Steve Lansdown Speaks About 135 Fans were at last Thursday's Lunch & Steve spoke to us about where he thinks the club is, what progress looked like so let's go through what he said in some detail because it was interesting. Investment: Is their serious interest-Yes & that also includes interest in The Sporting Quarter Project which, after years of legal hold ups, Steve expects to start in nine to ten months time. Is that investment likely to take place soon-No but it is real. He also confirmed he is selling his remianing shareholding in Hargreaves Lansdown to a consortium of investors albeit even though his names on the building, he's had no direct , day to day interest in HL since 2012 Finance: The most interesting thing, for me, was when he said that whilst previously he thought we could become sustainable. He no longer believes we can due to the current financial situation that EFL Clubs find themselves in. Now that doesn't mean to say that the largesse he showed during the time Mark Ashton & Lee Johnson were here is returning because, unless we get promoted, it won't be. The club has no issues under P&S & we can't afford to go back to the point where we might Progress: Steve's view is that we finished 11th last season, which by the way was our highest for five seasons & that progress would be "higher than that" now obviously, like the rest of us he'd like City to make the play offs, better still, the top two but that is far from his expectation. Academy This is clearly Steve's pride & joy along with the Infrastructure he's funded for both City & Bristol Bears. Anyone who thinks any Head Coach or Manager would be allowed to block or remove that is going right down the wrong track. That doesn't mean to say that we'll stop bringing in promising young players like Adam Murphy & Josh Stokes who've taken the non-academy route in professional football. In the same way we signed Cam Pring, Antoinne Semenyo & Alex Scott in the past. Their Pathways were different to Sam Bell & Tommy Conway who joined the club around the age of eight. It didn't stop three of those players moving onwards for substantial fees. What he didn't say is that he considers Rugby more important than football (Footballs far more expensive) or that his commitment is wavering, to often circulated urban myths created by "Pub Talk" Summary He seems as enthusiastic as ever & when asked if he'd do things differently he said he couldn't bring anything to mind but he did say that when you make decisions you get some right & some wrong. When you get them wrong, you have to make more decisions & hope you get them right. I enjoyed the chat & IF he does sell he confirmed it will only be to the right people who, he feels have the long term interests of the Club at heart.
Investment: Is their serious interest-Yes & that also includes interest in The Sporting Quarter Project which, after years of legal hold ups, Steve expects to start in nine to ten months time. Is that investment likely to take place soon-No but it is real. This concerns me - how long have Bristol City and the Lansdown's been looking for additional investment -for me there must have been serious interest in Bristol City FC-why has nothing ever been actioned. Gut feeling is he does not want to sell the structural assets. Just the football team. Why would he wish to sell- when investing huge amounts into the sporting quarter.
Progress: Steve's view is that we finished 11th last season, which by the way was our highest for five seasons & that progress would be "higher than that" now obviously, like the rest of us he'd like City to make the play offs, better still, the top two but that is far from his expectation This clearly shows that SL didn’t think that Nigel had made the required progress, as he didn’t with DH and LJ before him. If he doesn’t feel they LM does, then I’m sure he will go at some point in time as well.
Or maybe he is just backing his son’s decision. SL seems to be taking a step back and letting junior run things.
Jon hasn’t done anything to deserve respect. Steve L has done loads - and despite the fact that I have huge reservations about his commitment to our future I’ll always be grateful to him for his investment in us - even if some of it was invested somewhat unwisely with hindsight. Jon seems to be simply living off his dads legacy and he doesn’t come across as being particularly competent. Of course I could be wrong - I have never met the bloke - but his PR is awful.
With the seemingly apathetic approach by JL to running and maintaining a football club is it any wonder that we are unable to attract decent talent that could make us better? Over the years SL has been well known by us for making questionable decisions but surely his worst has to be in allowing an incompetent son to take over the reins. Since the youngster essentially took over we have felt the pangs of poor choices combined with a total lack of communication, but then again who wants to hear anything from him after all these years of him looking the other way? One of the first things that need doing when you are looking to build a team worthy of notice is to hire the right manager who is allowed input with only minor, but necessary, restraint to do the job for Bristol City. We never seem capable of hiring a decent manager and then allowing him to build the squad with better players than what were replaced, and you only have to rewind a bit to see exactly how bad we are at achieving that vital component based on our less than stellar history in the getting it right department. There's nothing we can do other than sit back and moan about the ride but hey ho we are in the top half of the table for now.
How Bristol City's owner Steve Lansdown created a net worth of $2.7 billion Lansdown's long-term Bristol City involvement https://footballleagueworld.co.uk/how-bristol-city-steve-lansdown-created-his-net-worth/
