New Barnsley owners rule out '˜crazy' spending

A consortium led by Chinese-American billionaire investor Chien Lee – founder and chairman of private investment company NewCity Capital – and Pacific Media Group co-founder and US film financier Paul Conway have purchased an 80 per cent majority shareholding at Oakwell, with the Cryne family retaining a 20 per cent stake.

Lee and Conway will serve as co-chairmen, with Grace Hung, a business partner of Conway’s, baseball pioneer and Oakland Athletics minority owner Billy Beane and Indian technology entrepreneur Neerav Parekh joining the board. Finance director Robert Zuk will remain in his current role.

Specific details of the deal remain undisclosed, although financial reports have stated that the transaction is likely to be worth between £10m and £20m.

The completion of the deal has increased hopes among the Reds support base that the club could spend big in the January transfer window.

But new co-chairman Conway has poured cold water on any such talk by insisting that the Reds will ‘live within their means’ and follow the strategic approach of former owner Patrick Cryne in the club’s transfer manoeuvring, which involved purchasing players aged 25 and under for their development potential and harnessing academy talent.

Their dealings are likely to mirror the incremental approach to investment at Nice, with Lee and Conway leading an 80 per cent majority buy-out of the French club back in June 2016.

Conway, introduced alongside fellow consortium members at a press conference yesterday afternoon, said: “In January we will be active, but disciplined. We will not do anything crazy, but we will supplement the squad.

“As we have spent more time with Patrick and his family, this is the right club for us because it fits our skill-set. This is one of the best run clubs in England.

“So we are going to keep a similar model.

“We have to live within our resources and right now, we have to stabliise in the Championship and readdress the situation each year. As we work our way up the table, we will look at expanding the business plan.

“We are not going to do anything crazy and will continue to make sure the budget is balanced.

“It is not easy to see that in the Championship and even with some Premier League teams. We will grow it bit by bit and then aspirations will grow with that.

“We had looked at different opportunities in England and nothing had got to the finish line. When we heard the Barnsley story, we thought it was too good to believe.

“When we heard what was going on, it intrigued us once we saw the results, not just financially, but also on the player investment side. It almost looked a little bit too good to be true.”

On following a similar path to Yorkshire rivals Huddersfield –who reached the Premier League without spending a fortune last season with their plan based on shrewd, targeted recruitment and a sensible wage structure, Conway acknowledged: “I think what is most impressive with that story is that they got there with a reasonable business plan and did not do anything crazy.

“That is another example of how a team can have success by doing things the proper way by developing players and making smart deals. But we are focusing on what is right for Barnsley.”

Conway admits that the board will draw upon the acumen of baseball executive and investor Beane in their strategic development of the club, which they hope to develop as a brand both commercially and internationally.

Beane found fame by using statistical analysis to find undervalued talent – a practice known as ‘sabermetrics’ – as general manager of Oakland Athletics, with his story told in the 2011 film Moneyball starring Brad Pitt.

Conway added: “Billy is an ambassador in his field. Part of the attraction of Barnsley is that they embraced some of his sports philosophy and analytics and have seen the positive results of that.

“With his philosophies, having him in this is important because he brings a unique knowledge-base to the club. He is an executive of the A’s (Oakland Athletics) and he will continue to be, but he is involved here because he saw a matching of philosophies.

“He is very passionate about European football and he sees the same opportunity here, he is a fan and we will see him here.”

Meanwhile, Conway has revealed that the new owners have a six-month option to buy a 50 per cent stake in Oakwell held by the Cryne family and it is likely to be purchased in time.

Barnsley Council own the remaining 50 per cent.

He added: “We have an option for six months to bring 50 per cent of the ground, that is controlled by the family, back into the club. That is something we expect to do in a reasonable period of time.

“Currently we do not own the stadium. But in the upcoming months, we are going to do some detailed research on what are the best uses and plans for it.

“But we think it is a great stadium. It needs some improvement here and there. But we have no major plans for making dramatic changes.”