MDG. Because he quoted thin air, it doesn't show it when I quote him. But he'll get the notification. Thanks for the concern though, and ironically you've also made a balls of it by chopping off half my first paragraph. Kudos.
This is hard to write because I’m pretty sure I’ll be labelled a Happy Clapper and all sorts of other things. I don’t for an instant want to be seen as a supporter of the current ownership (however I’m not sure what our alternative is - I’d ask who would come forward to replace them?). I feel that I need to put on record my view that I’m not ready, and probably never will be, to give up on going to support BFC. I get that we’re rubbish at present and the owners are to blame for a lot of that but they’re still my team and I will still be there next season - I don’t want a trophy or a medal for this. Just want to place on here that I remember us being worse than we are now. I’m sorry if this is contrary to the groundswell of opinion and I don’t have “the answer” to everyone’s hurt at the current situation.
No need to apologise for supporting our team through thick and thin. Every time we get relegated there are always fewer people in the ground. Some are just more committed than others, irrespective of the league position.
Absolutely no need to feel any guilt or concern about expressing this view. Many will feel the same and, as I've said previously, football club support is an irrational thing. There's no right or wrong decision within all this that applies to everyone universally. There's also no argument that we've been worse than we are now, in terms of footballing ability, although it's hard to recall a season where we've been so woefully inept at this level, as our league position indicates. However, for me and many others, this is not about on-field performance over a single season. It's about the way the club is being run from top to bottom, which is currently as bad, if not worse, than the post-administration shambles under Peter Doyle. When 'divisional retention' becomes a secondary consideration of those in charge, monies start to be moved out of the club for non-footballing reasons, and one of the ownership group openly makes demonstrably untrue public statements to the fanbase then we're in an entirely new era of mismanagement like nothing I have experienced before. The inherent trust that those in charge are acting in the best interest of the football club has been fundamentally broken, as far as I'm concerned, and the best hope I have is that this era of ownership will end, by whatever means necessary, sooner rather than later. The football club will survive beyond the tenure of these owners, but we undoubtedly have darker times ahead with them in charge. At a personal level, I refuse to contribute further to assist them with their aims, as they are not aligned to mine as a long-standing season ticket holder and supporter. In my view, doing so would simply be providing them with financial support and underlying consent for them to continue destroying the soul of the football club. I have no issue with the fact that you, and many others, have differing viewpoints to this and it's concerning to think that you felt nervousness about expressing such a view. The hurt that you refer to is undoubtedly felt by all of us, and we all have the best interests of BFC fundamentally at heart. The only thing on which opinions differ is with regard to what each person thinks is the most appropriate action we can take to address it, and on that there is naturally a huge diversity of opinion.
Thanks for this . My overriding feeling is that supporting the team on the pitch is the most important thing as fans we can do irrespective of our feelings about the owners.
At the moment I feel like my love for the club is rapidly disappearing. It appears that I'm not the only one.... After half time at Blackburn there were nearly as many fans watching the darts on the TV's on the concourse as watching the second half. I know plenty of long standing ST holders not going to Oakwell. We're taking well less than 1000 tomorrow on a bank holiday with very reasonably priced tickets to a match that's one of the closest all season. We took more to QPR and Bournemouth !!!! That's on the pitch....... I darent start with off it as I'm bored of typing already.
You should never ever feel ashamed of supporting your club,I don't and I never will.I understand some of the problems both on and off the field but when its rammed down your throat everyday the mind becomes a little oblivious to it all. Next season will be my 56th and whether its Championship or League One I'll be there.
Well said, you actually echo my thoughts to a tee , I sometimes post or try to post positive thoughts & know well that the happy clapper insult will follow , i say its an insult because we are suppose to be Barnsley fans but if you buck the trend it becomes open season , last time I posted something on a similar lines I got the " Better fan alert " thrown at me but the truth is we should all have our opinions & be able to express them without the insults , debate is fine & should be encouraged & whilst I would love the owners to move on & someone with the club at heart take over ,currently there is no sign of that happening so I will stick to going to Oakwell & support the lads & hopefully next season in division 1 we will make a fist of trying to get back .
Just seen the notification. Well in response, I'm not trying to claim everything is rosey. But my main point is, as soon as the club start to accumulate debt year on year, especially with the club and stadium split, we are on a slippery slope to going out of business should the current regime walk away. Who would want to buy debt and no fixed assets? More specifically though around your questions. No fan will say they are happy at the moment, we are technically bottom of the league due to a points deduction. Last January we brought in Morris and Dike which transformed us. I'm hoping that the shortcomings in the squad can be addressed this window. Transfer dealing will always be hit or miss, nobody is guaranteed to be a success. Absolutely no clue what the Olare thinking was but most folk were happy at us signing Benson when Mowatt left (nothing the club could do about that, he saw the cash waved at him and they were one of the favs for promotion). Dike was never ours and we didn't have the money to sign him without being promoted as the rumoured 7 million fee WBA paid proves. Freiser is an odd one with the comms. But is that the player jumping the gun announcing he is leaving or the club being too slow. Don't know, not close enough to the internal workings to make comment on it. A bit shoddy if it was the club though. Herbie Kane. Guessing the player wanted to remain there for the remainder of the season and he didn't step up to the plate whilst at Oaskwell. Yes he seems to be doing a decent job at Oxford but is that his level at the moment and needs more time there? We didn't rush and bring Mowatt back from memory and he returned refreshed with solid game time and renewed confidence. Maybe that is the hope with Kane. I am hoping that both Freiser leaving and Kane remaining at Oxford are part of the January transfer plan and we are keeping wages free up for our targets, that question will be answered at the end of January. As for the stand closure we have heard conflicting messages so no idea. As they say there's always 2 sides to every story and then the truth. I guess it was a case if essential occupancy only rather than having a couple of thousand of fans in the stand, similar to that daft railway bridge where it is safe for a few but not considered safe for mass traffic. Much the same with the 750k. It must have been agreed at some point. If not I guess it will be thrashed out in the courtroom, but it all seems to have gone very quiet. Be honest are any of us close enough to the club to point the finger at either party. We are all just speculating and drawing conclusions. Voucher situation. Honestly can't remember what the last line on that one was? Were they being reprinted or summat or did I miss something. On the whole I'm not happy, but I'm not resigned to believing that we are already relegated nor the the club has completely gone. It's not about as some folk being daft think about being a better supporter. It's just having a different view, nowt wrong with that. I just don't fully buy into this narrative of blaming the owners for everything, missing out the high points like Transfer successes ..Dike, Morris, Helik etc. Keeping season ticket prices down unlike many other teams. Last seasons promotion push. My view may be more positive or certainly a lot more negative depending on what we do this transfer window. Still firmly in the COYR camp until then.
Fair play - I can't see how anyone can have a shred of positivity at the minute, but each to their own. Cheers for the response.
If you want to continue supporting BFC why should anyone criticise you or name call. I do feel that your loyalty is misplaced but that is my opinion and that choice is yours and your alone. One thing you stated, I would take issue with and alluded to in my post #19 in the thread. I would like to know a time when you believe we were ever in worse position than we are now. It may be true that we languished at the bottom of the old 4th division, an old decrepit ground etc. etc. but the one big difference is we ALWAYS had owners who cared about the club and always tried their best to put out the best team they could afford , even when they could barely scrape together enough money to keep going. The fans mattered! Contrast that with the current situation. It is blindingly obvious that the fans do not count and even local media, apparently is being cold shouldered. The have gone into 'bunker mentality' and a 'them and us' situation now exists between fans and business. That NEVER happened to my knowledge in the 54 years I have followed Barnsley, even during the 'Doyle' saga. Loyalty is one thing. Blind loyalty -one way- is another. If you honestly enjoy the current matchday experience then fine. Carry on.
I've only watched since 1975. Never before felt like this. TBH having a bad time in my normal life. My Dad, who was mates with Rimmo & took me to those first games has no idea of how we are going on. In one way I think he is fortunate.
In the early 1970’s the crowds were less than 2000. The standard of football was awful (us and the opposition) . My grandfather, dad and uncle would stand on the old terrace about three quarters of the way up by the tunnel and I’d be sat on the wall by the dug out and there would be no-one in between us. McSeveney would be the manager I reckon
I only started in 75 Iley was manager. There were more downs than ups, but the worst thing was anyone decent was sold pretty much immediately.
Here's a thought. 5000 of us stick £1000 into a fund? Would we have enough to buy a big share? Or help attract a serious investor? £1k is a lot to some folk, a dip into savings for others. For some younger folk, it is the amount they would use as a crypto experiment.
Last season was a fluke, 5 subs no fans rest of championship teams hardly trying unless they were near the top Lol, clueless you really are blinded by blind faith. If you can't see what's happening in front of your face then you will do in the near future. The owners are here for there own good and they're making a bad job of it. We're going to go down with a wimper in a season that should have been the easiest of the lot to stay up, too me the owners have neglected the whole plan for the season and fecked up big time, they don't really know what they're doing. Theve turned the club into unprofessional joke and don't give a ***** about the fans. I won't come back to oakwell until these cowboys have gone, we're on a slippery slide and I'm concerned about how far we're going to slip.
