Press conference

Sorry I just saw a blank space

 

Interesting to hear that they spoke to a few clubs (we know which ones..Brentford, Hull & Boro) and they saw how badly they were run. Might want to pop that on the Brentford board in their Chinese takeover thread.

 

Was good to see American lad looking a bit pist with the stupid questions from the BBC radio dee dar correspondent

 

Barry has been terminated?! Oh no!

 

Underwhelmed by it all. Sorry!

 

Don't apologise

 

Please explain why Red Rain. I'm busy at work and haven't had the chance to review the details.

 

Sponged enough good riddance

 

I'd guess nothing could have been said today that would have made some people happy.

 

Maybe you made the mistake of getting your hopes built up for a billionaire to come here and throw his money at us untill we are promoted. I was telling people from the off if you think someone is going to just throw money and buy big signings ect you will be disappointed. Having said that I don't think a group of people who have just paid 20million for the team they have bought to be in a relegation scrap every year.

 

To many this might seem harsh. I just hope that I am wrong.

My club has been owned by persons who live within the town for almost all its existence. For most of that time, it has struggled against the odds, both on the field, and off it. We talk about THE PLAN like it is something new, some new innovation, but for most of my life, we have been a selling club. It is now tougher than ever to compete in the Championship. We are competing against clubs benefiting from parachute payments, and others that are investing heavily in order to get a leg up to the Premier League. It is a tough league to make any money in over the long term. In fact, over the long term, I would say that it is nigh on impossible. Any investor who wanted to make money either has to get on the band wagon to the Premier League, and that is costly, or they must improve the club short term … and sell it on.


I have not seen many press conferences, but the one that I just witnessed, conducted by our new owners left me underwhelmed. I will be charitable. Perhaps they just did not want to say anything that could later be held against them, but in doing so, they failed to say anything that gave me any cause for optimism. I expected some new ideas, promises of investment, a hope that the team could be playing in the Premier League within a defined time frame. We got none of that. What we got instead was that they bought the club because it was well run and they hope that they will be able to do the same things as the club does now, but do them better. A better academy, better investment in raw talent, more revenue from the fans. Lots of words but little cash and few ideas.


Furthermore, Billy Beane looks like just a name to give the undertaking some credibility, because the rest of them are just investors, with a good understanding of business principles and sets of financial accounts and budgets, but little understanding of sport. They just looked like they were making it up as they went along, as though the questions about links to Nice and ownership and future of the land surprised them. I cannot believe that they have not formulated a business plan and produced spreadsheets based upon that business plan, but they gave no impression that they had. It looks like they will be hands off, that they will leave the club in the hands of its existing management structure (Gaultier Ganaye, James Cryne and Paul Heckingbottom) and they will manage the club on the basis of the monthly reports that they receive.


I have reserved my biggest concerns for last. They have bought only 80% of the club, which means that they own only 80% of the shares. The other 20% is retained by the Cryne family. Not all the owners are known to one another and this is the first time they have all been in business together. If it comes down to disagreements about policy, major investment and the method of investing, or how to run the business in view of what was learned from their initial experiences, there is plenty of scope for disagreement. Disagreement is bad in any company because it delays the decision-making process. The structure of this deal offers lots of potential for gridlock and frustration, both on the board and in the stands. So what do the participants stand to gain from the exercise, from their ownership of Barnsley FC? They stand to gain a better insight into the game in England. It might seem to be an expensive way to go about that learning process, but it isn’t if it enables them to have more certainty about their next investment, a major investment in a football club with greater potential than Barnsley FC.


The press conference was wishy-washy at best. The participants did not seem to have a clear idea about the way forward. The only conclusion to draw is the one that I have drawn.

 

Many people have drawn a completely different conclusion and have been left feeling optimistic following today’s press conference. You’re entitled to your opinion but it remains exactly that, an opinion.

As for the comment regarding promotion to the Premier League within a defined timeframe, behave. What they said in that regard was absolutely fine by me in that we need to consolidate our position in the Championship and look to improve year on year both on and off the field.

 

Do you mean your conclusion is the only one you could draw, or the only conclusion you say there is to draw?

 

The only conclusion to draw is the one that I have drawn.

Christ.

 

Thanks for that. Very interesting.

I agree about the land, I'm surprised that they would purchase shares in a company that has little value per se.

Maybe it is about managing expectations.

 

That's the last thing l want, someone mouthing off that we'll be in the Prem in so many years. Wednesday-esque. Said exactly what i would want, go about it quietly, building off the field.

 

Crumbs, that takes the biscuit!

 

Brilliant. Wow you’ve outdone yourself with that humdinger.

 

Of course it is an opinion. I never pretended it was anything but that.

I set the framework for what I was going to say by stating that my opinion was that no-one can make money long term from a club in the Championship. These new people are all investors. They own Barnsley because they think that they can make money from doing so. I would be interested in your business plan for making money from owning Barnsley FC, because Patrick Cryne has only been able to make money by selling it. Up until that moment, it had cost him an estimated £10m.