CHAIRMAN Neerav Parekh says Barnsley are trying to ‘minimise’ the number of mistakes made by the club after a series of high-profile gaffes, but urged fans to also consider the things that have been done right in recent years.
The Reds were ejected from the FA Cup last month having played an ineligible player, Aiden Marsh, in their replay at Horsham.
It was the latest bizarre behind-the-scenes saga under Parekh’s tenure as chairman.
A sponsorship with cryptocurrency HEX was cancelled within days after homophobic messages emerged, this season’s kit was several weeks late in being delivered while chief executive Khaled El-Ahmad encouraged supporters to buy season tickets because of ‘exciting news’ which is still yet to be announced.
The club is also facing EFL charges for breaches in rules under the previous co-chairmen while El-Ahmad admitted he could have handled the controversial closure of the West Stand better last season.
Parekh said: “In professional football clubs, a lot of things go wrong. But a lot of things have also gone right for us. We got to the play-off final last year. It’s easy to focus on the bad.
"Mistakes happen. We front up when they do. We acted swiftly after HEX, we are trying to resolve the kit issue. There will be mistakes in the future but we will try to look at the good as well as the bad.”
Parekh didn’t want to comment on whether anyone would lose their job over the FA Cup ejection.
He said the board would discuss reimbursing supporters who travelled to Horsham and it was ‘absolutely something we will consider.’
He said: “It was completely unacceptable. There has been an investigation and we have put safeguards in place to make sure this will never happen again.
"It’s embarrassing for a non-league club much less a League One club. We take full responsibility.
“It almost happened last year with another player who was pulled at the last minute (Will Hondermarck at Doncaster in the EFL Trophy). Clearly this hasn’t been good enough. It was a disaster waiting to happen.”
On the kit delays, director and part-owner Julie Anne Quay told a fans’ forum: “The first couple of months have been tough on the customer service side. Neither us or Fanatics (the supplier) are happy. It’s the beginning of a multi-year deal which we will believe will be more beneficial for the club. Sometimes a new relationship starts on rocky ground. We have been in touch with Fanatics on a daily basis and we’re working with them to improve. We are sorry for the difficulties.”
