I think there is a home grown talent rule isn't there? It's just extremely easy to circumvent as it applies to whole squads rather than players on the field.
Two things killing it: money and data. The money side is obvious; the fat cats at the top care more about money than they do the sport, and the wages and bonuses on offer for players disincentivise club loyalty. But the heavy use of data and computer number crunching is equally killing football. “We play this way, because the computer says it’s best”. The computer says wingers are crap and we must have “inside forwards” who cut back and recycle possession instead. The computer says we must leave nobody forward at corners. The computer says we must always be patient and “probe for an opening”. The computer might be right, but it’s crap to watch. Everybody tries to be Guardiola now, but I detest watching it. When I first started watching, not all that long ago, one of the sounds I associated with Oakwell was the moment where a winger broke free on the half way line and legged it down the line to whip a cross in. The clatter of 10,000 seats folding in unison to a chorus of “Gu’on!!” It just doesn’t happen anymore. And then VAR in my opinion finally killed off any remaining interest in elite football.
I don’t have many boomer opinions but the whole XG ********. Who gives a ****. You can see with your eyes the flow of the game.
Talking of rugby league I used to watch Donny way back in the day when they played at Tattersfield. They were poor but never stopped trying and I loved it
We were a struggling Third Division club when I started going down to Oakwell and were very soon a struggling Fourth Division one. The Dennis/Buckle takeover lifted us back up again only for us to slide back down in the desperate 1970s. But then another miracle happened and wouldn’t it just be SO ironic if the memory of one Clarke taking us up from the Fourth Division was tainted by another, much less talented, Clarke taking us back down there again. It won’t happen, I’m sure, but we’re on a slippery slope at the moment and things have to change, and quick!
I've done with em. Doesn't hurt me anymore when they lose. The poor PR and running of the club over the last few years and the treatment of fans/supporters as customers. Find more enjoyable and relaxing things to fill my weekends these days. Take care all.
I think this is more profound than all the 'state of the modern game' stuff. The main reason you're all losing interest is because we are crap and the people running the club are largely unrelatable so it's quite hard to get behind them.
Agree with this. It's Pep syndrome. Every team trying to play out form the back and it's so boring. I can't remember the last time I watched a full 90 minutes of a club game. The last full game I watched would have been the Euros Final. Since I didn't renew my season ticket a couple of years ago I've just totally fallen out of love with the game.
You don't have to go any further than correctly pointing out that people are losing interest "because we are crap". All the other rose tinted stories about past glories, any garbage about troubling over who owns us, indeed anything else at all, is floss.
I had a season ticket for 25 years and sacked it off this season,don,t even go now had enough of the dross served up. Building a good team then it breaking up had enough of it and nothing will ever erase change until someone with some brass buys it sad really but there you go.
Donny RL is a good day out these days. They're competitive in the Championship (tier below Super League) and they play at the Eco Power which is a great little stadium with very good facilities. And, having seen 60 or 70 games of RL over the past 3 seasons, at a variety of local clubs, I can honestly say that not once have I ever come away from a game feeling that I haven't enjoyed myself, haven't been entertained, haven't had value for money.
Mate, if you find her and she’s got an equally rich divorcee sister, with low aspirations in men, tip me the wink.
If people stop going to the games and the attendance starts dropping off, I can assure you that things won’t improve. I would have thought that filling the ground every week would give us a better chance. But in this day and age even that would probably not be enough. Clubs like ours either need a lot of money, or a lot of luck.
I was saying the same 20 years ago. Arsenal were French, Chelsea - Italian, Liverpool - Spanish, Manchester United - Chavheads
I think alot of people feel the same even the fans of their respective PL clubs. I do think Barnsley fans would feel differently if things were run better and we looked like we were building something. We are in an awful league and regressing playing dull football with no identity and a head coach scratching around for answers with a broken recruitment and football philosophy, leaving him without proper defensive full backs and no attacking width, its absolutely appalling what we've become. Clarke will be sacked becoming the fall guy for the cockroaches above him trying to play football manager with a 3rd division club hemorrhaging money. The whole thing needs a clear out, at someone point they might realise it's not working and sell up or stick to their ridiculous ideologies seeing us eventually end up in L2. It shouldn't be this difficult to for a 3rd division club on decent crowds to have a team to be proud of, but we insist on fannying about.
I disagree to a point. Personally I can get over the fact that we're crap. In terms of budget, we're exactly where we should be in the footballing pyramid. That's just football. We've another new manager and another new squad of players. For me, we need continuity on that front. Give Clarke 18 months and 3 windows at least. But that's by the by. However, it's been apparent for a few years that the ownership is making very little effort to try and keep fans interested. There was a slight bounce when Conway et al left, but at the minute, I feel like they're treating us with complete contempt. I've never really understood the lack of communication argument; I didn't think I needed a statement everytime a player was injured like some wanted. But the silence out of the club this year, about everything, speaks volumes. The only social media I use is Instagram, and on there the Women's team's account is significantly more active than the men's one. It's the first season I've really been sat inside Oakwell and hoped that they 90 minutes pass quicker than they are. The lack of engagement from the people running the club bleeds into the stands, and makes the stadium a hostile place to be.
I dont often go now. Had the life sucked out of me by modern football generally and bad management at BFC in particular. Will watch on telly occasionally and physically pop down to dip my toe in but I find the whole experience dispiriting every time I watch. Footy is in large part an entertainment for me but there's little entertainment on offer. I always come out of the ground feeling miserable when I go. The football spectacle on offer is dreadful. Its also about atmosphere and buzz but the moon has more atmosphere and bees with no wings have more buzz. I'd like to get my mojo back but the club isn't helping me get it back. I feel as though I'm not really wanted.