Nudgers Notes .......... Charlton

Good atmosphere in town before the match.
Pubs quite full - so surprised there was only 13,000 there.
Clearly some fans continue to stay away - even though we now have fabulous new owners and a brilliant manager.
I suppose it’s the chicken and egg scenario.
Which comes first - success on the field - or increase in support that promotes success on the field?

As for the match:

Fantastic effort by both teams.
If they keep this up then these two promoted teams will have no problem staying up.

Charlton were continually attacking our left side so obviously Charlton saw B. Williams as the weak link.
Both their goals emanating from our left side.

Bambo is now our best player - brilliant!!!

Woodrow is going to be worth £££millions if he keeps this up.

As said previously - we are strong in midfield with regard of breaking up the oppositions play - but we are relatively weak with regard to accuracy of passes going forward.
Large percentage of passes from midfield are still not reaching their target.

We had four very lively forwards - that with better service and passes from midfield would continually have been in on goal.
I’m not convinced by Mowatt - but even though his passes going forward often go astray - he was missed against Charlton because he seems the only player capable of actually passing the ball forward.

Overhaul a fair result.
Although conceding a penalty in the last few minutes was hard to take.
But but but ......... the young players will continue to learn from these setbacks.

I’m happy with what I saw.

 

I agree about forward passes from midfield often going astray. I think that's just because we're trying to break as quickly as possible and rushing the pass.

 

Good notes Nudger agreed with everything you've wrote

 

School holidays will still have an effect.

 

Reckon Mads and Bambo will become a solid pairing this year. I'm sh*t scared of them both, and I aint playing against the buggers!

 

Nudge I am on holiday till Leeds game.
Not about staying away .
I just have a life other than BFC

 

That must be a HUGE relief to DS.

 

Yes it will be.

 

I thought it was a very good turnout from us. Not too bad for them, for an August fixture. If we play as well as we have been doing we could average over 15k this season, even with reduced away capacity, due to ground issues. That is incredible for a town like Barnsley, that has been shat on by government policies, which have made us the paupers of the North of England. We are playing great football, and people like it. I agree with your positivity on the field of play. I'm enjoying it. Sad I can't make Luton, but have a mate's wedding to DJ in Ilkley, so I'll be missing.

We haven't had crowds like this since we were relegated from the Premier League. I appreciate a lot will be kids tickets, but kids are future fans of the club & can't be discounted for that reason.

For me our two centre backs look outstanding. Full back roles are still in question. We have a great attacking threat & I can see why DS wants us to play on the front foot.

 

Agree with much of that Nudger, although I thought Sibbick had a sound game.

Attendances are good, IMHO, given the cost and competition. If you use our 1981/82 season as a benchmark (great team, same level, higher employment and lower cost to attend), we averaged gates of approx 15,000 inc away fans. Our rivals were in decline or at a similar level with far lower gates than they get now too, and this was seen, I think, as a boom time for Barnsley FC, with one of our finest teams.

To be getting anywhere near that now is a hell of an achievement, and whilst it's not a criticism of your opinion of wanting to see more attending, I don't think in the short term at this level we will see significant change, longer term maybe. If you remember, we didn't quite sell out the home areas when were in the Premier League, there were tickets available to sit on the North section of the west stand terrace.

 

Individually, the back 4 I’m very happy with. Collectively as a unit, they’re still finding their feet which was exposed for Charlton’s 1st goal.

Give them another 5 games together and we’ll start to see them settle a bit more.