CITY were finally relegated to League One on Tuesday night, following six consecutive seasons of Championship football.

Since Gary Johnson left the club in March 2010 we have been in decline and successive managers have failed to stop the rot as we have spent badly in the transfer market and had an over-reliance on a core of players who are well past there sell-by date.

On reflection, six seasons of Championship football could be looked upon as being a success of sorts. I remember looking at the Championship fixture list in 2007 and thinking ‘how on earth are we going to stay up in this league?’ The Championship is a tough, competitive league, home to a lot of former Premier League clubs. City of course came so close to a dream double-promotion in 2008, and I wonder how differently things would have turned out if we’d beaten Hull at Wembley on that sunny day in May.

Sean O’Driscoll had 20 games to keep us up this season and that was simply not enough time to turn around the club’s fortunes and undo all the mistakes that have been made in recent years.

O’Driscoll has at the very least put some pride back into our performances at Ashton Gate. Defeats to Bolton and Birmingham at Ashton Gate have been the final nail in the coffin, but ironically we really should have lost neither game as we spurned good opportunities in both.

Another irony is that City travel to Hull City this Friday for a game broadcast on Sky (7.45pm). A win for the Tigers would pretty much guarantee them their second promotion to the Premier League, and we all know who they beat to win their first promotion.

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