Is a Bristol City takeover actually going to materialise anytime soon? | OneFootball

Football League World has taken a look at the current takeover and ownership situation at Bristol City

Bristol City chief Steve Lansdown is one of the longest-serving owners at Championship level, having held his position at the helm since his purchase of the Robins all the way back in 2002.

The West Country outfit have fluctuated in the footballing pyramid throughout that time, although they have enjoyed near-unrivaled stability since gaining promotion from League One in 2014.

Indeed, the Robins haven't changed divisions since, with their closest foray coming during last season's unlikely charge towards the top-six under Liam Manning before falling to defeat against Sheffield United in the play-off semi-finals.

There has been success away from the pitch, too.

City's £45m redevelopment of Ashton Gate under Lansdown has created what many would argue represents one of the more impressive stadiums outside of the Premier League, while significant profit has been made over the years through the production and subsequent sales of a number of academy graduates - such as Joe Bryan, Bobby Decordova-Reid, Antoine Semenyo and more.

However, supporters also feel that additional investment, or even fresh ownership entirely, could be what's required in order to propel the Robins into the Premier League for the first time in the club's history.

With that in mind, then, Football League World has decided to take a look at the ownership situation at Ashton Gate, what's been said about a potential takeover, and whether those in BS3 can actually expect such an occurrence to materialise anytime soon...

What has been said about a potential Bristol City takeover

Back in 2022, Lansdown sent tongues wagging at Ashton Gate by revealing that he was open to a sale of Bristol City at the right price.

The now-73-year-old cited his age as a key reason as to why his and his family's tenure of ownership cannot continue forever, although it was also made clear that there was no immediate rush for a sale.

Since then, though, there have been precious few developments. Last year, reports suggested that billionaire boxing mogul Turki Alalshikh was weighing up a potential move to buy the Championship club, having been linked with a number of outfits in the second-tier.

However, Alalshikh then moved swiftly to play down any such talk, simply writing on X: “It is not true that I will buy Bristol City FC."

Despite murmurs around a potential takeover going around for many years now, no other names of note have been linked with a serious purchase of City and Bristol Sport Group CEO and club director Gavin Marshall even told BBC Radio Bristol that the Alalshikh claim was "pure speculation", adding that "since Steve's been open about looking for investment, we've had a lot of speculation around different interested parties."

Lansdown's last BBC interview took place this time last year, where he detailed that the club was neither close to coming under new ownership or receiving fresh investment.

The Guernsey-based chief outlined how a number of discussions regarding the matter have been undertaken over time, but voiced a desire to ensure that City are bought by the right owners when the time comes to sell up.

Lansdown said: "We're not close. 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.

"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.

"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."

Bristol City fans may need to be patient with potential takeover

Given the fact that there have been no concrete developments since Lansdown's comments a year ago, it's safe to say that a potential takeover isn't currently in the works at Ashton Gate.

That's not to say it will never happen, of course, and you do get the impression that Lansdown is eager to sell when the right opportunity arises, but it's only then that we can really expect any serious breakthrough.

Lansdown's own stance is respectable considering the ruinous circumstances that we've seen inflicted on clubs with fanbases who pushed for takeovers, only for those to have been completed by incompetent owners in years gone by, and even though it's clear that the Robins require the sort of investment that's not currently available to shake up the Championship transfer market and plot a real promotion bid, the club's long-term future has always been prioritised and that will continue to be the case.

For the time being, at least, it doesn't look like any huge takeover developments are imminent, but with Lansdown also clearly open to the prospect of a sale under the correct circumstances, this isn't a situation worth completely taking your eye off.