Richard Foster’s 18 months as a Bristol City are not remembered with particular fondness by the Robins faithful, to the extent that whenever the club are linked with a player north of the border, his failure is often seen as a reference point.
Signed from Aberdeen by Derek McInnes in January 2012, the full-back arrived, at the age of 26, with a big reputation as one of the most consistent defenders in the Scottish Premiership and claimed, on signing, that the Championship was, "a step up from the SPL".
But Foster failed to take that step and delivered 51 largely unremarkable performances in a Robins shirt before leaving for Rangers the following summer.
Speaking to Si Ferry on the Open Goal podcast, Foster has opened up on his forgettable time at BS3, blasting the dressing room atmosphere at the club and what was a difficult personal time for him.
Foster went through divorce and lived away from his young son while trying to establish himself in a squad, he claims, he was never made to feel welcome.
“Personally, it was a bad time for me – it was the break-up of my first marriage,” Foster said. “The dressing room was weird; English lads are strange.
“A lot of good players on paper, but just a*******s who’d stab you in the back as soon as they’d look at you. And just not a nice atmosphere.
“I went there in January and by the first summer I wanted to come back up the road, because I wasn’t enjoying it.
“I stayed, McInnes got sacked the following January and played like three matches to the end of the season because the new manager came in and brought someone else in.”
Foster’s reputation was built not just on a promising career in Scotland, which suggested room for progress when he made the move south but his Champions League experience at Rangers.
However, the defender, now of Ross County claims that proved more of a problem for him when trying to settle in at Ashton Gate.
McInnes’ dismissal in January 2013, saw Sean O’Driscoll take over and he favoured Brandan Moloney at right-back, leading Foster to return to Scotland and take a pay cut to re-join Rangers who he had previously spent time on loan with but were now a third-tier side.
Foster had the final 12 months of his contract in BS3 cancelled to facilitate his return and was even booed in a pre-season friendly at Ashton Gate a few months later.
“I was on more money at Bristol, I took a wage cut coming back up the road,” Foster added. “It wasn’t a financial decision, I just didn’t enjoy the disregard loads of folk in Bristol had for (me) coming from Scotland.
“The players hated the fact that I played in the Champions League. A few of them had played in the Premiership and they’re obviously thinking that’s the best.
“Well, not really, I played in the Champions League. And they hated it. So I just wanted to come back to Scotland.”
