JEAN Cryne says the last four years have been ‘very tough’ but believes Barnsley’s new board will eventually bring success back.
Jean’s husband Patrick owned the club for more than a decade before selling 80 per cent of it in 2017 to Paul Conway and Chien Lee, then Patrick died months later.
The Cryne family, who retained 20 per cent, became embroiled in a legal battle with Conway and Lee who stopped making payments due from the sale.
Conway and Lee have now been voted off the board, with Jean put onto it alongside son James.
She told the Chronicle: “I just hope the fans all trust in what we’re trying to do. We can’t promise automatically everything will be put right but we have a lot of good people who have stayed with the club. Neerav (Parekh, new chairman) is desperate to see things right. We will try to get there.”
She added: “I am just happy to help. I never disappeared after Patrick’s death. I am still here. It’s quite emotional.
“I just want to get back to the club we were, it’s as simple as that for me.
“We have people around now who I think can do it. It was very hard in the last few years for me personally and the fans. It hurt.”
Jean was asked if the vision for the club sold to Patrick in 2017 by Lee and Conway, was the way the club was run in the following four years.
She told the Chronicle: “No but anybody who goes for an interview will give a good impression. I know the night it was signed over to the new people, Patrick was in tears.”
Jean said the court case was ongoing and she could not discuss it.
