Politics Schmolotics …
or is it just a huge dollop of Karma landing in someone’s lap …..
... plop and double-plop !!!!
And so, here’s the sorry tale of one of nature’s more obnoxious individuals … enter …. the one and only ……. timothy ‘cotton-bud’ barnett, the hardest man in Mothercare …
Originally, when news broke of the Valken / Millennium paint sponsorship problem, the focus of my attention was fixed firmly upon barnett’s involvement.
I had no interest whatsoever in the affairs of Valken and I’ve tried to keep any mention of them well away from this thread for obvious reasons but it’s got to the point where circumstances forced my hand.
The problem began when barnett had started opening his big-fat cake-hole and proclaiming that he’s gonna be selling paint at the forthcoming Millenniums, and understandably, people might have thought he was speaking for Valken, albeit by proxy.
There are 3 official paint sponsors for the Millennium and Valken / barnett were asking to be included as one of those three sponsors.
The point of contention was that even before the three sponsors were announced, barnett was gobbing off telling people he was gonna be selling paint pre-empting the final decision of the Millennium.
When I first posted my opinion regarding the situation of paint sponsors for the Millennium on the 9th January, I had said that in my opinion, Valken would not be allowed as a paint sponsor for the Millennium.
As far as barnett was concerned, I was talking rubbish - it was a mistake he would inevitably come to regret …
And then a week or so later, a guy called Janek entered the fray, he is Valken’s man in charge of European affairs and he went public in stating the ‘deal had already been done’ and Valken were to be an official paint sponsor.
The battle-lines were now drawn ...
And so, on one side we had janek and barnett spouting the decision had been made and they were in, and on the other side was myself, suggesting they were gonna be out.
Something had to give, and whoever was proved wrong would end up with one big-ass ostrich egg on their face.
I knew the deal hadn’t been finalised but my opinion was diametrically opposed to barnett and janek’s position.
I think barnett must have been laffing his ass off in thinking I would be proved wrong and end up looking the fool but his own arrogance had prepared the way for a massive fall …
Readers of this thread must have held their breath and wondered just who was gonna be the champ, and who was gonna be the chump … I trusted my opinion as much as I trusted barnett’s arrogance … he was doomed to fall but he never once believed he was gonna be proved wrong … Oooops !!!
Before I get going on barnett, I better let you know that I emailed Gino a month or so ago, he’s the owner of Valken, and I expressed my concerns regarding barnett and I also stressed that I did not want to cause any problems for Valken and any problems I did have, were with barnett alone. To be fair to Gino, he did express his dislike for paintball’s dirty laundry being aired so publicly and that’s understandable.
However, I will have to mention Valken only inasmuch as barnett is involved with them and anything I say is not intended to cause Valken any problems – and so any mention of Valken will therefore be incidental …
All this sh!t started about two weeks ago when I had been told that barnett had been trying to give it the Billy-Big Bollox by telling everyone he was going to be handing out his paint [Valken’s] at the Millennium events this coming year.
This perplexed me somewhat because I knew the final decision regarding all the paint sponsorship spots with the Millennium for 2015 had yet to be made.
It looked as though barnett just couldn’t contain himself from trying to be the big man but even I was surprised at his comments for a few reasons, the first of which being, he must have known the decision had yet to be finalised, and secondly, did he really think he was gonna just waltz into the Millennium after he’d been so abusive to one of the Millennium’s owners in the well-known incident at last year's UKPSF meeting?
Before I continue here, I must clarify something here, Steve Baldwin nor any other representative of the Millennium has ever told me that barnett’s involvement with Valken’s request to be a paint sponsor was a direct or the sole cause for Valken being ultimately excluded from being a paint sponsor.
At this point, I’m gonna borrow one of George Orwell’s quotes here and paraphrase it by suggesting, ‘All opinions are equal but some are more equal than others’ .. I’ll leave you to work out the whys and wherefores on that one.
If you already know about the 'flying chair' incident last year where barnett became the chair’s target then please ignore the following few paragraphs.
Act 1 - Lord of the Ring-Piece ….. or, what actually happened on the day of the flying chair?
I think it best to set the scene for this comedy of errors and what better way to kick things off than to revisit just one of barnett’s failures to realise, you just can’t go around insulting and abusing one of our industry’s most influential and respected individuals.
Last year, there was a UKPSF meeting that was attended by well over 20 people, Steve Baldwin was one of them and barnett another; I had better declare something here before I continue, Steve has been a friend of mine for well over 25 years.
He is one of Europe’s unsung heroes inasmuch as he created the first serious tournament in the UK, the Mayhem Championships in 1989 which eventually morphed into the Millennium circuit which is now the pre-eminent league series in Europe.
Steve’s influence in the development of European paintball is unquestionably unprecedented.
He never seeks the limelight preferring to work in the background and I can genuinely state that if it weren’t for Steve, we [Europe] wouldn’t be where we are now. He has created one of the world’s most successful league series and continues to try and improve upon that series for the benefit of all concerned. One might legitimately ask oneself, why would anyone want to pis$ off someone like Steve?
It’s a question that won't be asked just the once .... ..
Back to that meeting ……
At that meeting, for some inexplicable reason, barnett had decided he wanted to insult and abuse Steve Baldwin - he was told to stop acting like a prihk but he continued … and continued.
I wish to add something here … In all the time I’ve known Steve, he’s never once lost his temper or tried to provoke anyone.
Steve’s just not that way inclined.
Anyhows, barnett chose to ignore all pleas to stop which finally resulted in a chair being thrown at barnett … unfortunately the chair missed its intended target which is surprising because with a mouth the size of barnett's, it’s an absolute miracle the chair managed to avoid that cake-hole but maybe the bats flying out of it put off the person throwing it.
Steve had finally snapped, and let’s face it, if any of us were in that same position, not many of us could have just let it slide …. barnett had prodded and provoked Steve until he broke.
I wish I had been there with Steve but the truth of the matter is, barnett would have been as quiet as a mouse and wouldn’t even be making eye contact with anyone let alone insulting people for no reason - barnett is just a bullying gob-sh!te who chooses his targets, a plastic tough guy.
As to why barnett set out to insult and abuse Steve is anyone’s guess, some thought he was out of his head, others just thought he was a prihk.
As I’ve consistently maintained throughout this thread, barnett is a text-book megalomaniac and actions such as this are easily explained by acknowledging that megalomaniacs believe they can insult and do anything they like without consequence.
What made things worse was, barnett was now shoving it right down Steve’s throat by telling everyone he was gonna be at Steve’s Millennium events selling his paint in 2015.
The sheer arrogance of this was absolutely staggering … even for barnett, this was way beyond the pale.
It would seem that barnett feels as though he answers to nobody except himself but life has this unerring capacity to kick you in the nuts when you ain’t expecting it but barnett got lucky in this instance, he ain’t got no fuhkin balls; he’s a bullying eunuch.
Anyway, when I heard that barnett was boasting about selling paint at the coming Millennium events, I immediately got in touch with Steve Baldwin [Joint owner of the Millennium] to help clarify the situation because I knew damned well that nothing final had been decided. The contenders for paint sponsorship at the Millenniums were all going for three manufacturer spots. The companies vying for those places were Kee, GiMilsim with the last spot being duked out between Valken and HK.
But why oh why was barnett and janek telling people they were to be one of the chosen paint sponsors ???
It's a question that remains clouded in mystery.
And so, contracts were handed out to prospective paint sponsors for 2015 but there was an addendum to these contracts such that no prospective Millennium paint sponsor could support a rival league in Europe.
In this case, I think the CPS qualifies for being viewed as a ‘rival league’.
For Valken to be able to become a paint sponsor this year with the Millennium, they could not support the CPS in any way, either directly or indirectly, and it’s this point that became crucial in determining the decision to exclude Valken … that’s not such an unreasonable request if you think about it and I think I’m right in saying the PSP have a similar condition in place for their paint sponsors in the US.
A message went out to all the relevant manufacturers, not to barnett I hasten to add, he’s far too low down the pecking chain to make decisions like that but he would eventually become an instrumental pawn in how it all panned out.
As most people know, barnett is the UK front man for Valken through bluewater and / or shoreline, both barnett’s companies.
At this point, barnett’s now a sponsor for the CPS with Valken’s paint/products which contravenes the spirit of the Millennium’s condition because barnett’s company is effectively a proxy for Valken.
Making matters worse was the fact that barnett never missed a trick in telling people how much better the CPS was than the Millennium, and in so doing, effectively promoting the CPS over the Millennium. barnett’s effectual promotion of the CPS over and above the Millennium isn’t accidental and it don’t take Bert Einstein to work out why barnett is pushing the CPS.
Saying that though, this has to be one of the most stupid, most naive actions possible when the company you front in the UK [Valken] is trying to get accepted as one of the paint sponsors for the very same Millennium he’s been bad mouthing …. Duurrr !!!
I don’t think for one second that Gino had asked or even knew about what barnett had been telling people and if he had known, I think he would have instantly put a stop to it for obvious reasons.
However, everybody knows that barnett’s company is a conduit for Valken products and so even though there was no direct support from Valken for the CPS, it was gonna be done indirectly through barnett.
And let’s face it, barnett’s support for the CPS was hardly gonna go unnoticed by the Millennium and so it came as little surprise to anyone when they excluded Valken because of it.
It can of course be argued that just because bluewater is supporting the CPS doesn’t constitute Valken sponsoring the CPS but I’m afraid Valken is the de facto sponsor through barnett.
One thing to note, I don’t think barnett is sufficiently financed to sponsor a pickled-onion let alone the CPS.
It's all well and good spouting sponsorships and support packages here and there but they have to be backed up, and I doubt very much if barnett has the necessary bank-balance.
I’m afraid Billy Big-Shot isn’t such a big-shot after all, and the only way he could sponsor a league like the CPS is by being installed as a proxy agent.
I think barnett may be sufficiently financed to sponsor toilet-rolls at the CPS but not much more than that.
Maybe barnett alone wasn’t the major factor in bringing about the exclusion order but what cannot be denied is, it couldn’t have helped Valken’s cause whatsoever.
Steve never said to me this was the case but I’ll bet my house on the fact, it must have pissed him right off, my opinion of course.
I don’t think it will ever be made public one way or the other and so we’re forced to speculate if it did affect proceedings but I’d like to think it did because it has a somewhat Karmic ring to it …
I think I’m right in saying that the Millennium sent several emails to Valken outlining the problems with barnett and the need for barnett to wind his neck in and to shut the fuhk up … not verbatim obviously but that’s the spirit of the correspondence anyways.
But let’s take a second look at things here, we know that barnett had insulted and abused Steve at that meeting but it didn’t stop there.
Most of us are also well aware of barnett’s refusal to pay the 20 grand invoice for paint supplied by a company called Maxs some months back.
Maxs is owned by a guy called Manfred Ulrich, he’s not only one of the most powerful and influential people in Europe, he’s also joint owner of the Millennium along with Steve Baldwin.
And so, barnett wasn’t satisfied by pis$ing off just one of the Millennium’s owners, he now tries to stiff Manfred by refusing to pay the 20 grand he owes Maxs for the paint..
barnett wasn’t exactly trying to endear himself to the Millennium but Jeeezaloo, what was he thinking ?????
Eventually, as we now know, barnett was inevitably forced to pay Manfred’s invoice but the damage had been done.
I think it safe to say that barnett wasn’t gonna be on Manfred’s Christmas card list …
And so we now have Steve and Manfred – two of the most powerful individuals in European paintball, and barnett thinks he can fuhk them over and there be no consequences????
Steve, nor Manfred has ever told me barnett’s behaviour toward them affected their decision to exclude anyone for 2015 but I know what I’d do if I had been either of those guys.
FFS !!! …You can call me a cynic, or even call me an over-sensitive buttercup but did barnett really expect to dance into the Millennium events as a paint sponsor after what he’d done to two of the owners of the Millennium?
And as I’ve said, even after factoring in barnett’s insults to Steve and the refusal to pay Manfred’s invoice, barnett was still telling people he’d be selling his paint at the Millennium’s events when the decision hadn’t been made - It’s incredulous ….
…. Anyone suspect there may well be a fall coming somewhere along the line?
As I said, there were three spots available for manufacturers to sell paint at this year’s Millenniums and the first two to be nailed up were Kee and GiMilsim who had accepted the contract and the addendum sent to them relating to rival leagues.
This left Valken and HK.
Several correspondences were sent to Valken outlining the problem but I’m afraid the criteria for acceptance as a paint sponsor was never met. I haven’t seen the emails but I think Steve may well have made mention of his personal problems with barnett with the most important being that barnett was supporting the CPS.
You can’t just go round abusing, refusing to pay and insulting some of the most important people in our sport and industry and there be no consequences … it just won’t happen.
Eventually, there was no undertaking to meet the criterion required for Millennium paint sponsorship by Valken, and HK were allotted the final spot.
Personally speaking, if my core business was being adversely affected by an individual similar to barnett, I’d get rid of him in a heartbeat … half a heartbeat in fact.
Whether this will happen?
Who knows, people do strange things but bottom line is, business is business and if someone costs you money or compromises your good name in any way, he has to go.
And the reason I suggest this isn’t arbitrary, I would get rid of him because these type situations involving barnett will only continue.
This guy is gonna go from one outrageous incident to another, it will inevitably get to the point where there will be no course of action left open other than to jettison the liability, or in other words, to sack the fuhkah.
You don't ever recover from being a text-book megalomaniac, I'm afraid that doesn't happen, all you get is a megalomaniac who believes everyone's against him, he ends up as a paranoid megalomaniac.
My my what a case study he'd be ...
He’s a liability for anybody associating with him in any way …. he’s a disgrace to our industry …
Apologies for the length of this post but by the time you read this, my apology is somewhat academic
