Southampton are reportedly keen to recruit Bristol City’s player loan manager Brian Tinnion, and it is a move that would make a lot of sense for the club.
According to claims from Bristol Live, Saints are among several Premier League outfits who have expressed an interest in luring the 51-year-old away from Ashton Gate.
Tinnion is, as per the report, growing frustrated by the Championship side’s transfer policy, and believes that the continuous spending in the market is blocking the pathway for young players to emerge in the Robins’ first team.
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Bristol City have been one of the Championship’s most intriguing clubs in the past couple of seasons, with Lee Johnson employing an attractive brand of football with promising young players at his disposal.
The Robins were reasonably active in the transfer market as they go in search of a promotion push this season, but it seems that their strategies have been to the dissatisfaction of Tinnion, who has been at the club for 22 years now as both a player and a coach.
He now seems to be weighing up his options, and a move to Southampton makes a lot of sense on paper. We were guilty of losing sight of the identity and philosophy that became synonymous with the club – nurturing and developing young players – but we now seem to be back on track.
Craig Fleming, having previously held a significant role in the academy setup, is heavily involved as an assistant of Ralph Hasenhuttl, and the first-team boss has already displayed a willingness to integrate the club’s academy graduates.
Tinnion, having done a good job at Bristol City during his time there, appears to be interested now in a fresh challenge. A move to Southampton – a club evidently in line with his ethos on youth development – seems a good fit.
