Next Bristol City Manager Odds

Bristol City are on the search for a new manager following the sacking of Nigel Pearson on 29th October.

The 60-year-old former Leicester City coach's last game in charge of the Robins saw them suffer a 2-0 away loss at Cardiff, leaving them 15th in the table, five points off the play-off places.

Pearson’s time at Ashton Gate saw him take charge of 131 matches, overseeing 42 wins, 32 draws and 57 defeats, equating to a 32% win percentage. The ex-Watford manager’s tenure didn’t quite live up to its early promise, with his best league finish being 14th place during the 2022/23 campaign.

John Eustace is the early bookmakers' favourite having been harshly sacked by Birmingham City on 9th October.

The 43-year-old had his contract at St Andrew's terminated due to their new owners Shelby Companies Limited wanting a marquee name in charge of the club, hence why Wayne Rooney was appointed as the Blues' new manager.

Eustace managed to defy the odds at Birmingham last season, having led them to a 17th-placed finish in the Championship despite them being predicted to finish bottom of the table, while this season, Eustace left the Blues in sixth-place with 18 points from 11 matches. Since his sacking, Birmingham have lost all of their three matches under Rooney.

Gary Rowett is another interesting name that is reportedly high up on the shortlist of managers that Bristol City are looking at to replace Pearson.

The 49-year-old has shown that he is a very capable Championship manager despite having restricted budgets while at Birmingham and Millwall.

During his most recent spell at Millwall, Rowett led the club to a seventh-placed finish in the 2022/23 season, missing out on the play-offs following a dramatic 4-3 home loss to Blackburn Rovers on the final day of the season. Rowett was dismissed from his role on 18th October, the Lions have not won any of their three matches since his departure.

Former Robins manager Steve Cotterill has been linked with a sensational return to Ashton Gate, having had a popular spell with the club between December 2013 and January 2016.

Cotterill memorably managed City 116 times, winning 53 and drawing 35 and oversaw their League One title win in 2014/15, while also completing a double in the same season as the Robins won the EFL Trophy at the expense of Walsall at Wembley.

Cotterill has been without a managerial role since his shock resignation as Shrewsbury manager at the end of last season following an impressive 12th-placed finish.

Dean Smith is an outsider for the vacancy at Ashton Gate having left Leicester City in June following the Foxes relegation from the Premier League.

Smith has had a long-running managerial career, including stints at clubs like Walsall, Brentford, Aston Villa, Norwich and Leicester City. His most successful tenure was his three-year stint in West London at Brentford where he took charge of 143 games for The Bees, winning 57 games, sharing the points 35 times and losing 51 times. This gave him a win rate of 39.86%.

Since then, Smith has also managed to earn promotion to the Premier League with Villa via the play-offs in 2019. However, following the Villains' return to the top flight, the 52-year-old failed to impress despite having huge transfer funds at his disposal, finishing 17th and 11th in the table.

The final manager on this shortlist is ex-Chelsea coach Frank Lampard.

The 45-year-old took charge of 11 games last season at Stamford Bridge, winning just once, while his previous spell before that between July 2019 and January 2021 saw Chelsea win just 44 of his 84 games in charge.

Lampard also managed Everton from January 2022 and January 2023, helping to keep the Toffees up in his first half a season in charge before regressing, finishing with a 27% win percentage at Goodison Park.

Before this, he had been manager of Derby County for one season, reaching the Championship play-off final in 2018/19, however, the Rams were beaten by Aston Villa and Lampard left Pride Park to join Chelsea.

• Latest match predictions
• Football tips
• Football accumulator tips
• Football bet of the day