An Interview with a Rival... Bristol City

Ahead of tomorrow's match we spoke to Mike Codrington about all things Bristol City.

How long have you been a City fan?

All my life, been a season ticket holder for the last 18 years, only missing one home league and cup match in this time and unfortunately for me that was the 4-1 demolishing of Derby this season!


What are your favourite moments supporting the Robins?

Over the years we’ve had a lot of ups and downs but a couple of moments that stand out have to be David Nobles wonder striker in the first leg of the championship play off semi-final against Palace and also Lee Trundles goal in the second leg which helped send us to the final at Wembley which was the worst moment supporting us.


Who have been your favourite players from History?

Every club has club legends and growing up Scott Murray, Brian Tinnion, Louis Carey we’re always my favourites. Within the current squad I’m going to give it to Marlon Pack. But Matty Taylor has to have a mention for obvious reasons!


Lee Johnson, lucky or a magician?

Very much a bit of both! He is very very lucky to have still been in a job after last season’s abysmal run. He is lucky that in Steve Lansdown he had an owner who stuck with him, not many managers would still be in a job having lost 8 games in a row, which saw us going from top 6 into a relegation battle in a couple of months which we found it hard to get out of, a 5-0 battering away at Preston back in April actually saved us from relegation.

We then changed formation reverting to 4-4-2 and from there on we played 6, won 4, drew 1 and lost 1 which annoyingly came on the last game of the season where we could of relegated Birmingham but the 3 points kept them up.

Since then, we have stuck with the 4-4-2 line up, with an excellent pre-season in between we have continued the form we showed towards the end of last season and we are currently on a 12 game un beaten run, the only team that have beat us league and cup this season are again Birmingham! In our previous 21 games we have only tasted defeat twice (Birmingham on both occasions) with 12 wins and 7 draws accumulating the rest.

The only thing we need to address is turning the draws into wins if we can learn to break teams down better who come to defend against us we will have a very, very good season.

You sold Lee Tomlin this summer. Are we better with or without him?

Definitely better without him. Has to be the best naturally gifted player I’ve saw play for us, you can’t question his talent and skill. But, his attitude, ego, and off the field problems cost us last season, and when he was dropped from the first team and we reverted to a 4-4-2 we haven’t looked back since. He is very much a luxury player and has since moved to Cardiff, which baffled me as him and Warnock don’t seem like a good fit and he hasn’t had much of a looking for them. So as it stands a good decision. No doubt he will score the winner against us next month.


Key players at the club?

We currently have the Championships top goal scorer in Bobby Reid, who isn’t actually a CF by trade, he’s an attacking midfielder who is small and skill full but Johnson has moved him up top and has formed a very good partnership with the clubs record signing Famara Diedhiou. At the other end CB’s Aden Flint and Nathan Baker are solid, and Flint is always dangerous from set pieces also! Jamie Patterson also has the most assists in the championship as it stands. We are strong all over the pitch.


Who are your three for promotion?

Wolves, Villa, Middlesbrough, we’ve drawn with Wolves, and Villa so far this season, and we are yet to play Middlesbrough but with the squad they have and Monk in charge they will come good.


Who will be relegated?

Bolton, Barnsley, Burton.


Who will be your danger man on Saturday?

As said above, Reid and Diedhiou are on form. IF he starts Callum O’Dowda he could give Ayling a few problems with his direct approach.


Leeds have won eight of the last ten meetings between the clubs with City only picking up one win, could this game make a dent in this record?

I haven’t saw much of you this season, but the couple of games I have saw you look like a team who like to attack? If this is the case I think we could take 3 points. But with you being on a 3 game losing run you might come down and try and settle for a point, if this is the case we always struggle against defence minded teams such as Burton and millwall with both games ending in 0-0 draws as we struggle to break teams down. First goal is crucial.


Prediction and scorers?

If you come to win the game I can see us turning you over, if you set up with a back 5 and a couple of holding midfielders you would probably pinch a 1-0 win.. But I can only see you coming down for 3 points, so I’m going to go with,

3-1 City, Diedhiou x2 and Brownhill with Saiz notching for you.

We'd like to thank Mike for taking the time to answer our questions and wish him the best of luck for what is becoming an extraordinary season.

By Ryan Ingham