Bristol City owner Steve Lansdown says he is in discussions with an overseas investor, indicating progress is being made over a potential sale of the club.
Lansdown last provided an update at the beginning of March where he declared "nothing was imminent" regarding a potential sale or extra investment. He first publicly announced his intention to find a buyer in April 2021 having invested around £240million in the club during his tenure.
Speaking to BBC Radio Bristol ahead of the defeat against Burnley, Lansdown reiterated his message that he's in no rush to sell and will only do so to the right person at the right price. Although he confirmed he is in talks with a potential buyer which may come to fruition in the near future.
He said: "We’re talking to somebody but it’s been going on for a while so I don’t know if that’s going to happen or not. I’m in no rush, it’s got to be the right people who come in, they’ve got to add value, they’ve got to have the right funds to come in and do it.
"It’s not a one-off payment it’s an ongoing commitment. At some point I’m not going to be here so at the end of the day we’ve got to find new investment, we’ve got to find new people to take to the club forward and that’s my task over the next few years so the club’s in good hands going forward.
"If somebody wants to buy the whole club and it’s the right price and the right people then that will happen. I’m not going to stand in the way of anyone wanting to do that. I’m quite happy for the right people to have a minority investment in the club.”
The Guernsey-based billionaire has previously indicated all of Bristol Sport portfolio, including Bristol Bears and the basketball team the Flyers remains up for sale.
Bristol Live has been aware of a number of American consortiums who have declared an interest in purchasing City, as money from that side of the Atlantic continues to explore opportunities in English football.
Lansdown also approached the topic of City's finances. In November, their latest financial accounts showed a loss of £28.5m for 2021/22 which is over £10m better off than the year prior but still a worryingly high figure.
Accounts also showed they had lost £532,000-a-week for the last financial year despite necessary cut-backs including the reduction of the wage bill from £30.25million to £23.81m.
When asked about the current financial situation, he added: “We’re getting there, Covid was the biggest upset we could’ve expected or not expected I should say. We’ve got through that, we’re getting the wages under control and I think football generally is now which is good news.
"We’re still in a difficult situation in a sense of where we want to be, but we’re in a better position. Our big contracts have come to an end now or certainly will do after this season, so we’re looking forward with optimism to the quality of players we can bring in and we can afford to keep them here.
“The key to it is to get promotion, it grieves me in some ways but it gives me the confidence to look at the likes of Millwall, Luton and Coventry all up there in the top six and I know we’re as good as they are if not better in some cases and we ought to be up there.
"We have the ability to get up there now, if you’d asked me that question a couple of seasons ago we weren’t really good enough.”
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