Bristol City tipped for Steven Gerrard move to replace Roy Hodgson | OneFootball

Roy Hodgson is the Bristol City manager until the end of the season, but there will be a change of direction coming to the club in the summer.

Bristol City went back to the future with their replacement for Gerhard Struber, but Roy Hodgson will only be at Ashton Gate until the end of the season, and they'll need a longer-term choice at that point.

It was a managerial appointment that surprised the world of football.

When Bristol City decided that things weren't working out with Gerhard Struber at the end of March, their decision to bring in Roy Hodgson until the end of the season certainly caused some waves.

For Roy Hodsgon, it marked a return to the club where he'd started his managerial career four and a half decades ago, and had left in 1982.

But even though he's had success at Ashton Gate already, with two wins from his first two games in charge, at 78 years of age - and having given little indication that he'd want to stay on beyond the end of this season - Hodgson can hardly be considered a long-term replacement for Struber, meaning that Bristol City will be in the market for another new manager, come the end of this season.

"A big change in direction" - Steven Gerrard tipped as potential replacement for Roy Hodgson this summer

Football League World have spoken to our Bristol City fan pundit Tom Sandy about who might be an appropriate permanent managerial appointment at his club in the summer, and he doesn't believe that Hodgson will stay beyond the end of this season: "I'm assuming Roy Hodgson isn't going to extend his stay. I'm assuming the only reason he's taken the job is because it's only eight games over about five weeks, and he wants to help the project, but I don't think he's as invested as we need a manager to be at this point."

Tom knows that, with a new sporting director due to arrive at Ashton Gate in the summer, the next appointment that his club makes will be a crucial one: "Obviously we've got a new sporting director coming in the summer, that's a big change of direction for Bristol City as a club. This is a big crossroads. It's going to define the next 5-10 years, is this summer, and who we appoint and new signings could go one of two ways next season. We could be horrendous next season, or we could really push on, invest really well and turn a good squad into a great one."

He feels that his club will go in one of two directions this summer, and that one name stands out above any others: "I think that the sporting director will want to go one of two ways. They'll either want to go Championship proven or they'll go for a big name. I think the manager they'll try and appoint will be someone like Steven Gerrard. When you look at Coventry, what they've done with Frank Lampard and what he's done for himself since he's been there. His success at Derby got him the job at Chelsea and success this season is only going to get him better jobs in the future."

Gerrard, Tom feels, has enough in his coaching history to be make a persuasive case to be the next Bristol City manager: "I think the owners will look at someone like Steven Gerrard. He's got a good CV, I think. He struggled a little bit at Aston Villa, but he did well at Rangers. He had that trip out to the Middle East, and I don't quite know how well that went, to be honest. I think he's having some down time at the moment, so I think he might be difficult to recruit, but I think that's the kind of manager that the ownership will want to get in."

But there were another couple of names that sprang to his mind, though the first of these may be a little ambitious: "If you were looking really ambitious, you could look at someone like Thomas Frank, who probably needs a bit of a career reset right now, but I doubt he'd want to come back to manage in the Championship given the fact that he managed Brentford for so long in the Premier League and then went to Tottenham, and obviously it didn't work out. I don't think he'd want to take that step back, but when you look at managers with experience in the Prem who'd want to take a step down, but there's not many."

Tom has also heard rumours concerning the manager of a rival Championship club: "I've heard the name of John Mousinho rumoured as well. He's done really well at Portsmouth, but I think that depends on how they do at the end of the season, If he keeps them up, then I'd assume he'd stay, although I'm not 100% sure, because maybe he's not getting the investment he needs at Portsmouth."

But he does have doubts over whether Mousinho would be the right man for the job, especially if he's unable to keep Portsmouth in the Championship this season: "But if they go down, I think it'd be easier to acquire him for next season, but then if we're going to struggle, maybe you don't want a manager who's just failed with another club trying to do the same with a different club. That wouldn't strike too much confidence in the players if we are in a tricky spot."

And on balance, Tom feels that Gerrard has the right skill-set to help his club move forward in the summer: "I think they'll go for someone like Steven Gerrard. I don't think that'd be a bad appointment. I think he's really intelligent, he would make players want to come to Bristol City to learn from him, someone with his repertoire as a player. I think he'd be a good appointment, and I think that's the kind of person we'd go for. I'm not 100% sure which ex-players are in the market to manage at the moment."

If Bristol City are looking for a big name to replace Roy Hodgson, they don't get much bigger than Steven Gerrard

There's little doubt that Roy Hodgson has had the desired effect in his first two games in charge at Bristol City, with wins against Charlton Athletic and Sheffield United having already lifted them from the 16th position that they occupied upon his return to the club up to 11th.

But Hodgson will not be staying beyond the end of this season. He's already been asked whether he'll stay beyond the end of this season several times since his return to Ashton Gate, and his replies have been consistent, that he's with the club only until the end of this campaign.

If Bristol City were looking to replace Hodgson with a high-profile appointment, profiles don't come much higher than that of the former England legend Steven Gerrard, who made over 500 Premier League appearances for Liverpool over a period of 17 years.

Gerrard's managerial record is mixed. He was not especially successful in his first appointment in England at Aston Villa, where he could only steer the team to 14th place in the Premier League in the 2021-22 season and was sacked twelve games into the following campaign. He also had his contract terminated early in his last position, in Saudi Arabia with Al-Ettifaq.

But his first managerial appointment, in Scotland with Rangers, demonstrated that he could be a success in the right environment. Appointed into the role in June 2019, he ended that year by recording Rangers' first win against their bitter rivals Celtic since 2012, but his crowning glory at Ibrox came in the 2020-21 season, when he steered his club to an unbeaten SPFL league title, running up 102 points in the process.

Whoever the replacement for Hodgson is, they'll have to be happy to work under a director of football. The club's CEO Charlie Boss confirmed in the middle of March that they are looking to move towards this model, with an appointment expected by the start of the summer. The former Arsenal director Tom Ellis is among the names to have already been connected with this position.

That new head coach's job for next season may turn out to be to continue the upturn in fortunes that has started under Roy Hodgson. The former England manager may, even if his return to Bristol City is only a brief one, prove a tough act to follow.