The Lansdowns are a pox on our club

[Aberdeen Pete's Dad]

5 minutes ago, Merrick's Marvels said:

Some don't judge us against the gas, Swindon and Plymouth. 

Some just wonder why a club from the 8th biggest city in the country, with so many obvious advantages over about 75% of other professional clubs, continues to be such an under achieving mess - year after year after year.

And one of the reasons is people just being happy that we're doing better than the gas, Swindon and Plymouth.

That sort of mediocre mindset is one of a multitude of problems Pearson has to contend with here. It may even be the thing that defeats him - that not enough people want it, really want it down to their bones. Perhaps Bristol City - from the owners at the top, through the people who work for the club on and off the pitch, to the people who support it from the stands - doesn't want success so badly it hurts? Perhaps we're all happy to just be doing ok, so long as it's better than the gas and Swindon and Plymouth? Perhaps it's something in the water or it's the Bristol DNA - success is nice but we can take it or leave at the end of the day?

What else can explain over 100 years of mediocrity, given all that we'vegot going for us? 

Imo Pearson isn't just trying to fix a leaky back 4, wobbly keepers, a non existent midfield, players eyeing more money and new contracts elsewhere, players offered less money to stay, an FFP blackhole - a death star sucking us back into League 1. That's not all he's got on his plate. That's not all he's trying to fix.

Whether he realises it or not, he's also trying to fix Bristol and Bristolians. It's a question of attitude, mentality. And it might be the one thing that beats him, like it's beaten so many before.

Pray God, it doesn't. 

I agree with what you say. Managers, players, owners, directors and coaches all come and go. The only consistent is the fans. Many want to see a winning team above all and so are happier in League 1. They certainly would not like in the Premiership ! Many have an inbuilt pessimism, negativity and anxiety. I remember someone saying years ago that if we ever won the Premier League ( old First Division) we would have fans whose reaction would be that we will never win the European Cup !

  Every manager that we have ever had has had a core element who want him out - Dicks out, Johnson x 2 out, Holden out, Houghton out, SOD out, Pauli’s out, Mullen out now Pearson out . We have heard it so many times.

 Experts on here  have definitively asserted at one time or another that Ayling, Freeman, Reid, Bryan, Kelly and Brownhill are not good enough for us but have gone on to the Premier League. Wright and Diediou not good enough for us but good enough for the World Cup. Magnússon . These same experts are not even prepared to consider the possibility that they might be part of the problem.

 

[Mr Popodopolous]

11 hours ago, Kid in the Riot said:

Zero faith in Steve's next managerial appointment, for obvious reasons. 

I'm astonished people haven't woken up to the fact we're for sale. 

A period of great uncertainty. 

I'm concerned Steve will hold out for unrealistic money. 

With so much financial uncertainty, it's a terrible time to sell unfortunately.

That said, the pound is weak, so a good time for American investors.

It is not a good time to buy when we are a) Battling relegation and b) New owners will inherit the current financial position.

In the sense that if we have say £1m (ha!) to spend in January under the current ownership under FFP, we would have exactly the same under a new ownership. The EFL regs and our current FFP position see to that.

[KegCity]

5 minutes ago, Ron W said:

Why does it have to be totally black and white? There's far too much nuance in 20 years of ownership. Lansdown can both have not led us to success without being chased out of town.

Completely agree with most of what @KegCity wrote too, but it then wades into the binary debate. He's not been terrible, and his footballing judgement has often been poor. He's wasted a lot of (his own, not our) money. We could have had better owners, we could've had worse.

I don’t think it’s binary. He’s done some things very well, although I personally think that not letting the stadium fall apart and investing in the training ground and academy are the minimum you’d expect from a competent owner. Nevertheless, credit where it’s due. 

We could have had worse. Don’t deny that, we could’ve gone bust or been sold to someone dodgy. I think we could’ve had a lot better though, and I think that if almost anyone else had invested the money that SL has we would be in a better position than we are now. 
 

I just think that we have gone round in circles for a long time now, and at some point you have to look past the managers and look at who’s running the club and the decisions they’ve made. I wouldn’t hound Lansdown out of town but if rumoured American investment is coming then I would be all for it. We need fresh ideas and a bigger emphasis on getting results and actually chasing trophies/top 6. Things feel very stale.

[Major Isewater]

Uncle Steve is a lovely bloke who wants a lovely football club , playing lovely football in a lovely stadium by lovely footballers and cheered on by lovely supporters. 
Sadly this is a cutthroat sport and there are nasty clubs who spoil our party time and time again with their nasty streetwise attitudes and rough supporters who out sing our lovely lads. 
 

[Mr Popodopolous]

10 hours ago, Kid in the Riot said:

We've been over it many times. He's clearly lacked any footballing nouse. I'm just watching Brighton beat Saints on motd. 

Brighton got promoted to L1 the year Lansdown took charge. Swansea were in the basement division. 

They put the infrastructure in place quicker.

Bloom had a new ground rolled out by 2011 which saw their turnover increase by 2.5-3 times overnight as it coincided wirh promotion to the Championship- that constitutes a major step forward, significant momentum.

Think their average attendance just surged as well from Withdean to Amex coinciding with promotion.

Otoh had we rolled the dice in January 2008 we certainly could have done it then.

Cardiff spent big AND has the new ground in play by 2009 I think? More revenue. Swansea had a unique philosophy but also a new ground by 2005.

You make your posts but without a great deal of context.

We could get s new owner tomorrow, he would still have to demonstrate to the League how we would remain within FFP within the next 2 years as one of the Owners and Directors Test questions. EFL have the power to use such measures as they deem necessary to keep regulations upheld.

[kmpowell]

10 hours ago, Pearsonistheman said:

Is Hargreaves the brains in Hargreaves-Lansdown as surely he can’t be as awful running that as he has our football club appointment wise.

My 2p FWIW, from my personal thoughts into this very point...

A long time ago at the very start of my career, I had the absolute pleasure of working for HL from 2000-2008 (120 people in 2000, to post-float and over 600 people working for them in 2008), in a position where I had pretty much daily contact with PH and SL. Both of them are incredible when it comes to business, but they were/are very different drivers/personalities which IMO complimented each other, and the pair of them together were a force because they could challenge each other without fear or retribution. They also built a senior team of people at HL (many of who are still there today) who pretty much drove the company with them, that team were also varied and had equally driving/challenging personalities. That IMO was the key to HL's success, not PH or SL individually, but it was them together then as an expanding team. One thing that always surprises me is the way the two personalities (SL and PH) were/are portrayed and seen. I think you would be amazed to know that PH can be very compassionate and reasoned. Sure PH has a lot of northern noise and can be quite brash, but when it came to business he could be very measured and I indirectly learnt a lot from him. Over the years at BCFC I have witnessed both the strengths & weaknesses I also witnessed from SL at HL, for which I won't go into detail because this isn't a post that is designed to be 'personal' and I have a LOT of respect for the man and what he has done for this club.

So, the problem as I see it is there was/is nobody at BCFC who is in a position to challenge/help Steve in the same way PH (and the extended team) did at HL, and therefore SL has to make VERY hard decisions on his own and do what he thinks/wants, which sadly means some poor judgments have been made made over the years which IMO could have been avoided if there had been another voice in the room. But, for all the haters, there is no way on god's earth SL sets out for us to continue to be in this position, IMO it will however take help to get us to the next level. And by 'help' I don't mean his son, or family, or any 'yes man' like that parasite Ashton, but people like PH who would sit in a room and tell him exactly what they think, without penalty. Will that happen? I'm not sure it will, but I stay positive because if he did share and unburden some of the 'questions', we could be up there as one of the powerhouses of football.

Steve, if you are reading this (I know you sometimes do dip into this forum, because many years ago you gave me that subtle bollocking, which I rightly deserved!), my 2p from somebody who saw the incredible things you did at HL... continue trying to steer this ship on your own (with Jon) and IMO you are going to destroy your legacy and all the amazing things you have done for this club for which there is so so much!

I totally disagree with all the viritrol and 'pox' comments, this is just people's frustrations and by the very nature of Football it will happen, but sadly I also have no doubt this will all turn VERY toxic if we are relegated.

 

 

Edited December 27, 2022 by kmpowell

[Mr Popodopolous]

3 hours ago, headhunter said:

Bournemouth and others took the gamble of going for it big time one season regardless of the FFP implications if they failed. How much have they earned in their time there? Lansdown has lost in the long term by playing safe and when he did splash a bit on the playing side it was entrusted to Ashton.

The worst that could have happened to Bournemouth was a transfer embargo in December 2015 to remain in place until such time as they were compliant again had they stayed down.

Points deduction for it did not exist then, neither did Future Financial Information, EFL 2 year Business Plans post fail, could go on. Was simply a fine if promoted and an embargo if not. By which time some players probably would have been sold and they would comply again.

Certainly was never the case that if you lost over £15m in FFP in the prior 3 years you have to show the League your next 2 years of FFP projections. My suspicion is that this kicked in for us in summer 2021.

I do sort of agree with your point though for 2008 may have been a good time. We could have banked both PL cash and Parachute money with a bigger roll of the dice that January. FFP didn't even exist then in any form. Stoke rolled the dice a bit.

Edited December 27, 2022 by Mr Popodopolous

[bs3]

11 hours ago, AppyDAZE said:

Tinnion will NOT be the next BCFC manager, and I'll take your money now.

 

Not beyond the realms of possibilitie.

Pearson leaves , Tinnion steps in as caretaker, a couple of decent results ( the players say they want the caretaker as permanent manager, players all say the same guff) and then before we know it he’s be given a two year deal.

[Son of Fred]

11 hours ago, OddBallJim said:

We all know that Tinnion will be appointed as manager again once Pearson gets the boot.

Lansdown doesn't change, and hasn't changed in the last 20-25 years.

Tinnion has more sense than to accept such an offer..

[Trueredsupporter]

With City fighting against relegation, losing 146 million in ten years still losing a lot of money and not owning the ground who buys a struggling club losing money to be tenants??

[Malvern Red]

1 hour ago, LondonBristolian said:

…the wrong decisions at the wrong time

 

[ExiledAjax]

29 minutes ago, kmpowell said:

My 2p FWIW, from my personal thoughts into this very point...

A long time ago at the very start of my career, I had the absolute pleasure of working for HL from 2000-2008 (120 people in 2000, to post-float and over 600 people working for them in 2008), in a position where I had pretty much daily contact with PH and SL. Both of them are incredible when it comes to business, but they were/are very different drivers/personalities which IMO complimented each other, and the pair of them together were a force because they could challenge each other without fear or retribution. They also built a senior team of people at HL (many of who are still there today) who pretty much drove the company with them, that team were also varied and had equally driving/challenging personalities. That IMO was the key to HL's success, not PH or SL individually, but it was them together then as an expanding team. One thing that always surprises me is the way the two personalities (SL and PH) were/are portrayed and seen. I think you would be amazed to know that PH can be very compassionate and reasoned. Sure PH has a lot of northern noise and can be quite brash, but when it came to business he could be very measured and I indirectly learnt a lot from him. Over the years at BCFC I have witnessed both the strengths & weaknesses I also witnessed from SL at HL, for which I won't go into detail because this isn't a post that is designed to be 'personal' and I have a LOT of respect for the man and what he has done for this club.

So, the problem as I see it is there was/is nobody at BCFC who is in a position to challenge/help Steve in the same way PH (and the extended team) did at HL, and therefore SL has to make VERY hard decisions on his own and do what he thinks/wants, which sadly means some poor judgments have been made made over the years which IMO could have been avoided if there had been another voice in the room. But, for all the haters, there is no way on god's earth SL sets out for us to continue to be in this position, IMO it will however take help to get us to the next level. And by 'help' I don't mean his son, or family, or any 'yes man' like that parasite Ashton, but people like PH who would sit in a room and tell him exactly what they think, without penalty. Will that happen? I'm not sure it will, but I stay positive because if he did share and unburden some of the 'questions', we could be up there as one of the powerhouses of football.

Steve, if you are reading this (I know you sometimes do dip into this forum, because many years ago you gave me that subtle bollocking, which I rightly deserved!), my 2p from somebody who saw the incredible things you did at HL... continue trying to steer this ship on your own (with Jon) and IMO you are going to destroy your legacy and all the amazing things you have done for this club for which there is so so much!

I totally disagree with all the viritrol and 'pox' comments, this is just people's frustrations and by the very nature of Football it will happen, but sadly I also have no doubt this will all turn VERY toxic if we are relegated.

Excellent insight, and something I agree with. Steve has appointed his son and his trusted friend to be the directors, plus a CEO who is paid handsomely. There's no other external viewpoint, no independence, and no diversity of thought. SL - for some reason - doesn't seem to seek that out. Gould has brought a little bit of it, but he's been financially limited in what he can implement, and is now sadly leaving us.

It's interesting to hear that at HL that challenge, independence, and diversity of thought is exactly what he had, and that you see that as being critical to HL's success. 

[Red Cloud]

11 hours ago, Kid in the Riot said:

Zero faith in Steve's next managerial appointment, for obvious reasons. 

I'm astonished people haven't woken up to the fact we're for sale. 

A period of great uncertainty. 

I'm concerned Steve will hold out for unrealistic money. 

With so much financial uncertainty, it's a terrible time to sell unfortunately.

That said, the pound is weak, so a good time for American investors.

50/50 on what's being said but the Pound is certainly not weak - it's now >$1.21 from $1.08 only a few weeks ago

[Boston Red]

40 minutes ago, kmpowell said:

My 2p FWIW, from my personal thoughts into this very point...

A long time ago at the very start of my career, I had the absolute pleasure of working for HL from 2000-2008 (120 people in 2000, to post-float and over 600 people working for them in 2008), in a position where I had pretty much daily contact with PH and SL. Both of them are incredible when it comes to business, but they were/are very different drivers/personalities which IMO complimented each other, and the pair of them together were a force because they could challenge each other without fear or retribution. They also built a senior team of people at HL (many of who are still there today) who pretty much drove the company with them, that team were also varied and had equally driving/challenging personalities. That IMO was the key to HL's success, not PH or SL individually, but it was them together then as an expanding team. One thing that always surprises me is the way the two personalities (SL and PH) were/are portrayed and seen. I think you would be amazed to know that PH can be very compassionate and reasoned. Sure PH has a lot of northern noise and can be quite brash, but when it came to business he could be very measured and I indirectly learnt a lot from him. Over the years at BCFC I have witnessed both the strengths & weaknesses I also witnessed from SL at HL, for which I won't go into detail because this isn't a post that is designed to be 'personal' and I have a LOT of respect for the man and what he has done for this club.

So, the problem as I see it is there was/is nobody at BCFC who is in a position to challenge/help Steve in the same way PH (and the extended team) did at HL, and therefore SL has to make VERY hard decisions on his own and do what he thinks/wants, which sadly means some poor judgments have been made made over the years which IMO could have been avoided if there had been another voice in the room. But, for all the haters, there is no way on god's earth SL sets out for us to continue to be in this position, IMO it will however take help to get us to the next level. And by 'help' I don't mean his son, or family, or any 'yes man' like that parasite Ashton, but people like PH who would sit in a room and tell him exactly what they think, without penalty. Will that happen? I'm not sure it will, but I stay positive because if he did share and unburden some of the 'questions', we could be up there as one of the powerhouses of football.

Steve, if you are reading this (I know you sometimes do dip into this forum, because many years ago you gave me that subtle bollocking, which I rightly deserved!), my 2p from somebody who saw the incredible things you did at HL... continue trying to steer this ship on your own (with Jon) and IMO you are going to destroy your legacy and all the amazing things you have done for this club for which there is so so much!

I totally disagree with all the viritrol and 'pox' comments, this is just people's frustrations and by the very nature of Football it will happen, but sadly I also have no doubt this will all turn VERY toxic if we are relegated.

 

 

Great post. Is it true that Hargreaves was the visionary dynamic with the ideas, and Lansdown was the bean counter who followed behind him, made sure the sums added up, and did the donkey work of implementing the great ideas? If so that would explain why Lansdown has been successful in one field and not another. Interested in your thoughts.

 

[Boston Red]

Under Lansdown Bristol City Football Club has become just a jigsaw piece in a land-based speculative profit-motivated multi-sporting franchise.

[BigTone]

Probably one for the Politics section but I wonder what the reaction with fans would be if SL was approached by a Middle Eastern consortium ( UAE, Saudi, Qatar etc etc) to buy out Bristol Sport and decided to sell.  It is a very big possibility IMO.

 

[CliftonCliff]

24 minutes ago, Boston Red said:

Under Lansdown Bristol City Football Club has become just a jigsaw piece in a land-based speculative profit-motivated multi-sporting franchise.

That is a somewhat harsh over-simplification - but there is a disturbing amount of truth in it.

[Bristol Oil Services]

4 hours ago, Bat Fastard said:

Apart from the beautiful stadium, the state of the art training ground, the excellent academy and the fact that we have lasted in the Championship- what have the Lansdowns ever done for us??

Yes, and what is the point of all that "infrastructure" ? What has it been put in place for? What's it designed to lead to? To what end has SL gone to such great expense?

[Winterstoke toad]

31 minutes ago, BigTone said:

Probably one for the Politics section but I wonder what the reaction with fans would be if SL was approached by a Middle Eastern consortium ( UAE, Saudi, Qatar etc etc) to buy out Bristol Sport and decided to sell.  It is a very big possibility IMO.

 

My opinion is it wouldn’t matter what part of the world their from . Just because a new owner is from the Middle East doesn’t mean their involved in human rights abuses etc.

[Bristol Oil Services]

1 hour ago, ExiledAjax said:

Excellent insight, and something I agree with. Steve has appointed his son and his trusted friend to be the directors, plus a CEO who is paid handsomely. There's no other external viewpoint, no independence, and no diversity of thought. SL - for some reason - doesn't seem to seek that out. Gould has brought a little bit of it, but he's been financially limited in what he can implement, and is now sadly leaving us.

It's interesting to hear that at HL that challenge, independence, and diversity of thought is exactly what he had, and that you see that as being critical to HL's success. 

Exactly this. Matthew Syed has written about this. 

 

[Bristol Oil Services]

1 hour ago, Major Isewater said:

Uncle Steve is a lovely bloke who wants a lovely football club , playing lovely football in a lovely stadium by lovely footballers and cheered on by lovely supporters. 
Sadly this is a cutthroat sport and there are nasty clubs who spoil our party time and time again with their nasty streetwise attitudes and rough supporters who out sing our lovely lads. 
 

Thing is, Steve's got all that with his "lovely" rugby team, and their ******* shite too (and would be relegated as well but for the fact rugby's all over the shop)

[BigTone]

16 minutes ago, Winterstoke toad said:

My opinion is it wouldn’t matter what part of the world their from . Just because a new owner is from the Middle East doesn’t mean their involved in human rights abuses etc.

Agreed but a lot of others view things slightly different.

[Bat Fastard]

19 minutes ago, Bristol Oil Services said:

Yes, and what is the point of all that "infrastructure" ? What has it been put in place for? What's it designed to lead to? To what end has SL gone to such great expense?

The fact that he was unlucky with the timing of the pandemic and the fact that it ruined the plan to be self sufficient by judicious player trading, I would suggest that there is a magnificent foundation for the eventual advancement of the playing squad and hopefully promotion.  Nige has been dealt a rotten hand and is still building a squad on a shoestring and making great use of the academy.  We have seen duff periods in our history over the years and we now have the ingredients to make progress. Of course, the missing ingredient is patience amongst the fan base - but that has always been a feature of our club.

[hollydog]

13 hours ago, WessexPest said:

Yes, I realise there aren’t exactly a busload of wealthy buyers at hand but the Lansdown family have engineered a slow and steady malaise of our club while making some boneheaded managerial appointments.

Yes, Pearson’s time is up - I don’t know what I expected from him but after two years at the helm it was certainly more than this rancid cheesewater - but why would you trust the morons at the head of our club who couldn’t organise their s*** into the pan to get it right next time? The whole rotten lot needs to go.

Short term there’s no outcome other than League One football. Unacceptable but sadly the reality. 

We all have our views about the owners but to use a word like “pox” to describe a family who has put so much money into the club we all love is rude and disrespectful. I spend a lot of time on OTIB checking out everybody’s views and enjoying feeling part of the “gang” but I wish some posters would take a breath before pressing the “submit reply” button. 

[Bristol Oil Services]

3 minutes ago, Bat Fastard said:

The fact that he was unlucky with the timing of the pandemic and the fact that it ruined the plan to be self sufficient by judicious player trading, I would suggest that there is a magnificent foundation for the eventual advancement of the playing squad and hopefully promotion.  Nige has been dealt a rotten hand and is still building a squad on a shoestring and making great use of the academy.  We have seen duff periods in our history over the years and we now have the ingredients to make progress. Of course, the missing ingredient is patience amongst the fan base - but that has always been a feature of our club.

Thanks. When might the/a pandemic have been better "timed" for Bristol City, would you say?

[maxjak]

13 hours ago, WessexPest said:

Yes, I realise there aren’t exactly a busload of wealthy buyers at hand but the Lansdown family have engineered a slow and steady malaise of our club while making some boneheaded managerial appointments.

Yes, Pearson’s time is up - I don’t know what I expected from him but after two years at the helm it was certainly more than this rancid cheesewater - but why would you trust the morons at the head of our club who couldn’t organise their s*** into the pan to get it right next time? The whole rotten lot needs to go.

Short term there’s no outcome other than League One football. Unacceptable but sadly the reality. 

What a bunch of tunnel visioned claptrap...........of course SL has made some very poor misjudgements, but his heart is in the right place, and without his 200 million input we would be phecked ?    Ashton's megalomania was SL's fault........but Covid's intervention certainly was not.

[Bat Fastard]

7 minutes ago, Bristol Oil Services said:

Thanks. When might the/a pandemic have been better "timed" for Bristol City, would you say?

Sadly the transfer market outside the Premier League completely collapsed and we could no longer stem losses by selling players, let alone spending to improve the team.  It may take a year or two longer for all this to improve and in the meantime we have lots of excellent youngsters from the Academy, who will take time to find their feet and become steady players at Championship level.  Seeds have been sown and we still have too many seedlings and not enough mature plants - but seedlings tend to grow!

[Numero Uno]

5 hours ago, Bat Fastard said:

Apart from the beautiful stadium, the state of the art training ground, the excellent academy and the fact that we have lasted in the Championship- what have the Lansdowns ever done for us??

Based on comments made yesterday Nige has crouched down in the centre circle and taken a shit in bigger and better stadia than ours……….so beautiful is going a bit strong.

Non Performance Centre - yep, credit for that but state of the art is again a slight exaggeration. Academy - he actually wanted to bin it didn’t he?

[italian dave]

2 hours ago, kmpowell said:

My 2p FWIW, from my personal thoughts into this very point...

A long time ago at the very start of my career, I had the absolute pleasure of working for HL from 2000-2008 (120 people in 2000, to post-float and over 600 people working for them in 2008), in a position where I had pretty much daily contact with PH and SL. Both of them are incredible when it comes to business, but they were/are very different drivers/personalities which IMO complimented each other, and the pair of them together were a force because they could challenge each other without fear or retribution. They also built a senior team of people at HL (many of who are still there today) who pretty much drove the company with them, that team were also varied and had equally driving/challenging personalities. That IMO was the key to HL's success, not PH or SL individually, but it was them together then as an expanding team. One thing that always surprises me is the way the two personalities (SL and PH) were/are portrayed and seen. I think you would be amazed to know that PH can be very compassionate and reasoned. Sure PH has a lot of northern noise and can be quite brash, but when it came to business he could be very measured and I indirectly learnt a lot from him. Over the years at BCFC I have witnessed both the strengths & weaknesses I also witnessed from SL at HL, for which I won't go into detail because this isn't a post that is designed to be 'personal' and I have a LOT of respect for the man and what he has done for this club.

So, the problem as I see it is there was/is nobody at BCFC who is in a position to challenge/help Steve in the same way PH (and the extended team) did at HL, and therefore SL has to make VERY hard decisions on his own and do what he thinks/wants, which sadly means some poor judgments have been made made over the years which IMO could have been avoided if there had been another voice in the room. But, for all the haters, there is no way on god's earth SL sets out for us to continue to be in this position, IMO it will however take help to get us to the next level. And by 'help' I don't mean his son, or family, or any 'yes man' like that parasite Ashton, but people like PH who would sit in a room and tell him exactly what they think, without penalty. Will that happen? I'm not sure it will, but I stay positive because if he did share and unburden some of the 'questions', we could be up there as one of the powerhouses of football.

Steve, if you are reading this (I know you sometimes do dip into this forum, because many years ago you gave me that subtle bollocking, which I rightly deserved!), my 2p from somebody who saw the incredible things you did at HL... continue trying to steer this ship on your own (with Jon) and IMO you are going to destroy your legacy and all the amazing things you have done for this club for which there is so so much!

I totally disagree with all the viritrol and 'pox' comments, this is just people's frustrations and by the very nature of Football it will happen, but sadly I also have no doubt this will all turn VERY toxic if we are relegated.

 

 

What a great post. Really interesting, great insight and some very good points. I’ve know exactly the same at work - that combination of the visionary coming up with all the ideas and the sometimes hard brained schemes, and the down to earth practical person who points out all the problems. And they both piss each other off, and very soon they both realise that they work so well together and need each other. 

It goes a long way to explaining some of the issues - and if he’s looking for investment rather than an outright sale then presumably he’s going to have someone involved at that level who’ll provide that challenge - assuming we get the right person, and not just an SL clone! 

[maxjak]

1 hour ago, Boston Red said:

Great post. Is it true that Hargreaves was the visionary dynamic with the ideas, and Lansdown was the bean counter who followed behind him, made sure the sums added up, and did the donkey work of implementing the great ideas? If so that would explain why Lansdown has been successful in one field and not another. Interested in your thoughts.

 

The major problem seems to have been,  that SL has failed to have taken advice and guidance from senior football figures when making appointments and crucial decisions?  Because he achieved great success in business, he has seemingly to have taken it as read that his own  perceived football acumen would have similar results?

If he had put aside his ego and taken counsel from knowledgeable football figures for advice, then maybe the outcome could and should have been so much better?