Bristol City struck gold with Fulham transfer - He thrived at Ashton Gate | OneFootball

Bristol City struck gold in 2006 as they secured the signing of Liam Fontaine from Fulham.

Leaving Bristol City in 2014, Liam Fontaine will always be held in high regard at Ashton Gate.

Following a masterstroke move for the defender in 2006, Fontaine went on to make almost 300 appearances for the Robins.

Arriving from Premier League side Fulham, the 20-year-old played a huge part in the club's upward trajectory at the time, and found himself and his side on the cusp of the top flight in 2008.

Bristol City struck gold with Fulham, Liam Fontaine transfer agreement

After an initial loan spell in the second half of the 2005/06 campaign, Fontaine made a permanent move to the club at the end of the season by manager Gary Johnson, who had also coached at Fontaine's previous club, Yeovil.

The Robins' success in securing the signature of Fontaine came at the expense of League One rivals at the time, Crewe Alexandra, who had agreed a fee with Fulham the week prior to his Ashton Gate arrival.

"I am absolutely delighted we have been able to sign Liam," said Johnson in 2006. "I was always confident we'd get him because he wanted to join Bristol City."

"He's a very good player, and he was a tremendous acquisition for us during the second half of last season. I'm sure that now he's here on a permanent basis, he will prove to be a great asset."

Johnson would prove to be spot on in his assessment, as Fontaine thrived in Bristol City's ascent to the Championship at the end of the 2006/07 season, and went on to flourish even more in the second tier.

Fontaine would go on to be integral as the club found themselves on the cusp of the Premier League in 2008, reaching the Championship play-off final in their first season back at second tier level - a game in which Fontaine started - where they would take on Hull City.

However, the Robins found themselves subject to one of the most iconic goals in play-off history, as Dean Windass' scorcher sent the Tigers to the Premier League at City's expense.

In the five seasons that would follow that painful day at Wembley Stadium, Fontaine would become an integral piece of Bristol City's defence, making 42, 36, 31, 26 and 41 Championship appearances over the following five campaigns.

He was the subject of serious transfer interest from Southampton in the summer of 2011, with the Saints having reportedly agreed a fee of around £800k to acquire his services - a team that would go on to win automatic promotion to the Premier League in that 11/12 campaign.

However, that deal ultimately fell through, and he would later pen a two-and-a-half-year contract extension with Bristol City in the January of 2012.

The club remained Championship regulars before their eventual relegation back to the third tier in 2013, which would also mark the point of Fontaine's departure from Ashton Gate.

The defender joined Championship side Yeovil on loan for the first half of the 2013/14 campaign, reuniting once again with his former club, before he was released by City at the end of the campaign.

Fontaine went on to have an impressive career north of the border, where he established himself in Scotland across a three-and-a-half-year spell at Hibernian, helping them achieve promotion back to the top-flight in 2017 and win the Scottish Cup in 2016, before joining Ross County in January 2018.

After subsequent spells with Dundee and Edinburgh City, Fontaine officially announced his retirement from professional football in March 2024 at the age of 38, bringing a career spanning over 20 years to an end.

During his time with Ross County, Fontaine released a single titled 'Life Lessons', which can be owed in part to his time at Ashton Gate, where he learned to play the guitar during a spell out on the sidelines.

A highly respectable career at multiple levels of both English and Scottish football, Fontaine is remembered fondly by a heap of clubs.

However, at Bristol City, he played a huge part in setting up the club's success in the late 2000s, and his move from Fulham in 2006 goes down as one of the best pieces of business in the club's history.