Brett Pitman has vowed to celebrate if he manages to find the net against former club Bristol City tomorrow, and believes strikers who hold back their emotions against former employers are doing so for show.

The Ipswich striker spent two-and-a-half years at Ashton Gate, sandwiched between two spells with Bournemouth, scoring 20 times in 81 appearances, before moving to Portman Road in the summer.

With footballers regularly declining to celebrate when scoring against old clubs, Pitman has vowed to show his emotions if he finds the net, while questioning the motives of those who don’t.

“I’ll celebrate for sure, I don’t understand why people do it (not celebrate) and I think it’s all for show to be honest,” he said.

“Don’t get me wrong, I won’t go and jump in their crowd and do things like that but you have to respect the club you play for. They are paying your wages and you want to get three points for them, so I’ll celebrate.

“Why people don’t celebrate is beyond me to be honest, I think it’s all for show.”

Pitman summed up his time at Ashton gate as ‘mixed’ given he ended his time there out of manager Derek McInnes’s plans.

“Mixed really,” he said.

“It was a big move for me and I did enjoy it until right near the end when new manager came in and it looked like I wasn’t in his plans.

“That was frustrating, but definitely the first lot of my time there was something I enjoyed.

“We were struggling at the bottom of the league as it was, so the players he was playing weren’t doing particularly well. It was frustrating, but that’s life.

Lee Johnson takes charge of the Bristol club for the first time tomorrow, with Pitman not surprised he’s followed father Gary into action.

“I played with him,” he said. “I think he’ll do well. He was always an intelligent footballer and you could always tell that he was one that would go into management.

“He’s done well at Oldham and Barnsley and he deserves his opportunity. I’m sure he’ll do well.

“There are some players you can tell who want to be a manager and some have absolutely no interest. His dad was obviously a manager and you could tell he might take after him.”