Five years on and Barnsley are back to square one
Five years on and Barnsley are back to square one
As Barnsley football club head for a second relegation to League One in nearly five years under the current ownership surely the owners next move is critical to the stability of the club?
I was reminded by a tweet recently about the owners and their five year plan for the Tykes when they took over the club in December 2017. That made me look back to when PMG and New City Capital took over, what decisions on and off the field they have taken and the results of those decisions which appear ill fated.
Managers
PMG have hired Jose Morais, Daniel Stendel, Gerhard Struber, Valerien Ismael, Markus Schopp and Poya Asbaghi. Six managers in four years and arguably each one has been a gamble. None of those managers had a knowledge of lower level English football and the demands that come with it.
Whilst Stendel had a successful season in League One his high pressing style of football was caught out in the Championship as early as September. Hamstrung with a young squad with little experience of second tier English football, Stendel was soon gone.
PMG got lucky with Ismael. With a managerial track record at lower clubs he clearly punched above his weight at Oakwell and all the stars appeared to align. No supporters, five substitutions and the players buying into his style of football the reds hit the lofty heights of fifth in the Championship. Since then Ismael has bombed at West Brom and Besiktas.
Morais, Asbaghi and Schopp have been complete disasters. Evidence of buying on the cheap, managers who have achieved very little in their managerial careers and who will accept being told who to play and having no say over recruitment. Whilst under Struber the players did fight for the cause, you cannot build success on surviving relegation in the last minutes of a season.
Whilst other clubs choose wisely hiring the likes of Steve Cooper, Neil Warnock, Alex Neil, Ryan Lowe and Grant McCann managers who know the league and the transfer market PMG scour mickey mouse leagues across Europe. There is a saying “You get what you pay for” which is certainly what can be said of PMG`s managerial recruitment at Barnsley.
Player recruitment
One thing that hits you about player recruitment is the high turnover of players at the club since PMG took over. Some transfer windows have seen a revolving door of players which adds to instability within the squad. In the summer of 2019 eleven players came through the doors at Oakwell. Of that eleven only Collins, Andersen, Halme & Odour remain. Eight players arrived in 2020 and twelve between 2021 and present day. Analysing those signings you can say that the owners transfer dealings have been hit and miss at best.
PMG have proudly talked of data driven recruitment. Finding players that can play to a certain system and who will make money for the club during their development at Oakwell. Yet Paul Conway, the main driver of this policy tore his own rulebook up in January to purchase players. What does that tell you about how player recruitment is run at the club?
When Stendel took over the reds the backbone of the squad remained from the previous season. Players like Davies, Pinnock, Lindsay, Mowatt, Woodrow and Moore helped steer the reds through a tough league and return them to the Championship at the first attempt.
The biggest question mark now is how PMG will tackle this summer with incomings and outgoings.
If as expected the better quality players are sold to balance the books and not retained like under Stendel then the reds may have to get used to a few seasons in League One. If recruitment is poor and the standard of players coming in is not good enough then promotion is unlikely.
What still sticks in supporters’ throats is how clubs with similar budgets can afford to recruit experienced players in key roles yet Barnsley refuse to do so. Coventry, Luton and Blackpool are prime examples of getting the right manager and players in on a small budget. Yet PMG seems to get it so spectacularly wrong. There is a very big summer ahead for PMG and they have the chance to right the many wrongs of previous transfer windows but the jury is still out on whether they are capable of doing so.
Whilst on the field PMG have been hit and miss at best, off the field they have managed to alienate the fanbase in spectacular fashion.
Off field issues
Whilst not wanting to go over old ground the communication from the owners was poor back when Dane Murphy was CEO which he accepted in several interviews with the press. Nothing has changed since that acknowledgement. Supporters no longer see or hear from Paul Conway. The club wheel out new CEO Khaled El-Ahmad every now and then who does try his best but often sits on the fence when answering questions especially about the clubs battle with the Cryne family.
The poor handling of the West Stand repairs and moving supporters to other parts of the ground further damaged the relationship between club and fan.
Looking around Oakwell, we had the faulty scoreboard, turnstyle issues with tickets not being scanned correctly, long queues for refreshments and a total lack of idea how to improve the match day experience along with poor performances on the pitch seeing attendances drop to shockingly low levels.
Whatever promises the new CEO comes up with, supporters cannot be blamed for not believing Khaled after witnessing the way PMG have operated since 2017.
The vitriol from supporters toward the owners is borne out of seeing how PMG have tinkered and failed at Oakwell. Their five year plan to grow the club and make them an established Championship club has so far failed miserably.
Whilst we know that a successful team on the pitch covers up a multitude of sins, defeats and relegations only bring those to the fore. What PMG does in the summer specifically around the playing squad and new manager will be watched keenly by all. The club cannot begin next season the way it started this otherwise it could be a long way back to the Championship.
