It is clear that one or two on here have spaffed their pants in over excitement. The new owners aren’t going to spend stupid amounts of money, and they are not going to change the ‘plan’ as such. The whole point of them buying this club is because of how well it is/was run. They are not going to fundamentally change that. There may be a few more quid to spend but they made it abundantly clear that nothing ‘crazy’ will happen. So talk of premier league players and wages is massively premature and probably hugely over optimistic. They have a lot of money at least in part because they are careful about spending it. They say the easiest way to become a millionaire is to be a billionaire and buy a football club... I doubt Mr Lee is so naive.
I was impressed at how they said they were going to build the support around what’s already being done. Maybe that’s mainly all what’s required to take us forward?
I believe the cost to them for 80% of the club will have been the value of the players contracts;which is all Bfc own. The longer they own the club the more they will pay in payments to the Cryne Family Trust. These could be in the form of Bonus payments for successes and/or Royalty payments for the use of the club. They have the opportunity to add value to their investment by bringing 50% of the Oakwell Holdings in Bfc ownership. But they only have 6 months to do this,I suspect it is not a high priority for them. I believe the make up of this deal has been done to protect both parties. The new owners have limited exposure to risk and can sell back to the Cryne Family Trust if they have a change of heart. Also the ownership of the club and the Land has still got safeguards written into it, which I believe is what Mr Cryne wanted. As long as we don't get relegated we won't see much change.
I’d read it slightly differently which is why I was so keen to see the flip chart/ownership structure that GG spoke of. I’ve assumed that the consortium has formed a newco that has purchased 80% of PC’s shares in Oakwell Holdings Limited leaving PC/the Cryne family with 20% together holding 100% of the shares in Barnsley Football Club 2002 Limited. The comment regarding an option to acquire PC’s 50% stake in the ground I took to mean purchasing PC’s shares in Oakwell Community Assets Limited which is owned by PC and BMBC which I have assumed holds the legal title to the land and buildings being Oakwell. What wasn’t clarified though was whether the consortium have already purchased BMBC’s shareholdings or whether BMBC will retain its shareholdings regardless of whether the consortium exercise the option.
