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Lansdown willing to sell the club


Negan

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Gregor on Twitter, quoting SL:

On looking for new investment: "I'm not going to bring any person in but we are looking... I would [sell the club] if it was the right deal. But I'm not looking to sell the club, if you put it that way, I'm looking for people to come in and invest." 

So, not selling up?!

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I wonder how worried we should be, if at all, that the club has in effect been up for sale for 2+ years (at least one year privately, and about a year since SL publicly stated he was "seeking investment") and yet no deal is imminent. 

Granted, the pandemic will have caused many potential investors to exercise caution, and that will not have changed with the current global financial climate, but as fans, we of course have no idea what Steve's asking price is, or even what exactly is up for sale.

Is it Ashton Gate too? If it isn't, that could be a sizeable stumbling block. Is it the sporting quarter? Is it the other sports groups? I'm guessing the Bears are not explicitly "for sale" otherwise he would have made it known they are on rugby media channels. But one assumes they have their price too.  

I have nothing to benchmark us against, but I'd have thought in normal circumstances, when it became known that an English club like ours was up for sale, there would be some serious interest pretty quickly. 

Now Steve has confirmed that the ownership of the club is up for grabs, it's really in everyone's interests for this to be resolved as soon as possible. He's made it clear his family want to dispose of the club, and don't want to invest further serious sums of cash. So we need a resolution ASAP, and certainly not for this to drag on for another two years. 

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16 minutes ago, mozo said:

Gregor on Twitter, quoting SL:

On looking for new investment: "I'm not going to bring any person in but we are looking... I would [sell the club] if it was the right deal. But I'm not looking to sell the club, if you put it that way, I'm looking for people to come in and invest." 

So, not selling up?!

This clip provides the full context. Club definitely for sale at the right price. 

It's strange he's trying to go down the "bring investment on board" route. I think he's living in cloud cuckoo land if he thinks someone's going to invest £10s millions and not want  complete control. 

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1 hour ago, Kid in the Riot said:

I wonder how worried we should be, if at all, that the club has in effect been up for sale for 2+ years (at least one year privately, and about a year since SL publicly stated he was "seeking investment") and yet no deal is imminent. 

Granted, the pandemic will have caused many potential investors to exercise caution, and that will not have changed with the current global financial climate, but as fans, we of course have no idea what Steve's asking price is, or even what exactly is up for sale.

Is it Ashton Gate too? If it isn't, that could be a sizeable stumbling block. Is it the sporting quarter? Is it the other sports groups? I'm guessing the Bears are not explicitly "for sale" otherwise he would have made it known they are on rugby media channels. But one assumes they have their price too.  

I have nothing to benchmark us against, but I'd have thought in normal circumstances, when it became known that an English club like ours was up for sale, there would be some serious interest pretty quickly. 

Now Steve has confirmed that the ownership of the club is up for grabs, it's really in everyone's interests for this to be resolved as soon as possible. He's made it clear his family want to dispose of the club, and don't want to invest further serious sums of cash. So we need a resolution ASAP, and certainly not for this to drag on for another two years. 

A lack of inertia selling the club nicely mirrors the last 20 years if I’m brutally honest.  
 

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1 hour ago, Kid in the Riot said:

This clip provides the full context. Club definitely for sale at the right price. 

It's strange he's trying to go down the "bring investment on board" route. I think he's living in cloud cuckoo land if he thinks someone's going to invest £10s millions and not want  complete control. 

Spot on. Unequivocally the club is FOR SALE. Only a matter of time.

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I know of a man who seems able to stitch together a club purchase on behalf of Americans and has excellent contacts with the Lansdowns. He would even be prepared to run the club as CEO for the new owners.

Welcome back Mark Ashton.

Good night all, sweet dreams....

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9 hours ago, maxjak said:

The only real mistake SL made was taking his eye   off of the ball, and being seduced by the Dark Forces of Mark (Darth) Ashton, SL loves Bristol City, and without his largesse we would be well and truly phecked?.  He has made mistakes,     which i am certain he is well aware of, but they are honest mistakes, when he thought he was doing what he believed was for the good of the club.  He has at times, i think, been given bad advice, but the bottom line is, he will not sell unless he is certain that his fantastic legacy will be continued. For all our current problems, we are still in good hands........for which we should be grateful?

And that's just it, he has made mistakes.  He may have the best interests of the club at heart, and attempt to do due diligence but you just have to look at the shambles of Holden's appointment process and SL blind faith in Mark Ashton to know he doesn't get thing right.  The road to hell is paved with good intentions as the old saying goes.   

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1 hour ago, cidercity1987 said:

The one thing I would be critical on Lansdown is not one that I expect many people share the view.

But

Given the training ground expense was outside of FFP I don't understand why he built a Championship and not Premier League level facility.

It's a big improvement on the previous facilities which helps with new players and potential new owners. Maybe he didn't want to put loads of his money into it but enough to make a good impression. 

Is there room for potential expansion/upgrade if we get to the Premier league? 

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2 hours ago, cidercity1987 said:

The one thing I would be critical on Lansdown is not one that I expect many people share the view.

But

Given the training ground expense was outside of FFP I don't understand why he built a Championship and not Premier League level facility.

Maybe another 50m was a step too far.

I would think the facility is equal or better than some  EPL facilities anyway.

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2 hours ago, Kid in the Riot said:

This clip provides the full context. Club definitely for sale at the right price. 

It's strange he's trying to go down the "bring investment on board" route. I think he's living in cloud cuckoo land if he thinks someone's going to invest £10s millions and not want  complete control. 

Well that can be the only answer as to why it hasn't happened yet. Other comparable clubs have been bought in that time.

1 hour ago, Tin Soldier said:

Spot on. Unequivocally the club is FOR SALE. Only a matter of time.

Not exactly unequivocal is it?

He said he's not selling...but he might. A weird contradictory statement.

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Nobody will be interested in any of the clubs.

 

Everyone will be interested in the land they sit on, especially the ex-brownfill - and the new indoor arena.

 

Everything else is disposable.

 

The only interested party that genuinely showed interest was from the ME and could not care less about the clubs involved, but would be very interested in the arena, offices, flats and undeveloped land remaining.

 

He has left it too late - he will not deal with the ME interest, Russia is legally off the table, and the Chinese are going through a property bust and big recession - the USA is also in a bear market.

 

The buyers were potentially there 2-3 yrs ago 

Now just one. And SL will not deal with them.

 

As the 100th richest man on Earth, I'm sure he can cope with a few more millions of losses.

 

 

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6 hours ago, Calculus said:

I know of a man who seems able to stitch together a club purchase on behalf of Americans and has excellent contacts with the Lansdowns. He would even be prepared to run the club as CEO for the new owners.

Welcome back Mark Ashton.

Good night all, sweet dreams....

the grudge horror GIF

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16 hours ago, An Outstanding Human said:

I understand this, although remember him also saying this in 2013 following the embarrassment that the years post 2010 were. I don't doubt his good intentions but the last few years have been eerily similar.

Johnson = Johnson Jr

Millen = Holden

Pearson = O'Driscoll?

His legacy should rightly be the massive infrastructure investments that he has made. There's many worse owners out there and I know that a new owner would be heaven or hell. Trouble is, I'm at the point of accepting that risk, because I'm absolutely sick of purgatory.

 

15 hours ago, REDOXO said:

The philosophy of the Johnsons was different. But Mr Lansdown felt he owed something for the way Gary Johnson was kicked out. 
 

Millen Tinnion and Holden were similar in as much as they were here. Brian faced a player revolt as did Johnson senior. Millen and Holden were out of their depth. 
 

I don’t see any comparison between ODriscoll who had overwhelming fan support but was pony. Getting the job on the basis of a decent couple of seasons at Doncaster. Pearson has a track record of rebuilding clubs from the ground up, which has its own pitfalls as it’s easy to panic when things are against you, as a supporter. 
 

Pearson said n my opinion is the only not manager that has made sense since Gary Johnson came in and we all remember how that went at fist 

IMO City are suffering for Mr Lansdowns loyalty to Ashton and Johnson and has Presided over some horror decisions on the playing side. However I’m bloody 60 I’ve see. Us in all four divisions and at last we are an established Championship team. Something we can’t say for the majority of the last 41 years. 

Yeah the only similarity between O’Driscoll and Pearson is that they could both be victims of their own transition. 

Agree with everything Redoxo says here. I appreciate why some fans are impatient having watched smaller clubs fly past us in less time, but we really need to be careful what we wish for.

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Steve hsd a 'vision' of a multi-sport complex which I think he said came to him when visiting Barcelona. So he is partway through creating an integated sports empire. Now he wants out, by the sound of it. 

Seems like his vision isn't very appealing to outside investors. I'm not sure he thought this one through. I would imagine he would've saved money and found it easier to sell if he'd just focused on building a football club and kept it simple. 

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14 hours ago, maxjak said:

They have a fantastic manager in Graham Potter, who states that it is all about the collective and the tactics, rather than individuals? 

Isn’t that what Largish Nige bangs on about all the time? 
It’s also a fact that better players make even an average coach look good. 
So it’s down to recruitment. 

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18 hours ago, italian dave said:

At first, maybe. But we’re way beyond that now. NP has been here 18 months. At that stage under GJ we were on an 18 game unbeaten run.

Yes we were———in a division lower and with the ability to bring in players. We are playing 18/19/29/21 year olds from our academy, having fallen foul of FFP. Comparisons are not always quite fair. 

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39 minutes ago, REDOXO said:

Yes we were———in a division lower and with the ability to bring in players. We are playing 18/19/29/21 year olds from our academy, having fallen foul of FFP. Comparisons are not always quite fair. 

There's always a reason why there not! But I just think that a comparison based NP 18 months in and GJ "at first" is at the fairly extreme end of not being fair - or maybe 'like for like' is a better way of putting it!

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On 07/08/2022 at 11:04, bexhill reds said:

Whilst some might criticise the Lansdowns, I think it’s fair to say that he’s invested too much of his own cash and emotion to let the club go to some car crash ownership. He’s a businessman from an environment where due diligence is key, I would be amazed if let the club go without ensuring that the new investors a) had the backing, and b) were in it for the right reasons.

Did you not live through the financial crash. Due diligence my arse Barbara

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23 hours ago, An Outstanding Human said:

I understand this, although remember him also saying this in 2013 following the embarrassment that the years post 2010 were. I don't doubt his good intentions but the last few years have been eerily similar.

Johnson = Johnson Jr

Millen = Holden

Pearson = O'Driscoll?

His legacy should rightly be the massive infrastructure investments that he has made. There's many worse owners out there and I know that a new owner would be heaven or hell. Trouble is, I'm at the point of accepting that risk, because I'm absolutely sick of purgatory.

That means a Cotterill is next.

 

Pearson’s job has never been to get us promoted, he’s almost said as much. He came in to reset the club, clear the deadwood and, as much as he can, balance the books. We’ve made huge strides in all departments since he’s taken us over and I feel that’s evidenced by the capacity crowd at the weekend; the buzz around the place. In theory he’s laying the foundations for a successor, if it’s the right one, to achieve.


The question now is, has he completed his reset or is it ongoing? When is the correct time to appoint a successor that will hopefully thrive? The end of this season? The end of his contract? Or before then?

I feel that needs stability upstairs, to enable downstairs to progress

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On 08/08/2022 at 13:12, Jefferz said:

Did you not live through the financial crash. Due diligence my arse Barbara

Worked in the industry during it my love, and still do. The financial crash was due to lots of different factors, none of which had anything to do with SL, other that his company is in the same sector. Your comment is stupendously and utterly irrelevant to the point I made. If anything due diligence is even more relevant now as a result of what occurred. 

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On 08/08/2022 at 07:58, robin_unreliant said:

Seems like his vision isn't very appealing to outside investors. I'm not sure he thought this one through. I would imagine he would've saved money and found it easier to sell if he'd just focused on building a football club and kept it simple. 

Or you could argue also having a successful European Rugby team as part of the offering, to share the running cost of a stadium could be quite appealing

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