Lansdown's Jobs For The Boys - The Famous Five

[Robbored]

1 minute ago, Bazooka Joe said:

Well that's us well and truly f****d; he's going to appoint Maggie next !

I wouldn’t mind if he did. Maggie is very down to earth and a lovely lady.

[Lrrr]

1 minute ago, Robbored said:

What!?   “Calls SLs judgement into question”. Jeeez............

If you were a billionaire owner of any business you wouldn’t make a space for your own son?  Of course you bloody would......bugger all to do with judgement......it’s called looking after your family. 

I have absolutely no problem with that at all..

There's a difference between 'make space' and place in an important position. I don't know JL and can't attest to how well he's doing his job but from the outside the appearance is that he went in as someone quite unqualified for the position rather than bringing in someone with that experience.

[Robbored]

1 minute ago, hodge said:

There's a difference between 'make space' and place in an important position. I don't know JL and can't attest to how well he's doing his job but from the outside the appearance is that he went in as someone quite unqualified for the position rather than bringing in someone with that experience.

Is he unqualified?    

[Lrrr]

3 minutes ago, Robbored said:

Is he unqualified?    

Degree in Economics and Management. Time spent at Hargreaves Lansdown doing investment help desk and vct research. After that it was the new stadium team for 2 years, appointed executive director which he was for 12 months and then managing director where he's been for 7 years. Level of experience doesn't sound massive for a role of its size at the club. 

[marmite]

9 minutes ago, Robbored said:

What!?   “Calls SLs judgement into question”. Jeeez............

If you were a billionaire owner of any business you wouldn’t make a space for your own son?  Of course you bloody would......bugger all to do with judgement......it’s called looking after your family. 

I have absolutely no problem with that at all..

Well that's alright then. Lets put Jon in midfield on Sunday. Jeeez……….

[Robbored]

2 minutes ago, marmite said:

Well that's alright then. Lets put Jon in midfield on Sunday. Jeeez……….

I’m sure LJ isn’t Jon’s father......

[REDOXO]

So What! 

The bloke employs people he trusts. On some/many occasions it has not worked out perfectly. We are Bristol City it rarely does. 

We have a fantastic stadium a team financed by SL expansion for other sports at AG, we just lack promotion to the Premier League. 

Going over the past is not necessarily helpful or a guide to the future. Perhaps many of us could look at our own lives and think if I did this or that I would have been the billionaire owner of BCFC but you didn’t. 

 

 

[NickJ]

14 minutes ago, Robbored said:

What!?   “Calls SLs judgement into question”. Jeeez............

If you were a billionaire owner of any business you wouldn’t make a space for your own son?  Of course you bloody would......bugger all to do with judgement......it’s called looking after your family. 

I have absolutely no problem with that at all..

As it happens I employ my son in 3 of my companies. I just haven't made him MD yet. 

If you really think its ok that such important positions are filled with someone clearly lacking the requisite experience, then you cannot possibly want what is best for Bristol City.

[Robbored]

5 minutes ago, hodge said:

Degree in Economics and Management. Time spent at Hargreaves Lansdown doing investment help desk and vct research. After that it was the new stadium team for 2 years, appointed executive director which he was for 12 months and then managing director where he's been for 7 years. Level of experience doesn't sound massive for a role of its size at the club. 

I knew he had a degree but didn’t know what in. 

He’s obviously a bright guy whose learnt on the job so to speak. 

[Robbored]

1 minute ago, NickJ said:

As it happens I employ my son in 3 of my companies. I just haven't made him MD yet. 

If you really think its ok that such important positions are filled with someone clearly lacking the requisite experience, then you cannot possibly want what is best for Bristol City.

Ah........so you’re not adverse to a bit of nepotism either then Nick. Does anyone question your judgement in that?

 

[glen humphries]

48 minutes ago, Robbored said:

I don’t have a problem with a billionaire employing who he wants and in Citys case he employed people he thought he a) were capable b) knew the club c) men he trusted.

It didn’t work out with Tinnion as manager but he’s still working at the club. Millen has moved on. 

SL didn't employ Macca directly, that was LJ.

I dont have an issue with a bit of nepotism either.......I doubt LJ has either.....

Can’t  see what the big deal is.

Trouble is the billionaire isn’t very good at appointing managers 

[Robbored]

1 minute ago, glen humphries said:

Trouble is the billionaire isn’t very good at appointing managers 

Let’s hope he’s got it right this time.

[Eddie Hitler]

9 minutes ago, hodge said:

Degree in Economics and Management. Time spent at Hargreaves Lansdown doing investment help desk and vct research. After that it was the new stadium team for 2 years, appointed executive director which he was for 12 months and then managing director where he's been for 7 years. Level of experience doesn't sound massive for a role of its size at the club. 

It doesn't and had it been anybody else then they wouldn't have been appointed to the role.

However he has one tremendous advantage - Steve can entirely trust Jon to represent his interest at the club honestly and that he will keep him always informed of everything that is going on.

Robert Maxwell did the same with his sons, Alan Sugar with at least one of his.

When you have big money invested you want people you can trust in charge and who is more trustowrthy than your own son (or daughter, I just can't think of any daughter examples offhand)?

If I was Steve I would alos have appointed Jon; you can buy in professional advisers and experience but you can't buy trust.

[glen humphries]

Just now, Robbored said:

Let’s hope he’s got it right this time.

I’m leaning towards he might of got it wrong again

[Lrrr]

5 minutes ago, Robbored said:

I knew he had a degree but didn’t know what in. 

He’s obviously a bright guy whose learnt on the job so to speak. 

The obvious question is if he weren't Steve's son would he have had the chance to learn on the job or would someone with more experience have been appointed in the first place? 

[Eddie Hitler]

2 minutes ago, Robbored said:

Let’s hope he’s got it right this time.

What??? Do you know something we don't Robbo.  What's happened?  Who have we appointed?

[NickJ]

7 minutes ago, Robbored said:

Ah........so you’re not adverse to a bit of nepotism either then Nick. Does anyone question your judgement in that?

Yes, me. I decided that as I own all of my companies 100% with no outside shareholders or any other stakeholder (such as fans) that it was unlikely that anyone would ever be concerned about nepotism.

Other than pea brained t w a t s.

 

[glen humphries]

1 hour ago, Marina's Rolls Royce said:

Lansdown's Job for the Fans:

1)We are still Bristol City

2)We play in an amazing Stadium

3)We have a fantastic training set up and facilities

4) Our youth policy is actually working for the first time ever.

5) Despite losing millions and millions and millions - he still covers the losses and invests in the club

 

I'm completely bewildered why he does it especially when the minute it's not going to the fan's plans or time frame - he and his family get contemptible abuse but please Steve.....

Do it again.

We don’t have amazing training facilities, yet

[Maesknoll Red]

8 minutes ago, Eddie Hitler said:

It doesn't and had it been anybody else then they wouldn't have been appointed to the role.

However he has one tremendous advantage - Steve can entirely trust Jon to represent his interest at the club honestly and that he will keep him always informed of everything that is going on.

Robert Maxwell did the same with his sons, Alan Sugar with at least one of his.

When you have big money invested you want people you can trust in charge and who is more trustowrthy than your own son (or daughter, I just can't think of any daughter examples offhand)?

If I was Steve I would alos have appointed Jon; you can buy in professional advisers and experience but you can't buy trust.

I really can't see why anyone has an issue with Jon getting a job in the family business, it I would suggest, is unlikely that he was given (or has been given) full reign of the business, without referring back to Dad. 

Now if he'd have said "Dad, I want to manage the team" and rocked up in the dugout, that would rightly create a shitstorm, but the role he does aligns with his qualifications, if not quite the level of experience an outside candidate would need.

[Major Isewater]

As I said on another thread , and I agree with me wholeheartedly, the inconvenient truth of the matter is that all the ex-City now employed in different roles at the club do not come from an environment of success at decent levels .

The Liverpool boot room had enough trophies in the cabinet to merit promoting from within and bringing back certain individuals to perpetrate the success. 

For us to move up a level we need to bring in fresh ideas , winning ideas. 

SL is to all evidence a person who functions on a sympathetic level and prefers to surround himself with people who don't rock the boat by questioning his directives. 

 

[Robbored]

19 minutes ago, hodge said:

The obvious question is if he weren't Steve's son would he have had the chance to learn on the job or would someone with more experience have been appointed in the first place? 

Possibly not - but what difference does that make?

[JBFC II]

50 minutes ago, glen humphries said:

For the time being 

What other time is there to look at it? 

[glen humphries]

3 minutes ago, JBFC II said:

What other time is there to look at it? 

Great point, 

[Red-Robbo]

Q: How many clubs have at various points in the past appointed asistant managers as managers - particularly when those assistants have had successful careers at the clubs in question?   A: Bloody loads

Q: How many clubs have members of the owners' family in various executive positions?  A: Bloody loads

Q: How many clubs have appointed qualified former players as assistant coaches?  A: Bloody loads

Q: Does anyone think Lansdown co-built a business empire without being ruthless, but just by employing "mates"?  A: Not anyone who knows him, or has any knowledge of HL.

[CyderInACan]

1 hour ago, Maesknoll Red said:

All clubs are in a transition period at all times, can anyone think of an example where a club has made no signings or loans in a season?

Spurs didn’t sign anyone pre-season I believe. Hasn’t exactly hindered them. 

[Maesknoll Red]

9 minutes ago, CyderInACan said:

Spurs didn’t sign anyone pre-season I believe. Hasn’t exactly hindered them. 

But I have no doubt they are planning for January or next summer, so transition.

[ScottishRed]

2 hours ago, Chappers said:

Tins was a gamble that failed, Millen did well as caretaker (And did things improve when he left?), the amount SL has invested I can excuse nepotism, and Lee was far from the worst candidate at the time. Stability can very often be a good thing.

We sold our 3 best players, we are in transition, hardly merits criticising our benefactor. Look at the positives, O’Leary, Kelly, Morrell, Eliasson, maybe Ade... and Eisa, there are youngsters out on loan doing well. Fantastic stadium, holding our own in the Championship, developing our own players, decent owner. Things are not that bad

But we are not in transition - this is the model, lauded by many on here, sell your 'best' players when you get an acceptable offer.

Under this plan we will be in a permenant state of transition.

The players you mention above won't be here in 2 years if they continue to develop, they will be sold to the highest bidder - that is the model, as will the next batch that come along if they enhance their value.

Whilst the plan makes perfect sense financially and is actually a positive in attracting young, relatively cheap players, as it simply makes us a stepping stone for those players. It does nothing to give us a realistic chance of promotion - zero.

I think our HC does sometimes get frustrated by that but in all honesty that is probably tempered by his realization that he is not going to get another job at this level anytime soon - there is no way his toys are leaving the pram.

Its the same for MA - big salary, big profile now with the FL gig and NO PRESSURE! 

The plan is utterly flawed and anyone who does not see that does not understand this game.

#toocosy

 

 

[BCFC Grim]

Cracking OP. So good I read it twice. Unfortunately it can't be argued. This is a " comfy " club and untill that changes we won't progress on the pitch. Promotion is miles away. I want Johnson gone, but do I trust SL to make the right appointment? Do I ****. 

[BigAl&Toby]

4 hours ago, Boston Red said:

LANSDOWN'S JOBS FOR THE BOYS. NUMBER 1. BRIAN TINNION.

Danny Wilson had lost us the play off final and had failed to get us promoted in four full seasons. Lansdown wanted to cut costs, so they parted company, and then, suddenly, without advertising the job or running interviews (unprofessional), he appointed Tinnion as player-manager. From nowhere. He had no experience. This would cost us one of our very best players. The fans were bemused. The dressing room was bemused. Tinnion always implied he did not have the support of the dressing room, and that there were bad eggs in there not playing for him. Lansdown had to come into the dressing room at times for teamtalks (eg Colchester at home). But the truth is, the dressing room
were probably just as confused as the fans. Lansdown came out fighting.

"Tinnion is not the cheap option. He is the right option"

It is arrogant of Lansdown to think that he is an alchemist who can just make a football manager out of anyone he pleases. You have to have certain talents. Brian Clough said "When you get success for a chairman, he is resentful, and thinks that anyone could have done what you did." But Lansdown was defiant.

"Judge me on Tinnion." He said, loudly and publicly.

OK Steve, I will. Tinnion is currently sat in the dugout in Swansea in an empty stadium 40 minutes after the final whistle. We have lost 7-1. He has a "Vietnam-Vet thousand yard stare" into the distance. He refuses to go back into the dressing room. He refuses to do the press, and Lansdown has to do it. "It could have been 10" Steve told the media. The next day Lansdown goes round to TInnion's house. Tinnion says he cannot face taking training on Monday. Let's be clear. He has not resigned. He has ABDICATED. He has remained in the post of manager while refusing to fulfill his duties. Lansdown has to sack him. I have never seen or heard of a manager ABDICATING like that in 30 years of
following football. Since that day, Tinnion has never tried to be a manager again. He wasn't a manager that failed. He wasn't a manager at all. That bad appointment meant BCFC wasted another 2 years in the third tier. It is the old business saying. "You spend 1% of the time recruiting badly, and 99% of the time dealing from the fallout of your bad recruitment." And this from a so-called business expert!!!

But Lansdown learnt from his mistakes, went through a lengthy search for his next manager, appointed Gary Johnson who had two promotions under his belt, and GJ took us up in his first full season, and then in the Championship, in our first season back, we were TOP with ten games to go. He took us from the bottom of the third tier to the top of the second tier in less than two and a half seasons. Brilliant. When GJ goes, Lansdown has learnt from his mistakes again, and appoints Coppell. But Coppell did not apply for the job. Lansdown headhunted him. Bad sign. Then Coppell won't take over because............he has a holiday in America booked. Clearly he did not really want the job. You can lead a horse to water.........etc etc. Coppell walks, and Lansdown looks silly. Coppell said on Talksport "I was a bit disappointed with the environment I found myself in." Yes Steve Coppell, we know. BCFC is run in an amateurish fashion. And now we come to..............................

LANSDOWN'S JOBS FOR THE BOYS. NUMBER 2. KEITH MILLEN.

You could not have sneezed in the time it took for Lansdown to appoint Millen after Coppell walked. Most Bristol City fans went to bcfc.co.uk and saw the headline "Coppell walks, Millen appointed." Many of them said "Hang on a minute, what just happened there? Why the haste?" Here we go again. Again Lansdown comes out publicly and says "Keith was second in the list behind Coppell. Did a great job as caretaker manager." True, but City now find themselves in a relegation battle. Millen gets us out of it. But the next season another one starts. Millen was on the radio last night. Anyone with half a brain can see he is not a leader of men. He has a voice like soggy cardboard and the manner of a primary school teacher talking gently to six year olds. But no!!! Steve Lansdown can make a football manager out of anyone!!! You just have to flatter his ego and be a thirty-something ex- Bristol City footballer with no experience at all. Under stress people revert to type, and the stress of losing Coppell had reverted Lansdown back into his old error of mediocre internal appointments.

Some of the things Millen said were embarrassing. After losing 3-0 at home to Ipswich on the opening day of the 2011/12 season, Millen said "I didn't see that coming!". By Jove, Keef, the ups and downs of being a football manager. And when we were 2-0 up at home to Reading with ten minutes to go and lost 3-2, Millen said, a few days later "I'm over it now." Well I'm glad you are over it now, Keef, because in a few days you are going to lead your team up to Blackpool, lose 5-0, and lose your job. There is a long delay while City appoint the next manager because..............................wait for it..............................our owner has gone to Africa. This is amateurish. McInnes has had his interview, wants the job, but is kept waiting (City now lose another two games) while Steve finishes safari. But he comes in, turns it round, wins 4 and draws 1 (away to West Ham) and gets us out of the relegation zone. Lansdown then goes on the radio.

I could not believe my ears. I am expecting him to say "Didn't want to sack Millen but it had to be done, but what a great manager we have in Derek Mcinnes. With the same players he has dragged us up the league with 13 points out of 15. Great track record in Scotland, we are really looking forward to hitting the play off places next season."
Lansdown barely mentions McInnes once. Instead he launches into a passionate defence of Keith Millen. Voice quivering with emotion, he tells us how he did not want to sack Keith, and how he cannot wait to give him a glowing reference. How must McInnes have felt hearing that? Clearly if you are a nice-guy yes man like Lee Johnson or Keith Millen
then Lansdown feels a burning personal loyalty to you because you flatter his ego. A winner like McInnes or Cotterill? Not so much. They are discarded very quickly, as soon as possible. Note also that Millen, like Tinnion, never wanted another manager's job again. He was never a manager in the first place.

LANSDOWN'S JOBS FOR THE BOYS. NUMBER 3. JON LANSDOWN.

Do you know Jon Lansdown's job title without looking it up? I don't either.

Do you know what Jon Lansdown actually does at BS3? I don't either.

Do you know what thing Jon Lansdown has to do in the next 18 months otherwise he will get the sack? There isn't one.

Look, of course Steve wants his son to have a job, and Jon Lansdown is surely not the worst employee at BS3. And I am not blaming him. He seems a nice down-to earth guy. And why wouldn't you accept a good job if it was offered to you? But it is jobs for the boys.

LANSDOWN'S JOBS FOR THE BOYS. NUMBER 4. LEE JOHNSON.

So City plummet down the leagues and are back where they started. Facing relegation to the fourth tier. Where they were when Tinnion left. We have spent 50 million for nothing because we can't get a good manager. Lansdown now approves of Keith Dawe's suggestion of Cotterill, who has a good track record. You see, Steve Lansdown can appoint a good manager. We just have to be in the relegation zone of the third tier for him to do it.  His two successful appointments are Gary Johnson and Steve Cotterill, both of whom were appointed when we were facing relegation to the fourth tier. The Five Pillars goes out of the window and we sign 35 year old Wade Elliot. There isn't time for managerial mumbo-jumbo in a relegation battle. Cotterill saves us from relegation, gets us up, but Lansdown seems distant. He doesn't even attend the Wembley
final (Africa again). Cotterill identifies Harry Maguire and Andre Gray, who would have been brilliant signings whom we could have sold on for a King's ransom. But the club isn't interested, Cotterill loses his mojo, so Lansdown appoints Lee Johnson. His record at Oldham and Barnsley is W1 D1 L1. 46 (yes forty-six) signing later, and 25 million pounds
spent, LJ's record at BCFC is..........wait for it.....................W1 D1 L1. He only ever was an average football manager. We could have given the job and all that money to someone
better. But note how a bland Yes-man excites Lansdowns loyalty, like Millen. LJ was given a 3.5 year contract, from 2016 to summer 2019. Generous. He keeps us up in his first half season. Then he spends 11 million. In October City are in 6th. He still has almost 3 years of the contract to go. But Lansdown gives him an extension of another year, to summer 2020. Why? We can only conclude that Lansdown is blown away by the talk, and thinks LJ is much better than he is. Why doesn't he just leave him on his current contract? He's not going anywhere. You know when single women finally find a man and start ringing their friends and family after only two weeks, getting over-excited and over
hopeful? It ends and then they look stupid. Well Lansdown looked stupid when as soon as adding a year to LJ's contract City lost 13 out of 16 league games (including 8 in a row), and were in relegation danger.

Before the Man U game last season, Lansdown told the Sun he prefers Lee Johnson to Jose Mourinho. Excuse me? Yes, Jose is alienating everyone with his negative talk. But he has won over 20 major trophies, including the Champions League, across all of Europe while Lee Johnson has won the square root of diddly squitt. What can we conclude other than that the major requirement of Steve Lansdown's manager seems to be that you flatter his ego first, and win things second?

LANSDOWN'S JOBS FOR THE BOYS. NUMBER 5. JAMIE MCALLISTER.

City are in relegation danger. Lansdown has to do something. Can't sack Golden Boy!!! So he sacks John Pemberton. Then he goes on Radio Bristol. He tells Twentyman "We've appointed Macca...............er.......................er..........................I mean............................Jamie Mcallister." Jobs for the boys.

At some point in the next 5 years Lansdown will have to appoint a new manager. Let us face it, he will be pining and yearning and aching to appoint Jamie Mcallister. Mcallister is small. He has no managerial experience. He played for Bristol City. He is young. He is an internal appointment. He is the classic Lansdown appointee. Lansdown has shown he can appoint a good manager when he has to, like Gary Johnson and Steve Cotterill, but he prefers the Millen/Tinnion/Johnson style appointment. A businessman once said "I am intelligent enough to appoint men more intelligent than I am." Let us hope Steve Lansdown can do that. Socrates said "I know nothing. I am only wise because unlike everyone else, I know that I know nothing". Let us hope that Steve Lansdown can say to himself "I am rubbish at appointing football managers. But at least I know that, and therefore I need to get someone else to do it, or take bucketloads of advice as I do it."

City fans were bewildered when Tinnion got the job without a proper process. City fans were bewildered when Millen got the job without a proper process. City fans were bewildered when Lee Johnson got the job when his record at Oldham and Barnsley was so mediocre. Please Steve. Not again.

Superb. Well said. All in all nothing short of a shambles. I really do wonder who was the brains behind HL.

And @Marina's Rolls Royce

Style over substance? All I want when I come to BS3 is to see consistently good and entertaining football. A win and success would be nice.

I’m really not interested in a shiny stadium or state of the art training facilities. Or a hotel.

All that does is drive income. And for as long as we aren’t playing well we can kiss goodbye to extra revenue like we had last year from the cup run.

And all that developed and home bred talent from Failand? Sold to balance the books and avoid FFP.

Something needs to change. Perhaps it’s my mindset. I’m beginning to think we’ll never see top flight football at the Gate in my lifetime.....

[Red Exile]

Spot on @Boston Red Sums up the managerial fiascos of the Lansdown era very well.