Look, I don’t disagree, I think the people who have gone into Salford this week are batshit crazy if they think they’ll get a return on investment - but as I’ve said, that’s a project with a famous figurehead that attracts money just by being part of it. The tapping into the united crowd argument is there’s, not mine. I just mentioned it. But let’s be honest if Neville, Beckham et al weren’t there, nobody would have had the remotest interest in investing in Salford. Why would you? Though that area is awash with clubs - and they can all garner support. Stockport was in the national league north ten years ago getting gates of 3000. They’re knocking on 10k a game now and could be a championship club next season. Yes they have history that Salford haven’t - but not all those going will be old time Stockport fans. How many have they lost to City and United over the years? Salford have achieved four promotions since the class of 92 intervention; Beckham being added during that, but they’ve stagnated in league two for a few years. They can sell the dream to someone else to try to reignite their climb. As for Barnsley, we haven’t got those years of growth from little behind us - just gradual decline of quality of player and numbers of supporters. We could do with someone similar with more money than sense to some and shake the club up - realistically that isn’t likely to happen.
With Barnsley it's the same as any club if someone comes in tomorrow or nareev invests the way Birmingham have then the fans come to watch. With Barnsley you've got the town a similar size to Burnley the surrounding areas, and places like wakefield next door a city with no football club, cas, pontefract close by. Not to mention donny and Rotherham who we took support from when we were decent in the late 90s early 00s. I think there's definitely potential with Barnsley.
Most clubs are losing millions a year that's football. I don't think any millionaire thinks what shall I invest my money in to make more, oh I know a football club. Thing is we're poorly run spunking millions to finish mid table.in the 3rd tier. But if someone came in and invested and wasn't scared of losing a few quid we would be able to pull in the same crowds or better than Burnley, Brentford, Bournemouth been top end championship lower prem.
If. That’s the problem. If. The situation you described isn’t impossible - but if that possibility applies to Barnsley then it also applies to probably at least sixty of the 72 football league clubs below the premier league. So pragmatically instead of tearily eyed thinking ‘if’; I consider ‘why’? Why would Barnsley be a better option than those other sixty clubs? For a fair few of them we will be. But not all, or probably most of them. Realistically we wouldn’t be top of the list of clubs if anybody fancied doing what you’ve said. It would be a project of spunking money to get success, not investing to see eventual return. So sadly for us as supporters it isn’t hugely likely that we will get a sugar daddy bank rolling us. So we have to cut our cloth accordingly. We have enough clout, if ran more efficiently and mistakes learned from, to attack league one. Birmingham and Wrexham this season are outliers I’ll grant - but the teams getting out of league one haven’t historically had to throw tens of millions at it. The standard isn’t fantastic. Decent players, well coached and drilled, in a settled formation, can and will go on runs and get results. None of the four teams in the playoffs this year have achieved anything we shouldn’t be able to. The problem is we haven’t, and we are haemorrhaging fans and therefore losing money due to it. If the ‘reset’ is done properly and it isn’t only soundbytes coming out of the club, then we can recover. I have misgivings about that happening whilst Sormaz is running the footballing side, but that doesn’t mean I think we’d be sensible to force out an owner who so far has only put more money in and not intentionally looked to damage or risk the club to his own benefit. Yes he’s got stuff wrong but it’s costing him more than anyone, it isn’t intentional. Other clubs can’t say the same.
