"Restricted us for many years" - Key Bristol City transfer failure highlighted | OneFootball

FLW's Bristol City fan pundit gives his view on a Robins' transfer window that stands out for all the wrong reasons

Highlights

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

Lee Johnson's Bristol City side had their moments, but for many the misplaced spending in the summer of 2019, the impact of which the club have only just got over, is the lasting memory of the former boss.

It proved to be a summer to forget for Johnson and a damaging one for the club. An expensive summer only equated to a mediocre finish of 12th and the Robins have only finished better off on one occasion since then – last season's 11th place under Liam Manning.

11 new additions walked through the door at Ashton Gate in that window – many of which came as a result of the Robins sale of Adam Webster to Brighton for £20m.

A summer of failure with Chelsea loanees and the Championship golden boot winner

Indeed, FLW's Bristol City fan pundit Tom Sandy has picked the summer of 2019 as one of the Robins' key transfer failings in recent times.

Tom told Football League World: "We loaned a lot of players from Chelsea’s academy for a lot of money.

"That damaged us a lot, these players didn’t push us to where we wanted to go. Kasey Palmer fell out with the manager and in the 2022/23 play-off final against Luton he came on, played 20 minutes and got subbed back off. He had great moments, but he wasn’t consistent.

"Tomas Kalas was very injury prone for us, Jay Dasilva is a good player but is restricted by his height, and we were weaker when we had him in the squad.

"Sammie Szmodics didn’t work out, obviously he’s doing very well now, but he was never that same player at Bristol City.

*No goal contributions at Bristol City

“Han-Noah Massengo, when he left, we only got around a million in compensation from Burnley, which is a small figure in comparison to what we signed him for.

“Ashley Williams was on a lot of wages and only kept us stable. It was a very disappointing window and one that has restricted us for many years.”

A Bristol City burden on transfer windows to come

A difficult summer that saw the failure of many high-level championship players affected the club significantly. The following summer, the Robins didn't spend a single penny, with the likes of Chris Martin and Henri Lansbury joining on free transfers.

Indeed many of the 2019 signings failed to flourish in Bs3 and have enjoyed better fortunes elsewhere.

Szmodics, who is now linked with a move to Premier League side Ipswich Town, was sold to Peterborough United before signing for Blackburn Rovers and thriving while Palmer was loaned to Swansea City the following summer and is now at promotion hopefuls Coventry City alongside Dasilva.

Massengo never met his potential at Ashton Gate and moved on to join Burnley for a compensation fee last summer.

In Johnson's time at the Robins, he signed 63 players in just four years, which gives a good insight into an interesting and overactive transfer strategy – one that former CEO Mark Ashton certainly played his part in.

The overspending of that pair, in wages as well as transfer fees, hampered City for seasons after and meant that Nigel Pearson was forced to work under a tight budget for much of his tenure.

Thanks in no small part to Pearson's work and some sizable player sales since, things are a little brighter now and this summer Manning has been backed by the board – with the additions of Fally Mayulu from Austrian side Rapid Vienna and Sinclair Armstrong from fellow Championship side Queens Park Rangers, who've come in for a combined £5.5m.