Anyone suggesting that the potential new owners will pull out due to a run of four bad results....

.... is absolutely not on this planet.

"Dear Pat and family.

Well, we were going to buy your club, complete with its team of very young players who've never completed at this level before, but due to them going through a horrendous dip in form, we've decided to pull out.

Despite the fact that we knew the situation before entering into negotiations, and that we've spent several months working on the deal and a not inconsiderable amount of money on legal fees, the three week dip in form is an insurmountable obstacle in the purchase of Barnsley Football Club, a long term investment which we were planning to hold on to for eight to ten years.

Soz and bye,

Chen and Paul.'

 

Dear Pat and family,

Having distributed amongst our potential investors the videos of the recent performances of the team we have found a reluctance to ultimately commit to financing the purchase of the Barnsley franchise.

In particular our investors, who for a period of time now have been observing how the existing business model might be showing itself to be one progressing in a favourable direction, find themselves concluding that it may well be too late to correct a systemic fault in the model that in all probability will lead to what you term "relegation", and thus the franchise reducing dramatically in value.

The fault appears to lie in the model's lack of sufficient emphasis upon attempting to identify and retain the few key players that afford the franchise the chance of league position enhancement.

Our investors are not inclined to risk the loss of their capital in a venture that in all likelihood cannot be salvaged by the injection of funds in January 2018.

We thank you for the hospitality extended to us during our negotiations. The Barnsley Chop was unforgettable.

Yours etc.

 

They must have known at a very early stage in negotiations that relegation this season was not a complete impossibility. Moreover, it's hardly a given right now, is it?

 

Either view point could be right as we have no idea of motivations or plans of the potential new owners.

 

We all believe that relegation can be avoided.

One would imagine that they also must have known that the longer all this fannying about goes on, the more likely relegation becomes a likelihood.

 

Tell that to the Venkys who bought Blackburn who didn’t even realise that they could be relegated!