Patience, patience, patience… Michael Skubala must go.
How could someone (me) who was calling for time and patience change their mind so quickly? Because the facts have changed.
After Saturday’s lunchtime capitulation against Norwich, fan sentiment is now so deep in toxicity, it is difficult to see how Skubala comes back from here.
Advertisement
He is not alone in accountability – six of the starters also started another 5-0 home defeat by Derby County back in January.
There is a culture within the side that when the going gets tough, they disappear.
That is not to say they give up, but they fall to pieces as a working football team machine.
The new regime have decisions to make. Their project can perfectly succeed with a change. It is not dependent on one manager but it goes deeper than that.
The armband must also change. No captain can seriously claim to have team authority with two 5-0 losses at home on their watch.
On Jason Knight the player – though I think it is a long conversation as to his best position – I am a fan.
Advertisement
Jason Knight the captain, from his connection with referees to ability to pull the team from dark places at home, not so much.
On 13 occasions in 2026, the Robins have fallen behind at home. The record is W0 D1 L12.
If we really are to change direction, let’s do it properly.
Yet when looking at the side, it is not easy to pick the new captain. Playing time and fitness complicate the issue, so who?
Joe Williams would be a great steady-the-ship choice – a man who oozes captain class, but he is still in the process of showing he is beyond his injury-hit recent past and, like Knight, is out of contract in the summer.
Advertisement
Luke McNally would be a great call, but two games in four days is currently off the menu for the defender.
Fellow centre-back Rob Dickie at face value could do it, but his time at this level could well be nearing its end, and I am not even sure he now gets in the best XI.
When looking at the squad as a whole, there are no easy answers as to who should be skipper, and perhaps that is half the problem hiding in plain sight.
Jason Knight is out of contract at Bristol City next summer having joined from Derby County in 2023 [Getty Images]
Furthermore, the three-year project does not end in promotion or failure.
It ends in my infuriating football club being in a much stronger place than today.
And that is the ability to challenge at the top end of this league year-on-year, with a budget and reputation to do so.
Advertisement
However, changing that will take time, as right now, we are nobodies.
The current captain will not commit past this season and our prized asset, Scott Twine, is now entering the dreaded 18-month zone. It does not speak highly to how the football world sees us.
There is hope though. In Adam Randell and Tomi Horvat, we have two possible game changers who, under a new manager, will be given a fresh life. It is on them to take it.
Better still, the core of this squad is a competitive one.
What it desperately needs, beyond cultural change, is wide players (both full-backs and more advanced wide players) who offer pace, creativity, and, yes, a goal contribution or goal threat.
Advertisement
Easy to say, harder to find. Even so, they have two months until the next window when they have to go and buy exactly that.
There is still life in this project yet for Bristol City, but it has hit its first true roadblock. I trust them to do the right thing, I trust them to do it soon.
You can hear more from Dave Tovey on the Forever Bristol City podcast.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: Sports.yahoo.com
