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Times Article 'Stephen Lansdown putting Bristol City on the map'

BCFC Rich

By BCFC Rich
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BCFC Rich

BCFC Rich

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Not a bad read link here   Article below.

From Stephen Lansdown’s private box at Bristol City can be seen the top of the tower block called Whitemead House, otherwise known as Nelson Mandela Tower in Only Fools and Horses, home to the Trotter family.

Lansdown points to it by way of dispelling a myth that he owns a Rolls-Royce with the registration number DE11 BOY. He also pooh-poohs the romantic idea that he built up his £1bn-plus fortune, much of it pumped into Bristol Sport, from an original stake of £100 held by himself and his wife, Maggie. “We had a couple of thousand pounds in the building society which would see us through for six months. If that didn’t work out I would go back to being an accountant. Fortunately it worked out so here we are.”

The TV producers knew this gritty part of the city could pass for Peckham and Lansdown did come from humble beginnings in Bristol, where his father was a handyman and his mother a school secretary. While Lansdown will fly in for today’s game against Wolverhampton Wanderers in a private jet from a tax haven in Guernsey, he still keeps it real. He based his financial services company there and then created Bristol Sport.

Envy he can live with, it’s the ridicule he doesn’t like. “There was a bit of a joke; it grated with me. It was a standard thing, ‘What do you think about football in Bristol? It would be a good idea.’ I just thought any time I could do something about that, I would try to do it.”

Having supported Bristol Rovers, he was invited onto the City board after attending a game with his son. “They say there’s no such thing as a free lunch and there’s no such thing as a free ticket,” he says, smiling at the suggestion that it has cost him more than £100m.

It might not have been quite so expensive had he not expanded his horizons after a trip to Barcelona, where he marvelled at how the famous imprint incorporated not just football, but other sports such as basketball and water polo. When Bristol Rugby was going through a financial crisis more than a decade ago, Lansdown took it over. A model in the executive bar shows plans for a convention centre which will be built adjoining the Ashton Gate stadium and will house a 4,000-seater facility for Bristol Flyers basketball team, which has become another prong in the Bristol Sport trident. Season ticket-holders can attend all three sports and the different codes share some training facilities, along with coaching, medical expertise and innovation in areas such as social media.

Lansdown realises his sporting venture helps grow the city and the benefits come pouring back. Local businesses are preferred when it comes to handing out contracts. Lansdown shakes his head when he thinks of contractors who have been ripped off when it comes to providing services for football teams they support who then go bust.

West Country rugby derbies can sell out the 27,000-capacity stadium, but football is the main driver, particularly now that City are making an assault on promotion to the Premier League. They are unbeaten since November and have won their past nine games; fifth in the Championship and a fifth-round tie against Wolves is the reward for a team whose only big name is the Austria international Andreas Weimann.

It’s a reward for Lansdown, who stuck with 37-year-old manager Lee Johnson through some sticky patches. “You get to the point where you ask the obvious question and he knew,” Lansdown says. “It didn’t get to the stage of, ‘Win the next game or you’re out’. It was, ‘We have got to get back on track’, but you stick with it because I believed in what he was doing here.”

City fans will be wary about the team tripping up as they did last season after reaching the semi-finals of the League Cup. Lansdown would never try to mimic the Wolves model, based largely on bringing in high quality Portuguese talent. With his son, Jon, involved in running the club, his investment is a slow burn which he says will continue long after he is gone. The city is better for it.

 

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Hampshire Red

Hampshire Red

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Nothing new but just great for the gas to know that one of their hundreds  (dare I say thousands) saw the light very early in life and became a Red. Where SL is different he is also an astute businessman and has learned football the hard way having been given sp much bad advice by so-called football experts. He backs his own judgement (thank goodness 1e months ago), politely rubbishes critics of Bristol City and continues to see the big picture for BCFC.

Bet there's some gas puking on their cereal today. I just over it in the rare and unfortunate moments of gas presence just dropping into conversation SL will put his son in at the Mem one day soon and create the genuine  OTIB by filing for Administration

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Pezo

Pezo

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2 hours ago, BCFC Richard said:

I particularly liked:

While Lansdown will fly in for today’s game against Wolverhampton Wanderers in a private jet from a tax haven in Guernsey, he still keeps it real.

?

Yes I'm going to keep it real by buying a yacht and a private island this afternoon, how do keep it real? 

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East End Old Boy

East End Old Boy

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5 minutes ago, phantom said:

Reads like an introduction.... 

Shame the reporter didn't write more 

Wasn’t written by one of their main journalists, looks like a rehash of previous articles to me, to advertise today’s game?

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/stephen-lansdown-putting-bristol-city-on-the-map-txtkhldsz

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Cardy

Cardy

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48 minutes ago, East End Old Boy said:

Wasn’t written by one of their main journalists, looks like a rehash of previous articles to me, to advertise today’s game?

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/stephen-lansdown-putting-bristol-city-on-the-map-txtkhldsz

I would agree - the story is a rehash with something similar also being run in The Mail. Still it all goes towards putting the club back on the radar & you can already feel the greater exposure that the FA Cup brings over the League Cup.

I think the media would actually go in to help down if our club ever reached the Premier League.

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Major Isewater

Major Isewater

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52 minutes ago, Pezo said:

Yes I'm going to keep it real by buying a yacht and a private island this afternoon, how do keep it real? 

I’m buying a famous football club in Spain , I’m keeping it Real . 

11 minutes ago, Eastside Moonwalker said:

Only player is the Austria international.... is that really true? I’m sure we must have some more known players.. Pack, Kalas, Diedhiou, Taylor, Webster? 

Never heard of them. 

 

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bristolmoose

bristolmoose

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5 hours ago, Hampshire Red said:

Nothing new but just great for the gas to know that one of their hundreds  (dare I say thousands) saw the light very early in life and became a Red. Where SL is different he is also an astute businessman and has learned football the hard way having been given sp much bad advice by so-called football experts. He backs his own judgement (thank goodness 1e months ago), politely rubbishes critics of Bristol City and continues to see the big picture for BCFC.

Bet there's some gas puking on their cereal today. I just over it in the rare and unfortunate moments of gas presence just dropping into conversation SL will put his son in at the Mem one day soon and create the genuine  OTIB by filing for Administration

Do any of them read the Times?

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downendcity

downendcity

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1 hour ago, daored said:

Despite his faults , we’re extremely lucky to have Steve lansdown. I guess it shows how close he may have been to investing in the blue few !

Had he done so they'd have had the best tented village in non league football.

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...

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13 hours ago, BCFC Richard said:

Not a bad read link here   Article below.

From Stephen Lansdown’s private box at Bristol City can be seen the top of the tower block called Whitemead House, otherwise known as Nelson Mandela Tower in Only Fools and Horses, home to the Trotter family.

Lansdown points to it by way of dispelling a myth that he owns a Rolls-Royce with the registration number DE11 BOY. He also pooh-poohs the romantic idea that he built up his £1bn-plus fortune, much of it pumped into Bristol Sport, from an original stake of £100 held by himself and his wife, Maggie. “We had a couple of thousand pounds in the building society which would see us through for six months. If that didn’t work out I would go back to being an accountant. Fortunately it worked out so here we are.”

The TV producers knew this gritty part of the city could pass for Peckham and Lansdown did come from humble beginnings in Bristol, where his father was a handyman and his mother a school secretary. While Lansdown will fly in for today’s game against Wolverhampton Wanderers in a private jet from a tax haven in Guernsey, he still keeps it real. He based his financial services company there and then created Bristol Sport.

Envy he can live with, it’s the ridicule he doesn’t like. “There was a bit of a joke; it grated with me. It was a standard thing, ‘What do you think about football in Bristol? It would be a good idea.’ I just thought any time I could do something about that, I would try to do it.”

Having supported Bristol Rovers, he was invited onto the City board after attending a game with his son. “They say there’s no such thing as a free lunch and there’s no such thing as a free ticket,” he says, smiling at the suggestion that it has cost him more than £100m.

It might not have been quite so expensive had he not expanded his horizons after a trip to Barcelona, where he marvelled at how the famous imprint incorporated not just football, but other sports such as basketball and water polo. When Bristol Rugby was going through a financial crisis more than a decade ago, Lansdown took it over. A model in the executive bar shows plans for a convention centre which will be built adjoining the Ashton Gate stadium and will house a 4,000-seater facility for Bristol Flyers basketball team, which has become another prong in the Bristol Sport trident. Season ticket-holders can attend all three sports and the different codes share some training facilities, along with coaching, medical expertise and innovation in areas such as social media.

Lansdown realises his sporting venture helps grow the city and the benefits come pouring back. Local businesses are preferred when it comes to handing out contracts. Lansdown shakes his head when he thinks of contractors who have been ripped off when it comes to providing services for football teams they support who then go bust.

West Country rugby derbies can sell out the 27,000-capacity stadium, but football is the main driver, particularly now that City are making an assault on promotion to the Premier League. They are unbeaten since November and have won their past nine games; fifth in the Championship and a fifth-round tie against Wolves is the reward for a team whose only big name is the Austria international Andreas Weimann.

It’s a reward for Lansdown, who stuck with 37-year-old manager Lee Johnson through some sticky patches. “You get to the point where you ask the obvious question and he knew,” Lansdown says. “It didn’t get to the stage of, ‘Win the next game or you’re out’. It was, ‘We have got to get back on track’, but you stick with it because I believed in what he was doing here.”

City fans will be wary about the team tripping up as they did last season after reaching the semi-finals of the League Cup. Lansdown would never try to mimic the Wolves model, based largely on bringing in high quality Portuguese talent. With his son, Jon, involved in running the club, his investment is a slow burn which he says will continue long after he is gone. The city is better for it.

 

Good OP, but using a smaller font might reduce the websites carbon footprint.

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