Is freezing the most expensive season tickets in the division really a result of listening to fans? Maybe he was listening to the pips being squeezed out of us and realised there was none left?
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Paul Barber - a thoroughly likeable guy actually
- Thread starter Gritt23
- Start date
Is freezing the most expensive season tickets in the division really a result of listening to fans? Maybe he was listening to the pips being squeezed out of us and realised there was none left?
Working class pride
Banned
- Feb 14, 2010
- 4,932
Couldn't care less if he is nice or not. He runs the club and we are scrapping down the bottom of the Championship. That is failure. Meanwhile the financial gap between clubs in the lower half of the Premier League and us gets wider and wider, year in year out. If we are doing the same next season then like the players who have failed this season, I expect he wont be with us much longer. A very important summer for him.
Lincoln Imp
Well-known member
- Feb 2, 2009
- 5,964
Gus got a wonderful run out of the team in the spring of 2013 but it was to become absolutely clear that the wheels were simultaneously coming off his relationship with the club and before the season was over the gruesome car crash was underway. It is possible of course, as some might claim, that Paul Barber, who joined shortly before the unraveling started, had absolutely nothing to do with any of this, or with the subsequent two management appointments.
B.W.
New member
- Jul 5, 2003
- 13,666
He certainly had a great deal to do with the management appointments.
Lincoln Imp
Well-known member
- Feb 2, 2009
- 5,964
Well that would be my own thought, and with the Gus strategy too. Others on here take an opposite view, that this sort of thing has nothing to do with the chief executive.
Lower West Stander
Well-known member
As I said earlier on this thread, I'm not a Barber fan, but I find the debate on him really interesting.
Part of the issue is clearly his relationship with TB, who many on here (me included) find it very hard to criticize. The club is not profitable, is not a viable business in its current form and is not likely to be any time in the near future - I cannot see any way TB is going to get any financial return out of the cash he used to build the Amex any time soon.
So this makes the appointment of a corporate CEO very hard for many fans to understand. A football club (unless you are a Man U) is not a viable business model and never will be. FFP is a step in the right direction but will never be the total answer as some clubs will just ignore it and it still doesn't have enough teeth. Player costs and wages are a ridiculous % of operating costs and this is something which will never work as part of a viable business. This is what irritates me - Barber's corporate ramblings about something which just isn't corporate. If TB is prepared to stomach the losses as a fan and supporter then fine, just don't pretend the club is a business - it isn't.
Part of the issue is clearly his relationship with TB, who many on here (me included) find it very hard to criticize. The club is not profitable, is not a viable business in its current form and is not likely to be any time in the near future - I cannot see any way TB is going to get any financial return out of the cash he used to build the Amex any time soon.
So this makes the appointment of a corporate CEO very hard for many fans to understand. A football club (unless you are a Man U) is not a viable business model and never will be. FFP is a step in the right direction but will never be the total answer as some clubs will just ignore it and it still doesn't have enough teeth. Player costs and wages are a ridiculous % of operating costs and this is something which will never work as part of a viable business. This is what irritates me - Barber's corporate ramblings about something which just isn't corporate. If TB is prepared to stomach the losses as a fan and supporter then fine, just don't pretend the club is a business - it isn't.
On balance I think he has done a good job based on the tasks set for him by TB, which were to cut the excesses of the non-playing costs incurred under Ken Brown, to allow more money to be spent on the football budget. Opinions on him are going to be skewed and clouded by any correspondence and the resolution to problems that we have encountered with the club.
I don't like some of the things he has implemented, such as (1) the pressure put on NSC to close the ticket exchange, which makes it harder for STH when they cannot attend a match, and ultimately may lead to them not renewing as a result, (2) in relation to Gus where there was a firm line taken in relation to any comments that the historic relationship tensions between PB and GP at Spurs contributed to Gus leaving (3) the manner in which Gus' sacking was announced on a Sunday evening, and (4) Lack of chips.
However, I have had a number of dealings with him and have found him to be personable, receptive and willing to take on criticism and act on it. In particular he sorted out an issue with Seagulls World that was affecting a number of subscribers, has been very helpful in relation to providing information relating to the accounts (as has the FD David Jones) and is prepared to engage with fans at any number of forums and public events, unlike his predecessor or many of his compatriots at other clubs.
As for his salary, couldn't give a stuff, that's TB's call, and Tony has a reputation for paying top dollar for what he perceives as talent. As for the 'PLR' comment, again have no issue with it, getting the administrative infrastructure right is important should we ever go up. I've noticed an improvement in the way that tickets for non STH have been dealt with, but I'm sure others may have felt the opposite, there is an element of a lottery about it when you are dealing with one person on the end of a phone.
It's now up the manager, coaches and players to see if they come up with promotion to see if PLR is a reality.
I don't like some of the things he has implemented, such as (1) the pressure put on NSC to close the ticket exchange, which makes it harder for STH when they cannot attend a match, and ultimately may lead to them not renewing as a result, (2) in relation to Gus where there was a firm line taken in relation to any comments that the historic relationship tensions between PB and GP at Spurs contributed to Gus leaving (3) the manner in which Gus' sacking was announced on a Sunday evening, and (4) Lack of chips.
However, I have had a number of dealings with him and have found him to be personable, receptive and willing to take on criticism and act on it. In particular he sorted out an issue with Seagulls World that was affecting a number of subscribers, has been very helpful in relation to providing information relating to the accounts (as has the FD David Jones) and is prepared to engage with fans at any number of forums and public events, unlike his predecessor or many of his compatriots at other clubs.
As for his salary, couldn't give a stuff, that's TB's call, and Tony has a reputation for paying top dollar for what he perceives as talent. As for the 'PLR' comment, again have no issue with it, getting the administrative infrastructure right is important should we ever go up. I've noticed an improvement in the way that tickets for non STH have been dealt with, but I'm sure others may have felt the opposite, there is an element of a lottery about it when you are dealing with one person on the end of a phone.
It's now up the manager, coaches and players to see if they come up with promotion to see if PLR is a reality.
I agree with you entirely, and my views on FFP being a total con are well documented. Coventry announced losses yesterday of £70 million on a turnover of £3 million for example.
However, PB was appointed because the club was being run in a way that would embarrass a 6 year old, in terms of profligacy, by the previous regime. Cut the waste there and there is more money to spend on the playing side of things, although that doesn't stop us from signing a load of duffers on five figure weekly wages.
Working class pride
Banned
- Feb 14, 2010
- 4,932
It was Brian Clough who said that when a manager is sacked, then the chairman should go as he appointed the manager. I wouldn't agree with that but if this summer and next season is as much of a shambles as last summer / this season then i hope the chairman acts. Poyet went, if the rumours are true, because of a poor relationship with Barber. Fine, as long as Barber replaces Poyet with someone who will bring us more success. If not, then its failure. A very important summer for Barber and the club.
Err...........you do know that Tony Bloom is the chairman don't you WCP?
Even by your standards of cockwomble trolling lunacy that's a pretty dumb thing to get wrong, and if you are serious, an even dumber thing to wish upon the Albion.
Working class pride
Banned
- Feb 14, 2010
- 4,932
Yes, you misunderstand. Barber runs the club and therefore takes responsibility. Bloom pays for it. Incidentally, its not lunacy top point to the historic failure of this club on the field compared to its support. Its something that many fans, even non Brighton fans have observed. The fact that it escapes you doesnt make it lunacy, just your lack of foresight.
Tony doesn't strike me as a man who as the figure head of a £120+m investment to then take a back seat, while underwriting ongoing debt.
Why hire a CEO then? Either Barber or Bloom has previously explained that Barber develops the overall strategic vision/direction which is presented to, and rubber-stamped by, the board. This is what CEOs generally do. Big items like ticket prices also go to the board for final approval but again they are initially Barber's ideas.
Your view of Bloom is quite different to mine, he strikes me as a very hands-off in the background type of guy who seems happy to identify, and handsomely pay for, talent to run the club under him.
...within the structure and financial constraints set down by Tony.
I don't imagine anything above a certain level is just 'rubber stamped' by Tony, who lets face it is the board.
I don't dispute PB has a hell of a lot of leeway within that and controls an awful lot, but at the end of the day it's not his club, it's Tony's, and he has the final say on everything he chooses.
Lincoln Imp
Well-known member
- Feb 2, 2009
- 5,964
I think we can all agree that the club is now being administered in a way better than how a 6 year old would do it. It's not what you'd call a high baseline though.
Do you actually know this?
Who else is putting money into the club and/or under writing debt?
This is not what I meant, and I think you know this.