Bristol City boss Keith Millen is predicting a "bright" and "exciting" future for the Championship club. His transfer activity now complete, City's new manager is appealing to the club's fans to give him and the players time to get it right on the pitch. Without a victory in four games this season, City are still recovering from the effects of an injury crisis and the departure of previous manager Steve Coppell. Although the Robins remain unbeaten in two games under Millen, the task of successfully integrating 11 new signings will take time and the Londoner admits he does not yet know what is his strongest side. "I think people are going to have to be patient," said Millen. "We have had so much upheaval during the past couple of months, you wouldn't believe it. We've had a nightmare injury list, players leaving and new players arriving and a change of manager. There are so many new faces and so many lads who haven't been able to play yet. I still don't know my strongest team."
Bristol Evening Post

Jon Stead has no intention of celebrating should he be fortunate enough to score on his Bristol City debut against Ipswich Town tomorrow. In one of those delicious ironies that abound in professional sport, the 6ft 3in striker returns to Portman Road less than a week after leaving to throw in his lot with the Robins. Having led the Town attack at Crystal Palace last Saturday, he is now charged with the task of breaching the Ipswich defence and inflicting a first defeat of the season upon his former boss, Roy Keane. Unlike others who have departed that particular corner of East Anglia in recent times, Stead insists he has no truck with Keane, who effectively called time on the Yorkshireman's Ipswich career when transfer-listing him during the close season.
Bristol Evening Post

Kalifa Cisse has given Bristol City some much-needed good news on the injury front by declaring himself fit ahead of the trip to Ipswich. Sidelined since suffering a recurrence of a thigh strain during a pre-season friendly at Yeovil on July 28, the Mali international made his comeback in a behind-closed-doors practice match against Aldershot this week.
Teamtalk

I see Brett Pitman turning down Blackpool for Bristol City and I shake my head in bewilderment. The Robins are a decent side but to snub a chance to play in the Premier League is an utterly ridiculous decision. Yes, City are reported to have offered him more money than the £10,000-a-week limit at Blackpool. But the Seasiders have imposed that wage cap for good reason. They want to use this Premier League money to build a stable club and not risk crippling themselves. With the size of their ground and crowds, they simply could not sustain themselves as a business if they found themselves back in the Championship with players earning £20,000 and £30,000 a week. I don't know Brett Pitman but I hope he doesn't live to regret his decision. He had a chance to go to a club with a fantastic history and one of the best managers in the game.
Robbie Savage's Mirror column