I genuinely have some worries about the future viability and competitiveness of our club right now. While I don't think we will fold or disappear we are slowly being pulled towards the bottom end of the football ladder. My concerns are based on:- - We haven't invested in the infrastructure of the ground. I know scoreboard is always a talking point but we look at this and floodlights, stands, seating etc. We have seen Donnie, Chesterfield and Rotherham invest. - we have declared our reliance on selling players governs our future ability to sign players. - the youth policy is severely out of sync and balance with the demands of British football at this level. - we are reliant on one person to fund and own our club. - we have a weak ( in numbers, experience and differentiated viewpoints) board to steer and guide the running and strategy of the club. - we have a poor track record of appointing managers. - we haven't attracted a major A list sponsor although the local sponsors have done a great job backing us, is this enough. - the club owns no assets - the catchment area and footfall don't attract new owners - we have a diminishing, aging fan base who are becoming divided on the board, the manager, and the commitment of paying to watch. - many fans don't understand the club strategy, direction and business plan. The latest fan forums and feedback prove it. I'm sure someone will (hopefully) offer some positive counters and a few will resort to "we are crap sack them all" detailed input. But I think we need to reinvent ourselves. We are stuck in the past always looking backwards for a saviour to our future, a la Wilson, Hassel etc. We were adamant we don't change the badge but the brand needs revitalising. We need to improve our profile, attract a younger fan base and improve the game day experience. Some of these we have been promised in part but seen no real progress. There's a theory in business called strategic drift. It's where you are overtaken by others due to not making progress and apathy in running your own business while your 'competitors' continuously improve and change. We don't like change but it fuels survival and success. We have seen others doing better that we would have called tin pot a few years ago. Someone said Football is differ not to a business, it isn't. All businesses have different models I.e. NHS vs Amazon. Football has its own model. It starts with us though. Are we ready to accept change?
I don't think we need to change a 'brand' we just need to put more effort in and try to improve the club not just allow it to exist. What stadium improvements have we seen since PC took over ownership? Other than badly installing a few 42 inch TV's (with even the running of that outsourced I believe) I can't think of any. We were promised a new scoreboard and that didn't happen, promised solar panels, didn't happen. Promised new concourse signage and all I've seen is some pukka pies advertising boards go up and sign that went up (and has now gone) above the refreshment stand which on the day it was installed had an out of date badge on it. The stadium is decaying from lack of maintenance. The 'welcome to the east stand' sign is utterly embarrassing. We need someone running the club who doesn't just care but is SEEN to be trying to improve things and that is something we are missing. We also need a hell of a lot of clarity because for one reason or another we are in a position where a lot of fans do not believe a word that comes out of the mouth of those running the club and that is a very sad thing indeed. I think it has gone so far down that path that the only way back is a change of ownership.
Excellent post icer. That is exactly where we are. Mr Cryne may have done well in his own business, but with all due respect to him his period as owner of BFC has seen a steady decline in our fortunes. I suspect there is a greater elasticity of demand amongst the younger supporters, and the club needs to think about this seriously.
With the greatest respect to all concerned, you should be asking those questions of the ownership and board, not the fans.
All well and good but just who in their right mind would want to buy a football club that is dying on its arse and possesses no material assets whatsoever? We all know the answer to that and that is why we're where we are right now.
I would have thought it fairly obvious that a deal would have to involve Mr Cryne's share of the ground and land - even if it is held seperately to the corporate entity that owns the club. Ideally, it would also involve BMBC's share as well. Given the current financial strictures on local authorities, they might even be glad to sell on if they were happy as to the future intentions of the new owner(s). All that is possible if there is a willingness to arrange it. If not then we are mired in stagnation city for all eternity (or until the land is sold to developers).
UFC PPV HTH Exactly, that's why I said the brand needs revitalizing and we need to increase the profile. Brand is our only asset right now, but we aren't exploiting it, it is dated and its identity has fallen over the years. Very true. Younger fans have greater choices and we haven't quite captured a strong younger fan base right now I would but wasn't invited to last nights debates. Whoever does get invited though are welcome to take my points and position them to the clubs officials. However the are 'we' prepared for change is a valid question to the fans. Remember by change I mean progression from where we are, development, continuous improvement, not a 180deg reverse.
I think the fans first and foremost would like to see progress on the pitch. Then progress in terms of a pricing policy that brings matchdays into easy financial reach for all age groups and attendance patterns Those 2 then lead to improvements in infrastructure etc I cannot recall other than Simon Davey any strong calls in the media or at games from fans to sack any recent manager and to hit the reset button. In my opinion that is all the fault of the board.
A very reasoned post Icer and I agree with almost all of what you say. The simple adage 'If you keep doing the same things, you'll keep getting the same results' is a compelling argument for change at our club. I have to confess though I am not sure how significant change at BFC can be achieved. The reality is change in direction costs a great deal of money. A good example is in the news today with Standard Chartered Bank's announcement of 15000 job losses. This is only possible by a Rights Issue of £billions to fund it. It is clear there is no money at the club to fund any new strategy. As you say there are no fixed assets so borrowing is out of the question. It seems that main thrust of our strategy amounts to little more than a hit or hope plan, which is probably the same for most clubs below say the top 30. That approach appears to be: 1) Change the manager until such time as we drop on one who can somehow produce some Wilsonesque type magic of 96/97 2) Recruit talented youngsters from just about anywhere and hope (pray) that one or two will come good and we can make a profit. 3) Sustain a level 2 Academy and hope (pray) as in 2) above. The reality is that after 10 years of struggle and decline the plan is not working, with the obvious exception of John Stones, who is in my opinion entirely a one off. Very, very few clubs at our level will ever produce an England international. The return on capital from the Academy has been very poor, especially the fall out on 1st year professionals over the past 10 years. I once heard one U21 coach memorably shout at Brad Abbott during a game 'Cross the ball even if there is no-one in the box'. Maybe there is a question mark over the coaching staff. After all the U18s & U21s have only managed one win between them this season..... I'm involved with a local club who run 3 U9s teams. In the past 6 months, 6 of our players have been picked up by Academies - 2 for Rotherham, 2 for Sheffield Utd. 1 for Chesterfield and only 1 for Barnsley. We have 3 or 4 more who will be picked up this season but I'm not confident they will end up at Oakwell. This s all telling me that this critical part of our business is not working any better than the first team. I don't like posting critism without at least an idea on how the problems could be solved. So here goes... How about the club instigating the formation of a voluntary Think Tank or Consultancy (call it what you will) where they invite fans who have run successful businesses or held senior posts in the corporate business world or work in the professional world (e.g. Law, Acountancy etc.), to form a group to independently conduct a review of the business of BFC and make recommendations on a Strategic Plan for moving forward. I am sure that a suitably qualified group could be formed from the fan base, who are sufficiently passion to want to offer their services for free on a volunteer basis. Obviously Confidentially Agreements would have to be put in place etc. That group could examine all pats of the current operation - finance, administration, risk, investment, communication, marketing, PR, sales, recruitment, the Academy and so on. This is an approach any failing business would take exception in the instance there would be no consultancy fees, bringing greater financial pressure. Probably a nonstarter but, as you say, something's got to change.
Thats a great idea. I think there could be a few things the club could do to make the first few steps. Free kids tickets, get a section for free kids and make the atmosphere better and get kids interested is another simple idea. Who handles the marketing of the club. I have seen some fantastic results of organisations including sports clubs improve their profile and attractiveness through good PR, Marcoms & Marketing. There are already some good things led by the supporters community, WSB, Football Report (radio) Barnsley to name a couple. The community can help the club more if the club allows it. The latter sentence is the real question though.
Absolutely agree man. I have come the conclusion, probably through my own professional experience, that the only way forward without a massive injection of cash is a collaborative approach. However you can't treat a patient unless they admit they have a problem......
