The photo was interesting - oldest part of the ground, broken glass on top of the wall etc. Propaganda if ever I saw it. If this story is true, we’ll be moving to a soulless “modern” stadium with a 12,000 capacity like the one in Rotherham. Oh, and like as not it will be somewhere remote like just off the Dearne Valley Parkway. Sorry, but I’d take Oakwell (not Grove Street, by the way) any day of the week, even if it’s falling down around my ears - which it isn’t. It has the soul. It has the history. It’s synonymous with the club. It’s close to town so has good transport links (once Jumble Lane is sorted out). Its location means support for local businesses on match days. And we’ve all got Oakwell memories of great matches, great players, great times and bad times. Times we’ve sworn we’re never going again, only to turn up again the week after. And it was the Reverend Preedy who negotiated for us to be able to play there - how dare anyone think of breaking this connection.
Very wise. The facts are going to be in very short supply too. The previous on this was two contadicting statements regarding the money that was owed etc. I do believe this is political chess and the owners are exploring options if they dont believe they are getting what was allegedly promised.
Why are people against the owners when it’s clearly the crynes and the council not willing to sell there shares of the ground to them The only way forward would be to move out of the town because the council won’t grant planning permission for another stadium inside the borough
Agree, at best it’s a strategy(however ill thought), I’d also add what would the Owners benefit from this? Yes a new stadium that they would own, but they also would own half of plot of land that would become virtually worthless to them financially in Oakwell. They don’t strike me as type of people who would be willing to write that value off.
I’ve expressed my concerns over these owners in the past. However, I won’t believe the daily mail or the sun if they told us we played in red. I’m going to need a more reliable source than that. The article says the Cryne family own 50% of the ground and the Council own the other 50%, correct me if I’m wrong but didn’t the new owners buy 50% when they initially purchased the club? I don’t trust the article in question but let’s say it did happen I do not think I’ll love this club as much as I do if Oakwell wasn’t our home anymore.
no they didn’t buy 50% of the ground they had the option to do so for an agreed price but chose not to exercise they option.
They have though. But some "3rd party" or existing owner wont. The current owners clearly want to buy the 50% they wanted to. But for some reason cannot
In fact, given the crynes own 20% of BFC investment co. I'm largely of the belief that the 3rd party the club referred to when trying to buy the 50% share was in fact aimed at the council.
Another question may also be IF, they were to move away from oakwell, how would that be financed....another loan perhaps, more player sales etc. They have stated they want the club to be self financing and would not put money in, so.........
Do I want us to leave Oakwell? No. Absolutely not. But it's not the ground that makes the club. Scores of clubs have moved grounds in the last few decades. Small clubs, big, storied clubs. They've done it and moved on. Oakwell isn't the soul of the club. That resides in the history of Barnsley FC and in the fans who turn up every week to keep the flame alive. The current owners would do well to remember that. They have done very little other than alienate the fan base and create mistrust in the last couple of years.
It’s the club piling pressure on the council to sell. Risky way of doing it. Having said that - if C-19 continues, we’d save a fortune plying at Dorothy Hyman for a season or two. I think our current rent is circa. £350k a year plus maintenance. And I reckon we’ve been spending not far off the same again on maintenance costs!
So an article comes out from the second biggest gutter rag of them all and our fans go into meltdown The owners are the worst thing since Coronavirus, the ground is seconds from falling over, we’re moving to the wrong side of the Pennines, the Wigan fans are jumping for glee somewhere between (let them come here and see what happens to them and comparing our situation to them losing millions of pounds a month and firesaling players) and the ‘I’ll never go again’ supporters are out in force. All from an article in the DAILY F*****G MAIL. The mind boggles.
The cryne say quite clearly they will. The only issue with this would be the long standing but probably no longer enforceable codecil that states the ground must be used for sporting purposes. John Dennis told me about that years ago and said it was never an issue. I suspect this is just a negotiating tactic but they are pitching it completely wrong.
By creating a new company that builds a ground. Separate legal entity to the "club". The club remains self financing.