The Gleesome Threesome of Jimmy "Jimminho" Phillips, Sammy Lee and Julian Darby has been entrusted with the reins on an interim basis and there has already been numerous comparisons with the 'Coyle approach' and the 'new, scientific approach' now being employed. Eyebrows were raised when club captain, Kevin Davies, enthused about the fact that the Wanderers’ new-look management team have wasted no time in adding a modern spin on training.
The introduction of double training sessions, tailored fitness and rehab schedules, and more detailed video analysis of opponents which the naive among us would have imagined to be standard issue for a professional football team, are among the things that were apparently alien to the Coyle administration. One wit was inspired to suggest that Coyle seemed to have been an "oranges at half-time" type of manager. Little wonder then, that his tactics and team selection remained a mystery to most supporters - casually referred to by the man himself as "people out of football who wouldn't understand".
So, since Eddie Davies didn't understand either, we are now trying to find that gem of a manager - that special one (no, not Mourinho!) who will bring the club back to the promised land, a.k.a. The Barclays Premier League as the good Mr. Coyle man used to delight in calling it. A number of early candidates have fallen by the wayside or ruled themselves out, most notably former Manchester United striker Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who is determined to see out the season with his current club Molde F.K.
While one would have thought he would relish a 'fresh club', he is not quite on that page - at least not for another month. So while the Gleesome Threesome ponder the formation and lineup for Bristol City, one hopes that Big Phil Gartside has the fabled fax machine ticking over in search of the 'young, hungry and talented' manager that will take the club forward, the needle in the haystack.
Written By Keegan