Steve Lansdown’s decision to stick with his manager was rewarded in a sack-happy Championship and keeps Bristol City’s broader ambitions on track
It is the final day of the Championship campaign and Lee Johnson, Bristol City’s head coach, has just welcomed Steve Lansdown, the club’s owner, into his office at Ashton Gate, where a candid discussion about a rollercoaster season, including the need for “big balls” in the dugout, has strayed into a broader debate about a hire-and-fire epidemic in the second tier.
Twelve managers were sacked in the Championship between October and April, another two resigned, one departed by mutual consent and one returned to his academy role after his contract until the end of the season was cut short. They are depressing statistics from a chaotic league and for a time it looked as though Johnson would add his name to that list as City’s superb start to the season badly unravelled. Sitting fifth in the table at the beginning of October, City suffered eight successive league defeats at one stage and dropped like a stone, making for a winter of discontent at Ashton Gate.
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A lot of people in football want to go back to the good old days – or bad old days. And we’re progressing.
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