Bristol City will sell players, says director Jon Lansdown

Managing director Jon Lansdown says Bristol City are ready to sell players, as they prepare for life in League One.

City's relegation from the Championship was confirmed on Tuesday following their 1-0 defeat by Birmingham.

And with debts amassing to £41m over the last four years, Lansdown told BBC Points West: "Our hand is not forced into anything but there is bound to be movement over the summer.

"We have got some talented players here and they are sure to attract interest."

He added: "If you're getting offered good money for players and they want to go then you're not going to stand in their way."

Bristol City announced a club record loss of £14.4m for the year ending May 2012, with their wage bill rising from £15.9m to £18.6m.

But Lansdown insists they will remain competitive in the third tier, even with budget cuts: "We'll be one of the bigger clubs in League One, with one of the bigger budgets, and we'll be set up to perform as best we can.

"There's no naivety here - we know it's hard to win any league. Everything we do will be about coming back stronger."

City have been a Championship club for six years, and are funded by Lansdown's multi-millionaire father, Stephen.

The Lansdown family have invested heavily in the club, but results on the field have not matched their ambition for promotion to the Premier League.

City have not challenged at the top of the Championship since Gary Johnson led them to the play-offs in 2008, where they lost in the final to Hull.

They finished 20th last season, avoiding relegation by nine points, but manager Derek McInnes was sacked this January with the side bottom of the table.

Former Nottingham Forest, Bournemouth and Doncaster boss Sean O'Driscoll was brought in to replace McInnes and although results improved, they were unable to beat the drop.

However, O'Driscoll has said on a number of occasions the club need to build for a long-term sustainable future, and believes they are heading in the right direction.

"There's a strategy here. That's why I walked through the door," said O'Driscoll.

"[Staying up] was always going to be a tough ask but we've never concentrated on that. It's about how we do things and understanding how we can play as a team.

"We'll embark on those type of things and try and put together a team who can play well enough to come straight back up in to the Championship, with a vibrant group that can do well.

"We'll try to remain positive. There's enough negativity in football so we won't concentrate on that. We want to be positive and move forward."