The Plan: A good servant but a bad master

I hope so mate.

 

That may be the plan but it's not being implemented in a way that brings on field success in the Championship so the club will keep taking one step forward then one immediately backwards step back to L1

 

Also doing the same thing time after time and it does not work is called insanity

 

I’m sure that’s not what the board intends,
If that were the case I can’t see why billionaires would have bothered tbh,
As I said in a earlier post they will have a plan and like a lot of plans not everything works every time and lessons will hopefully be learned .
As fans we are naturally impatient and see doom and gloom but as long term investors the owners have more patience and imo won’t be as animated as us if things don’t immediately go their way .

 

Even stevie wonder could see this summers transfer dealings both in and out, weren’t gunna work well in the championship. Absolute naivety or blatant ignorant arrogance by the owners. Don’t trust em as far as I could throw em tbh. Their long term motives are beginning to look distinctly shadey from what was announced 2 years back when the took over. Where’s the international promotion of the club at? If there is any which I’m beginning to doubt, why hasn’t this been ploughed back into the squad which will earn the owners the profits in better player sales and better position in the football league as they keep sounding off about? Also, has the player sales generated in the summer really all been put back into the squad? I highly doubt it, especially given Moore’s supposed replacement kone wouldn’t come, presumably due to league one wages being offered? It all stinks to high heaven to me, sorry, but it does

 

This fixture was probably the most confident I've been in a long while heading into a game. Not just because our home record is excellent, but having seen the form you are in, the total lack of experience in your side, and the gaps you left against Brentford last week when I saw that game on Sky.

For what it's worth as well, I'm not revelling in victory, I want to see sides like Barnsley do well (other than against us), because like ourselves they have to look outside of the box a bit to compete at this level, coach and develop their players, and sell and reinvest. Same goes for Brentford to some extent.

That said, signing only inexperienced and young players is just asking for trouble. We've signed and played a lot of young players since our return to this level, but alongside a few experienced heads. Until the last season or two, the likes of Clarke and Huntington were still regulars at the back before the emergence of some of our younger defenders like Davies. The likes of Pearson and Browne have played for us since a very young age but have been playing alongside a stalwart in Gallagher in the middle of the park for most of it.

Even Nugent is showing he's still got something. He's 34, won't play every game (certainly not for 90 minutes) and he has lost most of his pace, but he is an experienced option to lead the line for us every now and then, and put against kids like Halme and Sibbick, he clearly had the experience and nous to school them.

It's obvious some of your youngsters have the physical and technical attributes to eventually become good players, but they won't improve particularly quickly getting battered most weeks and with no experience alongside them to help them through. You looked like cannon fodder.

Not saying we're the perfect model to follow. The last minute sale of Hugill without any proper reinvestment ****** us over for a while and the owner seems to have the knack of failing to strike whilst the iron is hot and investing when we have a chance of reaching the top 6. All I'm saying is that the clear examples are there that in order to reestablish a club at Championship level, a few experienced players are required to see it through and I can see why you are all so frustrated by it.

 

Thanks, sums it up very well. You haven't spent a fortune to be a very good club at this level. We seem to be operating some sort of fundamentalist youth policy that is at best going to make us a yo-yo club between L1 & the Championship. All last years good work looks totally wasted 11 games into the new season. Our manager looks understandably deflated & I really give us little hope of resurrecting our season. We have 35 games to play & as fans we have to get behind a manager that breathed new hope into us last term, but has seen us give away our best players for short term profit & most of the players brought in are not collectively ready for this level. 2-3 older heads would have given us a fighting chance IMO.

 

Well said. I’ve been advocating Preston as the club we should be looking to emulate for a while.

It’ll probably be too much to ask given the calibre of teams you’re up against but I’d love to see you guys get promoted over some of the big spenders.

 

It might be added there were also noises made about having wider involvement in the town. But they haven't even been able to negotiate adequate access arrangements to Oakwell with BMBC despite the council still being 50% stakeholders in the ground and facilities. Access and egress to/from the car park is a shambles. But at least we flog a few more pints of ale in the fan zone!

 

Well, if there isn't a plan these billionaires must have got rich by being very lucky. Why are they bothering? Why are billionaires faffing about with our piddling little club? Profit on player sales at BFC is so miniscule compared to their overall wealth. The profits from player sales, if there are any, after re-investing in all these new players, must be small, and even if there's a couple of million lying around, what's it to them?

 

This is exactly what our club had become. And if the board don't do something to prove otherwise in January (maybe start to reinvesing 'every penny' of the recent transfers) then i fear that this will be the last season for many fans. And I wouldn't blame anyone as we are football fans not business fans

 

That's why they are so rich i agree with your logic what's it to them but my experience of people with serious money is that every penny matters.

They clearly are good business people, they are making money. However it appears to be at the expense of the clubs performance on the pitch

 

I don't know why they are here as much as anyone else on this forum. I can come up with a few unproven theories.
But if they were just looking at ways to make money, they've got the contacts and financial nous to do it in loads of other ways without all this hassle and receiving personal abuse as well.

 

Take your point. However the hassle and personal abuse didn't exist for them. They're not here taking it. They don't read this board id assume. It's why it's so easy for Paul conway to use a trump like statement of this was the best transfer window ever, and not have to on one occasion answer how he now feels about this crass statement

They are sports investors and so whilst I agree about none of us really knowing what they're thinking my assumption is they think they can make money via this investment.

 

Yes, I think they think they can (eventually) make money as well. The only thing I can think of is that they love sports and love running businesses and are out to prove that their business ideas and MO will eventually work. It's more like they want to prove out that it can be done their way. If it was only about money they'd just be out shorting GBP on the FX markets or something.

 

After several drubbings this season I would be fascinated to know what the likes of Conway, Cryne and any other owner attendees must talk about.
Do they wring their hands in despair at the results or are they so focused on the business and financial side of things that they really don't care what happens so long as the money tills keep ringing. Supporters will turn up come what may, they are emotional creatures, stupidly following lost causes, so does it matter what league the team is in or what players turn out every week.
Well, some people aren't that stupid.
I've been a supporter since 1968 and I am fast losing interest.

 

Just written a similar post mate. We won't turn up regardless forever of that I'm sure

 

They're not billionaires. That's a press story and it's nonsense.

 

A long-standing article on Wikipedia (yes - I know) estimates our owners as having a net worth of $9.1 Billion. This is based on their known associations with New City Capital, Pacific Media Group and Pudilite Industries. Who knows if the estimate is accurate, but on any view of the matter they are seriously wealthy people. That is not to say they should necessarily sink their own money into the club, but as major players in the financing of various enterprises they undoubtedly have the financial know-how and standing to assist the club to raise the comparatively small amount of funding which could have brought in just a modicum of Championship experience to help our younger players through their development and to grow into this league. If they aren't prepared to do this to protect their investment then you have to wonder what their real aim is in buying the club.

 

Our commodities as individuals aren’t rubbish, as a collective they are.