new owner Peter Doyle last night hinted that he could walk away from Oakwell

BARNSLEY'S new owner Peter Doyle last night hinted that he could walk away from Oakwell unless supporters get behind his revival plan and halt a growing whispering campaign.

Town mayor Doyle should have been hailed as a hero last month after his 2.8m move saved the struggling Second Division club from closure.

Yet eyebrows were raised by talk of development on land around Oakwell and his refusal to guarantee the future of the club's academy.


The Football League are still refusing to approve his takeover unless debts are paid to all existing creditors.

Last night Doyle, speaking ahead of today's creditors' meeting, said: "People are always looking for ulterior motives but there are none. Why should there be?

"I'm already getting stick from my family, asking me whether or not I need all the hassle. I am not looking for pats on the back but I do need support."

Although Doyle has retained the services of chairman John Dennis, as yet his new board only includes his son and daughter.

Creditors are queuing up for money owed from the previous regime but Doyle is unwilling to dip again into his own money.


The club will have to use their existing assets to generate more income, he insists, and that could mean building on the 20 acres of land used for car parking round Oakwell.

There is also a danger that he will not linger if supporters are not prepared to embrace his vision of the club's future.

"Make no mistake, without me right now there would be no football club," he warned.

"But if I don't get any help, I will hand the club back. If anyone is prepared to pay me pound-for-pound what I have just paid, they can have the club. I may even come down in price."


Outlining his proposals for paying off the club's 1.28m debt and increasing the bank balance, Doyle said: "The only way we can support this club is by 'sweating' the assets, making them work for the club, not letting them stand there as a big monument to whenever.

"We have areas where development probably can take place – the Unitary Development Plan shows that. That development will sustain football at Oakwell if we are not getting people through the gates.

"If it is building houses, you have to look at how many and how much, for sale or rent?" he added.

"This area is eligible for a nightclub or a hotel. There is office space on this land, too. The academy cannot be a sacred cow. It costs over 700,000 a year to run but 80 per cent of it is stood doing nothing."

Administrator Matthew Dunham, who is set to adjourn the creditors' meeting for 10 days, re-affirmed his view that the club was safe.


"Everything Peter Doyle has said to me indicates that the club is now in safe hands," he said.

"His plans for developing the club's assets make a lot of common sense.

"We didn't go into great details about his intentions because my priority was getting the best price for the club.

"However, the situation would have been far worse had a property developer come in with a bigger offer than Doyle's.

"They might have wanted to simply shut the club down and build houses and I would have been legally required to accept that offer," he said.

Creditors are likely to be offered a settlement of 10p in the pound with the taxman and HM Customs and Excise sitting at the front of the queue and owed 656,332.

Huddersfield Town, Sunderland and Fulham are owed a total of 129,452 for the transfers of Dean Gorre, Chris Lumsdon and Kevin Betsy.

Builders still want over 73,000 for work on stadium development and there is a debt for match-day security and policing of 54,386 as well as hundreds of other small creditors.

"I am an honourable man and if someone is owed money they will get it," Doyle said.

"But I am not a philanthropist and I cannot do it on my own."

Only time will tell if Doyle and Barnsley can emerge as a winning team but a spokesman for the Barnsley Supporters' Club said the new owner had attended three "constructive meetings" since taking charge.

He added: "If selling the car park can make the difference between dropping down to the Conference and getting back to the Premier League, I know what the majority of supporters would take."


w

 

Doyle
Matt Done 'Em
"sweating the assets"

Sobering thoughts.

 

During these impatient times and unnecessary calls for the managers head, donny tyke your post tells a frightening story of where we have come from in our not so distant past. We should be thankful we are still surviving. It puts pretty much everything in perspective for me.
I spit my thumb at those calling for Patrick to go. I really do; and Patrick if you do read this, for Gods sake, keep on showing the faith. We owe you and with this young bright and astute manager we will move forward. It may take time but we will.
Trust.
Faith.
Patience.
Build it and they will come.
Red tide rising.

 

You could have got yoursen... errrr..... severely chastised for posting that a few years ago. Thank yor lucky stars

 

Never understood the people saying Cryne should sell us to someone else, he should have a statue outside Oakwell but the Doyle/Cryne comparisons have nothing to do with LJ's ****ing abysmal football.


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No one on here is calling for Patrick Cryne to go.
It is Patrick Cryne that is wanting to go.

His intentions from the start, and I heard him say this himself, said 'I am here to stabilise the club and will sell the club at the first opportunity'.

Patrick Cryne wears his heart on his sleeve and we all know that he loves Barnsley Football Club.

However.............three things in my opinion:

1) It seems he doesn't have enough money to 'stabilise' the club in the Championship.
Which is extremely unfortunate, because he is the ideal candidate to run the club because of his love for the club (or could this be a disadvantage?).

2) Although he has appointed some good managers he has chopped and changed those managers repeatedly, so over the period he has been in charge, nothing on the field has been built. We are not seeing an improvement in how the team plays from one season to the next.

3) Nothing off the field has been built. The infra-structure of the club more or less remains the same since Patrick took over.

So although Patrick Cryne has done a fantastic job generally in saving the club - in my opinion he is well overdue doing what he initially set out to do - and that's selling the club on to someone or an organisation that has the capacity to take the club forward.
That is to say - priming the pump, improving the team and from this getting the fans back that we have lost over this last 10 years.

 

Spot on that mate, just wanna see the club moving forward. Sick of watching crap and no progress over the last decade.

 

good grief. FOR THE LAST TIME - THERE ISNT ANYBODY until one of us wins the lottery. twice, prefferably separate roll overs