Steve Cotterill on the Last of Bristol City's Double Side Exiting - Korey Smith

'He was my Scottie Pippen' - Steve Cotterill on the last of Bristol City's Double Side Exiting.
Exclusive chat with the former Robins boss about great City servant Korey Smith

It's clear to see that Steve Cotterill has lost none of his drive, passion and attention to detail that made him so successful in BS3 as we meet for a coffee in central Bristol.

His 2014/15 team will be remembered for a long, long time as one of the most cherished of Bristol City sides after they won a first league title in 60 years, and there is a burning intensity in Coterill's eyes while he recalls his former charges.

Unfortunately, last Sunday saw the confirmation that the last player from that golden age double-winning City outfit, Korey Smith, will be hitting the road this summer (possibly to Millwall according to the latest speculation), and Cotterill is willing to chat - with that effervescent spirit of his on full effect - about his June 2014 signing.

There is of course a lot of love for the midfielder signed from Oldham Athletic six years ago, who blossomed in the red shirt of City over the next half a dozen seasons as he grew from new boy to captaining the team. And an interesting basketball comparison.

"I would say that for anyone that has seen The Last Dance with Michael Jordan, Korey Smith was Scottie Pippen of the Chicago Bulls," explains Cotterill.

"That's how I'd explain him to anyone who maybe isn't so football-orientated reading this. If anyone has seen the Bulls and The Last Dance, they'll know what I mean.

"Scottie Pippen was absolutely as important to that team as Michael Jordan - even though Jordan was the superstar. That's how I'd describe Korey.

"He used to put fires out in front of the back four and more importantly in front of the two centre-backs. And that's what I needed. I knew how we were going to play, the players had a clear idea, and when you have a clear idea of how you're going to play, it's easy to recruit.

"It's easy because you know what you want. I knew what I wanted and Korey Smith was going to be that.

"It was all about him then being part of the team. Korey was always going to dovetail with Marlon Pack and I knew that Luke Freeman was going to be in front of them.

"The blend and balance of that midfield was perfect. It was. Even when we went into the Championship and results weren't as good, performances were.

"Korey was key to that midfield. When we played out, the midfield would be a one and then a two in front. Whereas when we didn't have the ball Korey would drop back into a two and a one.

"We would clear airways and pockets for players to bounce-pass through and break lines and get out up the pitch," adds Cotterill, who hopes to return to management when the time is right and who is still often seen at games at Ashton Gate.

We agree that Smith's reading of the game is one of his major playing attributes. But the man who piloted City to a record third Football League Trophy win points out something more important and fundamental.

Discussing the building of his successful Robins side, Cotterill refutes any suggestion that it was done on anything more than a shoestring budget too.

"People talk about us spending a load of money in League One, that is a nonsense.

"We didn't buy the best players in League One. We bought Korey Smith in after he'd finished 15th with Oldham [Wolves won the division that year] and there was no-one else in for him, Freeman we bought from Stevenage for £450k after they had just been relegated, Luke Ayling had just been relegated with Yeovil, Mark Little had just been as well and was on a free transfer, Aaron Wilbraham was 35.

"The only one who had gone up was Kieran Agard who had just been promoted with Rotherham but played most of the time on the right wing. And Wade Elliot who was going to stay with us that year anyway as I knew him from my Burnley and Bournemouth days.

"I was quite lucky at the time because having worked with Keith Burt at Forest together, Keith knew exactly what I wanted to do. And Korey Smith was easy to pick.

"I needed him to put those fires out, and his reading of the game, his anticipation and speed over five yards was first class. Korey snuffed out attacks and Marlon Pack would start them. They dovetailed so well. You need those relationships. Teams within teams.

"I think his biggest attribute is that he's unselfish. You want players to be that.

"We played against Korey and Oldham the season before and I noticed him in that game - because he was really annoying me because he kept stopping good little passing movements that we had. He never left me then, from seeing him up close.

"We needed that player [Smith]. It was a case of me fitting him in quickly [back in that summer of 2014] and there was no way I was going to bed him in. You noticed him when you didn't have him - when he was injured or suspended.

"That's the biggest compliment I can pay him," says Cotterill.

We discuss what the term 'box-to-box midfielder' really means. Cotterill dislikes it.

Also how Smith fitted in originally in BS3 and the bonds that then developed so much that it means those players continue to regularly meet up and have their own WhatsApp group.

"I've been lucky enough to have several special dressing rooms in my career," says Cotterill.

"You've got to grow it. You've got to do things that are humbling for them to see it and then copy.

"You've got to do those things. I remember that one of the toilets at Ashton Gate was filthy one day, and I've gone in to the dressing room and said 'who's done that in there?'. One of the lads said, 'it was in there before we got here'.

"I said 'we've got to clean it out'. So I was in my suit but I got a toilet brush and cleaned it. And silly things like that makes the players then think that no-one is above where they should be.

"That group was very easy. We had six lads come in that year, plus Wadey who was already there. As much as the congratulations go to those new guys coming in that summer, it's also the remaining guys who had gone bottom of the league the season before who accepted them in.

"For Korey coming in to the dressing room at that time, it was easy for him.

"We had a good youthful group and they were very together. And you can drive that by sometimes distancing himself and being bad cop.

"I wanted them to fight me," says the LMA manager of the year for League One that year. "And Korey would have been in the middle of that."

The former Bristol City manager goes on to tell how a gruelling set of 350m horseshoe runs on the 2014 pre-season trip to Botswana were used to provoke the group but foster a togetherness and spirit that would prove to be a foundation of their success.

A clear way of playing and a team spirit are the bedrocks for a successful season, and you need hardships for people to come together, according to the 56-year-old former striker. And from out of that young men can become bona fide leaders.

"Leaders grow. You can grow a leader. If you look back at that team we had, you can grow a leader," says Cotterill, who explained last year that he should got more time in charge at Ashton Gate.

"We were one of the youngest teams in the Championship - I think second youngest, and that was with Aaron Wilbraham that offset it a little bit. Leeds United had five academy players in their starting line-up at the time.

"But we were incredibly young and Championship inexperienced going into that. And Korey was one of them. He grew over a period of time as did a lot of them.

"I couldn't say that there was one standout game of Korey's for me but I knew that when he scored [with two goals netted against Cheltenham Town in the first round of the successful Johnston's Paint Trophy 2014/15 adventure] the lads were so pleased for him.

"But no-one ever took what he did for granted. He was a goal-stopper - and there's a rarity to those people. Freeman worked as hard as Smith but we needed Korey and his speed over the ground, that ability to read interceptions.

"There were a lot of balls where he would look at the eyes of their centre-back and think they're passing it into the striker, only for Korey to come across the front of them and nick it away.

"And we'd be off again," says Cotterill, who adds that Smith's best role was as a number six in front of the back two.

So 29-year-old Smith moves on but he won't be forgotten around Ashton Gate, nor will that that double-winning group ever be.

The final tribute is paid by the man who brought him to Bristol.

"Korey can press but for me he was better stepping back reading the game, intercepting passes and starting us off again. There are very few of those types of players around," he says.

"What makes his goal against Manchester United so good was that he never used to score. It makes it a fairy tale for him, but people won't remember all the goals he stopped."

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/he-scottie-pippen-steve-cotterill-4423890

 

What a year he gave us, what a team we had, I for one won't forget it.

 

We will see him again next season, against us but he is now history, we all move on to the next episode, who will be the next star ?