I don't want the board to inject money into the club for the purchase of players and to pay player wages. I never have done. I want us to operate in the black. I don't want us to stop searching out young talented players who have the potential to increase in value. But I want that to be more targeted. If we need a left back we look for a left back, we don't sign four more strikers. There is space in the squad for a sprinkling of players who may not increase in value. Having a centre half, a central midfielder and a centre forward with experience and leadership skills, who are strong and robust and will give you 40 games a season, can help you win football games and help bring on the younger players which will increase their value. I don't mean world beaters, I'm not talking about spending lots of money, I mean dependable professionals like Bobby Hassell, Stephen Foster, Jon Macken. Oakwell is an assett for the town. It's falling into ruin. If any investment is required it needs to go there. If refreshment outlets were adequately staffed serving locally sourced food and decent beer at reasonable prices I'd spend twenty quid every week. As a business, when you have the facilities, doesn't it make sense to attempt to get me to do that? We'll not always win football games. But if it looks like that's the objective, if you don't price us out of buying tickets, if you provide a pleasant environment, if you give us something worthy of spending our money on, we'll come and watch and buy your stuff. We don't expect to win, but we expect to try to win. Let's try to be winners.
It sounds so very simple when you put it like that. It also makes perfect sense from both a footballing and business perspective. If the CEO job ever becomes vacant again, you've got my vote, Jay.
Correct. Investment needs to go into infrastructure as that will add value to the club and attract fans and more investors. It’s a no loose situation. Regarding players - continue to balance the budget but sign wisely, smaller squad but more quality. Add experience too. i don’t see where any investment is going to come from though. Khaled and Zuk are employees of the club so hardly would want to put money into the club. The unknown investors haven’t put any money in before so don’t see why they would now. I’d be surprised if the Cryne’s put much money in as Patrick did zero to improve the ground or facilities when he was in charge. Delighted Conway and Lee have gone. Hopefully the new board will communicate better with the fans and make decisions that will benefit the club and the supporters. I fail to see how our finances will improve though
I would like to see the Crynes meet with the council and recognise between them that they are joint owners of a facility that cost millions of pounds, that is a huge assett to the community and as custodians they have a responsibility for its upkeep. They receive a considerable amount of rent from the club which could be used to improve facilities without having to use any money from their own resources. Use the income from the rent on Oakwell and keep their investment in excellent condition.
I know I keep bleating about it, but I’d love Oakwell to be registered by the Club as an ACV. Would be a very symbolic gesture. Fk knows if it’s legally possible like, with how things are carved up. But if it is, I’d love to see it happen.
I think those conversations have already started with Khaled. This week's events can only help that though.
Similar to what Gally replied with, the wheels are in motion on this. After meeting with Dan Jarvis a few weeks ago, I'm confident that an extremely frosty relationship was thawing out nicely and starting to feel really productive. The announcement today will only help with this. A new lease, with guaranteed up front investment from the council to arrest some of the decline, is a lot more realistic now I think.
The council only own 50%. And given the economic situation we're in , I don't expect upfront investment to benefit foreign owners/investors. The rent is very reasonable for a football club, including good training facilities in site. look at the state of Swillsboro, look at the rent that Mel Morris wants to charge for Pride Park.
I guess in the short term we need to add a willingness to underwrite short term losses to keep us solvent, because player trading and ST sales alone won't cover it. But I agree with every other word. Re: the Council, Conway was always the problem there so his removal makes for a fresh start. 'They' saw him for what he is from day 1, and we ought to be very grateful they did.
That’s not how commercial renewals tend to work in the main Helen. The discussion isn’t about whether they’ll be up front investment or not on the lease renewal, it’s more what the figure should be.
Here's an additional hope or two from me. In terms of Chien Lee's personal holdings in the club I hope he now sees the lack of opportunity for short term profit added to his loss of prestige as the figurehead of the owners and decides to sell his shares and get out. I also hope that Nareev Parekh is involved more out of a love of football than for pure profit and that his now stronger position within the club does indeed indicate he wants to do what his statement yesterday suggests. Finbers are well and truly crossed.
I agree with much of what you have written here. However, my own posts prior to this announcement have dealt with the underlying fundamentals governing the economics and finances of running football clubs. I feel that there are more announcements to come prior to the press conference on the 27th May, but so far, there has been nothing to change those basic economics or our underlying finances. If the new board is to turn things around, I feel and injection of new money is required, and at the moment, I do not see where that new money is coming from, particularly as the injection of new money in the form of share capital potentially changes the delicate balance of power between the shareholders. There is much still to happen, and I do not have enough information to write constructively about things yet, so I plan to keep quiet on here until I do. I hope things will resolve for the best, but I never saw Paul Conway as quite the bogeyman that others did, so I do not see the changes that have been made to date in quite the same light.
You can when the building you’re about to sign a renewal on hasn’t had any investment from the owners for 20 years.
Cloud cuckoo land there Ben . Residents starving, the elderly dying or the council putting money into a stadium they don't benefit from. At best the rent would have to increase substantially for that upfront investment..
As the statement clearly notes change in ownership at the investment company level. To a level which has allowed change to be made... Isnt it possible that extra funds have been injected as share capital, which in turn could be injected into the club? I'm not suggesting 10s of millions, but enough to stave off the immediate threat of us being totally incapacitated before they even get going on changes they want to make.
