Biggest Mistake The Club's Made In Recent Times

[animallittle3]

Yes I know there are many candidates but personally the decisions made the summer Stendel took us back to the championship were in my opinion the biggest of the lot .

Breaking that team up and losing Pinnock , Lindsay , Moore and Davies was an opportunity missed to establish ourselves at championship level .

That team in my opinion would have adapted to championship football like a duck to water , just look at where the majority of that team ended up if it had been kept together .

Moore , Woodrow , Jacob Brown and Pinnock play in the Premier League or have played in the Premier League .

Mowatt and Lindsay are solid championship players and even Cam Mac and Cavare have played at a decent level in European football .

With two or three additions that squad could have really kicked on .

[SBRed48]

Don't forget the selling of Stendel's promotion key players was done to provide funds for " the best transfer window in the history of Barnsley FC" that summer---Schmidt, Wilks, Ritzmaier, Bahre, Diaby etc.

The core mistake in recent times
was to allow the New York Investor Group (inclusive of JAQ's husband) to appoint a Mr Paul Conway as their representative giving him effective control over the club and transfers. We will soon find out if any "proper person" due diligence was done on members of that Group or of Conway in the EFL findings.

Pinnock and Morris have proved to be effective at a higher level.

[Shadrack the Red]

Yes I know there are many candidates but personally the decisions made the summer Stendel took us back to the championship were in my opinion the biggest of the lot .

Breaking that team up and losing Pinnock , Lindsay , Moore and Davies was an opportunity missed to establish ourselves at championship level .

That team in my opinion would have adapted to championship football like a duck to water , just look at where the majority of that team ended up if it had been kept together .

Moore , Woodrow , Jacob Brown and Pinnock play in the Premier League or have played in the Premier League .

Mowatt and Lindsay are solid championship players and even Cam Mac and Cavare have played at a decent level in European football .

With two or three additions that squad could have really kicked on .

I agree with you all the way , all very good players who surely would have cemented us in the championship ,but I do not think it was totally the clubs fault as all these players will have attracted suitors & all these players will have had agents who could see the pound note signs as clear as day and personally I believe that agents are the biggest scourge in the game and will certainly have played a big part in us losing some of these players, like Rotherham and a few others we cannot pay the big bucks in the championship & will always struggle to hang on to our prize assets .

[pass_and_move]

The worst decision for me was the West Stand closure and the bullshyte reasons behind it. It was a business decision without a seconds thought towards loyal supporters who've been sat there years. That told me all that I needed to know about the consortium.

Players leave, squads break up. We have a major overhaul of our players every season. That's how we roll but decietfulness towards our supporters is way out of line. This is why there's much doubt or trust in place in the present day

[Shadrack the Red]

The worst decision for me was the West Stand closure and the bullshyte reasons behind it. It was a business decision without a seconds thought towards loyal supporters who've been sat there years. That told me all that I needed to know about the consortium.

Players leave, squads break up. We have a major overhaul of our players every season. That's how we roll but decietfulness towards our supporters is way out of line. This is why there's much doubt or trust in place in the present day

I was one that suffered with the west stand fiasco, myself & my grandkids have cracking seats on the west just short of the half way line & were shunted across to the east stand lower down by the corner flag which is arguably one of the worst views in the ground , we hated it & after watching the reds for over 60 years my loyalty was severely tested & I would have called it a day had they not sorted it out, it left a very sour taste in my mouth , thankfully we got our seats back & have continued with our season tickets but I have not trusted our owners since ! , the statement they made saying that if we were not happy we could have our money back pushed me over the edge , 60 years of support & you get " if you don"t like it you can have your money back " , what price loyalty ! they havn"t a clue what this club means to me or others like me .

[SBRed48]

I was one that suffered with the west stand fiasco, myself & my grandkids have cracking seats on the west just short of the half way line & were shunted across to the east stand lower down by the corner flag which is arguably one of the worst views in the ground , we hated it & after watching the reds for over 60 years my loyalty was severely tested & I would have called it a day had they not sorted it out, it left a very sour taste in my mouth , thankfully we got our seats back & have continued with our season tickets but I have not trusted our owners since ! , the statement they made saying that if we were not happy we could have our money back pushed me over the edge , 60 years of support & you get " if you don"t like it you can have your money back " , what price loyalty ! they havn"t a clue what this club means to me or others like me .

Ah yes, mi owd mate Khaled El Ahmad. This was the time he became aware that you can't get away with attempting to pillak Barnsley folk.

He had already tarnished BFC's reputation as a proper, reliable football club by cancelling long arranged friendlies in order to fit in a game with Man City for his ex mates. Some clubs had even sold tickets for their friendlies.

Then Ahmad saw there were a few home games coming up in the near future with potential large away followings so clever Mr Ahmad wanted to move existing West Stand stewards to the North Stand. A "structural report" suddenly appeared deeming the West Stand to be unsafe requiring immediate closure. Ahmad said at the time-

"The decision is based on a structural report and a number of West Stand specific crowd management challenges"
"The safety and security of staff is of the utmost importance. I made a promise to both staff and fans alike to be transparent regardless of how difficult the news is to share" (cough)

About 1000 ST holders were moved to other parts of the ground and stewards redeployed to the North Stand.

It all began to unravel when Ahmad tried to involve Barnsley Council (then 50% owners) and they denied any knowledge of any structural issues requiring closure on safety grounds and the areas deemed unsafe were being filled with press, media, visiting VIP's, complementary ticket holders.

A few weeks later the ST holders were back in their seats with no sign of any structural work having been done.

Then Ahmad moved on to agreeing a new sponsorship deal with crypto firm Hex.Com and hexagons appeared on shirts...........

Yes, Ahmad was a big mistake.

[EthelRed]

Patrick Crynes hand was forced but the biggest mistake by far was selling the majority shareholding to the group of scheisters we have now.

None of the other issues would exist without their involvement.

[POGGYWELL]

The worst decision for me was the West Stand closure and the bullshyte reasons behind it. It was a business decision without a seconds thought towards loyal supporters who've been sat there years. That told me all that I needed to know about the consortium.

Players leave, squads break up. We have a major overhaul of our players every season. That's how we roll but decietfulness towards our supporters is way out of line. This is why there's much doubt or trust in place in the present day

Fully agree Pass after 60 years supporting and this club threw us out of the stand and yet to this day no true explanation or apology given.
We’ve have always known we are a selling club with hero’s leaving and yet more arrive, a fact I’ve always accepted being a small club.

These people have thrown me out (two season tickets) as a paying customer so it’s very much the case once bitten twice shy for me and I will never set foot in that place again whoever is in charge.

Once a Red always a Red. Shame on them.

[Arblasterfromthepast]

Fully agree Pass after 60 years supporting and this club threw us out of the stand and yet to this day no true explanation or apology given.
We’ve have always known we are a selling club with hero’s leaving and yet more arrive, a fact I’ve always accepted being a small club.

These people have thrown me out (two season tickets) as a paying customer so it’s very much the case once bitten twice shy for me and I will never set foot in that place again whoever is in charge.

Once a Red always a Red. Shame on them.

Same here Poggs. I've moved on now and won't be turning back. I suspect like you, I've now got other priorities.

[Young_Nudger]

Good initial post - that I wasn’t around to contribute to at the time.

Yes - you look at the Championship and even a couple of Premier League clubs and it’s littered with good ex-Barnsley players.

What a team we would have if all those players were still at Barnsley !!!

The reason they arn’t is because of the biggest mistake the club made - when Patrick sold the club to Chien Lee and Paul Conway.

Unknowingly these two had a management plan of not using any of their own money - but instead using the club to generate its own income through ticket sales and player sales.

Lee/Conway had latched onto the brilliant way Barnsley were unearthing rough diamonds and selling them on for profit.
IMO - that is the only reason they became interested in Barnsley.
They expected James Cryne and the recruitment team to find the rough diamonds - and they would then sell those players for a profit then plough the money back into the club hoping there would be a windfall at a later date.

It didn’t work - and it came to a pinnacle when Conway who had a team with Ismael as HC - playing in the Championship playoffs - 3 games away from the Premier League - decided to change tactics of the team the following season because no offers had come in for any of the players.
Khaled actually told us that during his famous Radio Sheffield interview.

It had been coming - but one of the consequences of that season caused the board of directors to finally separate into two parties.
Lee/Conway
Neerav/JAQ/Crynes

But with Lee/Conway being the major share holders we then had to endure a season where Conway dictated which player was signed - who played in the 1st team - and what tactics the club played.
Is there any wonder Ismael left the club and Schopp and Asbaghi were unsuccessful ?
Those two HCs were on a loser right from the start.
Result of all that was a team knocking on the Premier League door - was relegated to the 1st Division the following season.
An incredible turn of events.

But every cloud has a silver lining.
Because while Conway was looking to add investors onto the board he stumbled across two individuals that were big fans of English football and wanted to become part of an English club.
Those two individuals, Neerav and JAQ bought into the opportunity of being involved in an English club.

Over time those two along with the Crynes got their act together - and as Jean Cryne said “we didn’t like the way that they (Lee/Conway) were doing things” and they eventually managed to wrestle control off Lee and Conway.
I would suspect Neerav and JAQ had never heard of Barnsley - but have now become huge fans - sinking their own money into the club.
It wouldn’t surprise me to hear them say that when they were first approached to invest in Barnsley they would never have thought in a million years that they would be running the club.

They consider this season as there first full season in charge.
But the club is still trying to recover from the Conway season.
It’s been a poor first season due to the appointment of Collins who didn’t fit the playing philosophy of the club.

But there are already positive signs.
No more so than there wasn’t any player sold last season that didn’t want to leave.
And because of that change - there was a fight to keep Kitching which resulted in one of the biggest sales ever of a defender from the 1st Division.

It has become clear from what has been said by the new leadership that there is a new approach to player sales.
Going forward it will be more akin to how Mads left the club to how players such as Chaplin were forced out.
That in itself is a massive difference to how Lee/Conway managed the club.

Unless players are desperate to leave we have far more chance of holding onto players now.
Couple that way of holding onto players - with a HC that understands the club - and we have some exciting seasons ahead of us.