It's exactly seven years ago to the day since Bristol City appointed former midfielder Lee Johnson as their first-team manager. He had cut his cloth at Oldham Athletic and later Barnsley, and was tasked with keeping the Robins up.
He did just that, and guided them to safety with an 18th-placed finish, but a year later despite the tremendous form of Chelsea loanee Tammy Abraham, they had a finish of 17th, and confirmed their place in the Championship in the penultimate game of the season.
Johnson revolutionised City however, and after being allowed to spend a club record fee of £5.3m on Famara Diedhiou, the clubs fortunes improved with an 11th-placed finish. Players from abroad would continue to be recruited, whilst also scouring the lower league for the best young talent around. It was a campaign that was best remembered for reaching the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup, famously knocking out Jose Mourinho's Manchester United in front of a sold-out Ashton Gate. It would take eventual winners Manchester City to knock them out, with Pep Guardiola complimentary of Johnson's side.
A season later, Johnson, nearly matched the efforts of his father, who remains the closest to delivering the Premier League club to the West Country. He earned an eighth-place finish in 2018/2019, missing out by just four points to Frank Lampard's Derby County.
Unfortunately that would be the closest that City would get as the following season they finished 12th, and it would turn out to be Johnson's last at the club. He was sacked after suffering a Severnside Derby defeat to Cardiff City in the COVID-19 era, and later replaced by his assistant Dean Holden.
Since then, the club has changed with Nigel Pearson now at the helm, and a lot of the players Johnson brought in are no longer here. Several remain and are an integral part of the first-team picture whilst others are just hanging on. Here we take a look at those who came and went during Johnson's tenure in charge of City.
25. David Cotterill
He returned to the club after beginning his career at the Gate, joining from Birmingham CIty. Cotterill last played for Welsh club Newtown in 2022. | Getty Images Photo: Nathan Stirk/Getty Images
26. Eros Pisano
Right-back Pisano joined City from Verona in 2017 and spent two years at the club, making 34 appearances and scoring two goals. He left in 2019 for Pisa, and then moved to Feralpisalo in the Italian third tier, but is now without a club at 35-years-old. | Getty Images Photo: Harry Trump/Getty Images
27. Famara Diedhiou
Fammy joined from Angers in 2017 and scored 51 goals in 169 games for the Robins, before leaving in 2021 on a free transfer. Diedhiou played in the World Cup vs England for Senegal and is now at Spanish club Grenada, on loan from Alanyaspor. | Getty Images Photo: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images
28. Nathan Baker
Baker joined permanently in 2017 after a loan from Aston Villa and made 148 appearances in total, scoring four times. He retired in the summer after suffering two successive head injuries last season. | Getty Images Photo: Marc Atkins/Getty Images