Updated Statement From Andrew Casson

[barrowfan]

"wants to" is not a promise - it's an aspiration. I want to win the lottery but ........

Read my earlier post about how things change in business.

Thanks for the link BTW. You're right - I hadn't read it, and it's a good read.

[boyliegladbach]

Wonder if all that's gone on is due to the court case finishing last Friday.

I also can't belive the cassons have gone and left the decision of the future of the club to Paul Hornby, they bought it and they should sell it.
Not doubting or knocking his ability but if all goes wrong(again) in a few years, who would the people of Barrow blame.

[Jonty]

I think we have to get a sense of realism with this.

This week Debenhams announced that they were closing 50 stores. Hopefully Barrow is not one of them but it could be. When they opened those 50 stores they certainly didn’t expect that they would be closing them, but any business has to look at changing circumstances.

The Cassons expected the Barrow people to support them more than they did, in just the same way as Debenhams did with those 50 stores.

Times change and businesses have to change as well.

I agree that the Cassons should have employed people who actually knew about running a football club, but they didn’t.

Last night Andrew admitted that they had made mistakes along the way, but you can’t help but admire a family that writes off £3M in memory of their late father.

Last night Paul Hornby said they’d already had an offer to buy the club outright. It must be very tempting to say OK, bit I think that PH knows the dangers in doing that. Personally I would favour a consortium of people to take the club forward.

We should draw a line under the past and move forward to a hopefully bright future.

If they did expect much more support then they were living in "cloud cuckoo" land. The days of significantly higher attendances at places with the population of Barrow are over and anybody looking at attendances in the lower football league of national league attendances would know that much higher attendances were unlikely. A few clubs buck the trend but most don't. It's also been proved that with astute management (or large financial support) you can survive in the lower levels of the football league. Accrington got promoted from Division 2 to Division 1 two seasons ago with average attendances of 1,608. Last season in Division 1 they averaged 1,979. Even this season while currently lying 4th in Division 1 they average 2,267. Six clubs in Division 2 are averaging less than 3,000 with another 5 less than 4,000. I have no idea whether Accrington have a large financial backer but most of their players have been recruited from lower levels or are loan players. They obviously have a manager or scouts with an eye for decent lower level players. However well Barrow do on the field they will never attract many more people than the Accringtons of this world.

This is a point worth noting. Accrington Stanley have done magnificently well and whatever operating model they employ we should be looking into it.

[Lancaster Branch]

Accrington Stanley have done magnificently well and whatever operating model they employ we should be looking into it.

Open and honest chairman; local businesses that chip in; a fully engaged fanbase albeit very small and, most importantly, a fantastic manager who fits the club.

Easy

[DaveP]

They don't have a professional rugby League team to compete for fans with

[boyliegladbach]

They don't have a professional rugby League team to compete for fans with

Neither do we

[DaveP]

You are probably right

[russell_anderson]

They don't have a professional rugby League team to compete for fans with

That's irrelevent because if they were in the National League they would be lucky to average crowds as big as Barrow and if Barrow were in the Football League Division 1, I would expect Barrow to manage larger crowds than Accrington's 2,200. Barrow may have a semi-professional Rugby League team for competition but they don't have the competition from clubs very close to them that Accrington do.

[Lancaster Branch]

They don't have a professional rugby League team to compete for fans with

No but they have a Premier League team and a Championship team within reach of a Dan Jones throw in.

[McMark]

They don't have a professional rugby League team to compete for fans with

No but they have a Premier League team and a Championship team within reach of a Dan Jones throw in.

[Pedro]

They don't have a professional rugby League team to compete for fans with

No but they have a Premier League team and a Championship team within reach of a Dan Jones throw in.

Yep and similar poverty levels.
Hence you can have a season ticket for a Premiership club for another £7 per game or Championship club for less than £6 per game

[HenneysKnee]

You are probably right

No he’s definitely right; Raiders players are part time mostly

[tictactoe]

Wonder if all that's gone on is due to the court case finishing last Friday.

I also can't belive the cassons have gone and left the decision of the future of the club to Paul Hornby, they bought it and they should sell it.
Not doubting or knocking his ability but if all goes wrong(again) in a few years, who would the people of Barrow blame.

I was wondering the same - is this all tied in with the case against his American company, what happened with that? If his company goes belly up over there will that have an affect on his business here etc

[mall]

I dont think it will be too long before negotiations begin for ground sharing at Craven Park. Should we stay or should we go, I think were going down to Lancaster's level no matter what happens.

[blue nige]

"wants to" is not a promise - it's an aspiration. I want to win the lottery but ........

Read my earlier post about how things change in business.

Thanks for the link BTW. You're right - I hadn't read it, and it's a good read.

Yes things change but are you telling me that even if we did get gates of 2;000 odd that would equate to 10 million pounds to build a stadium as the advert says "you do the maths".
You can dress it up as much as you want but Paul Casson promised a new stadium at least 3 times and he tied this in by saying he wanted this as part of a legacy for his late father
Anyway it all counts for nothing now but the way it's all ended leaves a bitter taste in the mouth. I just hope that whoever takes over runs it professionally ,more than the Cassons did .