David Cotterill and Depression

[Son of Fred]

9 hours ago, CyderInACan said:

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/sport/football/david-cotterill-reveals-how-time-2123521

 

An ex-Bristol City player says manager Lee Johnson dropped him from the squad in the stadium car park on a matchday and cut his loan deal short despite saying it was 'a success'.

David Cotterill returned to City for a second spell on deadline day in January 2017.

 

The 30-year-old winger hung up his boots on Wednesday, October 17, following a career-long battle with depression and has spoken candidly about the reasons behind his decision.

The former Wales international and Bristol City youth product started his career with the Robins in 2004 and played for a number of British clubs before returning to Ashton Gate in 2017 on loan from Birmingham where he had been frozen out.

 

Cotterill (C) during his loan spell (Image: Rogan Thomson/JMP)

Cotterill claims he was reluctant to accept the deal, but he received a call from Lee Johnson himself and was told a permanent deal could be on the table in the summer.

“I actually rejected the approach on deadline day three or four times, but then the gaffer, who I had played with under his dad at Ashton Gate, got on the phone to me," said Cotterill.

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“He said that if the loan was a success there could be a deal in the summer, but as a senior player I didn’t really buy that. I think he just wanted to get me signed up."

 

“I personally thought it was quite a successful loan,” Cotterill reasoned. “I was asked to come in and try to keep the team in the division. They wanted extra quality from set-pieces because they had a big team.

 

Bristol City's David Cotterill takes on Newcastle United's Matt Ritchie and Ayoze Perez during the Sky Bet Championship match at St James' Park. (Image: Anna Gowthorpe/PA Wire)

“I came in and got a few assists and managed to score a few goals as well."

Cotterill claims things went downhill when he was dropped from the squad in the car park at Ashton Gate on a matchday.

“The manager then decided to change stuff. I arrived at the stadium for one of the games and he (Johnson) pulled me in the car park and told me I wouldn’t be in the squad.

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"I thought ‘you could have told me that yesterday and I could have spent the weekend with my family’."

The following Monday, Cotterill's second spell at the club would come to an abrupt end.

 

David Cotterill celebrates qualifying for Euro 2016 with Wales

“I went in on the Monday and he told me that I didn’t have to come in for the final ten days to two weeks of the loan. He said the loan had been a success because the team had achieved its goal of staying up and that I’d contributed to that."

 

Cotterill doesn't begrudge the decision however, and believes the decision not to make his deal permanent was a result of the Robins' structure.

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“I enjoyed my time there," he added."But I felt the club had a structure to play a certain number of players of a young age, with senior players around them that could be sold on for profit if they didn’t go up. Look at the ones who have moved on since they’re mostly senior players for big money.”

You can read David Cotterill's exclusive interview with Bristol Live 's Adam Baker here . 

 

I feel Lee lacks personal skills on a very basic level.....and I'm being kind.