Hecky says....

This is a great post.
I know your strap line is 'patience', but in the case of this post it should be 'perspective'.
Well written.

 

I agree.
I think I'm going to follow your approach on the subject matter, old mate.
For what it's worth, I'm still enjoying yesterday's impressive victory.

 

Where to start with this? Can I even be bothered I ask myself- but I will bite on a couple of things.

Fulham finished sixth and Reading finished third. Did Reading take more risks than Fulham or vice versa? It doesn't really matter. They both missed out on automatic promotion but got themselves another bite of the cherry. It paid off for neither of them. Same as it could have done for us. We took zero risk and willingly gave up that opportunity.

You say I should support my club. I do. More than you do. We've been over this. I give the club more than you do and will for years to come.

You have stood on the terraces of probably 30 clubs no longer in the league? Well that would make sense as it's about 30 years since they introduced relegation. What's your point? I should be grateful we're not York City? I'd rather aspire to be Burnley.

I was about to respond to another point but I think I've had enough.

 

BigLil is right. The FA refused Doyle's application to take us out of Administration on the grounds that some of
our Creditors had not been paid. Doyle therefore entered talks with Peter Ridsdale with Patrick Cryne in the
background and once the finances were sorted out and the FA were satisfied with their due diligence checks
the Club exited Administration under Risdale/Cryne's custodianship.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/b/barnsley/2968526.stm

 

Exactly my sentiments. With the Club in a position to have a real go at the play offs, you would be right to
ask the question, why would the owner start selling our best players. ? At the time it was not possible to answer.
When I was working, I sometimes used to wonder why some Companies would suddenly start quoting really low
margins to win Contracts. Not long after the answer became clear, they were involved in a sort of " beauty parade" to make themselves attractive in the hope that one of their larger rival Companies would take them over.

In our case, I firmly believe that as well as players refusing new contracts and knowing his unfortunate prognosis
Patrick Cryne knew with the lack of appetite from within his own family to keep the Club on, he had no alternative but to
make us as attractive as possible to any possible new owners.

By recouping his outlay by way of player sales, with the Club being in the Championship with a manageable debt profile, that's precisely what has happened, but it's quite natural for us to speculate what could have happened if we had managed to hold on to Mawson,Winnall , Hourihane and Bree. Sadly, we'll never know the answer to that question.

 

Surely the club would be a better proposition with a higher league place and player assets rather than a balance sheet?

 

I'd never back against Hecky, so maybe we would have made the playoffs and got promoted. But that goes against the games I'd seen up to the end of January. I didn't see us as capable, even with the players who left. Just a few days before they went, we drew 0-0 and lost 2-1 to Blackpool and looked horrific. We were well beaten at Fulham with Conor still here. This isn't knocking that side, it was very good on its day. But top six and then playoff winners? I didn't feel it.

I was gutted that players left though, because they were good players. Same again this summer with a few. We'd experienced special things with them, built relationships. But that's the downside of success for us as a club. Bigger ones then pilfer us. And these players aren't Reds like we are. They have families, careers, ambitions.

I believe we did the right thing on every player we sold or let go. It meant taking two steps back, granted. Hecky will say the same. But in the long run it was done to then leap forward. Will that happen? Dunno. But having read the prediction thread on Friday for Millwall, I'm in the minority who back this squad and Hecky. More talent in this squad than that fabled last one. They're just learning and developing at a higher level.

Big month ahead now. Exciting times (I know folk love that). You Reds etc.

 

I get that Conan does not like to see us take a backward step. It is, nevertheless, an unrealistic position if you are a fan of a club like the one that we support. Whether we like it or not, we are never going to challenge near the top of the Premier League. We have to be good at what we do, simply to compete. We are good at finding young and promising players in lower divisions, improving them, developing a team and getting results that are better than our limited resources would indicate are par. We will always be a selling club to some extent. We have to be because our support cannot produce the revenue that the team needs to survive in a league of rich benefactors and parachute payments. We have to compete in a different way, and the way that we have chosen appears to be successful based upon the last 3 years. Conan wants to throw that model away and replace it with the Viv Nicholson school of management. He wants to do that in spite of the evidence of the past that suggests it will lead to bankruptcy and closure.

Like yourself, I have a lot of faith in the management and staffs at Oakwell, but if we are to succeed in the difficult task of maintaining our place in the second tier, let alone have ambitions to rise to the top tier, we really must be patient.

 

Well I'd have to say no to that - given that Mr Cryne's strategy produced a buyer within a few months

 

Great point CT. Trouble is without being party to the actual facts, we can only speculate around what
the true reasons for selling players were. We know that Conor and Josh refused new terms probably because
their agents had told them of interest " elsewhere". As somebody has already said, Winnall looks to have "engineered "
his move and when Marley asked for a transfer, it was likely he was going to go at the end of the season anyway.
Deep down probably Mawson and Bree were the only two who were sold due to what we were offered by
way of decent fees, but unless we are told why it needed to happen, we will never know.

 

Funny how we've not been able to find a buyer in fourteen years then just when we need one hey presto.

 

We've not found one yet. Well, not until Thursday anyway.

 

I'll rephrase that as "interested party".

 

For the avoidance of doubt, my post was obviously a "dig", but not at you!

 

I don't think you're in the minority mate.