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Why Steve Lansdown doesn’t quite ‘ get it ‘


Major Isewater

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8 hours ago, Major Isewater said:

Loyalty is a quality in life . A foundation  that one can build a future on and SL has it in spades . However when that loyalty is blind to the facts then it just becomes a sort of folly.

How many loyal people have been mistreated by a partner that cheats on them by abusing the trust ? 
 

I quote SL ,

’ "You build a team, you build a team that you trust, you build a team that are real mates together - even now that [Bristol City] team [of 1976] still comes back and spends time here at Aston Gate when they can-  and it’s that magic moment when it comes together," explained Lansdown before the recent 125 year club celebrations.‘

The man , in essence, is right but he’s talking about the industry over forty years ago, times change .

The ‘ churn ‘ of players was less important than today where one good season and a player is off .

It is like trying to build your house on sand for a coach so results need to be almost immediate or either he gets the boot or his best players get sold under his nose .

SL trusts his ‘ team ‘ but are the facts being coloured by this loyalty to them ? As they say ‘ none so blind as those who cannot see ‘ .

 He needs to step back and analyse where we are now and where we are likely to be in the next few years.
 

I fear that he is too emotionally attached to certain individuals and needs to decide really what he wants from the club and communicate this to the supporters. We were told the Prem was the goal , he has backed his coach with the signings but it is now looking difficult for us to achieve a playoff place let alone win them. Result , huge disappointment and unrest . 

Have we advanced ? Are we any closer to the Prem ? 

I may risk  a BigTone condensed version by writing ‘ Johnson Out ‘ but it goes deeper than that . It is SL who ,whilst doing great things for this club , perhaps needs to step out of his comfort zone if he honestly wants a Prem football club at Bristol. 
 

Bristol City under Lansdown has become the home of nepotism par excellance.

it's the safe, unchallenging West country way? Don't appoint anyone who challenges your status quo. Result glue-glue mediocrity.

I say again. Lansdown has definitely not used this as a maxim in his business dealings. Otherwise he would not be a millionaire. Why inflict it on our football Club.

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2 hours ago, Abraham Romanovich said:

Just to throw this into the mix is it really fair for SLl to expect a year on year improvement in league position , if LJ is under the considerable constraint that if a decent offer comes in for any player they will be sold.

Under these conditions my gripe is not so much about league position more about our style of play and complete lack of entertainment/excitement.

This has been going on for 18 months and is slowly sucking the life out of our club.

Playing style is a massive problem.

When we were sold this sustainable future, 5 pillars guff, I was expecting we were going to work towards a playing style which ran right throughout the club, from 1st team squad, right back to development, youth etc.  This was going to create a production line of players, so when senior players were sold, there were younger players coming through, who would already be well versed in the system.

Maybe I was just expecting too much, but I certainly don’t think it’s asking too much to at least have some semblance of a trademark playing style by now. It really looked like we were getting there with the high press and the fans were right on board with that too.  Our record against the Premier League teams we played in that.cup run was superb snd it really looked like a system that could stand the step up if we were promoted.

We’ve really gone massively backwards in playing style since then and player development also seems to be tailing off.  Forget player potential and look at actual performanes on the pitch and I really struggle to see where the big money player sales are going to come from this summer.  

If that is the case, there won’t be much in the transfer kitty for the new season, so whoever is in charge, they’ll need to be able to make the best possible use of the players we have available.  

With LJ’s poor track record in that area, if he’s still in place, he’ll need to make a massive improvement, or I fear next season is going to be very tough one and certainly not ‘easy on the eye’ for us long suffering supporters!

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23 minutes ago, dave36 said:

Johnson is so out of touch if he were given a squad of first team home grown talent drawn from the premiership he could not make them into a unit - how many of our current squad have played as well under LJ’s coaching than they did before they came here?

This.

Don’t know if it’s just me, but I’ve often wondered why so many new signings come in and show some real ability and you think to yourself, imagine what they are going to be like when they build some understanding with their new team-mates.  Instead of that, they go backwards. Massengo and Nagy are two that spring to mind this season.

It’s seems like once the come here, the talent gets coached out of them

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6 hours ago, Fordy62 said:

SL needs to ask himself one thing, would another manager be more likely to get better out of this group of players. 

Yes - sack. 
No - keep. 
 

Simple really. No even the most fervent of LJ supporters could suggest that we’re seeing anything even near 60% of their ability. 

Whilst I do agree to a point, I don’t think that question will be asked after this season. SL will more likely ask if Lee can get anymore out of these players only to be told that the season has been disrupted and with a couple of new additions he can.

No doubt SL realises the season has been disrupted for everyone but will probably nod and open the chequebook once again, or most likely insist once again that our best players are sold. He will probably write this season off and consider indulging Lee for another season will be cheaper than bringing in a new manager who will want to bring his own players in. 

Any change will happen at the end of next season, (unless we have an absolute disaster of course). This gives time for things to get back to normal, and Lee can be put under pressure as he has now had enough time and money as well as a churn of players. 

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6 hours ago, billywedlock said:

I think you will find his focus is on rugby, as there he can see how a Bristol team can become English champions and most probably European champions. That is never going to happen with the football.

TBF with a salary cap of £7m per annum plus 2 marquee players it’s pretty easy for SL to bankroll the Bears to potential European glory. Pat Lam at the helm can attract some of the best talent, literally, in the world. AG is one of the best (if not the best club ground) rugby stadiums in the country, training facility coming along nicely, constant stream of world class players joining every year and a culture of promoting youth to play alongside those superstars. Bristol really are on the rise.

It’s a totally different proposition to the City. The two sports are so hugely different. 

 

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1 hour ago, BrizzleRed said:

This.

Don’t know if it’s just me, but I’ve often wondered why so many new signings come in and show some real ability and you think to yourself, imagine what they are going to be like when they build some understanding with their new team-mates.  Instead of that, they go backwards. Massengo and Nagy are two that spring to mind this season.

It’s seems like once the come here, the talent gets coached out of them

Rigidity of system.  All those things the player does instinctively because they are good players becomes difficult when the coach has developed a system / systems that stifle it.

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3 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Rigidity of system.  All those things the player does instinctively because they are good players becomes difficult when the coach has developed a system / systems that stifle it.

Makes sense when you put it that way.

So we’re stifling the player’s natural talents then.  I wonder where he learned that from (thinks Evander Sno, Lee Trundle!)

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17 minutes ago, BrizzleRed said:

Makes sense when you put it that way.

So we’re stifling the player’s natural talents then.  I wonder where he learned that from (thinks Evander Sno, Lee Trundle!)

That’s only my view.  I see little rotation / fluidity of movement when we have the ball, and poor team shape / togetherness when we don’t have it.

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59 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

That’s only my view.  I see little rotation / fluidity of movement when we have the ball, and poor team shape / togetherness when we don’t have it.

I've given your post a "Like" but while I agree with your comment, I cannot stand the dross that we have to suffer at nine matches out of ten.

If LJ is still at City when the vaccine is available for us old codgers, I won't miss my trips to The Gate. Never thought I would feel this way.

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9 minutes ago, cidered abroad said:

I've given your post a "Like" but while I agree with your comment, I cannot stand the dross that we have to suffer at nine matches out of ten.

If LJ is still at City when the vaccine is available for us old codgers, I won't miss my trips to The Gate. Never thought I would feel this way.

Nor me, I gave LJ the benefit of the doubt earlier this season calling it “pragmatic”, but I look back at 17/18 when I called it “attritional” (because we ground down teams at AG), that is chalk and cheese.  I can handle a tense tactical balance, a 0-0 (Forest home), but the vast majority games have been devoid of much excitement.

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10 hours ago, marcofisher said:

Has the target not been playoffs for the past two seasons? Seems a bit pointless setting the targets at all really. 

I get the feeling previous targets have been aspirational, rather than minimum targets that managers are held accountable for.

Obviously Wilson's was, get promotion.  When we lost to Brighton he was gone.

In LJ's case, if you put in place; something that he is accountable for, both parties can agree when it is not met;  to walk away with some integrity left.

At the moment, it feels like treading water; waiting for the envitable slide; followed by a number of knee jerk reactions to avoid falling head long into league 1 again.

Groundhog day......

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Big, big game Sunday.

Lose and we could be 12th, 5 points (effectively 6 given the GD), with 7 to go and 6 teams to get past.

If everything goes our way we could be 7th and only out of the PO places on GD,  (PNE play Cardiff and we can't overtake both of them). 

I'm wondering if the cautious approach last weekend is showing that LJ is feeling the pressure? If his job was safe, there was no reason why we couldn't have gone gung-ho for the remaining games. We won't go down even if we lose all 8, so is he more concerned with scraping enough points to finish 7th/8th and maintaining the 'progression', rather than a balls-out attempt that could go spectacularly wrong?   

 

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20 minutes ago, fgrsimon said:

Big, big game Sunday.

Lose and we could be 12th, 5 points (effectively 6 given the GD), with 7 to go and 6 teams to get past.

If everything goes our way we could be 7th and only out of the PO places on GD,  (PNE play Cardiff and we can't overtake both of them). 

I'm wondering if the cautious approach last weekend is showing that LJ is feeling the pressure? If his job was safe, there was no reason why we couldn't have gone gung-ho for the remaining games. We won't go down even if we lose all 8, so is he more concerned with scraping enough points to finish 7th/8th and maintaining the 'progression', rather than a balls-out attempt that could go spectacularly wrong?   

 

I didn’t see it at cautious, just wrong.  Two out and out wingers away from home was my concern from the moment someone I know said that was gonna be the side.  During the covid break I looked at various systems and none of them had me choosing both wingers.

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I'll say it again.

SL is more interested in the development of AG / AV as a world class sporting / business / residential / concert area and the ££ that comes with it than seeing BCFC in the Prem.

The club costs him pocket change to run, and he enjoys being in the spotlight with near play-off finishes and the odd cup run.

It's his hobby, and doesn't cost him much.

The guy is a multi-billionaire.

To put that into perspective - and it's bloody hard - SL could buy a luxury house in Clifton every single day for a year and still not make much of a dent in the INTEREST he earns on his money, let alone the CAPITAL.

He is one of the richest owners of a football club in the world (certainly top 30) - and one of the top 6 wealthiest in the UK

https://www.forbes.com/profile/stephen-lansdown/#3b62080f50b0 

He is worth, according to Forbes at £2.3 BILLION - making him the #1001st wealthiest person ON THE PLANET according to their current list.  ON THE PLANET.

He got that by working hard and I don't deny him a penny of it as he worked his arse off for it.

BUT - the development of the land and stadia (plural) are for profit - it's in his DNA to make money. It his life.

People who marvel at the £200 million he has spent simply don't get it - that is peanuts to him.

And it's bought 2 stadiums, heaps of land (about to be re-zoned), shops, offices, flats, hotels - and heaps of conference space, wedding areas, concert venues etc etc.

On a pittance.

The Bears - £7 mil for success. Thats the cap I think.

BCFC - in the Championship - it's costing him NOTHING. Chump change.

Offset all the time by the things he is building on what was once OUR  land and the home of OUR club.

How much are those flats he's flogging?

How much does a wedding cost?

A conference for 1200 with catering.

5000 to sit in the Flyers venue for a concert.

40,000 for the Killers and NIN's?

 

So many people don't get that this offsets BCFC's minimal spend- just different companies.

Lansdown doesn't want the Prem.

Too much hassle.

Too much money - he'd have to spend serious coin to keep us up -  £400million?   £500 million?  More?

There isn't a single player at our club that would be a current starter in a mid-table Prem team. The only one was Webster, and that took a while. Brownhill has played once I think?

 

So for SL the choice is easy.

 

Oh-so-close in the champ for minimal (BY HIS STANDARDS) outlay, whilst building his property/sporting/entertainment/housing empire in South Bristol (which will make him another Billion) OR spend £500 million plus to try to stay up - and the hassle and stress that comes with it.

And probably fail.

 

SL is quite happy being 'nearly there' - and until that changes, expect NOTHING ELSE to change, especially mediocre managers who are essentially glorified 'yes-men' with big egos and small talent. And therefore do as they are bloody well told.

 

Will BCFC be in a much better place off-field - YES

Will this continue with new owners - YES, as the income is built into the stadium complex. Steve Lansdown has made BCFC safe for ever in a financial sense as the off-field revenue, when his mega-complex is finished, ensures this.

Thankyou for that SL - and you will make another fortune doing that - so it's win-win.

 

But City in the Prem?

SL would have to radically re-think his HOBBY. A hobby does not cost someone £500 million to become competitive. A HOBBY should not involve mega-stress. A HOBBY is not something which someone gives control to someone else to run.

A HOBBY isn't having to be told you are wrong by a successful coach. 

 

So folks, until SL decides he wants BCFC to stop being a HOBBY and become a successful football club, nothing will change.

More 'Yes Men'.

More 'Bristol Sport' branding.

More building the South Bristol Empire - no interest in going to the Prem.

 

Have a look at how many fans who were employed at BS have been replaced by David Brent Clones.

Look at the poor communication between Bristol Sport and it's "customers". 

It really is 'us and them' now.

 

Steve Lansdown will continue to build the South Bristol empire - the big question is wether he wants BCFC to be a player in that.

Or remain his hobby.

 

 

 

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14 hours ago, Bristol Rob said:

I think he'll stick with him, unless we show real signs of going backwards.

This season has been 'different' and despite our performance against Blackburn, we are still in with a shout of the play offs.

Add to that the players coming back from loan and SL might be expecting a cheap summer.

Only thing that might change, is if another club wants to speak to LJ, there might not be as much resistance as, say, 2 years ago.

No way will any club in a higher division look at johnson its all paper talk Neil warnock summed him up bullshit and hot air.

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16 hours ago, The Horse With No Name said:

He was red faced because he wanted Johnson out himself. I say this as someone who had an aquaintance at the very core of the inner circle, and although SL would obviously have the final say on anything major, he is a man who believes any big decisions should be unanimous across the board of directors. Steve Lansdown would have pulled the trigger during that run of defeats, except a certain Mr. Dawe was adamant he wanted him to stay.

If Steve Lansdown is dependent upon Keith Dawes say so then why did he undermine Keith's managerial appointment? I think he is an autocrat and if I had bankrolled the club like him I would be too. Problem is in football matters he hasn't a clue. 

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8 hours ago, billywedlock said:

Exactly, hence why the focus is there with rugby. 

I don’t think it is though, first and foremost he’s a football man, stepping in to save Bristol was too good an opportunity to miss I think. You could say it fitted the business plan. 

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21 hours ago, Steve Watts said:

Don't confuse target with minimum requirements.

A target is something to aspire to.  Minimum requirements are the least acceptable outcome.

If we miss out this season then I think SL has to ditch Lee.  He set the play-offs as a minimum requirement this year and I would be disappointed if he used Covid-19 as a get out clause for that.  And I've always been a big advocate for LJ, but I am starting to wonder if the partnership has gone as far as it can. 

What concerns me is that LJ's passion for the club is evident.  He is a fan (bearing in mind he didn't say in one place growing up to build an attachment to anyone else), and I would struggle to find many examples of success where a fan has taken over their club.  Locally, you look at Skeletor and Tinman (who developed a massive love for us).  You're too emotionally invested to sometimes see what's in front of you.  You expect everyone to have the same passion as you, and unfortunately that's not going to be the case. 

Barring a massive turnaround or a lack of viable alternatives, then Lee's tenure could be coming to an end.

 

11 hours ago, ncnsbcfc said:

I get the feeling previous targets have been aspirational, rather than minimum targets that managers are held accountable for.

Obviously Wilson's was, get promotion.  When we lost to Brighton he was gone.

In LJ's case, if you put in place; something that he is accountable for, both parties can agree when it is not met;  to walk away with some integrity left.

At the moment, it feels like treading water; waiting for the envitable slide; followed by a number of knee jerk reactions to avoid falling head long into league 1 again.

Groundhog day......

I seem to remember, before the first match of the 18/19 season, SL being on Radio Bristol saying that top 6 was the "minimum expectation". I could be completely wrong. But even if they were aspirational targets, how many chairman would allow two failed attempts at that target?

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SL gets it perfectly well. He puts money into the Club, his priority is creating a sustainable football club, maximising revenues from non football activities, whilst the football club balances the books. All seems pretty good to me, creating a stable and viable Club.

Or should we have a shyster who chucks money at players/ managers, with zero guarantee of success, and if it all goes horribly wrong (as it usually does), years of debt and struggle.

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22 minutes ago, Chappers said:

SL gets it perfectly well. He puts money into the Club, his priority is creating a sustainable football club, maximising revenues from non football activities, whilst the football club balances the books. All seems pretty good to me, creating a stable and viable Club.

Or should we have a shyster who chucks money at players/ managers, with zero guarantee of success, and if it all goes horribly wrong (as it usually does), years of debt and struggle.

What he doesn’t get is that no modern day football club can repeat what we did in the seventies.

Players , even in the academy, don’t hang around long enough to become ‘ family ‘ like the old First division boys did .

No one is suggesting throwing stupid money ( which we cannot do any more thanks to FFP ) at the club but that being too close and cosy with employees who may well have become stale , burnt out and keeping them on too long will result in the club going backwards. 
 

Is Steve Lansdown, himself , in too comfortable a situation to take the risks necessary to move the club forward ?

Is he ruthlessly going about getting this club into the Prem ?

Can you honestly believe that everything is rosy in the garden ?
 

Do you watch the awful , confused football being offered up ? 

If he wants us just to bumble about in the Championship with the occasional cup run that’s not so bad but he should tell us , the punters , the truth and not fob us off with lies about Prem ambitions , which inevitably create disappointment when what’s happening on the pitch is incoherent with the message.

 I have enormous respect for Steve Lansdown but just question if he really , deep down is prepared to be singleminded enough to fulfill his dream of City in the Prem. Does he really want the hassle of the battle ? 

Other owners do .

 

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11 hours ago, SX227 said:

I'll say it again.

SL is more interested in the development of AG / AV as a world class sporting / business / residential / concert area and the ££ that comes with it than seeing BCFC in the Prem.

The club costs him pocket change to run, and he enjoys being in the spotlight with near play-off finishes and the odd cup run.

It's his hobby, and doesn't cost him much.

The guy is a multi-billionaire.

To put that into perspective - and it's bloody hard - SL could buy a luxury house in Clifton every single day for a year and still not make much of a dent in the INTEREST he earns on his money, let alone the CAPITAL.

He is one of the richest owners of a football club in the world (certainly top 30) - and one of the top 6 wealthiest in the UK

https://www.forbes.com/profile/stephen-lansdown/#3b62080f50b0 

He is worth, according to Forbes at £2.3 BILLION - making him the #1001st wealthiest person ON THE PLANET according to their current list.  ON THE PLANET.

He got that by working hard and I don't deny him a penny of it as he worked his arse off for it.

BUT - the development of the land and stadia (plural) are for profit - it's in his DNA to make money. It his life.

People who marvel at the £200 million he has spent simply don't get it - that is peanuts to him.

And it's bought 2 stadiums, heaps of land (about to be re-zoned), shops, offices, flats, hotels - and heaps of conference space, wedding areas, concert venues etc etc.

On a pittance.

The Bears - £7 mil for success. Thats the cap I think.

BCFC - in the Championship - it's costing him NOTHING. Chump change.

Offset all the time by the things he is building on what was once OUR  land and the home of OUR club.

How much are those flats he's flogging?

How much does a wedding cost?

A conference for 1200 with catering.

5000 to sit in the Flyers venue for a concert.

40,000 for the Killers and NIN's?

 

So many people don't get that this offsets BCFC's minimal spend- just different companies.

Lansdown doesn't want the Prem.

Too much hassle.

Too much money - he'd have to spend serious coin to keep us up -  £400million?   £500 million?  More?

There isn't a single player at our club that would be a current starter in a mid-table Prem team. The only one was Webster, and that took a while. Brownhill has played once I think?

 

So for SL the choice is easy.

 

Oh-so-close in the champ for minimal (BY HIS STANDARDS) outlay, whilst building his property/sporting/entertainment/housing empire in South Bristol (which will make him another Billion) OR spend £500 million plus to try to stay up - and the hassle and stress that comes with it.

And probably fail.

 

SL is quite happy being 'nearly there' - and until that changes, expect NOTHING ELSE to change, especially mediocre managers who are essentially glorified 'yes-men' with big egos and small talent. And therefore do as they are bloody well told.

 

Will BCFC be in a much better place off-field - YES

Will this continue with new owners - YES, as the income is built into the stadium complex. Steve Lansdown has made BCFC safe for ever in a financial sense as the off-field revenue, when his mega-complex is finished, ensures this.

Thankyou for that SL - and you will make another fortune doing that - so it's win-win.

 

But City in the Prem?

SL would have to radically re-think his HOBBY. A hobby does not cost someone £500 million to become competitive. A HOBBY should not involve mega-stress. A HOBBY is not something which someone gives control to someone else to run.

A HOBBY isn't having to be told you are wrong by a successful coach. 

 

So folks, until SL decides he wants BCFC to stop being a HOBBY and become a successful football club, nothing will change.

More 'Yes Men'.

More 'Bristol Sport' branding.

More building the South Bristol Empire - no interest in going to the Prem.

 

Have a look at how many fans who were employed at BS have been replaced by David Brent Clones.

Look at the poor communication between Bristol Sport and it's "customers". 

It really is 'us and them' now.

 

Steve Lansdown will continue to build the South Bristol empire - the big question is wether he wants BCFC to be a player in that.

Or remain his hobby.

 

 

 

Absolutely withering presentation.

We are cursed with him and my gut-wrenching torture will continue until I die unless he goes before.

Must have a lie-down and a Cydrax.

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11 hours ago, SX227 said:

I'll say it again.

SL is more interested in the development of AG / AV as a world class sporting / business / residential / concert area and the ££ that comes with it than seeing BCFC in the Prem.

The club costs him pocket change to run, and he enjoys being in the spotlight with near play-off finishes and the odd cup run.

It's his hobby, and doesn't cost him much.

The guy is a multi-billionaire.

To put that into perspective - and it's bloody hard - SL could buy a luxury house in Clifton every single day for a year and still not make much of a dent in the INTEREST he earns on his money, let alone the CAPITAL.

He is one of the richest owners of a football club in the world (certainly top 30) - and one of the top 6 wealthiest in the UK

https://www.forbes.com/profile/stephen-lansdown/#3b62080f50b0 

He is worth, according to Forbes at £2.3 BILLION - making him the #1001st wealthiest person ON THE PLANET according to their current list.  ON THE PLANET.

He got that by working hard and I don't deny him a penny of it as he worked his arse off for it.

BUT - the development of the land and stadia (plural) are for profit - it's in his DNA to make money. It his life.

People who marvel at the £200 million he has spent simply don't get it - that is peanuts to him.

And it's bought 2 stadiums, heaps of land (about to be re-zoned), shops, offices, flats, hotels - and heaps of conference space, wedding areas, concert venues etc etc.

On a pittance.

The Bears - £7 mil for success. Thats the cap I think.

BCFC - in the Championship - it's costing him NOTHING. Chump change.

Offset all the time by the things he is building on what was once OUR  land and the home of OUR club.

How much are those flats he's flogging?

How much does a wedding cost?

A conference for 1200 with catering.

5000 to sit in the Flyers venue for a concert.

40,000 for the Killers and NIN's?

 

So many people don't get that this offsets BCFC's minimal spend- just different companies.

Lansdown doesn't want the Prem.

Too much hassle.

Too much money - he'd have to spend serious coin to keep us up -  £400million?   £500 million?  More?

There isn't a single player at our club that would be a current starter in a mid-table Prem team. The only one was Webster, and that took a while. Brownhill has played once I think?

 

So for SL the choice is easy.

 

Oh-so-close in the champ for minimal (BY HIS STANDARDS) outlay, whilst building his property/sporting/entertainment/housing empire in South Bristol (which will make him another Billion) OR spend £500 million plus to try to stay up - and the hassle and stress that comes with it.

And probably fail.

 

SL is quite happy being 'nearly there' - and until that changes, expect NOTHING ELSE to change, especially mediocre managers who are essentially glorified 'yes-men' with big egos and small talent. And therefore do as they are bloody well told.

 

Will BCFC be in a much better place off-field - YES

Will this continue with new owners - YES, as the income is built into the stadium complex. Steve Lansdown has made BCFC safe for ever in a financial sense as the off-field revenue, when his mega-complex is finished, ensures this.

Thankyou for that SL - and you will make another fortune doing that - so it's win-win.

 

But City in the Prem?

SL would have to radically re-think his HOBBY. A hobby does not cost someone £500 million to become competitive. A HOBBY should not involve mega-stress. A HOBBY is not something which someone gives control to someone else to run.

A HOBBY isn't having to be told you are wrong by a successful coach. 

 

So folks, until SL decides he wants BCFC to stop being a HOBBY and become a successful football club, nothing will change.

More 'Yes Men'.

More 'Bristol Sport' branding.

More building the South Bristol Empire - no interest in going to the Prem.

 

Have a look at how many fans who were employed at BS have been replaced by David Brent Clones.

Look at the poor communication between Bristol Sport and it's "customers". 

It really is 'us and them' now.

 

Steve Lansdown will continue to build the South Bristol empire - the big question is wether he wants BCFC to be a player in that.

Or remain his hobby.

 

 

 

The bit I don’t agree with is he’s not interested in the Prem....the £100m each season would be very useful. I know it comes with costs too, but his prudence would see profit.  A sensible model where relegation would mean we were strong to “go again”.

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On 26/06/2020 at 11:14, Bristol Rob said:

I think he'll stick with him, unless we show real signs of going backwards.

This season has been 'different' and despite our performance against Blackburn, we are still in with a shout of the play offs.

Add to that the players coming back from loan and SL might be expecting a cheap summer.

Only thing that might change, is if another club wants to speak to LJ, there might not be as much resistance as, say, 2 years ago.

I think you’re right Rob, Lansdown will stick with him. Why, I don’t know. This season should be a playoff place  as a minimum anything less for me is going to be a poor season. We do need a change and I do hope a club comes in for Johnson.

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Lansdown has forever had this image of recruiting young players supplemented with academy players, we sell, reinvest and slowly improve.

He has tried to implement this since the appointment of Tinnion, in large this plan has failed and he has been badly burnt by the managers he has selected.

SL finally has his plan being implemented but to do this  he has had to appoint a yes man type manager.

Though we have seen his plan coming to fruition we are now in a position that we need to upgrade this manager to move into the next tier.

Unfortunately SL has been so burnt by previous managers especially those who have stood up to him he will not risk making a change unless we have an absolute disaster. 

This coaching team has gone stale and also now out of their depth, unfortunately our owners vision is clouded and a change will not be made anytime soon.

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On 26/06/2020 at 10:27, Major Isewater said:

Loyalty is a quality in life . A foundation  that one can build a future on and SL has it in spades . However when that loyalty is blind to the facts then it just becomes a sort of folly.

How many loyal people have been mistreated by a partner that cheats on them by abusing the trust ? 
 

I quote SL ,

’ "You build a team, you build a team that you trust, you build a team that are real mates together - even now that [Bristol City] team [of 1976] still comes back and spends time here at Aston Gate when they can-  and it’s that magic moment when it comes together," explained Lansdown before the recent 125 year club celebrations.‘

The man , in essence, is right but he’s talking about the industry over forty years ago, times change .

The ‘ churn ‘ of players was less important than today where one good season and a player is off .

It is like trying to build your house on sand for a coach so results need to be almost immediate or either he gets the boot or his best players get sold under his nose .

SL trusts his ‘ team ‘ but are the facts being coloured by this loyalty to them ? As they say ‘ none so blind as those who cannot see ‘ .

 He needs to step back and analyse where we are now and where we are likely to be in the next few years.
 

I fear that he is too emotionally attached to certain individuals and needs to decide really what he wants from the club and communicate this to the supporters. We were told the Prem was the goal , he has backed his coach with the signings but it is now looking difficult for us to achieve a playoff place let alone win them. Result , huge disappointment and unrest . 

Have we advanced ? Are we any closer to the Prem ? 

I may risk  a BigTone condensed version by writing ‘ Johnson Out ‘ but it goes deeper than that . It is SL who ,whilst doing great things for this club , perhaps needs to step out of his comfort zone if he honestly wants a Prem football club at Bristol. 
 

I agree major its all about togetherness you only had to see the team under cotts to see that aswell.

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Do you not think that Lansdown - a man with massive personal wealth doesn’t want to be in the Premier league where the clubs (Bristol sport) income will treble ? Of course he does.

Unless LJ is his own personal bumboy he will be down the road if he doesn’t hit his target

(I hope)

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