Former Bristol City trialist offered Championship managers job

Former Bristol City trialist Sol Bamba is set to take his first job in football management after being offered the Cardiff City job.

Telegraph journalist Mike McGrath broke the news this morning that the Bluebirds had offered him the role after parting with Sabri Lamouchi yesterday. talkSPORT journalist Alex Crook followed up by saying Bamba was ‘set to accept’ the job and had been given his blessing by Lamouchi, who brought Bamba with him when he was appointed in the post in January.

A year ago, Bamba had just been released by Middlesbrough and was evaluating his next steps. He had been offered a player-coach role at Swindon Town but turned down the opportunity according to the Swindon Advertiser.

The 38-year-old was offered an opportunity in August to train with Bristol City. Nigel Pearson was his manager at Leicester City and often offered his former players the chance to keep fit in order to help them if any club offered them an opportunity.

The former Leeds United man trained for a couple of weeks but there was no promise about a deal. He did make an appearance at Ashton Gate, but that was in a pundit role for the Severnside Derby in which Rob Atkinson and Tommy Conway scored in a 2-0 win.

Bamba ended up featuring for Bristol City in an Under-21 match, playing against Birmingham City at the High Performance Centre. It ended up being his only game for the Robins as he left with his departure not mentioned. Four months later, he was appointed assistant manager to Lamouchi and helped the Welsh club stay in the division.

Bamba’s impending appointment means Callum O’Dowda - who left the West Country last summer - will be managed by him, as will Callum Robinson who was a one time loanee.