City Chat: Coppell would be a step in the right direction (From Gazette Series)

Bristol City fans’ panel by Will Collins

11:52am Thursday 8th April 2010 in Sport

IT WAS another good weekend for City and caretaker manager Keith Millen as the Reds picked up another four points to officially secure their Championship status for next season and move up to ninth position in the process.

I went to both the Forest and Sheffield Wednesday games over Easter and saw some mixed performances. In the Forest game we looked fairly assured and were worthy of a point. However, at Hillsborough on Monday, City got the preverbial ‘smash ‘n’ grab’ result in a game largely dominated by the home side.

Wednesday had numerous opportunities in both the first and second halves but it became apparent fairly quickly that they didn’t possess forwards capable of getting a shot on target, let alone scoring. It was no exaggeration to say they could and should have scored four or five goals against City’s hapless defence, but instead it was left to Nicky Maynard to show the Owls exactly what they were missing. With 10 minutes to go City’s top scorer collected the ball outside the area and showed great strength to hold off Wednesday defenders before finishing past the ‘keeper with fantastic composure.

Despite the poor performance and, in all honesty, fortunate result, you have to hand it to Millen who has guided City to an unbeaten run, consisting of three wins and two draws during his five game spell in charge. This represents a dramatic upturn in form compared to the rest of the season.

After the Wednesday game, chairman Steve Lansdown reiterated his intention to give Millen two more games in charge before appointing a new manager. My gut instinct remains that Millen does not stand a realistic chance of landing the job permanently despite his good record to date.

Internet rumours this week have centred on Steve Coppell and an alleged meeting that has already taken place with Lansdown. City’s chairman denied that a new manager was to be appointed imminently and was not drawn on speculation regarding Coppell.

Meanwhile, former City boss Gary Johnson signed a two year contract at Peterborough United on Tuesday and I certainly wish him well for the future and anticipate he’ll do a good job for Posh. If Johnson’s successor is Coppell then it would surely be a big step in the right direction for City and I’d applaud Lansdown for going all out for an experienced manager with a proven track record at this level. Hopefully we’ll know more this time next week. In the meantime City entertain Swansea City at Ashton Gate this Saturday (2pm) in our penultimate home game of the season.

Do you agree with Will’s views? Have your say below.