Alexander excited for City's future.

The New Year brought change at the very top of the football club as former Crystal Palace CEO of 26 years – Phil Alexander – was appointed CEO following Richard Gould’s departure.

In the short time he has been at the club, there has been plenty of work to do with the final stages of the transfer window, which Alexander reflects on as ‘baptism of fire’, but more importantly as a success.

“I’m enjoying it – it’s been great. Everyone has made me feel extremely welcome, I feel a part of the club already,” said City’s new CEO.

“I can’t believe it’s been four weeks – it feels a bit longer. It was a bit of a baptism of fire, if you’d like, at the end of the transfer window but I’ve enjoyed it.”

Four weeks have passed since Alexander officially took over the reins from Richard Gould in a seamless transition that allowed for effective business to be done in both directions.

“I joined on January 23rd, and I had already been talking to Richard quite a bit prior to that. Richard was concluding the Bournemouth deal for Antoine which made sense and I picked up the pieces thereafter.

“We did some trading, which was good. We got a couple of young players in, sent a couple of players out on loan, and settled a few contracts so it was a busy period.”

“Overall, if we look back at the window, it was a good period of trading for us. We missed out on one or two targets, which would have been the icing on the cake, but it went as well as it possible could for us.”

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Speaking on his reasoning behind taking up the post in the West Country, Alexander outlined the vision of the Lansdown family as key factor in his decision to join Bristol City.

“The opportunity came up at City and I followed up on it with conversations during visits with both Gavin Marshall and Richard Scudamore, who is very much involved here as well. I very quickly bought into the dream and vision of Steve, Maggie and Jon Lansdown of trying to make Bristol into a sporting hub.

“With the investment that’s gone in has been very impressive, and for me, it felt like a good challenge and one that I brought into very quickly.”

City’s Chief Executive has been impressed with how the squad have performed on the pitch – extending their unbeaten run to 11 games in all competitions against Sunderland – and he insists there is plenty to be excited about moving forward for supporters.

“I’m enjoying watching the team, I’m enjoying the energy that’s out there. Full credit must go to Nigel (Pearson), Curtis (Fleming) and Jason (Euell) and all the first team coaching staff – they’re doing a super job and long may it continue.

“Even now, we’re looking at the summer and what we’re going to be doing. It’s an exciting place to be and an exciting time to be a Bristol City fan.”

Alexander went on to discuss how the club must continue to strive for financial sustainability, the impact of our productive Academy pipeline, growing support at Ashton Gate and the opportunity that awaits against Manchester City in the Fifth Round of the Emirates FA Cup.