BristolWorld reporter Joe Dixon has revealed that he expects Bristol City to do their fair share of business this summer under Liam Manning, in order to prepare the Robins for a potential promotion push next season.
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00:00 It's a job to know really. Obviously it's going to be Liam's first summer in charge,
00:07 so I'm sure he's going to want to bring in certain individuals and get rid, I suppose,
00:12 of certain individuals that he knows. He's had plenty of time now to get a bit of an
00:18 idea of who he sees at the club long term and who he doesn't. There's a few ifs, buts
00:24 and maybes about a couple of players that are out of contract - Joe Williams and Matty
00:27 James, the two that spring to mind. I'd be very surprised if both of them leave or both
00:34 of them stay. I can see one of them leaving and one of them getting offered a new contract,
00:38 to be honest. Who that is is really a bit of a 50/50, I think. But Liam's made it really
00:46 clear he wants to bring in a central striker in the summer, so that would probably lean
00:51 towards someone leaving, whether that's Tommy Conway, who, like I say, his future's not
00:55 really certain as it stands. Maki Wals is into his 30s now. He's been a really good
01:01 servant for the club, but whether that means moving him on or also even Harry Cornett.
01:07 He came in under Nigel, I think it must have been the start of the season, maybe, and he
01:13 comes on the odd game. He's been in and out a little bit, but he's really struggled to
01:18 kind of nail down a starting spot. So I think there'll be some movement in and out, but
01:24 I wouldn't think there'll be wholesale changes, shall we say.
01:28 Do you think Liam Manning sees Bristol City as a project in which he's only a few months
01:34 into so far? And if that is the case, what is it that he's building to?
01:42 Well I think he does see it as a project. He's only a young manager and the club have
01:46 been very vocal that they're going to back him and they're going to give him time, which
01:49 in fairness they do with managers. Before Nigel was sacked, I think he was the second
01:55 longest serving manager in the Championship behind Mark Robbins, who's still at Coventry.
02:00 So they do give managers time and I think that's what's provided Liam with a bit of
02:04 a calm ahead, even when the results weren't going right earlier in the season. He knew
02:09 that he was going to get given time. And I think ultimately the goal for Liam and where
02:14 he wants this project to go is to the Premier League. They've made no secret that that's
02:19 their goal. They've got all the infrastructure really, the state-of-the-art training facility.
02:23 They've got some really, really exciting young players and because they've been so smart
02:31 in the transfer window the last three, four years, really spending not very much and slowly
02:37 but surely getting their wage bill down, it does mean they'll have a few funds to play
02:41 with in the summer. So there's a lot of things to get right and a lot of things have to fall
02:46 in place for Liam and the team. But I think if they can get this summer right, they'll
02:50 be in a really good position to push for the top six next season. And once you're in the
02:54 top six, anything can happen.
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