I know I've said this before but I really now believe that wedges are being deliberately hammered between the supporters and the club they/we have followed for generations. Look at all that has happened over the last few months and try to convince me that anything has been for the good of the fans. I'm not going to list them, you know them all. Nothing has benefitted us despite promises, or whatever you want to call them being made. It has all been hassle and trauma. I cannot substantiate any of this but it is purely my gut feeling. Sometimes you have to go with it and often you are right. I believe that the division between the club owners and the ground owners/council is the cause of this and that the wedges are a result of this. We are being made to make choices that affect us personally. To follow or not to follow. Ulterior motives are in motion. The season ticket renewals will, in my mind, be a decisive and devisive moment and we should prepare ourselves to make difficult decisions. The wording of this will be interesting to say the least. And now it is hinted that transfer activity may be limited. More like non existant.
But what is the reason for this - if the 80% owned the land then I could think of motives but they dont all they have is the club, if you alienate the fans and lost the players what have you got left? you cant even sell it on as a club with poor players, few fans and no ground isnt worth all that much and unlike in the USA they cant sell its league status
It all seems akin to Mutually Assured Distruction right now. I can't see this as a potential 'win' for any party involved in Club or Ground ownership. I'm coming round to the view that what we're going through this season is a result of poor management in the Board Room to firstly allow a scenario to develop where our CEO and key personnel left pre-season and for Paul Conway to step in to the breach to try, like the little Dutch Boy, to plug the holes in the dam. I don't for one minute think it's intentional but I do believe that someone took their eye off the ball last season and the right personnel weren't in place before the season started.
The board probably aren't deliberately trying to run the club into the ground they're just that bloody incompetent they're making a bloody brilliant job of making it look like they are.
I really don't agree. The ultimate goal is to sell the club for a substantial profit on the purchase fee. That is much more likely with a successful club and a happy fanbase, which is what they would have if we had managed two more wins last season. I don't believe they'll invest in order to make the fanbase happy, nor give us much of their time now the portfolio continues to expand, but I don't for a minute believe they're deliberately attempting to alienate fans and I've not seen any credible evidence of this. As an aside, ultimately, I don't think they're going to achieve their ambition of making money from all these clubs they're buying up. Before long we're all going to need investment just to keep running. What happens then I just don't know.
Their dispute with the 20%ers isn't helping, it doesn't exactly draw us all closer together in harmony and love. As for which %ers are to blame for the mess is debatable, they all want their heads banging together.
I wouldn't argue there are actions and situations that are not drawing us in but that's a long way from deliberately sabatoging the relationship the fans have with the club. Personally I think the communication from the staff at Oakwell is as good as it's ever been, probably a whole lot better. The owners wouldn't allow such an environment to prosper if fan alienation was on the agenda.
They are spectacularly inept. Five of their six clubs are in lower positions than when they took over and the other one is just one place higher but only because head-to-head results count before goal difference in Belgian football.
They're 50p for 6 at the moment in Asda. Not really very salty, they do taste roast potato ish. You can get pigs in blankets ones too.
Got my spicy cheese Pringles for tonight from Aldi. Strongbow in the fridge and Laura's chilli con carne is in the slow cooker. Looking forward to Test Match Special. About as exciting as it gets for me these days.
I also dont think I would be going back to the West Stand next Saturday if their goal was to alienate the fans - why reverse the decision to close it - especially as now the damage has already been done I too think its more incompetence than deliberate but its still depressing