Football Dickie back in the groove after his 'prolonged punishment'

GIVEN the changes on and off field over the course of the off-season, Bristol City’s 2024-25 playoff campaign already feels a lifetime ago.

- Dan CARTER

With the new season up and running, attention has shifted to what could be over the next nine months, rather than what was last time around.

The Robins helped put any lingering frustrations to bed on the opening day of the new season as they thrashed Sheffield United 4-1 at Bramall Lane, the same place their Premier League dreams had come to an end just a few months prior. It may not have undone the damage of that bruising semifinal defeat, but it showed the Robins are now operating on a clean slate.

For Rob Dickie, however, the impact of the playoffs stretched into the new season. The defender missed out on the win over the Blades as he served the final game of a suspension he earned when he was shown a red card in the first leg of last May’s defeat.

“Having to miss the first game through suspension off the back of what happened last year felt like a really prolonged punishment)’ the defender told BBC Radio Bristol. “Obviously, devastated with how the year ended, but after such a positive year for the group, it was a really tough ending to take for me personally, but as a group as well.

“To be back out there Friday night (against Derby) was really good for me, and I felt good.

“I had an amazing holiday with my wife and children, and we had a great time,’ Dickie continued when asked about his summer. “But it certainly sort of, once I came back to reality and back in for preseason, it kind of hangs over you, until I served that one-match suspension.

“All through preseason as well, the manager had to prepare for Sheffield United, and I couldn’t be a part of that, so it definitely felt like a prolonged punishment, and it hung over me for quite some time.

“That's in the past now. That's behind me, and I’m really looking forward to the challenge of this new season.”