Bristol City owner Steve Lansdown breaks his silence on Dean Holden appointment The Robins' managerial search was subject to plenty of criticism from supporters after a six-week wait Bristol City owner Steve Lansdown has addressed supporters' concerns about the appointment of Dean Holden as their new manager. The Robins sacked Lee Johnson just before the end of the 2019/20 season, with the Robins' owner appearing on talkSPORT days later claiming the club needed 'a breath of fresh air'. Experienced candidates Chris Hughton and Paul Cook were both interviewed for the role but instead, after a six-week search, the hierarchy opted to appoint Holden as their new boss, with the former the fans' overwhelming favourite after leading Brighton to promotion in 2017. Holden impressed in Bristol City's final matches of the season having taken over following Johnson's departure and, with the support of experienced England youth coaches Paul Simpson and Keith Downing, forms a management team that Lansdown believes was the right choice to lead the club forward. "The process was key but we looked from a lot of different angles," Lansdown told Bristol City's official site. "I was in touch with Mark on a regular basis on who we were talking to, how things were going and what the thought process was. "First of all, we don't need anybody with Premiership experience at the moment, we've got to get there first. Although Dean (Holden) doesn't have the managerial experience, he certainly knows the Championship very well. "From Dean's perspective, the team he put forward and his proposals of how he would take the club forward if he got the job that swung it in his favour. "He put forward a very strong case, supported by Paul Simpson and Keith Downing as well. Those individuals have got international as well as Premier League experience, Championship experience, promotion experience. "In many ways, they make up for that lack of experience in Dean and what you have with him is somebody who is a very honest individual, a very forthright individual, who knows exactly what he is doing. "He's determined to make his mark in the game, all that combined led me to feel that we had the answer on our doorstep practically. Different names were thrown into the hat, some were true, some weren't but they were all well and good but they didn't bring that solidity, the honesty and that range of experience to get us where we wanted to. "The answer was there and we have gone with it." Addressing the talkSPORT interview directly, Lansdown said: "I think we've got that, the reality is, I went on to talkSPORT and made that statement, I meant it and I think we've achieved it. "It took an awful long time to look at the type of person we wanted, the type of set-up that we wanted. We went out and explored the market. "We talked to a number of people and we have come to our conclusion. The reality is we have three voices instead of one. We've got I think a very, very exciting team put together, led by Dean." https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/sport...own-breaks-silence-holden-appointment-4470764
interesting … again you have to look at the full picture.... and the presentation of the above script!!!!! The start of the Lansdown transcript starts after the media "translation of the story they fed the masses at the time, and protects the egg on their faces!" SL like MA does NOT CONFIRM they ever interviewed CH …. TALK ABOUT FLOGGING A DEAD HORSE! ! ! The rest is pretty conclusive … no need to be substantive about "5 weeks/ delay" probably out of 20,000 plus fans a small minority [ few hundred? ] "worried about the time it took" SL re iterates what the majority of fans said, now and past, no kneejerks ...take the time to get it right … "It took an awful long time to look at the type of person we wanted, the type of set-up that we wanted. We went out and explored the market.
The interview hasn't done much to change my opinion of what went down before, during and after the hiring process of the person to supposedly take us to the next level. We owe an awful lot to Steve for where the infrastructure of Bristol City is today and perhaps further plans are in the works to improve all the component parts of the organisation. However when it comes down to what happens on the pitch I think he is blowing smoke from his tail pipe and Mark Ashton just redistributes it, as and when he sees proper, to whoever will listen and believe the message. Over many years we have had talented players more than capable of winning the Champions League but unfortunately they were never at Ashton Gate at the same time but rather decided to move on to pastures new for whatever reasons. Why is it that just when we think, or have been told by owner or manager, that we have it all together to make a concerted challenge for at least the play-offs the wheels fall totally off the bandwagon at some inconvenient point making the "contender" tag somewhat of a farce? Talking about all the top class players that have moved to a better place such as Joe and Bobby does anyone think they could have stayed at City under another, more dominant better hierarchy? It also appears that we have had a lot of over-hyped players that were going to take us to this mythical place wandering through the halls without adding much, if any, to the right mix and that makes me wonder in many cases as to who actually decided we need them in the first place? Given that they received the blessing from someone to sign on it begs the questions as to why so many of these waifs and strays played very little part in anything and some even vanished very quickly without even a goodbye kiss. Supporting City can be a frustrating load to carry and I often wonder why Bristol City appears (on paper) to know what they want to be when they grow up and yet fail annually to never reach those ambitions because their so called 5 year pillars and all that nonsense get's in the way of sanity and reason. P.S. Message to Dean Holden and his merry bunch of lads: I know I and the rest of your merry supporters wish you all the best for the upcoming season.
SL believes our new 'improved' coaching set up will get the best out of the 'great City squad'. He may well be right about an improved set up but I fear he's wrong about the squad Holden has inherited.
I am concerned as to how our new coaching team can whip the remainders in to some kind of shape to stay decent in the first 3 months. Indeed we may have some that jump out of the box brightly, but looking around the squad line-up overall I ask why so many of Lee's leftovers are still playing for us although many of them were never given a chance to prove their worth. Is this the season of opportunity for many youngsters itching to show their prowess to finally get their chance or will it be business as usual down at the gate? I just hope that the ones who do get a chance to shine have gathered enough footballing knowledge and skills at the lower levels to build a home in what's universally reckoned to be the toughest second tier sport's division in the world. Mind you if they ever needed a boot up the arse to up their game - tell them Messi's available. I think we could have a very strange and different season and let's hope Bristol City and every other club manage to battle through and come out the other end to a brighter and better world. Stay safe and don't party on.
That interview did not feel me with confidence. We have three minds -well we had three minds before in LJ -DH-JM. Proven and Tested he said-yet we end up with the failed managers assistant For me if this goes tits up SL has three more he will have to pay off.
Margaret, our superfan was pictured with the squad 3 years ago. It looks better than what Holden's got now.
Looking at some of the comments made, I still firmly believe that the owner has no real appetite or ambition for the big time and is more than happy with us bumbling along with Championship obscurity.
Not sure I totally agree, but SL certainly has a VERY strange way of going about achieving his stated aim for us!! I want to see us get to the promised land as much as the next fan, but it shows how far we've come when we talk about Championship life as being 'obscure'. Not long ago, League 1 was our traditional home - and where the footballing world thought we belonged. Today we even sack our manager when we fail to reach the playoffs!
I'm not buying the reasoning SL puts forward. He knows, that we know he's bull$hitting, and he frankly doesn't care, he pretty much said so! SL has done wonders for our club, but playing the fans for mugs is a dangerous game, especially right now...
I know that's a dig at LJ, but I think MA is more to blame as the fact is, he sold all the assets from under LJ.
I disagree. I understand SL and the situation thrust on City by Covid19. Honestly can't see, with the lack of revenue, he can do anything else. Just wish he'd have gone 4 years ago with a 'Hughton' with the fiscal situation back then. That was SL's mistake. Not now. Not sure we'll see the level of those signings ever again.
I don’t think our profile was high enough four years, this was our opportunity, of course we aren’t privy to what conditions Hughton insisted on, so it’s difficult to give a balanced view. There does seem to be a stark contrast between the level of coach we have to what the bears have though.
Whatever happens he (Lansdown) has Covid as a cover all excuse for most scenarios to come. If things go badly on the pitch, the only thing fans can do is vote with their feet/money as and when the stadium is allowed to open up again to any degree, but that just hurts the club, not the owner. All the tosh about not needing Premiership managerial experience now is just complete and utter nonsense as Supcon has already said. In the very very unlikely event that we get promoted this season is he then going to start looking for a Manager with Premiership experience ? He's having a laugh.
It will be interesting to see what happens when, and if, things get back to normal based on the real thoughts of supporters who have other more important things on their collective plates during these difficult times. Hiding in the bushes is one thing but expecting no-one to notice borders on stupidity, and I believe it possibly adds more credence to the conspiracy factors as to whether we have a rat in our drainpipe creating discontent throughout the building. On a somewhat satirical note I noticed that we don't bother to announce our results to the supporters anymore and is that because they may make negative comments, but then again we wouldn't know our league position on a weekly basis would we? Let the fun begin again in our newest garb and club statements and see where the chips lie in January. You just know when to Holden.
Do you really honestly believe that Steve Lansdown doesn’t care about getting promoted? Genuine question. I believe that if this was true he’d have left his mate LJ in charge and we would ‘tread water’ for a few more seasons. ...... unless he’s trying to teach the ‘haters’ a lesson of course - but I really don’t believe that.
And the haters got his in-experienced No2 If you consider this a win, just to see LJ gone, who did a good job for City, then you're all more deluded and blinded by hate (for what reason still escapes me) than I thought.....
