In a rare and exclusive interview with the Chronicle, Cryne said the club is getting to the point when the millions of pounds he has invested annually for 14 years will be replaced by revenue earned from buying and selling players. The Reds – who will receive several million pounds from a sell-on clause if John Stones' proposed £50million move to Manchester City from Everton eventually goes through – have a clear strategy of developing young players and, in some cases, selling them on for large fees.
"I believe I am the longest-serving custodian or owner of any football club in our current division," said the Barnsley businessman who rescued the club from administration.
"While I have renewed enthusiasm after our recent promotion and because of our new approach to recruitment and sustainability, it is still an exhausting process. I am 65 years old and I think we need to start planning for life after Patrick Cryne.
"There is no foreign billionaire coming to buy Barnsley and unfortunately there is not enough wealth in our community for another local person to take over like I did and continue to account for all the club's losses.
"I can see myself staying in my current position for two years at the most. It is not because my love of the club has diminished in the slightest. I would like to deliver the club to the fans as a self-sustaining business and I believe we are close to being able to do that.
"It all revolves around player trading, developing young players and selling the right ones at the right time for the right amount of money.
"When the time is right I would invite propositions from fans' organisations and consider them. That is the most probable outcome that I can see at the moment."
Cryne says that he has never been close to selling the club in the past. He said: "There has been speculative interest but it has been from people who I did not feel had the club's best interests at heart. They were more interested in developing the area around the stadium than improving the club and the team.
"This club goes all the way back to the Reverend Tiverton Preedy (the founder) and I have a responsibility to preserve it and make sure I pass it on to the appropriate person.
"I have approached people in the past to see if they would be interested but no one was. I can understand why we might not be as attractive as other clubs to potential buyers because we don't have as many fans or the capacity for development. That is just the way it is, it is not a criticism of the fans."
See the rest of the interview on page 19 of this wee's Chronicle as Patrick Cryne discusses the academy restructure, Ben Mansford's departure, Paul Heckingbottom and Sunday League finals.
