Gap between academy and team 'too big' - Struber

The gap between Bristol City's first team and their academy is "too big" believes head coach Gerhard Struber.

Struber took over at the Championship club last summer and has handed league playing time to just three academy players this campaign - Leo Pecover, Ephraim Yeboah and Olly Thomas.

Struber named a further three academy graduates on his bench at Middlesbrough last Saturday - Marley Thelwell, Dan Ezendu and Louie Derrick - but that was essentially for injury cover with none taking to the pitch.

"I bring a young player in when I have the feeling the young player deserves to be in our roster," Struber told BBC Radio Bristol.

"He can help the team, he can be a player with really good influence and right now in this instance I cannot be super happy.

"The reality is the gap between our academy, the under-21s and our [first] team, with our standard at the moment, the gap is too big.

"We have to close that with professional coaching, with big improvements."

The Robins have a strong track-record of producing homegrown talent, with former players Alex Scott, Zak Vyner, Lloyd Kelly, Max O'Leary, Antoine Semenyo and Tommy Conway all coming through their age-grade system.

During the 2023-24 season, 10 players who featured for their first-team had emerged through their youth set-up.

City reached the FA Youth Cup semi-final in 2023-24 before losing to Manchester City but none of that squad have become consistent first-team players, outside of a few minutes for Yeboah and winger Elijah Morrison, although promising forward Henry Kasvosve left to sign for Brighton & Hove Albion.

The only player from that tie now in the Robins senior squad is defender Seb Naylor, who was signed from Man City in January.

"I would love that we have a pipeline full of interesting young players but this is not the reality at the moment and it's not realistic to think too much in this direction," Struber said.

He added that City need to "be better" at producing their own players before they think about reaching the play-offs or even the Premier League.

"A club especially like Bristol City it should be crystal clear normal that we bring youth players in our first-team and this is my personal goal," Struber said.

"We cannot speak for the first-team we should come in the play-offs or we speak about Premier League and then we have between the academy a really big gap. We have to be better."

The club are currently searching for a new sporting director in addition to new chief executive officer Charlie Boss, who was appointed last month.

In an open letter to fans, Boss wrote that a new sporting director will help the club achieve their goal of reaching the top flight.

Struber said it would be "helpful" if that person shared his philosophy but more importantly than that the club needed more expert insight within their management.

"I feel good when we have one more person to bring ideas on the table, to bring knowledge on the table," Struber said.

With no timeline on when an appointment will be made, Struber added that the club would be continuing it's contract discussions with players "we cannot lose and waste time right now".

"It's really important that we start the process and I rely on my management what we have in the here and now."