# FAB Meeting Minutes - 11 February 2025

Date: 2025-02-11
Location: Rimmington Lounge, Oakwell Stadium
PDF: https://images.gc.barnsleyfcservices.co.uk/94857d20-2a72-11f0-b316-3d917fca0cba.pdf

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Barnsley FC Fan Advisory Group Meeting Minutes 
Date of Meeting Tuesday 11th February 2025 
Location Rimmington Lounge, Oakwell Stadium 
Time 6:30 pm 
Meeting Objective(s) 
Attendance 
Present Apologies 
Mladen Sormaz - MS Andy Gaskill – AG Phil Hall 
Jon Flatman - JF Robin Harris – RH Heather Linney 
Dave Watson – DW Curtis Ledger – CL Dominic Wood 
Kieron Campbell - KC Martin Wilson – MW 
Clare Calton – CC Steve Brain – SB 
Kelly Drury – KD 
Paul Gallagher - PG 
Agenda, Discussions, Issues 
Topic / Discussion Notes Discussion led by 
Agenda Item 1 - January Transfer Window 
Whilst it was recognised that inviting MS to the FAB meeting was an unusual 
request, it is to the Club’s and MS’s credit that they facilitated that opportunity. 
The overwhelming concern of Barnsley Fans at the end of the January transfer 
window was to look for some sort of explanation as to what the Club’s approach 
and thinking was during the month. The FAB exists to represent fellow supporters 
and it was felt that we would have been doing our fellow supporters a disservice to 
not at least try and broker a meeting and engage with the Club. 
The output from this meeting is detailed below. 
The meeting was a two-way dialogue, with questions and answers throughout. 
Mladen gave an initial overview of the process, after which queries were raised 
by the FAB members, to establish the following: 
● There are a number of individuals involved in the recruitment process at 
the club: The Board, The Head Coach and the Recruitment Team. 
● It is not just data driven recruitment; players are watched both internally 
and external to the club. 
● This is how a vast majority of the clubs operate from mid Championship to 
League two clubs. 
● Once the January transfer window closes, the club begin to review the 
team’s current situation, identify the team’s needs in more detail, 
narrowing this down and being more specific, and then start to identify any 
potential targets from other clubs. 
● In recent years we have lost the services of Herbie Kane and Devante Cole, 
and therefore, the focus was for players that were ready to start. 
● This monitoring continues throughout the season for players both internal 
and external to the club. 
● Prior to the summer, a list of desirable players to approach is formulated 
over the summer months. This is then presented to the Stakeholders. 
● These players are then ranked, identifying the Club’s needs and 
expectations. The ranking includes where the potential player is currently, 
their projected ability and their possible progression within a team. 
● Finances are then discussed with the Board regarding the spending budget 
for the future plans and squad. This could be made up of a number of 
elements, including spending per player, how likely is the deal likely to 
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come to fruition and what is the timeline available for players and the 
clubs involved. 
● Clubs have different agendas and sometimes this is also a factor in the sale 
or availability of that Club’s under contract players, and their anticipated 
value and what realistic offers could be made. 
● Throughout the summer, from May onwards, the Recruitment Team review 
the list systematically as the target players also have options and choices to 
make. It is not only Barnsley FC in the market looking to buy and sign 
players. 
● The Club may also work and negotiate with a player over a longer period of 
time, considering the longer term prospects for the club. 
● This becomes a balancing act, as we are usually in competition with other 
teams for a small pool of players. 
● Some markets have now been eliminated due to changes in the law for 
European clubs regarding the signing and transferring of players. This has 
had the effect of making the pool for quality players smaller and smaller. 
● We make sure that each position on the field has a potential of 5 players 
who are identified as above average, and then a further 5 who could also 
deliver what we require. 
● All our future targets need to be treated with the strictest confidence, as 
this could alert other clubs to our interest and jeopardize the potential 
opportunity for the transfer to be successful; meaning the best price, 
circumstances and conditions for the club. 
● The longer term sustainability for the club is also vital. These 
considerations include our current players, loan deals in and out of the 
club, and also balancing players' requests and desires to ensure both 
parties remain happy. 
● Loaning out our players also gives the club an opportunity to assist that 
player, to determine whether they (our own younger players) are 
developing as we would hope. 
● Loaning in players gives us the chance to assess a player’s future potential 
and helps us make a judgement on whether we could look at purchasing at 
a future date, 
● Our Recruitment Team is well networked and they continuously feed into 
all the above areas. 
● There is discussion with the Board regarding costs. This incorporates fees 
paid, wages and any potential value that may be interpreted as an “off set” 
of the player’s costs. This is a balance between medium and longer term, 
to ensure risk is calculated and then managed. The Football Club must 
adhere to a number of regulatory bodies in order to continue to operate. 
● Players are not just identified on data. The process may start with data and 
a player may look impressive re his starts and goals ratio for instance. 
Other factors are also analysed, such as his stature, and the league the 
data is formulated from. We also undertake observations of players in 
person through our scouting network, or through recordings and/or media. 
● This is no rule regarding signing under 23s. Signing players, depends 
on the need, availability, current market value and the other factors 
already touched upon. 
● JF referenced the Salary Cost Management Protocol (SCMP) changes for 
next season, which were only voted on by clubs in December; which will 
now only allow a percentage of equity funding by Owners to count as 
income, compared to the current 100% allowance. This will require Owners 
(generally, not just BFC) to invest more funds than they are allowed to use 
for operating purposes under the SCMP rules. Potentially, this incentivised 
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other clubs to invest more heavily in January ahead of these rules coming 
in. 
Barnsley FC Community Trust and FAB 
As a separate item, Dave Watson and Kieron Campbell from the BFC Community 
Trust updated the FAB on the work they undertake in the Community. 
It was agreed that the FAB and the BFCCT will strengthen their links and work 
together at every opportunity. 
Close – 20.10pm 
Action Items 
Action Log Responsible Due Date 
Next Meeting 
Date: Tues 18.03.25 Time: 6.30 
pm 
Location: F2F @ OAKWELL 
Online Available

Source: https://fab.barnsleyfc.co.uk/meetings/2025-02-11