IT WAS a disappointing result at West Brom on Saturday as City slumped to a 4-1 defeat, their third of the season.

It wasn’t a surprising result though given that West Brom’s squad had cost about £20 million to assemble whereas ours is worth about a fifth of that.

On Monday night, I attended a question and answer session at Ashton Gate with chairman Steve Lansdown, manager Gary Johnson and chief executive Colin Sexstone all in attendance. We were sat behind Johnson for the first part of the evening and he’s always good value for money, asking if we could see over him (he’s barely 5ft) and also if his bald head was providing problems what with the light reflecting off it from the lights above!

In the opening presentation Lansdown outlined the year gone by in which City made a record loss of £6.5 million. This was largely due to money being spent on securing planning permission for the new stadium at Ashton Vale (£1.7 million) and also a soaring wage bill of over £8 million. To illustrate the difference in Championship wages to that of League One I noted that in 2007 (City’s promotion season) the wage bill was a mere £3.8 million.

Steve maintained that the only way to compete in this division was to pay these kinds of wages. Teams that have dropped from the Premiership including Middlesbrough and Newcastle still spend at least twice what City do.

Steve assured supporters that City’s debt was still manageable despite it now outweighing the clubs assets and that the club would not spend money that they did not have or could not recoup back.

Frustration was vented by both Steve and Colin Sexstone at the speed in which Bristol City Council were dealing with the club’s stadium application but they remained confident that the proposed move in 2012 would still go ahead.

Gary Johnson fielded questions on the team and, as always, it was interesting to hear his views on certain players, particularly on the progress of wantaway goalkeeper Adriano Basso and big summer signing David Clarkson.

City host Sheffield United at Ashton Gate on Saturday (3pm). We have been strong at home all year while the Blades are struggling this season with manager Kevin Blackwell under pressure. I’m going for three points to the boys in red.

Do you agree with Will’s views? Have your say below.