads to a fairly warm feeling inside, I guess we're doing something fairly alright, then?

So it came to be that last Thursday five of us turned up at Ashton Gate for an interview with the man himself. We had no idea what to expect in all honesty, eight pages of questions were prepared in case the answers were short and we were left scratching our heads after 20 minutes.  Having read this excellent Goalfood interview where he starts off by threatening them if they asked stupid questions, I was particularly nervous to check my questions halfway into the room and make sure they still hadn't turned into gobbledy-gook.

We needn't have worried.

We didn't speak to a man sometimes portrayed as unfriendly, curt and lacking in willingness to talk to anyone. We spoke to a man who is clearly passionate about football and when he talks about a game being about more than just results, we got an insight into why he thinks as such.  It isn't just spin because results have been poor, it's because he genuinely sees his role at Ashton Gate to be one of developing young players, building a strong core that can take City into the next decade, building a system and a club that can stand on it's own two feet for years to come, and building a culture that means when someone talks about Bristol City, they'll say "ah yes, they're the club that ......." - and the finale to that statement won't be "changes their manager each season" or "always underachieves".

He was so passionate about what he talked about, in fact, and gave such detailed answers, that we got chased out be the night watchman at nearly 11pm, closing in on three hours after we started. This was clearly a setting in which O'Driscoll felt comfortable, and his extensive answers came easily and with little prompting.

Anyway, to save you all sitting there for two hours in one go we've broken it up into three, all less time in length than a half of football (and this is all free!).

In this first episode Sean talks about how he feels we're progressing this season, managerial job security(!), dealing with the press, his 12-month rolling contract, the squad he inherited, the message he gave Liam Fontaine before putting him on as substitute and the job he's trying to do at the club - as well as discussing how he was so keen to get the pitch right he has cut the grass in a previous job!  He talks about how he underestimated the strength of support there is for the club and what we've been through in the last few seasons.

"If I was running a football club, this would be how I'd run it" and "You don't come into this job for security" are two other notable quotes I've picked out, but there's loads to listen to so here it is.

The Sean O'Driscoll Interview: Part 1
Listen & download here: http://www.buzzsprout.com/11600/121486-the-cider-diaries-exclusive-the-sean-o-driscoll-interview-part-1-mp3

Or better still, subscribe via iTunes here to make sure you don't miss out on the second and third parts!

www.facebook.com/TheCiderDiaries

www.twitter.com/TheCiderDiaries

Enjoy - all feedback very very welcome!



The Exiled Robin

Follow me on Twitter ---'Like' me on Facebook

http://exiledrobin.blogspot.com


www.facebook.com/theciderdiaries --- www.twitter.com/theciderdiaries

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Ten days is a long time in football...the new era is dawning

The last couple of weeks has been quite a period in Bristol City’s long history. It’s been chaotic, troublesome and concerning. There’s been anger and abuse (more on that later), antipathy and arguments. And, as is the way with football, things tend to move very quickly. There is now more than a murmur of excitement (not quite full-blown, mind) and significant nodding of approval at the choice made by the club this week. In between all of this City won a game of football, albeit against a team bottom of the league playing with ten men for most of the match. But they won, and got three points and moved back into the top half of the table. Underperforming and not where the club wants to be…? Margins are fine, that’s for certain. So, what has been learned, with the announcement of Liam Manning as Head Coach on Tuesday and what myths do need to be busted? Firstly, the club communications are like Jekyll & Hyde. The engagement pieces, insight videos and some of the fun nonsense

Bright Knight of the City

  The lesser-spotted blog post... The string of summer signings has inspired the first post in a year, with a focus on new £2m(ish) signing, Jason Knight. He has been likened by some to Korey Smith, his former team-mate at Pride Park, whilst his high-energy approach has been praised widely. To get the real lowdown I spoke to avid Rams fan, Cory Hancock , of top Derby pod Ram's Review .                                                    Picture from Bristol City www.bcfc.co.uk  Tell us about Jason Knight. What type of player are we getting? An energy player who will run all game long. Knight’s engine is second-to-none. He will run hard for the team and do the work of two players. That’s not to say he runs around like a headless chicken, but he will go box-to-box for 90 minutes. He’s also a solid and consistent performer who rarely lets the side down. He’s played a few different positions, I think most expect him to be straying centrally for us as one of two holding midfielders. Woul

Bristol City: Our Greatest Team to the Ashton Gate Eight

Back in 2014, I was invited by the Two Unfortunates website to write about Bristol City's greatest team. It was a story which, of course, ended ultimately in the story of the Ashton Gate 8. Since the site of the original post has long since gone, here it is republished in full. "Eight players with more than 80 years at the club and more than 2,000 appearances between them, cast aside as unwilling saviours" Sometimes, events occur that make you realise your true standing in life. When the emotional mask of expectation is removed and those rose-tinted spectacles are lowered onto the brow of the nose, you can realise that things aren’t quite all they seem. And so it was for me, a lifelong Bristol City fan, when I was asked to talk about our greatest ever team. For when it came down to it, there was only one real choice. One genuinely great team that I could write about even in the perspective-bending world of football and this was one I hadn’t even had the privilege of seein