Natchfever

3 hours ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

Although the loss making bits of Bristol Rugby and Flyers in Cash terms aren't that high. 

Harder especially for Rugby, if debt repayment part of a Purchase Price to justify for Rugby. Debt was £45-55m in 2022, curiously not listed in 2023 unless I missed it. SL hasn't put any money in since 2021, it may change this year.

Relative to rugby, world class massive earners gone or going and replaced by cheap options.

Dont anyone believe Lansdown treats rugby any differently.

3 hours ago, Sir Geoff said:

Add to that the women's teams (I assume there is a womens rugby team)

 

Yes, and relatively light years ahead of their football counterparts.

36 minutes ago, RoystonFoote'snephew said:

We are nowhere near the most fickle fans. If we were we'd be marching out if Ashton Gate with our feet and that's not happening. Our away support is also holding up well. There are clubs in the EFL and Prem whose crowds hugely inflate during the good times and quickly dissolve when the going gets tough. For a near example look at the SAGS league crowds compared to what crawls out of the woodwork on a, trip to Wembley.. 

Academic I know but it would be great to see in an alternative universe, what crowds the biggest clubs would get had they been as monumentally shite as we have been for the majority of our existence.

Fickle my arse.

11 hours ago, Topper 123 said:

It would probably mean nothing to a lot of the moaning brigade on here but this club will continue to grow in my opinion as you only need to see record attendances this season .families are attending football as an outdoor family activity and if these moaners don’t attend they won’t be missed, at the end of the day it’s about supporting your club win or lose . 

These "moaners" will most certainly be missed by Mr Nestegg, as a large percentage are long term ST holders.

You carry on and good luck to you.

3 minutes ago, exAtyeoMax said:

did it cost DR his job?

Was going to ask the same !

2 minutes ago, Topper 123 said:

It would be great now if fans could come along to the gate in their thousands and support and enjoy the rest of season now the pressure is off , I’d also like to see the players enjoy it and play with a smile on their faces and interact with the fans more , come on let’s all enjoy it and get behind the lads 

Enjoy.

11 minutes ago, Numero Uno said:

This is an interesting one. I wonder how much money Steve will have saved in "efficiencies" through running the Bristol Sport stable in comparison to the price he ultimately gets for the football club (if he can untie it) or the whole lot (if he can't) versus the price he wants/investment he has made? Nobody is really interested in investing in Rugby or Basketball at a huge level (in fact Rugby Union is a basket case of a sport right now below international level) and not many people who might be looking to buy a football club want a Rugby Club and a Basketball Club and their associated running costs "chucked in" as part of the deal.

I think Bristol Sport is the heaviest of millstones around the clubs neck.....would be interested if anyone thinks the opposite.

Totally agree.

The glory surrounding the bears has diminished as recruitment up to the salary cap has for a few years been crap.

Even if a success, the english game is a mess so who would want to pick that up?

Basketball........

Lansdown needs to split it all, give City control of the stadium(s) and Bears and flyers long leases at peppercorn rents either selling or keeping those jewels.

Oh, and that means 100% Sir Ego not someone shelling out tens of millions to have you and yours meddling.

20 minutes ago, zombie said:

For those who don’t know or are unsure, I was a NP fan, I don’t think he should have been sacked (although we all knew the writing was on the wall and there was no new contract forthcoming), LM has a long way to go to make me ‘believe’, however some of the replies on here are so far off the football I remember as a whole. 

The levels of confirmation bias on here are unreal, those guilty of it won’t be able to see it and will likely get defensive, but any objective poster will see the sample size and handpicked NP games being offered up by some posters as some of the good times under Nige, but will know that they aren’t a fair reflection or representation of his whole time here.

Watching Bristol City FC has been a slog for a long time, let’s not pretend NP had us playing like Keegan’s Newcastle please. It a shame NP didn’t get a new deal (pending a few more decent results) or that he didn’t see out his contract, but let’s not try to convince ourselves that we were watching scintillating football. For the sake of the club, otib, fellow supporters and themselves, some supporters need to lose their rose tinted and move on from NP, not saying support or forgive the ownership, but forget about your ex, otherwise you may find that your love for club won’t return and you’ll forever have a large, ostrich shape hole in your heart.

I accept plenty of games under NP were poor, and theres little point in going over the firefighting that marked the majority of his time here.

Hes gone thats it, no rose tinted specs for me.

The ***** who run (or is that ruin?) the club remain though, and what I see of Manning as a coach and person I dont like.

So im not pining for a man who did a very decent job, nor am I contemplating a return to AG.

Ill always love BCFC just not the baggage that comes with it for the forseeable future.

19 minutes ago, Ian M said:

No, there's an U18 League to be won.

Thought so..

4 minutes ago, downendcity said:

A bit disingenuous Natch.

SL spent his business life working in the heavily regulated financial services sector, where for the majority of that time, and certainly when HL reached their market leading position, penalties for breaching the rules were severe, so compliance was a huge factor in the management of the business. 

I am pretty certain that he could not , and cannot now, abandon his attitude towards regulation compliance.  I've commented before that, with the benefit of hindsight, I think that when it was first mooted, SL foresaw the impact that ffp would have on clubs and it was this that prompted his strategy to make the club more self sufficient. That was widely derided on here, with many fans seeing it as an excuse for the owner no longer being prepared to put his hand in his pocket - it would probably qualify as hiding behind ffp, as you put it, in fans' eyes.

With hindsight perhaps SL has been proven right, and we've been lucky to have such a careful owner, given what we have seen with the likes of Derby and Reading and are now increasingly seeing with even premier league clubs being penalised for breaching financial rules.

Interestingly, rather than hiding behind ffp, SL used ffp rules to benefit the club financially in the long term . While ffp limits how much an owner is allowed to put into a club directly for transfers , wages and the like ( not forgetting that SL is putting £20+m a year into BCFC just to keep us going) he recognised areas that ffp does allow an owner to invest without breaching ffp. That is why we have the revamped stadium and the HPC. 

Having been redeveloped, AG now generates more income, and especially on  non matchdays than did the old stadium, and that additional income can be used towards investment in the team, player wages etc. Similarly, the HPC is important in helping the club's academy. Better facilities attract better young players, the success of academy players like Kelly, Semenyo, Scott, Pring, Vyner, Conway, Bell etc, breaking into the first team only reinforces that, and they all cost nothing in transfer fees. Also, and as we well know, the sell on fees when academy players move on add massively to the clubs financial position.

All of that because, rather than hiding behind ffp, SL has put his hand in his pocket to invest huge amount as ffp does allow, to generate money for the club that ffp would not have allowed him to invest directly.

There are plenty of things and decision we might like to blame SL for, but I don't think hiding behind ffp is one of those. 

 

 

Fair comments mate.

But we havent breached ffp yet hes not unleashed the nest egg, nor has he chosen to gamble say 4 points by taking a punt like some have.

26 minutes ago, Silvio Dante said:

You know what this means - players not going up to first team level so we can have the glory of winning the U18 league…

 

So with a season now with nothing to play for (except vindicating the management appointments by finishing say 11th) will some of these young players be given a chance on the 1st team bench?

Hope so...

13 minutes ago, TV Tom said:

Do you honestly believe that the football wasn’t poor before Manning came

Agree, it was often poor, but generally more "front foot"

Be interesting to see if any start making the bench or if its all about Mannings ppg .

1 hour ago, Markthehorn said:

I do notice the other leagues now complain the Premier league is too powerful and has all the money .

Yep.

Are PSG under investigation by their own authorities? So much less money in ligue 1 yet what must their wage bill have been ?

As for ffp, I think if you can demonstrate you can pay you should be able to.

Our owner has hidden behind ffp of course !

29 minutes ago, FNQ said:

 

Champagne Moment(s).. Putting 9 goals past Liam Manning sides over two games earlier in the season them head-hunting him as Head Coach.

Brilliant

14 minutes ago, cellist said:

Has 2 wins in 2 changed anyone's mind and led to early renewal? What are you hoping to see in the last 6 games?

(Not trying to start a fight - genuinely interested! I'm not an ST holder, don't live in Bristol so try and go away more than home. Respect the decision to delay renewal to make a point - a point that needs making!)

No change for me.

2 wins doesnt change the underlying mess at the club so ill not renew whilst the current set up exists.

I think plenty will though.

Ill still meet up before and likely after the game except local hostelries get my money.

Different strokes etc I appreciate.

Just now, Jose said:

Not at all. They put a great effort in and looked the more likely at times. Really unlucky. 

Being pedantic after the absolutely drivel he spouted in his last interview.

Ok understood mate.

3 minutes ago, Jose said:

Me, myself and I.

 As per his interview where he pretty much stated everything was geared to the U18s winning it this season, losing in the semis is a failure no? 

I cant stand Tinnion but this is so disrespectful to the players imo.

4 hours ago, Curr Avon said:

Brilliant performance in Dr Strangelove.

It was but he bombed as I recall.

20 hours ago, phantom said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-68708981

The penny has finally dropped with the kit maker 

Im sure people can get the numbers done elsewhere mind or even a decent quality knock off if so inclined..

1 hour ago, Natchfever said:

Didnt vote on young player or the women categorues.

Dickie POTS for me.

For me the champagne moment was Sids lap of honour 40 years on but it wasnt included.

2 hours ago, DaveInSA said:

I’ve been getting e-mails from Hargreaves Lansdown for weeks. Almost every day saying “get your ISA allowance advantages for the 2023/4 tax year”. 

It’s now 2 April.

I’ve got my ISA set up finally. And I want to pay money in. I’ve already done one transaction today. And I can’t do another one into my nominated account until Thursday, because of…. procedures. I can’t change my nominated account to my new ISA account because of…. procedures. So, I’m very likely to miss out on my ISA allowance for 2023/4. Partly because I am a nob and didn’t get organised fast enough. And partly because of annoying governance (which is way beyond what is regulated I believe).

Why is this in the football forum?

Well because - Governance. 

HL is (IMHO) over governed. Why can’t I do two transactions in a day - I’m hardly laundering money am I? Where is the risk? It’s utter madness.

Compare that with BCFC.

Where we have Jon, Brian and Manning making all the footballing decisions. With no oversight nor accountability. Overseeing millions of pounds of transfer business.

How can both of these entities be part of the Steve Lansdown empire (I know he’s not involved actively with HL anymore )? It’s like chalk and cheese. And quite frankly demonstrates how seriously Steve takes the “asset” that is BCFC. It’s his plaything. A little annoying toy that makes a squeak now and again. 

Rant. Over.

A squeaky toy indeed.

What other club at our level would have junior, sid, and manning in their respective positions.

Time to put us on ebay Steve.

39 minutes ago, And Its Smith said:

Loans can be for both. A try before you buy is not a bad thing 

Understood, although hes clearly off the pace and therefore hasnt really been tried.

Has he turned out for the u21s ? not sure.

On 29/03/2024 at 17:30, Davefevs said:

Yeah maybe.  Maybe I’m biased knowing that Burnley see him as big part of their plans if they come down

My thoughts exactly.

Hed pick up lots of bonuses next season with them too.

1 hour ago, Glasgow Red said:

This. There are fine margins in football and sometimes these gambles pay off and other times they dont. I don't think the club should stop taking punts on loans because other clubs have definitely used loans to help them get out the champ.

But what do you think the club saw that prompted the loan and inclusion into matchday squads ?

Loans are for the here and now like Twine not the future imo.