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When Bristol City’s players reconvened on Monday, there was only one place to start in the team meeting: those scenes of euphoria at Ashton Gate after the club secured a Championship playoff spot for the first time in 17 years, and the search party for Yu Hirakawa, who, as the captain Jason Knight puts it, was getting thrown about on the pitch as teammates waited in the dressing room for him to be retrieved. Liam Manning shared with his squad images and videos of supporters to underline the wider meaning, and footage of the Japanese winger crowdsurfing. “It got a laugh from the lads,” says Manning. “He was in a state of shock … I asked him: ‘Would that happen in Japan?’ He said: ‘No, never.’”
Now City, who entertain Sheffield United in the first leg of their playoff semi-final on Thursday, are hoping to enter uncharted territory. The Robins have not played in the top flight since May 1980 and Manning has heard the line about Bristol being the biggest city not to host Premier League football “a million times”. He is not the only one. The defender Zak Vyner, the longest-serving player who joined aged eight, was in the crowd at Wembley, aged 11, for the playoff final against Hull City in 2008, when Dean Windass volleyed in to break City hearts.
“Myself, my brother and my dad were sitting up in the gods, right underneath the big screen, and seeing the goal go in was gut-wrenching,” Vyner says. “I remember thinking: ‘Wow, the club that I play for is here.’ It was an amazing atmosphere and it didn’t go the way we wanted but it was still inspiring. It was a whirlwind of emotions, even at that age. On the way back it was: ‘Ach, maybe next time.’ Our fans have been starved … so to see a team come to fruition and do something they haven’t seen for a while – some fans have only heard of last time because their mums and dads have told them – I think there’s a real sense of pride and togetherness.”
Vyner, who turns 28 on Tuesday, is an interesting story. He is one of only six players to have played every minute in the Championship this season – three belong to Bristol City, with Knight and the goalkeeper Max O’Leary also ever-present (Knight and O’Leary also featured in every league match last campaign) – but it has not been plain sailing. He was loaned to Accrington at 19, which meant driving on the motorway for the first time, then to Plymouth, Rotherham and Aberdeen.
A breakthrough season in 2020-21 was followed by a challenging 2021-22, in which his game time was halved. “There were some conversations about moving on,” says Vyner. “I never begrudged it, I just used it as fuel. I came back to pre-season, I guess very free because I didn’t know what would happen, so I just focused on getting fit, and I’ve not looked back. I have had some rocky moments but I’m really grateful for all of it. It’s been a crazy journey to this point but it has been amazing.”
Vyner and his older brother, Joseph, joined after a trial in Abbots Leigh, round the corner from City’s impressive training hub. “He was a tricksy winger … he got all of the quick feet,” smiles Vyner, who entered the academy as a striker. His brother, now a football coach in the US, dropped into non-league after being released. O’Leary has lived Vyner’s journey almost every step of the way, the pair having attended the same school in Bath while progressing through the system. “It is great to have someone alongside you who knows the pressures of being an academy player in the first team,” Vyner says. “It means the world to be running with that torch for the academy.”
Knight has been City’s best performer but Hirakawa has endeared himself to the locals with his zest and direct running. Last summer’s £700,000 signing from Machida Zelvia is one of those to have swapped the J League for the second tier, a growing trend as clubs search for value amid relaxed work-permit rules. City have since spoken to players in South Korea and Japan about a similar move. Nine have joined EFL clubs directly from the J and K Leagues since 2023, another half a dozen from Japan and South Korea via clubs in Europe, including Ao Tanaka, arguably the Championship’s outstanding player this season, who joined Leeds from Fortuna Düsseldorf last summer. Everybody wants to find the next Kaoru Mitoma or Daichi Kamada.
The last time City were in this position their Brazilian goalkeeper was the cult hero. Adriano Basso, who had been backup at non-league Woking, signed on an initial two-month contract in 2005 but quickly established himself as No 1 and was a core part of the side defeated at Wembley three years later. Fans bought into the devout Christian’s “Always Believe” mantra and the supporters’ club and trust released a line of foam hands carrying his message. It is one that has stuck. Basso’s motto flashes up on the digital advertising hoardings during home matches and is squiggled on the back of this season’s shirts. “It is a big thing for us,” Vyner says. “It’s on the kits, it’s been in an animation or two that we’ve used this week … it’s real.”
Bristol City, perennially trapped in the Championship wilderness, are undeniably underdogs, even though Sheffield United have not won a playoff campaign in nine attempts. Chris Wilder’s side, who went into April top, finished 22 points ahead of them. Manning, working with a bottom-half budget, has used a league-low 24 players compared with the Blades’ 33, Wilder having been able to strengthen significantly in January, signing four loanees from Premier League clubs and Tom Cannon in a £10m deal from Leicester. City did not replace three fringe players who departed on loan.
None of that matters now. And there is another phrase doing the rounds among the squad. “‘Shackles off’ has been something we have used as a group,” Vyner says. “We have to try and enjoy the moment we’re in and not suppress the fact they are big games.” Manning perhaps puts it best. “We’re able to do something here that has never been done,” he says. “My message is: be brave, step up, have no fear and ultimately have no regrets whatever the outcome.”
