Devil and deep blue sea. Do well, lots of much more attractive clubs come sniffing and we end up starting from scratch. Do crap, we can't get rid of the buggers unless we have to pay them off.
Do well, teams are interested in your players and you tell clubs to **** off as you won't dismantle your chances of promotion halfway through the season for the second time in quick succession.
Refuse to sell players at any price.... players don't join you in the first place, they choose somewhere else that can be a stepping stone. And we're only an end destination if players can't get better offers higher up. Its all in the balance and transition. Let a few go and continually replace... but we cant control players having their heads turned and others above us looking down and devouring our players. What we have to do better than before is change from flood to trickle, and get very good value at the time of disposal like we did Bradshaw.
That's very true, but at some point, this Board surely must reverse the traditional policy of selling our best assets, if as they originally claimed , they want to get to the Premiership and they want to maintain and/or increase our fan base.? During the solitary season we were in the Premiership, I know a number of people who supported other Clubs, who bought a Barnsley Season ticket because they preferred to watch top flight football. A return to the Prem would no doubt bring back loads of lapsed supporters and the ground would probably be full for every home game , plus our owners would benefit from the " spin offs." Although we didn't survive , for me, that was a stand out season, where we got to see some of the finest players in the World at that time, down at Oakwell. Well placed for a realistic tilt at promotion in 2017, the ensuing January " fire sale" knocked the stuffing out of a lot of us and the fear now, is if this Board who came in and initially gave many of us a feeling of hope and optimism , repeat the folly of 2017, our loyal fan base would question their motives in why they are renaging on their original "mission statement" and some could become disaffected and start staying away, with a feeling that they are again being taken for granted. It's about time they looked after "their own" and attempted to progress our Club as far as they can.
I'm not sure there has been enough comment from our owners for us to glean what their intentions are. "Nothing crazy" was as elaborate as it got.
In their inaugural presser, Paul Conway said that extra resources would be given to enable James ( Cryne) to improve the squad which at that point was in the Championship. In his address, Chien Lee said , one aim would be to take the Club to the next level i.e the Premiership. If we were to be ultra critical, we could say that whilst being originally full of good intentions, they haven't as yet, really " delivered". The one redeeming feature is, if as they say, they are here for the long term, they have got the time. ! You could also argue that by being involved at OGC Nice, they have divided loyalties and could be using us to generate income to support their efforts " elsewhere", because it looks as though they are loathe to invest the " wealth" they collectively have, to get us to where Mr Lee said he wanted us to go. I hope that is not the case, but if it is, the loyalty of quite a number of fans could well be tested.
Anyone can argue anything at all... because to date, they haven't communicated a plan or intent of what they want to do and why they bought us. A few would like to haves, but no strategy or outline of their ambitions. Maybe if we get promoted, they will... but to date nothing of any note.
Do we to assume then, that their original plans outlined at their first ever Press Conference were just empty rhetoric.? Without labouring the point, they said they would be prepared to invest in the squad to hopefully take us to the next level. After Hecky walked, they appointed an inept Coach who unfortunately saw us relegated. Granted, they have brought in Moore, Dougall and Woodrow and two wingers from the lower divisions but have carried on with the previous policy of flogging our higher profile players re- Bradshaw and Potts. For one, as previously indicated, I would be seriously dischuffed if Pinnock was sold, just when it looks as though we have a good chance of promotion. I'm keeping my fingers crossed it turns out to be fake news.
The only guide i've heard was from a more recent Conway interview where he said he wanted us to be established in the championship. "next level" is subjective and can mean anything. That's far from a strategic plan. And the ambitions for an owner of a business, don't always have to correlate with the ambitions and hopes of a fan or customer base. My view (subjective) was that they wanted us back in the championship to then be able to unfurl their actual plans which they may then share... but if (and it still is if) we lose our assistant coach and best centre half after the sales of Potts and Moncur... when that just makes no sense in my mind with the obvious uplift in revenue from promotion.
