Ex-England manager Hodgson takes over at Bristol City
Former England manager Roy Hodgson has been put in caretaker charge of Bristol City at the age of 78 after head coach Gerhard Struber was sacked. Hodgson returns to the club he managed in 1982 having been out of the game since leaving Crystal Palace in 2024. Struber has been sacked after a run of one win in nine games in all competitions which has seen the Robins slip to 16th in the Championship.
The club had been a point off the play-off places after a 3-2 win at Hull City on 7 February, but are now 12 points adrift of the top six. Long-standing centre-back Zak Vyner and top scorer Anis Mehmeti were sold in January to Wrexham and Ipswich, respectively, while Struber also lost three first-choice defenders to injury in Rob Dickie, Rob Atkinson and George Tanner. "The club's recent performances have not met expectations and therefore Struber and assistant head coach Bernd Eibler will leave with immediate effect," a club statement read.
Gerhard Struber won 16 and lost 18 of his 43 games in charge of Bristol City Struber took over at Ashton Gate in June after Liam Manning, who had taken the club into the play-offs, left to take charge at Norwich City. The Austrian, 49, spent a year managing Barnsley from 2019 to 2020 before spells at New York Red Bulls, Red Bull Salzburg and Cologne and had agreed a deal until the summer of 2028. He had recently been critical of the volume of talent within the club's academy and had voiced frustration over the January sales of Vyner and Mehmeti.
In an interview with BBC Sport this month he described the optics of those departures as "not super sexy" with the Robins failing to replace them adequately. Struber wanted to implement a cultural change to meet fans' ambitions but found resistance and the loss of key players - both sold and to injury - meant they had fallen off the pace for the play-offs. There are also doubts over the futures of key trio Ross McCrorie, Max Bird and Jason Knight whose contracts all expire in 2027, which adds to the uncertainty Struber wanted to end.
There had been no prior indication he was about to lose his job, though, with sources telling BBC Sport the news effectively came without warning. "I would like to thank Gerhard and Bernd for their hard work over the past nine months and we wish them all the best," City chief executive Charlie Boss said. "Roy's appointment is about more than the results of the next seven games.