Bristol City legend Paul Cheesley tells ANDY SLOAN what he thinks the Robins need to achieve promotion to the Premier League.
Cheesley was part of the Robins' 1976 side which won promotion to the top tier of English football and scored their first goal back in the First Division against Arsenal on a memorable day for City fans.
A knee injury against Stoke three days later effectively ended his career at the tender age of 23 but he still has a passion for the game and is fondly remembered for his 20 goals in 64 league appearances for City.
The burly striker signed for the club after several years as an apprentice professional at Norwich City and returned to Ashton Gate for the sum of £30,000 in 1973 (£167,000 today).
Now landlord of the Knowle Hotel bar in Leighton Road, Cheesley still follows the team closely and believes they have more work to do both on and off the pitch before they can step up a division.
He said: “You can have hiccups along the way, and that's exactly what Gary Johnson's finding now.
"I thought we overachieved last year. Without being too rude to the club and the team, nobody expected us to do what we did. We managed to get into the play-off final which was magnificent but with no glory at the end of it unfortunately.
"Were we ready to go into the Premier League with the infrastructure we have now? I don't know, but Hull seem to be doing very well and on the crest of a wave as it were.
“It's a bit like when we were promoted in '76. The next season we were on the crest of a wave but we just managed to stay up, which was good. And I think Hull will stay up.
"You need to get those early points in the bag and big squads are paramount now in the Premiership. Would we have the money or the backing from the chairman? Sorry Mr Chairman, but it needs an awful lot of money to get into the Premiership.”
Michael McIndoe spoke out after City's 2-0 defeat at Wolves in September citing a need for extra quality and Johnson himself admitted after the 3-0 reverse to Sheffield United at Bramall Lane that the team requires something between a "fine tuning" and a "major overhaul".
He now has an international break to consider 'emergency' loan signings, plan for the January transfer window and, most importantly, to work with predominantly the same squad which reached the play-off final last year.
"(International breaks) are important to a degree because there are an awful lot of games in football so you do need a bit of a break from time to time,” said Cheesley.
"Some people could go stale in that short space of time, some people don't want a break but I would say the majority would. Especially after a bit of a dodgy time recently. Gary Johnson will be looking to stop that kind of thing happening again.
“My opinion is I think we need a couple more players to strengthen what is not a bad squad at the moment.” City aside, Cheesley's next passion is England and he's expecting a full house at the Knowle Hotel for their encounter with minnows Kazakhstan on Saturday.
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