The Plan and the future

If the plan is based on the usual business model of 5 years were just over a couple of years in, assuming day one was BFC in the bottom end of league 3 and the forecast is to get to the promised land of league 1 were making progress. the problem is the Plan is self sufficient and can only therefore be serviced from within. the currency of success is that players are the commodity which services the Plan and profits to further the Plan come only from them. Buy em cheap,develop,sell on, spend profit to further the plan. this assumes that we buy slightly better players each time therefore edging forwards at a pre planned pace. as were only one place from the Plans outcome we are probably in front of the forecast.in business terms this looks like a great success and despite current results it's still early days in phase 2.

Problem is there's no emotion in it, we don't want to think Stendl was brought in just as part of the marketing but sadly he was and will be moved on just like the rest, Moore, Pinnock,Lindsey etc are just pawns in the plan for people who don't have their heart and soul in our club like we do but have an objective of a self sufficient rise of a football club from lower league to the top level. one thing that aint in the Plan is us...the fans. but if in 5 years were playing Man utd, Man city, and Liverpool the method may well be forgotten. meanwhile the current objective will be survive, sell on and move forward again next year..

Sorry if ya think am talking crap but there's no sentiment in business as were finding at present.

 

Good point. At least we are in business, unlike Bury & Bolton, who have gone down the route of overspending. Also, we are in the Championship this season, which is the level I think we should aspire to. Whether we are at the end of the season, who knows? I'm personally not going to fret about it too much & try & enjoy the ride, even though there may be a lot of bumps in the road.

 

I don't think you're talking crap at all. I totally agree with you. There's a corporate aspect of football these days that leaves an unsavoury taste in my mouth. In many ways its not about the fans and/or love of the club as much as the suits may say otherwise. It's another reason, like ticket pricing, that for me is actually taking the game away from it's roots. We all want our team to do well of course but I don't think BFC is as Barnsley as it once was in some ways. A lot will disagree with me and think I'm talking crap just like you're thinking but that's how I feel. I've not got an alternative though...

 

Stendel’s appointment had nothing to do with marketing. In fact, no one had heard of him until he was appointed.

Whilst I understand some of the sentiment within your post I wish people would stop throwing around lazy accusations at the club.

Notwithstanding the view that Barnsley fans seem to think marketing is the devil, despite all successful clubs having very effective marketing strategies and tactics.

Whilst we’ve had a tepid start to the season, most fans would have taken a 17th place finish were it offered. We are 17th, and whilst there have been some things of concern to date, we aren’t in an awful position, currently.

 

We're 20th. Way too early to be looking at tables of course, but we're still 20th.

 

Just to clarify my points,
I was trying to point out that Stendel is the same as the players, unknown when brought in but his contract would be sold on as he has now had success.
Not lazy accusations to say players we develop will be sold for a profit.....is it?
Yes we do fear marketing and deadline day as the basis of my post is the fans get attached to players but the club see profit, so yes your right
At the end of my post it sez , objective is to survive, sell on , move on...so ye the club will be happy with one place above relegation, but fans always think with their heart and hope for better......which is the difference between the planners and us

Think I was trying to say...this is how it will be , accept it, we could end up in the Prem eventually

 

What do people actually want?

Fans express anger at other's over-spending, the mismanagement of Bury and Bolton, money ruining the game etc. Yet when our club employ strategies to be self sufficient, live within our means, not do anything crazy (which has been repeated by the board since they arrived), as soon as we hit a perceived negative run of form, the pitchforks are out and the plan is bad, the fans are being mugged off etc.

I share other's frustrations when I see our best players sold off, but I understand it and I know it's part of the wider strategy. Is it a bit **** that football has come to this..?yes. But we need to operate in the real world. Unless there's some die hard Barnsley fan out there sitting on billions they're willing to lose, the current ownership model is in my opinion, about the best we can hope for.

I think their objective is to stick with the plan, gradually increasing the value of the squad and the club. Then look to sell up for a profit at some point in the future. I'd take that over being a play thing for an owner who spends with reckless abandon and puts the club into a dangerous financial situation.

 

great post. a touch of realism in an insane world.

 

I'd take that come the end of the season as well though!

 

Me too

 

Sure, most fans would have also taken 20th.

 

Anything above 22nd by whatever margin

 

Other than sell players at a profit there is no plan. There is no continuity, no base to build from, no progress, no year on year improvement, it's simply about identifying players with potential who can be picked up cheaply and selling them on at a profit with no regard for the affect this has on our ability to win football games.

But to give those who are doing this some credit, they're very good at it. Never before seen a strike rate so high. Almost everyone seems to improve and increase their value. It's very impressive but it's not football.

 

Brentford.

 

Well it was impressive to watch last season and I was impressed against Fulham and Charlton albeit to a lesser degree.
Also impressed that we no longer sell our star players for 500 grand.
Impressive to see us signing players on four and five year contracts too.
I prefer this to watching the Barnsley of the early 2000s when we nearly went bust or the Barnsley that filled the squad with loan players or the Barnsley of the HillFlicker era who signed their pals.
Do you have an alternative idea or approach Jay?

 

Another ‘there are no options between being us and being Bolton’ post- how refreshing.

 

There has to be some sort of a plan to acquire players who actually live up to their potential, otherwise there'd be no profit in them.

So if they turn out crap as individuals and a team and get relegated (again), our owner/speculators would be losing out in terms of their investment. So there is an element of them needing to win football games.

Admittedly we ought to be keeping our better players if we're serious about progress. In times past we've had the excuse of selling them because we're perpetually skint. We have no such excuse now.

 

Sign players with the intention of winning football games. Old fashioned, I know, but I'm not down with you capitalist dudes.

 

I think everyone wants us to be self sufficient but surely you’ve got to give yourself the best chance of success without getting into financial difficulties at the same time.

A few examples -

Selling Winnall, Bree & Hourihane in January 2017 when sat 7th in the championship with a team that seemed to be getting better by the game in a season where we’d already generated at least £11m in fees from Mawson & Stones. No need to sell. Threw away our only chance of promotion to the premier league since 2000. Obviously a different owner but the new owners were apparently attracted to us by this plan & strategy of running a football club.

Selling Tom Bradshaw in August 2018 & replacing him with Woodrow who allegedly got injured in his medical & didn’t play for a couple of months. Took a massive gamble on Kieffer Moore staying fit as we had no other recognised striker at the club. If Kieffer would’ve pulled up injured early in that season the odds are we would’ve been battling for 6th spot with Donny, Peterborough & co as Adeboyejo would’ve been leading the line. This came after a summer of players leaving the club where we were constantly told that we’d made profits on numerous departing players, Knasmullner, Pearson, McCarthy, Mallan etc.

Selling Brad Potts in January 2019 when he had 2.5 years left on his deal whilst locked in a 4 way battle for automatic promotion. Apparently promotions worth around £6m yet we decided to flog one of our key players who was in the form of his life & would’ve still commanded a similar fee 4 months later whether we were promoted or not. Seemed bizarre at the time but we got lucky with Jacob Brown who’s 7 or 8 game run of goals & assists contributed massively to us getting over the line. I’m not inclined to believe this was some kind of master strategy as Brown had only really played as a striker or full back for us & Hedges got the right wing slot initially & Green was signed that month too.

I want to believe this club has some kind of long term strategy to get us in the Prem or do better than survive & make a profit each season but I lean towards Jay’s view rather than that from what they’ve done so far.

 

We were relegated 15 months ago. After which we have sold at a profit and 'kept an interest in': Knasmullner, Pearson, Mallan, McCarthy, Bradshaw, Potts, Lindsay, Pinnock, and Moore. It doesn't matter how well we do on the pitch, we can still sell them. The squad we began the 2017-18 season with was clearly not up to Championship standard, but we knew a profit could made. We signed a player that January, didn't play him, and still made a profit. And all those who played last week, and will play this week, are already up for sale. If bids are received in January they will be gone. It's about buying and selling players. It's a fun game for them and makes money.