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Max Bird is yet to start a game for Bristol City this season(Image: EFL)<\/p>\nBristol City, Gerhard Struber and Max Bird travel to Pride Park to face Derby County on Friday eveningMax Bird is yet to start a game for Bristol City this season(Image: EFL)<\/p>\n
Max Bird is \u201cvery close\u201d to being considered for a starting role after returning from injury, Gerhard Struber has confirmed ahead of Bristol City’s clash with Derby County, while the rest of the Reds squad came through their draw with Charlton Athletic unscathed.<\/p>\n
The Robins travel to Pride Park to face the Rams on Friday evening as they look to extend their unbeaten run in all competitions to four matches against John Eustace\u2019s side. Derby are one of six Championship sides without a league win so far this season, having been beaten 5-3 by Coventry City last time out.<\/p>\n
Eustace\u2019s side kicked off their second successive campaign in the second tier with an opening day defeat to Stoke City, before booking their place in the second round of the Carabao Cup with a penalty shoot-out win over West Brom. But as they were beaten by the Sky Blues last weekend, City were held to a 0-0 draw by Charlton<\/a>.<\/p>\n READ MORE: Gerhard Struber sets out Josh Stokes expectation as Bristol City head coach calls for patience<\/a>READ MORE: Gerhard Struber details stance on outgoings and loan signings in Bristol City transfer latest<\/a><\/p>\n Having returned from injury to play the final 15 minutes of the Robins\u2019 League Cup clash with MK Dons, Bird managed 33 minutes against the Addicks. Although Struber has yet to decide whether or not the midfielder will start against his former side on Friday, he hasn\u2019t ruled out the possibility, even if it means a change of formation in the middle of the park.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, he\u2019s very close to being a starter player, and we will see,\u201d the City boss told Bristol Live<\/a> in his pre-match press conference on Wednesday afternoon. \u201cI will take my decision on Friday, but of course, he is close.<\/p>\n \u201cHe is, for us, a key player, but he knows also, from the same time, that he was out for, I would say, the whole pre-season, so we will see. But he\u2019s ready, and he\u2019s also very excited to play against Derby.<\/p>\n \u201cMaybe all three players we see?\u201d Struber continued when asked if it was a good headache to have all of Bird, Adam Randell, and Jason Knight competing for two starting positions. \u201cWe will see what\u2019s going on, on Friday night.”<\/p>\n Finally, when asked if any new injuries had been picked up during the Charlton stalemate, the Austrian simply said: “No, everything is ok at the moment.”<\/p>\n While there is a chance Bird could start for the first time this season at Pride Park, supporters will have to wait a little longer to see Joe Williams back in red and white. The Reds confirmed on Tuesday morning that the 28-year-old had suffered a setback in his injury recovery<\/a>, which will see him sidelined for the best part of the next eight weeks.<\/p>\n Join Bristol City Live’s Whatsapp community for all the biggest Bristol City stories sent straight to your phone<\/strong><\/p>\n Bristol City Live<\/a> is now on WhatsApp and we want you to join our community.<\/p>\n Through the app, we\u2019ll send the Bristol City news, live match coverage, team news, transfers, fixtures, analysis and more straight to your phone.<\/p>\n To join our community you need to already have WhatsApp. All you need to do is click this link and select \u2018Join Community\u2019.<\/a><\/p>\n No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Bristol Live<\/a> team.<\/p>\n We also treat community members to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. If you don\u2019t like our community, you can check out at any time you like.<\/p>\n To leave our community, click on the name at the top of your screen and choose \u2018Exit group\u2019.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.<\/a><\/p>\n Click here to join our WhatsApp community.<\/a><\/p>\n Williams sustained an ankle injury in the first leg of the Robins\u2019 play-off semi-final clash with Sheffield United<\/a> last season, and City\u2019s medical team had been hopeful he would be fit and available for the start of the campaign. However, he is now more likely to be involved after the October international break.<\/p>\n Although Struber is disappointed for both Williams and the rest of the team, he has called for patience when it comes to the remainder of the midfielder\u2019s recovery.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were a little bit surprised about the situation around him,\u201d the head coach explained. \u201cHe was in the recovery programme, and we realised again that he\u2019s not ready and he\u2019s had a little bit of a setback.<\/p>\n \u201cHe feels not ready with his leg, and in this way, I think we have to be patient.<\/p>\n \u201cWe know that, for us, he\u2019s a big key in our team, and I feel sorry for him but also for the team.\u201d<\/p>\n READ MORE: Tom Rawcliffe interview notebook: Bristol City CEO on transfers, Jason Knight and replica kits<\/a>READ MORE: Radek Vitek on Championship challenge, ‘amazing’ Bristol City fans and Manchester United plan<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bristol City, Gerhard Struber and Max Bird travel to Pride Park to face Derby County on Friday eveningMax…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":361644,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8818],"tags":[381,2686,748,393,4884,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-361643","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bristol","8":"tag-bristol","9":"tag-bristol-city-fc","10":"tag-britain","11":"tag-england","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115065890024820952","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=361643"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361643\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/361644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=361643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=361643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=361643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/1744476931_129_0_WhatsApp-Phone.jpg\")
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