Daniel Wales and Charles Hague-Jones discuss the impact of Liam Manning at Bristol City.
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00:00With Bristol City looking to hold on to a play-off place
00:03come the end of the Championship season,
00:05we've looked back at what Liam Manning has done
00:07to get them in this position.
00:09To actually work with a Championship club is incredibly tough
00:12and to actually maintain your status in the Championship is so hard
00:16and how competitive it is as well.
00:20Liam Manning has been a fantastic asset for Bristol City
00:24in terms of English managers as well.
00:26There's a real lack of them in today's game, unfortunately.
00:30The game's gone so passive and you have to walk the ball into the net.
00:36We have the likes of Spanish managers, Portuguese managers coming in
00:41and having to thank them for that.
00:43But there is so many.
00:44At the same time, there's so few English coaches.
00:48He's only 39 years of age.
00:50Do you feel maybe he's got the potential to be one of the next
00:53up-and-coming English managers?
00:56I do think so, yeah.
00:57Yeah, I mean, obviously, he's at a club like Bristol City
01:00and no disrespect to Bristol City,
01:02but they're probably not going to be Premier League champions at any point.
01:05But certainly, for where he is in his career right now,
01:10it's fantastic developing a lot of young players,
01:12getting them playing some really attractive football.
01:14And they are potentially on the path to promotion
01:18from the Championship to the Premier League by the playoffs
01:21if things continue to go their way this season.
01:23You know, the way it's looking, there's every chance of that.
01:25Him alongside his assistant, Chris Hogg,
01:27they've worked wonders with a club who were, let's be honest,
01:30just a normal mid-table average Championship side
01:34and he's got them playing in such a way where they could well go up.
01:38Yes, they haven't got perhaps a lot of the world-beater names,
01:41even like some of the clubs in the Championship have.
01:44You know, you look towards the teams like Leeds, Burnley,
01:46Cheggle United, Sutherland, for example.
01:48As much as they're in the Championship, they've got big-name players.
01:51Bristol City don't really have that,
01:52but it's credit to Liam Manning that he's got his players
01:54playing in such a system where they all know what they're doing
01:57and they all know how to create...
01:59They create so many chances every week.
02:02That's what's good about them.
02:04Admittedly, they haven't always taken them at times this season,
02:07but their chance creation is really, really good
02:09and that's just the way he's got them set up.
02:11And so it's a credit to him that, you know,
02:14they've gone from this relatively average mid-table side
02:17in the Championship to a side challenging for promotion
02:19because Bristol City hadn't been in this situation
02:21for many years in the Championship.
02:24So it does come down to him.
02:25As you said as well, there's not a lot of English coaches,
02:29especially in the Premier League.
02:30Obviously, this is Bristol City in the Championship,
02:31but if you look at the Premier League,
02:32it's only Eddie Howe and Graham Potter at present
02:35at Newcastle United and West Ham, respectively.
02:37So there is a gap in the market,
02:40in the manager merry-go-round for good young English coaches
02:44because you've only got those two at present
02:46who are sort of flying the flag.
02:47In the Championship, there's obviously a few more.
02:49You look at Frank Lampard, he's doing pretty well with Coventry,
02:51but he's also been through another couple of jobs
02:53where it hasn't gone so well for him.
02:55So it's big for Liam Manning.
02:58And it's just now a case of,
02:59does he stay with Bristol City for the long term,
03:01especially if he gets them up, perhaps he will.
03:04Or does he, you know, if not,
03:06does someone else take a gamble on him
03:07and try and push him up the ladder a bit faster?
03:10Yeah, obviously on Liam Manning,
03:12what sort of stands out,
03:13if you look at his Bristol City side
03:14and the stats that we look at this season,
03:16I mean, goals scored,
03:18they are up there, you know, ninth in the league
03:20and it's incredibly tough to score so many goals.
03:22But then also, interestingly, goals conceded,
03:25they haven't conceded many at all this season as well.
03:29So do you feel that's sort of been the balance,
03:32finding that balance in terms of attacking
03:33and defensive threat as well,
03:36you know, stopping it going in that end
03:38and really trying to make an impact in the attacking phases?
03:41He's sort of really put that stamp
03:43on his Bristol City side this season.
03:46He certainly has, yeah.
03:47And I think that's what's been key.
03:48It's the fact that they're not just a basic side
03:51in the championship who are, you know,
03:53quite happy just to play a route one long.
03:56But I know there are stereotypes for English managers,
03:58but sometimes they still exist a little bit.
04:01He's sort of, you know,
04:02actually got into the principles of football
04:03and how it perhaps should be played
04:04and is perhaps playing in a more contemporary fashion,
04:07which is, you know, not as common for English coaches.
04:10And following Bristol City's recent 1-1 draw
04:13away at Loftus Road against Queen's Park Rangers
04:16in the championship,
04:17Liam Manning reflected on what has been
04:19a positive week for the Robins
04:21in terms of their play-off push
04:22for the end of the season.
04:24We just spoke about it in there.
04:25I think it, yeah, such a full-on week.
04:28You can see lads are flat out on their feet
04:30giving everything.
04:30So again, this week getting, you know,
04:32the rest of the recovery,
04:33you know, don't need a huge amount of training
04:35at the minute just in terms of obviously
04:36keeping people fresh available.
04:38So yeah, we'll have a solid week
04:40and then get ready for next Friday.