The reasons behind Bristol City's surprise decision to extend Lee Johnson's contract

Bristol City's recent dip in form has brought the club's decision to extend Lee Johnson's contract into sharp focus
Had the Robins maintained their good start to the Championship campaign and still been in play-off contention at the half-way stage of the season, I doubt
Had the Robins maintained their good start to the Championship campaign and still been in play-off contention at the half-way stage of the season, I doubt there would have been too many prepared to argue against it.

But the halcyon days of August, September and October have been long forgotten against a backdrop of results that have seen Johnson's side lose seven of their last eight games and drop from 5th to 17th in the table.

In the circumstances, some supporters are openly questioning the decision to offer the head coach a further year just nine months after he succeeded Steve Cotterill in the Ashton Gate hot seat.

Johnson signed a three-and-a-half-year deal when agreeing to take up the post in February this year and the faith shown in him by City majority shareholder Steve Lansdown, chief operating officer Mark Ashton and the board of directors appeared to be justified as he steered the club clear of the threat of relegation last season

He then presided over arguably the busiest transfer window in the club's history, bringing in 14 new players and moving others on for a profit. Johnson's stock was at its highest when City won six of their opening 11 games to break into the play-off positions in the Championship
Few would have argued against any move to extend his contract back then. But the landscape has changed in the intervening weeks and months and those who doubted the appointment in the first place are now questioning the head coach's ability to pull his team out of a slump that is threatening to plunge the club into a relegation battle.

To fully understand the reasoning behind the decision to extend Johnson's contract, it is necessary to see into the mind of Lansdown, the man who is, to all intents and purposes, charting the direction the club will take in the future

And it is the long-term future that chiefly interests City's wealthy benefactor. Johnson was brought in to spearhead a long-term project designed to deliver Premier League football in three or four seasons from now.

The aim is for gradual improvement and development within a financially sustainable framework that has long-term growth at it's very core.

Recruitment is a crucial cornerstone of that development and Johnson has always maintained that he needs three transfer windows in which to transform his squad into one capable of challenging for promotion

The second transfer window of his reign is about to open and the decision to award Johnson a contract extension was prompted by the urgent need to attract proven Championship quality in January.
Intent upon emphasising the club's stability, Lansdown was eager to deliver a clear message to prospective new signings. By affording his head coach such public backing the majority shareholder was seeking to reassure future signings that they would be entering a settled environment, one in which sudden changes in personnel and direction are the exception rather than the rule.
City are already talking to players they would like to recruit next month and that core stability could prove an attractive selling point in a business that tends to be wracked by uncertainty and short-termism.

Given the average age of this City team, there was always a strong likelihood that progress would not be altogether smooth. There will be blips along the way and the club and its supporters are experiencing one of these right now.

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What would it say about Lansdown and his cohorts if, at the first sign of trouble, they were to jettison one of the country's brightest young managerial talents, abandon their strategy of long-term sustainable growth and instead revert to the kind of expensive, quick-fix solution adopted by so many of their Championship rivals already this season?
In a result-driven industry that generates pressure to achieve instantly, it would be all too easy for those responsible for the day-to-day running of the club to say one thing and do another. But Bristol City is not run along those lines and Lansdown and the board recognise the need to stand strong and present a united front in difficult times.
Therein lies the quickest and surest route to a resumption of winning ways and the upturn in fortunes that will be required to bring the doubters back on board.


There are some funny lines above !!!
Such as say one thing and do another. Just as if !

 

whole load of waffle to say just 1 thing
Lee's contract was extended to show or try to prospective targets the club is behind the manager and we are looking to the future not the next 2 months!

 

It might soon have to be 'egg on face time' then

 

The similarity to the rugby here is uncanny.. 3 year extended contract for Robinson then sacked within weeks.

And where do they get this from??

"at the first sign of trouble, they were to jettison one of the country's brightest young managerial talents"

 

Did anyone have the balls to put their name on this fantasy or did I miss the author. Straight out of the "Corporate Waffle Handbook" I think and the bit about attracting solid people for the future growth of the club forgot to mention that you would be working under the foot of Steve Lansdown.

 

Once again we are probably facing a severe battle to retain our status and if we don't get a win soon, I can see us sinking like the proverbial stone. Should the losing run continue, it is very likely that our board and owner will hesitate to act until it is too late.
I'm not one for sacking at the drop of a hat, but LJ is very fortunate that he has SL at the top and it is Bristol City and not plenty of others where he would be already on his way to gardening leave.

 

As many before him Lee is facing a difficult time and is lucky to have a boss who acts quite slowly when the chips are down. The problem I have is that usually the action comes way after the horse has bolted and even then the chosen path to salvation generally turns out the same way as the one that created the problem in the first place. Talk about disappearing up your own backside after you finally got your head out of the sand. It would be totally unbelievable if it wasn't Bristol City.

 

Having worked in corporate management for many years, I know from experience that what goes on behind boardroom doors is one thing, and what is announced to the staff/consumers is another.
I would imagine that there have been some very stern words from SL, reminding LJ that things are not good enough and how stupid recent form makes this contract extension look. But, as soon as the bollocking has been delivered and it's time to face the press they both have to present a united front.

It's standard corporate stuff.

 

except nowt has come from SL

 

Many times over my time on not606 I have heard people complain that we are not the kind of club that communicates well with the public, and still appears to be the way. The constant garbage tweets that we have to endure seems to be the new communication medium and I think it stinks of modernism filling the need but serves about as much use as a hat rack to a moose (Canadian excuse for humour).

Short burps of semi-apologetic rubbish just seems to exacerbate the situation and does little, if anything, to calm the seething masses. I really believe we are in deep trouble and the smirking man at the top needs to make his annual popping his head above the parapet act and sees what happens because if he can't feel the wrath of his flock down below then he shouldn't be in this business. I noticed that even the disillusioned Yankee owners of Swansea City openly admitted that being successful businessmen does not guarantee the same in the world of football and that was never going to be the case with the hiring of Bob Bradley.

I would think that successful businessmen of any stripe would understand that success is built on hiring successful managers and yet we continue to plough a furrow deep enough to hide ourselves from the facts of life. Is there ever a chance that Steve Lansdown will see the light or will he continue his success in every other field except but football? Will January bring us, and him, salvation or are we doomed to the usual mediocrity that hangs over Ashton Gate - I suppose we are about to find out.

 

Can you please try to understand, this has been pointed out before.
The tweets are not from Lee Johnsons twtter account. He doesn't sit there tapping them into his phone.
It's a press officer sending out snippets from a interview.

 

Even worse, it's coming from a ghost writer. What's the matter is Lee not capable of speaking for himself - good grief? Is that what the modern connected world is all about, get someone else to make up your life?