Chinese Takeover

I actually didn't realise that. I suppose I assumed as much as he's still relatively inexperienced in football league management. Just read he's been a manager since 2001. Christ.

 

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I think I probably would give up on the club and go watch Church, or just give up on the lot of it altogether.

I think there are a lot of myopic posts on here. Yes the club is a business, but primarily, first and foremost, it should always be a sporting entity. The daft money brought in by both foreign and domestic investors is ruining the game and it's nothing short of cheating. By going forward with this we become another part of the problem, a club bereft of integrity, and I don't want anything to do with Investment Portfolio FC. Apparently some people reckon this will help prevent the best players from leaving. Barcelona lost Neymar this summer, the ladder will always go in both directions and using money to jump up a few rungs won't change the reality of the situation. Perhaps you can start losing players to Chelsea and City instead of Aston Villa and Wednesday. Exciting times.

 

Why the assumption that we aim to buy success?

I don't think that's necessarily the case.

 

Personally would rather spend millions on a fit for purpose west stand than players.It would be beneficial to us all and won't leave us in the next transfer window.

 

Again, I have no agenda on this. However, either we are self funding, as we're trying to be currently or we have someone put substantially more money in. Presumably anyone with serious money coming in would look to seriously invest. That would send us down the route of buying success. I'm not set against it though I do feel that success would be tempered by the knowledge that we'd not done it entirely under our own steam.

 

In my view we have to deal with the cold hard facts . Since it's inception in 1887 under the Reverend Tiverton Preedy the Club has had fourteen different Chairmen/Owners. The present incumbent Patrick Cryne has co-owned the Club with Barnsley MBC since 2003 and unfortunately has a terminal illness. He has stated on numerous occasions over the last 5 or so of those 14 years , that should a suitable person/ persons step forward able to demonstrate to him that he/they are wanting to do it for
the right motives with the best interests of the Club at heart he would sell.

A Chinese billionaire domiciled for 30 years in the United States of America Mr Chien Lee and a naturalised American businessman Mr Paul Conway are now in advanced talks to buy the Club. The take over seems to be along similar lines to that of French League 1 Club OG Nice in that Lee and Conway would have an 80% holding and Mr Cryne would retain 20%.

It is likely that the present Board, back office team, CEO, Manager and coaching staff would all remain in place.
There are no other alternatives on the table for Mr Cryne to consider at the moment and it is alleged that when anything
happens to him no one from within his own family seems to want to take the Club over- so what does he do.?

Does he just leave things as they are now and when he's no longer around leave it to his business and legal representatives
to find a buyer , or does he negotiate a sensible sale himself to two reputable US based businessmen and having done his due diligence checks via his legal representatives and in satisfying the stringent conditions laid down by the overarching English Football hierarchy sell it to the Consortium he is currently dealing with.

The answer would appear to be the latter and as the information is now in the public
domain it sounds as though in a matter of weeks the takeover will be complete and as fans, like it or hate it, we've got two choices . We can either walk away or get behind it. Whatever we do with Patrick Cryne being terminally ill a new regime would have to happen at some future point anyway . On the face of it Mr Cryne has no other alternatives and I would imagine he's agonised over whether he's doing the right thing. Let's hope his decision is rewarded by many years of
sensible investment and growth because save for any last minute hitch, it's going to happen.

 

thats the point though ,we are already using someones money , we haven't been doing anything under our own steam for a very long while now. its like saying paddy crynes money is ok but not "an other" investor.

 

We can still do things without there being a one way flow of money.

We currently average below 14,000 in a stadium that holds 24,000.

There is room for someone to speculate on getting the imagination of the fans, and vastly improving revenue streams into the club.

Barnsley football club has much more potential than just "bloodying" the odd nose now and again, and being a big club in league one.

 

We've just generated something in the region of 15 milion in the last 12 months or so. The current plan was designed to remove the need for Patrick's support and was working.
Regardless of whether you like that plan or not we are not currently reliant on Patrick Cryne.

 

i love the plan , its doomed to failure however and its pretty obvious it generates a promotion / relegation cycle if we are very very lucky. If we aren't it ensures we stay in league 1.

As for PC he's the effective guarantor of the plan. if we dont unearth a diamond in this latest lot of players who makes up the shortfall?

 

Maybe an influx of money that fired a prolonged period of time in the top flight would, eventually, produce an increased fanbase.
That would be a significant benefit.
Again, I'm not opposed to new investment. I do think we will lose something along the way but you have to move with the times I guess.

 

Good post

 

Can't argue with that. The plan maintains us at the level we've always existed. Realistically, to inhabit a bigger pond we need extra cash.

 

interesting times ahead one way or another!

 

How long do you think this "plan" will last? How long before bigger clubs start waking up, a bit like Wednesday head hunting our academy staff or the fact that Leicester took our Chester target from under our noses... we copied the plan from Brentford, how are they doing? Having just posted a £7.5 million loss and sat at the foot of the table.

 

In the absence of a major investor the only alternative to the plan was unrealistic spending. If that had ended in the club going under would those unsatisfied with life in the Championship or League One been happy to have watched us restart in non league after going bust?

 

Im not talking about unrealistic spending, i'm talking about the difference between the "plan" and a takeover by a Chinese billionaire. The plan has a limited lifespan

 

Without decent players to attract the fans, it would be a waste of money

 

Reading some of the posts, I wonder if there is another AFC Barnsley in the offing?

 

Possibly. It currently is our only option. If we get major investment it will probably be consigned to the scrapheap anyway.