‘Hope: that 2.59pm feeling’

Well, what a summer! Crazy goings on in politics, sport, celebrity deaths and groups of twenty-something’s running around streets and parks trying to catch imaginary Pokémon. Oh, and just recently, me watching videos of my friends doing press-ups.

Something that may or may not have caught the eye, and equally baffling to some no doubt, was the inclusion of no fewer then two, yep two, former Bristol City players in the England squad that failed so dismally in France just those short couple of months ago.

I don’t think the inclusion of either Danny Rose or Tom Heaton contributed to the nation’s misgivings, but it was nice to see two familiar faces doing so well, career-wise that is. The Welsh, of course, deserve a mention too. Their success, as well as Iceland’s and Portugal’s, served as a reminder that all football teams should be greater than the sum of their parts; something the England side were woefully less than.

Anyway, enough of the minor summer tournament that merely acted as a brief interlude from the mundane-ness of the off-season. The 2015/16 Bristol City campaign ended on May 7, meaning fans have endured a bleak 91-day break from meaningful football. But, fear not, this weekend sees City kick off the new season in the newly branded EFL (English Football League).

So, what have Johnson, Lansdown and co been up to over those summer months? First things first, the two and a bit-year project to redevelop Ashton Gate is all but complete. I say ‘all but’ as, sadly, the new West Stand won’t be fully open for the Wigan game this weekend. It will instead be the last ‘test’ event for the stand, which will, fingers crossed, be fully functioning for the visit of Newcastle United later this month.

In a side point, how long will the new West and South stands continue to be named after geographical bearings as opposed to former players or, dare I say it, corporate sponsors?

We have seen a flurry of signings since the close of play last time round, including a number of head-turning acquisitions. We have retained the services of Lee Tomlin much to all, I assume, City fans’ delight.

We’ve also signed young promising players such as Josh Brownhill and Callum O’Dowda. We have signed Adam Matthews on another years loan. He is a good player and definitely offers us something but I hope this doesn’t see the end of Luke Ayling who I continue to rate.

Although I would also have liked to see us keep Nathan Baker, we appear to have signed another talented left sided centre back in Hordur Magnusson, who joins us from Juventus, no less. We have also signed that experienced central midfielder that me and my friends were crying out for last season; somebody to fill the Wade Elliot role that we have been lacking since his retirement.

That man is Gary O’Neil, who joins from Norwich with an impressive Championship record, having been promoted from the division no less that four times. Interestingly, the number nine shirt has been left vacant so it doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes to deduce that we might be seeing a striker join before the transfer window closes.

As is so often the case in transfer windows though, it is who we have retained that is as important as who we have signed. We have managed to keep hold of the likes of Flint and Kodjia so far and hopefully they will still be Bristol City players come September 1.

So, in summary, what do I make of our transfer dealings to date? In short, I, and friends I have spoken to, seem very optimistic about the deals we have done and in turn for our prospects the coming season.

The big difference to last year seems that we have got things done, acquisition wise. That may sound a bit obvious, but, from an outsider’s point of view, it appears transfers in the modern era require more planning, meetings, negotiations and so on than ever before and therefore you need to be on the ball and organised in order to utilise the time to your advantage, which is something we struggled with this time last year. Johnson and Lansdown should be applauded for this.

My predictions for this season are as follows. We will finish in the top-half of the table but will take a bit of time to get going. Our attendances will be slightly lower than many would hope for given our new 27,000-seater stadium. I predict around 17,000. Lee Johnson will remain in charge all season and we will have something of a cup run in either of the two competitions we are in. The latter is mostly wishful thinking as I think most City fans have pretty much forgotten we are even entered into these competitions every year.

I do, of course, await Saturday’s game with the excitement and anticipation that can only be matched by the opening game of a new season. Every fan in the country will be in attendance with that feeling that can so quickly dissipate and can only really be experienced up until 2.59pm that first Saturday afternoon of the season: hope.

Hope that things will be better than last year. Hope that the new signings you have made will work out and hope that you will be slightly more restrained and less emotional in your post-match celebrations or commiserations. All of the above remain to be seen, except maybe the last point. I should probably just give up on that now.