Barber In or Out?

[hitony]

Depends if he is paid to post on this forum. Makes a slight difference I think.

Paid by whom?

 

[Dick Knights Mumm]

Which makes it hard to swallow, they can do nothing but wave it off as it heads into the sunset,...by that I mean the ship that carries all the goodwill, enthusiasm and pure fan loyalty on board.

Well I am not sure that is an inevitable consequence. That is worth fighting to retain.

 

[Dick Knights Mumm]

Paid by whom?

Bozza. Like the rest of us.

 

[spanish flair]

Why is it strange ? I don't think they worked together in Canada (based on the Albion Roar) - but anyway, is there a problem bringing in someone you know can do the job you need. I wish thay had done that with Hyypia.

Well time will tell, really looking forward to him getting the stadium sold out every game.

 

[ewe2]

Does keeping to the rules of FFP make us a well or badly run club i wonder.

 

[BensGrandad]

*sigh*

Because two managers left under him? Because he was involved in appointing the current clown? Because there is a negative atmosphere in the stands and dressing room because of said clown that has put us on a downward spiral? Because he's defacto in charge of the club during every January transfer window.

You could just as well argue these are Tony Bloom's errors to be fair but Poyet was a dead man walking from the second Barber was appointed and he didn't exactly turn round to Tony and say "you know what. there's interest in me from Premier Leage and other Major League sides and I would really clash with your on field manager so thanks but no thanks".

I think that is not a true relection but an opinion voiced to fit the circumstances. PB sorts out the finance of the club not the playing side.

 

[Dick Knights Mumm]

Well time will tell, really looking forward to him getting the stadium sold out every game.

Well I hope his bonus is not based on that. That could happen - but it won't be his doing - it will be because we get promoted.

 

[Barnham Seagull]

The culture of the club is all wrong and does not revolve around the football pitch.

Barber is at the heart of this. He's the CEO and paid an extraordinary salary for a club and company of our structure. He's building his own little empire off the pitch which with the culture behind the scenes has caused our best manager in recent history and a capable manager to want to leave the club.

Bloom is a hands off chairman and has intrusted the running of the club to this man. He is not the right man for BHAFC.

 

[Cloughie]

Keep Barber, bin Burke, get in a manager who selects his own players.

As obvious as it sounds, it really isn't as simple as that. We've not had a manger oversee a summer transfer window since Poyet (For reasons unknown). This, in turn, has meant that the club have had to appoint someone internally to deal with the retention of certain players and determine their value to the club financially. This takes up far more of the transfer budget than you'd imagine as each time a player renegotiates his contract he his given a whopping signing on fee and his agent makes a tidy sum too - all from the clubs coffers. This also means that the new manager is restricted in terms of what he can do in the transfer market as he must attend to specific defences in the squad first. No club in their right mind is going to allow mass personel changes to accommodate a new manager when in all likelihood they will only last 12 months in the role (On the basis of OG). It'd be like SH getting fired and the new manager wanting Bruno (Recently signed an extension) off the books so he could bring in his own RB. The club would have to pay off the remainder of his contract or reach an agreement with him even if he is sold.

FWIW I believe the real problem we had this summer was that we missed out on our initial targets. We were ill equipped for the knock backs, panicked and relied on loans to get us out of trouble.

Other than a lot of invented nonsense about him from people with an agenda against him, i see no reason why he should be removed and as far as i can tell, he has been doing exactly what Bloom wants him to do, otherwise Bloom would have taken action to change what he does (new guidance or dismissal)

It's pathetic how many want to destablise this club now we are finally starting to build a secure, long term foundation.

You'd have thought that nearly losing the club would be enough to make fans want to see the club build these types of foundations but seeing as we missed out on the play-offs, and the new level of expectation that this has brought out in some, it seems they would rather that we gamble and risk it all just to get their own sense of satisfaction from watching the big clubs in the Premier League. their views are based on their personal desires and nothing the club has ever promised to deliver and when the club don't meet their desires they see it as a club with problems and anyone working for the club who isn't delivering their desires (however unreasonable) then they have to go in their eyes and will create stuff in an attempt prove their case and make more people join their bandwaggon

I concur that Barber is diligently doing his job, but think you're missing the point many people are trying to make. The club is not identifying with the majority of its fans in a manner that befits the history and traditions of the club. It's as though they've gone from 0-100mph in the blink of an eye. Everyone knows that in order to compete with the "big boys" a fair bit of change is needed. But it really did go from attempting to be a identifiable community club to a corporate juggernaut in the space of a year. I can empathise with people feeling more and more disenfranchised with the changes as it's becoming clearer and clearer that money is the bottom line. This is what people are taking exception too. Particularly the ones who fought to keep this club alive.

 

[attila]

Barber has a clever tactic. He spends an awful lot of time sending quite detailed emails to individual fans, which makes him seem hands-on and in tune with fans' concerns. But all he ever does is set out the club's position: from everything I have heard there is never any inkling of a suggestion that he will change tack if we don't like something. It is the 'individual fans' which is the key here: keep individuals happy by showing them personal attention, without any intention of actually changing key areas of operation in line with supporter wishes, and in that way nipping dissent in the bud before fans start uniting in protest. This 'personal' approach has impressed me in the past, as I am sure it has many of you, but in my opinion it is a smokescreen which disguises a heavy handed and top down approach - the programme notes appear to back up that analysis.
It is precisely for that reason that I posed the question about the reformation of BISA or something similar. I think Barber should stay, because in the modern corporate set up we will always have someone like that in charge and in many ways he is better than most would be: a likeable and personable individual who certainly knows and cares a lot about football. But rather than allowing him to deal with us as atomised individuals he should be approached by an organised and determined fans' group with specific questions about areas which need changing.

 

[Spun Cuppa]

If there is going to be a 'former customer re-engagement initiative' drive by the club, I will block the number after the first ring from a number in Falmer

 

[Bold Seagull]

The culture of the cub is all wrong and does not revolve around the football pitch.

Barber is at the heart of this. He's the CEO and paid an extraordinary salary for a club and company of our structure. He's building his own little empire off the pitch which with the culture behind the scenes has caused our best manager in recent history and a capable manager to want to leave the club.

Bloom is a hands off chairman and has intrusted the running of the club to this man. He is not the right man for BHAFC.

I heard from someone close to the Bloom family (yes I realise how that sounds, but it's true…), that Bloom and Gus had a fractious relationship long before Barber turned up. Bloom tolerated Gus's inability to work within the structures he wanted because Gus bought success basically. Gus wasn't an easy person to work with or control.

Now all the rest of your statement maybe true, but from what I heard, it wasn't Gus's relationship with Barber that was the main problem.

 

[spanish flair]

Well I hope his bonus is not based on that. That could happen - but it won't be his doing - it will be because we get promoted.

So another suit without a target then. Nice jobs if you can get one

 

[Bold Seagull]

Barber has a clever tactic. He spends an awful lot of time sending quite detailed emails to individual fans, which makes him seem hands-on and in tune with fans' concerns. But all he ever does is set out the club's position: from everything I have heard there is never any inkling of a suggestion that he will change tack if we don't like something. It is the 'individual fans' which is the key here: keep individuals happy by showing them personal attention, without any intention of actually changing key areas of operation in line with supporter wishes, and in that way nipping dissent in the bud before fans start uniting in protest. This 'personal' approach has impressed me in the past, as I am sure it has many of you, but in my opinion it is a smokescreen which disguises a heavy handed and top down approach - the programme notes appear to back up that analysis.
It is precisely for that reason that I posed the question about the reformation of BISA or something similar. I think Barber should stay, because in the modern corporate set up we will always have someone like that in charge and in many ways he is better than most would be: a likeable and personable individual who certainly knows and cares a lot about football. But rather than allowing him to deal with us as atomised individuals he should be approached by an organised and determined fans' group with specific questions about areas which need changing.

I like this post. Not too dissimilar to what me and [MENTION=225]Hamilton[/MENTION] were implying, although you've expended on our thoughts in far more specific detail.

 

[Questions]

He is probably just passionate about the football club, like the rest of us.

This is an important discussion, as Albion fans we should know better than anyone to always question whether the board are doing what is best for the clubs long-term future.

If Barber was doing his job better, by doing more to make the Albion match day experience one that is not just about buying pies, pints and clobber while having the Amex become a sterile happy-clappy soulless bowl - but instead one that is about the fans and passion,with the end goal of creating a unique and fantastic atmosphere, then I would be confident there would not be 10,000+ empty seats right now. Even relegation would not be a disaster if we built up the large hardcore fanbase that we are capable of, but that simply isn't on PB's agenda.

So no pies, no pints, no club shop selling shirts etc, and how exactly does he create a unique and fantastic atmosphere as well ? Sorry Mustafa but your post makes little sense. We have had amazing support the last few seasons and now it drops off because we are crap. It happens. Please explain to me why PB is the devil incarnate.

 

[Working class pride]

Attilla, as you know ive great respect for you, Harty and the Gulls Eye lads. You would know me to recognise and acknowledge. I was at BISA meetings. However can I ask, what is it that Paul Barber has done that deserves the stick he gets? He doesnt pick the team, or buy the players. He just seeks to minimise the amount of money the his boss, Tony Bloom has to pay each year to keep the club afloat. And who can blame him or Tony Bloom for that? There are things I dont agree with such as the the way players were bought in the summer. However things have gone wrong, but that is football. Its not as if the goldstone has been sold. Its quite the reverse. So can I ask, as one veteran from the troubled times to anther, what really is the beef?

 

[Barnham Seagull]

I heard from someone close to the Bloom family (yes I realise how that sounds, but it's true…), that Bloom and Gus had a fractious relationship long before Barber turned up. Bloom tolerated Gus's inability to work within the structures he wanted because Gus bought success basically. Gus wasn't an easy person to work with or control.

Now all the rest of your statement maybe true, but from what I heard, it wasn't Gus's relationship with Barber that was the main problem.

Quite possibly, Bloom appears not to be the most 'people person' type business man. Gus's only come along once in a while and he had the 80-90% of the support base solidly behind him, the situation seems that it was very poorly handled.

The next manager left pretty sharpish, then re appeared in English football a few months later. Suggests a very toxic working environment that self respecting managers want to avoid.

 

[Spun Cuppa]

Barber has a clever tactic. He spends an awful lot of time sending quite detailed emails to individual fans, which makes him seem hands-on and in tune with fans' concerns. But all he ever does is set out the club's position: from everything I have heard there is never any inkling of a suggestion that he will change tack if we don't like something. It is the 'individual fans' which is the key here: keep individuals happy by showing them personal attention, without any intention of actually changing key areas of operation in line with supporter wishes, and in that way nipping dissent in the bud before fans start uniting in protest. This 'personal' approach has impressed me in the past, as I am sure it has many of you, but in my opinion it is a smokescreen which disguises a heavy handed and top down approach - the programme notes appear to back up that analysis.
It is precisely for that reason that I posed the question about the reformation of BISA or something similar. I think Barber should stay, because in the modern corporate set up we will always have someone like that in charge and in many ways he is better than most would be: a likeable and personable individual who certainly knows and cares a lot about football. But rather than allowing him to deal with us as atomised individuals he should be approached by an organised and determined fans' group with specific questions about areas which need changing.

Top notch

A wordsmith knows a wordsmith, or takes one to know one, in playground speak

 

[hitony]

Bozza. Like the rest of us.

I didnt think we were allowed to talk about the little brown envelopes

 

[Dick Knights Mumm]

So another suit without a target then. Nice jobs if you can get one

I doubt that is how it will work.