Bristol City

Bristol City’s long history started in 1894 when the club was initially founded as Bristol South End. Their name was changed to Bristol City three years later when they become a professional club. Upon being admitted into the Southern League, they finished runners-up during three of the competition’s first four seasons. In 1900 they joined forces with local team Bedminster FC, retaining their name and colours, with the intention of creating a strong enough team for the city to compete in the south. In 1901 they became only the third team south of Birmingham to be accepted into the Football League.

The club had been playing between two stadiums for several years due to its amalgamation with Bedminster FC, until finally in 1904 they permanently moved to Ashton Gate, where they continue to host home games to this day. In 1905, they gained fourteen successive wins in Division Two, which is still a joint record held with Preston North End and Manchester United. Around this time, City adopted the kit of red shirts with white shorts which they still wear today. As the club continued to grow in stature, they soon became universally known as the “Bristol Babe”, a moniker which stuck until the late 1940’s when the present nickname “The Robins” became popular, supposedly inspired by a hit pop song of the time. However, the club’s earliest known tag was “The Garabaldians” - a comparison made with the red shirts worn by the followers of the Italian revolutionary Garibaldi.

In terms of trophies up until the start of World War Two, the club could boast two third tier titles, one second tier title and an FA Cup runners-up medal from 1909. Since then, they have won two more third tier championships and what is now known as the EFL Trophy - admittedly way behind the FA Cup and League Cup in terms of prestige - on three occasions in 1986, 2003 and 2015, but unfortunately for The Robins it has not been a history glittering with major silverware. The decades between the 1920s and 1960s can be described as the “yo-yo era” by fans with the club moving repetitively between the second and third divisions. In 1967, Alan Dicks took over as manager and started to gradually improve City’s fortunes, eventually leading them back to the First Division with promotion in 1976, ending their 65-year exile from the top tier.

Unfortunately, four years later began a period of staggering decline as the club suffered three successive relegations to the Fourth Division. The first two relegations caused financial upheaval which led to the third relegation and unconquerable difficulties for the club as it was officially declared bankrupt. City had hit rock bottom. A new club was formed from its ashes and a revival plan was put into practice. “The Robins” would spend the next decade valiantly clawing their way back to Division One. Managers Terry Cooper and Joe Jordan respectively inspired City back into the third tier and eventually back into the second tier in 1990 when they achieved automatic promotion from Division Three as runners-up to their local rivals Bristol Rovers.

Between 1990 and 2014 the club moved between League One and the Championship with some fairly long spells in each, with managers Danny Wilson and Gary Johnson having fairly long stints at the helm and mixed fortunes. During this unremarkable period they won the EFL Trophy in 2003.

Post 2014, “The Robins” can be considered a steady lower mid table Championship side finishing either a safe few places above the drop zone or occasionally threatening a play-off run. This period of consolidation began when Steve Cotterill took over with the side bottom of League One, ushered them to a safe 12th place finish that season and then led them to the League One title the following year, their first league title since 1955. They also captured their other most recent piece of silverware when they won their third EFL Trophy that year beating Walsall in the final. Cotterill was sacked after failing to adapt quickly enough to the Championship, and over the coming seasons top players like Jonathan Kodjia and on-loan Chelsea star Tammy Abraham moved on. Managers came and went. However, the 2017-18 campaign was one of note with “The Robins” sitting in 2nd place 24 games into the campaign before sadly dropping off and missing out on the play-offs, while beating the likes of Manchester United and other Premier League clubs to reach the semi-finals of the League Cup.

This season current boss Dean Holden will be hoping Senegalese striker Famara Diédhiou, top scorer in the past two seasons, and impressive young English defender Zak Vyner, among other talents in the squad can help transform Bristol City from play-off contenders into Premier League debutants.