Nigel Pearson claims Bristol City will be targeting a top-half finish and potentially a play-off place next season after a “crucial year” of rebuilding and restructuring at Ashton Gate that will finish with the Robins in 17th.
Throughout the campaign Pearson, and many of his senior players, have talked about this being a transitional year in which City have had to remain competitive in the Championship but also reduce the wage bill and try and usher in greater volumes of talent from the academy.
That has ultimately been achieved with City never really in relegation danger, Alex Scott, Antoine Semenyo and Han-Noah Massengo, among the younger elements of the squad, making huge strides, with Ayman Benarous, Sam Bell, Tommy Conway continuing their development, and Josh Owers and Duncan Idehen appearing as next to make a breakthrough.
Having released 10 first-team players last summer, that shaved some of the record £35.3m wage bill as recorded in the 2020/21 accounts but further reductions will be needed to be made in the forthcoming transfer window, likely to lead to the exits of high-earners Kasey Palmer and Nahki Wells, at least.
Off the field, Pearson has reshaped the medical department with the arrival of Dave Rennie, Curtis Fleming now firmly established in his backroom staff, plus there is a desire to further enhance the recruitment operation. There is also the intangible concept of “culture”, something Pearson has continually strived to improve at the club.
All these building blocks mean the manager believes next season should be a more consistently pleasurable watch for a City fanbase who, over the last 18 months have witnessed a 17-match winless run at Ashton Gate - ended against Barnsley in October - an inability to win consecutive games in the league until last Saturday’s 5-0 victory over Hull and a worrying defensive record that has seen them concede 75 in 45 matches.
“We’ll be aiming a lot higher next year, there’s no doubt about that,” Pearson told Robins TV, prior to Saturday's trip to Huddersfield. “And I think our fans will expect that as well. So it’s up to us to deliver that and it’s always up to us to keep our fans on board.
“To do that they need to have some optimism that we’re moving in the right direction. There are no guarantees but we have a very loyal fanbase who want success and hopefully we’ll be able to deliver more visible success next season.
“As a football club we’ve made really important changes this year. They’ve not always impacted results, in the way we would like, but the changes that have been made will be fundamental to how we achieve success moving forward.
“It’s been a very crucial year for us as a club, on lots of different levels. Hopefully next year, we’ll achieve more success with the first-team on the pitch, so that we are challenging higher up the league - top half to play-off places, that’s what we’re looking for next season.”
Crucial to moving up the league - City are eight points shy of 12th and 17 adrift of a play-off place - will be recruitment this summer, attracting players to build on those already in the building and retaining as many of their best individuals as possible.
Scott, Semenyo and Massengo are obvious candidates to be subject to bids from clubs further up the food chain, although the former spoke last week about the perils of making the move to the top-flight too soon.
In terms of incomings, last summer Pearson took the surprise step of naming exactly how many players he wanted - five: two centre-backs, two midfielders and a striker.
In the end he secured a centre-back (Rob Atkinson), a right-back (George Tanner), two central midfielders (Andy King and Matty James) but was unable to land a striker, a misstep that proved largely academic given the contributions of Andi Weimann, Semenyo and Chris Martin in front of goal.
Pearson has previously hinted at wanting another right-back, centre-backs (plural) and a defensive midfielder but without having money to spend. The manager is also reluctant to give too much away regarding specific numbers, while admitting the academy will once again be an important resource to mine.
“We’ll strengthen this summer, there’s no doubt about that. I’m not going to give you a number like last summer, but we will need a few additions and the people who come in will enhance what we have already got, that’s the plan,” Pearson added.
“We’re very clear where we need to strengthen but it’s also very important that we do produce home grown talent.”
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