Reply With Quoteyep had my say a few days ago when i got email
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Barnsley Chronicle 04/05/2022
THE BARNSLEY Supporters’ Trust have accused the club’s owners of treating fans with ‘a high level of disrespect’ and launched a survey of supporters to gauge opinions.
There is a survey on the trust website (https://bfcst.co.uk) covering how fans feel about the owners, the matchday experience, key factors in this season’s relegation, season ticket prices and other issues.
The trust also published a series of questions, some related to co-owner Paul Conway’s stint as acting chief executive last which is widely considered to be a key factor in the Reds finishing last in the Championship this season.
A statement on the trust website this week read: “As a paid director of Barnsley Football Club, and as someone who has taken a salary as acting CEO, why does Paul Conway refuse to speak to supporters?
“Given that supporters have backed the club in it’s hour of need during a pandemic, financially, why are the supporters being treated with such a high level of disrespect and disregard after one of the worst seasons in our history?
“Especially as that season started with Paul Conway as CEO. We deserve much, much better.
“If Paul Conway continues to refuse to engage with the supporter base, how do those at the club plan to build bridges with supporters that are choosing to walk away after a lifetime of unwavering support?”
The statement also called the appointments of head coaches Markus Schopp and Poya Asbaghi ‘an abject failure’.
It added: “Based on the 20/21 accounts, and with a revenue shortfall next year of between £6m and £8m due to relegation, how precarious is the future of Barnsley Football Club?
“What risks are there, and what strategy is being worked on, to ensure we’re competitive in the 2022/23 season?”
The trust also called for an apology or explanation for the season, which was confirmed two weeks ago.
The trust have met with chief executive Khaled El-Ahmad with the results of the meeting due to be shared at their AGM on May 17.
The statement added: “This is part of a continuous effort to work in the best interests of supporters, with actions in the last three months including meetings with Dan Jarvis, the local media, Tracy Crouch MP in regards to the Fan-Led Review, and seeking reassurances and clarity from the Football Supporters’ Association and the EFL around the future of our football club – in terms of finances, ownership challenges, and continuing to play our home games at Oakwell.”
To participate in the survey, you must have a trust membership, which is free.
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yep had my say a few days ago when i got email
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Not holding any hopes up on this one.Originally Posted by yorkshireborn
Silence is the word from this lot !
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Me neither. But you have to try.
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From the Supporters Trust
There's no hiding the fact that the football club have suffered an alarming fall from grace since we narrowly lost to Swansea in the Playoffs less than 12 months ago. We scored the least amount of goals at Oakwell in our history, whilst managing to be the only Championship team ever to go from finishing in the Playoffs to propping up the foot of the table the following season.
Supporters may cite different reasons for the abominable 21/22 campaign, so we want to hear from all BFCST members on a number of topics regarding the football club, the owners, and the matchday experience.
To maintain credibility in the responses, we're facilitating this through an online voting form. Simply click the 'Share Your Feedback' button, enter the e-mail address used to join BFCST, and give us your thoughts on five topics regarding Barnsley FC and the last 12 months - starting with your response to Paul Conway's comments in August 2022 that had the sentiment, 'when we're no longer wanted as owners, we'll leave'.
BFCST have a meeting planned today with CEO Khaled El-Ahmad, and Marketing, Commercial and Business Director Andrew Clark, to address recent challenges at Oakwell that have resulted in our relegation to League One. We also want to look ahead to what could prove to be a very difficult Summer for the football club.
A full review of this meeting will be communicated to members, with the focus centred around the below concerns:
As a paid Director of Barnsley Football Club, and as someone who has taken a salary as acting CEO, why does Paul Conway refuse to speak to supporters? Given that supporters have backed the club in it's hour of need during a pandemic, financially, why are the supporters being treated with such a high level of disrespect and disregard after one of the worst seasons in our history? Especially as that season started with Paul Conway as CEO. We deserve much, much better.
If Paul Conway continues to refuse to engage with the supporter base, how do those at the club plan to build bridges with supporters that are choosing to walk away after a lifetime of unwavering support?
The harsh reality is that the appointment of the last two Head Coaches has been an abject failure. What is the strategy for our next appointment, what qualities are we insisting on as part of that, and how will the next Head Coach instil belief in the squad and the supporters for our future in League One? Will we wait to review the applicants, or is there a pro-active plan that targets our new Head Coach, similar to the appointments of Daniel Stendel and Gerhard Struber?
Based on the 20/21 accounts, and with a revenue shortfall next year of between £6m and £8m due to relegation, how precarious is the future of Barnsley Football Club? What risks are there, and what strategy is being worked on, to ensure we're competitive in the 2022/23 season?
When will the club communicate with supporters and admit the mistakes of the 2021/22 season? Relegation was confirmed against Huddersfield but we've so far been treated to silence in terms of an announcement or an apology.
This is part of a continuous effort to work in the best interests of supporters, with actions in the last three months including meetings with Dan Jarvis, the local media, Tracy Crouch MP in regards to the Fan-Led Review, and seeking reassurances and clarity from the Football Supporters' Association and the EFL around the future of our football club - in terms of finances, ownership challenges, and continuing to play our home games at Oakwell. We'll provide a full update at our AGM on 17th May which will be subsequently shared online.
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Personally i couldn't give a monkeys about getting a statement from the owners, and lets be honest most of those demanding a statement will rip it to shreds immediately irrespective of what it says. And since when did apologies for relegation become a thing? have we become a bunch of snowflakes who need some TLC after a bad season.
what we require is action and announcements of new players and an experienced League One or championship manager as that will tell us everything we need to know. Crucially we need to abandon our transfer policy of always trying to unearth gems as its too risky (and proven to be a complete failure) & buy some solid experienced players.
As for the club in general I think some fans have had it in for PMG from day one, mainly because they are foreign, it said on the 'Conway Out' facebook page 'the owners have no connection to the club', crikey maybe thats because PMG are from USA, China, hong Kong & India, this is 2022 many clubs have foreign owners without connections, its not a crime.
Also PMG are accused of 'wanting to make money from owning BFC', well blow me down, a business making money? what next? did they think PMG were a charity? If we had got into premier league last year and made 100m all at BFC would have mutually benefitted, thats the idea of a successful business. However, I would be interested to know how much people think these 'greedy *******' have made out of us as I make it a zero. I would also ask why PMG didn't sell Woodrow & Mowatt for millions when they had the chance if they are ONLY interested in money as their value was always going to fall, Mowatts value actually fell to nothing.
Last edited by Ponty End; 12-05-2022 at 12:22 AM.
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The anger & criticisms aimed at PMG is way over the top & mainly connected to the foreign ownership issue i mentioned in my previous post.
You would think we have had 4 terrible seasons in PMGs 4 years as owners but we haven't. We have actually had the first automatic promotion for 25 years plus the play offs for the premier league & have just finished 3 consecutive seasons in the championship. We have just finished a horrible relegation season but overall their record isn't too bad.
The main arguments used to hammer PMG (West Stand & 750K payments) are weak as there is no concrete evidence to refute the clubs statements. The owners have given explanations of these issues and the response is "liars" without any notable evidence from fans or other owners. For example the 750K payments are according to Paul Conway not connected to the sale of the club but part of an agreement made with Patrick Cryne to pay back Mr Cryne the money he loaned the club, not seen any evidence this isn't true & as far as i know the Cryne family have taken this money & not disagreed with Mr Conways version.
So we end up with some fans saying they won't go to oakwell again or even want to push the club into administration & their actions are based on snippets of info from other fans or angry rants on social media rather than facts.
Although lets be honest clubs nearly always lose some fans after a relegation & some fans who just don't want to support barnsley next season (fair enough) are jumping on the 'conway out' or 'not a penny more' campaigns & acting as if they are taking a moral stance when in reality they just can't be bothered to go anymore.
I would finish with my usual comment that i would be delighted to see PMG replaced by owners who will invest in the club and take us to the level of a consistent competitive championship team. However, facts and not half truths made about our owners are important.
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Last edited by Ponty End; 12-05-2022 at 01:26 AM.
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1, "Only against them because they are foreign"--playing the hint of racism card there.
2. "The Crynes have not disagreed with Conway"--I refer you to the present Court action Crynes-v-Conway.
3. The owners haven't taken money out of the club--The owners haven't put a penny into the club, it's all someone else's financial risk. They haven't even paid for the club, apart from the £750K taken from club accounts to pay one instalment.
4 We have not had terrible seasons under these owners--two relegations and an escape from relegation with the final kick. Two of their clubs were relegated on the same night and Esbjerg also in danger of going down, presently second bottom.
Just four observations to add balance.
Last edited by SBRed48; 12-05-2022 at 07:55 AM.
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I do like to see posts from Ponty - they definitely stir the barrel and get people thinking.
A few observations.
The mention of the owners being foreign.
Is this suggesting some Barnsley fans are racist?
Going back decades, many football fans were racist - I don’t think they are now.
There maybe a few individuals but I don’t see racism generally within the Barnsley crowd.
So I don’t think the owners being foreign is a problem.
Ponty goes on to say he dosent give a monkey’s about a statement from the owners - and then says ‘we want an announcement about appointing an English manager and we need to ditch the recruitment policy’.
Got to agree on the recruitment policy - we need a couple of older leaders - but I’m not sure about appointing a British manager.
I have always said I would like to see the owners make a profit during their time at Barnsley.
We don’t want to see owners like those at S6 for example.
But what I don’t want to see is that any profit is made solely from ordinary Barnsley supporters.
If the owners want to make a profit it is only right that they should invest their own personal wealth into the club.
If they were - then the £750k wouldn’t be an issue - but it has become an issue because supporters perceive that this money has been stolen from them.
Also the absence of personal wealth invested into the club has had major implications this season - as it’s caused the club to via away from tried and tested successful tactics used the previous season.
The scramble to put players in the shop window by changing tactics and pushing young players into the 1st Team has resulted in the loss of £8 Million through relegation.
So yes - I definitely want to hear from the owners - and it has to sound like this.
1) The owners will guarantee that they will assist financially with recruitment of players - and ground improvements.
2) Strategy of recruiting just young players will be relaxed and older leaders will be recruited within the squad to help the younger players.
3) The board of directors will allow the head coach to do his job. From now on it will be solely the head coaches responsibility of how the team plays and who plays.
That’s all what is needed.
The supporters are not asking for much.
We are not asking the owners ‘to go crazy’.
Last edited by Young_Nudger; 12-05-2022 at 10:13 AM.
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Good post Nudge. Following today's news, that should sort out a lot of these issues and a number of others besides.
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