How did we end up with a squad like this?

It's worth pondering, because the follow up question is what will next year's squad look like?

McBurnie has probably already done enough to ensure that his future will not lie at Oakwell beyond his loan period. And it has to be assumed that Andy Yiadom will renew his efforts to climb the ladder in the summer. Of the rest, I wouldn't be upset to see any of them go. Keiffer Moore is proven at League One level and could do a job, I suppose. But the rest just don't look good enough - even a division lower. So what happened in January?

Someone elsewhere has suggested that the targets were already identified under the old regime. But were there alternative 'what if' scenarios to cover the possible availability of more funds? You'd imagine that in any £10 million turnover business there ought to have been. If there were, it doesn't seem like much cash was fed in to allow us to get the odd M & S purchase, along with the Lidl ones. The biggest problem seems to me to be midfield, and no-one we've introduced since the departure of Hourihane and Scowen has come even close to filling their boots. And will the new owners be more inclined to 'invest' in League One? Will they even stay for that ride?

If you're generous, and allow that the manager must have knowledge, experience and ability to work with the big clubs he has, he still looks totally at sea operating in this league. Our players can't conform to his idea of how they should play. And he will be an even worse fit in League One.

I'm afraid there doesn't appear to be much 'soul' in the club at the moment. And any of the casual spectators who took advantage of the 'Friend for £5' promotion yesterday will laugh bitterly at talk of the 'matchday experience' (Lady Kaht included). The first and paramount requirement is to provide entertainment on the pitch. And that looks some way off right now. A season ticket for next season looks a poor investment at the moment.

 

McBurnie and Yiadom were absolute dog **** yesterday. Good luck to whoever takes Yiadom on, he's gone.

 

As I posted yesterday, the new owners will pay the price for the failure of the last ones.

Some will be happy to see them walk away and give it to James. Can get our “soul” back then...

 

Good post. It’s not like the old regime didn’t throw money at signings over the last couple of transfer windows

The money from player sales was gobbled up by debts and the rest reinvested in players with apparent resale value

I’m yet to see one player brought in who shows such promise. You could already see untapped talent in the likes of scowen and Mawson etc.

I believe we should’ve used the money more wisely and brought in more experienced pros to compliment the youth. It looks as though we’ve taken a massive gamble which hasn’t paid off

 

Just throwing this out there, it's a bit left field but my thoughts are that someone sold all our best players and replaced them with cheap punts of inferior quality, with no experience of playing at the level we are at.

 

Bradshaw and Moncur are certainly proven at L1 level. Cavare if he keeps his temper and McCarthy and certainly good enough for L1 as are Davies and Isgrove who were exceptional last time. Any of the centre halves are top 2/3. With investment in central midfield. We will smash L1.

Just because our Championship season is miserable doesn’t mean we should abandon perspective. Our current team is far better than Rotherham’s wars last season and they have done well.

Can’t disagree with a lack of soul though.

 

Past performance is not a guarantee of future performance. The players have won very few games and lost very many. It’s a hard habit to break. If we are relying on George then we are setting ourselves up for a fail I fear.

Where does this lack of soul thing come from? Cos we are no longer owned by a man nominally from Barnsley who hadn’t lived there for years? Should they hand the club back to a man-boy who has never lived there?

 

Id like to know what this means too......

 

It's a thing of sublety and nuance - so nowt for you two lads to worry about!

 

Really? I can quite well speculate what it means. But would like someone to have the balls to actually say it. Or actually explain their point of view. It doesn’t seem too much to ask especially when I’m responding to Jimmy Cricket who is one of the more lucid and coherent posters on here.

 

No. Wrong track altogether. Where I'm going is that I remain to be convinced that any of the current personnel are passionate or committed about the club. PC was, wherever he lived, although there are questions about the real legacy he left us with in the end (and yes, I know he saved the club). Hecky was committed - even if his magic had begun to fade a little. And the Hourihanes, Scowens and Hammills were committed - even if two of them moved on and one is now frozen out. The owners? Well I just don't know. I don't think January represented much of an investment in the team, to be honest, and I therefore wonder what they're about. Gauthier seems a decent bloke, but was Morais his idea? And will he turn out to be a careerist, like Ben M? I don't know - I'm just thinking aloud and telling you how the club feels, to me. The spirit that was around 18 months ago seems to have evaporated - even if our financial future appears more secure.

 

You are holding Paul Heckingbottom up as an example of commitment? Ok....

It seems to me you have made your mind up about the new owners much like your mentor, the dearly departed and sorely missed Red Rain.

They have spent about £10 million in buying *just* the club and and are investing in the much neglected infrastructure.

Virtually all the squad was signed under the old regime so not sure if their commitment or lack thereof can be blamed on the owners.

They are ALL careerists I’m afraid. Just like the Royston coward

 

Spot on .

 

My understanding is it was nearer £6.5M. They had the time and money to upgrade a struggling team after they came in. Bugger the infrastructure - we come to watch the team.

 

The time and the money? Maybe the money but the time? They took over on 17th of December. 14 days before the window opened, with no preparation done for it. Surely signing random players for lots of money would have been a daft idea and one that you’d have had no delay in pointing out.

It’s interesting how you pick and chose what is important to you. We have a decent stadium driven to the edge of disrepair down to downright neglect so they have to invest in the facilities.

I can imagine us taking one of your demanded big money signing around the facilities - oh you have an indoor training arena. Well yes, but we can’t use it cos the pitch is ******. Etc etc

Just face it - if they announced they were walking away at the end of the season and handing it back to the dynasty ( a lad with as little experience as the rest of em) you’d be in raptures.

 

Expand why you think no one at the club is committed to it anymore

 

If you listen back to Paul Heckingbottom's interviews in January he bemoans the lack of preparation that was done between Aug and Dec to prepare us for the Jan window.

But yes, it's all the new guys' fault.

 

Chuff me M'Lud- it was blatantly obvious that this is what you were thinking. My question is - what are you actually basing this on? Absolutely nothing. You are making the same mistake as your mentor and confusing your opinions for facts. Look where that got him.

Subtlety and nuances? Don't know whether to shake my head or laugh.

 

Cause they're foreign.

 

I explained my thoughts yesterday as you well know . I can't be arsed going over the same ground.