Recently at our last "audience with night", James Elston stood up and told us that we had a plan B which involved SL standard stadium. Was he stating a fact or just saying it to reassure fans? My opinion is Pinocchio!



It's quite clear from what has been said or not said officially and disturbing from the rumours that are going round, that no plan B was in place. The SOS decision was always going to be a chance event, even if we expected the decision to favour us. By not having a strong plan B he and the BOD have failed the fans miserably. It seems we are in the Brown Stuff due to a lack of preparation!

The reason nothing has been officially announced since the decision was made to call in the planning application is because it is being announced to the shareholders first (and rightly so) on Jan 4th. I'm sure that the Plan B (almost certainly Oakwell) will need to have had a few final points to be negotiated after the SoS decision was made so it's again not surprisignthat nothing has been announced straight away.

I'm sure that had it not been for the Christmas holidays, the shareholders meeting would have been held earlier but I'm sure you'll find a way to blame the club for the inconsiderate timing of the festive season!!!

so you are on the bod.

I have no idea what James said so can't comment on that BUT the fans need to be told what the plan is and not have to wait, i just wonder how much the club shops lost with fans not bothering over the xmas period.

Now i understand shareholders meetings and doing things the right way BUT once again Joe blogs on the streets left wondering if we have anything left to support.

I feel the club should have been shouting from the roof tops and not keeping quite for whatever reasons, some people i've spoken to are seriously considering "jacking in all in" and these people are the life blood of our club and have been for many years.

Still we are only fans and who cares about us eh

While I agree maybe it's not something we want to shout from the roof tops.

I personally (an opinion which will probably get berated) think that until something is watertight then it should not be shared with the fans, I think it is the loose lips and the false promises made that has got us into problems and led to the disillusion we see.

It would have been very Easy for JK to divulge the name of the player he 'nearly' signed last week, and we would have looked silly again

The whole Thornes Park Debacle

People know too much about the club

Following the announcement that planning for Newmarket had been called in, there should have been a clear and defined statement from the club to appease the doubts of the fans, this would have been far more helpful than the statement made by TR. If there is nothing set in stone that would not have mattered.

Well its about time they put the cards on the table, either way, keeping quiet "breeds" rumours and bad feeling and does no one any good.

Just for once playing it straight would be the best thing all round, leaving it to rumours dose a lot of damage at a time when we should be pulling together.

IMO the damage as been done over xmas.

Correct, its really that simple.

All very true which only leads myself and others to believe that it's bad news or no news at all.

well you're damned if you do and damned if you don't, one of those situations where you want to do right by the share holders.

we are in a crazy situation where the RFL are looking on and all the wrong things are on show.

leaving this to fester over xmas hasn't been the right decision in my eyes and the wait for the decision from Pickles was bad enough, we should of hit back with news of plan B straight away.

speculating what might happen is anybodies guess so looks like we will have to wait until the meeting.

you can get a feeling for how the fans feel on this forum as its been lifeless over the festive period

lot of rumours flying round town though, sadly most of them from players or ex players, and none of them good news.

Well NM wasn't going to be ready for the start of the 2012 season regardless of what Pickles decided so a Plan B was still required either way. As a supporter I would love to know what Plan B is however i'm not concerned that it hasn't been revealed. I accept i'm probably in a minority here though.

As stated earlier in the thread, there is a plan B, but the exact details of it are still being ironed out. It was only a couple of weeks ago that we knew what extent we needed plan B for, although it was always a possibility.

We have a full season at BV to look forward to, it is a while before we submit out SL application and even longer before any decisions are taken (assuming they haven't already been taken).

Just be a bit more patient!

some of the other intresting opinions are coming from people i know who are close to barnsley fc, but they will also say they cant be sure, basically theres a plan b ok, but it relies on a franchise, without that we dont need oakwell, however i have to be clear here this was over xmas and beer was involved!

Which makes sense. Without a license i'm sure playing out of Oakwell is not financially viable.

TRB, This is all well and good, but a properly run business would have identified all potential outcomes re the newmarket planning application and therefore had appropriate discussions for all options required with the owners of the stadium that was Plan B ages ago. Variations on the future business plan and SL application could then have been produced in advance.

As usual we are being reactive rather than proactive, and Im afraid that is why with the current BOD in charge we are always doomed to lurch from one crisis to another crisis.

A financial input from a new investor would obviously help the club, but I think the appointment of some proactive people with a proven business record to the BOD to replace some of the deadwood, would in itself improve our future prospects (regardless of any fresh cash)

.

Ive grown to hate that wink!!!

Couldn't agree more.

As already said, the SOS decision was always a chance event, which means in all probabilities we would have a negative response. Judging by the clubs response we certainly were not ready for this. In the Wakey Express a Barnsley spokesman said nothing had been agreed. We should of had an agreement ( in principle) in place that could give us a safety net. The fact we were lead to believe this by James Elston is very annoying. In these uncertain times all we have coming from the club is Teds ranting!

Nearly every fan I have talked to over Christmas has just about had enough and are ready for jacking in. I'm talking life long fans here. The clubs silence had lead to a perception that "Chancer Ted" has gambled the whole clubs future on the Newmarket decision. Something I find hard to disagree with.

No doubt about that one, we may as well play at Fev, Dewsbury or College Grove without a franchise!

sorry to say but all fans i know are saying the same, many gave up last year to be fair, think there is only the final year of belle vue, and many believing the final year of SL that will drag people in, strangely in many peoples eyes Newmarket is irrelevant, no one I know with any business sense or financial skills thinks we will survive next season!

Plan B was well thought of - I knew about it back in June/July when attempts were being made for us to abandon NM and move to GH. Since the announcement 2 weeks ago, there has been movement relating to plan B and when the time is right for the business, I'm sure all will become known.

I do understand the frustration, but none of this is as easy as many would imply on here and I suspect the current position would be little different if others were in control in the same set of circumstances. No pantomime villains or heroes here, just hard working people doing the best they can with what they can!

Plan B may have been well thought of, but obviously not all the potential requirements, which I presume would have cost the club nothing to discuss with the owners of said stadium.

I dont doubt that Ted and co do their best, but my point is they are out of their depth and whilst he may love the club as a supporter, that does not make him the most suitable person to run it.

You 'assume' that the potential requirements were not discussed, but do not know that to be true. My understanding is that a framework was agreed, with the details to be confirmed.

I can't really add any more to the debate than that, so I'll leave it for you guys to judge.