Bristol City takeover news: CEO Tom Rawcliffe reveals talks held amid stunning Turki Alalshikh links
Robins CEO Tom Rawcliffe has offered fans an insight into Bristol City’s potential takeover
Bristol City CEO Tom Rawcliffe has revealed that the club did in fact hold talks with Saudi sports supremo Turki Alalshikh over investment, despite the businessman’s recent statement.
Alalshikh, who is best known for his role as chairman of the General Entertainment Authority in Saudi Arabia, was at the centre of rumours linking him with a takeover of Bristol City throughout the summer transfer window and remained in the spotlight with further speculation in the early part of the season.
The Saudi businessman is a huge name in boxing and has played roles in promotion fights involving the likes of Oleksandr Usyk, Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua, Daniel Dubois and a whole host of other household names.
But he’s no stranger to the world of football, having owned two different clubs in the past, so it’s not beyond the realms of possibility that he’d be interested in acquiring a stake in the Championship club.
Bristol City 'held talks' with Turki Alalshikh
Bristol-born billionaire Steve Lansdown, who has been involved with the football club since 1996, has been searching for additional investment since 2021, which he admits could eventually lead to a full takeover.
"Yes, we had conversations with him [Alalshikh] and we are up for investment but it has to be the right investment," Rawcliffe told a fans' forum on Wednesday ahead of this weekend’s clash with Norwich City.
He added: "It's no secret that we're looking for investment whether that is a minority or majority," added Rawcliffe.
"It's going to happen at some stage but the Lansdown family are not going to be here forever and we've got to prepare ourselves. We don't know what's going to happen in the future. At the moment there's nothing imminent, but we are well backed.
"We've had interest from all over the world. Predominantly with football clubs and who is buying right now it tends to be US or Middle East-based backers and so we've had interest from both of those, but we haven't come overly close."
What has Turki Alalshikh said in the past about buying Bristol City?
Turki Alalshikh has so far decided to distance himself from speculation linking him with a move to purchase Bristol City. He posted on X in September when speculation was at its highest: “It is not true that I will buy Bristol City FC.”
Bristol Sport Group CEO and club director Gavin Marshall also said earlier that same week: "It's just purely speculation. Since Steve's (Lansdown, owner) been open about looking for investment we've had a lot of speculation around different interested parties.”
Alalshikh, however, is thought to be looking at potential investment opportunities at this moment in time. He’s owned two football clubs in the past: Pyramids in Egypt for one season between 2018 and 2019 and Almeria for the following six years before selling his stake over the summer.
The Saudi businessman has been linked with a return to football but could also explore different avenues, including Barry and Eddie Hearn’s sports promotion company Matchroom, which deals with boxing, snooker and darts.