Skubala interview: 'Unique' journey, Lincoln and why he's joined City

"It's unique," the 43-year-old continues. "But I think every manager's journey is unique."

Skubala's path to the West Country is perhaps more unique than most, however. While still playing non-league football, the Robins' new manager began coaching at Nottingham Forest and Coventry City's academies on a part-time basis, all while working as a PE teacher.

After his time with the Sky Blues, Skubala became director of football at Loughborough University - an institution renowned for its elite sporting structure. His time in the East Midlands was followed by a spell in charge of England's futsal side and a stint with England Under-18s, before a move to Leeds United.

"Ultimately, I've coached really hard and worked really hard at the craft of coaching, developing players and managing, if you like," he explains in a lounge overlooking the Ashton Gate pitch. "I've had lots of different experiences from that.

"I look at my Loughborough experience of being in a university and running the football programme around so many different elite sports, and I was able to learn so many different things. I look at working at the FA with Dan Ashworth and John McDermott, two amazing technical directors. With the national team, you're working with some unbelievable players in Rico Lewis and Jamie Bynoe-Gittens.

"I think when you look back at it, it's a bit eclectic in some ways for people, but it's just been really hard work."

Teaching, in particular, has given Skubala a different set of skills. "I think it helps me with leadership," City's new boss says. "I think it helps me to communicate, I think it helps me to get my points across in how we want to be, how we want to play, how we have meetings, and how we run things.

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"Then being and working in football helps with the tactical and more technical side of things. I think, like anything, you create your own path. I look at all the different managers in the game; some have played, and some have not.

"I look at Roy [Hodgson], who has been a teacher as well, but managed England and over 20 clubs. I just don't think there's one path to get into management. I do think, though, we all have something in common which is that we have to work hard; it's all encompassing, and it's not easy."

It was during his time at Loughborough that Skubala first crossed paths with his now sporting director, James Ellis. Like Skubala, the former Arsenal technical director is a new addition at Ashton Gate, having been appointed to his current position shortly after the end of the Championship campaign.

"We've gone off on our separate paths over the last 15 years," Skubala says. "James has gone into different clubs and done different roles in recruitment before, obviously becoming technical director at Arsenal, while I went off into coaching and management.

"But I think it's normal that when you've worked with someone, and you know them, you have a good relationship with them. I think football is such a small world that you're always in contact with certain people.

"To the wider world, it seems like people never speak because you're always competing against one another," City's new boss adds. "But actually, us as managers speak a lot and technical directors speak a lot. It's just a really small industry like that.

"I've known James for many, many years and our paths have now collided to hopefully bring success to Bristol City."

The collision of the manager and sporting director's paths has come after perhaps the most eye-catching spell of Skubala's career so far. While Arsenal went on to win the Premier League shortly after Ellis' departure in February, City's new boss got his hands on his own piece of silverware.

In his second full season at Lincoln City - his first permanent job in first-team management - Skubala was able to end the Imps' 65-year wait for second-tier football as he guided the East Midlands side to promotion to the Championship as League One champions.

On their way to the title, the Imps claimed 103 points - 12 more than second-placed Cardiff City - scored 89 goals, conceded 41 and lost just five matches. Lincoln finished the season on a 29-game unbeaten run, a record they will carry into the Championship next season under the joint management of Tom Shaw and Chris Cohen.

When the topic of his success with the Imps is raised, Skubala notes, "I think everybody looks to last season as the season because, naturally, it was an amazing season. What we did there to get the team promoted for the first time in 65 years was an unbelievable achievement, and how we did it as well, with 29 games unbeaten, we didn't want the season to end.

"But it was built on day one of me going into the club; it wasn't built on last season. Everything was being built over the years.

"It takes time," he continues. "It takes windows, it takes methodology of how we want to be and how we want to find ways to win football matches in that league. Finding how we do that and be successful while doing that, it takes time.

"We were fortunate to have that time at Lincoln. Again, it was an amazing achievement to do that, but it was a project that evolved, not revolutionised. I keep saying that: it's about evolution, not revolution, and it's about consistency.

"We did lose one or two," the 43-year-old then jokes. "I wasn't happy with that!

"I think when you're in it, my nature is that I just want to go and win the next game. When you're actually in it, you don't reflect on what you're doing until it's done and it's finished.

"I think that's why it's important to breathe after a season because when we're pushing, trying to get promoted, trying to win football matches, and at the top of the league, going away to Cardiff and beating Cardiff, you're not quite there. When you're in it, it's just the relentless nature that I try to bring. Every day, we're just trying to improve. There's no doubt about it.

"Everyone looks and says that it's an amazing achievement for me, but the players did it. It's the players' game; they had an amazing season.

"Whilst you're in it, it's just relentless; but that's me. I think that's what I do. I like to be relentless, I like to work hard, I like to make sure there's no stone unturned in terms of how we want to be and how we win football matches.

"Hopefully, that work ethic is what I'll bring to Bristol City."

With the job asked of him at Sincil Bank carried out, Skubala has arrived at Ashton Gate where the ultimate goal is clear: the Premier League. The 43-year-old takes over a side that finished 12th in the Championship last term, 11 points adrift of Hull City and the play-off places.

In truth, it was a campaign of frustration in two halves for the Robins. Under Gerhard Struber, there were signs of promise, but by the time the Austrian was sacked in March, dreams of promotion had long since started to be shelved. Roy Hodgson's interim tenure brought things back to basics, but the short-term nature of his appointment brought with it uncertainty around what would be waiting around the corner.

The arrival of Skubala, the man chosen to succeed the 78-year-old former England, Liverpool and Inter Milan boss in the City dugout, has banished much of that uncertainty, even if many aren't completely sure of exactly what he will bring to the West Country.

Asked what Michael Skubala's Bristol City will look like, he explains, "I think, if you were to put managers in buckets, I'm probably one of the more adaptable coaches that tries to find a way to get the best out of the players. But it is underlined with really strong principles.

"Those principles are around how we want to look, how we want to play, our intensity with front-footed, aggressive football that you can be proud of when you see the team.

"The tactical nuances that you're probably talking about can change and shift for me a little bit more, and we'll be looking to build a squad around that so we can find a Bristol City way of playing.

"There will be influences from there," Skubala adds when the impact of futsal on his style is questioned. "I can't say they're the same game, because they're not, but there will be influences around things that I would like.

"I do think it's more a foreign sport, so it's more akin to some of the foreign coaches who will be used to it and know it. It's very big in Spain and places like that, so all the coaches that work in football there already know it.

"It's maybe given me a little bit of an edge in some ways. But again, it is different so I've got to be careful."

Having spent time working within university and academy set-ups, not least during his time as Leeds United's Under-21s coach prior to his time with Lincoln, the Robins' new manager is also keen to use the talent pool at his disposal at the Robins High Performance Centre, beyond the first-team.

"I think if you look at my history, I've always tried to develop young talent," Skubala says. "I love them because they're fearless. Young players can be fearless, and I think if you can put young talent on the pitch with experience, it's the best blend.

"If we can do that here, and get the young players through the system - and I know the club's history with Alex Scott, Antoine Semenyo, Bobby De Cordova-Reid and countless other players they've brought through the club in recent times - it's really important to the club.

"But, again, that's why it's exciting to me because it's important to me as well. When I was at Leeds, I first brought Archie Gray into the Under-21s as a 16-year-old, and to see him progress and play for the first team, and go to Tottenham, to see players I worked with at England become really top players, I just love seeing it. I stay in contact with a lot of those players.

"Football's a really tough industry to be in as young men, so they have to be ready, but there are probably no greater advocate for young talent than myself.

"If we can put a structure in place that allows young talent to flourish here, why wouldn't I want that? Why wouldn't the fans want that? Everybody wants that."

Of course, while a large part of Skubala's remit will be the development of players, as outlined by Ellis, football remains a results business. Like any other manager or head coach, the 43-year-old will be assessed on what happens come 3pm on Saturday and 7:45pm on a Tuesday.

The Robins' new manager has been in the game long enough to know that. Equally, from his time with the Imps, he knows that it is naïve to expect success to be built in an instant; his first two seasons at Sincil Bank finished with a seventh and eighth place finish, respectively.

Promotion to the Premier League within the next three years remains the 'North Star' and the driving force behind Skubala's decision to leave Lincoln for south Bristol. That ambition will be carried into each and every game, even if he won't allow himself to become blinkered by the chaos of football's "fast lane."

"Win," Skubala simply replies when asked what the aim will be for the coming season. "It's really important to have two lanes: the slow lane with the strategy over the years, but also, we live in the fast lane as football players and managers, so it's really important that we hit the ground running.

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"In terms of this season, it's to go out and try and win every game. That might sound nuts, but I try to put a team on the pitch that can win, can be competitive, and I want to do that every game this season. We'll do that, and then I think you can build something.

"If you can get some momentum and consistency, things start to roll, and that will be the ambition this season.

"I spoke to a couple of the lads about last season, and I think it was Middlesbrough away where they scored late," he continues. "You saw the togetherness of the team and those things for me, they're really important to see.

"When I was looking into it and assessing the group and the games, there's definitely some real desire here in the group to want to win, desire to improve and desire to get promoted. You need that in a playing group, and I can assure you after some of the discussions I've had with the players already, they're chomping at the bit to get going again.

"That's why I'm here: to try and get this club to the next level," Skubala concludes. "I think it's got everything behind the scenes: the structure we've spoken about, the training ground is amazing, and the fanbase is unbelievable.

"That's why I'm here, to try and get this club to the next level."