[Albion] Paul Barber: The Transfer Window

[Triggaaar]

I could maybe force down a beer.

Excellent.

Room for a sixth?

May not be necessary, it's taking a very long time for my place to be confirmed. Apparently Barber wants to be able to enjoy his beer without being picked up on every little thing he's ever said.

 

[rippleman]

It's nice of PB to offer to meet some fans.

However, as he hasn't admitted to making any mistakes, or suggested that the club would do anything different next time, what's the point?

Isn't this what it's really all about?

We were all disappointed that the club failed to recruit the striker(s) we so desperately needed. The Chairman wrote an open letter to all fans and whilst that didn't dissipate the disappointment in any way, it sufficed. It had to; nothing we can do about the failure in recruitment now.

Then along comes Barber with his can of petrol and matches and sets it all ablaze again. He needs to stop reading NSC because, as passionate fans, there is bound to be criticism but he didn't need to make things worse. A long list of excuses but no real admission that there shortcomings during the window or that lessons have been learned. To suggest fans criticism was "spiteful" is really not what a CEO should be saying! That isn't going to lessen the tension.

To those who say "support the team", I don't think that the overwhelming majority of fans would think of doing anything else! It's not the teams fault that the club failed during the transfer window.

 

[Buzzer]

I think it would be much nicer if instead of meeting Barber for a drink we could organise a curry night instead.

2 many snakes on here, Barber hun. PM me yeah? x

 

[Sheebo]

Paul Barber is a bellend.

He really isn't though. He's a really nice fella from what I know of him and I've met him several times, mainly at Seagulls Over Burwash events which he BOTHERS to come to. No I'm not a 'licker' whatsoever - I didn't particularly like David Burke's attitude on certain things when he came down. I'm just saying Barber has always come across as a good bloke and very articulate & knowledgeable. This also doesn't mean I personally agree with all the decisions the club make but c'est la vie - it's a thankless task on the whole and all about opinions...

As for the stuff about how certain 'supporters' reacted to the 'no striker' on here and social media... some were quite frankly embarrassing with their 'spoilt brat' attitudes. It's embarrassing that PB had to send that letter to NSC too. It really was those who couldn't handle the disappointment of not getting the striker who made the most posts on NSC. There were several balanced views that received a lot of 'thumbs up' - I think those of a more balanced nature just didn't bother posting as it was indeed pathetic some of the stuff on here.

Get behind the lads we have and enjoy the ride people

 

[Sheebo]

The only shame about Barbers comments is it's clear some of the more ridiculous comments on here and elsewhere from the brain-dead JCLs have hit home, when a thicker skin is going to be required - all clubs have dickhead fans and since we've been at the Amex the percentage has seemingly increased exponentially and now we are in the prem the social media frenzy is in full swing and enters overdrive in the transfer windows/ deadlines - they're just gonna have to rise above it.

Bang on - It's a shame you can 'tweet' the official BHA thing really and so many of the idiot kids who don't know they're born do so - it seems the cool thing to do

 

[Is it PotG?]

So when's the ballot for the Barber Banter & Beer Bash?

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

As some others have said, to have the CEO of a Premier League club respond in this way for fans is pretty remarkable, although I type that knowing that Paul Barber's detractors will immediately come back with something like "he should have focused on signing a striker rather than writing long emails", as if the two are mutually exclusive.

Paul has, once again, extended the invitation to meet a group of NSCers face to face one evening, have a beer, and go over anything that people want to. It's something I'm happy to facilitate, although I'm pretty sure that those who are the most abusive wouldn't be brave enough to front up face to face. Again, I'm not sure fans of many other clubs would get the same opportunity.

What time should I be in Brewdog for?

 

[dingodan]

Whatever some of you guys seem to think, I very much believe PB, with his experience and stature in the world of football, has been (predictably) one of the greatest acquisitions made by the club, and as crucial to our success as the stadium and the training ground.

I can't even get my head around how openly he engages with the fans, and what a true professional and great representitive he is for our club.

I can't think of anyone else who would be even half the CEO he is, and we should count ourselves very lucky IMO.

 

[clippedgull]

Whatever some of you guys seem to think, I very much believe PB, with his experience and stature in the world of football, has been (predictably) one of the greatest acquisitions made by the club, and as crucial to our success as the stadium and the training ground.

I can't even get my head around how openly he engages with the fans, and what a true professional and great representitive he is for our club.

I can't think of anyone else who would be even half the CEO he is, and we should count ourselves very lucky IMO.

Exposed: Paul Barber's NSC account!!!!


But seriously, he does his job very well and is extremely well paid for it.

 

[Deleted member 2719]

I couldn't disagree more.

I certainly don't want Barbers emails being filtered and doctored by a "communications expert" (whatever that is) to smooth over anything that would have our resident snowflakes up in arms, thanks very much. I'd much rather read EXACTLY what he has to say, word for word, warts and all, without it being bathed in soft-focus lighting to stop my bottom lip from wobbling when I'm reading it.

Barber is an intelligent, literate and articulate writer who is perfectly capable of getting across his message without some kind of yoghurt-knitting, elbow-patched Fanshaw type character dumbing it down and smoothing it over before it goes out to the masses. I'll have it from the horses mouth, thanks.

Put like that you have a valid point, but maybe it could be your perfect dream job Easy!

 

[Pretty Plnk Fairy]

The rodneys will be queing up to meet up with him for selvies

Regards
DR

 

[Easy 10]

Put like that you have a valid point, but maybe it could be your perfect dream job Easy!

Barbers LAPDOG ?

ENREST would have me on toast !

 

[Deleted member 2719]

Barbers LAPDOG ?

ENREST would have me on toast !

Ha ha, more likely a spit roast!

 

[Me and my Monkey]

I think this thread is one that would have very much benefitted from the thumbs down option.

 

[Joey Jo Jo Jr. Shabadoo]

So can we can expect the Andone deal to be pushed through in January?

Looks like he was our primary target, wanted to join us, but missed out because of Deportivo's failure to cover his squad position.

No idea if we'll go back for Andone or not. Burnley bid for him earlier in the window and the Deportivo president said he'd only let Adone go if his release clause of 30 million Euros was met.

We clearly didn't meet that valuation as he'd be a Brighton player now had we me that clause. Meeting that clause in January is a big ask, and a massive gamble, will Deportivo be willing to meet us at our valuation again if they can secure a replacement this time.

 

[Seasider78]

I read it as a defence of a team of people who work for him and he is close to and their ability being called into question. He feels his team are being unfairly criticised and wants to put people straight on it.

Whilst great to have a CEO who protects his team and wants to explain to fans agree with others this was probably best left alone.

Fingers crossed we do not see a strikerless squad Saturday and some positive signs from our current strikers and team so we can put this whole thing to bed and move on

Last things anyone can cope with is another week of posturing and told you so's from both sides of the fence

 

[Weststander]

No idea if we'll go back for Andone or not. Burnley bid for him earlier in the window and the Deportivo president said he'd only let Adone go if his release clause of 30 million Euros was met.

We clearly didn't meet that valuation as he'd be a Brighton player now had we me that clause. Meeting that clause in January is a big ask, and a massive gamble, will Deportivo be willing to meet us at our valuation again if they can secure a replacement this time.

Should we be a sinking ship in December, that would exacerbate the problem of attracting top flight quality strikers to club with no PL history. Andone for example would be be upping sticks for just a four month stay in an alien part of the world.

But I would imagine that the recruitment team are working their socks off again, to try and get striker target deals arranged a.s.a.p. and over the line as soon as the window opens.

 

[giveusfalmerplease]

What is the relevance between signing a striker and a loan GK we didnt need. First TB waffles to try to appease us now it PB. Nobody should have expected different from either after a poor window for whatever the reason was.
.

Maybe they realised their mistake with Ryan and figured that the strike force we have had a slightly better chance of scoring goals than the Goalie does of saving them and therefore felt another Goalie is needed (though heaven knows why when we consider both Menapaa;s form and they let Walton go go coulnt have been that desperate for a third goalie

 

[giveusfalmerplease]

The problem with the work thing is that you will not spend months or years working on a specific project and not know the outcome very early. You may be late but it will happen. So, in an IT world, let's say I am setting up my work email system for lotus notes (yes, I know but this is an example), the day before or last minute of the go live date, lotus notes will not tell you that they actually do not want to sell you that software anymore. If they did, you could go straight to Microsoft and buy Outlook. Is that possible in football? No.

Very Strange analogy. By that example you could argue that at the 11th hour they realised they werent going to get a striker so chose a goalie instead. Which is what they did..

 

[clapham_gull]

I see where you're coming from, but I think that's wide of the mark. I think the reality is somewhere far closer to the heart and the intention being in the right place, but the ability to put the intention into written words just isn't up to scratch. His presentation (in the OP in particular, but I've noted it before) is very much in CEO-language. It's all top-level notation format, and at times quite blunt. That's fine for internal use within the club, but far too easy for the public to misinterpret.

Seriously: he could hand that exact copy to a communications expert, along with a verbal explanation of what he wants to get across, and the communications expert would then turn it into something that *actually* says what he wants to say in language that's fine-tuned for us, not the board or staff at the club.

I'm personally of the opinion that his only mistake here is in writing to us directly, without the communications expert filtering the words. Given I have on many occasions in the past taken on the role of wordsmithing for CEOs, I'm quite happy to cut him some slack here: As I said yesterday, carefully reading between the lines and I'll now add "ignoring the obvious clanger" (it's not that he mentioned "naive" and "spiteful" fan comments itself that's a problem, rather how he mentioned them) can result in a much better understanding of his intent.

I'd rather he doesn't take any time out to go and learn expert communications skills. His time is far better spent running the club. Instead, he either needs to hire a communications expert and/or make better use of the ones the club already has. And when I talk about communications expert, I'm not talking about a "PR specialist". I'm talking about a "Community Manager" (but not a Social Media expert, although that'd be a good start - I'm talking good old-fashioned computer games industry community people). If they don't have one, they should get one, and that person should be empowered to come here and talk to the fans on this board directly, on a day-to-day basis.

With all due respect you would say that wouldn't you ?

It's very usual for a CEO to communicate to the fans directly. If that's how he communicates so be it.

The main website is very managed these days but it's worth having a look at other sites where the owner / chairman have used the website to have a pop at fans.

A club LIKE Brighton in the PREMIER LEAGUE is a paradoxical situation anyway. Has to operate like a global business but has managed to get there (pre Bloom) with protest.

Not a dissimilar situation to a bunch of yoghurt knitting hippies having a great idea and becoming billionaires.

In such a situation there is no perfect means of communication so the club have found a happy balance of doing both. A pre-match video remembering losing the previous struggles ? Remarkable. The usual corporate bollocks would be "let's move on".

It's looks to me that the "strategy" (if it is one) of communicating to the paying public as both fans AND customers is very clever, both attracting new fans and retaining the loyalty of the present.