Bristol City take a lot of pride in their academy being one of the best in the Football League, having developed the likes of Joe Bryan, Bobby Reid and Taylor Moore. However, they have been hit by the departure of under-23 manager Luke Williams.

The 38-year-old was the main man in charge of the young Robins' side since the start of the 2017-2018 season after departing Swindon Town upon relegation to League Two, and he has played a big part in helping the Robins boost their academy profile over the past couple of seasons.

However, having been the attention of a few Football League clubs in recent months, Williams has decided to move to MK Dons to be the assistant manager there.

Bristol City supporters will be feeling slightly worried following Williams' departure as the highly talented academy coach leaves and his assistant Alex Ball steps up into his place.

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Robins fans will be wondering just what approach Ball will take to the development of the young players if he chooses to go down a different route to what Williams did, with the former Swindon Town manager thought of as a disciplinarian.

The Robins have been a sustainable club for years now and with Lee Johnson not splashing lots of cash until the summer just gone, City have had to rely on the big-money sales of Joe Bryan and Bobby Reid to Fulham & Cardiff respectively - they will want to see more talents come through that could yield big bucks.

City's academy can only go one way from here, however, and that way is up.

One thing that the supporters that attend in their thousands at Ashton Gate every home game can be positive about is that Ball will more than likely have the same ideas as what Williams did and he will continue to play the Bristol City way, with the style unlikely to change lots.

Bristol City supporters will be intrigued to see what just comes out of the academy in the next year or two if Ball remains in charge, and whether he can keep producing talented prospects at a continued rate.