What’s in it for Paul Conway & Chien Lee?

I ask myself that question before and after every game. Is it really a tilt on promotion to the premier league or is that just lip service to appease the fans?

This model and business strategy they allude to so frequently is clearly not working! Last season would’ve been a perfect time to recruit properly in the summer, not press the reset button. To add to an already confident young vibrant team.That much needed experience (and by that I mean seasoned proper championship experience, not how many games they’d played) Because let’s be fair, some of these lads have some games under their belt, but not with the right guidance and the continuity we’ve been crying out for

Khaled admitted in his q&a with Loko that maybe they changed the playing style too quickly. I have to agree because you can see all confidence is shot. By answering constantly about the word “experience” you can see that they get perplexed about it because the clubs idea of “experience” is not about what they’ve learned ie game management, or how to take the sting out of the game or how to con the ref but more about how many games he’d played. How ridiculous is that?! It doesn’t matter if he’s played 100 plus games but lost the majority of them!

All I see is a constant lack of ambition and a lack of investment to try and progress. The sustainable model has run its course, when you’re constantly shopping in the lower leagues or the unknown preying for at least one gem to pay off. Pay more and get more in return, then you will see a much more competitive side instead of constantly trying to punch above our weight. The little money we have invested has been wasted on players such as Kane and Thomas. I have no doubt theres talent and a player in both of them but what a waste of money they’ve been so far. Surely the fees plus wages could’ve bought us the leadership we’ve all wanted all along.

I like many are so disillusioned with what’s transpiring down at oakwell I have no desire to return this season until something massively changes in their approach. They’ve got my season ticket money and can use that to pay off more debt as far as I am concerned!

 

Amazing how much better we were when we had players like Solbauer Matty James and Mowatt in the squad last season.

 

I,m not a board basher but have to admit the current situation is purely down to them, in employing two poor managers and not being able to see that the players that did so well last year was down to the managers system and not footballing skills which has been found out this season.Relegation looks a certainty under this manager.

 

It’s down to a lot more than their choice of head yes man.

Sorry, head coach.

 

Who got the credit for Stendle and Ismael?

 

Unless the finances of lower league football completely change they are not going to make much at all out of Barnsley FC. Even if we turn into a rich source of talent they're still not going to make much of a return on investment. All I can actually think is they enjoy the kudos of owning European football clubs. The performance record on the field across their portfolio is pretty dismal.

 

Maybe they're just using us as a toy to use to learn how to run a football club, because let's face it, they have a lot to learn.

You'd imagine they want the club to do well, which would in turn make it a more valuable business and increase the value of it's players and other assets. But that doesn't really align with their actions over the last 6 months or so. Imagine being in a position where you've had your best season in decades, behind closed doors. Fans are itching to get back into the ground to enjoy the success, and you;

• Decide to completely change the style of play, leading to a poor coaching appointment
• Replace your captain with a Burnley academy player
• Refuse to sack the coach when it's got to the stage where a player is even having digs at the coach after a game (Brittain after Millwall game)
• Close a stand
• Still refuse to sack the coach when another player has a dig (Cole vs Sheff U)
• Having sacked the coach, and previously pointed out that the players had not had a pre-season, decide to give the players a week off during an international break. Idea being that a new coach would be working with them in week 2
• Fail to appoint a new coach in that week, and have the caretaker coach take training anyway
• Appoint a coach that represents a continuation of point 1
• Do virtually nothing in the January transfer window

This is without talking about what circumstances led to the exodus of staff in the summer, and the farcical situation surrounding the position of CEO.

With all this in mind, I think we can safely add two new terms to the English language;

Conwayzen - The opposite of Kaizen, which is a methodology of Continuous improvement. Conwayzen is a process of continuous regression
Hi-prexit - A departure from the High Press, in the hope that it will open up new opportunities to trade players, despite it being a stupid idea

 

I’ve always wondered this, because on the face of it there was no logical reason businessmen wouldn’t do it and for the paltry returns they would get it meant either they are long shot gamblers or happy to trickle away for 20 years but neither really stack up.
Then came the news about the SPAC Conway is trying to launch and I could see an end game.

Just a theory and people, with more financial knowledge than me might point out massive holes in it but as a starter:
Billy Beane launched his Redball SPAC with an intention of raising £500m(not sure how much he ended up raising).

Let’s imagine PC is thinking £200m for his and he ‘sells’ the consortium of clubs for this to the SPAC, that equates to £33m for each of the 6 clubs.
Of course if he raises more, they make more……

 

We are part of a wider mechanism/model that generates profit by using player trading. Players can be identified across Europe at an early age and then gain experience by playing at an appropriate level rather than rotting in the reserves - demonstrated by the recent sojourn of youth players to Denmark.

There is exactly zero interest in the league placing, tradition or community of each respective club. We have been a feeder club for the last 5 years.

 

The CEO made a very surprising comment at the Q&A. Now if it had come from say Conway, I might have considered it one of his naive obvious attempts at deflection. The CEO may also have done this, or it could have just been a defensive reflex. But he volunteered that there was minimal contact between clubs.

And if thats true, it makes this odd hotchpotch collection of footballing entities all the more strange.

I could see value in having a centralised function that delivered services to each of the clubs. Potentially generating profit for itself, or doing it at cost and collectively saving individual clubs costs that could be reallocated into playing budgets.

I could also see the benefit of just loosely sharing ideas and what is working and what isn't.

There have long been groups in the EFL and EPL who have done this. I can't recall the 5 involved (and this is likely 8-10 years ago now), but SWFC and AVFC were two in their little group network. So it's a wise move and has obvious advantages to speed or leverage learning.

To have minimal dialogue seems an opportunity lost and something that counters possible reasoning for a possible group structure in future (if allowed by football authorities).

The actions they've taken so far still fit in the pocket of chancers buying cheap distressed assets, looking to offset costs wherever possible, believing their own hubris and believing they can multiply their purchase price having fully or largely written it down. I don't think they have a given strategy or target. I suspect they'll judge it as it goes along.

I would be interested if any sort of prospectus was obtained for any current or future finance vehicle though and what the promises and returns are that they may allege.

 

There have been dodgy people owning football clubs for years. There are tricks of the trade that enable people like Ken Bates, the Oystons, the Glaziers, the guys that owned Wigan etc to make a mint before either selling up or putting the club in admin. The Wigan guy took out a massive loan just before disappearing and letting the club fold. Bates was siphoning off money to an offshore account under the guise of consultation fees. The Glaziers bought the club by securing debt against the club which effectively meant they bought the club with the clubs own money. They're still paying interest on that loan. The Oystons pocketed the Premier League money. No idea what this lot are intending but they took out a massive loan at Nice just before selling the club on.

 

But the tack has changed from then. From high press, high energy, that we could do. To a possession based tippy-tappy passing game that our board thinks is pretty on the eye and will attract other clubs to come and buy our pretty players. So as a consequence we now are literally the worse team in the history of the Championship with 14 points.

 

ShÍts and giggles

 

If they are using club income to pay for the club won't they be getting a football club for free plus drawing a wage etc?

 

Glazers have taken out more by selling shares than they borrowed, nice gig if you can do it.