Patrick Cryne's comments in today Chronicle.

For those on here who have recently complained about the prices at Oakwell, and those that have exhorted BFC to sign some more players (centre-halves mainly!) - the comments that Patrick made mid-week, and reported in today's Chron bear reproduction.

I quote...

"If you look purely at the financial figures, Barnsley Football Club is an incredibly poor business proposition.
It exists as a charity which sometimes produces a result for the public. The club has got a lot of financial problems to overcome before it can be run under its own funding. It is going to be a couple or years or more before that happens. It is improving but it is now financially parlous. If it was not for my financial input, it would go back into administration. The best thing any football club outside the Premiership can aspire to is being self-funding."

Those comments would seem to go some way to explaining the reasons for the current pricing policy at the club, and the tight rein held on the players' budget.

It's not an attribute that anybody can readily give to Barnsley fans - but it would seem that 'patience' is the keyword for supporters at present.

 

Excellent

There's nowt wrong with coming out and telling it as things are.

Now, did he also give any indication as to what BFC are doing to get money in ?

 

Or no

let's just say we're skint

or probably the sole idea is to put prices up. Although I do not say that PC said that

We are grateful to him for his philanthropy. He out of us all is not an "if" man.

 

It also said the comments were made tongue in cheek.

 

RE: Excellent

Speaking of which.... what's this new marketing manager done with his time thus far? Any ground-breaking ideas to get the fans flooding back in?

Has he looked at doing 'kid for a quid?' Has he ever heard of the saying: "Every empty seat at a football ground is a failure of the directors?" (somebody said that, God knows who?)

What is he doing to tempt back our thousands of lapsed supporters, let alone the next generation? The official website - when is that going to improve? The online shop? What about new and exciting products in the club shop, for that matter? Publicising the club across the wider community?

Why should I support Barnsley and not Wednesday? What's he done to convince me that Oakwell is the place to be, where I can watch a football club going onto better things? Has he instilled a sense of community pride in would-be supporters? The feeling that if I don't go to Oakwell, I'm missing out on something?

Someone on here (or it might have been the old BBS, but you know what I mean) came up with a brilliant idea. Sell x amount of season tickets and get a few quid back from the club. Then the remainder go at that lower price. (I think it was something like that!)


So sell 10,000 season tickets at £300 and get £100 back from the club. The remaining season tickets then go at the £200 rate. It'd fill the ground as well as giving people something to talk about during the close season. Bit late now, I know. The point is, if an ordinary fan can come up with this sort of stuff, why can't the people actually employed by the football club?

What, in short, has the marketing manager delivered in terms of additional pounds and pence?

Anybody?

 

I have no doubt that Patrick Cryne's comments are correct

And I don't think any of us can thank him enough for the finances he has put in to the club.

However, I'm not sure that justifies the current pricing policy as you have claimed in the above post. It is not necessarily the case that if a company charges more then they make more money. There comes a time when a section of the customers are priced out of the market completely while others consider that the product no longer offers value for money and choose not to buy. The result is fewer customers. Those that still attend games may be paying more but the overall income is down.

Match tickets at Barnsley are expensive compared to the majority of clubs in this league. This is particularly true for juvenile tickets and tickets in the family area. If parents cannot afford to bring youngsters then the future for this football club does not look too rosy, as the next generation of support just won't be there.

And lets not forget that without the £millions the fans spend each year at Oakwell there would be no club either. Barnsley FC continues to operate due to the combined sum of the finances we bring to the club and what Mr Cryne puts in. I think the manner in which 1000s of fans have continued to back the club through some desperately disappointing years is often overlooked. I don't think the reward for this should be ever increasing admission.

I would also question whether we could afford to bring in so many players during the summer of 2004 if finances were so tight, while at the same time releasing other players (and a manager), a number of whom we continued to pay a wage. Particularly when the players released helped to achieve more points and a higher league position in the 2003/2004 season than did their replacements in the 2004/2005 season. Not all of the financial problems at Barnsley are due to what happened before our time in administration.

 

RE: Excellent

Barnsley or Wednesday PAH !!!!! I was with you until then !!!</p>

 

Without wishing to threaten, insult or defame any individual

or the the club..........

I e-mailed the club in the close season with some observations regarding prices, incentives etc.

The response I got was, shall we say, less than warm in my opinion. I'm not saying any of what I said was ground breaking or particularly fantastic, but other clubs seem to do that type of thing, why not us ?

 

Schools in the Barnsley area

should ban any mention of any other football club than Barnsley. Any Barnsley born parent taking their kids to other Football Clubs should have those children taken from them.

I'm not joking.

 

RE: Excellent

You know what I mean.

If I'm at school or whatever, and have no allegiance to either team, for example?

What is there to tempt me to the 'Well and not the Sty?

Anyway, stop being pedantic. Yer bugger.

 

RE: I have no doubt that Patrick Cryne's comments are correct

Law of diminishing returns mate !!</p>

Bold step required regarding pricing policy, particularly Student/young people and match day tickets. Udders did £14 /£7 last year, why can't we ?</p>

Also, I'd question whether we could afford to bring in so many players in 2004 but we were in Publcity Pete's financial la-la land at the time !</p>

Oh by the way good post IMO.</p>

Dave</p>

 

RE: Without wishing to threaten, insult or defame any individual

You're saying they ignored/patronised you?

Why does that not surprise me with BFC?

I used to feel like part of the club. Now I'm just somebody being ripped off and taken for granted.

Oh well, at least you tried!

(

 

Calling BFC a charity is incorrectamundo. Has Glenda told advised him he could be sued for such statments?

 

"It exists as a charity"

Well, we've given enough games away over recent years.

 

RE: I have no doubt that Patrick Cryne's comments are correct

I must say I agree with you and Jay...

Charging higher prices doesn't mean more income.

 

RE: I have no doubt that Patrick Cryne's comments are correct

Depends on the elastic demand of the product.

Get in. I knew GCSE Economics would have some use

 

RE: I have no doubt that Patrick Cryne's comments are correct

I've just done an Economics degree so for once I have some idea what's going on ff

 

"the elastic demand of the product"

Are we selling pants?

 

RE: "the elastic demand of the product"

Talking them, mainly.

 

RE: "the elastic demand of the product"

It's actually the 'elasticity' of demand ff