Poll on the Lansdowns - Stay or Go?

[Red DNA]

34 minutes ago, Silvio Dante said:

Eh? The numbers are on the poll:

 

 

Oops,, somehow didn't spot that - as you were..

[firstdivision]

1 minute ago, Numero Uno said:

I’ve been accepting of counter attacking football at home for 4-5 seasons because the budget issues at Board level that caused us problems demanded it. I believe you might comment “some perspective you see”. Nothing clever is it? However the hierarchy have promised something more attacking and front foot THEIR WORDS not mine or anyone else’s. Let’s see them deliver it now.

I agree. Let’s see. Liam Manning has had 13 games in charge and no transfer windows. I’m afraid some patience is required, however frustrating yesterday’s defeat was - and it was extremely frustrating. We were awful in the second half. 

[Marina's Rolls Royce]

Since our formation in 1894 some 130 years ago we have enjoyed enormous success and history with top flight football and Trophy success, amazing facilities and financial stability until those pesky Lansdowns came along and ruined everything.

Lets force them out  and return to the club we once were.

[Robbored]

7 minutes ago, italian dave said:

I’m with you on this RR.

But I get the sense now that it’s more likely ‘when’ than ‘if’. Do you?

It feels like SL has lost interest in the football club now. He wants the Sporting Quarter built and that, with Bristol Sport at its heart, to be his legacy. Which in many ways will be a much more significant one than he could achieve with Bristol City alone.

SL is 71 and at that age most people want to relax and enjoy retirement and it’s quite understandable that he wants to hand over the reigns - whether that be to a new owner or he keeps in the family - obviously his son Jon.

[Lew-T]

47 minutes ago, firstdivision said:

Well, 14 of those years have been spent in the Championship, Lew, which is considerably better than the 20 years previously and actually compares pretty favourably with the spread of our 130-odd-year history. All depends how you look at it.
 

I would say the last ten years have not been matched since the 70s. But it’s hard to find any perspective these days. That’s not to say I’m not desperate for greater success but we’ve been pretty ordinary for a large part of our history, and more ordinary more often than recently. 

20 years of poor decisions though isn’t it? Okay, Lansdown might have got one decision right in appointing Gary Johnson, but then what else? Steve Cotterill was Keith Dawe’s work.

The point is, it’s been 20 years of poor decisions, false promises and silence for the most part.

[JP Hampton]

11 hours ago, lenred said:

Their egos will never, ever allow it.  

But we may find they’re forced into this sort of situation whether their egos will allow it or not if things don’t improve. 
 

I doubt their egos wanted to allow NP to start making adjustments and call them out on the way they’d been running the club but something had to be done. 

[Sir Geoff]

1 hour ago, Robbored said:

Like Charlton, Cardiff, Reading, Man Utd, Newcastle under Ashley. For every successful take over there’s a mirror of unsuccessful ones and that’s exactly why I say “be careful what you wish for”.

We could end up a lot worse off.

 

Worse off like Cardiff who have had two spells in the top flight recently and Newcastle who were financially secure under Ashley, Reading also spells in the top flight. Charlton fans hounded Curbishley out when they were in the PL and they have never recovered.

Man utd.. really

[HitchinRed]

I think we are miles ahead of where we were when SL took over - on and off the pitch.

I accept that mistakes have been made, but SL has always backed these up with his cash - something that other Chairmen seem unwilling to do.

Similarly, I understand his age, and his apparent step back from all things BCFC in recent years, so now might be a good time to sell up. If he does, I trust him to sell to a party that is in the best long term interest for the club (not just the biggest nest egg for him, despite what others think).

When he does choose to move on, I think he will be remembered as one of the best owners we have had in our history.

JL is a waste of space though and the sooner he has nothing to do with the club the better.

[Natchfever]

Just now, HitchinRed said:

I think we are miles ahead of where we were when SL took over - on and off the pitch.

I accept that mistakes have been made, but SL has always backed these up with his cash - something that other Chairmen seem unwilling to do.

Similarly, I understand his age, and his apparent step back from all things BCFC in recent years, so now might be a good time to sell up. If he does, I trust him to sell to a party that is in the best long term interest for the club (not just the biggest nest egg for him, despite what others think).

When he does choose to move on, I think he will be remembered as one of the best owners we have had in our history.

JL is a waste of space though and the sooner he has nothing to do with the club the better.

Lansdown senior does not appear ever to have learned from his many errors, if indeed he even accepts hes made mistakes.

As for his status as one of the best owners, hes put a fraction of his fortune into the club compared to other much less wealthy owners, and unlike them he will recover a big chunk of his investment courtesy of development off the back of Bristol City.

Id take the hated Mike Ashley over the Lansdowns any day let alone Mr Dolman.

[firstdivision]

39 minutes ago, Lew-T said:

20 years of poor decisions though isn’t it? Okay, Lansdown might have got one decision right in appointing Gary Johnson, but then what else? Steve Cotterill was Keith Dawe’s work.

The point is, it’s been 20 years of poor decisions, false promises and silence for the most part.

If all the decisions had been poor, we wouldn’t have been in the Championship for 14 seasons in the last 20. Life - probably even yours - is full of good decisions and bad. 

[Davefevs]

5 hours ago, headhunter said:

A bit of context here - people were calling for Nige's head 8 months before he left; the pro-Nige feeling is driven by deep rooted antipathy towards the owners for not spending, say, no more than another £5-£7 million of the Scott fee.

In my day job over the years I've seen several "family" companies bring in outsiders to turn their business around and in the majority of cases it ends in tears. They [SL/JL] simply didn't like Nige as he told them a few home truths!!

I get what you’re saying, I agree to an extent, but I think a number of fans finally understood what Nige was dealing with.  I think this was a point where a number of fans who’d previously been content with the Lansdown’s changed their view.

[Davefevs]

3 hours ago, Lorenzos Only Goal said:

I am perplexed by that number of two thirds, I mean SL has a lot of loans in the club they have very preferential interest rates.  A buyer of anything other than a sovereign fund would mean replacing those loans with a huge amount of PE money at a higher rate of interest and we would in return more than likely put us in a horrible financial position. 

I'm pissed off with them sure, but conversely I'm careful what I wish for.

Lots of owners lend money to their clubs with no interest at all

[Davefevs]

3 hours ago, Robbored said:

If /when SL sells his shares I’d certainly be concerned that the club end up with an unreliable major shareholder. As I said before - we know what we’re getting with the Lansdowns.

And if they sell to someone “unreliable”, then imho they are just as culpable for their poor due diligence.

[Davefevs]

2 hours ago, HitchinRed said:

I think we are miles ahead of where we were when SL took over - on and off the pitch.

I accept that mistakes have been made, but SL has always backed these up with his cash - something that other Chairmen seem unwilling to do.

Similarly, I understand his age, and his apparent step back from all things BCFC in recent years, so now might be a good time to sell up. If he does, I trust him to sell to a party that is in the best long term interest for the club (not just the biggest nest egg for him, despite what others think).

When he does choose to move on, I think he will be remembered as one of the best owners we have had in our history.

JL is a waste of space though and the sooner he has nothing to do with the club the better.

Surely as a bare minimum you expect some progress in 20-odd years, even if to stand still.  Other clubs have moved further forward than us, that is the problem.  Some have gone backwards admittedly.

He has always backed us….until now.  And like you it’s now time he sells us, or hands over to Jon.  I’m guessing he’d need to gift Jon a wedge to put in every year too, because I’m not sure Jon has the funds in his own right.

[Robbored]

7 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

And if they sell to someone “unreliable”, then imho they are just as culpable for their poor due diligence.

I don’t think that it’s likely Dave - SL is shrewd guy and I’m confident that he wouldn’t sell his shares unless he was 100% sure that the purchaser had the club’s interests at heart.

What we need is another die hard City fan who’s also a billionaire………don’t think that there are many around tho…….

[BigTone]

1 minute ago, Robbored said:

I don’t think that it’s likely Dave - SL is shrewd guy and I’m confident that he wouldn’t sell his shares unless he was 100% sure that the purchaser had the club’s interests at heart.

What we need is another die hard City fan who’s also a billionaire………don’t think that there are many around tho…….

My funds are tied up in premium bonds just now

[Lorenzos Only Goal]

27 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Lots of owners lend money to their clubs with no interest at all

I'm not objected to a change of ownership it just has to be the right sort.  I remember when Scott Davidson lost his marbles trying to buy us into the prem we got relegated and loaded up with debt and drunk players on fat contracts, ever since been Steve's in charge it's been way more sane.  

[Bazooka Joe]

To say "be careful what you wish for" is a premise based on (inflated) fear and risk-aversity.

And adherents of "It's not the destination, it's the journey" are kidding themselves.

We've been on the journey to getting nowhere for far too long.

No wonder we see the hugely frustrated, old timers on here venting and spitting blood.

They've heard the bullsh*t, suffered the broken promises, and witnessed the lack of drive, passion and genuine ambition from our alleged "owners" for too long.

The younger members on here may consider them grouchy bsterds, but if the Lansdowns stay in charge and continue as they have done, they themselves will be the grouchy, frustrated old gits of the future.

Risk/reward is the big thing in football now. The risk of getting rid of the Lansdowns and replacing them with an ambitious, truly passionate owner is one I would welcome.

I want our club to get to the Premiership before we all pop our clogs. And for those worried about us eventually coming back down, I'm sure it will all be fine.

I'm totally fed up with the journey. I want us to quickly get to the destination that we all set out for.

[Mr Popodopolous]

5 minutes ago, Bazooka Joe said:

To say "be careful what you wish for" is a premise based on (inflated) fear and risk-aversity.

And adherents of "It's not the destination, it's the journey" are kidding themselves.

We've been on the journey to getting nowhere for far too long.

No wonder we see the hugely frustrated, old timers on here venting and spitting blood.

They've heard the bullsh*t, suffered the broken promises, and witnessed the lack of drive, passion and genuine ambition from our alleged "owners" for too long.

The younger members on here may consider them grouchy bsterds, but if the Lansdowns stay in charge and continue as they have done, they themselves will be the grouchy, frustrated old gits of the future.

Risk/reward is the big thing in football now. The risk of getting rid of the Lansdowns and replacing them with an ambitious, truly passionate owner is one I would welcome.

I want our club to get to the Premiership before we all pop our clogs. And for those worried about us eventually coming back down, I'm sure it will all be fine.

I'm totally fed up with the journey. I want us to quickly get to the destination that we all set out for.

We did take risk tbh in the late 2010s.

We didn't take enough risk at other times.

Could you outline how much you want us to spend and over what period?

Albeit the decision to sack NP was brainless and failure to back him in the summer doubly so.

[BigTone]

4 minutes ago, Bazooka Joe said:

To say "be careful what you wish for" is a premise based on (inflated) fear and risk-aversity.

And adherents of "It's not the destination, it's the journey" are kidding themselves.

We've been on the journey to getting nowhere for far too long.

No wonder we see the hugely frustrated, old timers on here venting and spitting blood.

They've heard the bullsh*t, suffered the broken promises, and witnessed the lack of drive, passion and genuine ambition from our alleged "owners" for too long.

The younger members on here may consider them grouchy bsterds, but if the Lansdowns stay in charge and continue as they have done, they themselves will be the grouchy, frustrated old gits of the future.

Risk/reward is the big thing in football now. The risk of getting rid of the Lansdowns and replacing them with an ambitious, truly passionate owner is one I would welcome.

I want our club to get to the Premiership before we all pop our clogs. And for those worried about us eventually coming back down, I'm sure it will all be fine.

I'm totally fed up with the journey. I want us to quickly get to the destination that we all set out for.

In my mind SL has one problematic issue and that is Bristol Sport.  His vision his admirable but if he decides to sell is he selling BCFC as a separate entity or Bristol Sport in its entirety ?  The latter really shortens the list of prospective buyers.

[frenchred]

3 hours ago, HitchinRed said:

I think we are miles ahead of where we were when SL took over - on and off the pitch.

I accept that mistakes have been made, but SL has always backed these up with his cash - something that other Chairmen seem unwilling to do.

Similarly, I understand his age, and his apparent step back from all things BCFC in recent years, so now might be a good time to sell up. If he does, I trust him to sell to a party that is in the best long term interest for the club (not just the biggest nest egg for him, despite what others think).

When he does choose to move on, I think he will be remembered as one of the best owners we have had in our history.

JL is a waste of space though and the sooner he has nothing to do with the club the better.

Please explain how we are "miles ahead" ON the field to when the bloke took over?

[Natchfever]

4 hours ago, Marina's Rolls Royce said:

Since our formation in 1894 some 130 years ago we have enjoyed enormous success and history with top flight football and Trophy success, amazing facilities and financial stability until those pesky Lansdowns came along and ruined everything.

Lets force them out  and return to the club we once were.

What club are we now then, and what success have your friends delivered ?

Being on the verge of ffp sanctions wasnt financial stability, Lansdown could be a trillionaire he allowed that to happen and it took others to sort it out.

The amzing facilities are pretty much par for this division, although many other clubs own them.

Spunking up relative loose change on a vanity project knowing youll ultimately recover much of your outlay really isnt that amazing.

What is amazing is that a succesful billionaire businessman can be so shit even after years of involvement, and so arrogant that him and his trust fund baby continue to think they know more about running a football club than professionals.

[Greyrobbo]

Surely depends who’s buying 

[Superjack]

Sell up and **** off.

[Numero Uno]

5 hours ago, Marina's Rolls Royce said:

Since our formation in 1894 some 130 years ago we have enjoyed enormous success and history with top flight football and Trophy success, amazing facilities and financial stability until those pesky Lansdowns came along and ruined everything.

Lets force them out  and return to the club we once were.

Unless Jon shows a level of competence that some of us doubt he has it is likely, whether you want it to happen or not, that we will have a new owner in the next five years or so in any event. If Steve has lost interest, which is a fair assumption, how long does he keep writing the cheques? That’s something we’ll have to swallow whatever our views on the hierarchy. Why would you spend another £100m on something you’ve lost interest in?

[steviestevieneville]

2 hours ago, Robbored said:

I don’t think that it’s likely Dave - SL is shrewd guy and I’m confident that he wouldn’t sell his shares unless he was 100% sure that the purchaser had the club’s interests at heart.

What we need is another die hard City fan who’s also a billionaire………don’t think that there are many around tho…….

If the sentiments of your last few posts are genuine then fair play . However you don’t have to kiss sir Steve’s ass if you’re scared of him. It wasn’t him that beat you up in his office. 

[Davefevs]

3 hours ago, Robbored said:

I don’t think that it’s likely Dave - SL is shrewd guy and I’m confident that he wouldn’t sell his shares unless he was 100% sure that the purchaser had the club’s interests at heart.

What we need is another die hard City fan who’s also a billionaire………don’t think that there are many around tho…….

So….if you truly feel that is unlikely (as do I btw), your previous comment of “be careful what you wish for” is irrelevant.

SL is not a die-hard City fan, his son might be.

[Robbored]

10 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

So….if you truly feel that is unlikely (as do I btw), your previous comment of “be careful what you wish for” is irrelevant.

SL is not a die-hard City fan, his son might be.

My point was that any change of ownership at any club is a gamble. 

[marcofisher]

I would be more than happy for them to keep the club if we had a structure/DOF who has good experience of making good footballing decision. For all their financial support, the decision making has not been their strong point.

I am 27, in my time supporting City we have gone for a number of “manager” types that had provided success in achieving what they were brought in to do, namely Cotteriil and Pearson, and then not backed them and replaced them with a “Head Coach” type when they have achieved that.

I have no problems with the Head Coach style of set-up, but I believe it needs time and the right structure to work, and it has clearly not been set-up correctly in previous occasions. 

FWIW I don’t think Manning is an awful appointment, but once again I don’t think the decision-making process has been well thought out. We have come of our financial issues, but now we have players such as James, Wells and to a degree Weimann, who played well under Pearson, but now do not fit the style of Manning and could now almost be put in a “deadwood” category. Yet again we are waiting until the end of the season to get rid of players and reinvest. 

Again, I would be happy to keep the Lansdowns if they were not involved in footballing decision (particularly regarding hiring and firing of managers), but I don’t see that changing, and I could quite easily see the same cycle of the past decade reoccurring where we tear it up and hire another “manager” in the next couple of years to avoid a crisis. So for that reason I voted for yes.

[Natchfever]

16 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

So….if you truly feel that is unlikely (as do I btw), your previous comment of “be careful what you wish for” is irrelevant.

SL is not a die-hard City fan, his son might be.

If you put personal relationships ahead of the best interests of the club you are certainly not a die hard fan imo.