Derek McInnes' start to life as Bristol City manager

I was invited by top football website The Hard Tackle to write a post on the start made at Bristol City by Derek McInnes, and this is the result:

Sacking a manager in early October, as Bristol City did recently, often seems like a knee-jerk reaction made with far too much haste. After all, what can you possibly infer about the season ahead after just ten matches? There are plenty of games left, new ideas and tactics are still being established and anyway, what could a new manager do with the much-hyped transfer window not opening until January?

At times, however, it just feels like the right thing to do. This was certainly the case at Ashton Gate following the 5-0 humiliation at Blackpool on October’s opening day. It wasn’t the score-line so much as the manner of defeat. With three goals coming in the last few minutes of the game, it was clear the players’ heads had again dropped and confidence was rock-bottom. This followed a catastrophic finish in the previous home game against Reading, where after being 2-0 up and cruising with 20 minutes to go, three goals were conceded and another defeat – you can call it the ‘penultimately’ fatal one – was chalked up on Keith Millen’s record. The club was bottom of the Championship and in danger of being cast adrift with little sign of improvement on the horizon.........

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The Exiled Robin

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