The players are underperforming, the manager is under pressure, and the club is at a new low. Most of you will blame the manager, and will call for someone to SOD to go and for someone charismatic to come in, but given all the changes we've made over the past few years the only people to get out of this completely free of charge are the board. Aside from a reshuffle, the board haven't suffered. Personally, I think the board were more than happy to let the club suffer relegation, in order to put us under Financial Fair Play rules. The rules state that the club should be self-sufficient, so being in League 1 should put us on that path. Lansdown has had the club for a number of years, and has poured millions. While we should be thankful for that, we need to appreciate that despite all of this money, the club simply isn't making any money. We're staying in a dated stadium, the attendances are just as poor as they were before, and aside from building a sporting empire what has Lansdown's ownership of the club really brought us? We were one game from the top flight, but that was a long time ago. For all we know, we could've been back here right after. Given the failures on the business side of the club, do you think that Lansdown and co should put the club up for sale? If the club can be self-sufficient under FFP then I say yes.
I have raised this point previously that I dont think we will get anywhere under SL though I am not sure who would come in and invest more to push us forward. When they announced that he had taken over Bristol Rugby the first thing I said to my mate who watches them every week was good luck. SL has in the last few years been buying up all the sporting clubs in Bristol, most of them are struggling and under performing. The only one that is going well is Bristol Academy and it is too early to tell how the Basketball team will play. I think there was signs straight away when SL didnt get his stadium application approved it as if he just got fed up and wanted to do something different and his dream of owning a prem league club has come to an end. SOD said the biggest difference between us and Peterborough was their front men. They spent £1m this season on a striker. We sold our strikers and didnt re-invest which I guess is down to the board, not the manager / head coach
Posh were able to sell one of their strikers for a great deal of money which allowed them to spend £1 on another striker we didn't even get our money back on Davies because we probably paid too much for him in the first place, we didn't make as much on Albert as everyone was expecting so the coffers were somewhat empty plus with less income from transfers then the wage budget was hit and neither the board nor SL can do much about that. Our problem goes back several years we chased the dream and paid over the odds for players who were past it or had too much baggage and paid them too much money, I think other clubs must have thought Bristol City was a friendly place always ready to pay them more than someone was worth just to get a player. £1M for Trundle a player who was already past it and he was on massive wages Trundle and Swansea were laughing all the way to the bank.
What happens if we end up like Barcelona? Your point makes little sense, and is nothing more than speculation. The simple fact is that during the past few years, there has been no improvement to the business side of this club. The attendances have not grown, the football is pretty much the same, and the club is still struggling to gain a profit. If the club is self-sufficient then what exactly are the board contributing?
Our trouble has always been that despite the money spent SL has always been looking for a deal. we have never really gone for top quality, We desperately needed a top striker for the second half of the season when we got promoted. We got Dele Adebola, decent enough player but not good enough to see us over the line. thats just a small example. We missed the boat for the sake of just a bit of extra money and when you look at the financial rewards it would have brought I say it was a mistake, it probably cost us long term.!
We do already have a £1m striker in Baldock. Clean sheets are what is needed. Don't let goals in, you get at least a point. We have had one game already where we have scored 4 goals away and still lost- It was interesting to see the 2 regular full backs replaced. I for one have been thinking that they were not performing as well as they were last season. Other than Peterborough, all games have had no more than a 1 goal margin. Tighter at the back might have yielded more points.
Yes, if the offer was right then SL should sell. People are always saying what a saviour he is and without him where would we be and such like, but Chairmen and owners have always financially supported their clubs, that's what they do, or alternatively they sell them (or in Portsmouth's case screw them over) Well, we are currently 21st in the third tier of English football, and that's where Lansdown and his millions have taken us. No new stadium and we couldn't even retain a place in the Championship. If a consortium or even richer individual than SL came along with an offer I'm sure the club would be sold and providing it was in safe hands and had the future of the club at heart the personally I'd have no objections at all. Players, Managers, Owners and Chairmen come and go. The only constant is us, the long suffering supporters.
I have said for many a year if a person or company wants to invest this club is a big club that has huge potential. SL for all his money spent on Bristol City it has been bad business considering how much has been spent. If it was his company it would not stand where it is today. So yes if the right offer came in i would be all for it.
I love SL, I think he has provided us with some good times in the last decade or so. But he can't run a football club, and his son certainly can't. Sexstone was the wrong choice, and things have never really got better from there from a backroom staff point of view. You need footballing minds to run a football club and in turn that will eventually make you money. Businessmen are fairly poor at running a football club without real guidance and experience. JL has neither business nor footballing experience when it comes to leadership and BIG decisions!
I don't get this idea you have that we could be massive? What crowds do you realistically think we would get in the prem? Yes we took 40k to Wembley Millenium but they are one offs. Football fans are a dying bread, taken over by the armchair fans. Sure you would get 20-25k (when we have this capacity) against Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham maybe. Man U games are different because they are guranteed sell out with their fans (been to Villa v Man U, seen it myself the home end is crawling with Man U fans). But the most important thing to remember is that the moment it goes bad the crowds will drop, we've seen it. 17.500k against Rovers treated to a good game down to 11k on the next game, down to 10k the next. As my daughter day's Pinkies the lot, not proper full reds.
ROD you can remember the old first division days when there was twentys/ early thirtys thousand in the ground. Football has generally improved i do believe,what with better stadiums,better players etc. Bristol and the surrounding area has a massive amount of flouting BCFC fans wanting to see quality football. Give the people the product and they will come. Sadly BCFC or BRFC just don't seem to be able to do that.
3 extra years in a league we didn't deserve to be??? we were down the season without a shadow of a doubt without a change, the players were no longer playing for him, it was 3 and half years ago, time to move on now
But in the 70's football was not on TV, did not cost a fortune and probably had a higher attendance. You didn't have as many glory hunters most probably because the teams were only shown in 10 minutes highlights. I could be wrong and hoping I am but those days won't be repeated with crowds like that for us now.
IMO City in the Premier League would easily average 30,000 per home game providing we had the stadium to accommodate the fans of course (!!). and probably more like 35,000 for the real biggies (Man U, Arsenal, Chelsea etc) The downside is that there would be loads of the Prawn Sandwich and Corporate Hospitality brigades making up the numbers and just casual football supporters wanting to catch top flight games, but bums on seats (especially with hospitality) brings big money so it's not all bad.
