Club ownership - straw poll

With there being quite a few rumblings of discontent on here with the role played by the current ownership, in particular the perceived distance between the club and the fans ("customers"), the subject of fan ownership cropped up in another thread. Obviously this is currently all pie in the sky, but anyway I'm interested to know

1) Would a fan owned club make you feel that your relationship with BFC was stronger?
2) Would you be willing to make a significant financial contribution to help fund a fan-led buyout, bearing in mind your likely return on investment?
3) Would you be interested in participating in the day to day running of the club?
4) Would you be willing to drop into the 4th tier as a likely consequence of the transition period?

My answers quickly -

1) Yes
2) Yes
3) Theoretically yes, though time and currently distance are barriers. Plus I don't know the first thing about running a football club. Russian scout?
4) I guess yes if it was for the greater long-term good, though I wouldn't like it.

 

Yes to them all but if it was run by BFCST then no.

 

1. Yes
2. Yes although I wouldnt pay any money to buy the club with no assets. Any funding from me would come on the condition that the land returns.
3. Day to day? No. Occasional yes
4. Yes, though I don't see it as a necessity

 

1 No

2 No

3 No

4 id still watch em in the 4th anyway..

 

1. Yes

2. No

3. No

4. Yes

 

1) Yes

2) Yes as said previously the land to return though

3) No

4) No

 

Yes
Yes - depending on what significant means and the land being part of the deal
Yes
Yes

 

No, no, no and no.

 

I suppose what constitutes "significant" is very subjective. I would guess that for most people anything in excess of £500 would be deemed so. Though for others, a contribution of £5000 or more might present no significant problems as far as their financial wellbeing goes. Even for those lucky enough to be in such a position, whether they could justify sinking that much in to themselves and their families is another matter entirely. I reckon I'd have great difficulty explaining why I thought such a scheme was a decent use of even a grand to my missus, and rightly so - that's return airline tickets to New York for the whole family. In her position I know where I'd rather see the money being used.

 

Why not JD, if you don't mind me asking? Just interested as you were one of those posting yesterday about how you felt your relationship with the club was fading.

 

Yes
Yes
Possibly
No but if it meant a brighter future I could live with it

 

The main reasons are:

* I can't say whether a fan owned club would be a good thing or not as I have no knowledge of how it would realistically work
* I don't have any spare money so I wouldn't be able to invest (and again I'm not entirely sure that it is a good thing anyway)
* I don't have any time to spend on the day to day running of the club (and I don't see how all fans who wanted to could realistically do that without everything taking ages to debate and decide upon)

...and as I couldn't answer yes to points 1-3, I couldn't very well see point 4 being worth it.

 

I was referring mostly to point 1 to be honest - I wouldn't dream of questioning why people wouldn't give up even more their precious time and money to help BFC, as to me it's self explanatory!

I also have very little idea as to how it would work and indeed how well it would work. However, it's something I'm curious about, as sooner or later there will come a time when Patrick Cryne is no longer in charge of our club, and by then some sort of viable alternative will need to be in place.

 

Yes to all for me.

 

1. Yes
2. Would need to know how much?
3. No
4. We're on way there anyway

 

No to nearly all for me.

1) I don't think my personal experience of bfc would change in the slightest, the way I feel about the club is driven purely by results/performances.

2) No chance, other than my ST money every year.

3) No. I don't live near barnsley so it'd be a non - starter.

4) Que sera sera (whatever the ownership structure)

 

For the purposes of working out how much the average fan will have to put in, how much do you think would be needed for a buy out? £5m, £10m? Whats the annual operating costs? £3m, £4m?
Bearing in mind a good chunk of the folks currently turning up at oakwell are either kids, or havent got two washers to rub together, or are completely against the idea, youll be lucky to get more than 2000 sticking their hands in their pockets, so thats £500 per person for every £1m needed

 

Not sure many realise it's well above £500k a month to run. You're gonna need A LOT of fans parting with cash when times and good and times are bad.

 

We are losing well over £500 a month? Wow how badly are we being run?