GT:I’m delighted City owner, Steve Lansdown,is sat next to me here at Ashton Gate. Steve, big big thanks for fronting up. You could’ve said no but, as per usual, you’ve said yes. SL:I never hide Geoff. You know that. I’m always happy to speak to you. GT: How do you feel right now when you look at the league table, you look at this splendid, splendid venue. You probably know more than anyone how much money you put into the football club. How are you actually feeling? SL:Well, I suppose I feel a bit disappointed, a bit apprehensive about the game, you know, because we need to get three points out of this game and uh, but uh, we’ve been in these situations before where we’ve got to fight for our lives and that’s what we have to do in the last 6 games. GT: If you’ve been in these situations before, why have you let it get to this situation once again? SL: Well, because you can’t always predict how these things are gonna go and you know we’ve/I’ve obviously sat many times looking back over the season to see what we’ve done and maybe we could have done things differently but in reality I feel that we got off to a good start. Probably we exceeded expectations at the beginning of the season. That’s stood us in good credit when we went into that very bad period of form. We then sort of got ourselves back to basics and solid again started with the Newcastle game. Then of course we’ve had the hiccup with the last two games which has set us back again, so I’ve always felt we’re on the right track here at Ashton Gate with Bristol City and with the management and the squad of players which we’ve got.We’re always looking to improve and develop what we’re doing here and I’m very pleased with what’s happening away from theactual league performances, but we’re still on 41 points. We’re just outside the relegation zone. We’ve got four games to play here. There are plenty of points to pick up.We’ve got to fight hard to keep our championship status and build again in the summer. GT: You say you’re on the right track. Just give me a bit more definition as to what you mean by that? SL: Well, you go back to many of the conversations that we’ve had in the past. The fundamental basis of Bristol City football club now is to develop our players, is to make sure our academy players coming through have that pathway and when we’re out in the recruitment market we’re looking to bring in young players that have value that are going to improve and blend that with some experience. I think we’re generally doing that. Everybody can argue whether you’ve got the right player here or the right player there. But the principal I want us to work to is we have our first team squad and then if somebody drops out of that first team squad, the under 23 players will be those players that will step straight into that and fill those gaps.If somebody gets injured, somebody comes in from the under 23s plays, gets that first team experience, perhaps then goes back into the under 23s when that player comes back and so on. And that’s what we’ve got. We’re getting to that point. We’re not there yet but it’s work-in-progress and I feel so encouraged by what we’re doing and I’m just determined we’re going to see it through. And it’s a tough time. It’s a tough time. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not very happy with what’s going on and like everybody else, like all the fans I’m very frustrated. I understand all the comments that are flying back and I understand the comments with regards to Lee and everything else but what we’ve put together here to my mind can work and I’m determined to make it work. GT: OK.Notwithstanding the good start, the runs of results have been very, very disappointing.Lee Johnson. Why’s he still your head coach? Do you ever get to the point of saying enough is enough? SL: Look, you’re always constantly doing what...the team you’ve got...and Lee’s...I’d be lying ifwe said we hadn’t had conversations like whether we should part company with Lee. GT:They’re boardroom conversations. SL: Well, conversations between....I’m not a member of the board. I mean, the board will meet and have their discussions but.. GT: You own the club Stephen. SL:But...yes..and they’ll come to me for approval for the final decision because that’s the way it works and so, you know,Lee Johnson will remain manager of this football club for as long as I want him to remain manager of this football club, in simple terms. I believe in him. I believe in his ability and I believe in what we’re doing here. We’re going through a very tough time but I’m going to help him see it through. GT: The players. Do you feel the players are playing for him? Has he lost the dressing room? There’s lots of people think he has. A capitulation like Tuesday would suggest maybe the players aren’t digging as deep as they should. SL: Well we’ll see today won’t we. Because Preston, obviously, was one of those games which you don’t ever want to see, and it was capitulation. I won’t argue with it. And I think the players are gonna need to stand and be counted now to show that they’re totally behind Lee and totally behind the club here, and I think they will. For those who may not have had the chance to listen yesterday or have sen this on OTIB, its an interesting read. My take through this is LJ may well have been on his way had we lost heavily yesterday! GT: Does it not worry you though Brentford first half passed them by, two-nil down, the game was almost gone and yet the next game there’s a capitulation? There’s a bit of a trend there isn’t there? SL: It’s a two game trend. Before that we had four games unbeaten, and two wins and a fantastic win here against 4-0 against Huddersfield who are vying for a top-two place. So, whichever way you look at it you can make arguments. I’m not gonna hide away from the fact that the Preston result was unacceptable. We don’t ever want to see that again. Again, we’ve had situations like that before and not every time the manager’s been dismissed afterwards before you ask me that question but the reality is, that if those performances continue we won’t survive. GT: Would Lee Johnson survive? Well, we’d have to look at that. I’m not gonna make any comment on that. I’ve told you that Lee will be manager of this football club, well, head coach of this football club as long as I want him to be. I want him to be that as I said to you at the moment but times change and you have to make decisions as you go along. At the moment we’re battling for our lives to stay in the championship and that’s what it’s all about. GT: How bad would it have to get for you to have that opinion that he’s no longer the man for you? SL: I think we’d have to have discussion when the time came.As I’ve said. We’re not daft Geoff. We’re not hiding our heads in the sand with regards to results. Results aren’t good enough but I see enough of what I believe in there to feel that Lee can make it happen.We’ll see what happens against Wolves this afternoon. We’ll move on from there. GT: Did you ever think about or do you think about bringing in a more experienced man? With respect to Lee, he’s never managed at this level before. Did you ever think about bringing in someone who has to work with him? Um, yes, Been there done that,if you like, in many ways. But one of the reasons for the change with John Pemberton stepping down and Jamie McAllister stepping up was to bring somebody in that Lee was very close to, had some steel about him, had that knowledge of the..., certainly playing at this level and somebody that we have a lot of time for with Jamie to change the dynamic and you know that worked in the initial stages. Last two games it hasn’t worked, so we have to look at that again. At the end of the day, if it doesn’t work out this season the responsibility falls on me. It’s my decision to go down this path. I’m determined to keep pushing down this path and whatever happens this season we’ll keep working on down this path because I think it’s right for the long-term future of the football club. GT: I was just going to say though, aren’t you putting your kind ofheadstrong approach there backing yourself, aren’t you putting the club’s future in the championship at serious jeopardy? SL: I take that risk Geoff because I believe...the long term GT: Is that fair on the supporters who pay their money? SL: Is it fair on me? I pay a lot more money than the supporters and you know I appreciate the supporters and the supporters coming to support it. I want them to buy into the project. Yes.Short- term frustrations. But you know. What I would say is that we’re sitting here at the moment. We are in the championship. We intend to be in the championship in 6 games time and in the championship next season so don’t let’s get ahead of ourselves and start talking about, you know, are we putting it in jeopardy? No we’re not because we’re fighting for our lives. We have players on that pitch. We’ve invested in this team. We’ve invested in the infrastructure. We’ve invested in the training facilities, the development squads, the academy. There’s a lot of money going into this football club. But yes, we want to be in the championship and uh... I can’t say anything to guarantee that we’ll be in the championship in 6 games time because nobody could do that but what I am gonna say is we’re going to give every drop of blood to make sure we still are. GT: But you gotta also respect the football supporters. You own the football club. But some people will come here this afternoon will have been watching this football club for 50 or 60 years. It’s their football club as well. SL: Yeah, and people are going to watch it for the next 50 or 60 years too and I’ve got their thoughts in mind. Nobody appreciates the supporters more than me Geoff. You know that. I’m always happy to talk to them and have conversations with them.I’ve been around this club long enough now that people know that my heart’s in it and I want it to be successful. I made a decision when we got relegated last time that we were gonna go work this way forward and that’s the way we’re going. As I said if it doesn’t go right this year, then I’ll take responsibility for that. But the interesting... you know... the thing is...you know...if people want me to walk away from the football club tell me and I’ll walk away but I’m not gonna do that because I love this football club and I want it to be successful so I’m gonnakeep working at it until we get it right and we’ve got six games to make sure we get it right this season. GT: I must say of all the opinions I do get, and I get many many opinions as you know, noone has even intimated that they want you to leave the football club, in any shape or form. What’s your take on the mood amongst the fans then, the wider mood amongst the fans? Well, it’s always difficult to gauge these days with social media because there’s so much noise that comes from that and so much, let’s say, inappropriate comment that comes across from that but I gauge the fact that the fans are very frustrated, concerned in the same way that I am. They don’t know as much about the club and what’s going on within the club as I do, so they can’t have that informed decision, and to be perfectly honest, there’s no way you can get all that information out to people but we try to communicate on a regular basis as to what we’re attempting to do. My conversation with you here today is not an easy conversation to have but I want people to understand what we’re trying to achieve here, what we’re trying to develop because when all’s said and done, Bristol City football club for the next hundred years has got to be self...start to be self-sufficient, has got to develop players, has got to grow.And to be honest it has never managed to get that system in place over many, many years.So, I’m determined we’re gonna...that’s going to be the foundation of the club going forward because I think it’s the right way. GT: Is that not a bit of a fantasy thought though because football doesn’t work like that, does it?Manchester United didn’t dominate English football all of the time by just developing their own players. They invariably signed players to spend money on it as well, financial investment. SL: Of course they did . But they signed Cristiano Ronaldo for how much? How much did they sell him for? How much contributions did they give? That’s what I’m talking about. It’s investing in the recruitment and not just the development, but the recruitment of players that come in make the difference. I’ll give a player that’s been in and out of the team now butHordur Magnusson here. He’s a prime example of the type of player that we want to bring in to this football club and develop. The experienced sort of player we’re bringing in...players like Gary O Neill to help that/those. So it’s about getting that blend right. Whereas, I thought we had it more or less right at the beginning of the season , it shows we haven’t quite got it right come the end of the season. That’s what we’ll work on in the summer. GT: Why did John Pemberton leave? Why did you get rid of him? SL: Well, we looked at the... we wanted to change the dynamic.We’d already had a discussion about what we were going to do going forward and John didn’t feature in those plans.We just brought the decision forward basically that rather than leave it to the summer we do it now because we felt we needed to change the dynamic to just to try and help turn fortunes around. GT: What does that mean change the dynamic? SL: Well, as I said earlier... we wanted Macca, Jamie McAllister to step up. His knowledge of the football club, his love of the football club, his relationship with Lee, as the manager. All those aspects of things to come to play to help drive things forward. And I think...you know...John was disappointed to go but he went on good terms and as I said we had some very good times to together and we appreciate what he’s done for the club and wish him well but that was the reason for it, nothing more sinister than that. We just wanted to basically change the management team a little bit. GT: Des Taylor came with a huge reputation as being one of the best talent scouts in Europe. He wasn’t here long enough for me to actually meet him.What happened there? Well again it’s...to be honest that’s more of a... I would say an internal thing with regard to that. I mean, Des came from Bournemouth within the recruitment drive. But I just think there was a disagreement between what he wanted to do and what we wanted to do and therefore it didn’t quite work out and that was creating friction and so he moved on. But in any business Geoff, and people come and people go, and some people come in and they fit, and some people come in and they don’t fit and unfortunately I think, at the end of the day, Des came in and he didn’t quite fit. GT: Mark Ashton-are you pleased with the job he’s doing as Chief Operating Officer? SL:Yeah I think he’s doing an excellent job and the work he puts in, in making sure that everything football wise is well-organised, well-structured, also making sure that we all...as the board and the owners are well-informed. He’s the link between the football side and the boardroom and yep, he’s done a very good job in negotiating the contracts for us and finding the players, and helping develop all the aspects of it. There’s a lot that goes on with the football association, the football league, as well as dealing with the agents and all the other things and, yeah, he’s been a first-class acquisition. GT: But you’re one point above the relegation zone, yet you’re heaping huge praise on the man? SL: Yep, but uh, if we’d have started this season and said where do you feel you want to end up we’d say we’d want to be in the championship at the end of the season. We wanted to be higher up the championship, yes, so we’re disappointed with that. Not all of the decisions we’ve made this year have worked out. Some of them have.If we end up in the championship as we intend to, come the end of the season, and we’re building for the next season, then our plans will still be in place. GT: You have 13000 season ticket holders this season. You’re not even half way there for next season is that a worry? SL: Geoff, just be in the picture. We’re 65% there. GT: Yeah. So things have improved over the last week or so? SL: Well, I don’t know where you get your figures from but those are the figures I’ve got and so the supporters are still with us. You asked me earlier what I felt they want and they show me what they want. I know they’re frustrated. I know they’re...in many ways they’re angry. But all I would say is direct that at me.Don’t direct it at anybody else. Don’t direct it at Lee Johnson. Don’t direct it at the players because they’re out there doing the job for this club and trying to make the best of it. If they’re angry, be angry with me. But, basically, we’re a club...I’m not saying we’re a club in transition, but maybe we are in some ways.But we’re work-in-progress, let’s put it that way.It’s a well-worn phrase. Maybe it’s bit of a cop-out.Yes, I want to be higher in the league. I would have liked this season to have gone better but we are where we are and we have to deal with it. That’s the thing...with all these things...as you said....football doesn’t always work the way you want it to work. We thought we were going well at the beginning of the season. Perhaps we got ahead of ourselves. We’ve now been brought down to earth with a bump. We’ve got time to put it right. GT: Six games to go. Will Lee be in charge of those six games regardless? SL: I can’t say that because I’m not going to comment on Lee’s position at all. As I said, as long as I want him to be manager of this football club, or head-coach as I should’ve said really, lead this football club then he will do. He’s leading this football club at the moment and I’ve no intention of that changing. GT: What happens (A) if you remain in the championship? Does he remain as head coach? SL: Absolutely, yeah. I mean. You know. That’s the point. He’s come in here for the long-term. We haven’t brought him in for a short-term fix or anything else. He did that for us last year. He did extremely well last season for us.People...you know...That’s gone out...that’s history now...that’s gone out the window. He’s got a lot of ability has Lee Johnson, as a coach. And he’s bringing that to the fore for us. We just need to see those results on the pitch going forward. They don’t all happen this year. Championship football next year. We’ll be looking for that to be improved. GT: Ok. So, stay in the championship, he stays. If you are relegated, would that cost him his job? SL: I’m not...again...we’ll sit down in the summer and discuss all that, but I’m not here to discuss Lee Johnson’s contract or his position or anything else. I’m just here to... GT: It’s what the fans are talking about though isn’t it? SL: Well, yes. But they have to understand that we’ve gotta live game-by-game, day-by-day. And we’ll make those decisions as and when we have to make those decisions, when we want to make those decisions, and as I said to you at the moment I don’t want to make that decision. GT: Ok. Ok. Listen. I don’t want to appear overly negative but I like to try and relay what supporters are talking to me about and what they’re talking about on the way up to the game. SL: I understand that Geoff and I appreciate it. All I’d say to the supporters is look, I do understand where they’re all coming from and their fears and even their annoyance, but just keep with the football club. Keep the faith because what I can tell them is that within this football club there is 100% support for everything that we’re doing. I’ve never experienced that before here at Bristol City football club in all the time I’ve been here, in all the 20 odd years I’ve been involved with it. I’ve never experienced it. That’s why I want to keep supporting. That’s why I want to keep pushing it forward. That’s why I’m perhaps being to some people pig-headed in the situation but I believe in what we’re doing and I’m going to see it through. GT: Stephen, huge respect and big thanks for coming and chatting. I know it wasn’t an easy decision for you to make but I‘m really pleased you did it for us. SL: Always happy to do it Geoff, you know that. Thanks for your time. GT: Good luck for this afternoon, obviously. SL: Thank you.
tnx Banksy for transcribing this... I would say Lee was discussed [ FOR AND AGAINST] as being replaceable but the overall picture is may still be Head coach in August 2017
He certainly did,did not like it,but he is the one that has put us in the position, we find ourselves. Should have dealt with it a long while ago.
