Fan meeting at Oakwell tonight...

Patrick Cryne wrote to those of us who hadn't renewed our season tickets and also invited us to a meeting with himself, Ben and Lee at Oakwell. That meeting took place at 7pm tonight. I arrived expecting to be in a crowd of perhaps 30-40 ex-season ticket holders and to be given a hard sell about why I should renew. I was in for a shock. There were 4 of us. Yes, just 4. They were expecting about 15 but only 4 of us turned up. The meeting still went ahead, with the 4 of us sat round a table in the Executive Suite with Patrick, Ben, Lee and Linton (the marketing guy?)

We were asked to outline the reasons why we hadn't renewed as they wanted to know if there was anything more the club could do to persuade more people to buy season tickets. They were genuine, interested in what we had to say and listened. Ben, Patrick and Lee all spoke at length about the club and what they were doing in order to bring success on the field. I was impressed, very impressed. Patrick clearly feels very passionately about the club and is desperate to achieve success for the club and the town. Lee outlined his vision in terms of recruitment and the kind of football he wants the team to play.

Many issues were discussed from John Stones, to Danny Wilson and the current squad. There were several great anecdotes about the signing of players and some of Lee's training methods and motivational techniques. After tonight I believe Lee Johnson is a terrific appointment and if given the time will bring success. He shows great insight, not only in footballing terms, but also in terms of players' characters. He said the squad is about 80% towards what he wants and it may take 3 transfer windows until it's 100%, but they are still looking to add a few more faces before the start of the season. They clearly won't pay over the odds and have clearly been able to persuade players to come to Barnsley who could have got more money elsewhere. I can see why, Lee Johnson goes to great lengths to demonstrate how he feels he can improve a player.

There is clearly a very good relationship between Lee, Patrick and Ben and they present a very united team. Patrick clearly thinks a lot of Lee and will hopefully give him the time he needs. The meeting lasted over two hours. How many organisations would go to such lengths to get to know the feelings of such a small percentage of their 'customers'? I came away feeling very reassured that the people in charge of the club I love will do their utmost to achieve success. I felt valued as a supporter and I will be going to Oakwell tomorrow to renew my season ticket.

 

Great post. Credit to the club for pressing ahead with the meeting despite the poor turnout.

 

When they clearly care and go to the trouble of speaking to fans personally its a shame that more didn't turn up. It's good to hear that they've changed your mind and that you'll be renewing as a direct result of tonight. I hope the other three also renew.

 

Impressed that the club have had the nous to do something like this.

 

Great stuff!

 

Very good post, what's happening with Holgate and any inside info on Stones?

 

I'm disappointed especially those who were meant to go didn't show up.

 

Perhaps could have been opened to everyone without a ticket on the database but perhaps difficult to gauge numbers

 

That's a terrific post Woodbine and a very thought provoking one from a fans point of view.

 

I don't understand half the criticism that Ben and Patrick receive, because it's pretty clear to me that everything they do, they're doing it in the best interest of this club. I can understand why some of those actions will have critics but they're doing a job at the end of the day.

As pointed out already, what other organisation would have its 4 most influential people, meet with 4 customers to establish what more they can do.

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Fantastic post mate, I've said the same regarding the criticism they receive, I've met Ben on a few occasions and he always comes across as a smashing bloke, funnily enough I went down yesterday a got myself a season ticket.

 

Credit where its due to the club for such high profile people taking the time out to do such a thing.

Such a pity the fans didn't make the effort to take up the offer, especially those who said that they were going to.

 

There are a very small vocal minority who choose to use this message board and others to moan about everything the club does or tries to do. The vast majority can see what the club means to the owner and can see how hard the staff work towards the betterment of BFC.

Its right there should be constructive criticism via the correct means however, the club are not above that, but some of the bile and rubbish that gets said is out of order.

 

Lee said they needed a decision from Man Utd on Holgate and Digby soon, as they needed to integrate them into the squad for the last two friendlies in preparation for the start of the season if they were staying. He really rates Digby, but said injuries had robbed him of two years worth of development. He talked about what he'd been doing over the summer to improve the speed of his footwork and described the lengths Digby had gone to in order to improve. He said there was a massive difference in the speed of the game played at England junior level and that played in league one.

All of them said Holgate was a great lad, but was perhaps being badly advised. There was no animosity towards him at all and they fully appreciated the desire to better himself and get a bigger deal from a bigger club. They rightly said it would be counter productive to give in to his wage demands as the next Academy star, Templeton for example, would just come along and demand the same. They said Smith and Bree signed straight away. Roberts went against the advice of his agent as he was so keen to work with Lee and play for Barnsley. They were very impressed with Mawson too who had better offers elsewhere.

 

Just out of interest, what were your reasons for choosing not to renew?

 

I thought the quality of football/entertainment on offer last season was utterly dire. I've heard all the promises of building a better squad etc before and was going to wait and see, with the possibility of buying a half season ticket at Christmas. Getting relegated to League One meant a definite reduction in quality and yet the price didn't come down and I was not impressed in terms of value for money. No guarantees this season of course, but after last night I feel more confident that we'll be challenging up around the top six...

 

Good to hear

 

This with knobs and bells on