Bristol City

There is nothing riding on this game (12:30 BST) other than both teams trying to send their fans into the summer with something to smile about.

Bristol City can no longer secure a top-10 finish while Stoke, having spent the first-half of the season challenging for a play-off place will end the campaign in the bottom half of the table.

• Bristol City won this exact fixture last season 2-0, but have not won back-to-back home league games against Stoke since March 1959.

• Stoke have won three of their past five league meetings with Bristol City (D1 L1), more than their previous nine beforehand (W2 D1 L6).

• Bristol City have only won their final league game in one of the past 10 seasons (D3 L6), winning 2-0 at QPR in 2022-23.

• Stoke City have only lost their final league game in one of the past 14 seasons (W8 D5), losing 2-0 at Watford in 2022-23.

• Stoke are guaranteed to have a bottom-half finish in the Championship for an eighth consecutive season – since 2018-19, they are one of eight ever-present Championship teams and they have the fewest points of those eight (448).

David Pottier
Fan writer

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With Roy Hodgson completing what will surely be his managerial swansong at Bristol City and it being highly likely the club is going to confirm James Ellis, the former Arsenal technical director, as sporting director, fan attention will now switch to who the next head coach will be.

Social media has been awash with suggested names of who will step into Gerhard Struber's shoes, with some more realistic than others.

Whoever it is they, alongside Ellis, are going to have an extremely busy summer when it comes to contract negotiations with key players - Jason Knight, Max Bird and Ross McCrorie's current deals expire next year - and signing, by my reckoning, at least six Championship-ready players to have a squad that has a realistic chance of mounting a play-off challenge.

One name that has been linked by often reliable sources is former England and Liverpool midfielder Steve Gerrard.

Gerrard would be a name and if owner Steve Lansdown makes this choice he will be hoping the Liverpudlian can bring the club success in the same way his former England team-mate Frank Lampard has done at Coventry.

That is a very simplistic view but one that I do not believe will be tested as I understand Gerrard would prefer to remain in the north west, with the now open Burnley manager role being a predictable option.

While working in Saudi Arabia, Gerrard had former Bristol City manager Dean Holden as his assistant. If he did get the job I wonder if he would want Holden on his staff here which would mean tempting the likeable northerner away from his current role of assistant manager at Hull City?

The next contender who has been publicly linked with the role and described it as "flattering" is current Portsmouth boss John Mousinho.

He's been in charge at Fratton Park for just over three years having played almost 500 league games before ending his career at Oxford United as a player-coach and also serving for a short period as chairman of the PFA.

It was a big leap of faith by Portsmouth to give him the job of head coach but it proved a wise choice as he took them back to the Championship after a 12 year absence.

In the two seasons they have competed at this level he has kept them up with limited resources. That will sit well with Lansdown and whilst he could be a choice that would be acceptable to some others will say it lacks ambition.

When Ellis was first mentioned as a sporting director candidate a few weeks ago it was not long before the name of Luton boss Jack Wilshere entered my thoughts as a contender due to the Arsenal connection while for my final choice I am going to put forward Mark Robins, currently boss at Stoke City.

Based on past media comment, City owner Lansdown has always coveted the former Coventry boss, who took the now Premier League bound Sky Blues from League Two to two top-six finishes in the Championship.

He might be Lansdown's choice, but for me that ship has passed.

Season tickets for 2026-27 went on sale this week. I think a fair few fans will be holding back on renewing until they see who the club appoint and whether they financially back their new team.

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Bristol City caretaker manager Roy Hodgson rued Birmingham City's second goal a "killer blow" for his side following their 2-1 defeat at St. Andrew's.

Phil Neumann's volley opened the scoring for Birmingham within the first 10 minutes whilst Jhon Solis' goal came just shy of the half hour mark to extend the hosts' lead.

Bristol City's Tomi Horvat then converted a penalty on the 82nd minute to halve the deficit but by then it was too late for the Robins who will look to end their season on a high when they host Stoke City next weekend.

"We started very well, but of course those two goals, the first one came with their first serious attack in our half," said Hodgson to BBC Radio Bristol.

"They scored a good goal from the free kick, but the second goal was obviously a bit of a killer blow, particularly at half time.

"You're looking much more down the barrel of the gun than you would have been at one there. I can't fault the players for effort at all and I thought there were times during the game where we once again played very well.

"We were up against a very strong and physical Birmingham team, playing in front of the home crowd and it was always going to be a difficult game for us."

Birmingham City will hope to end their season on a high note as they aim to extend their unbeaten run to a fourth game against Bristol City at St Andrew's on Saturday (15:00 BST).

Blues has lost their previous three games before starting an undefeated streak with a victory over Wrexham on 12 April (W2 D1).

However, Bristol City are experiencing the opposite. Having won both their opening games under new boss Roy Hodgson, they have not claimed all three points in any of their previous three (D2 L1).

• Birmingham City haven't conceded a single goal in any of their last three home league games against Bristol City (W2 D1).

• After their 1-0 win in October, Bristol City could record their first league double over Birmingham since the 1992-93 campaign.

• Birmingham won their final home league game in both 2023-24 (1-0 v Norwich) and 2024-25 (4-0 v Mansfield); the Blues last did so three seasons running from 1971-72 to 1973-74.

• Bristol City have lost their final away league game in five of the last six seasons, winning the other 2-0 at QPR in 2022-23.

• Bristol City have avoided defeat in all three of their Championship away games under Roy Hodgson this season (W1 D2); they only avoided defeat in four of his 10 away league games in charge during 1981-82 (W2 D2 L6).

Sami Mokbel & Nick Mashiter
Senior football correspondent & football reporter

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Former Arsenal technical director James Ellis is a serious contender to become Bristol City's new sporting director.

Ellis has been locked in talks with the Championship side over the past fortnight with a view to taking the leadership position at Ashton Gate.

Discussions are accelerating, with a move to Bristol for Ellis understood to be at an advanced stage.

However, Sheffield Wednesday have also taken an interest in Ellis in recent days as they look to revamp their leadership team before next season.

In an interview with BBC Sport last week, Ellis spoke of his desire to return to football following his sudden departure from the Emirates Stadium earlier this year.

"I feel I have unfinished impact and objectives I would like to achieve," he said

"I have been through rejection, education, coaching, scouting, senior leadership all in this and would like to carry on."

Ellis joined the Gunners from Fulham in 2021, and last summer was promoted to the role of technical director.

Prior to that he had been head of recruitment - playing a key role in identifying several of the squad battling to win the club's first Premier League title since 2004.

He left the club in February following a restructuring of the football leadership team.

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Bristol City boss Roy Hodgson said that the performance in their 2-2 draw with Southampton was their best since he arrived at the club.

Ryan Manning's own goal opened the scoring for the visitors, Sam Bell also headed the Robins in front after the hour but Saints managed to level the game on two occasions.

Hodgson admitted that he was delighted with his side's performance on the night.

"I enjoyed watching it and I enjoyed our performance, the players should be very proud of their performance," he said after the game.

"We created more clear cut chances throughout the game and had a lot of the ball, I'm very happy with the point but on another day I think we could have had all three.

"For me it was the best performance of my short time at the club and I hope that the team have two more performances like that in them so we can get some results in the final games.

"Today was one of those games where you'd be hard pushed to criticise anybody."

Bristol City are back in Championship action on Saturday when they travel away to Birmingham City.

David Pottier
Fan writer

To any Bristol City fan aged 60+, 20 April 1976 is a date indelibly etched into their minds.

On this day 50 years ago, a Clive Whitehead goal was enough to beat Portsmouth and secure a return to the top flight after an absence of 65 years.

The world, never mind just football, was a lot different back then! One thing that did not seem to exist was footballers' agents. Today it would seem such individuals appear all too keen to egg on a player when a move is in the offing with their own gain by way of a fee clearly being a motive.

If you go back to the spring of 1976 with City riding high in Division 2 (now the Championship) and transfer windows not having been thought of, Arsenal came in with an offer of £250,000 for arguably two of City's best players, Tom Ritchie and Geoff Merrick.

Promotion was by no means in the bag, but then chairman and club benefactor Harry Dolman rebutted the offer, as both players had made it clear that if they were going to play at the highest level, it was going to be for Bristol City.

"Loyalty" is a word that does not feature much in today's footballing dictionary. Merrick must have rued his wish to stay when, six years later, he was one of the Ashton Gate Eight who tore up their contracts during Roy Hodgson's first spell in charge to save the club going under as City tumbled down the leagues with three successive relegations.

Coming back to the present, there are few City fans who would disagree with my view that current owner and benefactor, Steve Lansdown, effectively wrote off this season when he sanctioned the sale of two of the best players that were part of the current squad in the January transfer window.

Both Anis Mehmeti and Zak Vyner were out of contract this summer and therefore free agents. There is no doubting an underlying degree of loyalty in Vyner, who had been at the club since he was eight, although Mehmeti is perhaps more of a soldier of fortune.

I am sure they could have been tempted to stay with improved offers, with City well placed to at least equal last season's play-off achievement. The telling factor is when signing for Ipswich and Wrexham, respectively, they cited both clubs' ambition as a key factor in making their moves.

On Saturday we witnessed the end of the Roy Hodgson "bounce" as City were soundly beaten 4-2 by Norwich at Ashton Gate. Had the Canaries not had such a dreadful start to the season under former City boss Liam Manning, they surely would have been in the play-off mix; such has been their turnaround under Philippe Clement. As it was, their four-goal blast in the second half meant they leapfrogged the Robins in the Championship's congested midtable.

Many of the Ashton Gate faithful had headed for the exits long before the final whistle. While the level of discontent, which had cleared a little with Hodgson's early successes, did not manifest itself with more disapproving chants directed at Lansdown, the fans will be looking for a speedy resolution to hiring the sporting director and head coach, with the calibre of those appointees showing whether the club has real ambition, which will filter through, one way or another, in the level of season ticket sales.

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Southampton will hope to continue their late push for automatic promotion when they welcome Bristol City on Tuesday night (kick-off 19:45 BST).

The Saints are in excellent form with seven wins on the bounce in the Championship and are unbeaten in their past 16 games (W13 D3).

Tonda Eckert's side were 15th - 10 points adrift of the play-offs and 16 points behind second - following their last league defeat, which came against Hull City on 17 January.

They are now fourth - eight points clear of Wrexham in seventh and just one point behind second-placed Ipswich, who have a game in hand - having picked up five more points than any other team in that time.

Southampton face a Bristol City side who suffered their first defeat since Roy Hodgson took over last time out, losing 4-2 to Norwich following two wins and a draw under the former England manager.

The Robins now cannot make the play-offs or be relegated this season.

• Southampton have lost six of their past seven league games against Bristol City, though the exception was a 1-0 victory the last time they hosted the Robins in November 2023.

• Each of Bristol City's previous three away league games against Southampton has finished 1-0, with the Robins winning in November 2008 and December 2011, before losing in November 2023.

• Southampton are unbeaten in their previous eight home league games (W7 D1), winning each of the previous five; they last won six in a row in February 2024 (run of nine).

• Only Millwall (22) have conceded fewer away goals in the Championship this season than Bristol City (24), who could keep successive clean sheets on the road for the first time since October (run of three).

• Bristol City's Roy Hodgson has won on each of his past two league visits to Southampton with Watford in March 2022 (2-1) and Crystal Palace in April 2023 (2-0), having won on just one of his first five trips beforehand (D2 L2).

Bristol City manager Roy Hodgson said he was disappointed with the way his "dream" start at the club came to an end, after his side were beaten by Norwich.

The 78-year-old had been unbeaten in three previous games since taking charge on an interim basis.

But a second-half hat-trick from striker Mohamed Toure completed the comeback for the visitors, after Sam Morsy gave the Robins a 1-0 lead inside two minutes.

"I thought we were decent value in the first half, but then Norwich stepped up their game," Hodgson told BBC Radio Bristol.

He said his side had been "unlucky" in conceding two of the goals, one which was rolled into an empty net, and the other a deflection off a player's back.

"At 4-1 you're just hoping it's not going to be a further disaster," Hodgson added.

"At the end of the day, it's disappointing because we've had this dream after the three games.

"But today we came across a team who have been beating everybody, especially away from home, and so I have to accept it was our turn."

Both these sides are now 10 points off the play-offs with only goal difference separating them ahead of their meeting on Saturday (15:00 BST).

Bristol City, in 10th place, missed their chance to leapfrog ninth-placed Norwich after their stalemate at QPR last time out, but will get the chance to do so again with a win.

Norwich will be licking their wounds after suffering a 2-0 home defeat by their East Anglian rivals Ipswich last Saturday which saw a chance of a play-off finish move further away.

• Bristol City have won their last three league games against Norwich, having won just one of their previous 14 against the Canaries (D4 L9).

• Norwich have alternated between victory (2) and defeat (2) in their last four away league games against Bristol City, losing 2-1 in this fixture last season.

• Bristol City are unbeaten in their three Championship games under Roy Hodgson (W2 D1), keeping a clean sheet in the last two. They last had a longer run of league clean sheets in March/April 2024 (4).

• Norwich were beaten by Ipswich last time out, and they are yet to lose consecutive Championship matches across their 27 played under Philippe Clement.

• Scott Twine has been directly involved in 17 goals in the Championship this season (11 goals, 6 assists) – no player has had more for Bristol City in a single league campaign since 2021-22 (Andreas Weimann 32, Antoine Semenyo 20 and Chris Martin 18).

David Pottier
Fan writer

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Interim manager Roy Hodgson maintained his unbeaten run as Bristol City took a point at QPR.

It was a typical end-of-season affair with City's keeper, Radek Vitek, being a virtual spectator all afternoon following two successive man-of-the-match performances.

On another day City might have come away with all three points but such is the paucity of their attacking options that the threat just wasn't there. In the overall scheme of things seven points from three games shows Hodgson has turned things around, but surely with a handful of games remaining this is the time for a degree of experimenting with team selection with next season in mind.

With the Championship table as tight as ever, only four points separate ninth from 17th. Equalling last season's points total of 68 is too big an ask now, but the optics of tumbling half a dozen places from where City are now as a result of blooding some youngsters is something the club's owners might not view favourably. Hodgson too, in what is likely to be a career sign-off, would like to end on a high.

Hodgson was able to include Ross McCrorie and George Tanner in his matchday squad and while City's Scotland international was brought on for the final 15 minutes, many supporters, me included, wondered why he did not give similar to 21-year-old left back Seb Naylor who was signed in January from Manchester City. It would have given Cam Pring, gradually returning to form, a chance to rest his legs.

Perhaps more baffling for City fans was when Roy brought on Delano Burgzorg as a forward threat. He is right up there among City's worst ever loan signings and won't be here next season, that's for sure. The much maligned Sinclair Armstrong would have been a better option against his former club, or the always enthusiastic Sam Bell, even though he's likely to be out the door come June unless offered a new contract.

With time ticking by there is still no news on the appointment of a sporting director which, along with a new head coach, were stated as urgent requirements by CEO Charlie Boss at the time of Hodgson's unveiling.

There is more speculation on who will be head coach than the position that is new to City and operated with mixed success by other clubs. The head coach could well be chosen by the sporting director, and one name that was linked with the role on social media platforms in recent days was former Swansea, Southampton and Rangers manager Russell Martin.

Reading the comments, let me just say that would not appear to be a popular choice if it happened at a time when the owners of the club need to be rebuilding bridges with the fanbase rather than say they are "ruining it", to quote Steve Lansdown's January Radio Bristol interview.

Finally, a shout out for City's former striker Nahki Wells whose two goals at the weekend won the Vertu Trophy for Luton Town. He turns 36 on 1 June and I feel few City fans would have argued against him being given a one-year contract extension last summer.

I have no doubt Hodgson would have selected him had he been here ahead of Armstrong, Burgzorg and Bell. The Bermudian international paired with Emil Riis could have been interesting.

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Bristol City interim manager Roy Hodgson told BBC Radio Bristol: "It was a cancelling out process. They're organised and made it difficult for us to get in behind just as we did for them.

"It opened up more in the second half, we were more adventurous. We could have scored a goal or two, but 0-0 was fair result because neither team really did enough.

"[Staying solid] is a key priority in any team. Any time you come into a new club, you must hope to get ideas across about not conceding many goals.

"If you do that, you've got an incredible bunch of front players who can score to get you out of trouble."

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Queens Park Rangers head coach Julien Stephan has heaped praise on Bristol City boss Roy Hodgson prior to their game at Loftus Road on Saturday (12:30 BST).

Hodgson returned to the Robins 44 years after his original spell to help the side regroup at the end of the season following the sacking of Gerhard Struber.

"I know his name, his background, I know everything that he did during his career," Stephen told BBC Radio London.

"He's a big, big person and a big coach and a big manager. A lot of respect, it will be an honour to see him on the bench, but be sure that the only objective for me and for the club is to beat Bristol City."

Though Stephan's admiration is not only for Hodgson's past achievements - it is also for his longevity in the game.

"I think I will have the same patience, but I don't think I will have the strength to be on the bench until 78 years old," Stephen added.

"That why I have only one word - it's respect. Respect for the person, respect as well for the desire and the willingness to continue, to fight and to compete on the bench.

"He's achieved a lot of things during his career and it's fantastic to see that."

Listen to the full interview on BBC Sounds

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The EFL has announced the fixtures for the 2026-27 season will be published at midday on Thursday, 25 June.

The first-round draws for the Carabao Cup and the Vertu Trophy will be made on the same day.

The new season will kick off on the weekend of August 7-9 with the first round of the Carabao Cup, and the opening fixtures in the Championship, League One and League Two will follow a week later on 14-16 August.

The first round of the Vertu Trophy will be played in the week commencing 21 September.

Bristol City's list of injured players is looking "a lot better", says interim manager Roy Hodgson, with Rob Dickie, George Tanner and Joe Williams nearing a return.

Dickie and Williams have not played since 21 February because of hamstring and injuries respectively.

Tanner has similarly been out for the past four games after tearing an ankle ligament, leaving the club significantly short of defensive options with Luke McNally also out.

Hodgson said there was a chance Dickie and Tanner could return sooner than he would ideally like to boost their options in the backline.

"It's really good to see them back in the fray, back training, back available but we'll have to be careful before we start throwing them in," Hodgson told BBC Radio Bristol.

"It would be good to at least get another period of time training with them before we do that

"But the defending area we are bare bones, there's a chance we'd be asking Rob and George to come back a bit earlier than what we would have normally liked."

Defender Ross McCrorie is also available for Saturday's trip to QPR having recovered from a hamstring injury which forced him to miss Monday's win against Sheffield United

"His injury, we knew would not be a long-term one, so it's not surprising that he's back in contention to play," Hodgson added.