New Bristol City assistant coach Keith Downing has claimed he has really enjoyed his first few days at the club and that the ambition is to reach the Premier League, which appears to have impressed many fans of the South West club.

Downing and fellow new assistant Paul Simpson left jobs in the England youth set-up to make the switch to Ashton Gate following the appointment of Dean Holden.

Holden served as Lee Johnson's head coach for four years at the South West club but was named as the latter's successor earlier this month.

With the 2020/21 Championship season scheduled to start in September, the City players returned to training this week giving Downing a first chance to assess the squad.

The 55-year-old coach was quizzed by the club's media on his first few days at the club, in what was one of the first interviews he has given since arriving in Bs3.

He said: "Really enjoying it. Met the players yesterday. Watched them do the physical testing, they've all come back in good shape.

"Really good attitude to the work, first day today on the grass with the balls. Really interesting to see their levels of fitness and technical levels. Really seem a good bunch, really want to work hard and do well for the club.

"So, my first couple of days I have really enjoyed."

He added: "Everybody's for the club, it's a real tight bonding. I'm really impressed with it. It's a really friendly club.

"We've got a job to do now. We've got to make sure, we're trying to create some history. The club has never been in the Premier League.

"I think it's a great vision to look for but we've got a lot of hard work ahead of us to try and achieve it."

It's been a summer of significant change at City, with Johnson leaving and club stalwart Korey Smith being released.

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The time it took for the club to announce the new head coach and his backroom staff frustrated parts of the Ashton Gate faithful but Downing appears to have impressed them already.

Read their reaction here: