Bristol City 'not close' to takeover - Lansdown

Steve Lansdown has been involved with Bristol City since 1996 and became club chairman in 2002

Bristol City owner Steve Lansdown has revealed the club are "not close" to a potential takeover or new investment.

Lansdown's comments come two and a half years on from when he first discussed the idea of selling Bristol City for the "right deal" which could end his 28-year affiliation with his hometown club.

In his first interview with BBC Radio Bristol since April 2023, Lansdown detailed why a purchase for the Robins is not straightforward given they fall under the Bristol Sport umbrella which also includes the women's team, Bristol Bears men and women and the Bristol Flyers basketball team.

Work on the 'Sporting Quarter' is also due to begin this year, with a multi-purpose 5,000-seater arena to be built next to Ashton Gate, in-part funded by the sale of land at nearby Ashton Vale which was once earmarked as a site for a new stadium.

"We're not close," said the Guernsey-based billionaire said. "We're talking to a number of people and we've talked to a number of people over time.

"There's the development of the Sporting Quarter so we're looking to raise money to fund that. Some of that funding has come in from the sale of Ashton Vale.

"We're either looking for partners there and take that project on, or for somebody to come in and take that project on.

"The other thing is the sporting clubs themselves. It's either for people to come in and invest alongside us or if people do want to take the whole thing on to be able to do that.

"I'm not going to pass this football club on to somebody who's going to leverage it. I've learnt my lessons in football; if you push for the sky and you leverage, you might get away with it.

"Some clubs I know that have, but they nearly went bust in the process while some clubs did go bust - this isn't going to happen to Bristol City."

With City's status as an established Championship club with excellent infrastructure including the Robins High Performance training ground, they are an attractive proposition for potential investment.

Lansdown, who has personally invested around £280m in the club, believes the Robins have the best possible foundations to go to the next level but similar levels of investment from himself is not something he wants to "keep doing".

"What I think I've achieved over the years is I've put the football club in a position where it can go from strength to strength," the 72-year-old added.

"This club has got everything and it's so respected in the marketplace and so respected in football as a whole that it's almost too good.

"I need to find other people that will do it with us or we can find a way to get better sponsorships so that we're in a better position to fund these things."

Finances 'far more under control'

Liam Manning's side are eighth in the Championship table and pushing for the play-offs as they sit just two points off the top six following Friday's 2-1 victory over Middlesbrough.

City have never been in the Premier League and were last in the Championship play-offs 17 years ago in the 2007-08 season under Gary Johnson where they lost 1-0 to Hull City in the final.

As well as the improved performances on the field this season, Lansdown also praised the club's current finances in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic where losses reached £38.4m and there was a genuine concern internally they would fall foul of the EFL's Profit & Sustainability Rules.

"In the league that we're in and the way we're developing, our finances are far more under control than they've ever been," he said.

"We forget it but we should count it because it's such a big hole in the accounts which were the Covid years.

"To go from some income - not as much as you'd like it to be - to no income wasn't a great thing but you didn't lose any expenditure.

"I pride myself on the fact that this football club, has survived, it's progressed, it's developing, the stadium speaks for itself now, the training ground speaks for itself and the recruitment and playing squad has been solid."

City reported pre-tax losses of £3.3m in their most recent accounts, a reduction from £22.2 million in the previous year thanks to the sale of Alex Scott to Premier League side Bournemouth in 2023 for a reported fee of £25m.

Scott was reunited with former Robins team-mate Antoine Semenyo at the Vitality Stadium who had been sold in the previous transfer window for £10.5m.

Lansdown called the Scott deal a "prime example" of the club's best transfer practices and although would have preferred to keep such players at Ashton Gate to help make a promotion charge, sales such as these he said are paramount for Bristol City to thrive.

"It's been a great investment for the club and development," said Lansdown.

"I would've loved for Alex to stay on and be with us but he was never going to because he wanted to go to the Premier League, same as Antoine did, but we forget these names and that's how we managed to help tick this club financially over.

"We can't put in millions and millions in every year, it's got to actually generate some of it itself."

A striker short?

Lansdown has faced criticism from sections of the fanbase for a lack of investment in the January transfer window with the feeling the Robins are a striker short of being a play-off team.

Attacking midfielder Anis Mehmeti is their leading scorer with 11 Championship goals, while veteran striker Nahki Wells has added seven but fellow forwards Sinclair Armstrong and Fally Mayulu, who has been loaned out to Sturm Graz, have accounted for five between them.

Citing the example of when Wells was brought to the club in January 2020, with the Robins selling influential midfielder Josh Brownhill to facilitate that move which proved counter-productive to their play-off hopes that season, Lansdown said the players simply were not available in this winter window.

"To be honest, there wasn't that person to bring in," Lansdown said. "The answer is, 'well who?' and I'm sure everyone will give us names and so on but it's not that easy to do particularly in January.

"I've been in this business a long time, and I've heard that saying so often that it doesn't necessarily always work for you.

"If I go back at a time when I shouldn't of shot the gun at something was when we let Josh Brownhill go and Nahki Wells came in his place.

"We did that move, we bought a striker in to score those goals to get us promoted and it didn't work.

"Nahki's proved to be a great asset ever since but not at that time, at that place so I think you've got to just stick to what you believe in.

"We're growing our team, we're developing our team, we've got the pathway for the academy players to come through and I think we've got to just keep working at that and we'll get there."