Based on league position and which league division, that is difficult to dispute. The two periods are totally different though aren't they, Most of Dennis' tenure was pre Bosman, and pre Premier League. You could also suggest that Dennis took a fantastic platform to transform the club and its possible future and spectacularly blew it after we got relegated. as Lil says, both made mistakes, both tried their best. But I think most people are in agreement, that we hope the next phase of ownership heralds a better and more successful style of football than we've endured since January 2017.
John Dennis became chairman in 1989, Premiership started August 1992, Bosman ruling 1995. I don't think the Bosman ruling has really been to our disadvantage.
Pre Bosman we wouldn't have had to sell a player and could've held on and on. If you only take Watkins, Hourihane, Winnall and Scowen as recent examples (yes 2 were still under contract, but they were going to run their contracts down) and you can see how much more we've lost in fees. Also, the first few years of the premiership bear no resemblance to that of today. The additional money now is grotesque. But if Cryne is to "blame" for stagnating a club over a decade, you'd have to say on that same basis, dennis was the cause of the demise and missing the opportunity promotion to the PL gave. I think both did their best and would have admitted they could've done things better.
Possibly. I stand by everything I've posted on the matter, though. John Dennis and Patrick Cryne both have my highest respect and gratitude for their contributions to our club. I didn't agree with everything either did, but believe neither deliberately did anything to harm it. The buck stops with the man in charge when things go wrong and both gentlemen were honest enough to accept that responsibility, both being man enough to admit they made mistakes.
I agree with that. My displeasure with a lot of things Patrick Cryne did is quite well documented but I fully believe that almost every decision he made was made because he believed it was the right decision for the good of the club. I disagreed with him on many of those decisions but have no doubt that his intentions were honourable. If his intentions were dishonourable then I have to say he was a very incompetent thief
Exactly. It’s a tricky one this. We all appreciate and I would say love Patrick for the work he did in saving the club. But we all know, as Patrick often alluded to - he just didn’t have enough money to sustain Barnsley in the Championship - and as such he should have sold the club 2 to 3 years after buying it. Instead we have had to endure 10 years or more of stagnation. What we see now is a result of that stagnation. As for bringing young players in - then that is the right approach. However - bringing new players in does not mean selling a full team of young players and bringing another team in. Which has just happened. What it means is selling a couple and bringing a few in at a time - NOT a fire sale. Supporters should remember that - this squad - nearly a FULL squad - haven’t yet had a full season together.
More info. please. As the late former Chairman, Joe Richards once said, “Did he have any wool on his back”
Our current struggle at the minute can be directly attributed to the sale of Ashley ward in the January window.
Hi Kev, I think you should also factor in the changing face of football where managers are changed by public opinion in a way that didn’t happen when we were lads. Managers used to get years not months before they were really under pressure.
Simplistic that mate. The whole football landscape has changed. When we were relegated in 2002 there were clubs like Walsall Rotherham Grimsby Gillingham Stockport Crewe and the other clubs weren’t exactly funded by oil money, Chinese billionaires or ridiculous parachute failure money.
I don't know if he/Dennis knew that 99% of us as fans didn't want Steve Parkin as manager, but he went and hired him anyway. The Rochdale cowboy mk1.
Very few fans wanted Danny Wilson to take over from Viv Anderson, but thankfully Mr Dennis appointed him anyway.
They are all punts though I suppose (and no thats not rhyming slang or a euphamism lol), and even spanker Spackman looked a good appointment 'on paper' at first.
Yup. Which is why I said earlier in the thread both Mr Dennis and Mr Cryne didn't get everything right (no one in any walk of life does, ever). But, in my opinion, they always made the decisions what they believed to be in the best interest of Barnsley Football Club.
Yes thats probably fair, I wouldn't disagree with that. I also think though that the chairman or owner can take the credit for promotions, but he must also take the criticism for relegations & administrations.