“There is a reason why he’s been tremendously successful” – Bristol City CEO Charlie Boss on Roy Hodgson | OneFootball

Bristol City CEO, Charlie Boss, addressed the media this afternoon alongside new head coach Roy Hodgson following his recent appointment.

Boss opened by saying “It goes without saying that over the next seven games, we want to get the best performance out of the team, but in bringing Roy here, I actually think there’s an opportunity to have a longer term impact than that. What we’ve asked Roy to do is to instil the standards and the values that we think we need to be successful in the sporting operation.’ He also added that “with Roy in the building, I’d be mad not to tap into his thoughts on what a good sporting director looks like amongst a number of other things to prepare us for next season and beyond.”

Speaking on the current process of recruiting a sporting director, Boss said “I’ve had a bunch of applications already, I’ve been really pleased by the standard of people, without exception they share my belief that this club can and will get to the Premier League…I think we’re in a really good place to have someone bring in a new [permanent] head coach and get everything prepared for the Summer transfer window.”

Before later adding, “there is a quality team of people around Roy and myself, an excellent recruitment team…my hope and plan is to have someone in place to lead that head coach permanent recruitment. I think there’s a chance then to have a synergy between myself, the new head coach, and the new sporting director next season, hopefully building on the foundations Roy will have put in place over the next five weeks.”

He went on to explain the reason behind the recent shake-up at Ashton Gate “performances have clearly been disappointing over the last ten games or so, and one of my first priorities as CEO was to diagnose what’s causing that underperformance, so having spent a lot of time around the first-team operation and seeing Gerhard [Struber] work, I came to the view that we had to make a change and I felt it was much better to make a change now because it could have a lasting impact rather than waiting until the end of the season. I’m nothing but grateful for the passion that Gerhard and Bernd [Eibler] brought to the role, but I think there’s an opportunity for us to draw from Roy’s undoubted experience of football at the highest level to show us what that ‘best in class’ looks like.”

Boss added that his main focus is to “get someone in place so that they can help us shape everything that comes in the Summer, so that’s a new head coach and making sure we’re prepared for that transfer window. We are an ambitious club and we really want to obtain Premier League status in the foreseeable future. That doesn’t start today, but frankly weeks ago.”

Boss was then brought back into the conversation saying “I wouldn’t have made the change unless I was really confident that we had a plan to make the most of these last seven games. We spoke about it as a board that we wanted someone who could not just delivery quality coaching over these last seven games, but something that could last longer than that and the first name on our list was Roy’s. I really see this as something that can have an impact beyond this season and can bleed out in to future years.”

Speaking on recent frustration from Robins fans towards the club’s hierarchy, Boss said “I don’t know if it will plicate the fans, I absolutely understand the frustration that fans feel and I can also really empathise with the challenges that Gerhard had to face, whether that was the squad or injuries he had to deal with, of course that’s never straightforward but it’s also part and parcel of football. This decision really has to be about looking forward rather than looking back, not every fan will agree with it and part of my job is to try and make the decisions that will take the club forward. What I feel really confident in is that fans recognise we need change if we are to attain that Premier League status that we’re striving for, and this is part of that change.”

The CEO spoke on when the decision was made to relieve Gerhard Struber of his duties, stating “In my first week, I was aware that we were in a deteriorating run of form so I’d been thinking about what the right things to do were to create the conditions for success. I think going into the international break I felt we had a window to really have a proper review as to whether it was worth making a change and whether there was someone out there who could help us in this period.”

Boss added “the board here is Jon Lansdown, Richard Scudamore and myself. We had a board meeting last week and I brought to that meeting a clear recommendation that we make a change, and that was probably what triggered the conversation with Roy and the less fun part of it, a difficult conversation with Gerhard and some of his team.”

Bristol City legend Brian Tinnion was also relieved of his first-team responsibilities on Friday to once again focus on the club’s academy pathway, with Boss stating “Brian has been a phenomenal servant of this club, on and off the pitch, a lot of his biggest successes have come with developing homegrown talent that has come through into the Bristol City team and then as we know with players like Alex [Scott] and Antoine [Semenyo], into the upper echelons of the Premier League.

“We really wanted to put him back to where we feel he’s at his very best, and it gives everyone at the club real clarity that when it comes to the next seven games, Roy’s in charge. Then as we think further afield to next season, it allows the sporting director to have a bit of a clean slate in which to create the organisation they think we’ll need to thrive.”

Boss ended by speaking about what Hodgson can bring to the club “I’ve spoken a lot about our Premier League ambition and being Premier League ready, and I don’t think I can say that without bringing people in who have seen first hand what it takes to be a Premier League football club. One of the things that really appeals to me about him is how thoughtful he is in his leadership principles…there is a reason why he’s been tremendously successful at a top level for so long.”