Barnsley FC chief Khaled El-Ahmad convinced Reds are using right approach with fans

PMG recently expanded their football portfolio after purchasing a stake in German outfit FC Kaiserslautern, with the consortium – whose main investors include Barnsley co-chairmen and majority shareholders Paul Conway and Chien Lee – now having interests in eight European clubs.

El-Ahmad commented: “I don’t see Man City meeting their owners every day or Leipzig. I see Barnsley in the same way.

“The most important thing is what do we do? Which means the players, the staff and me as a CEO. Those are the ones who will build the bonds.

“What if the next owner brings so much money, like say Newcastle and you never see them?

“Yes, of course, if they [fans] come and speak to them and the owners want to, fair enough. I am not saying not to.

“But I want to raise the question that at previous clubs I have been at, I never [regularly] saw the owners and it never bothered me when I was part of multi-club ownership.”

“I do understand their [fans] frustrations with certain questions where they might feel we have not been transparent or there’s no clarity. That I get.

“But, for me, it is up to the owners whether they want to speak or not. There’s clubs where there are ‘silent’ owners where you do not even know who the owner is.

“Then, there are clubs where the owners are reactive. I like the fact that we on the ground have quite a lot of independence to build the club in the way we hope resonates with the community.”