SL Radio Bristol interview

[Jacki]

Did anyone hear what SL had to say pre-match today? I’m sure I read somewhere that he was being interviewed by Twentyman before the game. 

[Warwickshire Red]

Here's the link (at about 4 mins.) Speaks for about 15 mins.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p064nktj

 

 

[Jacki]

1 minute ago, Warwickshire Red said:

Here's the link (at about 4 mins.) Speaks for about 15 mins.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p064nktj

 

 

Thanks - will have a listen

[robin_unreliant]

Having listened to it I got the definite impression that we plan to 'cash in' some of the value added to the squad this season.

Expect to see at least one big value outgoing transfer this summer.

[Floatn Over]

There's a hint of annoyance there though, feels very disappointed clearly, and the January debacle has certainly registered.

[BobBobSuperBob]

Just now, Float'n Over said:

There's a hint of annoyance there though, feels very disappointed clearly, and the January debacle has certainly registered.

Just listened to it and agree

He wasn’t asked directly about LJ but I didn’t get the unequivocal backing vibe he proclaimed last year

Biggest concern for me was the impression that we are going to need to make a profit on transfer dealings using the value of the squad and he said on a number of occasions ‘reinvesting wisely’

the flaw in that plan Mr L is there is little evidence , in fact the contrary that we are anywhere near set up to do that 

[Floatn Over]

The conclusion is that the club must finish higher than this year and to do that he and others will be looking at what need to do better.

I'm probably totally wrong but I have a feeling that a Director of Football will be brought in, an experienced name to oversee and hopefully stop some of the terrible decisions made between LJ and MA (signings not used, loans not used etc etc)

[BobBobSuperBob]

20 minutes ago, Float'n Over said:

The conclusion is that the club must finish higher than this year and to do that he and others will be looking at what need to do better.

I'm probably totally wrong but I have a feeling that a Director of Football will be brought in, an experienced name to oversee and hopefully stop some of the terrible decisions made between LJ and MA (signings not used, loans not used etc etc)

Think MA might come under a bit of pressure with some difficult questions to answer

[Redstoke]

56 minutes ago, Float'n Over said:

The conclusion is that the club must finish higher than this year and to do that he and others will be looking at what need to do better.

I'm probably totally wrong but I have a feeling that a Director of Football will be brought in, an experienced name to oversee and hopefully stop some of the terrible decisions made between LJ and MA (signings not used, loans not used etc etc)

Stevie wonder has been approached, ive heard he is quite experienced.

[havanatopia]

Float, interesting remark about a DofF. Where would that leave Mark Ashton? One step further back from Lee? And the DofF would be like the filter to stop those mistakes? In theory it does make sense; getting the character of that person right will be absolutely vital and I do not mean a conforming one.

[Garland-sweden]

Think L was honest. He was disapointed you could hear. What went wrong since january, transfers at that time and so on. The cuprun, a better season than last, but anyway, he was not happy. Work has to be done. Its easy to say that we should have bought very good players ho costs a lot. Defence and the whole team was very good. Djuric and Famara among others injuried. My reflexion is we could not remain, have the good play in us when it was getting bad. Started unlucky with Wolves home and Villa away.

[DT The Optimist]

A really good interview by Twentyman and exactly the questions that most here would have put to SL.  

You need to listen to it a few times as so much was said but I hope MA might be squirming a tad when the review takes place. 

Twentyman put the run since Xmas to him, only 4 wins, it’s a must listen interview for any City fan .

well done to those who put the link up here 

[stokes7]

Good listen and pressure on Lee lansdown wants top 6 fighting for promotion, and he did sound pretty disappointed with how season has ended and a few butts might be getting kicked over recruitment 

[WayOutWest]

5 hours ago, Float'n Over said:

hopefully stop some of the terrible decisions made between LJ and MA (signings not used, loans not used etc etc)

I like Mark Ashton. But I have a very big caveat. 

Just do negotiations. Your job is not to "identify targets". Leave that to football people. Unless I have this wrong. I will happily stand corrected. 

You have proved your worth getting 10m potentially 15m for JK. You got MT for 300k. 

That is your job. **** over other clubs and ensure we are not ****** over. 

I think a DoF is an excellent idea. 

Stevo 

[chinapig]

6 hours ago, Float'n Over said:

The conclusion is that the club must finish higher than this year and to do that he and others will be looking at what need to do better.

I'm probably totally wrong but I have a feeling that a Director of Football will be brought in, an experienced name to oversee and hopefully stop some of the terrible decisions made between LJ and MA (signings not used, loans not used etc etc)

I'm sure you are right, hence LJ referring to off field signings 

[chinapig]

7 hours ago, robin_unreliant said:

Having listened to it I got the definite impression that we plan to 'cash in' some of the value added to the squad this season.

Expect to see at least one big value outgoing transfer this summer.

It's a certainty if we get the right offers. The key aim is to find and/or develop players with a view to making a profit on them.

Anything we achieve on the field is a bonus but not the first priority imo.

[Major Isewater]

7 hours ago, BobBobSuperBob said:

Just listened to it and agree

He wasn’t asked directly about LJ but I didn’t get the unequivocal backing vibe he proclaimed last year

Biggest concern for me was the impression that we are going to need to make a profit on transfer dealings using the value of the squad and he said on a number of occasions ‘reinvesting wisely’

the flaw in that plan Mr L is there is little evidence , in fact the contrary that we are anywhere near set up to do that 

I think LJ will be with us at the start of the season.

SL spoke of ' the grass not always being greener '  , ' that he'll , ' sit down with LJ ' to discuss what's needed. 

Unless we are in the relegation spot at Christmas or LJ decides to leave he will be here as head coach.

SL will stick by his man as long as he can.

 

[CotswoldRed]

6 hours ago, BobBobSuperBob said:

Think MA might come under a bit of pressure with some difficult questions to answer

Shame he won't be able to respond in plain English. 

Corporate waffle might make you look talented during a period of success (to some), however, it sounds like you are dressing up excuses when you've messed up. 

Good luck MA. 

[DaveInSA]

5 hours ago, havanatopia said:

Float, interesting remark about a DofF. Where would that leave Mark Ashton? One step further back from Lee? And the DofF would be like the filter to stop those mistakes? In theory it does make sense; getting the character of that person right will be absolutely vital and I do not mean a conforming one.

This will clearly not happen. SL wants a yes man. We need someone to support LJ (he's out of his depth in my view and won't be getting fired) and we need some wiley old professional to find those players that Lansdown talks about and help with the motivational side of the team.

Bottom line for me is we haven't got the right football people at the club.

We don't have the right players. We need all those things that LJ mentioned, players with character and leadership skills (we also need them to be talented).

We will lose some players this year. I say this with absolute contempt; clubs like Bournemouth are more than capable of taking our top talent.

I'm irritated that "playing by the rules" gets you nowhere. And clubs are taking the total michael out of FFP.

[Major Isewater]

If LJ goes I can't imagine a change in the type of ' user friendly ' coach that SL likes.

No Warnocks required.

Most likely SL would promote from within and bring back Skuse into the coaching staff.

All very exciting .

[CotswoldRed]

3 minutes ago, DaveInSA said:

This will clearly not happen. SL wants a yes man. We need someone to support LJ (he's out of his depth in my view and won't be getting fired) and we need some wiley old professional to find those players that Lansdown talks about and help with the motivational side of the team.

Bottom line for me is we haven't got the right football people at the club.

We don't have the right players. We need all those things that LJ mentioned, players with character and leadership skills (we also need them to be talented).

We will lose some players this year. I say this with absolute contempt; clubs like Bournemouth are more than capable of taking our top talent.

I'm irritated that "playing by the rules" gets you nowhere. And clubs are taking the total michael out of FFP.

Until Lee Johnson's analysis of a game goes anywhere near the facts I don't trust him with SLs money. 

[BobBobSuperBob]

27 minutes ago, Major Isewater said:

I think LJ will be with us at the start of the season.

SL spoke of ' the grass not always being greener '  , ' that he'll , ' sit down with LJ ' to discuss what's needed. 

Unless we are in the relegation spot at Christmas or LJ decides to leave he will be here as head coach.

SL will stick by his man as long as he can.

 

What also struck me was that SL implies that we will need to cash in on the ‘value of the squad ‘ (And my reading recoup some money for reinvestment) Which most of us agree will involve selling two or more of our most sought after / better players , 

(And very few if any of us have got much faith in recruitment and hence the reinvestment

At the same time he wants us to finish higher than we did this season and makes noises about top six

Now , I have little confidence in LJ but that’s a big ask from the owner 

Sell your better players ,’reinvest’ in players that can be developed , but finish higher than last season .....

How does that work ?

Its a big ask at least

Sell your better players for good prices and then buy hidden gems , at least as good (Or will become very quickly) at a lower price , that no one else has latched onto and integrate them into your side / ethos

Good Luck with that, as everything stands on evidence of last 2 years

It doesn’t follow our ethos but possibly the most efficient way to do that could be the Cardiff type method of picking up OOC players for free or next to nothing but pay the signing on fee and wages (A la Junior Hoillett) 

 

Also interesting that SL indicates that we are ‘up there’ in the wages we pay

IIRC  Stated that we are not top four wage wise and cannot compete with Villa or the top four / six but we are ‘up there’

That seems to dispel , unless he’s lying that we are hampered by finances in the way some of the apologists on here claim we are 

We are paying decent fees , including multi million pound fees on development players (Which few if any Clubs in this league are doing)

and SL infers we are certainly top half wages wise if I understand correctly

The reasons suggested by some , how we are pushing up a mountain trying to compete against the vast majority of the Championship are losing weight....

[Jacki]

I thought it was a good interview, as someone above said GT asked the questions we’d all want answering.  

The answers SL gave were pretty much as you’d expect really. LJ is here for the long term, he’s disappointed by the recent form but sees it as a season of progress overall. ‘There’s value in the squad’ clearly means that Bobby and Joe (at the very least) will be sold to the highest bidder and we’ll try and get as much for them as we can to reinvest. The worry of course is the kind of player we’ll bring in after the January debacle. SL sounded as frustrated as is about that, so hopefully some cages will be rattled and we won’t repeat the same mistakes. 

Overall I thought it was a good listen, with some fair conclusions. SL wants a play off spot next season which would represent genuine progress. After the last few months, and in particular that first half yesterday which was an abomination of a performance, that seems a long way off but we’ll see how the summer plays out. Interesting times. 

[Floatn Over]

5 hours ago, havanatopia said:

Float, interesting remark about a DofF. Where would that leave Mark Ashton? One step further back from Lee? And the DofF would be like the filter to stop those mistakes? In theory it does make sense; getting the character of that person right will be absolutely vital and I do not mean a conforming one.

Oh absolutely on "do not mean a conforming one" - the complete opposite is needed, certainly need someone to challenge and not afraid to say "Why...........And the benefit will be ?..........Mmm this player has not played in their first team for 6 months so what's he going to add ?"  And more importantly "No - I do not recommend this proposal" or "We'll have a look at this guy"

When SL stepped back from day to day involvement with Hargreaves Lans' that is what he identified his role to be going forward; to challenge decisions.  The right DofF with no previous connection to BCFC would do that, it might annoy the hell out of LJ and MA but so what and that's good, their recruitment and player usage policy has hardly been great this year, far too many don't fits (Kent, Diony, Woodrow....wonder what their loan fees and potential fine by LFC for the former add up to ? ) and stay in the toolbox (GoN for example: We need leaders, well there's one and he's fit but where is he ?)

The right appointment with a name of note would also raise the club profile significantly at the same time and potentially help recruitment, new players wanting to be part of the club if Mr X is there.  It will cost of course but that would be a business investment.

And before anyone suggests it......No, not GJ or Arry.

[Jacki]

17 minutes ago, BobBobSuperBob said:

What also struck me was that SL implies that we will need to cash in on the ‘value of the squad ‘ (And my reading recoup some money for reinvestment) Which most of us agree will involve selling two or more of our most sought after / better players , 

(And very few if any of us have got much faith in recruitment and hence the reinvestment

At the same time he wants us to finish higher than we did this season and makes noises about top six

Now , I have little confidence in LJ but that’s a big ask from the owner 

Sell your better players ,’reinvest’ in players that can be developed , but finish higher than last season .....

How does that work ?

Its a big ask at least

Sell your better players for good prices and then buy hidden gems , at least as good (Or will become very quickly) at a lower price , that no one else has latched onto and integrate them into your side / ethos

Good Luck with that, as everything stands on evidence of last 2 years

It doesn’t follow our ethos but possibly the most efficient way to do that could be the Cardiff type method of picking up OOC players for free or next to nothing but pay the signing on fee and wages (A la Junior Hoillett) 

 

Also interesting that SL indicates that we are ‘up there’ in the wages we pay

IIRC  Stated that we are not top four wage wise and cannot compete with Villa or the top four / six but we are ‘up there’

That seems to dispel , unless he’s lying that we are hampered by finances in the way some of the apologists on here claim we are 

We are paying decent fees , including multi million pound fees on development players (Which few if any Clubs in this league are doing)

and SL infers we are certainly top half wages wise if I understand correctly

The reasons suggested by some , how we are pushing up a mountain trying to compete against the vast majority of the Championship are losing weight....

I took the ‘up there’ on wages speak to mean that we’re paying not far off top dollar for our top earners, but not the whole squad. He used Villa as an example of a team who are paying that kind of cash for all their players where we only seem to be paying it for one or two. I imagine O’Neil leaving will free up £25k per week, for example. 

[CotswoldRed]

Funny how the euphoria of the cup is used as an ongoing excuse when it comes to the mindset of the players and staff. 

Maybe SL can give Wigan a call to see how they coped with beating Man City. 

[cidered abroad]

8 hours ago, Float'n Over said:

The conclusion is that the club must finish higher than this year and to do that he and others will be looking at what need to do better.

I'm probably totally wrong but I have a feeling that a Director of Football will be brought in, an experienced name to oversee and hopefully stop some of the terrible decisions made between LJ and MA (signings not used, loans not used etc etc)

Surely Ashton is, in effect as COO, our Director of Football? 

Before the inception of Bristol Sport, our COO would have been involved with all the off the field bits that are now, I believe, run by BS. Pitch maintenance, stadium maintenance, refreshments concessions, ticketing. 

So apart from overseeing football, assumed for all ages up to Academy and first team, dealing with the money and terms of transfers and contracts, what else is included in his job description? 

So if all the above is correct, unless Johnson reports directly to the board (SL) on playing matters, Ashton is our DOF. 

Perhaps therein lies the real problem? He is interfering with team selection and tactics? Either that or Johnson is doing his own thing with no football related assistance from Ashton? 

And whichever way Ashton and Johnson run it, could it be that we already have an unpaid DOF? The current manager of Cheltenham Town? 

Like father, like son. Neither are capable of managing players above Third or Fourth Division level! 

[Cidre Monita]

SL is requesting that the club uses better the resources made available. He is right, the transfer strategy has been woeful . Warnock took Cardiff from second bottom to automatic promotion in 18 months spending a fraction of the money. That is the reality. From second , the inability to even make the playoffs was a catostrophic failure. He also dispels the myth pedalled by some that we cannot compete financially for the right players (maybe not a full squad, but the main game changers yes) . 

Too many excuses from LJ and MA 

His biggest review needs to involve himself and blind faith in an inadequate and out of depth coach/manager 

There is nothing to suggest LJ or MA have the ability or know how to build a team. Yes a team , with a common purpose, united together, and believing. 

[Olé]

For anyone who hasn't or can't listen to the audio, the EP has ripped off transcribed the interview in full here:

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/full-transcript-steve-lansdown-january-1538603

It reads as SL being very direct about the poor standard of the past four months and the shambles of a January transfer window, I agree that he is not as "protective" of LJ in his comments, as I might have expected. Well done to Geoff Twentyman for not giving him room for easy throwaway PR.

Whether this translates into any meaningful change is another matter - one thing you can say for LJ and MA is they will give SL a commentary on what they are doing that will sound convincing, even if the outcomes themselves are flawed. But I read it as LJ under pressure to deliver next season.

Not saying this with any pleasure or spite for LJ, but based on that tone/expectation from SL, I would have wanted to be coming out the back end of this season having already established far more long term key players and an effective style of play, ready to hit the ground running in August. LJ is toast.

[B-Rizzle]

It’s hard to compare us to Cardiff. Every year there are teams that over achieve, something clicks and they surprisingly earn promotion.

This year it was Cardiff, before that Huddersfield and Bournemouth etc. We were doing the same in the first half of the season but fell away.

It’s not about money. It’s about togetherness, momentum, a bit of luck. We couldn’t maintain that for whatever reasons, cup run, injuries, poor jan recruitment, Johnson believing the hype, poor tactics etc. I don’t know.

Next year, it’s about rebuilding that momentum, belief and togetherness in the squad and club to see if we can get ourselves on ‘a run’ again but this time maintain it for a whole season.