With regards to the "singing section" that was mentioned. Rather than allowing home fans to elect to sit in the North Stand on a per game basis, why not make the Ponty unreserved seating again like it used to be. This way, it doesn't kill the Ponty's atmosphere to just to fuel it at the opposite end of the ground.
yes I do indeed do that , Gally. I watch the games on iFollow....sometimes its just audio, but many many ,home and away, have been available as a video stream.
or how about I had no intention of Hi-jacking a thread Dave, far from it .But in my opinion I think that a good majority of the Barnsley fans would prefer a winning team ..... rather than a cabaret show before, at half time and after the game.
The transfer window is closed. Makes it a bit hard. Can order a new scoreboard online tonight if they want though
I find it quite strange that a bloke who spends a good percentage of his life on a website devoted to a Barnsley fc, chatting about barnsley to anyone who will listen to him, then thinks that the vast majority of fans are only interested in 90 minutes of football and wouldn't have any interest in any add ons that enhance their day out and allow them to further immerse themselves in all things barnsley with fellow supporters.
I think the overwhelming majority of Barnsley fans would prefer a winning team. But that doesnt mean you cant work on off the field activities as well. The 2 are completely seperate - though a better exprience away from the pitch cant be a bad thing. No one is suggesting that instead of investing in the team we spend money elsewhere, and in fact I think the idea of the off field activities should be at least self financing if not actually revenue generating. And things like ideas to get a better atmosphere by introducing a singing section must at least be worthy of consideration ( though I cant see SYP agreeing to let our fans in the North Stand - unless we have so few away fans they can be housed in West A
With regards the the Under 12 Season Tickets how about this as an incentive to ensure they are used, now that we have season cards and every match attendance is logged, the club charge say £46 at the start of the season for the under 12 ticket and then at the end of the season refund £2 for every match where the ticket has been used. That way it would ensure the seat is not left empty, would reward supporters who attend on a regular basis and provide the club with some revenue to avoid unused seats. It would also provide the seat holder with a contribution towards the next seasons ticket?
I take both my kids using the U12's season ticket, the first is free with mine - the second costs me £20. An absolute bargain in my view. Now, when I was their age coming to matches we all stood up. You'd get through the turnstiles and see your mates from school and run off to play with them. The match was incidental to me at first. I loved the atmosphere and loved irritating one steward in particular by standing on yellow line and running off when he bollocked us. Over time, as I grew up, it became less about pratting about with my mates and more about the football - that would never have happened if I wasn't there in the first place. I think a lot of people have a faded by time romanticised notion that they walked through the gates at Oakwell and were utterly, immediately and irrevocably in love with everything Barnsley FC. Perhaps for some that is the case but it won't be for most. Compare my match-day experience with what kids get now. There's no running around with mates except maybe at half time. They're sat on cold plastic seat where grumpy old farts turn round and stare at them the second they happen to kick the back of their seat or in some cases (I'm not making this up) if they're shouting too loud. The football has, let's be brutally honest, largely been ***** - so where is the appeal to get them off their consoles to a freezing cold Oakwell? Dragon is right - if they're coming to watch a winning team that's one appeal; but that doesn't mean that the club can't look at other things that might make kids think "Yeah, I want to to back and do x,y,z that was awesome last time I was there" Equally, the club can't get precious about the fact that kids aren't coming when they don't do that. I'll ask my lads today if they want to come. I suspect they won't. It's going to be -1 with a 23mph wind and we're probably going to lose the game. What is fun to a kid about freezing and watching a crap match? I certainly wouldn't force them to come just because the stats on their attendance weren't looking good. I'll let them pick and choose when THEY want to come and hope that over time they catch the football bug. If the club start charging a lot for them to come then unfortunately that's them lost to football. It's a challenge for every club not just us.
I dare say they have a better understanding of what has happened in many games than I do. As I presume they will really take it what they hear on the commentary. Sometimes, especially at present I find my self watching the game in a lazy manner where I'm not really taking in what's happening.
I can see the point about the free U12 tickets going to waste, but scrapping them altogether would be a massive shame and possibly a false economy. They are an investment for the future. Maybe putting on some sort of kids club before the game would get more of them used, and have the knock on effect of getting the next generation of fans hooked. It would obviously need more investment, but having an old school type youth club in the academy building, where the kids can get some football training or play games with their mates before the match would be good. They could also have some "play leader" type folk in the family area to sit and explain what is happening on the pitch to the younger fans, and even have Toby sit in there with them. Anything to make sitting outside on a freezing cold February more appetising for them.
Top post mate, agree with every word. I've two lads aged 15 and 10 they have both benefitted from the free season tickets, I started taking my eldest lad from the age of 7 and his attendance was hit and miss for those first 4 or 5 years because of a variety of reasons like he had party's to attend or he wanted to stay out with his mates or he just plainly didn't want to go because it was boring or whatever, however I stuck with it and now at 15 he never misses and even attends the odd away game, he's ******* hooked even tho' we are dogsh!te at the moment. I'm currently going through exactly the same issue with my 10 year old, sometimes he wants to go sometimes he doesn't, especially this season because we have been so poor, however with his season ticket being free I will continue to try and get him hooked but if the club make kids season tickets expensive then as a single fatha I won't be buying and potentially they have lost a fan forever, sithi.
Yeah, if there is an incident, say a penalty shout at the other end, I'll often ask my mate what they reckoned on the commentary.
Nowt mentioned on the threat of an outbreak of psittacosis disease happening in certain areas of the Ponty then.
Yes your right about that .its usually the ones that have their pre match on the pub ,it’s ok for them as that’s what they want to do but fek anybody else that wants pre match entertainment other than pub . I’m alright jack I go on pub you fekin off . Don’t get me wrong I used to go in pub before match in my younger days before i needed to piss three gallons for every pint drunk but I wouldn’t begrudge anyone else an alternative It seems those that are content with their pre match begrudge everyone else . As for DT!! I wouldn’t bother tbh he argues differently every time he comes on he’ll be arguing for pre match entertainment next week . He’s a selfish tw** that doesn’t attend often enough to ha e a view on this imo