I think about it every day. I still have low moments'

Bristol City manager opens up on losing his baby son, how close he came to quitting and the promotion push

- Ben Fisher

After victory at Middlesbrough in October, Bristol City's players headed towards the pocket of the Riverside Stadium housing their supporters. As the away fans sang the name of their head coach, Liam Manning, the squad unfurled a giant red and white banner displaying the words "Fly High Theo" in block capitals. Manning, on leave after the death of his baby son eight days earlier, was watching from a rural cottage 300 miles south, on a much-needed getaway. "I sent a long message to the lads about it afterwards... yeah, lump in the throat," he says.

It is not the only heavy moment in a raw and moving conversation, but the one thing Manning stresses, as he discusses the hardest episode of his life in an interview for the first time, is that this is not a sob story. He takes huge pride in sharing Theo's name.

When Manning returned to the dugout two weeks after Theo's death, a fan mosaic in the stands spelled out "Fly High" and Section 82, a supporters' group, raised money for a huge banner that read "Theo John Manning", with surplus funds donated to local charities.

His wife, Fran, was in the chairman Jon Lansdown's executive box with Isaac, their six-year-old son, and Manning's close friend and agent, Scott. "When you're in a stadium with 25,000 people, trying to find a bit of privacy is not easy," he says. "It's something I'll never forget."

How was he able to come back so quickly? "You can only sit around the house and cry for so long. I'm a fighter. I've been through a huge amount, so it's made me quite tough.

"And it was two-way, right? What the fans did was incredible. It was important for me to show them my appreciation and the way I can do that is being on the touchline driving their club."