Steve Lansdown interview notebook: Liam Manning, Bristol City transfer plans and Semenyo sell-on

Bristol City owner Steve Lansdown spoke to BBC Radio Bristol ahead of the second leg of the Robins’ play-off semi-final defeat to Sheffield United

13:00, 14 May 2025Updated 13:07, 14 May 2025

Steve Lansdown watches on as Bristol City face Leeds United at Elland Road(Image: Mike Egerton/PA Wire)

Ahead of the second leg of Bristol City’s play-off semi-final defeat to Sheffield United on Monday Evening, the Robins’ owner Steve Lansdown sat down with BBC Radio Bristol to discuss various off and on-the-field matters at Ashton Gate.

As was the case prior to the Robins’ 2-1 win over Middlesbrough all the way back in February, the 72-year-old fielded questions live on the air which covered a whole host of different topics including the Reds’ impressive league campaign, the January and upcoming summer transfer window, as well Liam Manning’s contract.

In truth, the mood of the conversation was more positive than that held three months ago, with a greater focus on the progress made by Manning’s side over the course of the second half of the season and the future, rather than events which have led up to this point.

Due to the length of the interview, it would be almost impossible to cover every single point Lansdown made in an article without it going on for pages and pages. If you wish to listen to the entire conversation, it can be heard in full via BBC Sounds here. For now, though, we have picked out the key talking points in one notebook here…

While it was an awfully long time ago now, the January transfer window has been a topic of conversation among Bristol City supporters in recent weeks.

You won’t need me to remind you that it was a rather quiet period for the Robins. In the end, Liam Manning didn’t make a single addition to his ranks in the winter while Rob Atkinson, Kal Naismith and Fally Mayulu all departed Ashton Gate on loan, joining Portsmouth, Luton Town and Sturm Graz, respectively. That decision was taken after a busy summer, and from a business perspective, it made sense given the amount spent in the months prior.

However, Luke McNally has been sidelined since February with a knee injury sustained in the Reds’ defeat to Swansea City and that has left just Rob Dickie and Zak Vyner as City’s only natural central defenders. Some fans have suggested it was a mistake to strip back the defensive depth in the middle of the season, but Steve Lansdown doesn’t regret his club’s approach.

Luke McNally was forced off in Bristol City’s defeat to Swansea City(Image: Photo by Ryan Hiscott/Getty Images)

“We have loads of centre-halves, they’re just injured,” he explained. “I don’t think there are any regrets there. Luke McNally was just a tragic scenario for us, but I think we’ve dealt well without him. They’ve all done exceptionally well.

“I don’t think you can keep trying to provide cover for everybody, and we have got cover, we did have cover, but we were exposed by those particular injuries. Rob Atkinson going to Portsmouth was a decision that was made for his own game and progression. He wasn’t going to get picked, so it was the right thing to do and rather than sort of bemoaning things like that, we just have to look back and say how positive it was.”

Goal for next year

Although it ended on a disappointing note, this season has undoubtedly been a success for Bristol City. It hasn’t all been plain sailing, but the Reds secured a play-off finish for the first time in 17 years and did so while playing an entertaining brand of football that seems to have re-energised the Robins’ fanbase.

Of course, the ultimate goal for everyone in and around Ashton Gate is promotion to the Premier League. That was always unlikely this year, given the power of the top three teams in the division, but City have shown they are capable of competing at the top end of the table.

However, the success of this term has to serve as a platform for the future, rather than a one-time success. Steve Lansdown has always looked for season-by-season improvement in his time in the West Country, and that will be no different next term.

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“That’s what you want to do, that’s the point,” he replied when asked if he would be targeting a top six finish next year. “Why start thinking you’re going to finish lower than that?

“Nobody gave us a chance to be in the top six this year, but we’re there. Everybody will think we can make the top six next year, so the pressure is different obviously, but that’s what we’re here for. We’re here to entertain, we’re here to provide excitement for our supporters, we’re here to boost sport in Bristol, and we just have to keep doing the right things. We’re always going to be hit by injuries and things that go against us, it’s a rollercoaster.

“What I like about Liam is that he always says, ‘Don’t get too excited when things are going well and don’t get too down when things aren’t going quite so well.’ If we keep doing that, we can progress, and that’s the intention.”

Liam Manning’s contract

The Championship managerial merry-go-round is already in full swing, with various clubs, including West Brom and Norwich City, on the lookout for new managers. Given the success he has had since arriving at Bristol City, it would be naive to assume Liam Manning hasn’t at least caught the eye of other teams in the second tier.

When he made the move to Ashton Gate, Manning put pen to paper on a three-and-a-half-year contract which still has another two years left to run. However, it is not unusual to see managers or head coaches rewarded with new deals when their stock is high. The Reds boss confirmed a matter of weeks ago that such conversations hadn’t yet taken place, but Steve Lansdown has confirmed he and the decision makers in BS3 will assess the situation over the off-season.

Liam Manning and Bristol City have shown great improvements this season(Image: EFL)

“He’s a great advert for himself, isn’t he?” remarked the 72-year-old. “He’s shown in what he’s done with our team and our club that he’s an asset to any football club.

“The point at the moment is he’s an asset to our football club, and long may that continue. When the season’s finished, we’ll take stock.”

Summer transfer plans

Naturally, the moment the season is over and done with, the attention of most supporters, and us in the media, immediately shifts to the transfer window. I’m sure a lot of you have already drawn up your list of potential players Bristol City should be targeting to try and go one step further next year and win promotion to the Premier League.

Although the Reds spent money last summer, their approach in recent transfer windows has seen them look for affordable prospects which they can develop into better players, rather than the big-money deals that became commonplace prior to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Of course, every football fan wants to see their team splash the cash when this time of year rolls around, but it sounds as if Steve Lansdown and the Robins are planning to recruit in the same manner this summer as they did last, even if a striker is once again high on the transfer agenda.

Steve and Maggie Lansdown in attendance at Ashton Gate(Image: Photo by Ryan Hiscott/Getty Images)

“We’ll carry on doing exactly what we’re doing, which is we’ll look to keep developing the youngsters through the academy, giving them the opportunity and giving them the pathway,” explained Lansdown. “We’ll look to keep our recruitment looking for value for money out there in the marketplace.

“There are one or two positions we want to fill. I think it’s fair to say we need somebody up front so we will be in the market looking for players, but we’re not going to go wild. We’ll keep doing what we’re doing because we’re doing it very, very well indeed, and see where it takes us. At the end of the day, you can only spend what you’ve got.

“You can’t keep on chasing a dream and throwing money at it. We’ve already been down that road, and it didn’t work, and if you look at all our times we’ve been a success, what we’ve done is built a team.”

Antoine Semenyo sell-on

The eyes of most Bristol City supporters will likely be glued to the Ashton Gate roof during the summer transfer window, but what happens at Bournemouth’s Vitality Stadium could prove to be just as important to the Reds over the course of the coming months.

Former City forward Antoine Semenyo is reportedly attracting an awful lot of transfer interest, including from Manchester United, after his impressive season on the South Coast, and the Cherries are expected to be holding out for a big-money fee.

Antoine Semenyo joined Bournemouth from Bristol City(Image: Photo by Chris Brunskill/Fantasista/Getty Images)

Jon Lansdown confirmed when speaking to BBC Radio Bristol just last week that the Reds would receive a portion of any fee earned through the sale of Semenyo, courtesy of a sell-on clause in the move that saw him join Bournemouth, and now, Steve Lansdown has shed some further light on that prospect.

“One of our policies always is that when we sell somebody, there’s a sell-on, should they progress and go further,” he explained. “If Antoine is sold for the sums of money that people are talking about, we’d be very happy, and so will he, even more so, I’d imagine.

“It would help to close the shortfall that we have every year. People think that we make profits, but we don’t, it’s all funded from somebody’s pocket. Someone like Antoine coming in just gives us more money that we can invest back into the squad. That’s the whole idea; that’s why the academy is there.

“He came through the academy, he developed well, played well for us, we sold him well when the opportunity came, and he’s gone and he’s progressed.”

Finances and investment

The prospect of new investment at Ashton Gate has been floating around Bristol City for three seasons now, after Steve Lansdown confirmed he was open to the idea of selling the entire Bristol Sport portfolio should the right deal arise, even if he has never actively been looking to part ways with the Robins. For a number of years now, the owner has made no secret of his desire to find further investment.

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Throughout that time, the message has been that while conversations have been held, nothing has ever been close to completion. At the time of writing, that remains the stage, and it is unclear just how long it will take for concrete progress to be made.

“There are lots of conversations, but nothing definite,” said Lansdown. “The conversations are getting more positive in the sense of being realistic, and I think at some point it will happen, whether that’s an investment into the football club alongside us or whether it’s somebody who wants to come in and invest totally in the club.

“I made it very clear, it was 1997/98 the season where I first got involved when Scott Davidson dragged me in so it’s been a long time and I’m not going to give up on it, I’ll take it as far as I can but we need succession and we need people to come through and work with us. To be quite honest, it could be either [months or years].

“We’re having some very constructive conversations with certain people now. Some of them, I have to say, look very interesting indeed, but that’s not to say they’re close to fruition. I’ve had conversations for the last two or three years since we sort of announced it, and we will work hard to find the right people who we think will invest in the club and keep its culture and keep its traditions.

“More likely to be abroad because that’s where the money is.”

Steve Lansdown interview notebook: Liam Manning, Bristol City transfer plans and Semenyo sell-on

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