Bristol no longer the punchline
STEPHEN LANSDOWN was sick of Bristol being a sporting joke – so he did something about it.
The billionaire is now into the fourth year of his project to put England’s 10th largest city on the map.
But he claims it is only “the start of the journey” after pumping £47million of his cash into rebuilding Bristol City’s Ashton Gate, propping up the rugby club and adding a basketball team to his portfolio.
Lansdown, 65, has modelled his vision on Barcelona. While he is not in that league – and admits he may never reach that level – he has made more than a good start.
He said: “I was at a prize-giving ceremony at my son’s school, 16 years ago, when I realised that sport in Bristol was seen as a joke.
“I understood why, but I didn’t like it. I wanted to get to the stage where people were proud of any sport played in Bristol. I asked myself, ‘How could I make that happen?’.
“It needed a catalyst. And it needed leadership. We stepped in because the council wasn’t in a position to do so.
“Sport gets people talking. It’s a focal point. It was an attempt to get the city to focus on sport – and it has done. But we are not there yet.”
Lansdown made his money in financial services. He had been quietly supporting Bristol rugby for several years. But then he turned his attention to football.
He said: “Football is the greatest game on earth, it generates passion like no other – it’s No.1. It’s an incredible business with incredible reach.
“People are now sitting up and taking notice of what we have done at Bristol City. We are doing what we said we would.
“We said we wanted a venue everyone could be proud of, in the best possible surroundings. It became a logical step for Bristol rugby to move in as well. The city had to have a rugby club.”
But it is football’s Premier League where the real money is. Lansdown is a self-made man. But his estimated £1.2billion fortune was not accumulated by frittering away cash.
He said: “We are too far behind the curve to ever be a mega-club. Reaching the Premier League would be a big success for us. But you have to cut your cloth.”