The Garrison 1st February 7PM

[animallittle3]

Animal it's not Ponty ,,,,,,

My error Roma , thanks for pointing it out .

[Ponty End]

I don't think we need to discover what "seeking change through collective action" really means as its just waffle. The only option for change is for someone to purchase the club who will do a better job at transfers, communication & investment than PMG. However, although i have my fingers crossed I am depressed by the quality of the 'Conway Out' page & can't see how todays 'Statement' from the anonymous 'prospective buyers' (which unnecessarily attacks PMG) brings that any closer & has probably achieved the opposite.

TBH all the rest about protests etc, is a waste of time & energy so please someone tell these potential buyers to start negotiations, make an offer asap & let us know the result. Meanwhile let Reds fans get on with supporting a team bereft of any confidence instead of turning Oakwell into a toxic hellhole, as its already bad enough. Fans need something tangible from these potential buyers rather than anonymous statements as we seem to be have been taken for mugs. if they are credible they will soon get the support they deserve.

[animallittle3]

I don't think we need to discover what "seeking change through collective action" really means as its just waffle. The only option for change is for someone to purchase the club who will do a better job at transfers, communication & investment than PMG. However, although i have my fingers crossed I am depressed by the quality of the 'Conway Out' page & can't see how todays 'Statement' from the anonymous 'prospective buyers' (which unnecessarily attacks PMG) brings that any closer & has probably achieved the opposite.

TBH all the rest about protests etc, is a waste of time & energy so please someone tell these potential buyers to start negotiations, make an offer asap & let us know the result. Meanwhile let Reds fans get on with supporting a team bereft of any confidence instead of turning Oakwell into a toxic hellhole, as its already bad enough. Fans need something tangible from these potential buyers rather than anonymous statements as we seem to be have been taken for mugs. if they are credible they will soon get the support they deserve.

I'm pretty certain the vast majority of our fans would like to see new ownership come in and make a success of it .

I think that's something most of us can agree on .

[Young_Nudger]

I'm pretty certain the vast majority of our fans would like to see new ownership come in and make a success of it .

I think that's something most of us can agree on .

I don’t know about the ‘vast majority’ - you only have to look at the BBS to realise many on there prefer the devil they know.

Personally - I’m undecided.
But we definitely need the owners to make a statement about two major issues.

1) They need to clarify what they meant when they said ‘they weren’t going to go crazy’.
Reports now indicate that the owners are not willing to actually invest ANY money of their own into the club.
I find that hard to believe because if they don’t they will find themselves on a slippery slope.
We need more clarity on funding decisions.

2) Revelations this season have revealed the owners have meddled in team tactics and player selection.
Those decisions wrecked any success carried over from last season.
The club cannot move forward if there is interference of the 1st team by the directors.
We need answers from the owners why this happened.

I would like these owners to remain at the club because I feel the overall strategy of developing young players - selling them on - then reinvesting back into the team - is the way forward for Barnsley.
And if at a later date they want to give the club a cash injection, they are ‘reportedly’ wealthy enough to do so.

However - there are two important issues to address.
If they don’t provide the right reassurances then it would be best for all concerned if other owners were found.

[Ponty End]

I would agree that its far from clear that the majority of fans want new owners as it all depends on who & what any new owners have to offer.

There is understandable scepticism about these prospective owners who attack the current owners at their lowest point (noticeably not in play off week) say they have sufficient funds (depending on price) but want to remain anonymous. However, if these or other owners step forward with a reasonable investment plan they would gain huge support, but lets be clear that has never happened in our history so I will take some convincing.

I would add i don't think we are anything like another Blackpool, quite simply we lost the backbone of our team plus our best manager for years & the six summer signings plus the new manager were generally poor & didn't work out. A horrible season but not sure this is a "Board Out" offence after they achieved play offs & a promotion in past 3 years, you would think with some posts we have been relegated every season and are a non league team.

[Ponty End]

I would also add that players like Benson & Palmer would have grown in stature if they had a couple of seasoned older players helping them out & will be good players in a few years, this was a massive mistake by the owners & is costing them much grief.

[Acido]

I doubt if they know what grief is Ponty, and whether they even care what grief they are putting us through these days.
And Play offs or not, their business model even last season was/is a disgrace and it shows our club nothing but contempt.
If an owner or business man refuses to spend on his business, but still expects it to earn him huge profits by continually selling off its best assets, well how fair and acceptable is that. And it feels like that is what they're doing to us (allegedly!!).

[animallittle3]

As far as I'm concerned the ownership have always had the opportunity to change strategy , they've owned the club for over four years now when all is said and done .

Young players with sell on value I've always thought was a good strategy although I'd like to ask when was the last time we sold a player for really decent money when set against what we paid for him ?

Probably Alfie Mawson in hmmm 2016 !!!! .

When calculating the fees we receive for players it's worth pointing out that the real figure is the profit after you have calculated the fee we paid for them plus the wages he received whilst he was here .

You also have to factor in the failures too which wipe away the profit on the ones you do make a small margin on .

Factor in Schmidt , Luke Thomas , Herbie Kane , Thiam , Halme etc etc .

At this moment in time the ownership have failed to make the club even sustainable with this strategy never mind see a profit on sales .

Yet the strategy is still talked up by the ownership and CEO .

What's the definition of madness ???

[SBRed48]

A horrible season but not sure this is a "Board Out" offence after they achieved play offs & a promotion in past 3 years, you would think with some posts we have been relegated every season and are a non league team.

Just for balance--

-a relegation in their first season following poor coach appointment
- a promotion from Div 3 with a strong squad for that league
- avoiding relegation with last kick of season and financial issues at Wigan
- a Play off spot when all the ducks aligned in a freak season
- a probable relegation to Div 3 this season followed by a fire sale of players

[renno]

I'm pretty certain the vast majority of our fans would like to see new ownership come in and make a success of it .

I think that's something most of us can agree on .

I think what this season has brought to light is the lack of direction the club has. Let's be honest , relegation from the Championship isn't something we havent experienced before. If we're brutally honest (Last season apart) , our place in the football pyramid is a yo-yo club between the CHampionship and L1

Everything this season has been heightened with the owners because of the dross being served up on the pitch - would we be saying all of this had we been in contention for a play - off place? I'm not sure we would.

The players have accepted no responsibility whatsoever yet 85% of the starting 11 has been the same as that last season in the majority of games. All we see is them feeling sorry for themselves - to get to their level in professional sport you need a large degree of self-motivation I would imagine, so why has this disappeared?

I can accept getting relegated if I see us grafting game in and game out - like Rotherham have done in recent years, the difference is they have seen improvements from the matchday side of it.

If we enhanced what is served up on matchdays - a big food court and somewhere to sit with the ankle-biter pre and post match would be a great starting point. Demolish the west stand and have a big open plan hospitality area.

Yes we have recruited badly and are paying the price - for me though we should have gambled with this years sky money on increasing Big Vals wage, Mowatts wage and got some juicy loan signings in - we could have spent £150000 p/wk on extra wages and had a good go at it - if it didnt work give them back. But we are what we are I suppose, so if this is the case then at least allow us to make a day of it so the football becomes secondary