Ahead of Bristol City’s 2-1 win over Middlesbrough on Friday evening, Steve Lansdown sat down with BBC Radio Bristol to discuss various off and on-the-field matters at Ashton Gate.
Unlike at the fan’s forum earlier this season, where Liam Manning, Brian Tinnion, Jon Lansdown and Jason Knight answered supporters’ queries as a collective in the comfort of the Heineken Lounge, the 72-year-old fielded questions on his own, live on air from the stadium’s press box.
With the January transfer window closed and less than a third of the Championship season still to be played, questions surrounded a whole range of topics including the winter window, the Robins’ pathway, Manning, Tinnion, investment at Ashton Gate and much more.
Due to the length of the interview, it would be almost impossible to cover every single point Lansdown made as this article would be pages long. If you wish to listen to the entire conversation, it can be heard via BBC Sounds here. But for now, we have summarised the major talking points into one notebook here…
January transfer window
It’s safe to say the January transfer window wasn’t exactly a period of great excitement at Ashton Gate. After a busy summer, Bristol City didn’t make a single addition to their playing squad, with the only movement in or out of BS3 seeing Kal Naismith, Rob Atkinson and Fally Mayulu depart on loan.
That approach to the winter window left some fans frustrated, with many feeling Liam Manning’s squad were just a number nine away from booking their place in the top six. There were also some concerns that City may have left themselves short of defensive cover, a theory that has been tested following Luke McNally’s injury.
Despite the risks, Steve Lansdown insists that he was never close to dipping his feet into the transfer market last month with his previous experience playing a part in his decision.
“I wasn’t no because, to be honest, there wasn’t that person to bring in,” he replied when asked by BBC Radio Bristol if he was tempted to sign a new number nine. “I’m sure everybody would give us lots of 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, but it doesn’t necessarily work for you. If I go back and I shouldn’t say this because he’s been a great servant for us since he’s been here but if I look at a time where we shouldn’t have done something was when we basically let Josh Brownhill go and Nahki Wells came in, in his place. We did that move, we brought a striker in to get us those goals and get us promoted and it didn’t work. Nahki’s proved to be a great asset for us ever since, but not an asset for that time or that place.
“You’ve got to stick to what you believe in and 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 just got to keep working at that and we’ll get there.”
Academy pathway
Away from the transfer window, some Bristol City supporters have been left frustrated by the lack of academy players currently forcing their way into Liam Manning’s first-team plans this season.
While Zak Vyner, Max O’Leary, Cam Pring and Sam Bell are examples of academy graduates who have become first-team regulars, younger prospects, particularly Elijah Morrison, have found minutes hard to come by so far this term.
Although Steve Lansdown, like many fans, is keen to see more academy graduates feature in the Robins’ first team sooner rather than later, he believes the actions taken in the January transfer window will make the pathway clearer for youth prospects plying their trade at Ashton Gate.
“I think there is that little bit of balance between bringing those experienced players in and the pathway,” explained the 72-year-old. “Again, I’m not going to hide from the fact that I’m a bit disappointed we haven’t had more younger players in the squad.
“The board put out a statement towards the end of the window which I think explained very clearly what the plan of action had been. We recruited very well in the summer, if you go back to the summer everyone was saying what a fantastic transfer window, what a brilliant job everyone was doing and now it’s the opposite. That’s what happens in football. The reality is, we had too many players because we wanted to move one or two players on in the summer and we couldn’t do it. We’ve now done some of that work, it’s just a slow process sometimes.”
Brian Tinnion and recruitment
Over the last few transfer windows, Brian Tinnion has overseen player recruitment as Bristol City’s technical director. The former midfielder took over the role in November 2022 and has at times split the opinion of sections of the Robins’ fanbase.
Some supporters were quick to point the finger at Tinnion following the quiet January transfer window and a mixed summer window. But Steve Lansdown has backed the technical director insisting things “wouldn’t be going so well if it wasn’t for Brian Tinnion”.
“Tinns has been with us for a long, long time. I always say I made him manager and I sacked him as manager,” Lansdown said. “He’s come back in to get involved with the academy and recruitment, which is what he really loves doing.
“He’s brilliant at it, he does a great job, he works so hard and he’s an easy target for people to say, ‘Things aren’t going right, let’s blame Brian Tinnion’. Things wouldn’t be going so well if it wasn’t for Brian Tinnion, that’s what people have got to remember. Yes, not going to get every decision right but as long as you get more decisions right than wrong, you’ll be ok.
“I see him as part of the footballing team,” he continued. “To be honest, I’m not being negative with Brian but he’s not good at administration. He’s good at spotting a player, he’s good at identifying what a player needs to progress helping with the coaching and development of a player and guiding that player. But he’s not somebody who sits on the board and makes decisions that are financial, contract-wise or anything else. He’s very much the football guru that we turn to for an opinion on is this player making the progress that he should be making, could we be doing something more to help etc.
“There’s pressure on everybody but in my opinion, the recruitment is working and I don’t think anybody should be even thinking that it’s not. Jason Knight is out there, Max Bird is out there, Haydon Roberts is out there, Mark Sykes is out there. We’ve recruited well over the last few years and they’re proving to be very, very good players for us.”
Liam Manning doing a great job
Steve Lansdown may not be the one making the big decisions day in and day out at Bristol City anymore, but he continues to be consulted on matters at Ashton Gate. That will have undoubtedly included the appointment of Liam Manning as Robins’ head coach some 17 months ago.
He may not have yet convinced the entirety of the City fanbase, a statement likely true for most managers who have occupied the hot seat in BS3, but it is impossible to argue that he hasn’t done a good job so far given the Reds’ current league position.
That is certainly the view of Steve Lansdown at least, with the Robins’ owner heaping praise on Manning and his coaching staff for their start to life in the West Country.
“I think he’s done a great job,” said the 72-year-old. “I think one of the positive aspects of him is his level-headedness. As he says, he doesn’t get too up when we win, he doesn’t get too low when we lose and he keeps working at it. You can see that in the way the players come back and go again.
“We’ve seen it with other managers in the past where they lose their cool and the players therefore lose their cool and their confidence. With Liam, I don’t think we’re ever going to see that. I’m not saying that underneath he’s not flapping away like we all do, but I think he’s doing a great job.
“Obviously, he’s had some significant personal problems since he’s been with us, which to be fair, he’s come through those very well. Although it’s affecting him, it’s not something you can hide away from or forget but he’s getting on with his job and he’s working hard. The team with him, Chris Hogg, they are really doing a great job out there.
Finances and investment
Bristol City released their financial accounts for the 2023/24 season right at the end of 2024, confirming that the Robins had made a pre-tax loss of £3.3million. That figure was down from £22.2million pre-tax loss the season before.
While that reduction in loss was primarily a result of the sale of Alex Scott to Bournemouth, Steve Lansdown insists that the Reds have their financial situation as “under control” as it ever has been in the Championship.
“It will get better if we get promoted to the Premiership,” insisted Lansdown. “But yes, in the league we’re in and the way we’re developing, our finances are far more under control than they’ve ever been.
“We forget it, but we can’t really because it was such a big hole in the accounts, which was the Covid years. To go from some income, not as much as you’d like it to be, but income, to no income, was a great thing, but you didn’t lose the expenditure. I pride myself on the fact this football club has survived, has progressed, and is developing. The stadium speaks for itself now, the training ground speaks for itself and although you raise questions about it, the recruitment and the playing squad have been solid.”
In the past, Lansdown has admitted he is open to selling City for the right deal, even if he has never actively been looking to part ways with the Robins. The owner has made no secret of his desire to find new investment at Ashton Gate and that still remains the case.
Although he insists nothing is close in regard to a full takeover or new investment, Lansdown has confirmed that conversations have been held with potential parties. However, the Reds’ ties with Bristol Sport means no deal would be straightforward to complete.
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“Over the last couple of years, we’ve talked to a number of people and still are talking to a number of people, who are interested in investing,” he explained. “But they can go and buy a team that’s on its uppers a lot cheaper than they can come in here because we’ve got a lot in place.
“We’re not close [to a takeover or investment]. We’ve talked to a number of people over time. There are two aspects to this really, there’s the development of the sporting quarter. We’re out there looking to raise money to fund that, some of that money is coming from the sale of Ashton Vale. We’re looking for either partners there or someone to come in and take that project on and the other thing is the sporting clubs themselves.
“I just look for people who would like to come in and invest alongside us, or people if they do want to come in and take the whole thing on, to be able to do that. We have [been close] but it always comes back to have you got the money? The funds aren’t always there. The people can be great but they’ve got to have the funding.
“Football, the sport generally, you’ve got to talk to a lot of people to get the right people I think and I’m not going to pass this football club onto somebody who’s just going to try and leverage it and blow it. I’ve learned my lessons in football, that if you push for the sky and leverage, you might get away with it, some clubs I know have but they nearly went bust in the process and some have gone bust in the process. This is not going to happen at Bristol City.”