UK Edition
Bristol City close in on 10-win streak as most in-form team in England attempt to reach FA Cup quarter-final
Bristol City’s nine-game winning streak makes them the most in-form team in the top four divisions, yet manager Lee Johnson says the only special treatment it has earned him at home is an extra Yorkshire pudding with his Sunday roast.
City, who have risen to fifth in the Championship, last made the play-offs in 2008, when Johnson’s father, Gary, was manager and Lee was playing in the first team.
They went all the way to Wembley, failing at the last hurdle to secure back-to-back promotions. Johnson says he has been unable to take advantage of his father’s wisdom recently as Gary, now Torquay United manager, is doing an impressive job of launching his own promotion bid, guiding his sixth-tier side to the top of the National League South thanks to seven wins from eight matches.
“I haven’t actually spoken to him about it, he’s busy,” Johnson says of his father. “But the Johnson Sunday dinners at the moment are going well, because we’re both on good runs. Mum always puts an extra Yorkshire on both plates.
“I do go to him every now and again and we share [advice], actually. But he’s been there and he’s done it. I was obviously playing during that time, so I had a front-row seat, and naturally you pick up things.”
City’s headline-grabbing run suggests Johnson does not need the help, but they did drop from sixth this time last year to finish a relatively disappointing 11th, so there are lessons to learn.
Johnson has managed the club since 2016, steering them away from relegation in his first season. At 37, he is the second-youngest manager in the Championship (Preston North End’s Alex Neil is two days younger). He says that despite his age, he combines his innovative coaching techniques, including creating an app for his players with play-books and video footage of training, with “old school values”.
This weekend, the league is not the focus however, as a fifth-round FA Cup tie on Sunday could provide him with the perfect score of 10 wins on the trot. A victory in the third round over Huddersfield and then against Bolton brought them to this stage. Now they host the team many point to as having prompted last season’s decline.
A pivotal December loss at home featured two red cards and Wolverhampton Wanderers manager Nuno Espirito Santo being sent to the stands before his team scored a stoppage-time winner. The result helped Wolves run away with the league, while City endured a steady fall.
That was the last time Nuno’s side visited Ashton Gate and Johnson, who completed his coaching badges with the Portuguese, is certain a top Wolves starting XI will be fielded for their return.
“We’ve done well in terms of Premier League teams we’ve beaten, but it will probably be different this time. Nuno knows a lot about me and he knows a lot about Bristol City, having come from the Championship. I’m sure he will pick a team that has got enough, in his mind’s eye, to progress in a tournament they think they can win.”
Another top-tier scalping would put them in the quarter-final of the competition for the first time in 45 years, but Johnson and his side are no strangers to cup runs.
Last season they made it to the semi-finals of the League Cup, beating Watford, Crystal Palace, Stoke City and Manchester United before falling to eventual winners Manchester City, losing 5-3 on aggregate.
“That feeling of winning when you’re the underdog is special and the bigger the distance, in terms of the opposition you’re playing, to you, obviously the more euphoric the feeling,” Johnson says. “When we beat Manchester United, that was clearly a great underdog story. I wouldn’t put this in the same category as that one, yet.
“But, in saying that, it feels like the build-up to that type of moment could come again because we’re in form. Of course, football is a strange beast and an unbelievable goal from long range or a poor decision from the referee could completely alter the course of it.”
This wariness to the unpredictable nature of the FA Cup is clear in Johnson superstitiously tapping his head and the table when he mentions his side’s overflowing list of fit players. Though a handful of Premier League match-ups in the fourth round opened up the competition somewhat, Johnson is not about to jinx anything.
“A lot of the big boys are out of the tournament, and I think there will be a Championship side that makes it to the semi-finals – I’m sure,” he says. “But we know very well in football that the minute you start believing your own hype, that can come back to haunt you very quickly.”