steve lansdown

[kiwicolin]

10:40 - 03 February 2007

Tim Davey meets Bristol City chairman Steve LansdownThe young Steve Lansdown gave himself a deadline of six months - just half a year for the qualified accountant to make a success of his new business venture in partnership with work colleague Peter Hargreaves.

Married and with a first child due in a few months, he worked out that he had enough savings to see them through for that time. If their joint enterprise, based in a bedroom of Peter's home, didn't work out then he would have to think about doing something else.

But it did, and he has never looked back.

The firm was Hargreaves Lansdown - now recognised everywhere as one of Britain's leading investment advisors. It's stayed true to its roots, too, still basing itself in Clifton. Only nowadays, the humble bedroom has been replaced by offices on four different sites and a workforce of about 600.

We meet in one of those offices, tucked up a quiet lane off the busy Whiteladies Road. The previous seven days have been rather noteworthy for Steve on a number of fronts.

First, in his capacity of co-founder of Hargreaves Lansdown, his name was all over the media amid reports of a Stock Exchange flotation for the company, estimates allocating him a significant slice of the cake. It's about £240 million, actually.

Then there was the little matter of Steve's interest outside of the day job - his role as chairman of Bristol City Football Club. He'd seen his team, already riding high on the League One promotion trail, hit the headlines with an amazing fightback against Premiership Middlesborough in the FA Cup fourth round.

How, I enquired, did all this come to be?

For that you have to turn back the clock to Steve's early days.

He says: "I was born in Almondsbury Hospital, educated at Thornbury Grammar School and spent most of my early years in Tockington, South Gloucestershire. The family ran a coach firm, Lansdown Coaches, for a number of years and my dad used to drive for them.

"After Tockington, we moved into Southmead Road, then my parents moved to Aust to run a post office and then to Beachley on the other side of the Severn.

"Aust was the last place I lived in with them. I left Thornbury Grammar in 1970 and went to study accountancy at Sheffield Polytechnic."

It was a college choice which would set his career path. His first job came with an accountants in Chipping Sodbury, leaving in 1974 to join one of the biggest names in the business, Touche Ross. He qualified in 1975 as a chartered accountant and four years later left them to work for another firm in Cheltenham Road, Bristol, where he met Peter.

Both left there in 1981 and launched Hargreaves Lansdown from that bedroom.

"There was just Peter, myself and our part-time secretary, Valerie Gill," Steve recalls.

Their fledgling business had come about, from Steve's perspective anyway, because of his dislike of doing company audits. As a consequence, he had found himself working in the Touche Ross tax department.

"I thoroughly enjoyed it and got involved with tax planning and looking at tax situations. In doing that, you look at how people can invest their money."

It got to the point where he was a bit bored with the work and found himself a new post with the Cheltenham Road firm. Peter Hargreaves joined the same outfit and were put to work travelling around to firms of accountants and solicitors offering investment advice to their clients.

As a business venture, he recalls, it was "a very hard slog" but he was convinced something like this could be accomplished.

He says: "I wanted to prove to myself I could do it. I was 27 then and thought that if I didn't make it I could get back into accountancy and pick up my career there. Peter was keen to carry on doing it, too, and had his own views as to how to progress.

"He was very much more marketing driven than I am but he was keen and we were, in a way, the last two men standing. We decided we would join up and do it and formed Hargreaves Lansdown.

"I was married by then and my wife Maggie was two months off having a baby. We set up the firm in July, and Amy, my daughter, was born in September.

"Maggie, by the way, has always been very supportive which is one of the reasons we have been successful."

Not too long after the launch a client came along who would prove to have a major bearing on another direction that Steve's life would take.

"One of my first clients at that time was Des Williams who in the early Eighties (a watershed in Bristol City's history) took over as club chairman," he reveals.

More of Des and that football club later.

But in those early years the founding members of Hargreaves Lansdown worked "very, very hard" to develop the business.

He reflects: "Looking back on it now, was there a time when we thought we weren't going to make it? To be honest, no?"

Steve attributes his business acumen to his mother, who worked as a secretary at Tockington Manor School. His father was a cooper by trade and a skilled carpenter. "Dad left things to her. He was very good with his hands and skilful, whereas I am totally useless at things like that."

He recalls a conversation he once had with his father: "We were in the garden at Southmead Road and I was at Touche Ross earning a salary of £2,500 a year, which was a lot then. He said 'That doesn't count for anything' and then turned to me and added 'I hope you ARE intelligent because you're useless at anything else!'"

Inevitably, the conversation comes round to the recent talk of the company's possible flotation. "It's something we are thinking of working towards but nothing is definite," he declares. "To put things into perspective, Hargreaves Lansdown is now 25 years old and I am 54. It's been a big part of my life and has grown from a very small beginning, and we have just worked at it and developed it. I don't think we ever set out with a plan that it would be a multi-national type business.

"It doesn't mean a lot to me, these figures being bandied around. Everything is down to a valuation which is decided by investment banks and would not be quoted if they were not in the ball park. However, the way I look at it, is that it's a great accolade to everyone who has been part of Hargreaves Lansdown during that time. A load of our people have been around a long time but it is a young firm and people of 35 and 36, say, have been here eight or nine years. People come here and we get them doing what we did, making decisions, feeling part of it and enjoying working here."

He still enjoys the work, too, but explains: "You look at the business and think 'I am not getting any younger' and people ask you when you are going to retire, when are you going to sell? The answer is I don't know. I'm happy doing what I am doing. I want to be involved with it and Peter is exactly the same. We feel we have still got a lot to offer and want to take the business on. The talk about flotation is all about how you do that. How do you increase the business's appeal and profile? How do you build in succession? Because the only thing I can tell you is that Hargreaves Lansdown can last for ever but Steve Lansdown and Peter Hargreaves can't."

Setting this hugely successful business to one side for a moment, the conversation switches again to his chairmanship of Bristol City.

He begins with a revelation of some note. He was once a Bristol Rovers fan. Geography (his boyhood in Tockington) saw to that and as a lad you could have found him on match days in the Tote End, at Eastville.

His allegiance to Bristol City was prompted by his son, Jon. At the age of six, he asked Steve to take him to a football match - a Bristol City football match. Which is where that first client of his, Des, comes in.

"When my boy wanted to start watching football, Rovers were playing at Twerton Park and there was no way I was going to go there. So, as I knew Des, we got a couple of tickets to go and watch City against Bury. They won one-nil and Dave Smith, I believe, scored the goal. We were hooked. We started going down for the odd games, then we got a season ticket for the Williams Stand."

School sporting demands began to limit his son's attendance so Steve joined the City 51 Club where he met Scott Davidson who was looking to acquire the club. Steve says: "He asked me if I would chip in. I did, and have been paying out ever since."

It's now Steve and Keith Dawe who control the club and he admits to sometimes "feeling in awe" of people who have been watching City for a very long time.

He says: "My involvement only came about from my son but if I can make an environment where people will bring more sons and daughters down to watch the football, more and more people will, hopefully, be involved with taking 'Bristle City' forward.

"People will judge me themselves. I let results speak for themselves at the end of the day, but I am very proud that since I have been here (and it has not been easy) every player has been paid their wages on time, got their bonuses on time, and all the staff have been paid on time. It's been a struggle sometimes. In the past, the club was on a knife edge, if you go back to 1982 for example, and when I got involved with Scott initially it was on its uppers.

"What I am trying to do is get the club run as a proper business. We look at what we are bringing in and we spend out no more than that. Yes, we gear up occasionally if we think we can make things happen and I take that calculated risk because I know, if it all goes wrong, the people who are going to bail it out are Keith and myself.

"The cup game against Middlesborough was the sort of match you want to be in football for. We have had a couple of those since I have been chairman. We want more of those and on a regular basis.

"My aim is to get City into the Championship, into the Premiership, into Europe, and everything you can dream of. I think those dreams are possible but I believe you have to work very, very hard and stick to your principles."

There is, of course, a third inevitability about the conversation. What would he say to those who might see news of his multiple millions as a lavish Bristol City lifeline.

He says: "It is irrelevant whether I get £240million. I won't. Anyway, it will all be in the value of the business. I will get some cash from the float if it takes place but it is an irrelevance to the club because it's about what Bristol City can generate for itself. I am not going to be around forever. I would like to think that would be the case but it won't. Therefore my legacy to the club has to be that it is in a stable position financially, and can take itself forward in the same light."

Do not, he stresses, take those comments to mean he's thinking of bailing out. He does confess, though, to finding it difficult to answer questions about City.

He adds: "I regard Bristol City as a passion of mine. I want it to be successful. I want to see City on the front pages of the sporting press as it was the past weekend or so. We have a long way to go but I believe it can happen. But it won't by making short-term decisions all the time. Decisions I have taken have been long- term ones. The academy is one of them - investing in youth. One of the other things we need to get sorted are the training facilities and we do need a much better stadium.

"That's the frustration. The debate whether we should develop Ashton Gate or should have a new stadium will go on a long time and I don't know if we will get a finite answer. But sooner or later something will happen."

His work and his commitment to the football club blend well together, he reckons: "Hargreaves Lansdown is a successful business. We have no debts on the balance sheet. We have never looked to gear up the business to borrow. Any money we have made we have put back into it. That's also been Peter's philosophy as well.

"Bristol City is the complete opposite. It has always been in a loss situation and that's always difficult to reconcile. Nevertheless, on both counts, the dawn of 2007 has been quite momentous thus far.

"In a business sense it is a great challenge to take Hargreaves Lansdown on to new levels. While in the football sense - there's a great possibility we can achieve something."

makes good reading and shows he wants to do well for city

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[RedUn]

10:40 - 03 February 2007

makes good reading and shows he wants to do well for city

Certainly does, as did his excellent article about the new Junior Academy (first in the country) in yesterday's WDP.

[Stoke_Gifford_Red]

Link to WDP story here.

[Gazred]

Good read that. I see the club and Lansdown being a partnership for a long time yet. In an ideal world, i really hope we can get promotion this year, establish ourselves in the Championship and with a bit of luck SL will be looking to retire by then, cash in and then hopefully make a bigger cash investment to push us onto Prem football.

[Jamie]

Will be richer than Chelski

[bh_red]

Will be richer than Chelski

think you billions and your millions mixed up

[samo]

Will be richer than Chelski

only if Hargreaves Lansdown find oil in Clifton!

[Jamie]

only if Hargreaves Lansdown find oil in Clifton!

Best get thier bucket and spades out then, but I'm glad we have a good Chairman whos got money but we don't waste it like a couple of seasons ago

[Guest ashtonyate]

Best get thier bucket and spades out then, but I'm glad we have a good Chairman whos got money but we don't waste it like a couple of seasons ago

Its a pity he cant run the football club like his company or we would be in the Premiership by now

[kiwicolin]

Its a pity he cant run the football club like his company or we would be in the Premiership by now

like all things it takes time.

[Jamie]

like all things it takes time.

All good things come to those who wait.

Just a shame we got to wait so god dam long!

[Guest ashtonyate]

like all things it takes time.

He has had the time just bad judgement in most cases, and still now we should have got a new front man which may well come back to haunt us at the end of the season.

[Jamie]

We did try but we didn't get what more do you want? We have Andrews on loan now untill the end of the season and Lansdown was prepared to put his hands in his pockets for Pospisil but he turned us down and fair play to Lansdown for rejecting to have a non-promotion release in his contract (okay it may of been GJ, as I don't know who deals with player contracts.)

[kiwicolin]

He has had the time just bad judgement in most cases, and still now we should have got a new front man which may well come back to haunt us at the end of the season.

how long has he had to get hargreaves/lansdown off the mark to make it a multi million pound business

if it takes that long with city then we will be in good hands.

everyone, including myself would love to get out of this division, but it doesn't come overnight.

you make more mistakes if you rush things.

if the player from hearts didn't want to come to us then that is his decision.he did say we offered him good money but a clause in

the contract that he could leave if we didn't go up is ludicrous.why should he dictate the terms of the contract.

[Guest ashtonyate]

how long has he had to get hargreaves/lansdown off the mark to make it a multi million pound business

if it takes that long with city then we will be in good hands.

everyone, including myself would love to get out of this division, but it doesn't come overnight.

you make more mistakes if you rush things.

if the player from hearts didn't want to come to us then that is his decision.he did say we offered him good money but a clause in

the contract that he could leave if we didn't go up is ludicrous.why should he dictate the terms of the contract.

I would have thought that having a clause in his contract was to our benefit as well, you must remember that if we do go up a front man now would hopefully settle in before next season its lack of ambition again with brooker out we are to light weight up front as for Andrews if he was any good Coventry would keep him to help stay up we try to do things on the cheap and it never works out.

[kiwicolin]

I would have thought that having a clause in his contract was to our benefit as well, you must remember that if we do go up a front man now would hopefully settle in before next season its lack of ambition again with brooker out we are to light weight up front as for Andrews if he was any good Coventry would keep him to help stay up we try to do things on the cheap and it never works out.

having a clause is like opening a can of worms.if we let one player have a clause then all other

signings would have a clause.it is not a lack of ambition.they have tried to get a striker and he didn't wont to come.

you have a go at being a manager/chairman at the club and see how you would do.the club will not

pay out stupid money for players. look what happened to marcus stewart.we were paying a lot of money for him

and it didn't work.

do you want this club in more debt?

[Guest ashtonyate]

having a clause is like opening a can of worms.if we let one player have a clause then all other

signings would have a clause.it is not a lack of ambition.they have tried to get a striker and he didn't wont to come.

you have a go at being a manager/chairman at the club and see how you would do.the club will not

pay out stupid money for players. look what happened to marcus stewart.we were paying a lot of money for him

and it didn't work.

do you want this club in more debt?

Why the club is in debt is a lot to do with lansdown how much has the Tinnion affair cost the club how come he aloud us to pay 320k

for a raw young scots man who had scored a few goals in scotland.I am not really have a go at Lansdown although it may seem that way but don,t make out that is better than he is a average chairman with a poor record as this period is poorest time in City records.

[Stoke_Gifford_Red]

Why the club is in debt is a lot to do with lansdown how much has the Tinnion affair cost the club how come he aloud us to pay 320k

for a raw young scots man who had scored a few goals in scotland.I am not really have a go at Lansdown although it may seem that way but don,t make out that is better than he is a average chairman with a poor record as this period is poorest time in City records.

Now I have not got a great knowledge of the history, mainly due to my lack of history, but surely the events leading up to and including 1982 were a lot worse than the present situation?

[bh red]

Why the club is in debt is a lot to do with lansdown how much has the Tinnion affair cost the club how come he aloud us to pay 320k

for a raw young scots man who had scored a few goals in scotland.I am not really have a go at Lansdown although it may seem that way but don,t make out that is better than he is a average chairman with a poor record as this period is poorest time in City records.

some things never change.

I think my record player must be broken

[jellyred]

Why the club is in debt is a lot to do with lansdown how much has the Tinnion affair cost the club how come he aloud us to pay 320k

for a raw young scots man who had scored a few goals in scotland.I am not really have a go at Lansdown although it may seem that way but don,t make out that is better than he is a average chairman with a poor record as this period is poorest time in City records.

Can you ever see anything positive? It always seems to be the negative. As Ashtonsmate said, the record appears to be broken again.

[Guest ashtonyate]

Now I have not got a great knowledge of the history, mainly due to my lack of history, but surely the events leading up to and including 1982 were a lot worse than the present situation?

Yes they were but we had been in the first division,and there again what happened in 1982 was down to bad management, under Lansdown we haven't been anywhere yet as I said I am not really having a go at Lansdown but don't make him out to be Mr Perfect

[Guest ashtonyate]

Can you ever see anything positive? It always seems to be the negative. As Ashtonsmate said, the record appears to be broken again.

I sorry if the truth is not what you want to here, but because we are having a little success don't cancel out all that's gone on before

[jellyred]

Yes they were but we had been in the first division,and there again what happened in 1982 was down to bad management, under Lansdown we haven't been anywhere yet as I said I am not really having a go at Lansdown but don't make him out to be Mr Perfect

I don't think anyone is trying to make Lansdown out as the perfect chairman, I don't really think there is such a thing. However he is trying to make a success of his chairmanship of city. One by seeing us get promoted and established ion the championship, which of course hasn't happened yet and secondly by making sure we never see those dark days of 1982 again by making sure that we have a sound financial footing and not relying on a chairmans millions. It is on this second point which I think he is starting to be very successful. I know we are not setting the world alight with our football at the moment but its getting there, we have a very successful academy and a first team that is finally playing for each other and the shirt and we appear to be going places but we are not overspending and plunging ourselves into the kind of debt* that a lot of other teams are in, that, for me, is a good thing as tis the long term that matters at city, I want to be able to still see my city when I am grey and old.

*yes I know we are currently in debt but its not as bad as most other clubs.

[Guest ashtonyate]

I don't think anyone is trying to make Lansdown out as the perfect chairman, I don't really think there is such a thing. However he is trying to make a success of his chairmanship of city. One by seeing us get promoted and established ion the championship, which of course hasn't happened yet and secondly by making sure we never see those dark days of 1982 again by making sure that we have a sound financial footing and not relying on a chairmans millions. It is on this second point which I think he is starting to be very successful. I know we are not setting the world alight with our football at the moment but its getting there, we have a very successful academy and a first team that is finally playing for each other and the shirt and we appear to be going places but we are not overspending and plunging ourselves into the kind of debt* that a lot of other teams are in, that, for me, is a good thing as tis the long term that matters at city, I want to be able to still see my city when I am grey and old.

*yes I know we are currently in debt but its not as bad as most other clubs.

I agree with a lot of what you have said,but how much of our present debt down to our Chairman this is the way I see it last time we were relegated we should have replaced the academy with a centre of excellence

At the time money was short and it was costing around a million a year to set up, that money would have been better spent on the first team. I think if it had we would have gone up 5 year ago.We could have always reinstated the academy when things got better and its only the last few years the academy has produced any outstanding players.

The year we lost to Cardiff in the play offs we needed a goal scorer but could not afford one which would got promoted

The Tinnion job he put him in charge and told there was no money to spend so Tinnion went out and got a lot of player out of contract to sign on which was always going to be a gamble

When he got rid of Tinnion he got Johnson in and Money was spent on compensation to Yeovil and players leading to the refinance of the Club and a few other things we wasted money on as i said Lansdown still has to do a lot better before I say he is a great chairman

[bh red]

I agree with a lot of what you have said,but how much of our present debt down to our Chairman this is the way I see it last time we were relegated we should have replaced the academy with a centre of excellence

At the time money was short and it was costing around a million a year to set up, that money would have been better spent on the first team. I think if it had we would have gone up 5 year ago.We could have always reinstated the academy when things got better and its only the last few years the academy has produced any outstanding players.

The year we lost to Cardiff in the play offs we needed a goal scorer but could not afford one which would got promoted

The Tinnion job he put him in charge and told there was no money to spend so Tinnion went out and got a lot of player out of contract to sign on which was always going to be a gamble

When he got rid of Tinnion he got Johnson in and Money was spent on compensation to Yeovil and players leading to the refinance of the Club and a few other things we wasted money on as i said Lansdown still has to do a lot better before I say he is a great chairman

at the time, however the Acedemy has since proved without a shadow of a doubt to have been worth every single penny of outlay.

We had a goal scorer in cardiff however he was injured! we brought in 2 attacking players at the window but it still wasn't enough!

I'd go into debate however everyone on here knows and is bored of your views.

[Guest ashtonyate]

at the time, however the Acedemy has since proved without a shadow of a doubt to have been worth every single penny of outlay.

We had a goal scorer in cardiff however he was injured! we brought in 2 attacking players at the window but it still wasn't enough!

I'd go into debate however everyone on here knows and is bored of your views.

If you read what I said the year we lost to Cardiff not in the millenium we lack a goal scorer all year you may be bored with my views but they are not far out from the truth

[Nibor]

I agree with a lot of what you have said,but how much of our present debt down to our Chairman this is the way I see it last time we were relegated we should have replaced the academy with a centre of excellence

At the time money was short and it was costing around a million a year to set up, that money would have been better spent on the first team. I think if it had we would have gone up 5 year ago.We could have always reinstated the academy when things got better and its only the last few years the academy has produced any outstanding players.

The year we lost to Cardiff in the play offs we needed a goal scorer but could not afford one which would got promoted

The Tinnion job he put him in charge and told there was no money to spend so Tinnion went out and got a lot of player out of contract to sign on which was always going to be a gamble

When he got rid of Tinnion he got Johnson in and Money was spent on compensation to Yeovil and players leading to the refinance of the Club and a few other things we wasted money on as i said Lansdown still has to do a lot better before I say he is a great chairman

As I've explained to you many times before.

An academy takes a long, long time to "bed in". It was always expected that it would take 5+ years to produce excellent first team players. You can't just cancel it and reinstate it, because you'd then have to go through the growing pains all over again. Also the FA would go ape shit and probably refuse your entry back into the academy program.

The academy is now, considering it's whole lifetime, well into the black therefore the fact that it was costing over half a million a year at startup (nowhere near the million you claim) is completely irrelevant.

I agree that Lansdown has made mistakes, most notably the appointment of Tinnion and the massive overfinancing of Danny Wilson's pampered pussies. But the academy most certainly wasn't one of them.

[Nibor]

If you read what I said the year we lost to Cardiff not in the millenium we lack a goal scorer all year you may be bored with my views but they are not far out from the truth

The fault there lies with the manager not the chairman. The manager had a goalscorer and didn't even put him on the bench. He picked the wrong side and was a massively expensive failure who had a squad with a wage bill near double what we have now. In the end he left the club in a sorry state, and the only thing SL did wrong was giving him so much money to piss away.

[Guest ashtonyate]

The fault there lies with the manager not the chairman. The manager had a goalscorer and didn't even put him on the bench. He picked the wrong side and was a massively expensive failure who had a squad with a wage bill near double what we have now. In the end he left the club in a sorry state, and the only thing SL did wrong was giving him so much money to piss away.

A few things I think we could have gone to the fa and gone back to a C of E as our finances were so bad. It was Lansdown that said it was costing nearly a million pounds to set up the academy.

Do you except that had that money gone to funding players we would have gone up a long time ago also its up to the Chairman to keep an eye on the manager as I though Wilson had lost the plot a long time before he went.

I was not talking about the millennium play offs I was talking about the year we lost to Cardiff when we were poor up front sounds familiar

[Nibor]

A few things I think we could have gone to the fa and gone back to a C of E as our finances were so bad. It was Lansdown that said it was costing nearly a million pounds to set up the academy.

Our finances weren't so bad when we went down. We'd just sold Akinbiyi for £3.5m and we weren't in debt.

The FA would have still made waves if we'd tried to go back to having an academy after dumping one after less than 2 years and you're ignoring the amount of time it takes an academy to get up and running - money we'd have pissed away twice instead of once with your suggestion.

They only started to go bad after Pulis was given the cheque book to waste money on crocked over the hill journeymen.

Do you except that had that money gone to funding players we would have gone up a long time ago also its up to the Chairman to keep an eye on the manager as I though Wilson had lost the plot a long time before he went.

No, I don't. We spent many times more on players than we did on the academy and what held us back was that the money was spent poorly signing players like Peacock and paying him four grand a week to be mediocre. We spent over a million quid on transfer fees alone under DW and that was a drop in the ocean compared to the wage bill.

I was not talking about the millennium play offs I was talking about the year we lost to Cardiff when we were poor up front sounds familiar

Sorry I misread that.

However we could have had Shevchenko in the squad and DW would have played Peacock.