Maybe we aren't that bad...

And it's poor coaching and fitness that's done us.

Under Duff and to a lesser extent Collins we were coherent and did the ugly stuff quite well.

Under Clarke we do the lovely stuff exquisitely at times but they're still running behind the ugly f uc kers to put a tackle in.

Anyway it's Connor's problem not mine. Thank f c UK lol.

 

I think we *are* that bad.

As you rightly point out, our team is soft, and gets done over by teams who can do the 'ugly' part of the game. Increasingly I think we've seen opponents recognise that. Whilst in the long term you can coach players to be more physical, determined, pick up 2nd balls, track back etc, you can't do that in the months you have in the job as Barnsley manager. So if your players are lacking in that regard, you're done for.

If you can't adapt the players short term, you can only adapt the system and style of play. Collins tried to do that, to give us more possession with the intent that having players with better ability on the ball would lead to chances created and results. The crowd decided that wasn't for them, and got him sacked despite achieving relative success.

To go forward for me now, we need to sell our best players to give us a budget to get the complete opposite type of players in - grafters who have limited ability but can be greater than the sum of their parts.

 

The trouble is mate that I don’t think there’s going to be many buyers for any of our better players. DKD maybe but he’s no spring chicken.

We’ve tried to flog Phillips in Jan and he wanted to leave and no offers, or at least not of note.

Connell not the same player now.

So not sure how we’re going to raise much money.

 

Our ability to find young hungry players who can put themselves in the shop window and become part of the sustainable revenue generation for the future has diminished alongside many other things. We have to find a way to break this downward spiral in multiple areas. Putting money to one side, do the board and owners have this ability? Do we have a business model or is it a case of not having the ability to execute it?

 

There’s some games where we look okay and there’s games where we look non league.

We do seem to be lacking fitness and some players seem to be “blowing” quite quickly.

We also make a lot of silly mistakes. Decision making, tackles, passes, standing off people.

 

I think it’s not about how hard we work, it’s about not working smart enough. A lot of energy is wasted due to reacting to situations we’ve created ourselves due to things like poor passing, positioning, lack of anticipation etc. Stop doing the basics wrong as often as we do and I’m sure it will be much improved

 

Duplicate post

 

DKD has to be worth £2m even at nearly 28. Phillips not much less at a similar age. Agree that Connell doesn’t have much value these days. £4m (or most of) spent wisely could build a very good L1 team. Trouble is if Mladen is still here…..

 

If you look at this team now, it's an average league 1 side. We have rare glimpses of quality, but poor application. Lots of individual mistakes and a lack of organisation and cohesion as a team.

If you up fitness levels and improve organisation and put two average to decent defenders either side of Roberts, then add a player up top who can hold the ball up, I think you have a play off side.

Despite all the negatives, we have to look at the league and say we're not that far off the play offs which shows how poor a league its been. Big names, yes. Good teams, no.

 

I’d also say we need a workhorse in midfield. A no nonsense grafter in the mould of a young Josh Scowen.

 

I think if you improve fitness and organisation, Connell could do that job. Obviously we'll have to see what happens in the summer, but I'd expect our squad to have a decent shake up and scalping, whether we can offload the still in contract fracture points like MDG and Earl, I'm not too sure.

 

Doubt we’d be able to shift MDG and Earl. Both really poor signings.

 

Trouble is, losses for next season already estimated at £8-£10m... so not sure any of it would go into the team.

 

Don’t understand those losses at all. Who is on big money? If we sell DKD and Phillips and Benson is out of contract there’s only Connell who might be on a high end contract. Makes no sense….

 

That statement of an £8-10m loss was his stand out comment, amid a sea of nonsense and contradiction.

What I really really really don't understand, is how we can be aiming to lose yet still more money. He's top ending the loss at £10m, when previously £8m was cited. Where had £2m of extra costs come from, and given the ever weakening of our squad, how are costs still tracking upwards?

It was expectation of many that we were making an effort to rein costs in somehow and player wages would be lower than prior seasons. Yes we have a bloated unbalanced squad, and shaving 5 or more off that would help, but surely that wouldn't cut that much? If we released say Aiden Marsh... he's not going to be on mega bucks at all. Releasing Cosgrove would save a bit, but if he's on say £5k a week, that's around £250k a year plus extras and er's NI. Firstly I'd hope he was on nothing close to that, but secondly, cutting 5 players at that level would be a saving of less than £1.5m. Of fringe players, we shouldn't have anyone remotely close to that. So where on earth are £10m of losses coming from?

I just can't get my head around these massive losses. Are we massively increasing our exec spend? Are we massively overpaying on player wages? I really can't work these numbers out. But what I do know. The losses should be coming down, not going up.

 

think u r dead right -end of season -there will be very little interest with any of our current squad= management prob hopied to sell 1 or 2 in january for income but gyess what?

 

Exactly, it doesn’t stack up at all. The likes of Farrugia, Cotter, MDG, Gent etc will all be on low wages. Cosgrove, Humphrys, Benson and most likely DKD and Phillips will all be off in the summer. Plus Pines who might be on a decent wage. All makes little sense.

 

We keep sacking managers - what’s the cost of that?

It honestly shouldn’t be that hard to get a football club back to a balanced budget - if you can’t afford it then don’t do it.

It might make the team worse, but it won’t bankrupt the club. This is Yorkshire, not Vegas.

 

How are we losing so much money?

I'd guess sacking another manager and paying him up. Spending 500k on safe standing. Increased NI contributions.

And then possibly reduced income from season ticket and match day ticket sales. I'd guess match day income in general is down too, very rare there's a queue for food or drink at the kiosks this season (and it's not because the staff have become more efficient). Reduced kit sales - there doesn't seem to be as many replica kits in the stands (that's purely anecdotal, but they don't seem to be as popular).

 

Thinking on, why does it cost so much to sack a manager anyway? We only appoint them on a rolling 12 month contract don't we for these reasons? Or has this changed?

I'd love to be able to go for a pint with Neerav, reckon he has good intentions but he's made some very poor decisions.