In the not so distant past, forecasting the destinies of Bristol City's loan army was something of a lottery; exactly who was being primed for the first-team, who wasn't even being considered and who was potential transfer revenue was often unclear, and also changed.
That was also with 20+ individuals on hire around the EFL, making squad planning a complex and fraught process for Lee Johnson and Dean Holden, not to mention the additional drain on the wage bill, while players (Cam Pring being the obvious example) could get lost in the system. Hence why Nigel Pearson has drastically altered the approach.
Now players are mostly retained at City, with their development monitored in-house and those who do have a temporary home are either clearly not part of Nigel Pearson's first-team plans or who maybe need those extra few tweaks that only first-team football can provide.
