Full transcript: Steve Lansdown on January disappointment and why Bristol City have to sell players this summer The Robins owner has been speaking ahead of the Sheffield United game Bristol City owner Steve Lansdown has been speaking end of today's end of season clash with Sheffield United at Ashton Gate. The Robins chief joined BBC Radio Bristol for chat about the season, the latest on potential departures and his thoughts on the future at the club. Here's every word from the interview. Thoughts on the season in general? I would be lying if I didn't say I was a bit disappointed. We put ourselves so ahead in the game, at one stage in automatic contention. Not to be participating in it today is disappointing. When you look at where we have come this season from last year it's from been tremendous progress and really we have set the barriers to a level where have to push on next season Why do you think City fell-off the pace? Obviously, the cup games affected us. People keep asking me that question and I think the high emotion of beating Manchester United and the two semi-final games against Man City and everything that came with it took us to high that I don't think anyone expected and perhaps what we are capable of at this stage. Coming back from that with the league proved difficult. I look back at the home defeat to Norwich City, that's the sort of game we should have won and that would have set us up to move forward. We then struggled to get wins. Do you think the signings in January were good enough to maintain a promotion push? In hindsight, no. I think in reality we very much wanted to keep to our idea of recruiting players we wanted. But we didn't find that player who would make the difference to get us over the line. We hoped that the likes of Gary O'Neil would be back into the fray and the other players who were out injured could have given us that edge. But that didn't really happen and they took a while to find their form and get back into the squad. Really we lost our way. I don't want to beat about the bush we didn't get it right after Christmas. It's understandable as everyone gave a lot of effort. Two games stand out, Sunderland and Hull at home. We gave up two points in those two games and those four points would have put in a far better position. The Sunderland game was the killer more than most. We should have gone onto win that comfortably and that put us back a long way. Was there ever the temptation to sign the likes of Lewis Grabban or Aleksandar Mitrovic There is always that temptation but you have to feel they are right for the club when we come in. I don't want to comment on individual players as that would be wrong. If the right player had been there we would have looked to bring them in. We didn't have that player, whether we could have done is open to debate. From our point of view, we sailed until man City in the semi and from that moment on we trundled along. We had some good moments, we thought we still had a chance. Our players were still playing well but it's one of those scenarios where you can't put your finger on it. We will look at in the cold light of day in the summer. Perhaps we could have done less but achieved more. Whether we could have got a player who could have made that difference. Was Mitrovic ever on the January radar or was he out of your price range? To be honest I don't know what his price range is and he didn't come into the discussion. You have to remember at that point in time, we had Famara Diedhiou and Milan Djuric coming back. We had that strong front player coming in and a back-up. We had Milan scoring against Ipswich and Famara seemed to come back in firing. I think we have scored the goals but probably not defended as well as we should have done in the last 15 games. Will you look at your scoring network in the summer on a review? We do that all the time. There is always room for improvement and we will look at how we assess these players. How we came to sign these players and why we didn't sign others we could have signed. We have to be harsh with ourselves and to be our own worst critics. We've had a great season and people keep coming up to say thanks for a great year but I feel that we haven't quite done what have should have done. Will there be a review of the season? Come next week I'll be sitting down with Mark Ashton and Gavin Marshall to go through the numbers and look at what has been the effect this season and where we want to be next year. Then with Lee Johnson, we'll look at where players can slot in and where it all fits together. We'll start the process all together and then work through what we can and can't do. We do that throughout the season anyway. We'll ask what will be the attention on our players and will people be wanting to leave. We'll have to cross that bridge when it comes to it. Is there a strategy with Bobby Reid and Joe Bryan this summer? We have a strategy. We have set figures in our minds that we are prepared to accept. You have to take into account what the players want and what their desires are and balance the two together. We're in a position where I think the squad has a great value about it and we need to extract that value. That value needs to be reinvested into the squad to build for the future. Do Bobby and Joe have one more season on their contracts? They have one more year on their contracts. Some players, I don't think it's within these boys characters, to be honest, but I've had it before with other players that they will stick it out and run their contracts down then there is no value to the club. Then they take all the value out of it or their agents do. You have to balance it up and there have been deals we have done in the past that we had to do. We're in a position now where we pay pretty decent salaries. It's not in the top six in the division I have to say but we are pretty good. We're growing all the time with Ashton Gate hopefully having sold out attendances next season and we can put that money back into the team. Will you increase your top-line basic pay to attract better players to the club? I don't think we need to do this. I think we are up there. You look at the likes of Villa, they are paying the top-line salaries to all their players and that seems to be a minimum. That's the difference we have to compete with all the time and, of course, clubs with parachute payments It's been an incredible season - what are your best memories? It has to be Korey's winner against Manchester United. We came with hope, part of which we wouldn't get thrashed by a top side like Man United. But it turned into a night that we will remember forever. That goal was perfect. The reaction from the crowd and the whole night was brilliant. The only negative was the draw as we probably fancied our chances against Arsenal or Chelsea. Even so, to get to the semi-final of a major competition is something to build on and look back on with fondness. Generally speaking, seeing the likes of Llyod Kelly coming through and playing for England under-20s on the international stage was tremendous. Part of the highlights has not been what has happened here but the number of people that could now talk about Bristol City around England and the world after that cup run. There was a special atmosphere for those cup games It really was special. I was so proud of everyone involved with the club and we enjoyed the time. We got a taste of what it is like to be at the top. Man United and Man City were first class with us and it was a joy to a part of it. Once you have a taste of it you want more. Talk about Lee Johnson and West Brom - what can tell us? I don't know anything about it other than what I have read. It's not been mentioned to me. I'm not aware the club has had any types of approach. Lee is here for the long-term. We stuck with him through the bad times and he has given us some good times this year. We look at build on these and go a step further next season. Making the top six and promotion at the end of the season. Have you had value for money with your commitment this season? It's always a balancing act. It's been very enjoyable and you can't put a value on that. If you do it in mathematical terms, no. We are still creating quite a large deficit which we need to close. That's why we need to look at the trading on our players very carefully. We can't afford to turn down revenue coming in if it the right amount and then reinvest it into the squad. I look at the likes of Burnley now and it wasn't so long we were vying with them. They have spent wisely doing it bit by bit and I think we can do the same. When I look at this league I look at the teams around us Millwall, Preston. These clubs are no better off than us. There's reason to optimistic about where we can go from here. In hindsight, what's been the biggest lesson from this season? I continue to learn. Stick to what you believe an have faith in what you got. You've got to stop looking. The grass isn't always greener elsewhere. You have to look at what we are doing, what our players are doing and what our players are capable of. I'm going to quote Pam Lam who told me a story of when he went to Connacht. The board were saying that players can't do this or that and he said well, let's us talk about what we can do. We have to focus on what we can do and we need to do it well. Improvement is key - next season must be better? That's what it is all about. I said to Lee about four or five games ago that the danger would be for us to go out with a whimper. It would be strange to come here to be disappointed today about finishing in top eleven. Last year we were fighting at the bottom of the table and we haven't had that season. We've had a great season looking up rather than down. Wherever we finish this season we have to improve next as we want to be up there. https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/sport...ull-transcript-steve-lansdown-january-1538603
Basically the so called better players will be off. That being Reid,Flint,Bryan and probably a couple more. Then we go for bargain basement replacements and put a few quid in the bank. We then start the process again in trying to build a team to take the club forward. Never had a better chance than this year and it was blown,the last chance was 10 years ago. Still the happy clappers think it was a season of improvement,yes it was regards our final position. However it feels like the switch was turned of in 2017.It could have ended so much better if the right personnel had arrived.
The words and phrases I would expect and of course they came before today's loss. It was decent of him to state that after Christmas we lost the plot because I hadn't noticed that small fact. Same again next season or will we finally know what we need to do, do what we need to do and stop trying to make up reasons why we can't - please.
RR, you have done nothing but slag Joe Bryan off for the last month or more, and now he's 'one of the better players'. I like Joe, but he needs to be more consistent, if someone wants to pay £6M+ for him after a good half a season, I say take it. Too many players, Bryan, Patterson, Flint, Baker, Pack, Smith all had very poor second half of the season, why would anyone want to buy any of them??
Why was it that all the players we were applauding up until Christmas suddenly decided to pack up their gifts and go home with barely a whimper? Was there something afoot that we didn't hear about, or is the the way these pampered souls react to criticism - makes me wonder!
He also thinks that Matty Taylor is the most natural striker we have mind. He likes players who score 4 goals in 35 appearances. Plus he’s constantly harped on about Reid might only be a one season wonder. If that’s true surely selling him now is the best time, but not in RR’s head.
Thoughts on the season in general? I would be lying if I didn't say I was a bit disappointed. We put ourselves so ahead in the game, at one stage in automatic contention. Not to be participating in it today is disappointing. When you look at where we have come this season from last year it's from been tremendous progress and really we have set the barriers to a level where have to push on next season Do you think the signings in January were good enough to maintain a promotion push? In hindsight, no. Really we lost our way. I don't want to beat about the bush we didn't get it right after Christmas. Will you look at your scoring network in the summer on a review? We do that all the time. There is always room for improvement and we will look at how we assess these players. How we came to sign these players and why we didn't sign others we could have signed. We have to be harsh with ourselves and to be our own worst critics. Will there be a review of the season? Come next week I'll be sitting down with Mark Ashton and Gavin Marshall to go through the numbers and look at what has been the effect this season and where we want to be next year. Then with Lee Johnson, we'll look at where players can slot in and where it all fits together. We'll start the process all together and then work through what we can and can't do. Talk about Lee Johnson and West Brom - what can tell us? I don't know anything about it other than what I have read. It's not been mentioned to me. I'm not aware the club has had any types of approach. Lee is here for the long-term. We stuck with him through the bad times and he has given us some good times this year. We look at build on these and go a step further next season. Making the top six and promotion at the end of the season. Reading SL comments between the lines ~ I have pulled a few lines from SL's conversation ( Reading between the lines) and if you read them carefully, first of all it's obvious he is very disappointed at the way our season ended, he wasn't happy with the January signings and stated after Christmas we failed, there is going to be a review meeting with the suits and the rules and expectations for next season are going to be set. LJ is going nowhere, he is here for the long term but a couple of statements SL made make interesting reading and I do think he is laying out ground rules next season for LJ ~ * When you look at where we have come this season from last year it's from been tremendous progress and really we have set the barriers to a level where have to push on next season * We look at build on these and go a step further next season. Making the top six and promotion at the end of the season. That to me says The barriers are being set to a level above where we are now, indeed it's top six and promotion at next seasons end, so it's LJ watch out you have been told or of course I could just be reading it all wrong but it's all there in black and white.
SL says Lee will be here for the long term, but then says he will be looking to push on from this year , making the top 6 and promotion at the end of the season. If the form from the end of this season runs into the beginning of next these 2 statements will become increasingly difficult to reconcile, this will cause friction within the supporters also and may make LJ's position difficult, to say the least , I believe SL may find himself forced To make a decision , he's a clever man so I don't believe this is an accident , therefore I must draw the conclusion it is deliberate , In a nutshell I think whilst backing Lee I think SL is also making it plain he expects him to achieve at the very least a top 6, and promotion via the play offs, next season could be difficult for Lee.
Aren't you one of those who moans at LJ for having spent £20m? And we were running fully on momentum that season. We would have been absolutely battered had we gone up that year. For all of our faults, our squad is genuinely better with more potential than that team back then. So surely it's not just the happy clappers then?
↑ Basically the so called better players will be off. That being Reid,Flint,Bryan and probably a couple more. Then we go for bargain basement replacements and put a few quid in the bank. Aren't you one of those who moans at LJ for having spent £20m? On players that he does not play or even get on the bench ↑ We then start the process again in trying to build a team to take the club forward. Never had a better chance than this year and it was blown,the last chance was 10 years ago. And we were running fully on momentum that season. We would have been absolutely battered had we gone up that year. For all of our faults, our squad is genuinely better with more potential than that team back then. sure but imagine what the windfall would do,you become a yo yo team,I'm sure Cardiff will benefit from it ↑ Still the happy clappers think it was a season of improvement,yes it was regards our final position. However it feels like the switch was turned of in 2017.It could have ended so much better if the right personnel had arrived. So surely it's not just the happy clappers then? What could have been was blown away in Jan 2018,even Lansdown admits it. NULL
As ever RR, you don't directly address any of the points and just go off on a tangent on each one mate. And as for your point about Cardiff, it's worth bearing in mind that they are probably going to be found to have breached the FFP rules. At least we have the World Cup to entertain us this summer!
FFP allows maximum losses of £39m over previous three seasons. According to Swiss Ramble (a great blogger about the business side of football), Cardiff look set to lose £49m throughout this period, unless the Football League allow debt write-offs to be included as part of the allowable excursions (academy, community and infrastructure). If they allow it, the loss will be £37m, allowing a marginal pass. Not that it matters, the farcical implementation of the rules mean that it will almost certainly mean a minimal impact in the Premier League. But it's certainly not a model to follow (not that Bristol City is either).
Happy days for Cardiff,we can keep dreaming,i remember as a 15 year old jumping on one of the city specials to Coventry and we drew 2-2 which kept us up that was magical. The Man Utd and Man City games are just a taster of what it was like back in the old first division,I do wonder if we'll ever see top flight football before i pop my clogs in Bristol again.
Oh so you don't think "they are probably going to be found to have breached the FFP rules" . Why say it then?
I've done my best not to continue arguing after having threads ruined multiple times. Please don't start being a **** just because the facts may paint a very slight negative image to your club, which you clearly can never take no matter how trivial. I do think Cardiff are going to be found guilty. Where did I say otherwise? I simply think they won't be properly dealt with for it, just like most clubs who breach FFP. Before you get massively defensive as you do every time, Cardiff were promoted. They deserved it. I'm not disputing any of that whatsoever.
Rob it is a slap on the wrist no more,What about Wolves with their huge spend,you could put them into the category.
