Radio sheffield interview with Neerav

The interview was depressing to say the least and the bit about back to the 'old' model of selling the better players and reinvesting in the squad is unlikely to inspire the fans to buy season tickets. Plus non of the present squad are likely to sell for millions if their performances this season are anything to go on. Perhaps if some of our board members ever took time out to come along to Oakwell they would know that for themselves. I hope I'm wrong but league2 is more likely than top six.

 

Phillips, Connell, MDG, Russell, DKD and Jalo could all realistically be lower Championship players when playing with confidence and in a winning team in L1. Just struggled to see it consistently this season.

Then you’ve the development of Shepherd, Barratt and other youth.

So it’s not that far fetched on the whole - we all said under Duff that Connell and Phillips would be ok in Champ….

 

Id love to know the total cost of the two forwards that we signed in January, flights, accommodation, agents fees, wages etc.
What a total waste of money that could have funded a striker for next season.

 

I always thought the local press mixed Neerav's family up another Indian family of the same name that were multi-billionaires.

Our Parekh's hold 40% of the shares in "Pat for Pants".

 

I could be wrong but I think there's Neerav Parekh who is a very wealthy entrepreneur owning Vphrase and then our Neerav Parekh who is the child of the billionaires who own pidilite

 

Whilst I agree his interview was pretty poor in parts, I don't think he deserves some of the anger coming from some on here, especially considering the financial backing that he has given and continues to give to the club.

 

I think he’s got off lightly on here tbh

 

I think it's clear to separate the two.

You can thank him for bankrolling the club and financially supporting us.

But you can also criticise him for a seemingly batshit interview.

 

It’s always sad when fans like that decide to stop. Hopefully once the summer kicks in and pre season is here, he’ll have the “blind optimism” back like the rest of us and gets a ticket.

 

I think in general he was very honest. Particularly about football being broken. We are one of the bigger clubs in the division so how are the others managing? I think we are now at our level. I don’t see many Championship clubs who are less worthy than us. Maybe we need to adjust our expectations?

 

Indeed. The timing doesn’t help at all either with the season tickets on sale now.

 

I’ve never seen us in L2 in my lifetime supporting the club.

Do they do food and beer and have night games on using floodlights in that division?

 

Would you like to borrow my glasses. The F
family he is part of are 17th richest in India according to Forbes

 

Show me. I'm not doubting it either way, just never seen any actual evidence of who he is.

 

Well everything now currently points to us being ran extremely badly ran I mean it’s been evident for a while but I think the more worrying aspect is that clearly there’s a disconnect at the top from reality. Personally think we are more likely to end up in league 2 rather than getting anywhere near the championship again.

so he’s basically said there’s good managers out there but he’s happy to wait till the summer cos they are being paid by former clubs. Don’t be surprised Neerav when someone comes in and employs them before us because we are trying to do it on the cheap rather than act decisively - could have given the coach time to assess the players etc we have now and act accordingly in the summer but no we will play catch up again despite saying it’s been a hinderence every season yet continue to do the same thing and expect different results. The very definition of madness.

 

Neerav manages a portfolio for his dad. There is zero evidence of any entrepreneurial flare or canny business acumen… as displayed from witnessing events at Oakwell the last few seasons.

Let me translate this. His father doesn’t want him involved in the management of his businesses so has sidelined him by throwing him some breadcrumbs… which to us seems significant.

Imagine the conversation.

“So son. How’s your investment in that football club going? You fly over to watch them a bit. Are they doing well? How much are you due to make from your investment again?”

Think his Dad shows very good judgement.

 

Long overdue communication, which I keep saying needs to happen, so that's pleasing.

But I disagree with Neerav’s evaluation of the squad’s talent. Which is fine. We aren’t miles apart. I said 6th at best, he’s saying 4th.

I agree that the results and performances weren’t good enough, which he explained for Clarke’s dismissal. Can’t really argue there.

He was never going to publicly berate his Sporting Director. But clarity was offered. He’s clearly doing as the owners are asking, and been praised for how he’s operating in the role. You might not like that, but at least you know.

Beyond that, nothing really interesting or inspiring. But again, at least there’s been an attempt at engaging.

Oh, and interesting comments about free transfers on £5,000 a week. Not sure the two players you’d assume he was referring to will have appreciated the candour. And I agree that football is broken. It has to be if Humphrys is earning £5,000 a week, for example.

 

that explains why he sacked collins then !

 

His father (Ajay Parekh) has a broadly a 10% holding in Pidilite Industries which has a market cap of around £12bn. He’s certainly a billionaire in most currencies, our chairman is his son.

 

Is that definitely him? I've read conflicting explanations of who is family are in the past, hence my lack of clarity.