Lansdown is eyeing the Premier League. By ANDY STOCKHAUSEN please log in to view this image Bristol City owner Steve Lansdown, left, celebrates promotion with striker Aaron Wilbraham at Bradford on Tuesday night Steve Lansdown says he will not rest until he has propelled Bristol City into the Premier League for the first time. The Robins last experienced top-flight football when the side managed by Alan Dicks won promotion to the old First Division way back in 1976. City were relegated after four seasons and have not been back in the top echelon of English football since. That is something billionaire businessman Lansdown, the club owner, is determined to change now that City have won promotion back to the Championship after two seasons in League One. And the man who presided over City's march to the Championship play-off final in 2008 wants it to be known he is again living the Premier League dream please log in to view this image along with thousands of supporters who are this week celebrating promotion back to the second tier of English football. Speaking in the aftermath of Tuesday's stunning 6-0 win at Bradford, a result which confirmed City's elevation, Lansdown confirmed: "The Championship is difficult, but we are ready for it. That is where we want to be, playing the bigger teams on the bigger stage inside big stadiums. "The stage is going to be set for that going forward please log in to view this image now that we have been promoted. "But we would one day like to get to the Premier League. I've always said it and that is what my aim is. That would really be a big thing if we could pull it off some time. "This success is great, but we now have to try to replicate it in the Championship. Our main aim is to stay in the league, because there is no point going up into the Championship and coming straight back down again. But ultimately, we are looking to get to the Premier League." City accumulated some eye-watering debts in pursuing top-flight football when last in the Championship, only to fall at the final hurdle when they lost 1-0 to a Dean Windass goal for Hull please log in to view this image in the 2008 play-offs. Thereafter, Lansdown threw more of his personal please log in to view this image fortune into chasing the dream and the club's wage bill spiralled to £18.6 million at its zenith. But the man who made his money from the financial services industry insists it will be different this time and speaks of adhering to a sustainable financial model in the future. Manager Steve Cotterill and director of football Keith Dawe have spent frugally, always applying the axiom of value for money before dipping into the transfer market, and City have won promotion with a relatively small squad. They plan to add to that in the summer when the focus will again be on quality rather than quantity. Although Lansdown labels the Championship the "league of death", he is promising not to sanction levels of spending that could potentially threaten the future financial stability of the club. He said: "We know the Championship is difficult and, with some of the money that is swilling around in there, it is almost the league of death in some ways. You look at it and you see all the money that is coming down (from the Premier League) in parachute payments and that can make it difficult to compete. "I always invest in this football club and I invest a lot. But the key is to get value for money and we've definitely got value for money with this lot. We will have to look again now that we are up for next season and I will have to keep investing." Lansdown highlights Brentford as an example of a club which has bought wisely and adopted a sustainable financial model while remaining competitive in the Football League's top division. Promoted from League One as runners-up to Wolves last season, the Bees are one spot please log in to view this image outside of the Championship play-off places and pushing hard to reach the Premier League for the first time. Lansdown said: "You have to invest your money wisely and in younger players, who are going to develop and add to their value. That is what Brentford have done and it is a good model for any team going up (from League One). "We did that last time to start with and then got it wrong, to be honest. But this time will be different and we will continue doing what we have done this year with the aim of getting stronger and stronger. Hopefully, we can build a side to get us to the top of the Championship and then into the Premier League at some time in the future. "Keith Burt is a big part of what we needed to do by getting the recruitment sorted out at the football club. "We've done that, but there is still a lot of work to do and we are nowhere near where we want to be. "We are getting there, though. We are identifying players early and there are already players we are looking at for two or three years' time, rather than just for next season. "We've worked the loan system well this season by bringing in George Saville, James Tavernier and Matt Smith, while some of our young players are out on loan themselves. It is working as we want it to work." Lansdown was chairman when City, then managed by Gary Johnson, last ascended to the Championship in 2007. Although he is reluctant to compare that team to the one assembled by Cotterill last year, he admits this has probably been his best year since taking a controlling interest in the club during the latter part of the 1990s. He said: "It is difficult to compare but, in terms of performance, the numbers of points and wins we've got and the number of goals we have scored, this is probably the best. It has been a very entertaining season. "It has been a bit of a rollercoaster ride, but I've really enjoyed this season and I think the supporters have as well. "You have to play good football up there in the Championship and that is what we will continue to do." http://www.westerndailypress.co.uk/Lansdown-eyeing-Premier-League/story-26340620-detail/story.html
I have highlighted some of SL's sentences in RED and they tell me why he is such a quality owner. Numbering them 1 to 7 they tell a story.. 1) Ambition.. 2) Foundation.. 3) Experience.. 4) Belief (Faith).. 5) Future.. 6) Development.. 7) Enjoyment..
The facts are the money that has been spent/wasted down the years,this club should have been in the prem a while back. Hopefully we have got it right now.
SL always has the clubs best interest at heart - it's not a play thing or some kind of ego enhancing toy like it is for some owners
listening to a program re promotion to the prem... bottom line was it is/ will be necessary for teams to make it whilst the impetus is there, ( bit like we almost achieved 2008 )go up come down with parachute payments go back up.. this I cant really see, WHU came down then back up and QPR the same of 15 teams promoted 6 are still up there last seasons 3 are all in danger along with Hull? I guess get up there and see if we stick or slip! Bourne mouth .... WHAT A DREAM THIS WILL BE ( bit like burnley back in the 60's) gates of less than 12,000? hope they make it for a couple of seasons
Some very nice, if somewhat predictable, words from SL in his interview and I'm with him on most of his statements especially when he intimated that the freefall type spending that occurred when our last quest for higher status came off the rails. Success at our next season's level requires many things that were evidently missing in action the last time when over spending was a huge culprit in the mix that almost took us to a very low point. Next year will be a very interesting ride because if SL is totally committed, and I know he is, to achieving Premier League membership then the programme starts next August whether we are ready or not. We need to be prepared and believe SC can get the job done in style.
Yes, agree with most of that, but you forgot Southampton. The history of the top level of English football is all about small clubs that become big clubs by playing at the top level and having a run of success. Clough turned Derby County from second division strugglers into European Champions back in the 70s. Ipswich are a great example of this, and to a lesser degree Norwich. Their average home gates are a good deal higher in the Championship than ours, because although they are similar places culturally to Bristol those clubs enjoyed a long run in the top division. This has fuelled the area with a football culture that is yet to exist in Bristol where half the kids support Manchester or Liverpool on the tely. So what i'm saying is, with a prolonged run in the Premiership, with the geographical placement that Bristol enjoys, and the potential for a support comparable in numbers to one of the top 6, that Bristol City could turn from a small club to a big one. After all, Liverpool were a scruffy second division club until a chap named Shankly walked through their doors in the early 60s I realise many will disagree with these statements, because that is what this board is about. But I consider the above to be a realistic appraisal
