Exclusive: Phil Alexander stands down as Bristol City CEO after just eight months in charge Phil Alexander took over the position from Richard Gould in January and had an influential role over the summer transfer window Phil Alexander has stood down as Bristol City CEO, Bristol Live understands, just eight months after the former Crystal Palace chief executive took over at Ashton Gate. Alexander succeeded Richard Gould at the end of the January transfer window, as the 53-year-old left to join the ECB. He had been working as a consultant at Wycombe Wanderers after spending 26 years with Palace, where he was named Premier League Chief Executive of the Year in 2022. Alexander left the club on Friday and subsequently did not attend Saturday's 0-0 draw with West Brom. City are yet to comment on the matter. Alexander was seen as a safe pair of hands, with the necessary experience to negotiate the transfer window successfully and the Robins have brought in Anis Mehmeti, Harry Cornick, Rob Dickie, Jason Knight, Haydon Roberts, Ross McCrorie and Taylor Gardner-Hickman on his watch. Beyond that, Alexander also worked alongside Steve Lansdown in securing the club record £25m sale of Alex Scott to Premier League Bournemouth. Alexander pushed for the reintroduction of the end of season awards evening which took place at Ashton Gate in May, and also helped secure new long-term contracts for Rob Atkinson, Max O'Leary, George Tanner and, more recently, Zak Vyner and Cam Pring. The move comes less than two weeks after Alexander had conducted an interview with BBC Radio Bristol in the aftermath of the summer transfer window in which there was significant supporter frustration over City’s seeming reluctance to spend the Scott money to reinforce Pearson’s squad. Alexander was also unwilling to discuss the matter of Pearson’s contract with the manager in the final 12 months of his deal at Ashton Gate. Both sets of circumstances, while out of his control to some degree, created a seemingly avoidable air of uncertainty around the club after what had been - Scott aside - a mostly progressive summer in terms of recruitment. https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/sport/football/bristol-city-phil-alexander-ceo-8758746
Been with us 8 months and he has gone, something wrong at the top, not a mention on our official site that I could find.
Something, as many of us on here have been saying for years, is rotten at the club and I blame the owner, again. There is a cancer within it that needs to be cut out before we can ever hope to move forwards
Who knows the reason, we’ll never know, he obviously fell out with SL. There has been questions around SL himself, maybe this is an attempt to shift the blame to the CEO. IMO Something happened around the sell of Scott and there being no further recruits, either PA made the decision himself, possibly misinterpreting SL’s instructions, or he didn’t, but Steve is using him as a scapegoat.
Obviously something has happened or is happening. SL needs to address the fan base with the reasons and also come clean about Nigel and a new contract.
I have had, and still have, a suspicion that someone in the dark halls of Ashton Gate works with the premise that nobody, but nobody, can make any decisions, no matter how valid, to change their mind. You can guess all you want to choose your most likely culprit with their meddling hands interfering with other people's ability to do theirs with any hope for the future, but I would tend to go no further than the top office with Lansdown on the door. I respect his record in his day job but for me he has always been, and will continue to be, the proverbial spanner in the works despite his money being the main thing that keeps us going. When you take control of a football club, in an industry that baffles the mind as to why anyone invests money, then surely your first priority would be to hire the best possible candidates for the job vacancies you want to fill. Trying to get the business you invested your hard earned money in should never be entered into with the mindset that cheap imitations will do at every level of your building plan because you generally get what you pay for in the end. Poor decisions followed by outright bad decisions is the path that SL has decided to wander, but unfortunately it has become as clear as it could possibly be that there's more than an elephant in the room making those bad smells. We have an owner much like many other clubs whose top brass have consistently treated the paying public like idiots at best, and morons at worst, and the respect is soon lost when you choose to go that way and rarely will success follow apathy. Steve Lansdown coming out to explain his reasoning for his decisions and placate the maddened crowd is like waiting to use your return ticket on the Titanic. Good luck.
'Change happens' - Nigel Pearson reacts to Phil Alexander's departure as Bristol City CEO Bristol City manager Nigel Pearson discussed the matter following the Robins 4-1 victory over Plymouth Argyle https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/sport/football/change-happens-nigel-pearson-reacts-8765340 Good ol' Nige, Mr Diplomat to the end, he at least has had a go of explaining the PA departure, he mentions restructure, board decision, Tinnion, loss of star players for income, ends up by stating he is the manager and a servant of the board. So there we are he gave us some of the skeleton but none of the flesh on the bones, still don't know if PA walked or was bumped and no contract news.
I think we all know that SL has ruled the roost with all his CEO's, except it seems with Ashton, he appears from the outside looking in, to be the only CEO he has released complete autonomy/authority to?
I don't think it right that it'e down toNP to answer these issues. JL wouldn't get a similar job in any football club yet he stays on the board. Nepotism didn't disappear at BCFC when Junior was sacked.
Annoying as it can be, this type of nepotism in business is normal. Most business owners want to pass their business on to their relatives - it happens everywhere - where the son/daughter is groomed to take over the family business.
Bristol City confirm new leadership structure in wake of Phil Alexander's departure as CEO Bristol City will not be directly replacing the former CEO following his exit earlier this week https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/sport/football/bristol-city-confirm-new-leadership-8763071
It seems strange to employ PA for eight months and then decide to do away with the position, why not make that decision when Gould left ?
You don't really think Bristol City are capable of doing things the right way, just like everyone else? Why the heck did they hire Gould in the first place when clearly his only true love was cricket? Yet more evidence to prove that either someone is running their own show or they clearly have no idea about anything important in the world of football. A total mess seems to be the order of the day and all the time this fog remains we can't have any clear vision for the way forward. Anyone one of us expecting clear and concise statements from a dysfunctional organization are dreamers in the extreme and as it has gone on for many years hope has to be a thing of imagination seen only through rose coloured glasses.
there was obviously a wrong fit in there somewhere, maybe PA had differing idea's .... maybe NP / BT / JL? / TR? / GM? ganged up as they dis agreed with maybe...PA wanting to do a MA!
