[Official Site] The Oakwell Hall Of Fame Initial Inductees

Yeah its a real shame that the man responsible for our only premiership season, making us a comfortable championship side, our academy and all seater stadium has been overlooked.

I would say the first line up is possibly too strong. It will be like the WWE Hall of fame where guys like Hogan, Austin etc got inducted so quickly that recent years have been weaker as they are too few big names currently able to still be put in.

 

It’s a b’stard reading through some of those profiles. Kicks off my hay fever again. Either that or someone’s peeling onions.

 

My opinion, is that certain administrators of our club DO justify being selected for the Oakwell Hall Of Fame.
Rev. Preedy-For starting our beloved club;
Ernest Dennis-For saving the club in 1966. Within two years we'd been promoted. Ten years later, he appointed Allan Clarke as player/manager thus changing our club forever and for the better;
John Dennis-For steering our club into the Premier League for the first, and so far only, time. He was in charge when we made our first visit to Wembley;
Patrick Cryne-For saving the club in October 2003 when the Sterling Consortium insisted on being paid their dues otherwise they claimed they would liquidate us and close us down. No one else was willing or able to save us at the time time. Patrick was and did. He continued to make monies available to help keep the club running for years afterwards.
Hopefully, Ernest & John will take their rightful place in the Hall Of Fame sometime in the near future.

 

I can't help but feel that this list is HEAVILY biased by people's recent sentiments. I wonder who the shortlisting panel are (sorry if it actually says)

How can Patrick cryne be inducted because he 'saved the club' but Peter Doyle who actually saved us from the gates being slammed shut isn't inducted?

If it isn't simply that he saved us and is because of how he ran us then what about the Dennis's?

I simply see absolutely no logic for Patrick's inclusion whilst the others are omitted other than a significant bias for whatever reason and that isn't how a hall of fame should work. It cheapen everybody's inclusion as doubt starts to form over whether it is on merit or not.

 

Agreed it's probably due to the Cryne family still involved. As a fellow fan of sports entertainment it would be like Vince Mcmahon inducting himself or his kids into the WWE HOF. For this reason he's even held off putting in his own son in law yet, even though Triple H is really deserving as one of the best ever, especially of his generation.

 

I stand by everything I've posted.

 

But you haven't said anything that contradicts what I said anyway. The only difference is that I specifically mentioned that the exclusion of the others who you feel should be included is wrong

 

Why did Patrick have to pay a penny to the Sterling Consortium? When did we actually exit Administration?

 

Because when Peter Doyle saved us from absolute extinction he did so via the only means he could. By mortgaging the land to give us a stay of execution.

Didn't we technically exit Administration under Peter Ridsdale?

 

So why didn't he pay off the Sterling Consortium? Why did Patrick have to do it? Was Peter Ridsdale above Patrick Cryne with regards to the ownership and therefore responsible for clearing any debts, or was he running the club on behalf of Patrick? What debts did anyone, other than Patrick, pay off to avoid the liquidation threatened by the Sterling Consortium?

 

Peter Ridsdale was announced as owner wasn't he? I'm sure that's the story we were led to believe.

If personal wealth is the measure of a man's greatness then it says a great deal about society. Many many fans gave up a lot of their time and spent a LOT of their money trying their best to save Barnsley fc out of pure love, money that meant great sacrifice to themselves. I am not saying anything bad about Patrick at all, I don't see why you have taken anything I said as an attack on him. I am simply saying that his automatic inclusion whilst others haven't even made the short list shows a bias which IMO cheapen the entire thing.

 

Peter Ridsdale was appointed chairman.
I totally agree with your second point with regards to wealth. In fact, perhaps showing my Catholic upbringing, it reminded me of the story of the widow's two mites.
But Patrick had to swiftly pay off Sterling Consortium when no one else could, or would. Their infamous quote was along the lines of "Of course we'll close the club down if we don't get our money. It's nothing personal, just business". Chesterfield fans warned us what they were like after what had happened at their club a short while earlier, when a bloke called Brown initially claimed he'd saved them.

 

I always thought that Peter Ridsdale was running the club on behalf of Patrick Cryne, who didn't feel he had the experience.

 

PC didn’t have to pay anything to the Sterling Group neither did Barnsley Council who were equal partners in settling the debt .

 

Really? How was the debt paid off?

 

Not questioning you, I haven't any information to question you with, just wondering if you could expand on that as genuinely interested?

 

Ridsdale was originally sole owner of the club. When it was needed Patrick cryne bought a share of the club and then Ridsdale left when his ownership share would have fallen below 50%

 

First I've heard of that.

 

It was public knowledge at the time. Give me a minute i'll check

 

What I meant was both PC and BMBC paid the debt off , Peter Doyle split the assets/ ground from the club , I’m assuming PC bought the club from PD . The company that owns the ground and land is still jointly owned by BMBC and the Crynes