Some very interesting & enlightening points & some presumptions I don't totally agree with. At the moment the priority must be on the playing staff, over building a new west stand or accommodation for trainees. I assume a lot of younger signings, like Oduor are benefiting from the facilities from our academy, as well as our homegrown players? We had hoped to spread our marketing base to the far east / India possibly with regards to our owners influence. That can surely only happen if we have a product worth marketing, i.e. at least a stable Championship club? We've seen no sponsorship from these areas as far as I'm aware thus far, but they could be substantial for subscribers to iFollow, if it is doable. It sounded like that was an initial intention, I've no idea if that is still being pursued? For me if we are just a spreadsheet proposition & a balance sheet based one, we are missing the point that the football club is in the entertainment industry. In my industry promoters & record companies that don't take some level of risk & speculation (but well judged ones, based on knowledge of the sector), don't achieve anything and fizzle out. It is a fine balance. If the new owners are as wealthy as claimed (some have profited hugely from the Nice deal), I'd expect them to be putting some investment in, rather than buying a club like Partick Thistle. Only a thought ...
Can I just reflect upon your point about Oduor benefiting from the academy. I am never sure when commenting on the academy exactly at what age the academy ends. I have already written another piece which assumes that the academy ends at 18, when a promising young player signs his first professional contract. That is when the club starts to pay him a wage and he is entitled to leave school and find a job. The U23 team is just a new name for the reserve side, after all. It can contain a limited number of players older than 23, but most will be over 18 but under 23. It has separate coaching staffs, but so does every age level. I really do not know. Can you help.
Brainwashed by the owners by the sounds. I’d appreciate you giving me one example of a football club maturing an unworkable plan such as this one so rigidly stuck to by these owners that has been a true success. You can only see one way forward because you seem to have been suckered into the owners thought processes and unworkable ideologies. We have always had no money, this isn’t a new concept, but we’ve punched above our weight time and again in this league, fact. There is little reasoned debate to be had whilst you maintain this seemingly unmovable stance imho. Just because we are relatively solvent doesn’t mean we are having success. We are a championship football club 5 points adrift of safety with a third of the season gone, effectively 6 with goals against, with owners that have got things glaringly wrong on the pitch and are losing the interest of most supporters. We can’t score enough and concede too many at the back, mostly I believe, down to tearing apart a promotion winning squad for average championship fees when we needn’t have, fact, and replacing them with untried youth who are strangers to one another, weeks before our return to this league. If you truly stand back and look at that it has disaster written all over it as is playing out right now. Now tell me how this can possibly be a success for Barnsley football club please, because I’d really like to know.
Interestingly, you are looking at the academy as a building, whereas I am looking at the academy as an organisation. My view is that the academy is the structure that takes kids as 8 year olds and coaches them until the age of 18. They use the club facilities, but not necessarily at the same time as the senior players, be that the first team squad or the U23 squad. That is interesting. Thanks for your reply.
Your analysis suggests that nothing has changed. That is not the case is it. I would urge you to read Talking Finance 2. That article compares the latest published Financial Statements for all Championship teams. It illustrates the lengths that many owners have gone to in order to subsidise their clubs. FFP is supposed to level the playing field in the Championship. It does no such thing. It shows some of the tricks that owners have used to defeat the system. It highlights the levels of pay at most clubs in the Championship in order to show the reluctance that most owners are showing to run their clubs properly. I can assure you that I am not Brainwashed as you put it, and if you want to give me any evidence of brainwashing, I am happy to debate that evidence with you, but to call me brainwashed simply because I do not agree with your version of things is simply wrong.
Technically, I'm looking at it as a resource, i.e. the staff & the facilities. If there is a demarcation point between very young players & young players not ready for the first team, then that surely needs looking at.
The different age groups need different things. For example, there is no point telling an 8 year old about zonal marking, but there is a point in making his time with us enjoyable and entertaining. Even at the older levels, there needs to be a consistency of message and you do not necessarily get that if you move the coaches about. My article is about the cost of the academy (£1m gross or £500k net). I wanted to see whether that money could be used better, say by closing the academy and using it to buy youngsters from other clubs. My article was stimulated by a comment from Paul Conway. He said the Academy needs to be better. Clearly, if I am to do that, I need to understand what that cost covers. I have made the assumptions that I have explained above, but I am really not as sure as I should be. Having said that, my article is largely inconclusive. It fails to reach a verdict. I think it is interesting though, and I will publish it on here at some point.
Quite ironic you’re willing to accept blind faith from these owners, but not faith in people who have business experience who suggest it doesn’t have to be ever decreasing circles.
I was being a tad flippant in the brainwashing comment to get a reaction although all your posts do generally come across as somewhat favourable of the current policy of these owners without thought for other options to try and achieve footballing success as after all, this is the business we are meant to be debating . So then, with all your analysis, are we being successful in your opinion and how given our disastrous start and what is your own definition of success for Barnsley FC?
My argument is that the plan covers a longer period than just 1 season. I believe that people are judging the plan on short term outcomes, when the plan is a long term plan.
I’ll message in more length tomorrow, but I’ll pose this question. let’s take one player, just one. say Malik Wilks. Would there be an alternative to signing Wilks that could be more cost effective, less risky, and ultimately better value with a better outcome in football output too?
I honestly think you are being overly optimistic about the contract issue. Giving longer contracts simply loads the risk onto the football club. The reward promises to be higher because when the club sells, the longer contract should attract a higher fee. Whether this ultimately benefits the club, or its owners, is a moot point. In other words, I suspect this is not a layering strategy. It’s more likely just savvy directors of a Limited Liability company understanding risk and reward.
5 years wasn’t it? That’s what was intimated by these owners, we are almost two years in are we not and looking down the barrel of a near certain relegation again since they have been here without a radical break away from this far too ridged plan they’ve bastardised to suit their interests from PC? How then, given our likely repeated relegation under these owners are they likely to achieve any sort of success in 5 years? As we certainly aren’t a given for a second automatic promotion from league one next season, if indeed we stay true to current form and go down again. I’d love to hear your thoughts...
I see assumptions here, not for the first time, that anyone unsatisfied with the current state of the club must be desirous of a reckless shot at the Premier League. I suspect the majority would simply like to see the club stable in the second tier, which is after all where the club has spent the best part of it's existence. It is also the stated aim of the club, although present policies suggest little possibility of achieving that. Accountants are not necessarily entrepreneurs!
I thought it revolved around Stendel and his style of play that was supposed to be filtered down to the academies. I thought it involved staying in the Championship for more than 1 season at a time. People judge on what the owners have said and results on the pitch. The one good thing about our squad of young players compared to Stokes expensive squad for eg. Is they are still enthusiastic and fighting.And I like watching players at the start of their careers. The problem is the owners dont/wont see the need for experienced championship players ( loans or buys) that a lot of the supporters, pundits and managers themselves can see. And that leads people to speculate as to why they take that stance