The Exiled Robin

It wasn’t Luke Freeman’s skill, Joe Bryan’s crosses, or Aden Flint’s heading. It wasn’t the goals of Aaron Wilbraham or Matt Smith and it wasn’t the agility of Frankie Fielding. It wasn’t even the astute summer purchases, tactical nous and tremendous man management from the gaffer, Steve Cotterill. Hell, it wasn’t even Steve Lansdown’s millions. Nope, the reason Bristol City have had such an incredible season, such success, is down to my lucky purple and lime loom band bracelet! Football people are funny folk, “queer as”, they might have said in the olden days, before it became so politically incorrect. Tales of superstition amongst sportspeople are commonplace, not least with Bristol City’s own manager. Steve Cotterill revealed more than a shade of belief in old gypsy tale style stories in this tremendous Guardian blog http://www.theguardian.com/football/football-league-blog/2014/oct/30/bristol-city-chelsea-steve-cotterill-jose-mourinho-unbeaten and it is clear he is the...

April 14 th , 2015. Could this be the day? The moment of crowning glory this team has worked so hard for all season? The maths are now simple. A win at Bradford on Tuesday night will mean Bristol City become the first team in the country to gain promotion this season. That in itself is a mark of the success we’ve had, and I’m pretty certain this success-ravenous manager City somewhat stumbled across will be drilling this into his players in the dressing-room before the match. This is another chance to make headlines as ‘winners’, a chance to get our club’s names and their own names up in lights at the same time. The accolades will follow as and when promotion is achieved, but I think it’s fair representation of our season, and of our approach, that most fans are travelling up to Yorkshire in expectation rather than hope. Cotterill seems to have created a team of winners across the club and even the fans are now turning up with a a more positive mindset than at any previous...

It’s tantalisingly close now. Tuesday’s captivating and hard-fought victory over local rivals and promotion rivals Swindon Town has left us within a game or so of securing our passage back to the second tier of English football. Despite a run of tough games still to come, it does seem a case of ‘when’, and not ‘if’ now for even those most pessimistic of City fans. But will promotion be enough? Without wanting to be greedy, we’ve been top of the table for most of the season, by a considerable margin for much of it, and we haven’t won a league title in sixty years. Of all the games left, Saturday’s at Deepdale against Preston North End is clearly the most important for that particular issue and will ensure that Cotterill will leave his players in no doubt they cannot ease off the gas right now. Tuesday’s performance proved that is unlikely anyhow, although that was tinged with revenge for an animosity filled defeat in November. Our other defeat that month, the following week...

It was the moment many, including myself, truly started to believe. I’m not talking about the win on Saturday that put us an incredible 8 (EIGHT) points clear at the top, albeit with new likeliest challengers Preston have a game in hand. No, I’m talking the win at the Matchroom Stadium last season when we actually looked like – and got the result that – a side who could do something in this division should be getting. Remember at that time we were still battling relegation, whilst Orient were flying high and aiming for an ultimately unattainable promotion, which made the result and the performance even more noteworthy. A year on and the tables have very much turned. As mentioned before, City have bought exceptionally well and brought in a manager who is getting the very best from his bunch of players, whilst Orient have lost last year’s supremo and, whilst they have attracted some decent looking players, for one reason or another they’re clearly not gelling as the club wou...

And there it is. A first league defeat in controversial circumstances at old rivals Swindon Town.  Now comes a true test of this team’s seemingly strong belief and character, moreso than during games where a defeat had looked on the cards as this team now needs to show how it reacts to a loss, especially one which angered and frustrated manager, players and fans alike. Steve Cotterill’s temperament and approach will be critical this week.   If he has spent the week getting the players to channel their emotions productively, then Preston could feel the backlash.   If it’s been a week of feelings of injustice and despondency, the outcome could be somewhat different.    Being 'up for it' seems to be most fans' desire after such a defeat, but without control, that can sometimes be an approach which loses you the sense of purpose and planning with which we have achieved so much this season.   When you throw in the loss of your captain and midfield lynch...

After a brief hiatus from the league and an all-too-rare level of success in the two cup competitions, City return to league action this weekend in the first of a trio of mouth-watering clashes at the top of league one.  Preston North End and Peterborough United are on the horizon, but for now a classic local derby looks to be on the cards, as Steve Cotterill takes his unbeaten league leaders to the County Ground to face Swindon. Stu Radnedge caught up with Dan Johnson www.twitter.com/danwjonson - a blogger for the Swindon Advertiser, to get the other Robins’ take on their own great start to the season. “As the new campaign got underway in August it was hard to predict what sort of season was on the horizon. Due to a courtroom battle over the clubs ownership the club had only signed a handful of players in time for the big kick-off. However, despite suffering a chaotic pre-season, Town began with a win, beating Scunthorpe 3-1 at the County Ground.  The opening mo...

Comparisons with Chelsea and Jose Mourinho, articles on his lucky pants and an obsessive search for magpies and brief links to jobs at a higher level.  It’s been an interesting week for Bristol City manager, Steve Cotterill. And that’s all because it’s November and City are STILL unbeaten. Being nearly one-third of the way through the season and still to register a ‘L’ in the results column is a remarkable achievement.  Yet in the last couple of weeks – as Preston North End maintain their own outstanding winning run and close the gap – more and more questions have been raised about the conceding of soft goals, the carelessness of protecting leads, and dropped points in recent games. Is this unfair criticism of a team who are taking all before them and remain, for now, in the highest possible position they can attain? Or is it justifiable concern of what might lie ahead, should these shortcoming not be addressed?  Probably a bit of both. I have seen some peopl...