please log in to view this image Pressure building on Stephen Lansdown.. please log in to view this image 22 October ~ The last time that I wrote a match preview for WSC, Bristol City were on a run of four wins in eight games and were looking a reasonable bet to escape relegation. We then surrendered our Championship status by failing to win any of our last nine matches. Now on a run of 20 League games without a victory, we don't particularly look like gaining one any time soon and are at a lower point than at any time in the last 30 years. The visit of Brentford, who have always been an equal match for us during my lifetime, doesn't provide optimism that we will finally become the last team in our division to record a victory this season. It is difficult to pinpoint exactly what has gone wrong. Both the current and previous manager have achieved previous success at a similar level, and will do again away from Bristol. You could point to the fact that every time we take a defender on loan he invariably picks up a long-term injury within a fortnight. But you have to weigh up the alternative view that the problems in defence have not been addressed, by successive managers, since they arose alarmingly in the 2009-10 season. For the first time during his tenure, the motives and methods of the club owner Stephen Lansdown are being assessed critically. While the club were upwardly mobile during the mid-2000's, it was impossible to question any of his actions on a City message board without being accused of not being a real fan. The supporters' trust that was set up around eight years ago has been seen by many to be a second supporters' club rather than an independent-thinking body. The ownership of the ground was transferred away from the football club some years ago, but only now is the loss of the club's main, some say only, asset being widely questioned. With the plan for a proposed new stadium having faltered, Lansdown appears to have lost some interest in his expensive toy. Previous manager Derek McInnes was required to cut costs last season, but was sacked when these cuts coincided with decline on the field. His successor Sean O'Driscoll has had no choice but to continue cutting, as this season the club will be subject to Financial Fair Play in the third tier. O'Driscoll has been unable to move on some expensive journeymen, so is relying on youngsters and players released from other clubs to turn things around. Thirty years ago manager Terry Cooper was forced to play youngsters as the club, which had slumped into Division Four, fought back from bankruptcy, but it wasn't until he added some experienced players to the squad that things began to improve on the pitch. History is there to be learned from. Mo Davies http://www.wsc.co.uk/wsc-daily/1167...tol-city-starting-to-question-owner-s-methods
Cant argue with any of that and it's been clear for quite a while that SL is not interested. Aside from Kilkenny and Pearson we dont have any other overpaid journeymen I can think of ?
Pearson and Kilkenny's wages amount to about 15k a week. I suppose Nicky Shorey is an expensive luxury, but I don't have a clue what his wages are as he was fairly desperate for any club to come in for him I seem to remember, and his deal is only until Christmas I think, it's definitely only short term.
Oh my god wize what have you done? You have had the audacity to severely criticise the hand that has fed us for many year and you will definitely incur the wrath of many posters who hold our owner in high esteem. They will be the usual rose coloured glasses crowd that continue to believe even at this low point. When I watched the first interview with Steve Coppell I started to see the writing on the wall because his body language did not fit the words coming out of his mouth and I truly believed, even then, that our managers were talking the talk but were being constrained in following up with the walk. The constant flow of supposed new messiahs saying all the right things and doing all the wrong things has convinced me that my thoughts back then were spot on which is something that gives me no pleasure at all. Now let's get back to the main points of your thread, all of which I am in total agreement with for I too have been severely chastised by many on this forum for even contemplating to mention the unmentionables. For several years now I have suspected a somewhat sinister situation developing with Bristol City, even from my far off perch, and I think now we are reaping the grim outcome of the back-room goings on. Financial stability was the supposed mantra under which we were to rebuild based on the comments from the boardroom late last season and yet we are owned by a well respected businessman who has been chucking his money down the drain and never seeing the kind of spectacular success that he has in his other job. Have the basic business practices that have made him a success been lost on our football club or have they just been put in the hands of all the wrong people? After all he is still the boss so why doesn't he kick ass? You know what wize, City will now go and win tonight just to confound us critics and the limp positivity will start up again, just as it has done over the last 4 years, and yet the deep rooted underlying problem will continue to fester untreated and the inevitable outcome could be a lot worse that simply failing to pick up league points. Something seriously needs to change at the top level of Bristol City but I won't hold my breath because failure tonight might, only might, bring us a new manager, but I have felt for several seasons that the problems lie elsewhere and I don't think another new manager will solve many of our problems. Well said wize, and it will be interesting to see how many come out the woods to congratulate you on a very thoughtful and true thread. Thanks for the insight!
Inver this is a blog mate I have taken from the WSC (When Saturday Comes) site and it is written up by a City fan called Mo Davies....Sorry for the confusion but I can't take credit for another souls efforts..
Point taken wize and sorry for my misread as it's too early in the morning here for my eyes to be wide open. However I still believe that our problems lie within the parameters set out in the blog you so thoughtfully decide to pas on to us. I'll just sit back now and have my second cup of java and await the throngs of critics. Not easy being a Bristol City fan is it?
Would tend to agree that there is much less of an interest shown, then again, his son is on the board and no doubt speaks on his behalf.£50m is an awful lot of money and the answer is not necessarily to pour petrol onto a fire. I can understand the lack of recent input. What does puzzle me is where we go- Is this brilliant foresight against the effects of FFP, of which, no doubt several clubs will fall victim, or more a case of cutting losses and finding our own level?
If Lansdown is not interested why would he finance the £14m that we lost last year? I suspect the same people calling for SL to go are the same ones who hounded out GJ - look where that got us. We need to be careful what we wish for here!! Ok - so let's say SL and the current board go - who has a financially viable plan/alternative??
I couldn't care less how interested he is, as long as the club is growing. Since Lansdown joined, we've had some highs and some lows, but the club itself hasn't changed. Despite all of the money he has spent, our attendances are the same, the ground is the same, and the level of marketing is the same. I wouldn't mind us being frugal if Lansdown's business knowledge was ensuring that the club was growing, even if the form on the pitch is poor. There is absolutely no evidence to suggest that this is the case. There is also no evidence that this will change in the future. I'd rather see the club in the hands of the supporters trust, and I think it's time for them to seriously consider a purchase for the club.
I will say now what I've said time and time again. Look what that got us? Yes I will. 3 extra seasons in a league we didn't deserve to be in. A league we were on the brink of relegation from under his management without a shadow of a doubt. Certainly don't want to lose SL, but his useless inexperienced son can do one. SL should be giving the job to someone with football knowledge of how to run a club from top to bottom, not his clueless silver spoonfed son.
