Liam Manning has explained Bristol City’s decision to loan Rob Atkinson to Portsmouth following the Reds’ win over Derby County at Ashton Gate.
The Robins secured their first three points of 2025 as they beat the Rams 1-0 on Saturday afternoon, with Luke McNally’s third goal of the season enough to ensure that the bragging rights would remain in the West County.
24 hours before the Reds’ win over Paul Warne’s side, City confirmed their first, first-team departure of the January transfer window as Atkinson made the move to Fratton Park to join up with John Mousinho’s side for the second half of the season.
The former Oxford United defender is yet to feature for Manning at Ashton Gate, despite featuring in several matchday squads this season, having been injured when the 39-year-old initially took over from Nigel Pearson last season.
Although some have suggested the 26-year-old’s departure could leave City slightly short of defensive depth, Manning feels Atkinson needs match minutes in the Championship to rebuild his confidence and fitness.
“Rob’s gone out which I think will be good for him to go and play,” Manning explained after the full-time whistle. “He’s missed such a long period of football. To get the opportunity to go and build up minutes and get some confidence back in his body by playing which he wouldn’t have done sat on the bench here with us.
“That will be good for him. We’ve got George [Tanner] back and we’ve also got people that can play in numerous positions. We’ve got all three centre-backs on the pitch today, we can go to a back four if need be, Ross [McCrorie] can play left or right, George can play centre-half of full-back, Haydon [Roberts] can play centre-half as well as full-back or wing-back. We’ve got [Kal] Naismith back next week and Josh Campbell-Slowey is one we’re quite excited by.
“He’s on his way back in that little period as well so for me, we’ve got the options. I need to find out about Rob, him training with us and sitting here and waiting for the opportunity. For me, he needs to go and play 20 games and find out about his body and get some confidence which I think is important.
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“He wasn’t available last season due to injury and then this season, he did most of pre-season and picked up another slight one which kept him out for a period and when you look at it, the lads that are ahead of him have done extremely well. That’s the nature of football. I spoke to him yesterday and I think it’s a good opportunity for him.”
The quality of the Robins’ backline was on show in the win over Derby as not only did Rob Dickie, Zak Vyner and McNally keep the away side’s frontline quiet, the latter managed to secure the win with a smart right-footed finish.
Although the Bristol City boss was keen to laud the entirety of his team for their efforts, particularly in the second half against the Rams, he did heap praise on the former Burnley defender for producing the moment of quality needed to decide the game.
“I thought he, along with many others, was excellent today,” Manning explained. “A big part of his game is aggression, how front-footed he is and a desire to defend.
“By product of that, I thought it was a soft free-kick at Plymouth but today I thought he was excellent.”