Bristol City CEO Richard Gould has suggested that the Robins are now planning to strengthen their squad and be active in the January transfer window after reevaluating their plans.

The Robins have suffered a major dip in form over the last few weeks with them losing five of their last six matches to fall down the Championship table.

They enter the final international break before the New Year in 19th place in the table and they are at a crossroads being seven points adrift of the top-six and also seven points clear of the relegation zone.

Nigel Pearson’s side suffered a damaging 3-2 defeat at Coventry City last time out in a game that saw them fail to secure all three points or even a draw despite them having a man advantage over their high-flying opponents.

It has been confirmed by Gould this week that Pearson has been given an indefinite period of absence due to health reasons.

However, he also insisted that he does retain faith in the Robins boss despite their recent drop-off in form that has seen them slide down the table.

 

 

Speaking to Bristol Live, Gould has now insisted that the Robins have re-assessed their approach to the January transfer window and they are planning to strengthen the squad to help turn around their fortunes on the field.

He said: “We always want to bring in players that are better than the players we already have here, and we have some very good players.

“We’ve played down expectations because January tends not to be the ‘best’ window to operate within. And also because results have been relatively promising. But the last five or six games we’ve seen a reversal of that.

"We have to deal with the facts in front of us, not how we would wish them to be, and the facts in front of us are, we are lower down the table than we would expect to be and therefore we will be looking to strengthen the squad if that opportunity arises.

“We have to be realists in terms of where we are and the league table tells us where we are, and it’s not where we want to be. We therefore will always be seeking to add strength.”

The verdict

The January transfer window is going to be a huge one for the Robins and they need to do all that they can to ensure that they offer enough backing to Pearson to help him turn around the recent run of results.

It was clear in the summer that Bristol City did need to bring in another striker to enhance their firepower in the final third, but in the end they did not manage to find the right target to bring into the club and Pearson has had to work with the options that were already available to him.

That is something that the Robins might now need to address in the winter window. The comments from Gould suggest that the funds will be made available to Pearson if they can identify the right option to bring in to strengthen them in the attacking third.

There will be other areas of the squad that need addressing as well with an influx of quality.

It is essential that the Robins manage to bring in at least one or two additions that can make a positive impact on the side because without that they might be set to endure another challenging second half of the campaign.

Gould’s comments here show that the Robins’ hierarchy are at least aware that they need to act now in January as more of a priority.

That is something they need to act on even if Bristol City’s results do slightly improve between now and January.