Old guy in Family stand randomly shouts when it's quiet Red Army, We're Barmy (i think ) Done it for years
Penalty Bloke: Towards the top corner of the Ponty, closest to the West Stand, is Penalty Bloke. Every time we get a corner, he'll shout: "Penalty!" just before the ball is delivered. He hates absolutely everything connected to Barnsley. All the players are *****. The manager dun't know what he's doing. When we try a long ball over the top: "EEEEEEUUUURRRRGGGGH, why dun't tha keep it on t'flooer?" When we play it on the floor: "EEEEEEEUUUUURRRRGGGGGHHHH, tha should've launched it!" God love him. He is part of my Oakwell experience. The place would not be the same without him.
When I was a kid sat in family area of east stand there was a buy who always called players by their full name "come on Neil Redfearn" "good save David Watson" "great defending Arian de Zeuw" Also "programme guy" would take his seat at 3.00 pm, get his programme out, start reading and would never watch match, just read programme. He's just glance up when he'd heard we'd scored. Would get trough programme about 4.30/4.35 and leave. Every week
The "FORWARD" family in the West Upper. They're a family who see absolutely no benefit in retaining possession if it means going sideways or backwards. They live for a forward pass or a hopeful launch from back to front. They also had a brief run as the "Get Winnall Off" gang before he moved to Wednesday. Despite Winnall hitting double figures before January last season he was "f***ing sh*te", apparently.
Angriest man in the world ESL gangway one around row k, totally loses it at least once a game, when he starts he goes nuts.
That's the guy MT. I think he had " issues" poor lad. He once asked my lad " do you know where Dewsbury College is.?" When my son said no and asked where is it, Simon replied " it's in Dewsbury"! It was against Leeds when he collapsed. Does anybody remember the guy with the loud voice who used to barrack the opposition keeper. ? When we attacked he'd shout something like " look out keeper they're coming at you again". He sometimes managed to get them in a right state and if they dropped a cross or messed a back pass up he'd take the pi*s unmercifully for the rest of the game. Best ever was home to Everton in the FA Cup. Week before the game, it was all over the papers that Everton keeper Neville Southalls wife had been caught in a compromising position with a guy in his car. The lad on the Ponty terrace started at him as soon as he ran to our end for the second half re- " who's sha*ging her while you're here Southall etc." He didn't respond but you could tell he was seething. Sharp scored the only goal to give them a 1-0 win and at the final whistle, Southall bent to pick his cap and gloves up and held up one finger on one hand and made the shape of zero with the finger and thumb of his other and trotted off. Everybody on the Ponty were splitting their sides laughing.
Volcano: Me and the good Dr used to have a season ticket in the east upper, roughly half way up and on the halfway line until about 2013, anyway the bloke in question who we called Volcano was a well built tall bald chap, big nose and when something went against us, usually thanks to the referee, he would literally erupt, he would go bright red, the reddest point being the end of his nose, and would scream a variety of insults, mostly when it was quiet so everyone could hear him clear as day. Flip flop guy: Again, up in the east stand this bloke used to sit in front of us, and even on the coldest winters night he would be wearing flip flops, no socks. The spice men: Where i sit now, in the ponty, in the middle just towards the east stand, the row in front is occupied by a few gentleman who always bring over a few bags of sweets, and straight after kick off the spice always comes out until all is consumed, usually by half time.
That could be "stressed Eric" as we call him.In his 30's,never smiles goes walkabouts a couple of times a game.
We sit in the West Upper, and there are two women whose pearls of wisdom include "Go forward!", "We're losing!", and "Nooooooo!" Wonder if they're part of the same family?
Wonder if they ever saw Mick "The Human Crab" Maguire play? His philosophy was diametrically opposite and he would go out of his way to play every ball sideways. Could have been interesting!
There was a bloke around gangway 4 of the ponty around the great escape season that I used to call Jack Nicholson because he permanently had that glazed, murderous look he had in The Shining. A couple of matches when he felt the crowd wasn't matching the efforts on the pitch he would turn round with his back to the match and scream " get behind thi tee-am! Get behind thi TEE-AM!"
I'm pretty sure that was my uncle Les. It was hilarious; he used to really rattle players in those days standing on the Ponty. He had a loud rasping voice and was relentless. My favourite performance of his was 90 minutes vs Middlesboro of screaming sentences at Tony Mowbray beginning ' Big Nose' until he turned around and stuck the finger up. Do you remember that one?
During the Premier League season there was a bloke just in front of me in the ESL who couldn't crack a smile without a chisel. He must have been in his 70s, always wore a blazer and tie and he looked like he should be stood at the cenotaph. When we beat Bradford his parting words were "they'll come straight back down" and when we did he smirked as he left..He moaned that much that a bloke had to be held back from decking him. He must have loved the 4th division days. I'm surprised he came back after Iley was sacked.
Reminds me of Andy Payton calling a Barnsley fan a "f*****g ******" during a League Cup tie at Feethams in about 93. Payton was given an overhit pass that he couldn't keep in but some fan thought he should have tried that bit harder. Cue angry response and a few fans debating whether Payton really had just said what he had said.
Bloke where we used to sit in ESL was an expert at sledging the linesman on our line from the moment he made his first decision, whether it was right or not. "Keep up linesman. Tha having a mare linesman. Get up wi play linesman". Superbly delivered and must have been very off putting. We have moved now so not sure if he's still there. Holiday Bob. Wore shorts to every game until about late November when everyone else had 3 layers on. We have now got the Jesus Christ woman. Sits behind us, high pitched voice, generally times her output to relate to one particular player per game. Last year it was mostly Marley Watkins so we had "come on Marley.....ohh Jesus Christ". Rinse and repeat.
Les's voice certainly carried. I'm fairly certain that it was Tony Mowbray who edged nearer and nearer to the kop until he reached the halfway line when Les shouted "it's no good going down there, I can still reach you". The crowd laughed and the player, with a grin waved back towards Les in the Ponty End. Happy days. Kop for the first half, stroll round to the Ponty End for the second half, when we won the toss of course.
I don't know his name but he was hilarious. He looked to be in his thirties. The tie was in the 5 th round in 1998/99 so he'd be in his mid fifties now if it's the same lad. He used to stand with around four other lads. Quite often the opposition keeper used to leave the goal and stand on the edge of the area. Our man would shout " it's alright going out there goalie, I can still reach you from here." The whole of the Ponty end behind the goal used to laugh. He was a right character make no mistake.