The Exiled Robin

My latest blog is now up on the Bristol Post website, the link is here: http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/BRISTOL-CITY-BLOG-Robins-speculate-accumulate/story-27673657-detail/story.html In it I offer my views on the recent big money bids, and reflect upon many of the fans reactions to those huge offers and look at some of the reasons the bids were made when they were, and not earlier. Views, comments and shares as welcome as ever! The Exiled Robin Follow me on Twitter  --- 'Like' us on Facebook http://exiledrobin.blogspot.c om www.facebook.com/theciderdiaries --- www.twitter.com/th eciderdiaries

"So there you have it.  After wins galore, unbeaten runs, two trophies and 99 points, the Championship  is going to be just a little bit tougher....." Wes Burns, Frankie Fielding and defending set-pieces all a part of my Bristol Post contribution to this week's blog, following the first league game of the season. http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/Heady/story-27594151-detail/story.html *Please note this was written before the Dwight Gayle news broke and before the Luton game! The Exiled Robin Follow me on Twitter  --- 'Like' us on Facebook http://exiledrobin.blogspot.c om www.facebook.com/theciderdiaries --- www.twitter.com/th eciderdiaries

Ahead of the new season, Lee Molland www.twitter.com/Molls28 has written a short-pre-season opinion and issues a rallying call, reminding us all of why we should be so excited about this new season and new adventure "We’re now hours away from the start of the Championship season, and for the first time since his perhaps slightly controversial arrival, Steve Cotterill has City fans split. Not because of results (nobody could doubt that incredible record he has) but due to the lack of transfer activity. Although, let's not forget that we have spent £2.1 million on Jonathan Kodjia. I broke my own rule of getting excited over a YouTube clip! It looks like the boy can get behind defences, but more importantly, finish. Pre-season has been full of speculation over incomings to Ashton Gate, but as time has ticked on, only Kodjia has arrived. Some fans are nervous, some relaxed, some even angry.  Me? I’m backing whatever Mr Cotterill perceives as the right decision f...

As the regular readers may have noticed, blog posts have become significantly less frequent over the past year or so and non-existent over the summer. For a number of reasons, I've been unable to commit the time to producing the materials I love writing and, from the feedback, I know many of you enjoy reading. Family commitments, my wife's wedding planning business and a new role for myself at work which involves more travelling have all contributed to this and when given an opportunity to try something new this summer, I decided it was the right time for me to try and re-invigorate myself and my faithful quill! Also, as you may have noticed from social media if you're on it, it's actually far harder to generate interest and comment when everything is going quite so bloody well on the pitch! I struggled to come up with a decent end of season review because actually I knew pretty much everyone would just agree with what I said and other than "wasn't tha...

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...