Bristol City are considering another move for Lincoln City boss Michael Skubala after their attempt to bring Tommy Elphick to Ashton Gate collapsed. Elphick, who had positive talks with the Championship club, has turned down the offer and is now poised to join Marco Rose’s new coaching team at the Vitality Stadium.
Skubala, 38, had been in the running for the Bristol City job before the club turned to Elphick instead. He took Lincoln City to the League One title this season and won the League Managers’ Association League One manager of the season award, underlining how far his stock has risen since a brief spell as Leeds Under-21s manager and a short stint as caretaker.
That success has also changed the cost of any move. Skubala is understood to have signed a new deal at Sincil Bank last week after being told he was not getting the Bristol City job, and the improved contract runs until 2028. Bristol City would now have to pay over £1m to prise him away, having previously triggered a much lower release clause.
The timing matters because Bristol City are still looking for a permanent manager after sacking Gerhard Struber in March and appointing former England boss Roy Hodgson as an interim replacement. The club is trying to settle on a long-term answer, and Skubala’s name remains live in part because of the work already done behind the scenes.
There is also a personal link in the frame. Skubala is close with former Arsenal technical director James Ellis, who was formally appointed at Bristol City this month, and the pair worked together in the Great Britain Universities setup. That connection has not locked anything in, but it adds another strand to a process Bristol City would now have to revisit after offering the job to Elphick first.
Any return for Skubala would be an awkward U-turn for a club that moved on from him once and then watched the alternative walk away. He has already taken Lincoln to the second tier for the first time in 65 years, and Bristol City now have to decide whether they are prepared to pay a premium for a manager whose value has gone up while they were looking elsewhere.
