Bristol City supporters looking for the positives need glance no further than their game against Watford

It’s a key time for Bristol City with season tickets on sale currently, with the football club’s marketing team (and Jon Lansdown’s standalone newly created design company Fever Pitch) hailing, ‘It’s a way of life’.

It certainly is for many, many supporters, who will broadly be either, as ever, optimistic for what the future holds in BS3, maintaining hope their day in the sun of the Premier League will eventually arrive; or are already dreading 2022/23, which will be a key season for the West Country outfit but of which there are bad signs.

The Robins sit 19th in the league having made no progress on their previous campaign that tailed off to the extent that relegation looked a genuine concern last year.

Credit to manager Nigel Pearson for continually keeping heads above water in 2021/22, and who has asked for patience as the club rebuilds after the boom or bust of the Mark Ashton/Lee Johnson-era.

But context needs to also be applied. Derby County have been hit by a 21 point deduction and Reading six. While the Royals would still be below Bristol City in the table even without that, Paul Ince’s side remain under transfer embargo.

When three clubs go down at the end of the season and three come up, with momentum, Bristol City may need to move forward just to maintain the status quo. Stoke City, QPR, Huddersfield Town, Nottingham Forest and Birmingham have all been behind the Robins in recent years.

They have since overtaken City and shown that an instant turnaround in fortunes is quite possible.

Added to that, the numbers behind City’s performances this season do not look healthy, with the opposition gifted too many chances.

Pearson has overseen an improvement in the home form, the forward line is one of the best in the second tier, this side finally creates chances, there are fewer injuries than last season but there is a real challenge to make this side harder to beat.

All without spending much, given the overhanging loss in the last accounts and the key 2018/19 profits to soon come off the rolling appraisal of spending.

It, sadly, will not be a surprise if the Robins are immediately installed as one of the favourites for relegation next year.

Supporters seeing the bright side can however take heart that the Robins can score goals, have players they can sell for decent fees and that breakthrough acts Alex Scott, Cameron Pring, Ayman Benarous, Sam Bell and Tommy Conway will get better.

Even Rob Atkinson and George Tanner are playing their first season at Championship level. This squad will grow and progress, but will the club be able to resist the vultures in the next transfer windows?

Already there have been hints that a major sale may be necessary come the summer.

“My view on it is always this - they’re our players and if we have to lose them, they’ll go on our terms,” Pearson said at the beginning of March on possibly selling off the crown jewels.

“We don’t want to necessarily be a ‘selling club’ just to keep afloat, because what that doesn’t do is give our fanbase any encouragement that what we’re trying to do is produce a side which is enjoyable to watch, will be successful and has players come through in our system.

“That is the ideal world. Maybe it’s pie in the sky but, who cares, it’s what we aspire to do. This current group of players who have come through, either our system or have been in our system for a long while, are very, very promising.

“But, like with every business, and football shouldn’t feel it’s above that, we have to make decisions which are right for the business,” explained the manager recently, adding that “what we can’t do is ignore market forces” as Bristol City protect their interests.

That’s plain sensible thinking and as has been proven in BS3 over the last years, you can sell players and improve. You just have to get it right.

But if you’re looking for more than that, then perhaps it is up at Failand on that windswept pitch that hosts a youth match almost every other Tuesday afternoon, and which saw an experienced Watford side held in the Professional Development League 2 competition yesterday.

It’s widely regarded that there is a gaping chasm between U23s football and the senior side. Thankfully Bristol City have been adept over the last years at organising good loans in the main to cross the divide - although Antoine Semenyo should have been allowed to join Doncaster Rovers rather than Sunderland back in 2020 (but that’s nit-picking).

Broadly, it has been successful, where Robbie Cundy is the latest to make the jump up the leagues.

Yesterday was not a vintage Bristol City youth performance but what was more important was the makeup of that side in red, who now sit top of the PDL2 South table, which they also won last season.

With seven under-18s players involved yesterday, there were three first year players: Josey Casa-Grande, Olly Thomas and Marley Rose, all 16-17. Four others were a year older: Dylan Kadji, Omar Taylor-Clarke, Zak Bell and Seb Palmer-Holden, all 17-18. The emphasis is on younger talent playing up the levels.

For comparison, Premier League Watford had seven U18s players involved in their squad too. The Hornets sit second from bottom of the PDL2, though.

BristolWorld understands that few U23s players have been given new deals in the past weeks to remain at the club beyond this season, and only Palmer-Houlden and Taylor-Clarke will remain from the U18s group. It may be a ruthless act but this is unfortunately the way in football. Only the very best talents will stay on at Failand.

Bristol City’s future is very much wrapped up in its youth (as stated by the Robins top brass many times), which will be allied with careful recruitment to accentuate the positives. That’s Championship quality where possible or EFL talents beyond that, but underpinned by what and who comes through the academy.

If the club’s immediate future looks unsure - and next season really could go either way - then the backdrop is rather more radiant.