Am I right in remembering that a few years ago James was given some dogs abuse for how Patrick was seen to be running the club? Also did he not say he was not interested in taking on any responsibility at the club? Please correct me if I'm wrong. I'm wondering how this might have affected the way he handles affairs or how he is treated by the others. I really do hope he has the interests of BFC at heart cos if there are any lingering doubts in his mind and he doesn't really care then we might lose the last remaining links with our past as everything gets passed over to the wheelers and dealers we have now. What exactly do we know about the Crynes?
It is Patrick I feel sorry for. He sold the club to them in good faith and will have done many checks on them to make sure they were worthy of our club. But whatever proof of funds and the rest they showed him to show they were good for us hasn't worked out.
Unfortunately with him being a minor share holder he can be over ridden/ignored by the others and he won’t be able to stop them doing anything they want as he could always be out voted.
What are new owners doing differently? Both sold all best players for profit. These bring youth in when PC just brought young loans in. PC got rid of robins when he wouldn't tow the company line just like stendal now. Nothing had changed in my eyes. Football just keeps rolling.
rather crassly you ask what do we know about the Crynes? I know they saved our club and I have great respect for Jean and James Cryne.
I'm not trying to be crass at all. It's just thoughts I have as I try to work out what involvement they have in the club now. I don't know anything about them whereas we all thought we knew a bit about Patrick, and we were probably all wide of the mark there. I want somebody at the club who, like us supporters, will give their heart and soul for the club. That's all.
There are some significant differences. You might disagree with how Patrick handled things but he was at heart a fan and tried to do his best for the club. At the time Robins was asked to cut back PC was due to face trial and could easily have been sent down so he was trying to ensure the club could keep going if that happened To me it seemed Patrick was trying to make the club succeed but recognised he had to sell some players - like all lower league clubs do - no doubt he got it wrong when we lost too many players the January after we were promoted - but really it was wrong in the previous summer when we didnt offer contract extensions. The new regime seem to have a different emphasis of making money from players as a higher priority than taking the club up the league - their refusal to put in any experience because there is no revenue in it is significantly different to the previous policy and doesnt work at this level - that is clear to anyone with any interest in the club progressing.
James Cryne does not have any real voice, he and his mum do not own enough of the club to make any real change. From what I understood at the time of the take over was that they will retain an interest in the club and they would be able to step in if anything went drastically wrong. The new owners liked what James had put together regarding analysis and the number crunching and (I think more of a sweetener to the deal) the consortium suggested that JC should remain inside the club and continue his role even after his father handed over the keys. Billy Beane thought JCs work was outstanding and mirrored that of his own success at Oakland.
Regarding the abuse. It was on the train back from Crawley. Patrick said he was distraught. ( James that is) and at that time James thought seriously about being involved in the running of the club. I said hopefully a few morons on a train would not influence him. Not everybody has thick skins.
Well they are selling players with 2 years left on contracts just to make a profit, they wont bring any loan players in because it wont make us a profit, they wont bring in any older players. Its solely about profit for them. Knock patrick all you want but he would always be open and didnt hide when results were poor, and he would of never got rid of a manager like they did. I said a few weeks back I'd have patrick back in a heartbeat if it was possible.
When the new owners realise that their ideology doesn't work and they want out that will leave the 20% shareholder in an unenviable position.
How long did butterfield, bree, hammill, stones and holgate have left on their contracts??? How many of the loans turned into permanent signings to benfit the club in the long run??? And he put robins on gardening leave and got shut because he wouldnt stump up for Trippier when robins was trying to push us forward. Like i said nothing has changed.....
Bree and holgate had 6 months not sure about the others. But holgate,bree,Butterfield and stones came through the accademy that cryne subsidised out of his own money each year.
Butterfield & Holgate were out of contract (we received a transfer fee for both because of their age), Bree had 6 months left, Hammill had a buy out clause in his contract.
PC paid for academy out of his own pocket every year? Who knew. Ud have thought it was included in general running costs and taken out of season ticket, player sales, merchandise sales and sponsorships like other clubs. I guess the whole point of the academy was to sell all players off asap then if you are paying for it out of your own pocket.
He paid part to it so we kept the grade status it has/has, as the 9k season ticket holders and free kids weren't generating that much he bought mawson,conor and winnall out of his own money.