The Exiled Robin

Just when you thought a manic week of signings was over, Bristol City pulled another surprise out of the bag with Friday evening's capture of Oldham Athletic captain Korey Smith, the 23-year old moving to Ashton Gate with Liam Kelly moving the other way. Kelly was seen by many as a hot prospect at City but his injury last season clearly hampered both his progress and his chances of establishing himself. Much as he could turn out to be a huge loss, I find it personally difficult to reconcile a couple of decent performances in pre-season friendlies with the 'great white hope' some fans seemed to be associating. He may have made some difference last season, but I think it was certainly one of those cases where he was better off well away from the firing line and his stature only grew with inept performance after inept performance. So he leaves with many well-wishers hoping he can put his injuries behind him and establish himself in English football's third tier, w...

More than seven weeks after the last campaign ended with gloating celebrations at Crawley, City’s close season exploded into life this week with the capture of three players to bolster manager Steve Cotterill’s options for the new season.  Wade Elliott’s signature was the least surprising (but still very welcome) deal, whilst Luke Freeman was a name many of us had hoped for but few dared believe we might get, with reported interest from several Championship clubs for his services. His pace, direct running and eye for a goal couldn’t have failed to any watching Robins fan in our encounters with Stevenage last season, despite him ending on the losing side on both occasions. The other signing is a player many may not know much about.  Mark Little may be getting on a bit, I remember watching him in Neighbours when I got home from school at the end of the 1980’s but with Bouncer in tow I reckon we’ve got a great signing…. Mark Little Ah, OK, not him? Right, right…Lit...