Only going one way with these people in charge

The board just don’t have any ambition. We had the chance two years ago for a top 2 push under duff, a little bit more quality would have given us a chance of that, or at least a better chance in the play-offs! Same again last year, it wouldn’t have taken much more quality for a better chance in the play-offs!

The league isn’t great, but it comes across like the board just don’t care. Things like the FA Cup farce last year, east stand being closed for a game, the west stand lies, the list goes on. Even daft things like the scoreboard being off on Saturday, and not for the first time!

A board with drive/ambition would have a big screen, not a tiny screen that isn’t working! Serious questions should have been asked a long time ago, we are sliding deeper & deeper, the next step is league two. It’s been a worrying pattern for years under this board!

Getting less and less motivated for traveling 65 miles every week, just got tickets for Stockport and Rotherham, and seriously thought about taking them back, I can honestly see us becoming one of those teams who just slide into league two and maybe even worse!

 

Just what we need,another thread telling us how bad we are

 

It's tricky. I'd argue all teams currently above us (bar Orient) have bigger budgets. Even those with smaller support have very rich owners meaning Wycombe can allegedly turn down £6m for star striker meaning Luton turned to Wigan for Aasgard instead (another pushover club). Stockport owners are loaded. It's not that easy. You do realise we are losing money hand over fist?

 

You can't beat it. It's part of being a fan of a 5 hite team.

 

That's all true what you've said. But the difference as far as I can see between us and those other teams is this;

We're all making financial losses - that's just modern football unfortunately. The difference is that these other teams don't plead poverty every two minutes. They accept that they're not going to make money.

In our case, these people who make up the majority of our board were hoodwinked by Conway and Lee into thinking that they'd actually be able to make a ROI by investing in BFC way back when using the moneyball approach.

That was obviously nonsense, but they're stuck with us just as much as we're stuck with them.

They didn't invest in BFC because they love the Club and the area, they didn't invest because they love football. They're not interested in any of that, we were just another investment in their portfolio of investments that's turned into a right pigs ear and a real money pit for them.

They'd walk away tomorrow if they could, I honestly believe that. But they can't.

 

Greedy, rich fuddy duddies.

 

Actually that is what we do need. The owners need to be shamed and held to account
https://x.com/footballheaven/status/1884280952006062583?t=0gL5lmnBEi8wBlwagtCmNg&s=19

 

Fair points well made. Who takes over though? That's the issue. Are we attractive? I've no idea on their background but something odd about the Wycombe investment. No real catchment or history and 3,500 home fans last night when 2nd is abysmal. What's the upside?

 

The thing is though, and unless I've missed something, they haven't splashed the cash or anything dramatic. They've done what we used to do - signing young or hungry lower league players who are motivated to improve theirs and their clubs careers.

It's what we used to do. Hourihane, Winnall, Watkins, Mawson, Roberts, Pinnock, Scowen, Brittain, Styles, Hedges and more. All signed from levels lower than us, all with points to prove and all hungry.

We don't do this any more.

 

A club that got less 4000 last night for game 2nd versus 6th shows more ambition than this lot at oakwell

 

They can absolutely walk away.

 

What's to stop them? They'd just potentially lose a proportion of their investment.

 

I know they can in theory. But that would mean them writing off their entire investment wouldn't it?

Goes without saying that you know more on this topic than I do, but as financial "speculators", wouldn't it be unwise to walk away from a iirc 20 million quid + investment? How would it work for them financially and to walk away?

 

You just have to look at the amount they've put in the last few seasons. If they put in, say £8m a season, it doesn't take long before they've put in more additional funds than their 'investment' is worth. So the most profitable decision would be to get a token amount and walk away.

Imagine they are here 10 seasons and we're still in league 1. Nobody is paying £100m to pay back investment and give a bit of return. And if we got promoted, they'd have to put even more in to try and be competitive, they are slaves to a money pit.

 

They would lose it all without a buyer.

 

Yep.

 

Why are we losing this money?
I'd estimate (no facts to back this up )
that our income from player sales are above average, even if it does take a few years to see all that income.
We spend virtually nowt, we don't seem interested in providing a modicum of customer service or providing enough merchandise for a captive audience.
These owners have had a few years now and still as a business we're insolvent without their input.
I can only assume that in their previous business successes they had some good advisors who ran it for them.
For numerous reasons that are regularly aired on here, they are consistently just not very good at running a business.

 

The current saleable value of the club is close to zero. They have already lost well over £20m. Funding at a further £6-£8m a year is not going to increase the value by the amount they are having to ‘invest’. Without any emotional attachment any sane investor would realise their loss and walk away.

Fortunately football is full of mad people who do not make logical decisions.

 

Every little helps.