Bristol City

Bristol City go into this season aiming to close the gap on the top of the Championship, a division the club has occupied for years without quite forcing its way back into the top flight. Ashton Gate, rebuilt between 2014 and 2016 with the old Williams and Wedlock stands torn down, now holds 27,000 and gives the Robins a ground that looks nothing like the one their predecessors knew.

The club started out in 1894 as Bristol South End, turning into a company and taking the Bristol City name three years later. The merger with Bedminster in 1900 left its mark in a way still visible today: the maroon trim worked into the red and white kit traces back to that deal. League football followed in 1901.

Historically, the closest thing to a peer rivalry sits across the city with Bristol Rovers, while the Severnside derby against Cardiff City carries its own weight. On the pitch, the club's honours read as a story of the lower and middle divisions rather than the top one — a Second Division title in 1905–06, three Third Division South championships, and three wins in the League Trophy, most recently in 2014–15. An FA Cup final appearance in 1909 ended in defeat to Manchester United, and a 2008 play-off final went the same way against Hull City.

John Atyeo remains the club's own measuring stick: 351 goals in 645 appearances across a career that ran from 1951 to 1966, a mark nobody at Ashton Gate has come close to touching since. The women's side has enjoyed more recent success, winning the Women's Championship in 2022–23.

Three hundred and fifty-one goals in 645 games — Atyeo's record has stood for close to sixty years.