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Cautionary Tale for Bristol City

Discussion in 'Bristol City' started by wizered, Apr 20, 2021.

  1. wizered

    wizered Ol' Mucker
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    Liverpool and Man United's European Super League plans are a cautionary tale for Bristol City
    Having established the Robins as a stable and consistent Championship club, Steve Lansdown is searching for outside investment at Bristol City. But at what cost?

    Gradually, over the course of what’s been a largely forgettable, some might even say, lost season for Bristol City has been the steady growing of a consensus surrounding the governance, leadership and future of the club.

    It’s maybe always been there. Arguably sparked by Andre Gray, Harry Maguire and Dwight Gayle slipping through the club’s fingers amid excessive frugality under Steve Cotterill; kept alight by the appointment of Lee Johnson and then the successive sales of the clubs best talent.

    Before petrol was poured on the concept when Dean Holden was given the head coach’s job ahead of considerably more experienced and outwardly credible candidates.

    Namely, that under the Lansdown model, the Robins have been moving towards and now struck a glass ceiling; an impenetrable barrier that frustratingly exists in the zone just outside the Championship play-offs.

    And for all the talk of balance sheets, stability, sustainability and future success, it can never be penetrated so long as the culture and practices at the club existed in their present form; player trading and putting (relatively) inexperienced coaches in charge of team affairs will only get you so far.

    This is against the backdrop of significant investment and infrastructure from the Lansdown family, which have safeguarded and modernised major aspects of the club, but the 2020/21 campaign has seemingly led us to this point - a new way of thinking may just be needed.

    It’s one that, as we now know, is actually shared by the man at the top who, in his revealing interview with 3 Peaps in a PodCast last month outlined that he has been working on bringing new ideas to the table by securing fresh investment into Bristol City.

    The Lansdowns aren’t selling up, but clearly a significant proportion of the club is "for sale", which will presumably allow investors into influential positions on the board.

    Now, this may not seem much of a newsflash but if there is going to be any new money into BS3 it’s highly unlikely it’s going to come from these shores, or even continental Europe for that matter; with the Middle East reasonably-well harvested, China’s interest in football dwindling, English clubs are increasingly looking across the Atlantic to America.

    It’s an area of the world where Bristol City have been slowly but surely growing ties beyond just undergoing a pre-season tour to Florida. That was built into their “partnership” with the USL, in which CEO Mark Ashton spoke at the league’s winter summit.

    Ashton now departing, along with club secretary Luke Werhun, to a League One club recently purchased by American venture capitalists.

    Things may well change, but if you were hedging (pun not quite intended) on the location of where these new ideas and this investment will come from for Bristol City, if successful, the likelihood is America.

    Why this is all relevant right now, beyond this discussing the potentially future ownership and direction of the Robins, is because of the near-sense of football Armageddon that has transpired over the last 36 hours.

    Twelve clubs – six of them English – want, and say they will, break away from UEFA to form their own midweek continental competition, which is closed to 15 of the proposed 20 teams, guaranteeing near unfathomable wealth, irrespective of performance.

    Without going into every detail, as you can read that elsewhere, it is genuinely worrying; for financial, cultural, historical and competitive sporting reasons.

    We perhaps shouldn’t be surprised. The floodgates were ever so slightly opened by the advent of the Premier League in 1992, then the expansion of the Champions League beyond national champions in 1997, and have been steadily widening each season and each renewal of broadcast deals and the attraction of investment from beyond traditional football bastions.

    The globalisation of the game, and rises in profits secured by the Premier League, has led to opportunity and a globalisation of leadership as owners from countries not traditionally associated with English football – the United Arab Emirates and, of course, America – have emerged.

    Why? Well, a number of reasons and not every club or case is the same – again, that can be provided elsewhere – but it’s now obvious concepts of community, history and local culture are very much down the list below the sub-heading of "billionaire league in which you don’t have to worry about financial risks associated with performance levels".

    At the risk of sounding anti-American, which genuinely isn’t the intention here as that nation has made an influential, enjoyable and undeniable imprint on culture and entertainment across a number of sports [although, fittingly enough, outside of the razzmatazz of the NASL in the late 70s, USA '94 and their raising of standards in women's football, not sufficiently in soccer yet].

    But it's becoming increasingly apparent, especially in the context of Chelsea and Manchester City's reported reticence, this is driven by a number of influential figures Stateside, funded by an American bank along lines more associated with elite sporting competition in that part of the world, where the very concept of being relegated is an anathema.

    The franchise system in the NBA, NFL, NHL and MLS does, on occasion, allow for new teams to be created, even move locations, but outside the college system as a feeder league and B-teams running concurrently, there is no tangible window for teams to gain access to the top table from below via sporting success. The status quo largely remains intact.

    In that regard, you can’t blame John Henry, the Glazers or Stan Kroenke for feeling uncomfortable at Liverpool, Manchester United and Arsenal not making the Champions League despite being considerably larger clubs – in a financial sense – to the likes of Leicester and West Ham. It simply doesn’t compute, on a business and a sporting level.

    They run these clubs how they want them to be run. We should, and probably deep down did, have seen this coming. Especially as Henry and Kroenke own multiple teams in America across a number of sports. It’s just part of their DNA. Why have this one outlier on your portfolio that isn't providing a regular financial yield?

    In a business sense, the inconsistencies of sport make for difficult financial projections. By removing that notion of inconsistency - the difference and rewards between winning and losing - it makes for a better business model.

    Plus this league places the power in the hands of the owners, they are no longer subservient to governing bodies or, lest we forget, supporters, there to oppose, question, hold to account and keep in check. They are now part of a cabal with shared values and in American sport, the owner is king. They are always the first on the podium to collect the trophies for good reason.

    And while this sort of talk may now be an anathema to us, amid the romance and traditions of English football, this is where we're at when the venture capitalists with absolutely no emotional, physical or spiritual ties to the cities and clubs are allowed in and given the power and influence to set the agenda.

    An agenda which has been made loud and clear over the last 24 hours. Admittedly, the financial impact of Covid-19 has influenced it, but it has ultimately merely accelerated a process that was maybe several years in the future.

    Now brought into focus, when you strip away the money, the ego, the arrogance of it all, the manipulation even that this can somehow benefit the game at large, what you’re left with is a deliberate disregard of football history and conventions for the pursuit of profit and control.

    To bring this back to Bristol City - which given the fact Steve Lansdown is a) a billionaire and b) accumulated that wealth via the financial services industry, seem slightly cynical and a touch hypocritical as we all collectively moralise - whatever criticisms you harbour surrounding his methods, doubts about the future and faults he may or may not have, in the context of the Robins, he thinks as a Bristolian, with an acute sense and understanding of what the club should stand for.

    It is an increasingly rare trait among owners; to have a local businessman done good who wants to re-invest in the club and area – and I’m fully aware some scoff cynically at that notion given his tax status in Guernsey – but there is a sense of benevolence.

    Speak to anyone in football - rival owners, CEOs, agents, corporate figures - and the Lansdowns are known for their principles and a sense of what is, or it at least should be, right. Often to their detriment (see above).

    The concept of being a custodian and holding a sense of privilege and responsibility remains strong. It's hard to imagine quite the same moral obligations in the corridors of power that have motivated the breakaway league. These are effectively now shells of the institutions they once were. Hyper-capitalist entertainment models which happen to play football.

    Lansdown has put an estimated £175m into City, but in a competitive sense the best he has to show for it is a League Cup semi-final run and an eighth-placed Championship finish.

    Maybe that’s why he wants to cede control ever so slightly, as he’s grown tiresome of the minuscule returns for such maximum investment. However, he still continues to do so - throughout a pandemic - and there is a sense he does care about the intangibles the owners of Liverpool, Spurs, Arsenal etc either don’t fully understand or choose to ignore.

    This isn’t meant to be a piece espousing an insular way of thinking, or forever remaining a local club for local people, because that doesn’t lead to any sense of progress, in any facet of society, but the fundamental question always has to be why?

    Because whoever may or may not end up purchasing whatever sized stake in Bristol City, should that be from America or not, their reasoning almost certainly won’t out of the sheer joy, love and pride in owning Bristol City Football Club. There will be a business reason that has very little to do with the actual club.

    And that is “the club” in the abstract sense. What Sir Bobby Robson so beautifully portrayed when he said, “What is a club in any case? Not the buildings or the directors or the people who are paid to represent it. It's not the television contracts, get-out clauses, marketing departments or executive boxes.

    “It's the noise, the passion, the feeling of belonging, the pride in your city. It’s a small boy clambering up the stadium steps for the very first time, gripping his father’s hand, gawping at that hallowed stretch of turf beneath him, and without being able to do a thing about it, falling in love.”

    Perhaps that horse has already bolted and you, I and the rest of us opposed to all this are existing in a naïve and romantic dreamscape, selectively ignoring the hard and brutal realities of football in 2021.

    But deep down, the reason you renew your season ticket, pay £10 for Robins TV, buy merchandise, support the Robins Foundation, is because of that unquantifiable feeling, developed through your own personal history and ties.

    Fans have had to park certain reservations about the identity and motives owners for several years now: Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea, Portsmouth - as long as trophies were being lifted, everything was A-okay.

    But eventually there comes a tipping point, and the European Super League and the timing of it all feels more of a tidal wave. This is a nuclear extension of where football has been heading but we never quite thought it would happen.

    There is grumbling unrest with Robins fans centred on the consumerism that has beset Ashton Gate over the last five years. The feeling of being viewed as a “customer” over a supporter, of which Lansdown is, by nature, in-part responsible as the club has juggled between the "old ways" and trying to resemble a, gulp, "Premier League club in waiting".

    But that is absolutely nothing compared to what could transpire for fans of Liverpool, United, Chelsea, whose loyalty has essentially been dismissed as necessary collateral damage; a league not for those who possess season tickets at Old Trafford, Anfield or Emirates Stadium, but for casual fans providing 1s and 0s in new markets. The faceless and unanswerable purchasers of streaming packages; subscribers not supporters.

    Clubs no longer community assets but mere portals for profit.

    Perhaps outside investment is the only route, and of course not all is "bad" in the sense of affecting a club's identity. There is an example a few miles up the Gloucester Road of an individual who has taken significant personal financial losses to keep a club alive, with precious sign of profit or financial gain on the horizon.

    Lansdown has even said: "Like everything else in football, it's got to be the right people with the right intentions, and they've got to buy into our culture and the journey that we're on, otherwise it's a dead loss." An admirable mission statement, but you can never truly be sure.

    Criticism of the Lansdowns is always valid and healthy, but they do – as easy as it is to write off – fundamentally care. And that is something to cherish in these deeply troubling times.

    Because once any portion of Bristol City is sold, there needs to be an awareness and understanding of what it may well cost, not immediately but eventually over time. The last 36 hours has only sought to highlight that.
    https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/sport/football/liverpool-man-united-bristol-city-5318204
     
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  2. oneforthebristolcity

    oneforthebristolcity Well-Known Member

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    The days of having an expensive toy to play with for a successful business man making a few million with has become out of control in regards to football...especially if you are looking to compete with the elite that are backed by multi global entities..I could never criticise the structure in place given by SL, he's been more than generous with his wealth towards the club and we should be forever thankful IMO.....His downfall again IMO is not putting in place the right people, the expertise to take care of the team affairs......he's personally been too involved (have a say) within to make it all work.
     
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  3. Angelicnumber16

    Angelicnumber16 Well-Known Member

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    I would say that in recent years, he's been too hands off, and has maybe ignored the need for experience on and off the pitch ?
     
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  4. Redprintt

    Redprintt Well-Known Member

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    I agree.

    Now wash your mouth out;)
     
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  5. invermeremike

    invermeremike Well-Known Member

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    I will agree there are some good foreign investors in the sport of football but when I look back at some of the not so goods I shudder as to where any attempt to seek overseas investment for Bristol City might end. Money laundering to me always meant leaving a fiver in my jeans but today it proves to be a dark underworld of clouded financial reports and questions as to the validity of the under used clause of right and proper ownership. Steve Lansdown has been a good owner despite his insistence to do things his way and in large part the poor decisions of the past have lead us to this point in our evolution where he feels the need to off-load some of the financial burden. Is there a cider or turnip billionaire lurking in the bushes somewhere close by that could lend a hand or will we suffer at the hands of the almighty dollar?
     
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  6. Angelicnumber16

    Angelicnumber16 Well-Known Member

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    The sad fact is that our best chances to play with the big boys and be one of them ongoing may already have passed us by in previous years, as every season the gulf between the established teams in the Premiership and the likes of us and even their fellow competitors that have had a long run there gets wider and wider.
    And it's also probably already past the point where the continual investment needed to ensure top flight football every year, and to be able to progress, far outweighs what Sky hand out and even with a rich owner to supplement funds it's probably not enough by a long way. But then again a few of the big clubs also carry a lot of debt
    There are a few exceptions with clubs like Burnley, Brighton, Southampton and Palace that seem prudent and reasonably well run, and I'm not including the transient teams that are up and down between the top two league like a whores drawers, as that's exactly what they are. Fulham, West Brom, Norwich, Sheff Utd, Middlesbro, Watford and co over the years.
    Sometimes it's quite depressing to think we may well never see top flight football again in Bristol in our lifetimes.
     
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  7. realred1952

    realred1952 Well-Known Member

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    the problem here was over thinking and doing what was done.. the first couple of times they off loaded our best players was fine. It helped financially and we managed to replace some of the player quality lost. Greed or a perception of "we are on a winner ----- do it one more time failed … miserably! [ BROWNHILL ]. The mould was broken, and the young manager doing so well had to repeat with lesser ammo again ….. we should have took the step forward and gone for broke [ Brownhill leading! ]

    The Lansdowns aren’t selling up, but clearly a significant proportion of the club is "for sale", which will presumably allow investors into influential positions on the board.

    Increased equity = more shares = MORE BUYERS = opportunity for more cash simples ..

    [QUOTE="wizered, post: 14822764, member: 1000754"]to a League One club recently purchased by American venture capitalists.[/QUOTE]
    What do venture capitalists do? BUY CHEAP AND TRY AND SELL ON FOR A PROFIT ...
     
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    Last edited: Apr 25, 2021
  8. smhbcfc

    smhbcfc Well-Known Member

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    We are only allowed to spend so much on the team (FFP regulations) - so how is a new investor going to change anything?
     
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  9. wizered

    wizered Ol' Mucker
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    Norwich plot transfer for Bristol City striker Saikou Janneh but face competition from Brighton and Watford
    Exclusive
    • Updated: 25 Apr 2021, 13:45
    BRISTOL CITY striker Saikou Janneh is on the radar of Premier League new-boys Norwich as a group of clubs consider making a move this summer.

    Janneh, 21, has caught the eye of the Canaries as boss Daniel Farke looks to piece together a squad capable of staying in the top flight next season.

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    1
    Janneh impressed at Torquay during the 2018-19 campaign, scoring 16 goals in 28 appearancesCredit: Rex
    But there is also competition from Brighton and fellow promoted side Watford for the Gambian forward who has two years left on his current deal at Ashton Gate.

    Bristol City boss Nigel Pearson is desperate to keep hold of the forward, who has climbed out of non-league to show his qualities in the professional game.

    He enjoyed a successful loan at Torquay where he scored 16 goals in 28 appearances before a short-term move to Newport County this season was cut short by injury.

    But Pearson believes there is much more to come at Ashton Gate for Janneh and has already brought him into his first-team plans.

    The 21-year-old is yet to score for his parent club having made two Championship appearances this season.

    Hertha Berlin and Bayer Leverkusen have also shown an interest as the German clubs look to scour the Championship for players with potential and a summer fight for his signature could be on.
    https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/14758328/norwich-bristol-city-striker-saikou-janneh/
     
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  10. bcfcredandwhite

    bcfcredandwhite Well-Known Member

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    We need to recognise and keep hold of guys like this.
    Palace have done well by doing it. They are no bigger than we are.
     
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  11. realred1952

    realred1952 Well-Known Member

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    to bail out a number of teams have sold their grounds and have them on lease back!!!! that covers their effort to try to beat FFP.
    There is a limit on how to "overvalue" your equity! and methods on how to generate more shares!
    should HL go tits up SL would be just a millionaire! [ on other investments income ]
    for arguments sake should there be now be 1000000 [ 1m] shares [ argument sake he owns them all ] each valued at say £50 and SL just wanted a controlling factor he would have [round figures ]51% so could sell 49% and pocket the money [ assuming he owns all shares at moment ] … no advantage to club [ Bristol sport etc] so he [ club that is ] could issue 500k more shares … and then he keeps 765k for himself [ 51% new total ] and club sell 735k. He [ club ]could put a price on them of £45 < > [ even buy a few more himself! ] value of club would be ..£50m + £22.5m = £72.5m [ in simple terms his share would drop to £36,975,000 = 51% [ but there is a mechanism to keep his holding at £50m but would be less shares for sale! ]
    It is not simple to explain unless you know something about finance/shares/equity /etc ..but beneficial to the club!
    ffp not affected within any limits = more money to spend!

    note you could also issue shares based on value of club being £50m so share value would reduce from £50
     
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  12. realred1952

    realred1952 Well-Known Member

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    we need to now start what was screwed up prior to Brownhill leaving .. build a team and get into top 6 should we fail to get promoted then balance books by a sale or 2 … get to play off's and fail players will be worth more ? but have base to try next season with 1 or 2 new faces …...
     
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  13. Cliftonville

    Cliftonville Well-Known Member

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    Mr Lansdsown can sell part of his shares. Its income. Money then also could be loaned to the club v allowed lowered financial loss under FFP. That is another increase in spending. It will change nothing if money is spent as badly as it has been, I maintained BCFC were a poorly run club four years ago and before that. Mr Lansdowns largesse allows his error to be accommodated. The club was getting marginally more points season to season but at greater outlay and loss but without a real strategy off the pitch to manage the challenges. The current scenario is a result of making it up as LJ and Mr Ashton went along.
     
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  14. realred1952

    realred1952 Well-Known Member

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    Wrong ...... it is only income to SL a deficit to the club or who buys them. Unless more shares are generated by the club, and voted on by the shareholders to do so at an AGM or EGM the club gets nowt
    .
    SL is currently the highest source of loan the club has, SO ANY further loans would need to top up to max, should there be space to do so.

    4 years ago most on here were of the belief the club was poorly functioning in all departments .. prior to SC that is … hence the 5 pillars and the subsequent "model/ plan" and introduction of MA and LJ. this worked to a degree... MA got greedy and the wheels on LJ'S cart became wobbly as a result…. chicken and egg? WHO should have gone first...… !!!!

    To improve almost anything it is either luck … cheap fix … or spend on the way forward. Unfortunately the spend to improve came at the cost of undermining the need to improve the way forward... as a result MA LOST out as future players [ sales ] whilst showing talent were in a team not doing well ! … LJ lost out as he had no replacement of a quality to propel his momentum. [HARPING on I know, but go back to results prior to Brownhill … was like falling off a cliff when he went ….. MA boasting I did my job making a profit, mind you we now eat off of cheap plastic plates and use cheap cutlery as the family silver has gone ………….
     
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  15. Cliftonville

    Cliftonville Well-Known Member

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    Right. Mr Lansdown can sell shares to raise income. He could also sell new shares.
     
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  16. realred1952

    realred1952 Well-Known Member

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    Obviously you do not understand how it works … should you wish to detract from your original post, the reply to new investor! from SMH which you do not understand ? and start a thread " Mr Lansdown can sell his shares" [ that would work for your comments ] as you now appear to be saying he can sell his own shares, not THOSE in BCFC. But are you saying he can magic up new shares [ from where? ]and sell them?
    When I sell "my shares" the money is mine to do with what I wish!
    Should I have a business venture and "generate" 1000 shares [ I own 100% of it ] … I could go to Dragons den and say I have a business venture, it is ….."???????" can 1 or more of you buy in for 25% I need a machine to double my output [so will adjust " shares!" to accommodate] .. = new investor … I still own major share … however should they buy 25% of my shares then I get the money … so who buys the machine!
     
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