Outgoing Portsmouth coaching boss and former Liverpool and Nottingham Forest man slammed as ‘terrible’ as ‘intense’ ex-Blues boss lauded

But ex-Blues boss Steve Cotterill has been lauded for the man-management skills, which took one of his former clubs to record-breaking title success.

Sean O’Driscoll left his role with the academy in September after two-and-a-half years, and was this week confirmed in a new role at National League Weymouth.

But one of his former Bristol City players was left unimpressed by the former Nottingham Forest, Liverpool assistant and England under-19 boss

Keeper Frankie Fielding gave a brutal assessment of the man who was sacked 18 games into the 2013-14 season with the Robins struggling in League One.

Fielding told the Late Kick-off podcast: ‘I’m going to be harsh here, he (O’Driscoll) was terrible - just didn’t understand it.

‘We got beat 3-0 by Peterborough on Saturday and came in for a meeting on Sunday because we had a game on Tuesday, and he was telling us in the debrief that we played well!

‘The whole team was stinking, he had no idea what to do, it was just a mess.’

Fielding had a very different view when it came to former Pompey boss Cotterill, who was in charge at Fratton Park between 2010 and 2011.

The 57-year-old went on to spectacularly guide Bristol City to the League One title with a 99-point haul, with Fielding seeing an impassioned manager who generated a powerful sense of unity.

He said of Cotterill: ‘Intense, honest - everything you want from a manager, basically.

‘Loved his lads, looked after them like they’re his own kids. Couldn’t do any more for us but he would occasionally lose the plot and not speak to us for three or four days.

‘The first year he kept us up and the season after he just got his players in really early, his recruitment that pre-season, so we did a whole pre-season together. Went to South Africa and Botswana on a trip, a really good trip away and we just gelled.

‘We had a really good mixture - young and old. Aaron Wilbraham, he ran our changing room. Just a great human being.’

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