Poll on the Lansdowns - Stay or Go?

[Silvio Dante]

13 minutes ago, Red DNA said:

As per all of these polls, apart from percentages there’s no transparency on actual numbers of people who bothered to vote. 
 

Please provide numbers - not percentages, so we can see how many of the fan base bothered to vote one way or the other.

I doubt very much if the total figures will reach the 600 or so who had to endure yesterdays game let alone the coming W Ham game.

Remember, if the majority - who vote - go for Lansdown out, that’s nowhere near the majority of the fan base, only those who bothered to vote.   

As good as though this forum is it’s not 100% of the fan base of this club. 

Eh? The numbers are on the poll:

 

 

[frenchred]

1 minute 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.

 

For every unsuccessful takeover there is a mirror of successful ones

As I said, some people are frightened of change

[Numero Uno]

2 minutes 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.

 

Broken record……..

[robin_unreliant]

What a pointless question - it really doesn't matter what I want. What we all want is to get promoted and win the PL, like Leicester. I'd vote yes to that.

We have no say whatsoever, regardless of what we want. SL will either get fed up and slash the asking price, writing off a huge sum, or he won't. What we want has bog all to do with anything sadly.

[Shauntaylor85]

Surely we are an attractive buy, I would say more so than Birmingham were. We need change, it’s the same old hamster wheel going round and round. Getting tedious. 

[Robbored]

2 minutes ago, frenchred said:

For every unsuccessful takeover there is a mirror of successful ones

As I said, some people are frightened of change

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.

[frenchred]

Just now, 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.

Very true

More debt, more mistakes and countless managers to blame

[italian dave]

8 minutes ago, frenchred said:

1) point still stands we are Tennant's

2) so you confirm no progress

3) always some will be longer some shorter, we are heading for the later

4) it's not helped our on field position or style at all, I would argue it hasn't attracted the better player we need

5) he should show some adaptability

6) it's not conjecture as you put it, he's been promoted well beyond his capabilities

7) it is stopping us progressing now, and most of it is down to his and juniors previous mistakes

1. We have a complicated corporate and governance structure which has been debated endlessly elsewhere. It’s just not that simple. 

2. The whole concept of “progress” depends entirely on your starting point, doesn’t it? Evidently we’ve made no progress since 1977. We’ve made massive progress since 1982.

3. Sorry, but I think the opposite is evidently the case. Two of our last three managers have been in the top 2/3 length of service at the time they were sacked. And the other was, let’s be honest, always going to be a stop gap during Covid.

4. I don’t think that’s prove-able either way because we’ll never know what would have happened without the ground improvements and the training ground. But surely you’d recognise that both have taken the club forward in terms of facilities, in terms of income - the income from hospitality alone has made a massive difference compared to where we were before. We’d have had to sell even more players without that!

5. Not sure I understand what you mean.

6. That’s purely opinion. (Not saying I’d necessarily disagree, either, but it’s opinion nonetheless)

7. We’ll see!

And I note you didn’t address the Reading comment!

[Natchfever]

6 minutes ago, Shauntaylor85 said:

Surely we are an attractive buy, I would say more so than Birmingham were. We need change, it’s the same old hamster wheel going round and round. Getting tedious. 

Bristol Sport as a package isnt an attractive buy. 

[Numero Uno]

2 minutes 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.

Lots of investment

Even more sound bites

Bricks and mortar (their one and only tangible achievement for the level of investment imo)

Dull football bar a few months here and a few weeks there

Unable to handle any criticism from football people

Ego’s getting in the way

[firstdivision]

10 hours ago, Lew-T said:

Yes.

And that’s not because of a couple losses in the league either. 20 years of failure and making the same mistakes.

The club is stale and needs freshening up.

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. 

[italian dave]

7 minutes ago, robin_unreliant said:

What a pointless question - it really doesn't matter what I want. What we all want is to get promoted and win the PL, like Leicester. I'd vote yes to that.

We have no say whatsoever, regardless of what we want. SL will either get fed up and slash the asking price, writing off a huge sum, or he won't. What we want has bog all to do with anything sadly.

Thats very true.

And add to that: not only do we have bog all to do with whether SL sells. We have even less to do with who he sells to.

And that’s the most important bit of the question - and it’s not specified in the poll.

Hence why I’m not voting either way! 

[Numero Uno]

2 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. 

If stats are the only thing that matter we should all buy a newspaper on a Sunday and sod the season ticket. For literally YEARS now the entertainment on offer has been sub-standard due to various issues and it’s not sustainable moving forward. Watching dull Championship football for years on end is grating for many. We have Ipswich McCarthy era written all over us unless the hierarchy act.

[italian dave]

9 minutes 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.

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.

[Numero Uno]

The logic of wanting someone who has “lost interest” in our football club owning it is lost on me tbh.

[firstdivision]

12 minutes ago, Numero Uno said:

If stats are the only thing that matter we should all buy a newspaper on a Sunday and sod the season ticket. For literally YEARS now the entertainment on offer has been sub-standard due to various issues and it’s not sustainable moving forward. Watching dull Championship football for years on end is grating for many. We have Ipswich McCarthy era written all over us unless the hierarchy act.

Who said that stats are the only thing that matter? I was merely offering some perspective to the observation that we’ve failed for 20 years.
 

Also, I got quite excited at Watford on Boxing Day, at West Ham last week (albeit I had to keep quiet because I was among the home fans), at home to Plymouth earlier in the season, watching the second half of the Hull match, watching the last fifteen minutes at Rotherham etc. I really loved the backs-to-the-wall win over Sunderland as well. 
Unless you support Man City or Spurs, there are bound to be dull moments. Actually, the dull moments make the exciting moments more special. I can remember some dross from the 1970s, eg a 2-0 NYD defeat at home to Orient, a home defeat to Forest the year we got promotion (21 Feb 1976). I could go on…some perspective, you see. 

Edited January 14 by firstdivision

[Numero Uno]

Just now, firstdivision said:

Who said that stats are the only thing that matter? I was merely offering some perspective to the observation that we’ve failed for 20 years.
 

Also, I got quite excited at Watford on Boxing Day, at West Ham last week (albeit I had to keep quiet because I was among the home fans), at home to Plymouth earlier in the season, watching the second half of the Hull match, watching the last fifteen minutes at Rotherham etc. I really loved the backs-to-the-wall win over Sunderland as well. 
Unless you support Man City or Spurs, there are bound to be dull moments. Actually, the dull moments make the exciting moments more special. I can remember some dross from the 1970s, eg a 2-0 NYD defeat at home to Orient, a home defeat to Forest the year before we got promotion. I could go on…some perspective, you see. 

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.

[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.

[Mr Popodopolous]

Just for those who saw Sky yesterday, I don't have it did NP say anything about his departure and if so, which Lansdown he may have clashed with or indeed both.

Edited January 14 by Mr Popodopolous

[Davefevs]

12 minutes ago, Robbored said:

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

Yes, but that is painted as negative, there is another side to gambling.  Due diligence decreases the negative risk…it might also lessen the gains too.

9 minutes ago, Natchfever said:

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

I didn’t want to go there again, but I think the decisions made towards the end of the window prove your point very well.

[M.D]

8 minutes ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

Just for those who saw Sky yesterday, I don't have it did NP say anything about his departure and if so, which Lansdown he may have clashed with or indeed both.

I only watched a bit but what he did say, referring to Leicester was..

'to make a club successful, its not just the manager, you need everybody working together in that club'

Did wonder if that was a little dig.

[Robbored]

41 minutes ago, M.D said:

I only watched a bit but what he did say, referring to Leicester was..

'to make a club successful, its not just the manager, you need everybody working together in that club'

Did wonder if that was a little dig.

That was always Nige’s belief and said it publicly on several occasions - it’s common sense.

For any enterprise, company/business to be a success all employees need to be on the same page.

I didn’t see what Nige said but if it was a dig at City then fair play to him.

[Graham76]

A

1 hour ago, Robbored said:

That was always Nige’s belief and said it publicly on several occasions - it’s common sense.

For any enterprise, company/business to be a success all employees need to be on the same page.

I didn’t see what Nige said but if it was a dig at City then fair play to him.

I got the impression Nige had all of the players, coaching team, and general staff on the same page towards the end of his tenure. Thats why a lot us us felt dismayed when he got the sack. It was finally starting to come together and then we pressed the reset button. Again!  

[firstdivision]

20 hours ago, Davefevs said:

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.

1980-2004: six seasons in the Championship (two of which were relegation seasons)

2004-2024: 15 seasons in the Championship (including a play-off final + one relegation season.)

I don’t know if he should sell or stick but surely we are a more stable/successful club under him than we were, albeit not as successful as we would like/some think we should be. 
 

(I know we were coming back from financial disaster in 1980 but by 84-85 we were close to the second tier again).

 

20 hours ago, Davefevs said:

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.

1980-2004: six seasons in the Championship (two of which were relegation seasons)

2004-2024: 15 seasons in the Championship (including a play-off final + one relegation season.)

I don’t know if he should sell or stick but surely we are a more stable/successful club under him than we were, albeit not as successful as we would like/some think we should be. 
 

(I know we were coming back from financial disaster in 1980 but by 84-85 we were close to the second tier again).

 

[Oh Louie louie]

By 1988, we were described as the richest club outside the top flight, in the tabloids!

[42nite]

20 hours ago, Numero Uno said:

..........Why would you spend another £100m on something you’ve lost interest in?

To keep your son out of your hair?

 

Edited January 15 by 42nite

[Davefevs]

2 hours ago, firstdivision said:

1980-2004: six seasons in the Championship (two of which were relegation seasons)

2004-2024: 15 seasons in the Championship (including a play-off final + one relegation season.)

I don’t know if he should sell or stick but surely we are a more stable/successful club under him than we were, albeit not as successful as we would like/some think we should be. 
 

(I know we were coming back from financial disaster in 1980 but by 84-85 we were close to the second tier again).

 

My point was also to do with infrastructure, not just divisional status.  I expect our facilities to be better over 20 years.

The other point is trend.  We got to our best position in 2007-08, so reached our peak relatively early on and then been up and down since, but never attaining that level again.

Bit ultimately it’s all our own opinions.  And although I’m black and white on wanting new ownership, I’m not black or whole of SL being the messiah or naughty boy.  I can think he’s ok and still want new.

[Oh Louie louie]

Les and des would sign anybody who was playing above thier station in This division, and every other one seemed to be for 30k! Most teams in division three couldn't spend 10k! Then they gave joe a Very big budget, and he signed half the leeds team!

[BCFC Rich]

5 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

My point was also to do with infrastructure, not just divisional status.  I expect our facilities to be better over 20 years.

The other point is trend.  We got to our best position in 2007-08, so reached our peak relatively early on and then been up and down since, but never attaining that level again.

Bit ultimately it’s all our own opinions.  And although I’m black and white on wanting new ownership, I’m not black or whole of SL being the messiah or naughty boy.  I can think he’s ok and still want new.

I'd say I feel the same. I think the biggest issue with someone new coming in is that you would have to be pretty diligent about who you bring in on many levels - Financial, football, and background, and bringing in the right people at the top is the main problem I have with Landsdown anyway. So the main reason I would want him gone is the main reason I'd be anxious about the change! 

[Oh Louie louie]

When you think about it les and des clearly made us quote self sufficient in a few years, it didn't take them two decades to decide that!

[Fjmcity]

Timing of this poll is hilarious. TGH scores a relatively easy chance on Saturday first half and this poll doesn’t exist. Funny old bunch, football fans 

[Sir Geoff]

31 minutes ago, Fjmcity said:

Timing of this poll is hilarious. TGH scores a relatively easy chance on Saturday first half and this poll doesn’t exist. Funny old bunch, football fans 

Said before. It's absolutely nothing to do with 3 points on a Saturday. Good luck to you if you are happy being lied to and having an owner with his bull sh ing son in charge of mediocrity and crass decision making. A large majority of fans have had enough of the Bristol Sport rhetoric, nonsense.

[Oh Louie louie]

I can forgive tgh for that, but steve was making bad football decisions before tgh was even born, 

[Fjmcity]

28 minutes ago, Sir Geoff said:

Said before. It's absolutely nothing to do with 3 points on a Saturday. Good luck to you if you are happy being lied to and having an owner with his bull sh ing son in charge of mediocrity and crass decision making. A large majority of fans have had enough of the Bristol Sport rhetoric, nonsense.

Describe your dream owner, who/what would really make you happy. I'm listening

[Davefevs]

3 minutes ago, Fjmcity said:

Describe your dream owner, who/what would really make you happy. I'm listening

Someone with the nous to employ the best people possible to help set clear strategic direction and execute it whilst recognising that you can’t be best mates with every employee, and that sometimes challenge and different of opinion happens for good reason.  Someone who communicates without taking fans for granted.  I don’t expect full transparency on commercially sensitive info.  Someone prepared to fund the club based on the strategy chosen.

[Natchfever]

6 minutes ago, Fjmcity said:

Describe your dream owner, who/what would really make you happy. I'm listening

Wealthy, managable ego, with the ability to employ the right people in the right jobs and leave them to it.

[Oh Louie louie]

Agree with above, clearly too much backbiting and meddling has gone on too be forgotten in my book, emphasis on the ability to employ the right people over the last 20 or so years, grim reading 

[fisherrich]

1 hour ago, Fjmcity said:

Timing of this poll is hilarious. TGH scores a relatively easy chance on Saturday first half and this poll doesn’t exist. Funny old bunch, football fans 

Not for me. This is about the last 20 odd years of mistakes. Some of which still exist in 2024.

[Miah Dennehy]

I'm staggered that so many fans want the Lansdowns gone. Would outside investors bring more more chance of the Premier League? Maybe. Would that bring more long term stability? Based on what has happened at other clubs, probably not.

If you asked most football supporters what they want in an owner, wealthy, local and a genuine fan, would be pretty much top of the list.

Be very, very careful what you wish for. Having said that, if some foreign asset strippers have an interest in you- I'm all for it!

[Numero Uno]

27 minutes ago, Fjmcity said:

Describe your dream owner, who/what would really make you happy. I'm listening

Tony Bloom. Case literally closed.

[Numero Uno]

6 minutes ago, Miah Dennehy said:

I'm staggered that so many fans want the Lansdowns gone. Would outside investors bring more more chance of the Premier League? Maybe. Would that bring more long term stability? Based on what has happened at other clubs, probably not.

If you asked most football supporters what they want in an owner, wealthy, local and a genuine fan, would be pretty much top of the list.

Be very, very careful what you wish for. Having said that, if some foreign asset strippers have an interest in you- I'm all for it!

Even the sodding Gas are bang at it now!! As I've said above I wish for Tony Bloom not Steve Lansdown.......is that careful enough for everyone? It's not going to happen but that's my wish and people keep telling me to be careful what I wish for (hint: it's not very original to say that on here!!).

How many "wise men/women" can one City have?!!

Edited January 15 by Numero Uno