Bristol City make Charlie Boss new CEO

Article posted by Coliseum, March 17^th, 2026

Image: Bristol City FC on Facebook

EFL Championship football club Bristol City has appointed Charlie Boss as its new Chief Executive Officer.

The BBC said Boss was appointed to replace Tom Rawcliffe, who stepped down because of family commitments.

Boss brings a wealth of experience in commercial sport, media and marketing and returns to the West Country after concluding his role as interim Group CEO of The Jockey Club in December.

Boss’ role running The Jockey Club saw him responsible for the largest commercial operator in British horseracing, overseeing 15 racecourses and growing some of the UK’s most iconic sporting events, including the Cheltenham Festival and the Grand National.

Prior to this, he was Chief Commercial Officer at Southampton Football Club and previously ran Disney’s sport businesses in Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England (UK). The team competes in the English Football League (EFL) Championship, the second level of the English football league system.

The 27,000-capacity Ashton Gate Stadium serves as their home ground.

Bristol City Chairman Jon Lansdown said: “It’s great that we have been able to move so quickly on this appointment following Tom Rawcliffe’s departure. Charlie was known to the club and the board from his time at Southampton and it quickly became apparent that he had a great skillset to complement Gerhard and the existing team at the Robins HPC.

“Charlie’s experience in previous roles focusing on strategic commercial growth, fan engagement and sports marketing will be a great asset. It’s rare that timings work out so well and I’m looking forward to him starting next week as we focus on the football and our promotion push.”

Boss was born in Hong Kong and raised in the West Country before studying English Language and Literature at Oxford University. After graduating he took up marketing roles with The Football Association and England Rugby.

Boss said, “It is a privilege to be entrusted to lead Bristol City. We all know Bristol City is focused on promotion and I look forward to working with the wider team to ensure the club is ready to deliver on that ambition on and off the pitch.”

While the former Southampton chief commercial officer will play a similar role to Rawcliffe, his experience suggests the club are looking for a different approach in the hopes of reaching the top flight.

Boss told BBC Radio Bristol, “Sometimes in your career, things feel fated. Everything I’ve done to date and the opportunity here at Bristol City were the perfect match.

“Tom has a phenomenal track record in finance, I come from a much more commercial and marketing background. I’ve been in other sports so I think I’ll bring a different flavour to the role.

“I definitely think we can generate more revenue and that’s partly about making smaller losses, but actually it’s just as much about creating more money to invest into the playing side to help us achieve our ambitions.

“We should be aspiring to be in the Premier League. To get there, we have to be behaving like a Premier League football club in every aspect, starting from today.

“What we really need is a clear ambition and a plan that we all stick to, to get us there. I can’t promise that it will be this season, although we will try incredibly hard to make it happen.”

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