Exclusive: Bristol City eyeing ex-Rangers and Southampton manager | OneFootball

The Robins have a Championship promotion winner in their sights for the post-Roy Hodgson era

Bristol City are on the hunt for a permanent Gerhard Struber successor for the 2026-27 season, and eyes have been set on a recent promotion winner from the Championship, Football League World has been exclusively informed.

The Robins only appointed Austrian coach Struber last summer to succeed Liam Manning, who opted to jump ship to Norwich City in what ended up being a short-lived reign at Carrow Road.

Despite Bristol City being in the top six of the second tier for much of the first half of the current campaign, results and form had suffered past the halfway point, picking up just one win from Struber's last eight matches in charge.

Dispensed at the end of March by the City hierarchy, Struber was replaced in the short-term by ex-England manager Roy Hodgson until the end of the season, with the 78-year-old returning to Ashton Gate after a brief stint as their boss in 1982, having been assistant to Bob Houghton previously before his promotion.

Hodgson, despite winning both of his games in charge of City so far, has made no secret that his stint in charge is going to be a short one, and attentions will be getting turned to the long-term plan when it comes to the head coach role.

Bristol City place Russell Martin on managerial shortlist

And as per information received by FLW, a name high up on the Lansdown's shortlist for the job is none other than former Southampton manager Russell Martin.

The 40-year-old has been out of management since October 2025 when he was sacked by Rangers, becoming the shortest-serving head coach in their history at just 123 days in charge.

Prior to his time at Ibrox though, Martin had guided Southampton back to the Premier League in his first season in charge in 2023-24, defeating Leeds United in the Championship play-off final at Wembley, although he was dismissed from his role with the Saints in December 2024 amid their struggles back in the top flight.

Martin's managerial career has also taken him through MK Dons and Swansea City, with his penchant for an expansive, short passing style of play winning many admirers over the years, and is what mainly saw him rise quickly up the divisions from League One to the Premier League.

FLW understands that Martin is keen to get back into management after his ill-fated Rangers stint, having now been out of work for six months, and he's very much under consideration for the Bristol City role as they look to the future after Struber.

What Roy Hodgson has said on Bristol City role amid Russell Martin link

Given how successfully Hodgson has begun in his short-term role at Bristol City, talk of him staying on potentially longer-term, despite his age, will continue to crop up if he gets the results.

However, the veteran boss has already made it very clear that he has no intention of taking on the role on a long-term basis, which is set to give the Robins hierarchy a big decision to make in the near future in regards to who will be next after the former Three Lions manager.

"I think it was the fact that it was a short-term project, a short-term appointment," Hodgson said after his appointment.

"After the club made their decision to change, I think they were looking for someone who could step in and was prepared to do a job for seven games.

"Of course that appealed to me, because I have retired from the real maelstrom of working as a professional coach again, but I thought that I could manage five weeks - and I might even look forward to the five weeks, which has been the case so far."