Bristol City appoint Struber as head coach

On a three-year contract, Bristol City have chosen Gerhard Struber as their new head coach.

Liam Manning’s predecessor left Ashton Gate for fellow Championship side Norwich City, and the 48-year-old Austrian has joined them.

The Robins reached the play-offs last year, the first time the team had finished in the top six of the second tier in 17 years.

Before stints at New York Red Bulls, Red Bull Salzburg, and Cologne, Struber served as Barnsley’s manager for the 2019-20 season.

“This style of play perfectly fits our developmentally young players.”

After serving as Barnsley manager for 11 months, Struber will take over as manager of Bristol City.

In November 2019, Struber led the Tykes to their eventual survival on the final day of the championship, leaving them at the bottom of the table.

He left to take over as the New York Red Bulls’ head coach and most recently as Köln’s manager.

With only two games left, the German club was three points clear of the automatic promotion spots, despite leading the German club to the point of being promoted to the Bundesliga.

They then won the second game and were promoted. Two weeks later, Bundesliga title.

Struber also played for Austria under the age of 21 before beginning his coaching career there after retiring.

“We’ve changed our academy teams’ play to a high intensity, pressing style of play for the past four years, and we’ve also recruited younger players with those abilities for the first team,” according to Robins chairman Jon Lansdown.

Gerhard’s approach to this style of play is “perfect for this style of play,” and his enthusiasm for promoting the development of younger players is also a good fit for our club.

“I’m looking forward to working together to build on the progress the club has made,” said the club’s president.

Bristol City’s most successful campaign since 2008, when they finished sixth in the championship before being comfortably overtaken by Sheffield United in the play-offs with a score of 6-0 on aggregate.

BBC Radio Bristol’s Ed Hadwin:

Only the second-ever manager from mainland Europe, and only the second since Swede Benny Lennartsson’s brief but unsuccessful tenure at Ashton Gate, which ended in July 1999, is Gerhard Struber.

Before joining the City Football Group, where he oversaw teams in both New York and Salzburg, before spending time at Cologne, Struber’s only experience managing in England was in 2019-20, when he led Barnsley in the Championship.

After finishing sixth in the Championship, he is taking over a Robins squad that had had its best season in nearly 20 years.

They continue to add at least a few fresh faces to their senior players this summer, even though they haven’t lost any of them.