Leon Wobschall

Leon Wobschall has written a great article in todays Yorkshire Post about our current situation , whilst many of us have slightly differing opinions I think Leon sums up everything perfectly, it is well worth a read, I hope the owners read it & if I knew how to do it I would forward it to everyone of the consortium that are ruining our club , please take time to read it , you can find it on the" Newsnow Barnsley site "

 

Thanks Loko , I am useless with the old lap top . Its a good article & I would love the top brass to read it as at least it would tell them that the press are picking up the vibes & this could well snow ball

 

I’ve read that and it’s wound me up. The board are ***** and I’ve lost patience with them already, no matter what happens this January.

Poya said in November, there’s been miracles greater then Barnsley staying in the Champ. It’s now January and haven’t won with him in charge. The only miracle greater than us staying up now is Jesus coming back to life. No chance.

 

Why would that article wind you up? It's only saying exactly what we already know. No new details.

I was pissed off before and I'm just as pissed off after reading it.

 

I’ve avoided most of the news over Christmas because the whole club winds me up, not the article specifically.

 

"Supporters whose financial backing during the Covid-ravaged campaign of 2019-20 and in the following season was outstanding deserve much more."

Quite.

Shame the YP didn't mention* the missing £750k, but the rest of it was spot on.

* or maybe they did and it was hiding under one of the 327 pop-up adverts I had to navigate around.

 

Spot on from Leon, albeit for many of us we're already beyond the tipping point he refers to.

If anything, he's been too kind regarding the running of the club in the article.

 

He didn't mention it, and that the only obvious omission in the article for me. However, I can understand that he, as a non-financial journalist, might not be comfortable navigating those waters, albeit there is absolutely no speculation required within the background to this, as the factual details are transparently stated in the club's accounts.

 

It's the interpretation that is put on those facts, isn't it? I would imagine that even the slightest questioning of the owners' motives, or their right to use the money in that way would be skating on the edges of defamation. And Leon's column is not anonymous.

 

To be fair the article says what we all know already.
No disrespect to the writer but there's nothing new for us fans.
We could add many more points which would further illustrate our demise as the owners seek to alienate the fans from the club.

 

Not really. They'd be perfectly reasonable questions to be asked by anyone in the circumstances, particularly when the same accounts refer to the financial challenges brought about by the pandemic.

The transaction doesn't benefit BFC in any way and there are legitimate questions to be asked regarding this. The prolonged silence from Oakwell is indicative of the fact that there are no satisfactory answers that can be given, in terms of it being beneficial to the operations of the football club. If there were we'd have heard from the CEO or Robert Zuk about it by now.

 

As @Sheriff states there is nothing ambiguous about the payment of £750k from the club to Oakwell Holdings by Barnsley football club on behalf of BFC Investments. It is clearly stated in the accounts published.

I know the question of whether this can be done legitimately has arisen, in short the payment can, and has been made.

The issue that exists is the media line of ‘We will not take a penny out of the club’ this is no longer the case.

 

The article also omitted the pending legal action between the owners.

Maybe our local media are steering clear until the case is heard? Or could they have been embargoed from reporting?

 

I agree that the facts are the facts. But it seems to me that it would be hard to raise that issue in the article without some sort of implied or actual criticism of the Board. What otherwise would be the point? At any rate, this aspect of BFC's situation is well-known to Leon and either he, his Editor or the Post's legal advisors have decided there should be no comment on the matter.

 

For me, the article comes to the wrong conclusion in that it suggests the Owners ‘have to get it right’ in this transfer window. I don’t agree with that. Whether we stay up, go down or do a Barnsley version of the Cha Cha Cha, the Owners have done for me. They need to go and go quickly. Relegation would be a price worth paying for their departure.

 

Any article that puts out the board's disgraceful behaviour into the public domain gets my approval. They need publicly shaming.
Well said sir.

 

I agree with you. The issues regarding the club and its health go beyond winning a few games or even staying up. Last season's premier league near miss glossed over things but if you gloss over rotten wood the wood is still rotten underneath. The sad thing is there does not seem to be any viable alternative to these people in the foreseeable future. As things stand I expect things to get a lot worse in the next year or two unless by some absolute miracle the playing staff keep the club up. If its relegation I can't see the club getting promoted but can see further struggle and decline in L1. We are in a very bad place.

 

True, alot of games under poya we dont even look like we want to win take posh away chance to close the gap and we go there he sets us up for a draw and we get everyone behind the ball and commit few players forward.

 

The article doesn’t say anything new that a fan wouldn’t know and TBH is pretty boring in the way it’s written.
That said, I’m glad to see it as IMO the best way to get the board to take heed is as much exposure over issues through the internet.
I’m not convinced demonstrations/stay away is enough as I’m not convinced it will bother them that much as any press raised would be kept quite local.
In todays age it’s known if you want to get a reaction from a large company get on Twitter etc.