Bristol City chairman makes striker transfer admission and talks Lansdown succession plans Bristol City chairman Jon Lansdown discussed a number of matters on 3 Peaps in a Podcast Bristol City chairman Jon Lansdown has indicated that signing a striker is a recruitment priority “for the future” as the Robins 1-0 defeat at Millwall revealed their limitations in the final third. City have made a solid start to the 2021/22 season, lying 10 th in the Championship after 10 games, however only Middlesbrough have scored as few goals in the top half of the table as the Robins’ 11. Nahki Wells’ injury in the warm-up at the Den left assistant manager Curtis Fleming, overseeing first-team matters as Nigel Pearson self-isolates, with just two senior strikers in Andi Weimann and Chris Martin, as Antoine Semenyo also recovers from an injury “niggle”. However, 30-year-old Weimann has played 900 minutes of a possible 900 and 32-year-old Martin 872, and while both have mostly performed to a high level, there are understandable question marks as to whether it’s sustainable over a further 36 league games. Without Wells’ pace, City’s attacking play against Millwall looked a little one-dimensional and it’s been a factor of nearly every game this season that the Robins have to work for every goal as they don’t have the individuals to fashion something from nothing. Speaking on 3 Peaps in a Podcast, Lansdown admitted that if Martin was to suffer an injury, City’s tactical approach may have to be altered – as the Scotland forward is their only orthodox targetman – and that finding a new striker will be a focus in the transfer market. "There is always going to be something. If Chris gets injured, we’re going to have look slightly different in terms of how we play," Lansdown said. "It’s not like we haven’t got other good forward players, we have Antoine (Semenyo) in there, you just don’t necessarily have that focal point. "You’re always going to have that with a squad, but it gives you something to focus on for the future in terms of recruitment." In reality, “the future” is likely to be next summer at the earliest following a transfer window just passed in which City were open to the idea of bringing in another striker but the options on the table either weren’t of a sufficient quality or overpriced and lacking in value. Pearson doesn’t expect any business in January, barring an emergency, due to what will be an inflated market and a likely lack of financial resources, and accepts that the money required to bring in the type of striker he craves has to be put on hold for this season as the club recovers from the impact of the pandemic. “At some point in a year’s time or two-year’s time the investment will maybe be in someone that can score more goals,” he said in the wake of the 1-1 draw against Luton last month. Lansdown confessed that City’s numbers for last year, when published, will be “horrific” given the losses incurred of having no supporters for all of last season but also because of how Covid-19 impacted their business model. City’s wage bill has been around the mid-range of the Championship but has been off-set by consistent player sales with Bobby Reid, Adam Webster, Lloyd Kelly and Josh Brownhill all sold in successive windows for significant transfer fees. After Brownhill departed in January 2020 to Burnley for £9m, City’s biggest sale has been Niclas Eliasson to Nimes 12 months ago for just over £2m, and there have been no fees in excess of a million pounds since, with the state of the market revealed through Adam Nagy’s surprise free transfer to Pisa. "The pandemic has highlighted some of our flaws because we've been a trading club," Lansdown added. "Our losses over the last year are horrific. "It's not like have a low wage bill, but we haven't been able to sell the player we normally would have done to fund that gap over the last year or so." That was spoken in reference to a question surrounding Steve Lansdown's comment earlier this year that the family are seeking outside investment "to grow the club", with the Bristol-born billionaire having been involved with City for 24 years. Steve Lansdown admitted he's "not getting any younger" when discussing the subject of a succession plan as to who would take over as owner/majority shareholder if and when he looks to step back or retire. Lansdown has spent in excess of £150m of his own money on City and while the strides the team have made in terms of infrastructure have been huge, with Ashton Gate and the Robins High Performance Centre, that investment is yet to create a Premier League club. Jon Lansdown insists any outside investment isn't "imminent" but admitted will always be considered, to help fulfil the ambition of top-flight football. "You've always got to plan for it (succession) because, especially when you care so much about something, you want it to be left in a better place so you've always got to be planning for what's next," Lansdown said. "You've got to know how, so that when it happens, for whatever reason, it happens smoothly. Everything we do here is about improving on the pitch but what is the legacy that you leave? "Also, when you put the building blocks in place, how do you take it to the next level? Do you need impetus from other people investing to do that? It's naturally what you think about when you care about something. "For me, it doesn't mean it's necessarily imminent, it just means it's something we have to think about for the natural progression of the football club; you have to leave it in a better and more sustainable place then when you found it. "You've got to have an open mind. If you can find the perfect partner to help you do that then why wouldn't you? That's probably more the point, we've probably reached that stage where we have a lot of the foundations and we should be looking at becoming a Premier League club, and that is the aspiration and we're always trying." https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/sport/football/bristol-city-transfer-striker-lansdown-5996565
'Steve Lansdown admitted he's "not getting any younger" when discussing the subject of a succession plan as to who would take over as owner/majority shareholder if and when he looks to step back or retire....' .. should we be worried about this? What if we get someone like Mike Ashley - or God forbid, Phil Power (ex-Swindon)?
No money, in debt and options on the table either weren’t of a sufficient quality or overpriced and lacking in value, that just about describes us but we are on the way back.
Not replacing with any quality from the key players we sold off was our biggest downfall IMO.......there was very little plan and buying on the last minute limited the options of whom we brought in... The good thing is, that the board & co are recognising our striker issue and how one dimensional we are......maybe loans or playing more of the youngsters need looking at, because as the season progresses, I can only see it getting worse.. We could do with another Bobby Reid scenario, which was pure genius from our manager at the time...
No but you must admit he does create numerous chances and does a reasonable defensive role, dual purpose..
Yes, he's becoming a very good player.......which makes me think we must have other players in the system that just needs a chance on the big stage..
Awww more true love no ****. It was probably Mark Ashton's idea. I seem to recall we had striker injuries that started in pre season and it was an experiment that worked out really well, more necessity than genius I would say.
the word "horrific" being used a couple of times is a softener for when the news comes out ……….. the business model for city is not really based on the football. ....those with a memory can remember the comments, pre new stand after the long ashton debacle of it being a "public place" … a "business model" SL cashed in a few million shares! new stadium [ well major revamp and not yet finished! ] combining sports conference centre catering etc etc … well no [ paid ] sport... no conferencing … no catering = massive dent in income. = horrific. one can understand the need to jettison so many players ...with greedy agents, selling a player for £2m is almost a lost because as you have to replace them [ usually ] which is more agent fee's ….. but it did save probably more money than keeping them and waiting for a sale. they say players like Janneh are not ready based on age? !!! Against Peterbro I would start either with Weimann/ Martin and sub for 2 U 23's or vice versa! …… Thinking is .. we are 10th only 3 pts from top 6 [ but of course only 5 above relegation zone!.. ] so give them a try out over a couple of games …. look at some of the other 92 teams with players under 21! Look at Massengo [ there were a few on here who ridiculed him ] had a few starts and stops and gets confidence has energy and builds a understanding of his pro's and con's …… To be fair IMHO Weimann is held back by Martin!
In a year or twos, time isn't good enough, it needs to be in Jan or next summer! “At some point in a year’s time or two-year’s time the investment will maybe be in someone that can score more goals,” he said in the wake of the 1-1 draw against Luton last month.
Nige has already said it’s unlikely to be in Jan window. Next summer at earliest it seems. Edit No point bringing someone in for the sake of it, and quality costs lots of money, which we don’t have. Which kind of makes sense, frustrating I know.
True, although again, a bit like HNM this season, Reid had played more and matured by that season, he was awful in front of goal the season before when we had our record losing strike. In fact I recall him being the reason we drew or lost a few of those with the guilt-edged chances he missed. You could say the same about NP playing all the youngsters last season, only then it was hailed as giving youth a chance..... The reason Pring, Bakinson, Semenyo et al are at the first team stage now is they all had loans at a lower level and their progression was planned over the last 3-4 years. The risk with Bell, Scott and the other youngsters is, they haven't had as much if any of that progression, they have been thrust into the first-team squad.
I get that, but it seems NP isn';t even open to the option, for whatever reason. Not hard to think there isn't a player or 2 wanting to get out on loan from a Prem club that isn't better than Martin? Especially with a World Cup coming up.
Not true, but you like to hold on to the negatives to create the argument..Nice try though. Lee Johnson spoke about his in-form forward, and specifically what made the Robins boss consider switching his position.... The particular DNA that I'm looking for in a player. "It's funny because you're looking at players with attributes not as good as Bobby and you're talking about spending £5 or £6m on them. "So I'm thinking hold on a minute, let's have an experiment. I spoke to Bobby Reid at the end of last season and told him of my intentions. "I love him, I'm desperate for him to play, but as a midfielder sometimes the competition is too strong and he doesn't have quite the attributes in a defensive sense that I'm after, or the physical prowess. "But as a striker he's got good movement, his technique's good, he can handle the ball [with his] back to goal, he never stops running - he's like a Duracell battery up there - at shutting down and pressing and he's just a pest to play against. But we see him every day and we see he can finish as well. And Bobby Reid has shown up to be just the type of player that could flourish in a position further forward. Genius NB... I'm not sure I actually started something there as I was only replying to our lack of striker that was in the thread and if we can look to the squad as we did back then... So I'm blaming you, for winding it up!! You just couldn't resist!!
I’m not keen on loans I’ll be honest, I’d rather give our youngsters a chance than someone else’s, at least they’re more likely to give 100%,
The only way we’re going to get a striker in the near future is if we sell a youngster to a PL club, HNM as an example
We have had this discussion before, the only academy player that I can recall LJ ever playing was Lloyd Kelly all the others as you say had been farmed out and first team squad members well before LJ arrived, as far as Pring is concerned he says that his experience made him feel left out and not part of the club, the issue for me was the amount of players 22 to 24 years old still not in the first team squad until this summer.
