On the one hand, on the other...

[Steve T]

I suppose it was inevitable that the forum would liven up a bit with a crisis in the offing. The last time supporters were properly grumpy about the state of affairs was in 2019. After two good seasons back in the Premier division (6th and 9th with some rare FA Cup wins), the 18-19 season was a disappointment, a 4-point deduction turning 13th place into 17th. For some, the CBS model suddenly wasn't working, although for others it wasn't so much the structure as the personnel at fault. The fact remains that the club relies on volunteers. Supporters have the power to oust the board but without anyone new stepping up, it would be a pointless act.

It was a year ago this week that Stephen Barlow resigned from the board, with the team three matches into that miserable run of form that made the last few weeks a bit nervous (oh to be slightly worried looking down than very worried looking up...). I saw him on the day of the Bath FA Cup tie in the promotion season and he was looking frazzled then. It's a lot easier to manage a match-day with 400 in the ground than with 1,500 as there was then – and that's before dealing with routine matters and long-term plans. Is it fair to say that promotion caught a few out?

So having stuck up for the board, reluctantly I have to go back to events at the end of last season. I wrote this last June (a day before Mark Jones' appointment was announced):

The possibility of eviction this summer was, apparently, real so if the minds of the board members appeared to be elsewhere at times during the latter half of the season, it was, perhaps, understandable.

Geoff replied:

The Board have had to deal with an awful lot recently. It's about time the criticism stopped and fans get behind the club.

Will we ever know what happened between February and the end of the season? Something went wrong, didn't it?

[Steve T]

PS None of the above is criticism of Stephen Barlow!

[dopey]

after working with Stephen Barlow and Paul Duester for 4 years on the board , I can only say that they were irreplaceable, you’d need two people to do the work of Stephen and paul used to find money when we were worried, he may have had a money tree at the bottom of his garden, slightly misunderstood by the fans as they were happy sitting in the boardroom not out amongst them but were normally working while the matches went on, haven’t been replaced as they simply put so many hours in, true gentlemen ,

[petet]

Correct dopey.
Two excellent club men who haven't been replaced.
Stephen Barlow was massively involved in the club becoming a cbs. As secretary he worked his socks off. A really nice man who did so much for us.
Paul also worked so hard behind the scenes. Another irreplaceable club man.

[redduke64]

The elephant in the room is they couldn't work with the present chairman.clubs a mess