Bristol City appoint Struber as new head coach

Gerhard Struber has previous Championship experience having managed Barnsley

Bristol City have appointed Gerhard Struber as their new head coach on a three-year deal.

The 48-year-old Austrian arrives two weeks after predecessor Liam Manning left Ashton Gate to take over at fellow Championship club Norwich City.

Manning had led the Robins to the play-offs last season, the first time in 17 years the club had finished in the top six of the second tier.

Struber spent a year managing Barnsley from 2019 to 2020 before spells at New York Red Bulls, Red Bull Salzburg and Cologne.

He has signed a contract with the Robins until 2028.

"I am very excited for the job here with great fans and a great team - I'm looking forward to a new task," Struber told the club's website.

"The style of play here fits completely, especially developing young players.

"This is a very interesting group and I think they did a great job last season and were very successful. Right now is the time to build and do everything we can to go the next step."

Who is new Bristol City boss Struber?

Bristol City will be Struber's second managerial role in English football, having had a 11-month spell as Barnsley boss.

Struber joined the Tykes with the club bottom of the Championship in November 2019 but guided them to survival on the final day.

He left to become head coach of New York Red Bulls and was most recently manager of Cologne.

But despite taking the German club to the verge of promotion to the Bundesliga, he was sacked in May with only two games remaining and with the side three points clear in the automatic promotion spots.

They went on to secure promotion and win the 2. Bundesliga title two weeks later.

As a player, Struber also represented Austria at under-21 level and had a spell at Salzburg, where he started his coaching career following retirement.

He also managed FC Liefering and Wolfsberger.

Liam Manning led the Robins to the Championship play-offs last season

"For the last four years, we've moved our academy teams towards a high intensity, pressing style of play, and combined this with recruiting younger players with those same capabilities for the first team," said Robins chairman Jon Lansdown.

"Gerhard's style is perfectly suited to this way of playing and his passion for developing younger players is also a great fit for our club.

"It's a really exciting appointment and I'm looking forward to, together, building on the progress the club has made."

The 2024-25 campaign was Bristol City's most successful since 2008, as they finished sixth in the Championship before being comfortably beaten 6-0 on aggregate by Sheffield United in the play-offs.

Norwich-born Manning had another year still on his contract but the Canaries paid an undisclosed sum to meet a release clause.

'Appointment grabs fans' imagination' - analysis

Ed Hadwin, BBC Radio Bristol:

Gerhard Struber is only Bristol City's second-ever manager from mainland Europe, and their first since Swede Benny Lennartsson's shortlived spell at Ashton Gate, which lasted just eight months and ended in July 1999.

Struber's only spell managing in England came in 2019-20, when he kept Barnsley in the Championship, before then moving to the City Football Group where he managed teams in both New York and Salzburg, before his spell at Cologne.

He is taking over a Robins squad which enjoyed the club's best season in nearly 20 years, having finished sixth in the Championship.

They have not lost any of their senior players and look likely to add at least a couple of new faces this summer.

Given that solid base to work from and an impressive win percentage across his career, it's a very interesting appointment and one that seems to have grabbed the imagination of City fans.