Traditionally we're a medium/small club secure at second tier level. Money, rich owners, parachute payments have destroyed that model. Our status now depends on who owns us. If the current owners stay for another ten years which I'd say is unlikely I'd see us as probably secure in the Championship. We really are at the whim of who owns the club though.
I'd prefer it I think if it was enforced across football. I think it would lock us into the parameters we had decades ago though as a primarily second tier club with the occasional lapse into the league below and, maybe, a very rare flirt with the top flight.
I'll have to wait n' see if the model works. We haven't really sold a player for enough for the owners to put their money where their mouth is. If we sold Styles or Helik for £8-10 million and brought in someone for £3-4 million. I'd say it was progress. That hasn't happened yet. As it stands now we're in a position whereby all the hardwork could be undone without signing a proper replacement for Mowatt.
I think we will see big changes in football finance over the next decade. The growth of TV money has been astronomical fuelling, in part, the burgeoning wage bill of clubs and those chasing the riches of the premier league. The bidding wars for TV rights may be cooling off with BT now openly looking to sell their broadcasting arm and the ability for millions to access content through other channels. In simple terms having football does not equate to signing up new subscribers. If TV money does not continue to increase the number of owners looking to tap in to the premier league riches may reduce. On top of this there are many established clubs who have tried this route and are in massive financial distress. Wednesday, Derby, Blackburn and Reading are all clubs in this position along with many others. The golden era of football finances (for premier league clubs at least) may be passing. The model adopted by the current owners could be run by a fan owned group. Total investment to date -£750k. If fans want a sustainable, not financially distressed club the approach adopted by the current owners is the answer. That’s not to say they should leave just the realism that this approach does not involve the introduction of external capital. Long winded answer but to summarise, we’ll be reit.
I feel reasonably confident that Barnsley F.C will be at the bottom of Grove st namely Oakwell in the year 2030 , hopefully !!!
Far too many unknown varaibles to give an accurate answer, but looking at the way the club is run, coupled with the number of clubs especially at our level for whom the financial chickens are coming home to roost, I think we're likely to be a well established second tier club again. I also think that a season in the Premier League is definitely not beyond the realms of possibility. The acid test will be how we deal with the inevitable relegation. Plenty of clubs end up in a massive financial pickle, even with parachute payments. Not letting that happen will be absolutely imperitive as to whether we and up being a Norwich or a Hull.
We'll be the most famous element of the South Yorkshire Reds, a new club which amalgamated the legacy clubs of Barnsley, Rotherham, and Doncaster. A 30,000-seat stadium, wherever that might be, and a club pushing for promotion from Premier II, the second, and lowest, level of professional football in England. Remaining legacy clubs, which did not take the amalgamation, are cut off from ever being promoted to Premier II, but games between local teams, like Grimsby v Oldham, and Luton v Millwall, are good ones for SYR to scout, as they (and other Premier/Premier II teams) can just take the players for a nominal fee. There's genuine hope that SYR can one day earn a place in the Europa Conference League, but for now, the promotion battle with Greater Manchester, and Club Sheffield, has to be taken care of.
I have always felt that our owners bought the club as a financial investment, and like all investments, it will be sold when they are offered an adequate return. If the value of the club is to increase, the owners have 2 options. They could invest and try to buy their way to the Premier League. This is a route chosen by many before them, with mixed results. In my view, they are wise to reject it in favour of their second option, which is to manage the business better than their rivals. It is an option that requires a solid plan and a patient outlook. If they succeed, both the owners and the fans benefit. The owners because they have increased the value of their investment, and the fans because the team is doing well on the field. The motivation of any future owners is less easy to predict, and the result of their investment and management plan would be a worry, to me at least.
There will be a World Super League. (Liverpool, Man U etc) The ones who didn't make the cut will be in the European Super League (Spurs, Arsenal etc) The Premier League as we know it will become the English Super League (to appease the remaining, and give them 'Super' in the title - Everton, Newcastle etc). The Championship will be known as the Premier League, so as to make #TeamsLikeBarnsley and Wendies etc think they have finally made it to something big, where in reality they are shat on like the rest of the EFL and even further from 'glory' as we are today. Tuesday's lotto numbers available on request.
Championship at best. Otherwise yo-yo between Championship and League 1. The gaps between the various divisions are growing year on year. Everyone is aware of the difficulty in establishing a place in the Prenier League, it is getting harder to stay in the Championship after promotion from League 1.
Football is changing so swiftly, as are some of the external factors that impact it, anything could happen in the next 12 months, let alone the next decade. We could benefit by default as other clubs are affected by years of fruitless decadence. Or we could see that return to some degree and keep us where we are. We've also got to maintain a high success (relative) rate of recruitment at CEO, head coach and player levels. That's certainly not a guarantee and one misstep could significantly affect us, like we saw with the "most successful window ever". 10 years is a very long time in football.
League 1 yo-yo club. Another summer of relative turmoil which we can expect every year. Sometimes it will work and sometimes it won’t. Our margins are thin at this level.
Personally, I'll be complaining that despite the advancements made in time travel it still takes me a hour to get from car park onto Ponty Road...