FAO Dane Murphy, Paul Conway.

The league table after 11 games does not lie. The squad we have isn't ready. I see very little chance of us staying up & the post match interview from Stendel says it all I'm afraid, he is between laughing & crying at times. I really worry we will be without him fairly soon, if we can't pick up a win after the international break. Swansea at home, West Brom away & Huddersfield away coming up, Get out your mats & pray to the west, I'll pick up mine & pray for myself.

 

So when Stendel said we needed experience these are the players he meant???

 

Patrick was shy and retiring but at times of crisis he was happy to appear on Radio Sheffield as was John Dennis. The silence from the current owners is disconcerting. They must surely be aware of the simmering discontent amongst the fanbase?

 

If they did break radio silence what would you expect them to say? I can't imagine they'd come out with anything that would make any of us feel better, so whats the point? Personally, I don't want to hear from them, I just want Stendel to work with what he's got till January and try to coax a few Championship players out of the U23's that are currently masquerading as the first team...

 

I agree with you, can't see them saying anything. Would be good to hear, "we're sorry, we got this wrong. We need to re-evaluate the approach and perhaps mix it with experience come January."

That would be a good start.

 

It’s the way of this board right now.

For what it’s worth, Stendel at a recent fans meeting did discuss his scouting of such as Sibbick and talked about how Wilks impressed him last season. And it doesn’t take a genius to see that Bähre and the keeper were his picks.

But on the whole I’m pretty sure most of the players aren’t players he’s personally gone and found. Same as Heckingbottom and Johnson before him. And many of the players found not by the head coach have gone on to look spectacular so the method has merit.

But it’s painstakingly obvious, particularly yesterday that this team lacks knowledge. I felt sorry for them. Not anger, just sadness. We look a poor side and the players look like they know it.

Something has to change somewhere.

 

Every pre match press conference will also be filled with the same sound bites.

"We are giving our all"

"We have been unlucky"

"We will get a break soon"

Etc etc

 

Can I just say that you are a much braver man than I am. I agree with what you have said in this thread, but I am going to wait for a day or two before I will have the courage to say anything myself.

What I find disappointing though is that a couple of days ago, I posted a very long piece that tried to treat the BBS as a place for grown-up individuals capable of running their own lives quite successfully. It aimed to give them the information that they needed to run the football club, to put them in the position of being in charge. In particular, it tried to point out how badly most of the clubs in the Championship are run, how much debt there is, and how much cheating is going on. Following the reaction to yesterday's defeat, it is quite clear that I have wasted my time and efforts.

I wish you the very best of luck in your attempts to bring a bit of reality to this place. I too have been accused of having an unfortunate writing style simply because I disagreed, and I intend to retire from action for a few days after this post, just in case it happens again.

 

I read your post, articulate as always.

'The plan' in my eyes divides the fan base. Call it moneyball or call it a spreadsheet, call I whay you will, it has clearly been proven to work in L1 but a league higher all we have proven is that it needs tweaking. And we have not been brave enough to do so, despite being at the forefront of mixing a new plan with financial stability.

The simple fact is that the addition of the couple of wise heads that it is so abundantly clear we need, would barely dent the finances and would certainly not plunge us into fiscal turmoil. Relegation might though?

 

We are sorry we made a mistake, we underestimated how tough the championship is. We are fully behind the head coach and will endeavour to add some experienced players in January. We urge the fans to support our young players and hope that given time and support they will improve.

 

How does the system identify these sorts of players though? Surely there’s not enough proper data on someone like Halme to sign him with the lack of playing time he had at Leeds.

 

Hardly gives the players confidence though as you’re admitting they’re not good enough & ultimately we can’t change any personnel until Jan at the earliest.
Damned if they do, damned if they don’t.

 

Is it honestly? Apologies if so. It genuinely is very difficult to give people feedback they might not want to hear; but it’s clear from the post that I’m not the only person reading your posts in that way.

You can take that feedback and see if you think it’s valid based on some of your posts in the last few weeks, or you can just take offence. Up to you.

For what it’s worth looking back I’ve made a couple of flippant responses to you as well, no need for it, I accept that. Calling you pious - no need. Just like there’s no need for ‘think on’ and ‘obnoxious’ in your posts, if you’re serious about wanting to improve the politeness of the board.

 

How do you define the word 'patience'. Does patience mean that we wait 10 games, and if it isn't working, we throw everything over and start again. Do we define patience as half a season, a full season. When should we say that a long-term plan is not working. Should it be in the short-term, or if the title of the plan is 'long-term plan', should we wait until the plan has had a long term. How long is long term. Whatever, I am pretty sure that it is not 10 games. I stood by Lee Johnson for longer than that, because I saw that he was trying to make the right changes, and I am sure that our shareholders deserve longer than 10 games after last season, aren't you?

There is no doubt that the summer recruitment did not go to plan, but recruitment is not an exact science. Paul Conway should have chosen his word more carefully as the window closed. However, plans are put in place after much careful consideration, and any plan is better than no plan. Any plan is better than just throwing money at a problem and hoping that it goes away. The owners said a couple of things right from day 1. They said that most clubs in the Championship are badly run. I think that my piece last week made that clear. They also said that they were not here to throw money away as others had done. Frankly I cannot fault them for those sentiments. However, most did not listen. They looked at the headlines and thought, happy days! All that they have done is stuck to what they have said they would do, and that is all. Clearly this team is too young to succeed this year, but the open game that the coach insists on playing is not helping them. Even in the last home game, Derby should have put us away long before we equalised. However, many people are unwilling to criticise someone who they see as above criticism, and would rather blame almost anyone else. The reason this team will be relegated are not straight forward. They never are. But those who want someone to hold responsible do not want complexity. They want a clear target for their wrath. The want a martyr.

This will be my 54th season of watching Barnsley FC. My aspirations are lower than most because my team was 92nd after 10 games in my second season. I assume nothing. However, after 54 seasons I know what patience is, and even though I have fewer seasons left than many on here, I have still not lost my patience. The latest intake has some players who in my opinion will be good players eventually, but they need time and they need good coaching. I do not think that we will survive this season, unless we see a miracle in January. But is League 1 really that bad, because the reality is this. The players can either learn in League 1, where they will be relatively successful, where they will win games. Or they can learn in the Championship, where they will struggle and where, even with a favourable wind, they will finish near the bottom. This group has good players who given time and patience will develop. If money is tight, all that we are left with is patience. We have to out last the rest.

 

Interesting point about perspective - my formative years watching Barnsley are framed in the first 16 years being solely in the top two divisions; so it’s probably understandable that we’ve got different ideas about Barnsley’s place in the natural pecking order.

 

Shall we have a hug and be mates?

 

Give the Bears a boo from me then.