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Wading in

As part of Sky Sports' Sky Bet League One spotlight, Chris Burton catches up with Bristol City midfielder Wade Elliott.

Wade Elliott Bristol City
Image: Wade Elliott: Has promotion ambitions at Bristol City

The new season is upon us, with the 2014/15 campaign starting to take shape.

Here at Sky Sports we will look to take you to the very heart of the Football League over the coming months, with our Spotlight features intended to give you a greater insight into the clubs and players that keep us on the edge of our seats.

We hope to bring you the views and thoughts of a representative from each of the 72 teams over the course of the season, with those involved asked to give their take on the division they compete in, the club that pays their wages and those we should all be keeping an eye on.

Bristol City’s Wade Elliott is next into the hot-seat, with the Robins skipper taking time out to discuss promotion ambitions and taking on added responsibility with Chris Burton.

QUICK QUESTIONS

  • Best side faced: I think the best game we’ve had was Rochdale. It’s difficult to pick a best side because you only face teams on any given day, but we went away to Rochdale and they were excellent against us. They played some great stuff, played at a really good tempo. In the first half we played very well, but in the second half they came out and had a real go. Frankie Fielding pulled off a great save in the last minute to get us a draw.
  • Player of the year so far: I think Aden Flint has done really well. He’s been commanding at the back. He’s chipped in with a couple of goals as well, and has come up with a couple of bad goal celebrations as well! Flinty has started really well, but we’ve had a few good performers and hopefully we’ll be able to maintain that.
  • Best characters in the dressing room: They’re a good bunch of lads, to be fair, a really good group. Aaron Wilbraham is the social secretary, he’s always organising bits and bods. Flinty is good value, Luke Ayling is quite funny – doesn’t always intend to be, but he’s quite funny. Marlon Pack, Jay Emmanuel-Thomas are both pretty sharp.
  • The gaffer: I have known him a long time. He’s football mad, he’s very thorough and he’s very good to work with. As long as you work hard and as long as you are honest with him, he’ll back his players to the hilt. He’s created a really good spirit around the place at the minute and I think everyone is enjoying going in to work and being around the club and around what he’s trying to do and what he’s trying to build.

If you had to sum up the start you’ve made, it’s a case of so far, so good isn’t it?

It’s been a good start. I think we’ve signed, we’ve recruited, some good players in the summer, allied to some good players that were already at the club. So we knew we had the ability within the squad and the capacity to do well. But that’s a world apart from going out and doing it on the pitch. We are fortunate that we bonded very quickly as a group – as a group of lads and a group of players. I think we knew we had the capacity to do well but if anything has surprised us, I think it’s how quickly we have managed to gel. It’s been a pleasing start and, obviously, we’re looking to carry it on. We’ve managed to work our way into a good position and we’re enjoying being at the right end of the table. The hard work starts now to stay up here.

That’s the thing isn’t it, as a group I take it you are very much aware that it is only a start and there is still a lot of work to be done – nothing is determined in September?

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Absolutely. I think we’ve got a pretty level-headed bunch. We know that the position we’re in, nothing is won this early in the season but, having said that, we’d much rather have the points on the board than not.

The club were expected to go well last season and experienced a few difficulties, but you’ve managed to get back on track now haven’t you?

In the division, it’s a big club and it’s expected to do well, but that in itself means nothing, it’s about going out on the pitch and producing results. I think what the club and the group of lads went through last season, full credit to the lads that were here because they have taken that experience on board and it’s forged them a little bit. I certainly sense that, from the end of last season and pre-season, that instilled a sense of determination in the group to make sure that was set right this season, and that really set the tone for the work we did in pre-season and the hard work that we’ve taken into the start of the campaign.

It doesn’t always have to be a bad thing does it to go through a bad time, it does pull everyone together and makes them realise what is required to turn fortunes around?

Definitely. It’s a young squad, it’s been through a lot and it’s one of the bigger clubs in the division and there is that expectancy. It didn’t go as well as they had hoped or expected last year, but in the middle of that it could have gone either way – you can crumble under it and under the pressure or you can do what they did, and the second half of the season they had a real go and managed to improve to a far better experience. We’ve got a group of players now that have shown they can cope with pressure. Certainly when I arrived last year, there was a lot of pressure – they were second from bottom and it was a club that there was a lot of expectation from. I think, in hindsight, that has been a good experience for the lads to have gone through and I have no doubt that we are a better group of players for having pulled through that last season.

Image: Steve Cotterill: Building for the future

You’re by no means the only club under pressure in that division and you have to expect that the likes of Leyton Orient, Sheffield United, Coventry etc will come good at some stage don’t you, and join those already challenging towards the top?

It’s a good division and there are some good clubs in it, we are under no illusions about that. We have got a young group but everybody is fairly experienced in this division and everybody has had full seasons under their belts. We know what the league is about, we know that you can’t take it for granted. We know that if we don’t reach our standards every week, you’re liable to get bitten. We have got that within the group, we’re well aware of what the division is about and we know there are some good sides. We’re well aware of what the challenge is and I think that will stand us in good stead.

You’ve got that stability now haven’t you, Steve Cotterill has been in for almost a year now, he’s got a full pre-season under his belt and it’s his team now?

It is, yes. The gaffer came in last season and it was a difficult situation, he was firefighting a little bit, but that gave him a chance to have a look at the squad and the club and this season he has had a very clear vision about where he wanted to go and where he wanted to take the team. He’s been backed by the board to bring in the players that fit into his vision and he’s got a clear idea of where he wants to go, how he wants us to play and how he wants to set the team and the club up. I think we’re all benefiting from that.

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Aden Flint and Greg Cunningham both scored as Bristol City maintained their unbeaten start with a 2-0 home win over Scunthorpe.

Something else you have in abundance is firepower. Any team looking to push for promotion needs a 20-goal-a-season striker and you potentially have two in Kieran Agard and Aaron Wilbraham don’t you?

I wouldn’t want to put any goal targets on them, I’m sure they do that to themselves, but I think they have got goals in them. More than that, they work incredibly hard, they really set the tone for the other nine lads behind them to fall into. They are a real handful. They are strong, they have got pace, clever movement – when I talk about pace, I’m talking more about Kieran than Alby. But they complement each other and I think they are horrible to play against, they work incredibly hard and they really set the tone for the rest of the lads.

On a personal level, very proud I imagine to have been named skipper?

Yes. It’s a great honour. It’s a great football club. I’m really pleased that the gaffer has entrusted me with the responsibility. They are an easy bunch of lads to captain because they work hard, they have got a great ethic. For a young bunch, they are as dedicated and as professional as I have come across. It’s great to be captain and I’m really enjoying the role and the extra responsibility.

And, at the end of the season, an opportunity to get your hands on some silverware, be that the league or the JPT?

I don’t want to be too premature about that. Like I said, we’re only nine games in. We believe that we have got the ability within the squad to do well, but the club have learned from experience last season that you can’t take anything for granted. We’ll do – I know it’s a cliché and it’s boring to say, but we’ll do what’s served us well over the last six or seven months and take it from game to game. We’ve got a fantastic game at the weekend against MK Dons, top versus second are the type of games that we want to be involved in so we go into that in good spirits. We’re never looking too far ahead because as soon as we do, that’s when you get bitten. The full focus is on MK Dons at the minute.

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