Richard Gould

[Pezo]

7 minutes ago, Red-Robbo said:

 

The basic truths being: the team is in turmoil, the manager is ill and we don't know when he's coming back and we have no plan other than to expose a recently appointed assistant by putting him in sole charge of the situation.  

Yep.

[sh1t_ref_again]

25 minutes ago, Red-Robbo said:

 

The basic truths being: the team is in turmoil, the manager is ill and we don't know when he's coming back and we have no plan other than to expose a recently appointed assistant by putting him in sole charge of the situation.  

So you expect the CEO of a company to spell out any plans they are considering for various possible scenario's on a radio interview? apart from the fact contract / legally could be difficult negotiations to be had, but we are in a period of short term uncertainty until NP feels well enough to continue or we get to a situation where changes have to be made.

With regards to Shakespeare he said no discussions were being had, does not mean they are not going to be

The person Gt could have asked about coming in and giving support and may be a good short term solution is Tinman

 

[exAtyeoMax]

1 hour ago, mozo said:

It's not what he said, it's how he said it. 

He kept avoiding giving straight answers. Why not emphatically say that Nige wishes he was back with the team? Why not emphatically confirm that we're desperate for Nige to be our long term manager? Why not emphatically confirm that we are in contract negotiations with Massengo?

If the whole point of the interview is to give reassurance to fans you have to be specific and assertive, not vague and evasive.

It's really in keeping with the bumbling public relations output that Bristol City operate. Always trying to stage manage but always doing so in a clumsy way.

Remember the Diedhiou statements from Ashton, and the radio silence appointing Holden, then the misinformation about Holden's coaches, then Jon L goes missing during the Holden sacking, then Lansdown does a radio appearance and patronises the supporters trust and casually drops a bombshell that we're looking for investment in the club and since then no further detail. Now another clunky attempt at reassuring fans and we come away wondering why Gould was so unsure about everything he said.

Is Lisa Knights still at the club? Didn’t she deal with a lot of PR?

[Davefevs]

4 hours ago, VT05763 said:

allowing players to dribble.

Why do you keep repeating this statement?

3 hours ago, Pezo said:

Watch his YouTube interview.

 

 

 

 

If you want to waste time, it's exactly the same.

i watched the YT club interview after I’d listened to the BBCRB one.  The first thing that struck me was the sequence of discussion.

RG’s club video was focused on “performance”, (a proactive international break update) he didn’t touch on Nige until midway through.  I would guess that this was recorded prior to the social media furore….might’ve even been done on Sunday?

I’ve no idea whether the decision to request time with Geoff was in response to knowing that the club video was going out later that afternoon or a result of social media rumours.  Geoff tweeted at 12:01 yesterday, so he must’ve got a call sometime before that.

I didn’t get my DM until 13:22….not sure when BS4 got his info?  I heard a shitty rumour at 8am too, which I dismissed.

Edited November 9, 2021 by Davefevs

[Davefevs]

42 minutes ago, mozo said:

Don't worry because our physio has loads of experience and will pick the team and Cisse does loads of jobs, so will cover the physiotherapy, and Scotty is a club legend so will do the 1st team training, and Kadji has just signed a deal so he'll head up recruitment...

In fairness his response about Cisse was perfectly fine imho.  He’s a coach primarily but does some scouting too.

7 minutes ago, exAtyeoMax said:

Is Lisa Knights still at the club? Didn’t she deal with a lot of PR?

I believe so, she’s the Group Head of Comms, Dave Barton is the Football Club Head of Comms.

Guesswork, is that he reports into Lisa from a processes, practices, HR perspective, and into Richard Gould from a day to day football side of things.

[mozo]

14 minutes ago, exAtyeoMax said:

Is Lisa Knights still at the club? Didn’t she deal with a lot of PR?

Good question, not sure [edit Fevs has answered].

It's simple stuff:

1. What do we want to say?

2. What is an easy way of saying it?

3. Say it like you mean it.

"Nige is desperate to come back" is good.

"I'm sure he does want to return" [said in uncertain tone] is not so good.

Edited November 9, 2021 by mozo

[Super]

10 minutes ago, exAtyeoMax said:

Is Lisa Knights still at the club? Didn’t she deal with a lot of PR?

Probably followed Ashton....

[mozo]

7 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

In fairness his response about Cisse was perfectly fine imho.  He’s a coach primarily but does some scouting too.

I believe so, she’s the Group Head of Comms, Dave Barton is the Football Club Head of Comms.

Guesswork, is that he reports into Lisa from a processes, practices, HR perspective, and into Richard Gould from a day to day football side of things.

Yeah, I didn't take issue with Gould's Cisse comments. 

It was more the Rennie reference, our unconvincing current set up and, mainly, I just wanted a cheap laugh!

 

Edit: also while I'm banging on about this PR appraisal, Gould was well within his rights to sidestep questions about the playing style and any on the pitch specifics. A gentle "I'm not the best man to talk about that" would be fine. The high press comment was ill-advised and he got dragged into justifying the playing style.

Edited November 9, 2021 by mozo

[steviestevieneville]

2 hours ago, oldstandrobin said:

Spot on Stevie, it all stems from SL's running of Bristol Sport with BCFC being the ugly sister. Forget it was OUR ground, forget we all go there for the football, forget BRC played at the Mem, it's SL's big vision except for one valuable point.....He's clueless on Football.

I don’t necessarily agree with that re Bristol sport. I’ve had a pop at Lansdown & rightly so. The reasons  are purely footballing reasons / manager appointments/ mark ashton. I’ve never doubted his financial commitment to the club , but how that’s been spent . All eggs in one basket regarding Ashton (twice) spiralling wage bill (twice) no forward planning in place , no succession planning in place . That’s cost him £m’s & all of us time. 
Now Richard Gould has said the wage bill is treble what it should be. That , with covid has put us in a terrible position . How the hell was Ashton allowed to treble the wage bill, bring in substandard players & also earn a eye watering £500k salary.

For a bloke who’s a self made billionaire , he’s bloody gullible . 

[Red-Robbo]

41 minutes ago, sh1t_ref_again said:

So you expect the CEO of a company to spell out any plans they are considering for various possible scenario's on a radio interview? apart from the fact contract / legally could be difficult negotiations to be had, but we are in a period of short term uncertainty until NP feels well enough to continue or we get to a situation where changes have to be made.

With regards to Shakespeare he said no discussions were being had, does not mean they are not going to be

The person Gt could have asked about coming in and giving support and may be a good short term solution is Tinman

 

 

I expect them to spell out that they HAVE a plan.

Not sort of vaguely say "Nigel is still here. We don't know when he'll be back."

Just to remind you, this hasn't suddenly happened. Pearson did not suddenly fall ill before the Coventry match. Reports say he hasn't been well for months and has already had to take time off this season. 

They have had a while to mull over options and though - of course- I don't expect them to reveal details of contracts and negotiations, I do expect them to have done something other than wring their hands.

There was no indication from that interview that they have done anything. 

[Davefevs]

[mozo]

6 minutes ago, Red-Robbo said:

 

I expect them to spell out that they HAVE a plan.

Not sort of vaguely say "Nigel is still here. We don't know when he'll be back."

Just to remind you, this hasn't suddenly happened. Pearson did not suddenly fall ill before the Coventry match. Reports say he hasn't been well for months and has already had to take time off this season. 

They have had a while to mull over options and though - of course- I don't expect them to reveal details of contracts and negotiations, I do expect them to have done something other than wring their hands.

There was no indication from that interview that they have done anything. 

Totally agree  

The tone of recent statements gives the strong impression that the board are confused about how to proceed.

You can't help but think that the club is scrambling to figure out how to delicately separate from Pearson without giving the game away.

[mozo]

3 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Cheers Fevs.

Lisa Knights seems like a nice person, but boy there's a lot of amateur comms from this club. 

Edit: I guess I'm talking about exec level comms here. I'm sure they're happy with the general daily Twitter output.

Edited November 9, 2021 by mozo

[Davefevs]

11 minutes ago, mozo said:

Cheers Fevs.

Lisa Knights seems like a nice person, but boy there's a lot of amateur comms from this club. 

Edit: I guess I'm talking about exec level comms here. I'm sure they're happy with the general daily Twitter output.

She doesn’t have a good reputation on here, think it’s because of the Tim Shires / Adam Baker stuff….but I cannot comment on that.  I would say that I think she was the best Robinstv presenter we’ve had.

[REDOXO]

9 hours ago, Simon bristol said:

To be fair thats every pro footballer of the late 70s!

It was 74 And They were on the same team that day!! 

Edited November 9, 2021 by REDOXO

[Henry]

43 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Seeing it on the black and white, the coaching side does seem a bit light, as Cisse is not strictly full time.

[mozo]

29 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

She doesn’t have a good reputation on here, think it’s because of the Tim Shires / Adam Baker stuff….but I cannot comment on that.  I would say that I think she was the best Robinstv presenter we’ve had.

But do Steve L, Jon L and Gould meet with her to discuss their PR messaging on Radio Bristol and the like? 

Let's assume not, because otherwise she's either not helping them at all, or they don't listen.

[CotswoldRed]

15 hours ago, Simon bristol said:

I understand he asked to come on the show, so kudos to him, but you can almost imagine boris coming out with some of those answers, kinda waffling, not able to give an answer but trying to sound clever. 

If I had just about nothing to say, I wouldn't have bothered. 

[Davefevs]

37 minutes ago, mozo said:

But do Steve L, Jon L and Gould meet with her to discuss their PR messaging on Radio Bristol and the like? 

Let's assume not, because otherwise she's either not helping them at all, or they don't listen.

Dunno

[blockbrowt1]

Sorry didn't work for me I'm afraid. Just a load of senior management waffle.

[Sarumred]

17 minutes ago, CotswoldRed said:

If I had just about nothing to say, I wouldn't have bothered. 

He's damned if he does and damned if he doesn't. RG/the club in a no win situation by many on here.

[Davefevs]

52 minutes ago, Henry said:

Seeing it on the black and white, the coaching side does seem a bit light, as Cisse is not strictly full time.

Hasn’t been updated with Alex Ball, for info.

[sh1t_ref_again]

1 hour ago, Red-Robbo said:

 

I expect them to spell out that they HAVE a plan.

Not sort of vaguely say "Nigel is still here. We don't know when he'll be back."

Just to remind you, this hasn't suddenly happened. Pearson did not suddenly fall ill before the Coventry match. Reports say he hasn't been well for months and has already had to take time off this season. 

They have had a while to mull over options and though - of course- I don't expect them to reveal details of contracts and negotiations, I do expect them to have done something other than wring their hands.

There was no indication from that interview that they have done anything. 

Are you really that naive to think a higher paid CEO who is very experienced in the sports industry, knowing that NP has long covid has not started to plan for different eventualities. Just because he did not spell it on radio Bristol dose not mean its not been done. As pointed out elsewhere in words of our past CEO, for once he would have it correct, the situation is "fluid", and whilst its a very difficult position to be in, we have to accept and deal with it and see how NP's health progresses.

But you would rather portray they will be rushing to find the back of a fag packet to work it out on soon as they are not clever enough to think they might need a plan,

[Red-Robbo]

Just now, sh1t_ref_again said:

Are you really that naive to think a higher paid CEO who is very experienced in the sports industry, knowing that NP has long covid has not started to plan for different eventualities. Just because he did not spell it on radio Bristol dose not mean its not been done. As pointed out elsewhere in words of our past CEO, for once he would have it correct, the situation is "fluid", and whilst its a very difficult position to be in, we have to accept and deal with it and see how NP's health progresses.

But you would rather portray they will be rushing to find the back of a fag packet to work it out on soon as they are not clever enough to think they might need a plan,

 

If he has then SAY he has. As I say, we don't need to be privy to everything, but we - the paying punters - have been with the club far longer than he has. Our families have often been for many decades upon decades. It's OUR club, not Lansdown's or the club executives. They are its temporary custodians.  We ask them to just give us a clue that you have some ideas on what to do, rather than just hope NP gets well very soon and is back to 100% health. 

I'd say that you are the naïve one in thinking that this club - the club that took weeks to decide to appoint Dean Holden - has done any planning at all before this point. I'll remind you, this situation has been going on for months. The decline in the team's effectiveness has been going on for months as well.

If they have plans, Gould should have said they have, because this thread and many others are testimony to the fact that all his interviews have done are sow confusion about the future, create doubt, anger fans and look like things are simply drifting out of control at Ashton Gate. 

[phantom]

36 minutes ago, Sarumred said:

He's damned if he does and damned if he doesn't. RG/the club in a no win situation by many on here.

So why did the club request the radio Bristol interview then?

[Sarumred]

Had the club/RG not requested the interview there would have been widespread criticism of the club not communicating with their fan base, given our recent run of bad form and NP's health situation. We now have a situation that RG is being criticised, by some, for giving the said interview. Hence my original comment.

[mozo]

1 hour ago, Davefevs said:

Dunno

I want the TRUTH!!!!

 

[Wait for it...]

 

[Red Exile]

34 minutes ago, Red-Robbo said:

 

If he has then SAY he has. As I say, we don't need to be privy to everything, but we - the paying punters - have been with the club far longer than he has. Our families have often been for many decades upon decades. It's OUR club, not Lansdown's or the club executives. They are its temporary custodians.  We ask them to just give us a clue that you have some ideas on what to do, rather than just hope NP gets well very soon and is back to 100% health. 

I'd say that you are the naïve one in thinking that this club - the club that took weeks to decide to appoint Dean Holden - has done any planning at all before this point. I'll remind you, this situation has been going on for months. The decline in the team's effectiveness has been going on for months as well.

If they have plans, Gould should have said they have, because this thread and many others are testimony to the fact that all his interviews have done are sow confusion about the future, create doubt, anger fans and look like things are simply drifting out of control at Ashton Gate. 

Well said! I suspect that we both work in the media. 

As I said immediately after he'd finished speaking I felt the Richard Gould interview with Geoff was a car crash - stumbling and mumbling, drawn into speculation, optimism for the future built on nothing more than wishful thinking. When what was needed was clarity, confidence and reassurance. Geoff Twentyman is inclined to be generous to his interviewees, he doesn't want to burn bridges, but he is very good at his job, has been for a decade or more, Gould needed more preparation and a positive story to tell. 

The club has been in turmoil for several seasons. A shambles for over a year. This has all the hallmarks of previous Lansdown debacles. I note that elsewhere there has been a call for Tinnion...I can recall exactly where I was when it was announced that Brian Tinnion was being appointed manager, my heart sank, seemed as terrible a decision at the time as it does now.

I've broadly given up - but find myself drawn back to the flames as yet again City appear to be crashing and burning.

[whoklldredrobin]

I'd argue this was the most telling quote of them all. 

From BBC Sport:

Gould refused to be drawn on changes that might be made to the squad during the January transfer window, but praised the level of investment the team receives from majority shareholder Steve Lansdown.

"The investment that goes in already is genuinely exceptional. Our salary bills are probably twice the level that what we would otherwise be able to afford if we were relying on media revenues and gate income," Gould said. 

"The amount of investment is not in question, the issue is we need to get as much of that on the pitch as possible at any one time. We need to make every pound count. 

"There are clubs above us in this league currently with much smaller wage bills and they are simply managing to get more of their paying talent on the pitch performing and that's something that we now need to make sure we're doing."

[Phileas Fogg]

42 minutes ago, Red Exile said:

Well said! I suspect that we both work in the media. 

As I said immediately after he'd finished speaking I felt the Richard Gould interview with Geoff was a car crash - stumbling and mumbling, drawn into speculation, optimism for the future built on nothing more than wishful thinking. When what was needed was clarity, confidence and reassurance. Geoff Twentyman is inclined to be generous to his interviewees, he doesn't want to burn bridges, but he is very good at his job, has been for a decade or more, Gould needed more preparation and a positive story to tell. 

The club has been in turmoil for several seasons. A shambles for over a year. This has all the hallmarks of previous Lansdown debacles. I note that elsewhere there has been a call for Tinnion...I can recall exactly where I was when it was announced that Brian Tinnion was being appointed manager, my heart sank, seemed as terrible a decision at the time as it does now.

I've broadly given up - but find myself drawn back to the flames as yet again City appear to be crashing and burning.

Totally agree. I’m usually fairly positive but I was very concerned by that interview. I watched the video today which was equally as poor.