By now it should be abundantly clear that Bristol City’s business between now and January 31 will be minimal as Nigel Pearson doesn’t necessarily need or want to roll the dice and if there’s going to be any serious squad surgery, it’ll be done in the summer.
It’s almost cliche now but January is never an easy window to operate in, and that’s before you factor in Covid and teams wanting to keep hold of squad players, the financial landscape of City and the Championship and Pearson’s own reticence at using the loan market.
Pearson isn’t a fan of historical pointers, the past is often irrelevant and there’s a lot to be said for that mindset, however if not only to emphasise just how challenging January can be, the Robins have a pretty awful track record at this time of year.
We’ve briefly broken down all the signings made by the club in the winter window since they returned to the Championship and it’s fair to say there has been considerably more misses than hits.
January 2016
Paul Garita (Chateauroux, £50,000)
Signed by Steve Cotterill just a week before his dismissal, the Cameroon striker was described as a "£50,000 punt" and proved to be one that flew wildly out of touch as he never made a Championship appearance and was largely demoted to the Under-23s. He did, however, bizarrely appear on the bench for the League Cup quarter-final win over Manchester United. MISS.
Scott Golbourne (Wolves, undisclosed)
A return to Bristol after 13 years for the left-back who signed a two-and-a-half year contract. City did get 35 league appearances out of him before his release in the summer of 2018 but he was squeezed out by the development of Joe Bryan and then the promise of Lloyd Kelly emerging. MISS… but sort of in the middle, really.
Richard O’Donnell (Wigan, undisclosed)
Signed on a permanent a few weeks after initially joining on loan, O’Donnell played a big part in keeping the Robins in the division but some high profile errors, a loss of confidence and Lee Johnson seemingly losing trust in him saw him sold to Rotherham a year later. HIT…then MISS.
Ben Gladwin (QPR, loan)
Signed on a 93-day short-term loan and made little impact, making just one appearance - 61 minutes in a 1-0 defeat to Leeds - before returning to west London where he actually then ended up playing against the Robins on the final day of the season. MISS.
Alex Pearce (Derby, loan)
Another loanee to aid the relegation battle and his impact was also minimal as Pearce struggled for form and made just seven appearances, three as a starter, and was part of a winning team just twice in the league before heading back to Derby. MISS.
Lee Tomlin (Bournemouth, loan)
For the definition of season-defining mid-season loan, add Tomlin to City in 2016: six goals in 18 games, with some of the most outrageous pieces of individual play seen in a City shirt, potentially ever, he was instrumental in keeping the Robins up. Unfortunately, perhaps too good, because once his loan was turned into a permanent deal, it was all downhill. HIT.
January 2017
Milan Duric (Cesena, £1.5m)
Still spoken about in hushed tones as to what could have been for Bosnian if City had been able to get more out of his obvious aerial qualities. Still holds something of cult following for his 18 months in BS3 and he scored some important goals but, ultimately, given the fee, it didn’t work out and he returned to Italy, signing for Salernitana, 18 months later. MISS.
Jens Hegeler (Hertha Berlin, £255,000)
Another case of City widening their recruitment network with the experienced German joining from the Bundesliga. Although technically he looked the part, and was clearly a very good footballer, alas the Championship wasn’t the right league to bring the best out of his talents. His contract was cancelled in December 2018, six months before it was due to expire with Hegeler then retiring from the professional game. MISS.
Bailey Wright (Preston, undisclosed)
Just one of those smart, common-sense deals as the Australian international played a big part in that season and the following campaign, impressing with his versatility and leadership. Unfortunately injuries and his Swiss Army knife-style - was he best as a centre-back or a right-back? - meant he then struggled to hold down a consistent place. HIT.
Matty Taylor (Bristol Rovers, £400,000)
Was Taylor a success on the field? Probably not, and there is significant debate within that because he was also probably underused. But as political signings go, this was a masterstroke from Johnson as it took an element of focus away from the poor run City were on as Robins fans bathed in the glow of taking their rivals’ best player for relative peanuts. MISS… but maybe also a HIT.
Freddie Hinds (Luton, undisclosed)
Johnson compared the then 18-year-old with Nicky Maynard when he signed, having tried to get him six months earlier, and while he was strictly a player for the Under-23s at the time, ultimately he never made the breakthrough at Ashton Gate. MISS.
Tin Plavotic (Schalke, undisclosed)
As above, the big Croat defender was lumbered with Aden Flint comparisons and never made a first-team impression after loans at Cheltenham Town and Barnet. Still only 24, is playing for Ried in the Austrian Bundesliga. MISS.
Fabian Giefer (Schalke, loan)
Effectively replaced O’Donnell as he was sold to Barnsley, Giefer took over the gloves from Frank Fielding but never properly settled in English football after a long spell of inactivity in Germany and, as it has since come to light, had problems with his vision that meant Fielding soon resumed duties in goal. MISS.
David Cotterill (Birmingham, loan)
A homecoming of sorts for the former academy graduate, the Wales international certainly made an impact down the final stretch of the season and, as he’s since stated, thought he’d been in line for a permanent deal. However, a fall out with Johnson saw his loan stint then abruptly end and the winger return to St Andrew’s after 13 appearances. HIT.
January 2018
Liam Walsh (Everton, undisclosed)
Another one for the future in which City fans were left in a perpetual sense of waiting for the midfielder’s promise to come to the surface in a consistent Championship context. Ultimately, injuries proved his undoing as a knee injury in December curtailed his progress that season and then the hamstring problems he endured after returning from that wonderful Coventry loan, saw him released last summer. An eternal shame. MISS.
Ryan Kent (Liverpool, loan)
Signed to try and give City that extra push over the line by bringing more quality in the final third, it simply never worked out for the young winger who struggled for form and fitness. His lack of gametime - 548 minutes - also saw City having to pay an additional loan payment to Liverpool due to not fulfilling the terms of his agreement. MISS.
Lois Diony (St Etienne, loan)
So poor was his contribution, the Frenchman has become an unfortunate punchline and an example of why it’s maybe not good to gamble in January. The best thing you could say about his stay in the west country is at least the Robins weren’t committed to the £10m which would have turned his loan into a permanent. MISS.
January 2019
Kasey Palmer (Chelsea, loan)
Rapidly becoming one of the oddest transfers in modern times, only because Palmer was signed for reasonable money on a big salary after a fairly underwhelming loan spell in which he was a perennial super sub. But Johnson did see the talent and thought he could become a high-level No10 in the Championship only to increasingly marginalise him. Three years later, not much has changed. MISS.
January 2020
Nahki Wells (Burnley, undisclosed)
This was supposed to be the one; the proven Championship marksman City had craved for so long who was ready to hit the ground running after a brilliant first half of the season on loan at QPR. Alas, as coaches have changed, and nobody able to find a proper role for him in the team, it just hasn’t worked out for the Bermudian, at least not to the required level of a marquee signing, even if he was top scorer last season. MISS.
Filip Benkovic (Leicester, loan)
A strange one to assess, really, because Benkovic initially looked physically not quite right for the Championship but as the Covid-interrupted season went on he got much better, to the point where you felt he would have really improved the team in the post-Webster age. Unfortunately by the time he reached an appropriate level, his loan was over. MISS.
Markus Henriksen (Hull City, loan)
Effectively signed as a short-term replacement for Josh Brownhill following his sale to Burnley, the Norwegian looked a smart deal on paper but his total lack of football for Hull caught up with him as he made four appearances amid some niggly injury issues and was never able to get properly match fit. MISS.
January 2021
None
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