Where's This Going ?

[bill46]

The plan was to build year on year to make us competitive on the field and financially stable off the field.We had a backward step with relegation but overcome that and now the green shoots are starting to bloom.Once the ground issue is resolved and lets be honest no one knows whos at fault here then I expect ground improvements to go hand in hand with team development.

[EthelRed]

The plan was to build year on year to make us competitive on the field and financially stable off the field.We had a backward step with relegation but overcome that and now the green shoots are starting to bloom.Once the ground issue is resolved and lets be honest no one knows whos at fault here then I expect ground improvements to go hand in hand with team development.

Are you comfortable with the threat to move home games away from the town?

[EastStandRed]

I share the same views Young Nudger but when I used to post things like that I was shot down in flames because evidently the board are the devils children.I suppose now we are winning games some posters are mellowing but my own views have remained steadfast.They came with a plan,explained the plan and have stuck to the plan.Long may it continue.

If certain posters disagree with you Bill it doesn’t mean you’ve been shot down in flames it just means some have a different opinion . Fair do’s to you, you always stick by your opinions. Owners get judged on their decisions , plenty slagged off the Crynes and Dennis at times. You don’t have to be on one side or the other. Each decision deserves its own scrutiny and judgement separately for me.

[pass_and_move]

There's positives and negatives wi these owners and most have been mentioned already. The results haven't changed my opinion of the owners, I'm still aware that they obviously don't get what this club means to the people of this town.


I think we've been had over in the transfer windows since their tenure began here. The last two windows don't suddenly make them saints. The signings have been good but to me, it's like we should all be grateful that we ant sold anyone this January.

That mindset sez it all really, these owners have set the precedent for that mindset and now we're all supposed to say what a good job they're doing because the only player of note that they've sold in the last 2 windows is Jacob Brown. I'm pleased there's progress in the respect that we're not selling but you've also got to factor in that other football clubs aren't spending money due to the covid pandemic. Let's not kid ourselves otherwise.


I'm just delighted with the commitment being shown by the players out there on the pitch. Tha can't ask for anymore.

[animallittle3]

I've over estimated those prices mainly because I thought Heaton was younger,having said that Villa paid £8m for him last season.I don't think Armstrong will go for less than 15m and possibly 4-5m for Connor.My view still remains that I'm not sure I want to see BFC spending that kind of money seeing whats happened at S6,Birmingham and Derby to a degree.After watching the reds for 55 years I'm quite patient and I would prefer a gradual improvement both on and off the field.

Bill

I'd like to think that we'd both agree that the ownership are in football to make money and this isn't a hobby for them .

The general rule of thumb to make money from football club ownership is at the point of sale .

That requires the club to be more valuable than what it was when it was purchased .

To keep the club in the position it was when it was purchased from Patrick Cryne adds no value to it what's so ever , this isn't like buying a house and sitting on it for five years and it's value grows because of economics , it's a totally different concept .

To make that business more attractive to potential purchases it has to grow .

Three off the bat examples are from our old fourth division days in the 70's , Brentford , Swansea and Watford who are significantly bigger clubs today than what they were in the mid 70's , all three have similar sized fan bases to ourselves .

With respect your own philosophy would stagnate the club by simply just going along in a straight line , " oh well at least we have a club to support " .

That's totally fine under a local owner , a fan ownership model , the custodian approach but we aren't owned by such a group we are owned by a consortium who are here to make money from the club .

It's a risk and reward industry , speculate to accumulate , there is no other way .

There are varying degrees of the risk granted , the S6 approach was perhaps the riskiest approach possible which isn't to be confused with sensible investment and where I feel your argument falls short .

The club simply has to grow for the owners to make a profit and if they lose then so do we as fans .

Your philosophy makes the club worth exactly the same amount of money as it was 3 years ago which doesn't reconcile with why the owners are here .

[Acido]

I always try to 'take stock' of the current situation, and that means just think back to this time last year for example.
I wanted us to be more competitive this season, and to hopefully avoid another awful relegation struggle. And even if that meant more draws, at least it also meant we'd become harder to beat. It didn't work out under Struber this time and thats a shame, but just look at who we've replaced him with.
Im so impressed with what Val Ismael has done with basically the same squad since he joined us. We arent just a more competitive team now, we're a blumming hard team to play against and maybe we're even getting that reputation now of being a team who nobody enjoys playing against.
We're more than comfy now when it comes to not having to worry about relegation, and this for me has been one heck of an impressive improvement by us.

And this is before I even start to think about a possible Play off push!!.

[animallittle3]

I always try to 'take stock' of the current situation, and that means just think back to this time last year for example.
I wanted us to be more competitive this season, and to hopefully avoid another awful relegation struggle. And even if that meant more draws, at least it also meant we'd become harder to beat. It didn't work out under Struber this time and thats a shame, but just look at who we've replaced him with.
Im so impressed with what Val Ismael has done with basically the same squad since he joined us. We arent just a more competitive team now, we're a blumming hard team to play against and maybe we're even getting that reputation now of being a team who nobody enjoys playing against.
We're more than comfy now when it comes to not having to worry about relegation, and this for me has been one heck of an impressive improvement by us.

And this is before I even start to think about a possible Play off push!!.

I read an interview the temporary Bristol City manager Paul Simpson gave following the game yesterday .

He said how hard we are to play against and if you don't match our physicality , desire and work rate then you get beaten , which is what happened because Bristol didn't .

We are turning in to one of those championship sides who we ourselves dreaded playing against not too long ago .

Most of my time following this club we've always played pleasing football but very often we had a soft underbelly too .

If you could just add that bit more quality , just a couple of players you'd be bang in business in this league .

Half the battle is to out shytehouse the shytehouses which we are doing now .

Helik and Andersen at the back are extremely physical and up top we've added Morris and Dike which as brought some muscle to the forward line .

In my opinion we are about 5 to 10% away from becoming a real force at this level .

[Young_Nudger]

But what is the plan Bill ?

What's the ambition ?

Where is this leading to ?

Nobody tells us .

I've emailed Dane as to why they don't reveal to us what the ambitions are , do a presentation to the fans via YouTube for instance and engage with us .

He just said the prefer a low profile and don't like publicity .

That just fuels the lack of trust in my opinion .

I think they have told us.
The famous - we arnt going to go crazy.
Which they haven’t.
Building steadily brick by brick.
I can nearly guarantee that next season will be better than this one.

But I do think the directors of the club have been surprising by this season.
They wanted to get to 50 points and be secure.
They expected (IMO) to be lower mid table.
Hence Val continually talking about the 50 points - it seems he has been given that target this season.
That’s not going to happen now - we are set to be just outside or within the top 6 by the end of the season.

The January 2021 was a watershed moment.
Proof if proof was needed that the directors WILL NOT SELL at every opportunity.
However - if an offer comes in that they just can’t turn down - then yes, that player will be sold.
But clearly - like all businesses - the more money the owners make the more money will be invested.
Result of that is Barnsley Football Club goes from strength to strength.

[pass_and_move]

The January 2021 was a watershed moment.
Proof if proof was needed that the directors WILL NOT SELL at every opportunity.
However - if an offer comes in that they just can’t turn down - then yes, that player will be sold.
But clearly - like all businesses - the more money the owners make the more money will be invested.
Result of that is Barnsley Football Club goes from strength to strength.

Maybe the incoming offers just weren't enough for them to sell. We don't know. Maybe players could not agree personal terms with interested parties. We don't know.

I expect this summer to be a watershed moment cos a reckon 4 or 5 of them will be off (hope am totally wrong mind) I reckon Styles, Woodrow, Brittain and Mowatt will all leave in the summer. The key then is to use that money wisely in finding more young talent but we are basically back to square 1.

[Acido]

I liked your bit about the 'shytehouse' teams Animal, like Cardiff for example lol.
How many times over the years have we outplayed a team and lost, and we've got the well meaning (but still patronising sounding) comments from the opposition and the media.
I never liked Wimbledon for example when they made it to the old First Division. But all of the top teams hated playing against them and theres times when I wish we could have been similarly tougher like that.

Anyway, speaking of us being not far short of being a real threat in this division, I wonder what if anything are we still doing to tempt Alex Mowatt to stay ?. Hes raised his game of course, but is that to just put himself in the transfer 'shop' window.