Heard a lot about this and even discussed on radio sheffield last week. Some nonsense about it being true but we use it on old players etc. Let's face it the only reason such a term is used is as a cynical marketing ploy to make us think that we are aiming to hold station in the top 5. If not I would have been qualified with a statement that explained we can't actually buy anyone because of club debt etc. Also we only ever say top 5 budget or aiming for the premiership in preseason when we have season tickets to shift. It's nonsense and we have had various revenue streams to pay us back for the "hundreds" of players signed by SE- the only guy to get us back to back promotions in recent times.
The only person who can alter anything is TS.He said at the start of the season we have a new plan.Time to show us in January what this plan is all about.Our neighbours,who are no bigger than us up the road, have been taken over with the promise of big investment,if TS wants to keep the fans on board he must show more ambition.
I have very little time for Evans, but what he unarguably did was deliver what was asked of him - Championship within five years. Unfortunately it was a castle built on sand. No roots, no foundation. And building something sustainable whilst staying in The Championship was always likely to be beyond him and in fairness beyond anyone (Warnock and Jackett included) without more and more resources that we didn't have.
I do think that we are paying a heavy price now for the rapid rise and the effort to stay up there.
I wouldn't want the sort of investment Barnsley have got. I often wonder what the motive is for investors in football club, and particularly investors who have no obvious connection to a club. Possibly more to do with finance, status and credibility than any genuine wish to own a football club. I have no axe to grind with Barnsley. Good luck to them. Maybe their foreign investors will turn out to be marvellous. I hope so and time will tell. But I wouldn't swap places with Barnsley right now, even if it means we might be a division below them for the next few years.
I have never been a fan of the public statements about budget, targets etc. They do seem to coincide with season tickets going on sale, build expectation and put managers under pressure before the season has even started. The supporters are on the whole loyal people who are thankful that we got through some difficult times, and who will get behind the club if they feel everyone is doing their best. I don't think they necessarily need to hear about big, ambitious plans as long as they see progress. I can certainly understand how people might have grown cynical because the reality in the last couple of years has fallen well short of the hype. Despite that, I personally have no doubt that Tony Stewart has only good intentions for the club.
Barnsley are bigger than us - with a greater fan base and catchment area. They have had Premiership money and spent it well - from that investment they have benefitted from players they have developed.
Light years beyond us. And a few million pounds of direct investment in an academy.
Why wouldn't we welcome investment? This game is governed by cash and the more of it you have the more successful you are (generally). I'd love us to have the modest funds to buy Kiefer Moore instead of us always being resigned to our fate of affording No one unless they are giveaways or loanees. Can't say we'd turn down investment then be fed up that we can't afford anyone.
Absolutely - speaking to Wednesday fan while they were on a decent run that you might as well select your position in the league visit the league of investment. Never far off and now rarely money does not talk.
TS had a budget in the championship and the bull#### that it was adequate is / was a joke.
The wages have been slashed under Warne and we are doing well considering. However our tactics have now been sussed out and we don't have the quality to change to playing football !
Still think the managers are totally unfit for a rebuilding and that's my main worry but we'll survive.
I'm not against investment. I am just wary of certain kinds of investment. Not all investment is healthy.
Maybe these investors in Barnsley are good people who will do good things. I am not passing any judgment on them. I do think though it is fair enough to ask why they would have any interest in Barnsley. According to reports they have been in discussions about buying into several other English clubs previously. And they already own clubs in other countries. So why would they want to own a small-town club in South Yorkshire?
I heard an expert yesterday who made it clear that these people will have no particular interest in Barnsley (no offence but why would they?) and no interest in football per se. Football will be a means to an end, but not the end itself. If I was a Barnsley fan I would be wondering what that 'end' is.
As I say, I hope it works well for Barnsley and good luck to them. But I wouldn't swap places with them.
Hillsborough, there are probably very good reasons for our ownership structure. Accounting and tax reasons etc. But since Tony Stewart is lauded as the saviour of the club, I think it is fair enough to ask the question. Have you asked the club for an answer?
Trouble is whenever we mention investment it's taken as a personal attack on TS. It isn't we would just like to live the dream and if this means having an owner/investor that's not born within the sound of the Rotherham church bells then so be it. We managed one decentish season in champ before the crumbling nightmare began. We need cash to create the infra to support the growth - training ground and all the other stuff.
This thing about ts been the saviour
Is a two edged sword imo
Yes he saved the club but not for altruistic reasononing
He had a plan some.has worked some hasnt
The clubs meed investment still off and on pitch
Tony seems unwilling to add or allow outside means
If the club won't answer a reasonable question from a supporter about the ownership of the club then that is very poor. I wouldn't necessarily read bad things into it, but it is very poor. These aren't daft people, and they know that the finances and structures are all fairly visible via companies house.
I will give you a reason why it might be held as it is. If the club went pop for any reason, it might be better for football in the town and Tony Stewart personally that the ground itself isn't an asset that creditors could call upon. Having the ground owned by a third party company might make it easier to re-launch a new football club. Is that a bad thing? Here is another - perhaps the council (who loaned money to finance the stadium) preferred or even insisted on that set up to protect their (our) investment? I am not saying either is necessarily the case, but they are a couple of theories that to me are more plausible than the idea that Tony Stewart is up to no good. I have seen nothing to suggest that he is anything other than what he appears to be.
New Yorkshire - just to be clear, I am not against investment, and if we really do have ambitions to be competitive in The Championship maybe we need it. No problem with that. I just wouldn't want it to come from the wrong people who had a dodgy agenda. The long term security of the club is the main priority for me, so it has to be the right people who are in it for the right reasons.
Again for clarity, I am not suggesting that there is anything amiss with the new Barnsley owners. I don't know enough about them to have an opinion on that.
I thought it was a matter of record that the Council made a loan of a couple of around £2.8m to R U Estates (the company that owns the ground). A check of Companies House shows that a legal charge was registered against R U Estates in favour of the Council in 2012, presumably as security for that borrowing, and it remains outstanding. Likewise Barclays has a Charge created at about the same time. So the Council may not have any ownership in the Club, but they loaned a chunk of money to enable the new stadium to be built, and may (I put it no higher) have put conditions in place before it agreed to do so, to ensure that it would get its money back one way or another.
