Bristol City had to sell Conway - Tinnion

Tommy Conway joined Middlesbrough this summer from Bristol City after developing through their academy

Bristol City had to sell homegrown talents Alex Scott, Antoine Semenyo and Tommy Conway, says technical director Brian Tinnion.

Academy product Conway left for Middlesbrough in the summer continuing the trend of the Robins selling their best assets, with Antoine Semenyo and Alex Scott joining Bournemouth in 2023.

Tinnion said the money was being reinvested in "young, hungry" players with the intention they would develop and help the club one day reach the Premier League.

"We offered him [Conway] the highest paid [wage] for his age ever at the football club and he was not interested," Tinnion said at a fans forum this week.

"With a year left on his contract we had to sell him. Semenyo got to a point where he wanted to go to the Premier League, Alex Scott wanted to go to the Premier League, we could not re-contract them so we have to get the best money for them.

"That's the strategy. Then we invest the money in Jason Knight, Max Bird, Yu Hirakawa, Fally [Mayulu] and Sinclair Armstrong, that's what we have to do."

Bristol City have established themselves as a stable mid-table Championship club but last reached the play-offs in 2008.

Head coach Liam Manning said they were aiming to follow a similar model to Brentford of trading players and gradually improving the whole squad.

"When you sell Tommy you reinvest it and get Sincs and you get Fally. The next one that goes you then reinvest, but instead of taking the same you move up a player in the market," Manning said.

"If you look at the squad now to when we came in, I look at the depth, the physicality of the profiles we've got.

"What we've done is gradually upgraded and that's what you do over time. And if you look at Brentford that's what they did."