As we are made aware the spread sheet was effectively constructed and works well in the division below the one we currently occupy... it wasnt designed for the rigours of championship football as there was no exit or sustainability built into it's implications. .. it did however provide the club with an exceptional return on money invested. That said does anyone think that the present owners are more than happy to operate in the lower leagues and take relegation as a means to be able to return to where the least money spent gives a large return on their investments ...finding hidden jems and then following suit like patrick thus selling players at a profit Whilst that model is good for business it's not good for the moral of fans nor does it inspire you to think they have any other ambitions other than to line their own pockets and let the club tread water so to speak........ over to you lets see if we can have a decent debate with out it turning in to a slanging match ...each to their own oppinion
I think people with the investment resources and opportunities that are available to New City Capital could make a more consistent guaranteed (probably higher) rate of return on their capital than subjecting it to the vagaries of the football transfer market in England.
The question I have, is when did this algorithm get brought into actual being and become part of our approach? Was it pre Danny, under Danny, under little lee? Our biggest selling successes were Stones' sell on fee, Mawson, Hourihane, Bree and a modest amount for Winnall. We then had Roberts go the start of this season. Two of those players came through our ranks, Hourihane and Winnall were brought in under Danny and only Mawson and Roberts after... though they were on the radar the season before. is it that our most lucrative (its all relative) sales were from more typical methods of recruitment or our academy? Has the formulaic algorithmic approach actually been a success financially? Or has it been a categorical failure, masked by the good players highlighted before its actual adoption?
Sadly, I believe that as a club we will always sell our best players regardless of whether they were identified by a spreadsheet, by developing them from school through the academy or even by whistling down a pit shaft. It's what we do. Unless something changes with football finances, good players (and, for that matter, managers) will always see Barnsley as a stepping stone. Another club will always offer them more money, and they'll take it, like you or I would. Even if our owners dip into their pockets and buy a team of star players, it won't last. It's demoralising to think but that's the way football is. Hope I'm wrong but I can't see any other way.
Conor and Sam were also highlighted by the spreadsheet which came into place after our last relegation. Wilson was allowed to bring in some of his own more experienced players though.
I'd be interested to hear the official line from the club at some stage. And i'd be very interested to understand how it identifies/d players others don't pick up on. We simply outmuscled financially players who were the best at their respective clubs when we were in division 1. Once promoted, and as that statistics and packages became more common, we lost any competitive advantage. I think as fans, we saw the names coming in and we could see they were the best at their clubs, that they'd achieved. I'm not sure that's as much the case now. Maybe formulas were tweaked to try and make it work somewhat with the financial limitations we placed on ourselves. It may have worked to some degree (though I'd argue Mawson, Hourihane, Winnall and Scowen would and should have been picked up by simple scouting), but it hasn't worked since.
Winnall wasn’t a spreadsheet signing. My mate scouted him for Danny while Danny was Manager at Bumhole Lane. He tried to sign him then and recommended that we sign him as soon as we got relegated. My mate did some further scouting as a favour to Danny during the season we got relegated.
The new owners are restrained by fair play rules - or certainly that can be used as a reason why money is not being spent in the future - however, much has been made of the owners collective admiration of our youth policy. The biggest signal for me that they are here for the long game is if we upgrade our academy to tier 1 - which is money we can spend, and also on general ground improvements and other facilities.
In March 2015 Patrick said that the spreadsheet identified Hourihane, Scowen, O'Sullivan, Ryan Williams and Winnall
I agree...the ideal is more suited to league 1.....you simply cant apply the same physics to the championship...its a massive ask to get 10 lower league players up against (in many cases) x premier players. Cant remember who stated it (may have been Hecky!) but the comment was "everyone else is trying to build a team and we are trying to sell one"...i dont like this at all but kind of accept it.....purely through the love i have for my club.
