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Red Head

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Bodiesaffer

Bodiesaffer

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ROBINS CHIEF READY TO LISTEN

By Alistair Grant 22/07/2007

More Football

Have your say: Football forum

BRISTOL CITY chairman Steve Lansdown admits he will agree to meet the oil barons eyeing a £40 million takeover - and consider a sale if they are serious.

Three weeks ago, Robins supremo Lansdown gave a frosty response to news that Czech and Serbian multi-millionaires were preparing a bid for the club, promoted under Gary Johnson last season.

But City chief executive Colin Sexton has since held talks with consortium leader Craig Hutchinson - and Lansdown is now willing to meet the Eastern European moguls.

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Lansdown said: "If somebody is interested in investing, we obviously have to talk to them and find out if there is mileage in it. If there's a serious proposition and it seems to add value to what we're doing, one would obviously look at it.

"We're not actively seeking somebody - but if somebody did come in, we'd listen to what they have to say. The board has a duty to look at all aspects."

there you go

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bs3

bs3

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The Mirror have basically taken the quote "if anyone is interested then we have a duty to spak to them blah blah" and turned it into "Robins Chief will listen to offer" despite the fact that this is a complete non story.

I think the story have moved on.

It says CS had made contact with them and Lansdown is willing to meet them.

Also in the post this week Lansdown didn't show a lot of ambition and said he his not willing to put any more money into the club, if he sells his investment might make him a tidy profit.

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badger22

badger22

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''Colin Sexton has since held talks with consortium leader Craig Hutchinson''

Am l right in saying that Craig Hutchinsom was the agent in the article last time?

Will be an interesting few weeks if they do meet.......

It will be interesting to hear peoples reactions on here today, l'm guessing people like AshtonYate will welcome the idea with open arms if they want this so called 15+ goal scorer!!!!

I for one would welcome a move and feel its exactly what we need to take us to the holy grail of the Prem. Takeovers from foreign investors is more common than not now, this could be a great catalyst for the future.

But l like most fans would want to be involved and know business plans etc

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Red Head

Red Head

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''Colin Sexton has since held talks with consortium leader Craig Hutchinson''

Am l right in saying that Craig Hutchinsom was the agent in the article last time?

Will be an interesting few weeks if they do meet.......

It will be interesting to hear peoples reactions on here today, l'm guessing people like AshtonYate will welcome the idea with open arms if they want this so called 15+ goal scorer!!!!

I for one would welcome a move and feel its exactly what we need to take us to the holy grail of the Prem. Takeovers from foreign investors is more common than not now, this could be a great catalyst for the future.

But l like most fans would want to be involved and know business plans etc

You DON'T stay in the prem without investment, so when SL states that the club must stay on it's own two feet how do we realise this goal if it should happen?

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SouthGlosRed

SouthGlosRed

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You DON'T stay in the prem without investment, so when SL states that the club must stay on it's own two feet how do we realise this goal if it should happen?

The trick though would be to make it self financing to a large degree i.e. more TV money, more gate money (through our new 40k capacity!) and more merchandise sales.

:fingerscrossed:

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Red Head

Red Head

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The trick though would be to make it self financing to a large degree i.e. more TV money, more gate money (through our new 40k capacity!) and more merchandise sales.

:fingerscrossed:

That would be a fine trick to perform. In reality without big backing it doesn't happen.

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stroudy

stroudy

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Think we need to sit and wait on this subject! To early for any of us to get really excited about it! Lots of pros and cons from foreign investment. As other posters have said it will be an interesting few weeks ahead of us!

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Bristol Boy

Bristol Boy

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The trick though would be to make it self financing to a large degree i.e. more TV money, more gate money (through our new 40k capacity!) and more merchandise sales.

I don't think there's a club out there that's self financing in the way that SL's described and the existing ground MAY get to 29,000 in 2010.MAY!The only way that we'll acheive anything like it is with promotion to the Prem and that won't ahppen without adding the required quality, which we appear to be struggling to do as far as strikers are concerned.

Think we need to sit and wait on this subject! To early for any of us to get really excited about it! Lots of pros and cons from foreign investment. As other posters have said it will be an interesting few weeks ahead of us!

After SL virtually rubbishing the approach, Sexstone has had a meeting with the agent/broker.Due Dilegence needs to be undertaken, usually by proffessional third parties on behalf of both sides, then, if all goes well, SL & The Buyers/Investors sit down face to face and talk turkey.I wouldn't be surprised to see SL sell out and walk away, providing the deal is right for his family and the club.

I'll judge the buyers on what they do, not where they come from and I would think that they would have to invest over £40m to improve the ground to 29k, pay off SL & Shareholders and give GJ a more worthwhile budget.

Let's see.

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Eddie Hitler

Eddie Hitler

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So...

We take the exciting but risky route of private equity. They come in, they put debt on the balance sheet to fund player purchases and wages. They aim for the premiership and if it works and they get there will then look to sell the club on and pocket the profit. If it doesn't work then we get what Leeds are currently undergoing.

Or

We stay with Steve and his policy of steady improvement for the club by running and managing it better. Less exciting, no likelihood of getting into the premiership in two years, but no risk of going bust.

Obviously it's SL's decision but he will be swayed by fan opinion. As I remember the disaster that was 1982 and the dreadful years after it I would go nowhere near these new investors. They can take their speculative risks with another club.

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NATCHER

NATCHER

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I wouldn't be surprised to see SL sell out and walk away, providing the deal is right for his family and the club.

Lansdown, like all of us, needs to be loved, and after his latest "Judge me on........." comment it will be Bristol City foremost in his thoughts. He won't want any of us pointing fingers if he does 'sell' and "the future" isn't bright.

Interseting times indeed.

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Cider Visor

Cider Visor

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From what i gathered from the conversation with the agents was that these guys were looking to invest in a club and used us as an example of the type of team that they would be interested in. A team on the up and a prospect for maintaining the momentum and furthering their achievements is basically what he said so yeah 40 million lovelly but then again they may also take an interest in S****horpe!! We were only used as an example.

Still Henry coming to the gate from Barcelona next season?? :shutup:

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Eddie Hitler

Eddie Hitler

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From what i gathered from the conversation with the agents was that these guys were looking to invest in a club and used us as an example of the type of team that they would be interested in. A team on the up and a prospect for maintaining the momentum and furthering their achievements is basically what he said so yeah 40 million lovelly but then again they may also take an interest in S****horpe!! We were only used as an example.

Still Henry coming to the gate from Barcelona next season?? :shutup:

That was then.

Now Colin Sexstone has met with them.

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richieb

richieb

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So...

We take the exciting but risky route of private equity. They come in, they put debt on the balance sheet to fund player purchases and wages. They aim for the premiership and if it works and they get there will then look to sell the club on and pocket the profit. If it doesn't work then we get what Leeds are currently undergoing.

Or

We stay with Steve and his policy of steady improvement for the club by running and managing it better. Less exciting, no likelihood of getting into the premiership in two years, but no risk of going bust.

Obviously it's SL's decision but he will be swayed by fan opinion. As I remember the disaster that was 1982 and the dreadful years after it I would go nowhere near these new investors. They can take their speculative risks with another club.

I am sure SL will make any decision for the sake of the clubs future.

And wouldn't put it at risk in the way Leeds happened. Infact I don't think Leeds were put at risk by an foreign investment?

I am sure the position of Chairman of a Championship football club is a one that SL enjoys, but in todays football business money holds the key.

And if the Oil Mogals bring what Manderic did at Pompey & now at Leicester, then that is a risk worth taking.

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bristolcityup

bristolcityup

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I think there is more going on behind the scenes than we realise. I beleive there is a serious financial sistuation going on, i.e alot of debt and the board havent been completely honest with the fans. I say this becuase its very suspicious to me that the chairman and other board memebers do actually love the club, they must of or they wouldnt have put so much money into us BUT I still can't understand why Lansdown does not want to heavily invest in us in the future. His company stands to make millions and millions, Lansdown could well be one of the richest chairman at our level of the game, we have the bace of a team that could go places under GJ but only we have money invested.. So if all these paper reports are correct why does Lansdown now want to talk this group, a week after saying to the fans that in so many words he wont be investing too much more in the club? All sounds very dosgy to me...

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Henry

Henry

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From what i gathered from the conversation with the agents was that these guys were looking to invest in a club and used us as an example of the type of team that they would be interested in. A team on the up and a prospect for maintaining the momentum and furthering their achievements is basically what he said so yeah 40 million lovelly but then again they may also take an interest in S****horpe!! We were only used as an example.

Still Henry coming to the gate from Barcelona next season?? :shutup:

Yep I'll be there.

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Nipper

Nipper

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I think there is more going on behind the scenes than we realise. I beleive there is a serious financial sistuation going on, i.e alot of debt and the board havent been completely honest with the fans. I say this becuase its very suspicious to me that the chairman and other board memebers do actually love the club, they must of or they wouldnt have put so much money into us BUT I still can't understand why Lansdown does not want to heavily invest in us in the future. His company stands to make millions and millions, Lansdown could well be one of the richest chairman at our level of the game, we have the bace of a team that could go places under GJ but only we have money invested.. So if all these paper reports are correct why does Lansdown now want to talk this group, a week after saying to the fans that in so many words he wont be investing too much more in the club? All sounds very dosgy to me...

Surely the actual debt and the reported debt are the same. Accounts are published every season presumably in the format of profit/loss and showing the balance sheet, assets and amounts owing to long term creditors. Are you suggesting that someone in Steve Lansdown's position is persuading professional accountants to falsify the clubs accounts and that the debt is far higher than reported?

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richieb

richieb

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Think we need to sit and wait on this subject! To early for any of us to get really excited about it! Lots of pros and cons from foreign investment. As other posters have said it will be an interesting few weeks ahead of us!

September before anything likely to progress & then I imagine it will be months before any (if any) progress is made.

The positives are that we have ownership of much of the assets.

Unlike Coventry who have been in negotiations for months:

http://www.ccfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsD...0.html#continue

If we start the season brightly, I am sure the negotiations will be more frantic.....!

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Eddie Hitler

Eddie Hitler

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Surely the actual debt and the reported debt are the same. Accounts are published every season presumably in the format of profit/loss and showing the balance sheet, assets and amounts owing to long term creditors. Are you suggesting that someone in Steve Lansdown's position is persuading professional accountants to falsify the clubs accounts and that the debt is far higher than reported?

Maybe the New World Order are involved. Can atyeoablock and ashtonyate be our very own Mulder & Scully as they seek to unmask the greatest conspiracy of them all? Can they keep us posted? Can they dress themselves?

The answers are out there...

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Nipper

Nipper

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So...

We take the exciting but risky route of private equity. They come in, they put debt on the balance sheet to fund player purchases and wages. They aim for the premiership and if it works and they get there will then look to sell the club on and pocket the profit. If it doesn't work then we get what Leeds are currently undergoing.

Or

We stay with Steve and his policy of steady improvement for the club by running and managing it better. Less exciting, no likelihood of getting into the premiership in two years, but no risk of going bust.

Obviously it's SL's decision but he will be swayed by fan opinion. As I remember the disaster that was 1982 and the dreadful years after it I would go nowhere near these new investors. They can take their speculative risks with another club.

Wouldn't you at least hear what they've got to say and examine the colour of their money before dismissing the whole thing out of hand? Steady improvement is the way to go if you can GUARANTEE that improvement. But let's say we did struggle next season and went down. You will then see a massive downturn in the club's fortunes with some people walking away in my opinion. It could take us another 9 seasons to get back to where we are now - who knows? Steve Lansdown has a duty to himself and to all City fans to listen to the offer, if it is viable, and make the appropriate judgement call. To dismiss it out of hand without even looking at the facts, as you appear to be suggesting, would be downright incompetent, unprofessional and insulting to all loyal and true supporters of this football club.

Of course, if there is any doubt in steve Lansdown's mind whatsoever about the substance of this offer then I would support him 100% in rejecting it.

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bristolcitysweden

bristolcitysweden

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Correct me if I'm wrong but there is no money in football for owners unless you make the top five of the Premiership. Is that a realistic target businesswise worth riscing your personal wealth for? Steve Lansdown obviosuly don't believe so. If he want's the best for City he should stick to his business plan and not listen to people with less money wanting to do what he believe is a stupid thing. After having reached the Championship we can now keep players like Lita and Cotterill. Our young players, a very good manager and sound fininacial backing by a wise chairman is the way forward. Remember one poster recently mentioned we are one of the good examples in football why destroying that? Steve Lansdown will not sell.

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Nipper

Nipper

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Correct me if I'm wrong but there is no money in football for owners unless you make the top five of the Premiership. Is that a realistic target businesswise worth riscing your personal wealth for? Steve Lansdown obviosuly don't believe so. If he want's the best for City he should stick to his business plan and not listen to people with less money wanting to do what he believe is a stupid thing. After having reached the Championship we can now keep players like Lita and Cotterill. Our young players, a very good manager and sound fininacial backing by a wise chairman is the way forward. Remember one poster recently mentioned we are one of the good examples in football why destroying that? Steve Lansdown will not sell.

What a ridiculous comment to make. Unless YOU are Steve Lansdown you have absolutely no idea what he will do.

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