It's a very honest account he's given. It just goes to show though, when people keep saying we should have done all of our business already, some things you just can't legislate for.
Quick jist of what Paul said in the snippet that was on Radio Sheffield. Lost money during the pandemic. Getting to the Play-offs cost us £500,000. Complained to the FA about that, as the championship is the only league in the world that doesn't give a reward for getting to the Play-offs. Lost money due to not being able to have full capacity etc. Trying to sign one more player, confident we'll get that one done. Spoke of 3 deals where fee's were agreed with Premier League clubs. First player wanted a 40% pay-rise to come to Barnsley. Second one didn't like our style of play. Third one passed a medical, did all the media stuff, picture with shirt etc then got in his car with his agent and did a runner. Oulare and Iseka were given clearance weeks ago to come to the UK. But because of Brexit etc, there's been issues with permits. Players we sent to Denmark got a permit the same day. Oulare was told 18 days ago that his permit was ready, in Belgium. Only just received it today. Wasn't happy with how this country works in terms of receiving permits, thinks its being made deliberately difficult by the government.
How come we’re having photos in shirt and scarf etc when pen isn’t put to paper . Easy lesson to learn there IMO probably should have already been learned , Agents are not to be trusted full stop . Pen to paper then photos .
Quick call from Notts Forest or West Brom offering more brass no doubt. I'd like to think we'd never do business with that agent again but that's naive on my part I'm sure.
Does it really matter though in the grand scheme of things? I know what you're saying, but is it worse to have wasted photos than to drag out the announcement after the signing because they wait to do everything until it's signed? Even if 1 in 20 players end up doing a runner after the photos that's still probably preferable to having to wait until after everything is signed and sealed to do anything else.
Says they won't be buying the ground from the crynes but will stay as tenants, refused to rule out a move in the future though.
It’s quite normal from what I understand. Allows the player to go on holiday or do other stuff rather than do 2 trips. Paperwork sorted in background once agreed. Hence you often see images of players holding the shirt in bright sunshine, despite the day they are announced it’s chucking it down……
Didn’t sound like that way Conway told it , he said they were bemused they just drove off after photos etc . That sounds to me like they were expecting them to sign there and then .
I think I paraphrased a little bit in my summary. He essentially said everything was done, barring signing the contract. The player asked if he could just pop out for 5 minutes with his agent, and they essentially just left without saying anything.
I don’t think it would be right to do so. And the story isn’t 100% correct. We didn’t get to the media duties stage. We were waiting for him in Locke Park. It was absolutely pi***** it down. He had done everything else, medical etc, and we had a brief window to do our media stuff before he could sign the contract etc. We were doing photos and an interview in the bandstand at Locke Park. We’d used Barnsley Main for Devante. That was to be a theme. Landmarks and new signings. We had him on the phone, giving him directions. He said he’d be 10 minutes. But after 15 minutes we called him, and no answer. We then received a call from someone else in the office to say his agent had emailed saying the deal was off. And that was that. We made sure with Obbi and Aaron to be with them at all times until they signed the deal, rather than taking them to other landmarks, which were going to be Cannon Hall and the Town Hall. Although in fairness, they are two golden chaps and were delighted to be here. Which makes it sad what’s occurred with the visa situation. As for the runaway player, all the best to him.