Good knowledge (or research). Thank you. So it’s our best start to a season for 80 years then? The best start that I’m guessing anyone on here can actually remember as you’d have to be pushing 90 to remember 38/39. There’s an obvious point to make but I won’t bother. I’ll just stick to my opinion that if January goes ok, by which I mean we don’t sell first team players and maybe add a couple, that we will win the league with about 90 points.
Jan is key, the current squad is may be 2 players short and injuries have hurt us a little. As you say we need to keep players in Jan but everyone has a price.
I agree that we're having a great season, however I dont think 90 points will guarantee top two this year. And the current table also suggests that. Think we'll get play offs. Which I'd be happy with considering the competition for top two this year.
In the mid 70s and the early 2000s we came VERY close to not having a club. I know you don't count the mid 70s as being relevant because you weren't there. Similarly you think it's a disgrace to have been in the fourth tier. Nevertheless, for those of us who have nearly seen the club go out of business twice then, yes, we are grateful to have a club to support. That doesn't mean we lack ambition. Simply that we are not so Wednesdayish about what the club is and where it should be.
We did go out of business last time and reformed under a new company. However, how many clubs actually go to the wall,,? There have been bigger and smaller clubs than us go bankrupt. Wolves, Middlesbrough, Bournemouth, Luton, Rotherham just off the top of my head. Look where they are now. I don't support this theory that we're lucky to have a club to support. With average gates of 10,000 the club was always going to survive even if it went back to the 4th Division.
Don't need to, I was there. I was also there when we had our lowest ever gate at Oakwell. The point is that despite going into admin three years after reaching the Premier League play-off final, we survived going into administration. Hull, Portsmouth, Wolves, Middlesbrough, Rotherham all had their gates padlocked and survived. Do their fans think they're lucky to have a club? Can you name a club with our history that has actually disappeared altogether ?
Disappeared altogether, no. But here's a few names for you. Chester, Bradford Park Avenue, Southport, Barrow, Workington, Darlington, Halifax Town. All bar Bradford playing in our league or above us at the time and now permanently cast into the depths of non league. If that had happened to us I'd like to think we'd have come back but to suggest we're better than that and immune to their fate certainly in the 70s is just daft. I want us to do well. We can with the current board but I'm not arrogant enough to think we're above certain levels on reputation and history.
Your argument was that we're lucky to have a club at all. All of those clubs are still going which is my point. We've always had good times and bad and survived everything thrown at us. We didn't go into admin in the 70s and Barnsley was always noted for being run frugally and making a small profit. Maybe my argument is a bit flawed but I just think this ,"lucky to still have a club" is a bit overhyped.
Well we're maybe slightly at cross purposes then. My original argument was against the accusation that those with a realistic approach to things are in the "we're lucky to have a club" bracket. We've got a proud history and there's nothing to stop us looking upwards. But those of us who did watch the club in the sixties and seventies know there's no divine rights. We could conceivably have gone the way of the Darlingtons and Southports. We were regularly getting crowds of 2k. We're not big enough to forget that and it does no harm to remember those times when we think about over extending or running down a sensible approach to managing the club.
Not surprised by that. I've seen us be promoted 5 times but never seen us win the league and the average points per game we've accumulated so far is potentially, although not an absolute certainty, title winning form. Results have been amazingly good. Even more amazing, is that we've achieved those without playing that well. Don't get me wrong, Oxford, Rochdale and Peterborough were fantastic performances. Bradford, Accrington and the second half again Scunny, very professional. Other than that, it's an epic season so far in terms of results, but not in terms of performances. There's an argument that a good side can win games when not playing very well. We're doing that so maybe we're a good side. There's another argument that your luck can run out. I really don't know. I don't think for the majority of games we've looked very good, but we tend to win, or at least draw, so not sure of what to make of it all.
I admit that I’m rarely satisfied. But I look on this as a positive characteristic. I’m always looking for improvements or doing things better in whatever I do. That’s at work - any interests I have - where I live. I have this affliction which is becoming increasingly rare these days. I CARE. I dwell on the things I care about. That’s why I’m always suggesting different things about Barnsley Football Club.
