Every word Bristol City owner Steve Lansdown said on Nigel Pearson, finances and Terry Cooper The Bristol City majority shareholder spoke to BBC Radio Bristol before the Robins' Championship curtain-raiser against Blackpool at Ashton Gate Steve Lansdown was a mix of emotions as he set foot in Ashton Gate for the first time since March 2020; "nervous and excited" as he admitted but also with a sense of comfort after so long in exile due to Covid-19 restrictions and his base in Guernsey. Having finally been able to visit the Robins High Performance Centre in May, Lansdown was able to take his seat in the stand named after him for competitive football once again. It was also a slightly sombre occasion given the death of Terry Cooper last week and the club held a dinner in the Lansdown Suite for former players and members of the Cooper family before ex-Robins greats were brought onto the field before kick-off. Ahead of the game, Lansdown sat down with BBC Radio Bristol's Geoff Twentyman to discuss his return, the last 17 months, Nigel Pearson, CEO Richard Gould, the recruitment dynamic between them and how the club may honour Cooper permanently. You can read the full interview below or listen to it via this link HERE Really good to see you. It's been so long and too long ... It’s been 17 months since I was last here, the Fulham game in 2020 so it’s fantastic to be back and to see you and everyone else coming back to Ashton Gate to enjoy this first game of the season. How do you feel seeing your spectators, your fans coming in to populate the seats? It’s difficult to explain. This morning I woke up nervous, excited, and really raring to go. I just wanted to get back into it, not just for the start of the season but for football, it feels like it’s starting football all again. Hopefully this will be a great game today and a great celebration of having everyone back together and some form normality again, I look forward to enjoy seeing more of the same. You own the football club and the rugby club, what have you learned the most over the last 17 months of owning an elite football and sporting club? It’s expensive, the cost is huge, probably too much and the financial side really comes home when you have no income coming in and it suddenly stops and there’s nothing you can do about it, it’s out of your control and you realise how difficult it is to run the club but you also realise how many people are dependent on you. Not just the players and their families but the staff and their families and also the community. The good thing that came out of Covid is the community spirit that revolves around Ashton Gate and the Robins Foundation and the Bears Foundation all put a lot of hard work in in, the vaccination centre that was set up here just showed how valuable Ashton Gate is to the community of Bristol as a whole. You could have put the training ground on hold, but you saw it through; was that ever in doubt? There was no doubt and I never thought about stopping it. It was a project that was underway and I’m one of the people that knows where the money is coming from before we start these projects, it was there to be done and the club needed it. A lot of the issues we had last season with fitness was down to being in between training grounds. Covid just exacerbated that problem. Now we’ve got the High Performance Centre you look at the facilities and, as I keep saying to people, there’s no excuse now. The players have a great place to train in, as does the academy, with all the facilities. We’re at a great place to build the club further. What do you make of Nigel, the vast experience that he brings? I think everyone remembers Nigel for holding the player down on the touchline, and episodes like that, and they see him as a tough guy but he’s come in and been calm, focused and, I wouldn't say emotional, but he has got on with it. He’s not been fazed by the fact we can't afford this or we can't do this, we work together and we've put together a three-year plan to get us where we want to get to and he's working at it. He is happy with his squad and the fitness of the squad at the moment. There’s a calmness about him and at the place, which we haven’t had for a while. Tell me in a couple of sentences why Richard Gould has been appointed? I knew Richard [Gould] from before and he’s worked here before in the commercial director capacity and I’ve been in touch with him during his time at Somerset and at Surrey. He’s got a vast experience but he’s a businessman and not a football businessman, so he’s not wrapped up in everything, he gets the job done. He's proving his worth. It’s early days but he does everything with a smile on his face, people behind the scenes at the club feel good. Is that good he's detached from the football in some ways, he's not emotionally involved? He’s not going to be someone that says ‘this is the sort of player I think we should have’ or someone that gives any impression of players, if he’s been asked to go and sign a player, sell a player or negotiate a contract then that’s what he’ll go and do and he’ll do it to the best of his ability for the club and I think that’s the good thing. He and Nigel will blend quite nicely in that regard because Nigel will be in touch with the recruitment team about who we want and the type of player that we want and the culture he wants to develop, Richard will get on and deal with it. It's important to be mindful of the people who won't be here today ... Call it a crisis, a pandemic - we’ve been through a tough time but the world has gone through it together and the city has gone through it together and as a football club we have gone through it together. It’s sad that we have lost people during that time. You just feel for the families and the friends of the families, all I can say is that we will remember them and keep pushing to make this a place for people to come to and that families want to come to. The passing of a great man, a great human being - Terry Cooper. It was so sad last weekend when that news came through ... We’re all at the age where these things are around the corner so enjoy each day as it comes. Terry was great for this football club, no doubt about it, I think he was one of the first managers to be a director in those days. I probably know Mark, his son, better through the time he's been involved here. You look back on the history of the club and everything it has achieved and Terry Cooper was the man that picked it up by the bootstraps and got us back and got us a trophy and got everyone believing in the club again. Are there any plans to name a grandstand or the training ground after Terry Cooper; there's a big push from supporters for this? I understand that but nothing has been discussed with regard to that, and it’s a bit too early for that, there’s probably plenty of cases for it. This is a ground for both football and rugby and we have to bear that in mind as well. At the moment we have two stands named: the Atyeo Stand for obvious reasons, and this one, not for obvious reasons and I didn't ask for it but I'm very proud of it. We will honour Terry in the best way we can in the Bristol City family to thank him for everything he's done and he will live long in the memory and there’s plenty of memories of him around the ground and the training ground. We want to remember people, we don't want to forget them and what they’ve done and Terry is certainly one of those people we want to remember fondly and with a lot respect and gratitude. That amazing day when they beat Bolton in 1986 - I knew what I was doing, what were you doing? I have to honest I don't think I was following Bristol City at the time so I don't know what I was doing. But I remember the day and I've seen the videos since. I remember the people coming back and how great it was for everybody. In the days we've had since you see what these games mean to people. It means so much to the club. You sit here and look out and we just want more of those days and those no reason why we can't have them. There's talk of a three-year plan to get to the Premier League, are you patient enough to wait three years? Well I've been patient enough ... honestly, I'd like it to happen this year but we have to be realistic and recognise the issues we had last season which didn't do us any good. We've resolved those, had a good pre-season, a change of personnel, experience brought into the side and Nigel has now imposed his culture on the team and club and has a squad he's happy with. We'll work through it. Do we expect it this year? Might be a bit much but I just want us to play well, provide entertaining football out here and finish as high as we possibly can, and see where it takes us. You mention the issues last year, can you be specific - what were the big issues? The High Performance Centre - we didn't have that facility so therefore our training was disrupted, our medical treatment was disrupted. I've been away and two managers have gone in Lee and Dean, I never saw Dean manage in front of me. It's a strange scenario. It was weird. You look back on it, and think, 'could we have done things differently?' But, hindsight is a wonderful thing, it's difficult and we got through it. Nigel's come in and he's made that difference and we value his experience and we'll build on it. Nobody knows what's going to happen but I just feel we're in a good place. https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/sport/football/bristol-city-steve-lansdown-pearson-5757896
2 points of interest I have picked up their, (A) A lot of the issues we had last season with fitness was down to being in between training grounds. Covid just exacerbated that problem. & (B) I never saw Dean manage in front of me. It's a strange scenario. It was weird. You look back on it, and think, 'could we have done things differently?'
A very wide sweeping interview and some interesting points …. The stands! 4 stands and 2 already named after football, and we do have a rugby club intimation 2 football 2 rugby!!! However, SL is owner of both, he "rescued" rugby! has provided them with a home so really only 3 stands … 1 for JA and that leaves 2 ? Rugby not really got a claim on one yet …. so likely 1 stand can be nameless for 20 years until something worthy comes along for them.... more likely a statue or annual award or similar …………………….
II think we all know things could and should have been done differently with the managerial appointment at the start of last season!! I also thought this was quite a telling statement from SL - Nigel has now imposed his culture on the team and club and has a squad he's happy with.
Great point, the owner also stated, 'There’s a calmness about him and at the place, which we haven’t had for a while.' and ' Nigel's come in and he's made that difference and we value his experience and we'll build on it. Nobody knows what's going to happen but I just feel we're in a good place.'
He has appeared much calmer than I thought he would, although I do love his put-downs from the reporters asking questions he clearly doesn't like.
I'm truly glad time has moved us on and we are getting down to brass tacks, you can only judge a man on his efforts and results, if NP fails he made the promise with full knowledge of circumstances and he will be judged on that. Like you and every other City fan I just want our club to succeed.
Actually this is something I do NOT like. Some reporters do ask some stupid questions it's true, but they are only doing their job and should at least be afforded a polite answer. I would go as far as to say that I dislike NPs press put-downs more than I did LJs waffle and spin.
They are entitled to their opinions just as I am mine. It’s really true; I found LJs waffle slightly irritating at times and sometimes amusing. When NP goes all anti-press I have to switch off or turn the TV over. It makes my skin crawl.
Nor me. Can't stand his deliberate threatening manner. I'd much prefer Pearson remain humble and count his blessings.
