Will there be a summer sale of better player yet again?

Will the likes of Philips, Connell, Cosgrove be sold yet again or could retaining them and strengthening in a few positions give any incoming head coach a chance to develop the team into a force in league one?

 

Get where you're coming from but at this level we've always got away with it thus far. Last season was scuppered through bad tactics and poor motivation from out of contract players.

 

Who would want Cosgrove?

 

Yes. It's the only way our owners know to boost club coffers. They make us so heavily reliant on player sales to weaken the squad because they are short on other ideas.

 

Maybe you should come me up with some ideas then on how to increase the attendance from a paltry 12k, just out of interest how much do you think the directors are pocketing per season after wages, general running costs etc

 

If their agents beat the drum enough I suspect Barnsley will end up selling Philips and Connell. Club can always say it's not worth keeping an unhappy player etc. As for Cosgrove - we are reading a whole lot into one performance and a bit of another. He's shown little control or quality previously. He may come good, but as with Pines (whose reputation has soared thanks to not playing), we've built him into something he probably isn't.

 

They could get every seat in the stadium available to sell. They could have season ticket prices based on sales so everyone pays an high amount and then we all get set refunds for every X amount sold. That way the club still get around the same revenue from season ticket sales they always get and it's down to the fans for how cheap we can get in. They could try and get Music gigs on like even smaller grounds in the region like Doncaster and Chesterfield are capable of. They could rent out our academy pitches so anyone can play on them when they aren't in use. They could have our legends suite open daily for meals and drinks instead of just for Luncheon.

They could get replica shirts out early June when more would be sold to make use of the summer weather rather than dragging it out like last season to October. The few times a year fan meetings they have could be monthly and priced in with a meal and drinks in a price to make a night of it (like on a Friday or Saturday). They could make sure they print enough programmes to sell as they ran out a couple of times last season.

 

Or they could just build a decent squad, retain the better players (and make it clear to them we will no longer regard ourselves as a stepping stone) and slowly improve the team year on year. That's what fans were promised in 2017. A certain amount of pump-priming needs to happen if the club are to attract more than the core 10-12k. Sorting out the atrocious parking and access issues would be a secondary, but welcome improvement.

 

I think a "paltry 12k" at the 3 level of English football is decent. Actually it only been clubs like Derby Bolton and Portsmouth.. who's catchment area and City/Town is far greater than ours..
Plus id also add depending on how this summer goes recruitment wise.. 12k home gates may become just a memory.. expect for local games..

 

Phillips will attract bids, & I think we’ll accept eventually.

 

I'm actually for player sales. It's how a club like ours needs to be run. It will have hit us quite hard losing Williams, Cole, Cadden and Kane for nothing. That's a spine of a team gone in a puff of smoke all for nothing.

Nothing against selling a couple and freshening things up.

 

And weaken the side yet again then

 

Paltry 12k? Pretty decent average for time I've watched Barnsley

 

Thinking of this past season signings, how many have proved a success and strengthened the side? .. Kopata, Shepherd, Watters, Oli Shaw, Dallas?

 

I'm all for frugality and watching the coffers but there are teams in L1 with a lot less than a paltry 12k attendances who seem a bit more able to generate more business without risking going bust.

Like you say though, I'm sure the board would be open to ideas from anyone, whether we are internet warriors or otherwise.

 

Not necessarily. The club is still attractive to players. Players come and go all the time. Suppose Connell and Phillips are sold. How do we know the replacements are going to be crap? We don't.

 

Oxford this season had average attendances of 9k, granted they only have 3 stands but we only have 3 and 1/2. Our biggest issue is location in my opinion. A lot of clubs around London allow the metropolitan lifestyle to be on players doorsteps, international airports are close by and the opportunity to move up the pyramid without having to relocate. In contrast living in south Yorkshire for players who seem to want to spend a lot of time in Manchester or down in London end up becoming a drain on their time.

 

Can see us moving Styles on (wages plus he wants away) Mccarthy Benson and hopefully Shaw and Dallas.

 

There needs to be more nightclubs and massage parlours.

 

Our spine is Connell and Phillips,maybe Pines if he is as good as he was pre-injury. Two players we can certainly build a team around. If Hourihane comes he can teach the new young ens the dark arts,which is essential in this division