Quite. It's the classic 'good cop bad cop' set-up. TB is seen as the great guy who gave us the stadium and the Demon Barber is the hard-nosed bastard whose job is to piss everybody off in order to make a few extra quid. They're a team. I haven't agreed with everything the club has done over the last few months (and some of the decisions may come back to bite them on the bum), but some of the anti-Barber vitriol on here is laughable. And personally, not being a fan of cheerleaders at football, I was pleased to see the back of the delightfully-amateur but also slightly cringeworthy Gully's Girls. They were also a bit too much 'Withdean era' for my liking.
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For the attention of Mr Barber
- Thread starter Uncle Spielberg
- Start date
Quite. It's the classic 'good cop bad cop' set-up. TB is seen as the great guy who gave us the stadium and the Demon Barber is the hard-nosed bastard whose job is to piss everybody off in order to make a few extra quid. They're a team. I haven't agreed with everything the club has done over the last few months (and some of the decisions may come back to bite them on the bum), but some of the anti-Barber vitriol on here is laughable. And personally, not being a fan of cheerleaders at football, I was pleased to see the back of the delightfully-amateur but also slightly cringeworthy Gully's Girls. They were also a bit too much 'Withdean era' for my liking.
Except banks are increasingly coming under the scrutiny of the regulator - note PPI!! A new "code of conduct" requires them to act in the best interests of the customer which often will not be in the best interest of the bank. Pity this regulation isn't more far reaching
Uncle Spielberg
Well-known member
- Thread starter
- #163
Quite good by normal standards. I did like the Wanksock comment. I am not sure what it is but it sounds great. I must try and buy one.
How many of the current troupe are former Gully's Girls? There must be a few? I don't believe they were not allowed to join the new bunch.
I'm really struggling to see the issue myself. The pre-match entertainment has evolved into something much more inclusive. Surely a positive thing? And US get's handed a golden opportunity to reunite them for charitable reasons. If they're as popular as everyone is suggesting then fans will flock to a REMF event to see them.
I'm really struggling to see the issue myself. The pre-match entertainment has evolved into something much more inclusive. Surely a positive thing? And US get's handed a golden opportunity to reunite them for charitable reasons. If they're as popular as everyone is suggesting then fans will flock to a REMF event to see them.
I'm with you brother.
Uncle Spielberg
Well-known member
- Thread starter
- #166
Seems a good plan to me.
Butch Willykins
Well-known member
Genuine question, not trying to stir up a binfest, but If we were top of the league, 3 points clear (like Cardiff) would there still be the same level of animosity towards Mr Barber?
My own view is that he is a sought after man within football boardrooms and we are 'lucky' to have him. If we are to get into the Premier League and sustain several seasons there then the club needs to be run like a top level football club and not like the cake making competition at a village fete.
My own view is that he is a sought after man within football boardrooms and we are 'lucky' to have him. If we are to get into the Premier League and sustain several seasons there then the club needs to be run like a top level football club and not like the cake making competition at a village fete.
Always found GG a bit embarrassing, tbh. An amateur display at top-level professional sport doesn't fit.
Also, can hardly expect the club to retain GG for the benefit of REMF. I mean, £600? The chinaman raises that in his sleep (or by going on holiday).
If you wrote to TB with an explanation, I'm sure he'd put in the 'missing' money himself - if only to stop another senseless, attenion-seeking whinge on NSC.
Also, can hardly expect the club to retain GG for the benefit of REMF. I mean, £600? The chinaman raises that in his sleep (or by going on holiday).
If you wrote to TB with an explanation, I'm sure he'd put in the 'missing' money himself - if only to stop another senseless, attenion-seeking whinge on NSC.
Billy the Fish
Technocrat
Fair enough, just a difference of opinion then. Personally I'd like to to keep a few of the little amatuer touches, imperfections are what give you character and I'd genuinely rather have a few of those and feel a bit more empathy towards the club than support a well oiled corporate machine that pretends to like me because I'm giving them money.
Icy Gull
Back on the rollercoaster
- Jul 5, 2003
- 72,015
I seem to recall you saying exactly the same when we were at Withdean, but for different reasons?
As regards the topic of the thread, I'm not fussed about whether we have Gully's Girls or not tbh, maybe the demise has been handled in a shoddy way but at the end of the day Barber is answerable to TB so he must have agreed to go along with it.
In a very very diluted way isn't this going the same way as Bellotti getting the flack when the strings were being pulled by Archer and Stanley? I could never bring myself to get too wound up about Bellotti as he was just the monkey/mouth piece. Is Barber not in a similar position?
Has anyone actually decided this is important enough to start slagging off Bloom for bringing him in
? I accept that this is the price we are paying for pushing for the top flight.
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Uncle Spielberg
Well-known member
- Thread starter
- #171
Thanks. It was just part of my post and part of my rationale. They were part of the REMF so it is hard to quantify the exact amount of the £ 120000 raised down to them. I do recall them selling raffle tickets in the freezing cold for over an hour for the last 5 REMF games at Lewes as well. Still easy to have a pop. A sitting Duck. Carry on and to be fair I don't do many " senseless, attention-seeking whinges " on NSC anymore, exactly because of people like you.
One of the complaints seems to be that we (the fans) weren't consulted before the axe fell. Fair point, but then we weren't consulted before they were introduced either. Before Gully (never mind his girls) was introduced I remember NSC's views when someone said we should have a mascot - they were overwhelmingly negative! But despite our opposition the club rode roughshod over the views of the fans and decided to Americanise us with mascots and cheerleaders just so they could sell a few fluffy seagulls. Or to put it another way, one could argue that the club has never listened to the fans even when it was a homespun lower-league outfit.
Green Cross Code Man
Wunt be druv
The decision to introduce Gully has proved to be the right one as far as I'm concerned whatever the good people of nsc may have thought at the time. At Withdean my boys (who were quite small) were immediately drawn to him and looked forward to seeing him each match. Judging by the favorable reaction he gets from the family stand now, he engages with the kids. I think that's great, anything that encourages watching the Albion as a way of life is to be applauded. Us old timers may have been happy with a mars bar at half time and standing on an old milk crate but the times, and football with them, have changed.
As CEO surely Barber is working to a brief given to him by the board, including Tony Bloom and yet he seems to be taking the flack dor all decision made. I would find it highley unlikely that the big decisions on things like prices and the change in catering supplier would be a unilateral decision by Barber but only after consultation with the board as a whole.
That said axing Gully girls does seem a little strange on a commercial basis, not sure what revenue impact they could have.
That said axing Gully girls does seem a little strange on a commercial basis, not sure what revenue impact they could have.
n1 gull
Well-known member
Totally agree Timmy. I'm f***ing fed up of people with rose tinted glasses looking back at the good ol' days.
It is a new club in a way and they don't get everything right (Newcastle prices for example) but lets look forward. I for one
can't wait for Forest tomorrow, then Millwall on Tuesday - we are after all a football club
Exactly,where they have 'safe' standing and over the last 12 months, prosecutions for football violence are up 90% and injuries relating to football violence up 120% compared to the average over the last 12 years. Great advert and no doubt will encourage the government to change legislation!!!!
Oh indeed. In retrospect it WAS the right decision, despite the fact that at the time a load of Internet nerds thought the opposite. Proof that fans always tend to be a bit reactionary and sometimes have to be dragged along, which isn't the same as saying of course that every new innovation is good!
Albion Dan
Banned
This is a little known fact but Paul Barber enjoys wearing womens clothing....
Hotchilidog
Well-known member
- Jan 24, 2009
- 9,120
FWIW I think it's sad but GG's are no longer with us, but I hardly feel cheated as fan because of their absence.
I feel the criticism of Barber is way over the top considering the task with which he is charged. We have a £100million stadium to service, a promotion campaign which could take an indeterminate amount of time to fund, and nearly 20,000 additional fans to cater for. Things were not going to stay the same.
On the important issues ie making the season tickets affordable, providing comfortable accommodation, a decent pint and welcoming bars the club have come up trumps. The AITC is still the standard bearer for all other schemes in the country with thousands of people positively helped, not just in Sussex but across the world. I really fail to see how we are losing our community roots, especially when the top brass are still approachable at the club and you can even bump into Tony Bloom on the train.
OK you can argue that match day tickets are pricey, but with the season tickets on offer at an affordable rate what else would you expect. The newcastle tickets are being offered at the standard rate, not a rip off rate, as the club feel this fixture will still sell well which is a sensible decision in my view.
When the transfer window opens some fans will be screaming for a new striker for the 'barn-door-phobic' ones we have on our staff already as it will obviously be such a DISASTER that we do not get promoted to the Premiership at the second attempt after decades in the doldrums. Well the money for that will have to come from somewhere.
As long as the DD scheme keeps my ticket affordable, and they don't ditch the Harveys then as a fan I will be happy. Everything else is just window dressing as far as I'm concerned and that includes gambling big bucks on mythical 20 goal strikers. For all the fuss about Murray this year, last season he was terrible for Palace last season and this year's figures are inflated by the ridiculous amount of penalties they are awarded up the road.
For me the most valid criticism of the club is the way they release tickets for sale for home matches. All available should be released at the same time, and I agree the club have yet to come up with a reasonable explanation for their drip feeding of ticket block by block, especially when it is the £28 ones that get released last.
On the whole I am very happy with the way we are going, and I think Barber is the sort of man Bloom needs to help realise his vision for the club. If people are really unhappy with that they can vote with their feet and just stop going, but honestly I am saddened that people cannot enjoy what is a great time to be an Albion fan at the moment.
I feel the criticism of Barber is way over the top considering the task with which he is charged. We have a £100million stadium to service, a promotion campaign which could take an indeterminate amount of time to fund, and nearly 20,000 additional fans to cater for. Things were not going to stay the same.
On the important issues ie making the season tickets affordable, providing comfortable accommodation, a decent pint and welcoming bars the club have come up trumps. The AITC is still the standard bearer for all other schemes in the country with thousands of people positively helped, not just in Sussex but across the world. I really fail to see how we are losing our community roots, especially when the top brass are still approachable at the club and you can even bump into Tony Bloom on the train.
OK you can argue that match day tickets are pricey, but with the season tickets on offer at an affordable rate what else would you expect. The newcastle tickets are being offered at the standard rate, not a rip off rate, as the club feel this fixture will still sell well which is a sensible decision in my view.
When the transfer window opens some fans will be screaming for a new striker for the 'barn-door-phobic' ones we have on our staff already as it will obviously be such a DISASTER that we do not get promoted to the Premiership at the second attempt after decades in the doldrums. Well the money for that will have to come from somewhere.
As long as the DD scheme keeps my ticket affordable, and they don't ditch the Harveys then as a fan I will be happy. Everything else is just window dressing as far as I'm concerned and that includes gambling big bucks on mythical 20 goal strikers. For all the fuss about Murray this year, last season he was terrible for Palace last season and this year's figures are inflated by the ridiculous amount of penalties they are awarded up the road.
For me the most valid criticism of the club is the way they release tickets for sale for home matches. All available should be released at the same time, and I agree the club have yet to come up with a reasonable explanation for their drip feeding of ticket block by block, especially when it is the £28 ones that get released last.
On the whole I am very happy with the way we are going, and I think Barber is the sort of man Bloom needs to help realise his vision for the club. If people are really unhappy with that they can vote with their feet and just stop going, but honestly I am saddened that people cannot enjoy what is a great time to be an Albion fan at the moment.