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Lansdown boosts Bristol City

Guernsey-based millionaire Steve Lansdown has paid £10m into Bristol City for a new share issue. Bristol has punched below its weight as a city in football.

After a trip to Barcelona, he developed a model of a club covering several sports. Barcelona incorporates not just football, but other sports such as basketball and water polo. When Bristol Rugby was going through a financial crisis more than a decade ago, Lansdown took it over.

A model in the executive bar shows plans for a convention centre which will be built adjoining the Ashton Gate stadium and will house a 4,000-seater facility for Bristol Flyers basketball team, which has become another prong in the Bristol Sport trident. Season ticket-holders can attend all three sports and the different codes share some training facilities, along with coaching, medical expertise and innovation in areas such as social media.

His clubs are also following the Barcelona model of producing young talent through his various academies.

Lansdown realises his sporting venture helps grow the city and the benefits come back. Local businesses are preferred when it comes to handing out contracts.

Lansdown derived his fortune from funds supermarket Hargreaves Lansdown. [The writer is a client of the firm].

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