"Absolutely foolish" - Bristol City blasted over double transfer exit | OneFootball

FLW's Bristol City fan pundit has criticised the decisions to let Atkinson and Naismith depart in January after McNally's season-ending injury.

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

Bristol City have been told that the decisions to allow defenders Kal Naismith and Rob Atkinson to leave in January with Luke McNally now injured were "foolish" by our Robins fan pundit.

City sent the pair of centre-backs out on loan to two of the Championship's relegation strugglers in the winter window, with Naismith joining Luton Town and Atkinson signing with Portsmouth respectively.

The Robins didn't make a single signing during the January window, and as such, allowing two proven second tier defenders to leave the club in the middle of a season in which they appear to have their best chance of recording a top-six finish for a number of years, sparked much confusion among the Ashton Gate faithful.

With summer signing McNally now out for the remainder of the season with an ACL injury, strength in depth in Bristol City's centre-back department appears to be fairly non-existent.

"Could see it coming" - Bristol City criticised over decision to sell Rob Atkinson, Kal Naismith amid Luke McNally injury

We asked our Bristol City fan pundit, Jack Buchanan, whether the decision to let both Atkinson and Naismith leave the club in January, given they've now lost McNally to a serious injury, was a foolish one?

Buchanan said: "Yes. It was absolutely foolish letting Atkinson and Naismith leave. I think everyone could kind of see it coming at some point that we were bound to get an injury to one of Rob Dickie, Luke McNally or Zak Vyner.

"They were very good first-team players let alone backup players. When we had them as rotation options, alright sometimes they struggled to stay fit, but it was absolutely massive that we let them go and we haven't replaced them either with any sort of backups.

"So, as we saw at the weekend, Haydon Roberts having to play left centre-back. He did alright for the most part, but then cost us the goal. I think if that's Luke McNally, I think we win 1-0 on Saturday afternoon at Cardiff.

"Definitely a big mistake."

Bristol City and Liam Manning down to the bare bones in central defence following Luke McNally injury

Manning has largely committed to deploying a three at the back system in recent weeks, whether that be a 3-4-3 or 3-4-2-1, having dabbled with that approach in the earlier stages of the season despite still routinely setting his Bristol City side up in a 4-2-3-1.

It's been a fairly successful switch too, as the Robins have become tougher to beat in 2025, having lost just twice in the Championship so far this calendar year heading into their home clash with Middlesbrough on Friday 21 February.

However, with just Dickie, and Vyner remaining as the only two natural and senior centre-backs available to Manning, McNally's injury forced left-back Roberts to step into the left-side of the back three.

As Buchanan made reference to, it was the 22-year-old who let Cardiff's Yousef Salech peel around his back shoulder and slide the ball into the net from just a few yards out in the Severnside derby, stripping City of a valuable two points.

Ross McRorie can play in the centre of defence, but the 26-year-old is not only a full-back by trade, he's also suffering with an injury problem that forced him off in the 1-1 draw with the Bluebirds.

Therefore, a common topic of conversation in the Ashton Gate concourses will no doubt be, 'how we could do with Atkinson and Naismith right now'.