Barnsley

[eastender]

I see that they've signed 8 players all permanent deals and all seem to be very long ones.

They haven't signed any loans as yet but all the other deals had a fee involved.
 
I couldn't imagine us giving any 4 year deals out , so good luck to them.

Malik Wilks  4yrs (fee)
Mads Anderson  4yrs (fee)
Luke Thomas   4yrs (fee)
Brad Collins  4yrs (fee)
Bambo Diaby  4yrs (fee)
Toby Sibbick  4yrs  (fee)
Aapo Halme  3+1yrs (fee)
Sam Radlinger Undisiclosed

[Copps is Magic]

Don't like em, I really don't like em. But I think they are doing something right.

All those players are 22 year old or younger as far as I can see. They are probably gambling 1 or 2 of them turning into a sellable assets, and they probably will.

[steve@dcfd]

They’ve sold Gk and both centre halves and use the finances to get those players.

[the vicar]

I see that they've signed 8 players all permanent deals and all seem to be very long ones.

They haven't signed any loans as yet but all the other deals had a fee involved.
 
I couldn't imagine us giving any 4 year deals out , so good luck to them.

Malik Wilks  4yrs (fee)
Mads Anderson  4yrs (fee)
Luke Thomas   4yrs (fee)
Brad Collins  4yrs (fee)
Bambo Diaby  4yrs (fee)
Toby Sibbick  4yrs  (fee)
Aapo Halme  3+1yrs (fee)
Sam Radlinger Undisiclosed

they tend not to do loans barnsley they might do the odd one

[Bezza]

Think it's a good policy they have, bloody jealous though.

[Boomstick]

I see that they've signed 8 players all permanent deals and all seem to be very long ones.

They haven't signed any loans as yet but all the other deals had a fee involved.
 
I couldn't imagine us giving any 4 year deals out , so good luck to them.

Malik Wilks  4yrs (fee)
Mads Anderson  4yrs (fee)
Luke Thomas   4yrs (fee)
Brad Collins  4yrs (fee)
Bambo Diaby  4yrs (fee)
Toby Sibbick  4yrs  (fee)
Aapo Halme  3+1yrs (fee)
Sam Radlinger Undisiclosed

It's called forward planning, and building a team. Something our board refuses to do, and then wonder why we are in a pickle every 2 years.

[Michael Gibson]

Exactly how a club should be run, you might get the odd bad egg, but if the homework is done prior it’s not an issue.

[PDX_Rover]

I admire Barnsley. Have a very good set up. Hope they do well to be honest.

[tyke1962]

The policy is that with 12 months to go on present contracts the players are offered new deals or sold dependent on how they have shaped up .

Alex Mowatt , Jacob Brown , Cauley Woodrow , Cameron McGeehan and Thiam all signed new improved contracts this summer .

Liam Lindsay and Ethan Pinnock all turned down new contracts , Pinnock was offered 10k a week apparently and so they were sold this window so as to obtain the best fee possible .

All the above were 3 year original contracts handed out under the old ownership , the reality is that they were 2 years because as I stated earlier in the post with 12 months remaining it's decision time .

The new owners have gone for 4 year deals which again in reality mean 3 seasons and then a decision is made .

I think they believe given the age we acquire our players the extra year is needed to develop them and have them at their full value after season 3 rather than the previous 2 .

The policy is not set in stone because Adam Davies's contract ran down and he joined Stoke as a free agent however he did come for nothing and played his part in two promotions and the JPT win , his value was what he gave us on the field .

The recruitment team's remit is to find undervalued talent under 24 years of age by using analytics .

The data then produces 4 or 5 options  which is then discussed by the recruitment staff , Head Coach and CEO , for example we need a striker and the data reveals

Kieffer Moore
John Marquis
Ivan Toney
Charlie Wyke

They will collectively decide who is the number one target  videos will be watched , possibly he's seen in action from the stands etc etc , in this case Kieffer Moore is the number one target  and the CEO will be tasked with recruiting him , if he fails then they will move to attain John Marquis and so forth down the list .

What I like about it is that the club are working to a specific plan and this work is going on 12 months of the year , it never stops , targets will be getting identified and analysed constantly , the lad we brought in from AFC Wimbledon came up on the clubs spreadsheet when he was 17 years old , 3 years ago and they monitored him from that point on .

Nothing is however guaranteed as we know , football isn't and never will be an exact science but so far it's kept the club sustainable under its own steam and back in the championship .

Whether it can push us any further I couldn't say in all honesty , that is very much a question of time and see how it goes at this level .

[the vicar]

Bloody hell tyke that is war & peace lol but a fare read

[selby]

  It could be a double edged sword if they do not stay in the championship though.
  I hope they do well, but eight long term signings is a lot to hope they all are up to the mark, or gell as a team, and they probably need at least two of them to push on to be transferable profits, and they are stuck with long term fixed overheads.
  We all know a lot can happen in football over four years, and I hope and expect really that it goes well, but it is a commitment that could go wrong.

[tyke1962]

  It could be a double edged sword if they do not stay in the championship though.
  I hope they do well, but eight long term signings is a lot to hope they all are up to the mark, or gell as a team, and they probably need at least two of them to push on to be transferable profits, and they are stuck with long term fixed overheads.
  We all know a lot can happen in football over four years, and I hope and expect really that it goes well, but it is a commitment that could go wrong.

It's not a brand new team though Selby , only 3 players have left the club who were a regular part of our team last season , the nucleus remain .

The new recruits are to replace the players who left , Davies , Pinnock , Lindsay , Hedges , Fryers , Jackson and Isgrove .

There's also a step taken towards providing competition and cover in certain areas , we were very light last season in central defence and even more so up top .

We still need at least another two strikers in I think , last season we played Luton at home without a recognised striker on the pitch as both Moore and Woodrow were injured .

That can't happen at this level .

[Boomstick]

Drfc board, take note. Its how it's done!!

[selby]

 I don't think the club have brought players in on long contracts to play second fiddle  Tyke.
  Its a big step up as you know from division 1, some of the players you had last season were not good enough the season before, so I would expect the incoming players will form the majority of your team this coming season. I genuinely hope you do well, and was just pointing out that if players are on long contracts, and things don't go well, and those players are not as good as your club thought, and don't perform, you are stuck with them.
  Even clubs like Arsenal and Manchester United have run into that problem.

[tyke1962]

I don't think the club have brought players in on long contracts to play second fiddle  Tyke.
  Its a big step up as you know from division 1, some of the players you had last season were not good enough the season before, so I would expect the incoming players will form the majority of your team this coming season. I genuinely hope you do well, and was just pointing out that if players are on long contracts, and things don't go well, and those players are not as good as your club thought, and don't perform, you are stuck with them.
  Even clubs like Arsenal and Manchester United have run into that problem.

I take your point Selby and you are right it could go spectacularly wrong but that's the nature of the football beast isn't it .

Football requires a certain amount of speculation to progress , as long as we are spending within our means which we are then I'm happy to shake the dice .

[tyke1962]

Drfc board, take note. Its how it's done!!

It's been a hard road and a huge learning curve for the club since they adopted this policy in 2015 .

The club have made significant errors along the way and the most costly was relegation in 2017 from the championship .

The feeling is that mistakes have been learned from and we are better placed as a club than we were a few years ago .

The club were hemorrhaging money left , right and centre and without any real plan to try and sustain championship football .

The aim is to become established in the championship within budget , self sufficient .

Whether it comes off I couldn't say in all honesty .

[DonnyBazR0ver]

At least someone who talks sense, unlike some of our fans who talk out of their arse and don't recognise or understand the pros and cons of long contracts.

Sometimes longer deals can attract the calibre of players that might not otherwise sign. I'm sure that may have been one of the contributing factors to Wilks decision however, if things got tits up and the players don't fulfil their potential, then you're lumbared!

As Tyke says, you could end up haemorrhaging money. Good luck to Barnsley, I hope it pays off.

[roversdude]

Shock horror Boomstick has a dig at the board

[selby]

  Tyke, have faith, I hope you are on a winner, and it will be good for Yorkshire football if you are, My comments were aimed more at, lets say the more impulsive of our supporters on here who are always very enthusiastic to spend other peoples money, and  don't look to see if there could be any pitfalls in the future.
  I have seen my club driven to near extinction, I don't want to see us in that position again, your club has embarked on a different tack to our more conservative way, and relies on good talent scouts that have to get it right most of the time and football income and valuations staying high, which with the world's and Britain's near economic future may or may not be easier said than done.

[knockers]

Shock horror Boomstick has a dig at the board

I actually think he has a damn good point. Two year deals mean constant juggling which is not healthy for the stability of the club.

[Michael Gibson]

I’m no having a dig, and this might be one for the stattoes but who was rovers last 3 year plus contract???? I haven’t a clue!!!

[Draytonian III]

4 year deals must be rare thing in this day and age

[Al4475]

Whiteman?

[Draytonian III]

I thought he got a 3 year deal

[Al4475]

Apologies I mis read the 'plus' bit and in my head substitute for an 'at least bit! Lol

[tyke1962]

  Tyke, have faith, I hope you are on a winner, and it will be good for Yorkshire football if you are, My comments were aimed more at, lets say the more impulsive of our supporters on here who are always very enthusiastic to spend other peoples money, and  don't look to see if there could be any pitfalls in the future.
  I have seen my club driven to near extinction, I don't want to see us in that position again, your club has embarked on a different tack to our more conservative way, and relies on good talent scouts that have to get it right most of the time and football income and valuations staying high, which with the world's and Britain's near economic future may or may not be easier said than done.

You make some very good points Selby and although we haven't ever had the issues your club had to deal with in the late 90's we did enter administration in 2003 as a result of trying to get back to the PL and chasing the dream .

Nobody wants a repeat of that dark period , two days before the start of the 2003/04 season we had 7 players on the books .

The owners are extremely wealthy , over £9bn collectively but thankfully thats irrelevant and they seek to run the club as a self sustainable model , nobody wants to see the problems Wednesday have at the moment over here .

I think the club is in considered speculation territory which is a different thing altogether from the big gamble route you see many of the big clubs in the championship going down .

As far as I can see we haven't yet spent money we haven't accumulated either through sales or the increased revenue from Sky .

If we were putting players on 20k a week over four years then I would be concerned but that's most definitely not happening because we are not recruiting from that kind of market .

The offer to Ethan Pinnock to sign a new contract would have made him the club's top earner by a country mile at 10k a week .

You will probably see the club go to over £2m to recruit a striker from Germany next week however if that does happen and we are close to closing this deal that will probably be offset by Kieffer Moore leaving the club for £3m plus .

It sounds mind a boggling sum of money but the reality is that it's recycled money with change to boot .

[sedwardsdrfc]

Shock horror Boomstick has a dig at the board

I actually think he has a damn good point. Two year deals mean constant juggling which is not healthy for the stability of the club.

I think it is the way we want to work Barnsley have just got a bit more of a history developing players and money to do it better than us right now. We probably need to get a few big sales under our belt to have the money to offer 3/4 year deals but its still a risk.

Interesting how panicked we are by losing Marquis or Whiteman but if they were Barnsley players they'd have confidence that the money would be used to bring in 2/3 decent prospects with money to spare, thats the plan for us too i hope.

[tyke1962]

Shock horror Boomstick has a dig at the board

I actually think he has a damn good point. Two year deals mean constant juggling which is not healthy for the stability of the club.

I think it is the way we want to work Barnsley have just got a bit more of a history developing players and money to do it better than us right now. We probably need to get a few big sales under our belt to have the money to offer 3/4 year deals but its still a risk.

Interesting how panicked we are by losing Marquis or Whiteman but if they were Barnsley players they'd have confidence that the money would be used to bring in 2/3 decent prospects with money to spare, thats the plan for us too i hope.

Initially it was a hard sell for us to accept , we sold a very capable championship team in 2016 / 17 to make right on the money we owed the owner Patrick Cryne and suffered relegation to league one as a consequence .

With that made good we started with a clean slate under the new ownership who have balanced the books whilst reclaiming our place back in the championship .

What this entails at the moment is that ST's , sponsorship , advertising and corporate facilities cover the costs of running the club , player sales and tv revenue can be used to for the most part to improve the squad .

The squad was wafer thin in two areas last season because we didn't have the tv revenue we had in the championship , luckily we got away with it .

Wages aren't a massive drain on our resources because of the market place we recruit from .

For Rovers to go down this route does require some pain too but long term it could provide dividends .

If Marquis was a Barnsley player he'd have gone by now , possibly even last January , that's the pain you have to accept .

It's small steps and many fans today are about the here and now , that's the problem .

[Chris Black come back]

Signing players always a total gamble but our policy of two year contracts looks really suspect. Leaves us open to reinvention every close season and also if we have saleable assets our ability to obtain value for them is massively undermined by them only being a season from effectively going for free.

[The Beast]

Barnsley have had a good academy for years now, producing players for the first team and players sold for massive fees.
Surely we have to push our academy to the next tier. I know it’s a big investment but with the ridiculous sums players go for now it would be worth it, especially with the vast size of the junior leagues in the borough. I know there’s the argument that bigger clubs can pinch players relatively cheaply but it’s still got to be viable long term.