The Board Of Directors - Time To Go????

Unfortunately, this may be a post that many on here either don't like or will disagree with.

It all starts/started at the top.

Since 2020 we have had

4x CEO's.
5x permanent managers

This already should ring alarm bells.

Then, we have the “sour” relegation straight after the championship playoff season where a new board of directors are appointed. Most of us feel over the moon that the "problem" (Conway) had gone.

Give them time........ok

Decent season last season with a few hiccups (Hex) but then a major one in closing the west stand with zero and shocking communication.

Ok .....they're new....let's forgive them plus we got to Wembley and did ok.

Then.....this season happens.

Fans forum where we are told by the new board "judge us by our actions".

We instantly start the season with an impending EFL charge (brought on by previous board).

Money pumped in we are told to run the club. Why….no real explanation on why they’ve had to do this especially with transfer money coming in over set periods.

A very late manager appointment on the first week of pre season followed up with a poor summer transfer window where one of the players we sign gets sent out on loan up Scotland for the season. a”Also a striker who played for us last season who has hardly made a matchday squad.

Stretch gets sacked with no "thank you" or explanation from them via their own channels. It takes a fan who works for the club to give us a better explanation whilst taking the mic at the forum to explain why (well done whitey) while they sat there not knowing what to say.

Another fans forum where we are told that Liam Kitching probably won't move by Neerav.......sold within the same week.

September……..Shirts get released weeks after season starts.

November………we get thrown out of the FA Cup.

December…..CEO leaves his post yet again. Start of the internal staff leaving the club.

January.....No significant backing in the window while the club are veering in on the automatic spots. All other clubs up there making significant changes. Not us.

February….. reports of alleged sexism (by a newspaper) where a club secretary leaves her post.

Yet another Club Physio leaves her post who has given us some good years of service.

Internal staff leaving yet again!!!

All this while the football on the pitch is dire to watch and we now start sliding down the table.

March……New CEO and sporting director appointed. No "real" communication or fan engagement from either of them since.

April……..Manager sacked the week before playoffs. Who does this? Should it have been done sooner or just left till end of season? Crazy either way.

Fair enough they've got a new man (Thalhammer).

Obviously they've done their background checks? Haven't they? Amateur at its best.

May………Going into playoffs without a manager. Shocking.

For me the finger points right to the top.

I pointed all these points this out to JAQ via Twitter in a non malice way then found myself blocked. I agree that she gets abuse and it isn't the way to go and is a quite shameful act to those who do it.

The amount of staff that has left the club screams out to me. They are the ones who are supposed to appoint people to adequately run the football club. This wouldn't happen in any other business.

They want us to believe in their vision? People do but I don’t anymore. We never had any of this in any one season under John Dennis or Patrick.

This club needs stability and knowledgeable people within the game in charge. Not people wanting to play real life football manager with zero people skills and a severe lack of “clear” communication.

It's amateur and it's the reason why we've had this ending "so far" to this season.

 

Club’s rotten to the core, great post

 

I'm certain there'll be a queue snaking down Grove Street.....

 

Not really sure what you mean by this bud?

 

very difficult to argue with any of that mate

BUT

I am fairly sure they’re financially propping up the club, and for that I am grateful. I mean, I live Barnsley FC to my core, but I would have to think twice about putting in 6 or 7 figures each season.

It’s one hell of an expensive hobby.

that burden was softened last season via the sale of Kitching and Anderson (well done to the Board for not selling them for a pittance btw) but we have no players to sell now.

it is a very concerning time and I think we are realistically looking at quite a few seasons in league one now the assets (talented players) have run out either on the balance sheet or on the pitch.

you’d be mad to take that liability on

I’m totally disenchanted by the management of the club but feel (against my better judgement) that I need to do my bit to keep supporting them.

 

I think they’re suggesting that the club made a fairly decent amount in player sales last season (at least 7 million?) and that money seemingly wasn’t all used to reinvest in players, but the owners still had to put money in to keep the club going. That’s how I interpreted it anyway.

 

Bang on mate.

 

Ahh, fair enough mate. Cheers. If this is the case, it's been explained several times by far more knowledgeable people than me.

 

The club needed money to operate and allowed the club to meet FFP.

If you go to Companies House website and read the accounts, it is patently obvious why money needed to be put in. The transfers from last summer will offset operating losses for 23/24 season.

If these owners were to go either the new owner needs to pump in £5m for next years’ operating loss or cut the wage bill by the same amount.

After putting in over £20m, in purchase price and ongoing funding and faced with another £5m liability for next year they may well be questioning why as well.

 

Yeah. It’s not cheap running a football club and the accounts are pretty eye-opening.

However, when cash is tight, buying loads of cheaper players in the hope they’ll come good isn’t necessarily the best strategy. It’s easy to forget how many players are on the books.

 

People should be very careful what they wish for, especially in the absence of clear alternatives. The overwhelming number of people on here were completely wrong in wanting Conway and co in....

 

Most people know there’s little money to be made in football. It’s usually why the owners are fans with more money than sense.

There’s a saying isn’t there? How to become a millionaire. Be a billionaire and invest in a football club.

 

Yes 100% time to go but as Chef tyke says, it's an expensive hobby. Who is willingly going to put their own money into a black hole with very little chance of a return.

They are investors that want to buy cheap and sell at a profit, i get that. But I think they saw the coin received for Mads, Kitching etc and got giddy, thought they were playing football manager and it has absolutely not gone to plan. They got very close tho if you look at it objectively.

But yes, not good enough on all levels. But the personal abuse is absolutely disgracefu.

 

The majority wanted them in because they were under the impression they were loaded and willing to invest in the club.

 

The club has minimal debt, the owners have introduced equity, not debt with the main debt being the £3m in a soft loan to the Crynes as part of the legal settlement. The issue new owners face is funding year on year operating losses.

As you say the only answer is a massive cut to the wage bill or unearthing the next John Stones.

 

They won’t keep funding it mate anyway. The post isn’t made purely about financials anyway although I do take your point.

It’s more to do with how the club have been run. The amount of staff turnover is unreal in one season. The communication is very poor between the club and fans and they’ve had 2 full seasons at it now. It shouldn’t be getting worse.

I get that people make mistakes but these mistakes keep happening more frequently now than ever.

I just don’t believe them anymore.

There’s a massive bridge they have now to build back trust that they bulldozed themselves into.

 

The signs were there that that in itself wasnt true, and that they'd tried to buy other clubs bigger than us and failed. But the idea of becoming a club inflated by owners tens of millions and trying to buy success was clearly too much for some.