The permanent signing of Scott Twine in August of last year at the time felt like the icing on the cake of what had the potential to be an important transfer window for Bristol City. Liam Manning had bolstered his attacking and midfield ranks already by that stage of the summer, but it was the 25-year-old he felt could be the difference maker at Ashton Gate.

Having secured his services on a temporary basis for the second half of last season, City had a taste of just what the attacking midfielder could do in a red shirt and it left them wanting more. After what appeared to be a summer-long pursuit, they got their man out of Burnley in a deal believed to be worth £3.2million plus add-ons, one of the biggest fees paid for a player since the days of Lee Johnson.

Following Twine's sixth goal of the season in Saturday afternoon's win over Blackburn Rovers, Manning admitted he had to "put his neck on the line" to bring the former Swindon man to the West Country permanently this summer. From the outside looking in, it seems as though the pressure has been on the free-kick specialist to hit the ground running, not that he's feeling it however as the chance to work his former MK Dons boss was a deciding factor.

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"That's not in my control, what the club has paid for me," Twine told Bristol Live. "I can just do my job on the pitch. Whether it was a free transfer or whatever it was, that doesn't really change my outlook on how I need to play. I'm always going to try my best and give 100 per cent.

"It's really strong," Twine continued when asked about his relationship with Manning. "Obviously, he was a big factor in why I wanted to come to Bristol City in the first place.

"It's a really good relationship, I really enjoy working with him and I can't speak highly enough of him, to be honest."

Having got off to the perfect start on his second debut, scoring the winner from the bench in the Reds' 4-3 win over Millwall at Ashton Gate, injuries and illness prevented Twine from putting together a consistent run of games and form. That was until the festive period came around and then the 25-year-old really began to hit his stride.

In the eight games since Boxing Day's win over Luton Town, the former Burnley man has scored three goals and laid on two assists for his teammates in all competitions to help pull the Robins right back into the battle for the play-off places.

Although it has taken a bit longer than Twine, Manning or Bristol City supporters would have initially hoped, the Reds' marquee summer signing now feels that he is playing the best football of both his spells in the West Country. However, he knows he and his teammates will still need to find another gear to book their place in the top six come the end of the campaign.

"The start of the season, it was a bit tough because I got injured after a few games," he admitted. "But I wasn't scoring enough at the start. Now I've started scoring a bit more which I still want to add, to be honest.

"I'm still not scoring enough in my opinion, or assisting enough but it is definitely going in the right direction and I'm hoping in the next few weeks I can still add a few more goals.

"If we want to go anywhere this season, we've got to have goals from all over the pitch and I think we've done that. Luke [McNally] has chipped in with a few as well which is massive for us. [Jason] Knighty's got a big threat from corners so he's a big help as well. The strikers want to score, I want to score as much as possible, but it does help when it comes from other parts of the pitch as well."

Heading into Saturday lunchtime's clash with Oxford United, Manning's Robins sit eighth in the table, three points adrift of sixth-placed Middlesbrough. A win over Gary Rowett's side at the Kassam Stadium would see City move level with the play-off places, even if only for a couple of hours.

Twine has been there, done it and got the T-shirt when it comes to winning promotion to the Premier League. He may not have played an awful lot of football, but he was part of Vincent Kompany's Burnley side that won the Championship in the 2022/23 season, scoring three goals in 18 games as the Clarets romped to the league title.

Of course, there are a myriad of differences between life at Turf Moor and Ashton Gate, not least parachute payments, but the 25-year-old is keen to take the final third of the season on a game-by-game basis, rather than get caught up in what could be come May.

"We try to go into every game to win," insisted Twine. "We don't ever go into a game thinking oh a point will do here. Obviously, that's not going to happen every game, but that's where our mindset is at.

"We don't play with any fear and we're just taking it game by game, we'll try to win on Saturday and carry on the good form."

Once Bristol City's clash with Oxford is out of the way, all attention will turn to the final few days of the winter transfer window. The Reds are one of just a handful of Championship clubs yet to add to their squad this month, with the only business seeing players exit Ashton Gate on loan.

Manning has played down City's chances of securing any new signings before the deadline at 11pm on Monday, insisting it is "doubtful" despite the departures of Kal Naismith, Fally Mayulu and Rob Atkinson. From a fan's perspective, supporters are desperate to see additions made, particularly up front and in defence.

However, for the players in the Robins' dressing room, Twine insists that the coming days are just business as usual and believes that Manning's side is in a good position to help any last-minute addition settle in quickly ahead of the Championship run-in.

"Things happen that you don't see coming sometimes but I think it's all part of the job," the attacking midfielder explained. "There are no guarantees that any of us are going to be here, like and it's in life to be fair on a deeper level.

"It is what it is, it's football. We've all been through it for however many years we've been playing professional football so we expect the unexpected I suppose.

"Every player is different but I felt like off the pitch especially, because I did get injured at first, I mingled with the lads really well last year. On the pitch, it took a few more weeks because of the injury but I felt personally really comfortable last year.

"I think that's down to the lads, the staff here and the fans that made me feel welcome. That's just the type of club I think it is here, it's a good club to play for, I certainly enjoy it so for me personally it was not a problem."

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