Despite their agonising play-off final defeat to Hull at Wembley on Saturday, the Bristol City players can look back on their Championship campaign with great pride. To finish fourth in the table just 12 months after winning promotion from League One is a wonderful achievement and the club's future under manager Gary Johnson looks very bright indeed. One of the star performers for the Robins last season was long-serving skipper Louis Carey, was has notched up more than 500 appearances for his hometown side. And, as givemefootball's Mark Shail discovered, the 31-year-old insists there is no reason why City can’t be force in the Championship again next season.
Q:COMMISERATIONS ON YOUR NARROW DEFEAT AGAINST THE TIGERS, BUT OVERALL YOU MUST HAVE BEEN SATISFIED WITH THE SEASON?
A:We need to go away for the summer and come back a lot stronger and finish higher than we did this year, finish in the top two. This season has been a platform to build on.
Q:BUT THERE SEEMS NO REASON WHY CITY CAN'T BE SUCCESSFUL AGAIN NEXT YEAR?
A:With the manager Gary Johnson and the chairman (Steve Lansdown) we have got and what we have done this year, there is definitely no reason why, if we add to it in the summer, we can't push on and be a force again next season. We have had a decent season but we haven't achieved anything really apart from reaching the final.
Q:HOW DID THIS PLAY-OFF FINAL DEFEAT COMPARE TO THE LEAGUE ONE PLAY-OFF FINAL LOSS AGAINST BRIGHTON FOUR YEARS AGO?
A:The Millennium Stadium defeat against Brighton was bad at the time as a lot of our players were out of contract at the time, and then left. But this was worse because of where we could have been if we had won. Hopefully this time we will keep the manager and the squad together. We are disappointed but it is just one game and there’s nothing we can do about it now.
Q:YOU MUST HAVE BEEN PROUD OF THE FANS' CONTRIBUTION THIS SEASON?
A:They were unbelievable at the start of the season. We then we had a quiet spell but they started supporting us again at the end of the season, when they were brilliant. They nearly carried us into the top two but it wasn't to be. Then in the play-off semi finals they were different class. I think (Crystal Palace manager) Neil Warnock said they were the difference between the two sides at the end of the day.
Q:AND AT LEAST YOU GAVE THEM A MEMORABLE DAY OUT AT WEMBLEY?
A:At Wembley, they turned out in their thousands, loud and colourful, but unfortunately we couldn't give them what they wanted. We had numerous chances in the second half but they didn't quite fall to us as we would have liked.
Q:HOW DIFFICULT WAS IT TRYING TO RALLY THE PLAYERS AFTER THE GAME?
A:Straight after the match I was going around trying to pick the lads up off the floor. But then it hits you and you shed a few tears and you clap the fans and the emotion catches up with you.
