Young ones may still have a significant part to play next season
THE sense of symbolism didn’t go unnoticed among Bristol City fans. As a flurry of young Robins were signing new contracts at Ashton Gate, two of the club’s proudest sons were combining to score against Manchester United at Old Trafford. The Bobby Reid-Joe Bryan axis was made in Bristol and honed in BS3 over a decade in the academy and, while they unmistakably delivered against United for City in 2017, the reprise four years later was unfortunately in the yellow of Fulham.
But the juxtaposition was perfect as Bryan’s header hit the net, Tommy Conway and Ryley Towler had already penned three-year contracts and then soon after Owura Edwards and Sam Pearson were confirmed. Conway, from Taunton, Towler, of Kingswood, Edwards bred in Bristol and Pearson from across the Severn in Cardiff.
It continues a trend at City this year, which has been an intermittent light in the gloom of 2020-21, of a steady stream of young talent pledging their futures to the club.
Previous to Tuesday night’s quartet, there had been new deals for Alex Scott, Harvey Wiles-Richards, Sam Bell and a 12-month option for Louis Britton. Not to forget Ayman Benarous and Marlee Francois also signing professional deals.
It wasn’t so long ago that Lee Johnson teased the prospect of City producing their own version of Jude Bellingham - now starring for Borussia Dortmund and potentially in the European Championship. A bold claim that was also laden with a cruel sense of irony given Johnson’s apparent reticence at placing faith in young talent had consistently irked the hierarchy at City towards the end of his reign.
However, it was a claim made with knowledge and even before you dive into the respective merits, strengths, weaknesses and ceilings of the aforementioned players, simple law of averages states that within this crop, the sheer volume of potential indicates at least one can become a serious player for City.
We, of course, shouldn’t place too much of a burden of anticipation or hype on such youthful shoulders and part of what Nigel Pearson has been getting at throughout this tortuous season, when he says about the importance of shielding young players from such situations, is about the management of expectation.
Scott is just 17, Conway 18 and Pearson only 19 - they have plenty of time on their side. Zak Vyner’s emergence as a stalwart of the firstteam at 23 going into 24 is testa
ment to that. But circumstances could dictate that, while patience must be an underlying virtue, reality means their progress at the club is accelerated. If anything, it’s already happened, with Covid-19 the motivating factor.
Consider City’s comparatively limited business last summer, the restrictions placed on recovery and preparation time, the compressed fixture list - all leading to a stretched squad, ridden with injuries and without the resource to cover the multitude and consistency of players absent. It was the academy that provided the band-aid and a sense of relief and respite for fans driven into cynicism over how the season was panning out.
“If the pandemic hadn’t have happened ...” will be a sentence prefixed to debates within all aspects of society over the coming years, but in City’s case it may not have led to Pearson, Scott, Conway etc making their bows so early in their development arcs.
But the landscape now isn’t particularly different, just because the door has been shut on a truly miserable season.
The financial aftershocks of 15 months without anything resembling acceptable revenues continues to resonate and make financial directors wince. To the point that, while releasing 11 players has allowed Pearson to rebuild with salary and newly-created squad space, would he have done it all with such severity, had their been more money in the bank?
Everything suggests that there will be minimal transfer funds for Pearson this summer, as will be the case with nearly every member of the EFL. While Pearson will have his eye on targets with certain characteristics and personalities to fit his new Bristol City brief, the freeagent market will be chaotic, inconsistent and potentially even more frustrating than a normal transfer window.
On the one hand, players indemand will have significant bargaining power given the sheer volume of clubs hunting for value additions. On the other, reality will need to be understood as wage demands as recent as, say, 2019 largely won’t be replicated now.
City have lost 11, and could witness further players leaving - Andi Weimann and Simpson are yet to agree contracts, plus there will surely be at least one significant sale - but the idea that number will be directly replaced is unlikely.
The squad will be (thankfully) reduced but will also need to be boosted and complimented by what’s already in the building.
As academy chief Gary Probert admitted last week, Pearson wants a proper look at the Under-23 contingent in pre-season before plans are devised over each individual’s first-team involvement and whether or not they’d be best served at Failand or on loan.
But that pathway will also he dictated by what transpires in the transfer market: for example, if an additional central playmaker cannot he signed to support Kasey Palmer, Scott and Pearson come firmly into view. See also Towler, in terms of centre-back options, Edwards out wide, and Conway, Britton and Bell in the final third.
Yes, some will be best served in League One and League Two with a full men’s season under their belt. After all, spells at Plymouth put Bryan and Reid on the fast track to the Robins first-team.
But the very restrictions that have rocketed this group into the firstteam reckoning, arguably ahead of schedule, still exist and could also see some maintain that status.
It’s an interesting scenario for Pearson. The impression has always been that’s he’s a win-now type of coach, with any sense of development happening on the job in the immediate. Not so much a short-termist but someone with a focus on what’s in his eye-line as opposed to what lies on the horizon. However, that’s also been dictated by the circumstances of the clubs he’s worked at post-Leicester - Derby, Watford and even, albeit without the same level of glare, OH Leuven. At City, though, while success and progress is required and a tangible sense of improvement must be delivered, he has been given a three-year contract for a reason.
This is a project. There is no rush. Pearson doesn’t have to force the issue or fight fires, he can rebuild with purpose and precision with a sense of time being on his side.
By accident, design or a combination of both, Pearson has driven this situation to where it is today and the club feels fresher and with a greater sense of hope for it.
Because while, yes, this group of players are rightfully branded “the future” of Bristol City, they may also prove to be a major part of its present.