Could this sudden reversal of a stated plan and the flash sale be for a reason

Daft bugger!
I'm as sad as anyone that Winnall has gone and Hourihane might go before a week on Tuesday.
It seems to be my lot as a Barnsley fan to really enjoy watching certain players whilst they're here, then wallowing in self pity when they get sold. Winnall is the latest in a long line eg. Stewart Barrowclough, Pat Howard, Eric Winstanley, David Booth, Mick Butler, Bobby Doyle, Anton Otulakowski, Martin Gorry, Mick Pickering, Ron Wigg, Alistair Millar, Mike Lester, Neil Cooper, Ray McHale, Ian Evans, Trevor Aylott, Ian Banks, Derrick Parker, Alan Birch, Gary Pierce, Stewart Barrowclough (again), Mick McCarthy, Ronnie Glavin, David Geddis, David Hirst, Gordon Owen, Ian Walsh, Larry May, Stuart Gray, John Beresford, David Currie, Paul Futcher, Carl Tiler, Steve Agnew, Gerry Taggart, Neil Redfearn, Arjan De Zeeuw, Ashley Ward, Craig Hignett, Bruce Dyer, Steve McPhail, Brian Howard, Heinz Muller, Paddy McCourt, Bobby Hassell and I'm sure a lot, lot more.
If it's any help, I can't remember my mobile number, either!

 

Now who's the daft bugger lol.

But saying that you never ring yourself.

Sod it. Bar is calling

 

All my mates know what I'm like, so if they want to get in touch with me, they do it via Crystal's 'phone!

 

Ron Wigg?

I remember someone trying to urge Wigg to show for a throw-in. 'ere Wigg he shouts. His mate went earwig, cue a widespread outbreak of mirth. He didn't seem to play much after that.

 

When we sold him to Scunny in the Autumn of 1977, he was our top scorer and playing exceptionally well. It gave me another reason to intensely dislike Jim Iley at the time.

 

You are absolutely right.

I'm saying all that, it's an absolute definition of emotional behaviour over logical behaviour. Logic says we (along with many other clubs) are a waste of time. Our emotions say other wise.

 

Chuff me there's some reight drama queens. Barnsley gave been a selling club pretty much since transfer fees were invented. I can't see it ending anytime soon.

 

Can someone confirm what was said,

"we don't have to sell "

Or

"We will not be selling anyone"

 

Lots of good stuff in these posts. But IMHO it's a more complex decision than that. As you rightly point out it is about budgeted gate receipts. My issue is if we sell Hourihane as we have Winnall and we (potentially) collapse to the end of the season then what impact does that have on season ticket sales as the current elation at Oakwell deflates? And if we're perceived to be a club on a downward trend then how does that impact on the quality of player we can recruit next year, and how players act in future in the last year of their contracts?

I'm not saying that means not selling is the right decision, and Winnall may have left us with little choice, but I don't think it's a straightforward choice, and it is incredibly difficult to put a value on the point where it becomes a good deal for the club.

 

There are bound to be judgement calls in any business, times when individual decision makers differ because the call is so close. Times when you are not sure what will happen if you do x or y or z. But I do not think that this is one of those. I think that Winnall and Hourihane were definitely going to walk away at the end of the season. It then becomes a case of keeping them and hoping for promotion, or selling them now and beginning the rebuilding when there is a 14 point gap between our present position and a relegation place. Taking emotion out of it, what would you do?

 

Good morning milord. How confident are you about that 14 point gap? We know what can happen when a losing run starts - just ask Mr L. Johnson, formerly of this parish! Can you give me a percentage chance assessment of our being relegated, assuming Conor to have gone?

 

I'd hold on, guarantee safety, give us time to look for replacements. It would give the new players all pre season to get used to the surroundings, coaching etc. I think that a better option than panic buys thrown straight in at the deep end mid season.

 

Plain fact is, this 'draft' of players has paid for itself (Mawson, Winnall money + promotion). Relegation costs us £5M. That must be true, because Ben told us. I'd have made Hourihane stay, but compensated him for the lost wage opportunity till the end of the season to guarantee we stay up. We know he'd be off in the Summer, but that would give us time to rebuild. We don't (currently) need the money.

 

Good morning Lord Khat, I trust you and your good lady are on form this morning.

Your question is not an easy one. On the face of it, we need between 12 and 17 points and we have 20 games to get them, a maximum of 60 points available. We therefore need between 1 in 5 and 1 in 3+. On the face of things, this might not seem a difficult target, but Conor and Sam have been important players and the removal of important players is always fraught with problems. It all depends on their replacements. We have had plenty of notice that they would be going, so there is reason to believe that we have had plenty of time to prepare for their departure. However, we tend to leave our transfer dealing until late in windows so that the pressure on a selling club whose need is for finance is at its greatest, and therefore when bargains are to be had. Of course, there are also plenty of our fans who also find this pressure hard on the nerves. Until we see the quantity and quality of the replacements, it is hard to be definitive about our chances. In your game it is like assessing the winner of a horse race without knowing if the horse will have a decent jockey, or just some passing overweight punter aboard.

In the end, we must place our faith in the manager/coach and the people who are running the club. It is after all their judgement call, and we are all just interested spectators in the outcome.

 

I am not sure that you are allowed to pay players over and above their contracted terms unless they sign a new contract. But let us set that to one side for a moment.

Let us assume that the club has accepted Villa's fee etc, and let us assume that Conor has gone to Villa, has looked around the club, has had discussions with the manager, has been sold on the new club and has agreed the deal and a 3 year contract. He comes back to Barnsley and we say, look we are prepared to match Villa, but only until the end of the season. What is the likelihood of him saying, great that is just what I wanted, bring me the contract, where do I sign?

 

We are not just interested spectators, without the supporters the club is nothing. Not a great approach to sell your top players for peanuts regardless.

 

Are we in a poor state financially? We may have been a few seasons ago, but surely not now?

Compared to other clubs in this league definitely poor, but as a business we must surely be more than holding our own?

Sent from my SM-G850F using Tapatalk

 

You can bring emotion into the discussion if you like, but in the end, the facts are as I have described them. There are two players who will walk away for nothing in June unless we take back control. We can sit on our hands and do nothing, or we can sell them and reinvest the £2m in the next potential big things, whose wages we can afford. That is the decision facing our club's directors, plain and simple.

 

I would have kept them both. Winnall would have got the monk on for a few games and then realised it's in his own best interest to be playing. Read the Chronicle and it's pretty clear PH is not happy. There's lots of talk about "strategy" in these parts, but what's happened over the last two weeks has been reactive with football agents calling the shots. For Barnsley there will always be a balance between retaining players and selling them. Because the club's communication with the fans at the moment is poor many of us think that balance is not being struck, especially given the league position we found ourselves in. Take out Winnall's goals, Hourihane's assists and possibly even Roberts defensive qualities from the team and we will slide down the table. It's inevitable and Hecky knows it. Once that losing habit has set in it's really difficult to stop.

 

The decision has nothing to do with our current financial state. All our current cash low position does is remove an additional pressure on the decision making process. The decision can therefore be made purely with regard to the question, what is the right thing to do. Should we bet £2m on the next 20 games in the hope of getting promoted, or would it be better to take the money and reinvest it in potentially the next big thing.