Fan Engagement Forum PT2 - Whole Game Solution

I realised that I never posted this second part of the report. Most it was related to the flex ticket but also touched on fans dislike for categories, and paying by instalments for season tickets. I can post it if anyone is interested.

What was interesting was a question about the whole game solution that Patrick answered:

Alan Bloore: The main thing that’s going on in the backdoors is the All Game Solution that football clubs have been asked to give their views in the next couple of weeks. What are Barnsley's views in the proposals on the table?

Linton: If you allow me, Patrick Cryne will take on this question because he has some views on it.

We're against the Whole Game Solution. Because if you look at the reason why….

Allan: Patrick can we just explain what it is

Patrick: This is the 5 x 20 teams . A football club has got one thing at the core of its business model and that is selling football matches to its fan base. What the whole game solution involves is reducing the number of matches played because if there are only 20 teams in each division then your only going to play 38 matches instead of 46 matches. What a football club would do is give up in effect that revenue to be part of the whole game solution. Now, we think that is wrong because what the football league is saying is that we'll get you that money that you lose from another source but it just makes you dependant then on that other source wether that’s the premier league wether that s Sky TV. When you go down that route that money is not secure forever. Whereas we have been trading as a football club since 1890-odd. So what we are saying is giving up our ability to trade from a gift from somebody. Now why do they want us to play fewer matches? Well they don’t want us to play in the week because they don’t want us to get in the way of the European competitions which is more money for the premiership. They also want to have a structure that is somewhat similar to the premiership which makes me suspicious. You also have other arguments which are meaningless in my view. Well if we only have 20 teams in each division that would mean you don’t need as many players. Well we don't have as many players as we need anyway so the situation doesn’t get any better. "Well we'd be better positioned to win the world cup" Wait a minute since 1966 you's spent piles of money trying to build a work cup you've built Burton you've put artificial pitches all over the country, you’ve spent a fortune on coaches and yet in the FIFA rankings we rank below Columbia. They haven't got anything except drug cartels. That is Columbia isnt it? And yet they are doing better. Chile they are doing better. They are actually quite a poor country by reference to ourselves, even in a Brexit state we have far more significant. So I can't see an argument for going down this route. But then they say, you'll have a better change of being promoted because there's only 20 clubs. And I say, but I have the same chance of being relegated, because I'm good at maths, I'm good at stats. But you don’t! Because stats don’t tell you everything. You have to take into account that that what determines wether you get promoted has nothing to do with it being a level playing field which is why the stats will say that. They have everything to do with money. The wealth of the teams you are playing aginst. You are more likely to be promoted, statistically, if you are backed by parachute money or billionaire owner. But if you are backed by an impoverished son , in relative terms, of a miner from Wombwell you've bugger all chance of being promoted to the top division so don’t give me any of that ******** that you have a better chance of being promoted because you are outgunned by other clubs. So I'm waiting to hear the rational. But its even worse than that. You might think that doesn't stack. Because they wont tell you who will make up the other clubs. In fact, they ask you your opinion. "Who do you think you should make up the other clubs" as if they care what my opinion is. It could be the Glasgow clubs so more rich lads to come in to scupper my chances of being promoted. It could be U23 sides from premier league clubs which would scupper my changes of doing well. Because I think Man Us U23 would give us a game… Ok not now but a couple of seasons ago they gave us a football lesson. So it may be those clubs from down in the conference. But just think about that. The football league cant raise enough money to give any decent distributions to the football clubs as it stands. So you are going to bring more clubs into that situation. The football league can't even get a sponsor for the league cup. In the past it used to be people like Carling, Coca-Cola for the league as a whole. Cant even get them now. The football league is an organisation that feeds from the crumbs that fall from the table of the super rich of the premier league. I don’t want to be that. But there's another dimension. If they say they want 20 in the championship and three have to drop out and they could pick which 3 should drop out based on personal prejudice. Who would they pick to drop out? Barnsley, Rotherham and Burton. The ones that did so well to get there. But they don’t want us there because even with our 9000 season ticket holders we arent putting enough people on the grounds. So I think you can gather my feeling is negative to wards the whole subject .

Paul R: Is there a vote for this then?

June 2017, for 2020

They seem to be rushing it through.
Patrick: It's brilliant thought through because that’s the year there is no relegation or promotion. That’s the year we are bound to get promoted.

Linton: We have sent a response in and there's a meeting at the end of Sept. I attended a meeting a couple of weeks ago, and we are not the only club who are voicing their opinion.

Patrick: I tell you what I've been two football league trophy meetings. I went to see the magnificent wolves U23 and Chesterfield, and they were not magnificent, and Chesterfield left out there top player so not a magnificent fixture. Last night I went uninspiring u23s, Sunderland. I didn’t stay. Strange situation. You got to a match don’t watch the penalty shootout because you are so bored. What a mess they have made of that conversation. IN Portugal at the conference, they told us they had this change. With one million pound prize money so premier league clubs could play in the competition. The gave us the impression that we would be seeing ManU, Chelsea, Arsenal. Bit all those sides decided not to bother thank you. So Barnsley, the defending champions, could not play because we got promoted. But Wolves U23s played. How does that work? Blackburn U23s played in the competition. The idea was that we'd do these things to give the competition more prestige.

Linton: What was the attendance at Chesterfield
900

Patrick; Last night was 1000

Linton: So we will keep you updated on that.

Me: Is it a majority decision.

Patrick: They have to get 90%.