I'd just like to add that there was a good interview with Chien Lee about the portfolio of clubs. It stated that no clubs take priority and investment will be injected where needed to suit the needs of the group. I'm going to give them the benefit of doubt until the end of the summer. If they inject the required investment to off set the shortfall in revenue a lot of this angst will have been for nothing other than a terrible season.
Do you class letters in the Chronicle, interviews on Radio Sheffield, open and constant criticism of Paul Conway's tenure - all negative and openly criticising the club and the owners - as a bias? If there was a bias there would be a never ending stream of positivity, when in reality it's more 'that's true / that's wide of the mark'. Being supportive of some of the actions of the club isn't a bias. It's just separating the negligence from the positive moves. We've had both. But as we know, all roads lead back to Paul Conway. We've been round the houses on this but he said the 11k target as an aspirational target for him in his mind. How he comes away from other away ground thinking 'Why can't we have 11k season ticket holders at Oakwell. Why can't we fill the ground with 16k in future seasons'. Sometimes I think we forget these are informal meetings that are meant to be more conversational than press conference style - it's one of the reasons Ben Mansford and Patrick didn't want to record them to share, because you would then lose a sense of personable authenticity as people would only speak knowing it was going in to print/being aired.
I think Khaled is a bit naive. He thinks that fans should just get behind the team regardless and it that respect you can see where he gets his notion of 11000 or 16000 supporters regularly filling Oakwell. The problem is the Barnsley folk if you will. They aren't daft. They want to see sumat happening before they part with their hard earned. Under this model of not investing they're pushing against that. Unless they tweak the model they won't get the 11 or 16000. It's great aspiring to that though. Patrick Cryne once hit the nail on the head paraphrasing, "If you want 20,000 signings you need to start turning up."
Exactly. All they have to do is admit their past mistakes, tweak the recruitment policy and inject a bit of investment into the club. It would be like a new start and most people would then renew and get behind the club in L1. Not a difficult solution is it? Not holding my breath though.....
Me neither. However, like you I'll give them chance to do it before I sharpen my pitchfork. A lot of what I post after games is down to how desperately low and angry I am at the time.
What I've noticed is the trust's focus of ire now appears to be aimed solely at the absent Conway yet the CEO (and others at the club) is/are weirdly getting a free pass. You can argue I suppose that the CEO is attending these meetings when he doesn't have to, but you and he know as well as everyone else that in their current format they are largely pointless... and I think the BFCST and the CEO are quietly happy about that, it appears on the surface that you're being tough on the club. But you're not.
This site is only a very small representation of the fan base, and I can only hope the level of division among people on here, isn’t reflective of the wider fan base. I hope it’s not. People just tend to bicker more when things are $hit. Never ceases to amaze me though, how people can be so easily swayed by a few words said at a face to face. I think we need a big list to keep track of things. Two columns. Words in one, actions in the other.
Happens in all business. Targets are set and then you prioritise efforts on the targets that are not producing as much. He could have 6 targets. 5 are all on course except his 11k season ticket sales. He then should put in a series of actions in a plan to try and increase it. Targets are not new. He's just made a gaff by saying one everyone knows won't be achieved next season after current shambles. However, if he doesn't have a target to reach, which will fail, having that target at the top of his to do list compared to others means he is focussed on a number of areas which may squeeze a few more. I personally don't see the harm in targets even if they are wildly beyond what anyone thinks is achievable Also remember, the owners have a target of being self sufficient. They also have a target of being competitive on the championship. The owners have failed. Massively. Suddenly his 11k ST sales doesn't look as daft
I'm not sure I'd be interested in having a CEO who's ambition isn't to get to 16,000 season tickets holders. Maybe I'm naive in that case.
I agree there's a level of division on the finer points but on the big picture I don't think there is. I genuinely can't think of a single poster on here who i s happy with the actions/inactions of Lee, Conway and the rest of the board and if you look at reaction on twitter, instagram it's the same. I'd say that's a pretty fair indication that virtually the whole of the fanbase is dissatisfied at some level with what's going on.
I'm not the Trust. I'm Ben from Wakefield who works for BrewDog, enjoying long walks in the park and pebbles in the rain. If what I post on here as an independent opinion is taken as official Trust positioning/statements then I'll either cancel my account on here or no longer be involved in the Trust. Basically because for a volunteer position I'd rather not have that additional scrutiny and challenge. If someone says 'What do the Trust think', and I've got a remit for a consensus answer or update, then I'll respond (as I have done LOADS of times in the past).
What is it that you do not trust about the CEO and other club staff? Do you not think they are making decisions with the best interests of the club in mind, within the constraints that are set by the owners?
Or even just repay the £750k. I don't think Conway even needs to turn up for a Q&A, in fact, I wouldn't if I were him, it would be too toxic an environment. But a written statement to admit the failures and promise to learn from them would be a start.
