Turki Alalshikh breaks silence on Bristol City takeover links | OneFootball

The Saudi sports promoter has made a public statement on his interest in Bristol City, following his visit to Ashton Gate to meet club officials.

The Saudi sports promoter Turki Alalshikh has broken his silence about links to Bristol City with his first public comment on the matter.

Bristol City have made a decent start to the 2025-26 season on the pitch, after having finished in 6th place in the Championship last season before getting beaten over two legs in the semi-finals of the play-offs by Sheffield United.

Their home defeat to Oxford United last Sunday was their first in the league this season, and they remain in third place in the table with six games played, behind early pace-setters Middlesbrough and Stoke City.

Takeover talk has been intensifying in recent weeks, with persistent rumours that the Saudi boxing promoter Turki Alalshikh could be set to launch a bid to buy the Ashton Gate club.

Alalshikh's interest in buying into an English club had been known about for a long time, with reports that he was primarily interested in buying a club in the south of England, and Southampton and Millwall mentioned as potential targets. But if Alalshikh is to buy into a club, it won't be Bristol City.

Turki Alalshikh's statement on his interest in Bristol City was short and to the point. Posting to the social media platform X on Wednesday evening, he said simply that, "It is not true that I will buy Bristol City FC."

This announcement comes after reports that Alalshikh had been in the west country over the weekend to see the club's facilities and to meet with majority shareholder Steve Lansdown, whose family own not only Bristol City, but also the Bristol Bears rugby union club and the Bristol Flyers basketball team, which are all held together under the Bristol Sport banner.

But with this meeting now complete, it would now appear that Alalshikh is not interested in buying the club, although his message to social media gives no indication as to why he reached this decision. It's also not known whether this means that his interest in buying a club in England has completely diminished, or whether he's still interested in the possibility of buying into a different one.

Bristol City have been making solid progress on the pitch these last few seasons

While the exact reasons for Turki Alalshikh's interest in buying into Bristol City remain unclear, the solid progress that the club have made on the pitch over the last couple of years may have pushed Lansdown's valuation of them up. Last season's 6th-placed finish was an outstanding achievement for a club that is hamstrung in comparison with others in the division by not being in receipt of Premier League parachute payments.

And the disappointment of missing out on promotion at the end of last season doesn't seem to have left a lasting hangover. The Robins started their 2025-26 season with a shock 4-1 win at Sheffield United on the opening weekend, and have followed that up by winning two and drawing two of their next four matches, before the Oxford United defeat last weekend.

With two stands at Ashton Gate having been redeveloped in the last eleven years, the Bristol Sport umbrella bringing several of the city's sports teams together, and the team having performed well on the pitch in recent years - they've improved their final league position for each of the last five seasons - Bristol City seem in good shape, regardless of Alalshikh's now-expired interest in buying them.