Paul Barber - a thoroughly likeable guy actually

[Stat Brother]

This is not what I meant, and I think you know this.

No I don't,

I'm saying PB works within Tony's structure and Tony's financial constraints on the club.

You appear to be saying PB has autonomy.

 

[Hampster Gull]

From the little i know i find it inconceivable that Tony isn't behind a detailed framework that Barber is operating within. That would make sense to me, he has invested a fortune in this and he won't want to blow it. Barber is competent and doing what he is paid to do. It all seems sensible to me but accept that its making the club more of a business.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

No I don't,

I'm saying PB works within Tony's structure and Tony's financial constraints on the club.

You appear to be saying PB has autonomy.

I have done nothing but suggest Barber operates like a regular CEO and convey what Barber himself has said about his roll.....which is operate like a regular CEO. I haven't said anything about autonomy.

 

[Seagull73]

Of course he has autonomy in his role, otherwise at HT quite rightly points out, there is no point him being there.

He may well have some sort of 'budget' to work within, but that won't be high up the priority list. His brief will be drive revenue and income, reduce operating costs and give the manager the best possible budget he can to work with. If you think for one second that Bloom is looking over Barbers shoulder every 5 seconds on HOW he goes about that, you are mad. The point of board meetings is so that Barber can bring Bloom and his overpaid sidekicks, who dress up as board members, up to speed with progress. The only thing I do continue to remain surprised about is, given Barbers offensive salary, he is not trusted to do the hiring and firing of the managers, but hey it's Blooms money so I guess he can do what he wants.

Barbers 'success' will be to record year-on-year reductions in operating losses, to get us to the point where we are self-sufficient. In a round about way, he will be judged by what goes on on the pitch, because what happens on the pitch directly impacts the income and revenues off it, in ticket sales, merchandise, catering etc etc, and reductions in all of those will apparently impact the budge the manager is given. Incidentally, expect this to be another year of 'success' in reducing losses, given the systematic dismantling of our previous squad, and the many millions it generated. And again, if you genuinely think Barber had nothing to do with that - go check yourself in and I'll bring the straight jacket.

Barber may well be simply Blooms puppet on many things, but do not imagine for one second that this guy does not have genuine power and say over club policy and direction. It's that fact that makes me dream of the day that this Corporate dinosaur finally moves on to his next project.

 

[Stat Brother]

Of course he has autonomy in his role, otherwise at HT quite rightly points out, there is no point him being there.

He may well have some sort of 'budget' to work within, but that won't be high up the priority list. His brief will be drive revenue and income, reduce operating costs and give the manager the best possible budget he can to work with. If you think for one second that Bloom is looking over Barbers shoulder every 5 seconds on HOW he goes about that, you are mad. The point of board meetings is so that Barber can bring Bloom and his overpaid sidekicks, who dress up as board members, up to speed with progress. The only thing I do continue to remain surprised about is, given Barbers offensive salary, he is not trusted to do the hiring and firing of the managers, but hey it's Blooms money so I guess he can do what he wants.

Barbers 'success' will be to record year-on-year reductions in operating losses, to get us to the point where we are self-sufficient. In a round about way, he will be judged by what goes on on the pitch, because what happens on the pitch directly impacts the income and revenues off it, in ticket sales, merchandise, catering etc etc, and reductions in all of those will apparently impact the budge the manager is given. Incidentally, expect this to be another year of 'success' in reducing losses, given the systematic dismantling of our previous squad, and the many millions it generated. And again, if you genuinely think Barber had nothing to do with that - go check yourself in and I'll bring the straight jacket.

Barber may well be simply Blooms puppet on many things, but do not imagine for one second that this guy does not have genuine power and say over club policy and direction. It's that fact that makes me dream of the day that this Corporate dinosaur finally moves on to his next project.

Somewhere within this mine & HT's posts we're all saying the same thing.
The only dispute is at what point Bloom pipes up.

My guess is earlier in proceedings than Herr's, that's all.

 

[El Presidente]

Of course he has autonomy in his role, otherwise at HT quite rightly points out, there is no point him being there.

He may well have some sort of 'budget' to work within, but that won't be high up the priority list. His brief will be drive revenue and income, reduce operating costs and give the manager the best possible budget he can to work with. If you think for one second that Bloom is looking over Barbers shoulder every 5 seconds on HOW he goes about that, you are mad. The point of board meetings is so that Barber can bring Bloom and his overpaid sidekicks, who dress up as board members, up to speed with progress. The only thing I do continue to remain surprised about is, given Barbers offensive salary, he is not trusted to do the hiring and firing of the managers, but hey it's Blooms money so I guess he can do what he wants.

Barbers 'success' will be to record year-on-year reductions in operating losses, to get us to the point where we are self-sufficient. In a round about way, he will be judged by what goes on on the pitch, because what happens on the pitch directly impacts the income and revenues off it, in ticket sales, merchandise, catering etc etc, and reductions in all of those will apparently impact the budge the manager is given. Incidentally, expect this to be another year of 'success' in reducing losses, given the systematic dismantling of our previous squad, and the many millions it generated. And again, if you genuinely think Barber had nothing to do with that - go check yourself in and I'll bring the straight jacket.

Barber may well be simply Blooms puppet on many things, but do not imagine for one second that this guy does not have genuine power and say over club policy and direction. It's that fact that makes me dream of the day that this Corporate dinosaur finally moves on to his next project.

A few things

1: Agree entirely in that his brief is to maximise income and reduce costs to give the manager an enhanced playing budget, not sure there's anything to grumble about there.

2: Not sure what you mean by 'overpaid sidekicks'. Only Barber, Jones and Martin Perry are paid directors.

3: Paul Barber did negotiate the Ulloa deal, and I think he did an amazing job generating £8.5 million (rising to £10m) for a player who had only been with us for 18 months and cost £2 million. Ulloa (and Bridcutt, Buckley, Upson and Ward) were all keen to play in the PL, so there was no point in trying to stop them. Barnes is apparently only a Sunday league player, so no loss there. Koosh's agent was claiming he was in the demand in the PL, and wanted a contract from the Albion that reflected that, and the club said no. He's now the number two keeper at Wolves. I think it was a mistake to let Orlandi (and to a lesser extent, Spanish Dave) go, but those decisions were made by Nathan Jones rather than Barber.

4: What makes Barber a 'Corporate Dinosaur'? Surely he is the epitome of modern football, which today is all selfie sticks, half and half scarves, high prices, megastores and tourists? I don't like any of that, but it's no point taking a King Canute approach to the changes in the game, you'll just end up very bitter.

 

[andy1980]

I've just seen on the Argus website that solidarity payments are expected to rise from £2.3 million to £6.5 million. When is that going to happen?

 

[Rookie]

I've just seen on the Argus website that solidarity payments are expected to rise from £2.3 million to £6.5 million. When is that going to happen?

If we do get premier league football, that article could come back to haunt him. All about keeping season tickets at a low price to keep the ground full, will be interesting how much of an increase we would have for top flight football.

 

[El Presidente]

I've just seen on the Argus website that solidarity payments are expected to rise from £2.3 million to £6.5 million. When is that going to happen?

2016/17

 

[chaileyjem]

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?

Damned if he does, damned if he doesn't.

 

[andy1980]

If we do get premier league football, that article could come back to haunt him. All about keeping season tickets at a low price to keep the ground full, will be interesting how much of an increase we would have for top flight football.

Hopefully he is hinting at our strategy if we get there.

 

[andy1980]

2016/17

I guess that means player wages expected to increase again. Do you think our TV deal will increase in a similar way?

 

[drew]

A few things

1: Agree entirely in that his brief is to maximise income and reduce costs to give the manager an enhanced playing budget, not sure there's anything to grumble about there.

2: Not sure what you mean by 'overpaid sidekicks'. Only Barber, Jones and Martin Perry are paid directors.

3: Paul Barber did negotiate the Ulloa deal, and I think he did an amazing job generating £8.5 million (rising to £10m) for a player who had only been with us for 18 months and cost £2 million. Ulloa (and Bridcutt, Buckley, Upson and Ward) were all keen to play in the PL, so there was no point in trying to stop them. Barnes is apparently only a Sunday league player, so no loss there. Koosh's agent was claiming he was in the demand in the PL, and wanted a contract from the Albion that reflected that, and the club said no. He's now the number two keeper at Wolves. I think it was a mistake to let Orlandi (and to a lesser extent, Spanish Dave) go, but those decisions were made by Nathan Jones rather than Barber.

4: What makes Barber a 'Corporate Dinosaur'? Surely he is the epitome of modern football, which today is all selfie sticks, half and half scarves, high prices, megastores and tourists? I don't like any of that, but it's no point taking a King Canute approach to the changes in the game, you'll just end up very bitter.

This (and I think Seagull73 is already bitter judging from his post!)

Of course the CEO has power but his remit will not just be to just increase revenue and reduce operating cost in any way he choses, it will be within a strategy that he has previously agreed with TB and the Board. Major decisions will no doubt be run past the chairman first before being finalised.

He might not be everyone's cup of tea but if we didn't have someone of his calibre and a manager like Poyet was allowed to spend as much as he liked then we could have ended up like Portsmouth after 'Arry' left!!!

 

[El Presidente]

I guess that means player wages expected to increase again. Do you think our TV deal will increase in a similar way?

No, the current FL72 TV deal is a reduction compared to its predecessor. The money is in the Premier League only.

 

[andy1980]

No, the current FL72 TV deal is a reduction compared to its predecessor. The money is in the Premier League only.

So that gap between Championship and Premiership is about to get even bigger then.

 

[El Presidente]

So that gap between Championship and Premiership is about to get even bigger then.

Very much so. The Championship play-off final is the most valuable match in the world.

 

[andy1980]

Very much so. The Championship play-off final is the most valuable match in the world.

Is League 1 and 2 solidarity payments going up in a similar way to ours? Is the gap between Championship and League 1 and 2 stupidly big like Championship and Premiership?

 

[paul-brighton]

OP:

Having sent three e-mails to the club without acknowledgment or reply, I think you were perfectly entitled to be "terse & brusque" in your fourth attempt. I know I would have been.

I think I would have been apologising to you for your unanswered e-mails rather than admonishing you for your brusqueness.

Exactly, I have no real feelings about Barber on a personal level, however surely the lack of response from his staff indicates some kind of issue, to me I can only see it as: 1. The staff are not up to the job (or are not trained properly). 2. The staff are too scared to make decisions.
Surely a 'I'm sorry no one has replied I will get my staff to deal with it now' would have been a better response..

 

[El Presidente]

Is League 1 and 2 solidarity payments going up in a similar way to ours? Is the gap between Championship and League 1 and 2 stupidly big like Championship and Premiership?

L1 and L2 will get about an extra £200-250,000 each.

 

[Horses Arse]

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.

Interesting comments. Also interesting to see once again that those positive aspects are for minor non ceo issues, sorting out an issue with seagulls world for example. You find out about people when there's a real problem and whilst his engagement with fans via email is 'engaging' it's also a good way of blurring the views of supporters when it comes to criticism of Barber. This site provides very good examples of this, it always comes back to his emails and him not losing money like that previous Bloom appointment, Brown.

In addition to point 4 I'd broaden the firm line taken regarding comments made on his relationship to Gus to include his general warnings to this site; for a club in good times (and we are despite this seasons latest managerial debacle) I see that as a very concerning development.