Reality Check

Not sure how much needs to be spent to make the northern end of the West Stand fit for habitation again but when we are having to restrict the allocation to visitors it's losing much needed revenue which would go some way to addressing some of the finance issues at the Club. I organised a family together recently and we used the Executive suite at Oakwell and that's also in need of a makeover. I still believe that, given the way that the Board is structured, the Club most needs a Chief Executive and a Stadium manager. Instead we seem to be in a period of managed decline, when we are economising on care and maintenance in a bid to keep costs down. From my perch high up in the East Stand I can see that seats are being taken out over in that part of the West Stand, I can only assume in order to make do and mend elsewhere in the Stadium.

 

I do not have a skin that is thick enough to go anywhere near Barnsley FC, but I do enjoy my visits and I would hate to see it ever closed down.

 

The bank took the action it took because the club had no hope of recovery. You believe what you like, but banks do not go around putting perfectly good businesses into Administration. They do so because the management has failed to manage the business effectively and Administration is their only option.

 

On which note we are 2 wins from 11 since Conor's departure.

 

The problem is that the club has been losing money for years, and their only recourse was to Patrick Cryne. He funded the losses, but quite rightly, he did not fund repairs to an area of seating that was not being used, which the club did not need, and which was providing a barrier between rival sets of fans, thereby reducing policing costs. If we went up, there would be an increased demand for seating and the repairs would have to be done.

 

Patrick oversaw the losses. In most other industries the person responsible falls on their sword, yet in football they are seen as martyrs to the cause. Strange really.

 

Of course they did. Plans were afoot, they just needed time.

And your assertion that Banks are holier than tho has been proven to be codswallop given the actions of said banking group in forcing many viable yet struggling businesses into admin or "special banking" which was a pretext to seize assets and property. I know this as I worked for one and we were strong enough to emerge from it - with no help from those ******** NatWest.

 

On that logic, close the West Stand entirely. We don't need it, all home fans can fit into the East and South.

 

PC funded the losses from his own pocket. I think that gives him the choice as to when or if to release control of the company. I'm afraid that losses in Championship football clubs are the norm. Doesn't make it right but there you are.

I'm not quite sure what you expect the club to do. Do you think it should spend and chase the premier league and accept the consequences if it fails or rein in all spending and become a self sufficient top league one club ?

And yes I know you know that I don't go anymore so I'm really looking at this as an interested bystander.

 

Last season's figures show us that it is not a self-sufficient L1 club.

 

Ok so where do you go without PC's investment ? I posted a few years ago that to survive in the Championship I thought the club would need either to have average gates in the region of 15-16K or average gates of say 12k and produce a talent to sell on every three years. That was based on the accounts at that time. As I said, interested bystander.

 

A couple of things I'm struggling with really. Burton released their figures of a £162,000 profit on a £4.2m turnover. We didn't release our turnover but reported losses close to £1m, so we're already about £1.1m worse of than them. We didn't "have to" disclose our turnover as it was less than £6.5m so we are supposed to believe that our turnover was less than 50% more than theirs, with gates being more than double, two trips to Wembley, five games on TV and selling a player for £1m. We can only spend 70% of our turnover on wages, same as Burton, but they're turning a profit and we're posting massive losses.

If I'm supposed to believe these figures, then it smacks of a badly run business to me.

 

Winnall has scored goals at all levels of football. I see no reason why that would stop. People I believe yourself included doubted he would score in the championship.

If you think getting promoted would cost us a 100 million then you are about as far away from reality as it's possible to be.

Why do you think people try to get promoted to lose 100 million quid. Why do you think the play off final is called the richest game in football. Certainly not because it costs you 100 million

Burnley's team has a lot of youth players. In it and journeymen like Ashley Barnes up front. They have made a massive profit. We could spend less than 5 million and get relegated it wouldn't matter the financial future of the club would be secure for life.

There's a difference between reality and doom and gloom pessimism that holds the club back.

 

Bust or cutting costs accordingly.

 

Iv

I have nothing against selling players when it is the right time to do so. Selling Mawson for example made perfect sense. Flogging half your team and not replacing them is a bit different especially as earlier in meetings between fans and club it had been said that players did not need to be sold. It would have been cost neutral to let the team progress to the end of the season. We would still have recouped some money via tribunal for Bree and may have got money from the play offs and beyond.

 

6 pages of replies, Red Rain must be well chuffed and swelling by the second.

 

Basically proving my point that the state of the town is irrelevant it's the owner having money and ambition.

 

I'm afraid that at my age, I don't do much swelling any more.

 

Oh dear!


Tom O'Brien hits the floor as Leg Lock Luke throws victory away

PICTURE: ATR
Leg Lock Luke chucks away victory at Taunton
By James burn 4:27PM 20 MAR 2017
THE writing may have been on the cards early.

Leg Lock Luke, named after the Welsh National-winning jockey turned broadcaster Luke Harvey, had not won a race under rules, but the 2m handicap chase he was set to run in didn't look like it would take much winning.

"Today could be the day you know," Harvey said before racing and, for much of the £6,000 contest, it looked like the stars had aligned.

Trained by Colin Tizzard for Terry Warner, the seven-year-old led four out and looked in full control only to veer badly left in the final 75 yards and unseat Tom O'Brien, leaving the door open for Bajardo.

A glum O'Brien would only confirm he was okay, while Harvey giggled when it was suggested the horse should have been named after Mick Fitzgerald.