Who is the 48-year-old Austrian?
Gerhard Struber spent just under a year as Barnsley manager(Image: George Wood/Getty Images)
Bristol City’s new head coach looks set to be the Austrian Gerhard Struber, with the former Red Bull Salzburg boss expected to be announced at Ashton Gate shortly.
Speculation has grown over the weekend that the City hierarchy had settled on Struber as the man to lead the men’s team into the new season, after the departure of Liam Manning to Norwich.
Bristol Live revealed at the end of last week that Struber was one of three candidates in the running, as well as former Luton Town boss Rob Edwards, but according to Telegraph reporter John Percy, he came through that process most favourably.
He said Struber had ‘impressed in talks and will be confirmed this week’, adding that managing Bristol City was ‘one of the most sought-after job in the Championship’.
If – or when – he is announced, Struber will have a couple of weeks to get acclimatised to life in BS3 before pre-season begins in earnest.
Who is Gerhard Struber?
The 48-year-old is perhaps best known in England for his time in charge of Barnsley in the Championship in the Covid-hit season of 2019-20.
He took over in November 2019 with the Yorkshire side bottom of the league and already seven points adrift of safety. Barnsley pulled off something of a miracle in the interrupted season, in the summer of 2020, they won two games with injury-time winners against Nottingham Forest and Brentford and were helped by Wigan being hit by a 12-point dedication, to survive relegation.
Austrian Gerhard Struber pictured during his time at FC Köln(Image: Christof Koepsel/Getty Images)
Struber left before the start of the the 2020-21 season and joined the Red Bull multi-club organisation. He spent three years as the boss of New York Red Bulls in the US, and returned to his native Austria in 2023 to coach Red Bull Salzburg. He was sacked from that job in March last year, but around a year ago was named the new head coach of 1. FC Koln, the German second-tier side.
What happened at FC Koln?
Struber and sporting director Christian Keller were both sacked in May by German second-tier side FC Koln last month, after the third-from-last game of the season.
FC Koln could only manage a 1-1 draw at home to bottom of the table Kolnische Rundschau, and with only eight points in seven games it looked like their promotion hopes were slipping.
It was reported in Germany that FC Koln’s owners held a crisis meeting, with the players involved, and Struber was fired after that. FC Koln went on to win their last two games to clinch the 2. Bundesliga title and promotion.