This article is part of Football League World’s ‘Rewind’ series, this content strand is where we rewind back to a particular moment at a club, assess the initial reaction from the fans, and then proceed to evaluate and reflect on whether fans were right to react in that way…
During the summer transfer window Nigel Pearson was handed the chance to add his own players to Bristol City’s squad to stamp his authority on the club.
It was not a major summer outlay from Bristol City, but they were able to add four players to the squad following the departures of a number of players who were allowed to leave once their deals had run down at Ashton Gate.
One of the signings that Pearson managed to make during the summer to add to his squad was midfielder Andy King.
He arrived at Ashton Gate to reunite with the manager who he had secured promotion from both League One and the Championship with during his lengthy time at Leicester City.
The 33-year-old seemed like an ideal fit for the Robins given he has proven Championship experience and that Pearson know exactly how to extract the very best from the midfielder on a consistent basis.
Therefore, although it was not the most exciting arrival that they could have had in the summer, it was a deal that made a lot of sense.
As a result, there was a lot of positivity from Bristol City supporters about the arrival of King in the summer when the Robins announced his arrival at Ashton Gate on their official Twitter account.
It has been a solid enough start to life at Ashton Gate for King, who established himself swiftly as an important part of Pearson’s squad after arriving at Ashton Gate as was expected.
The 33-year-old has managed to make nine appearances in the Championship so far, with seven of those coming from the start.
During that time King has managed to score his first league goal for the Robins which came during Bristol City’s 2-1 defeat away against Middlesbrough in the opening month of the season.
The midfielder has also managed to provide one assist and won an average of 2.8 duels per game for Pearson’s side.
However, over the last few weeks, King has been absent for Bristol City due to an injury and he has not featured in the Championship for them since they were beaten 2-0 by Bournemouth at Ashton Gate last month.
That means that his influence on the side has not been as much as it could have been had he remained injury-free.
King needs to get back to fitness and then prove that he can remain free from any issues during the rest of the campaign.
Should he do that and help the Robins get their form back on track then he will have proven the early optimism from supporters following his arrival correct.