Two questions:- How important are they to you individually? How important do you think they to football in 2017 and moving forward?
I think very important. I love football and going to matches but it's just the same as going anywhere for entertainment purposes, I want to be somewhere that looks half decent. It's not stopping me from going as I've grown up used to it but I'd like it to be better. What I find strange but I guess makes sense really, is that I'd never noticed how run down it was, it was just Oakwell and how it always looks, until I took other people from outside Barnsley along. I was excited and proud to bring them and it was only when I walked them inside that I properly looked around with new eyes and saw that we were stood in a grey breezeblock area and then went to dirty seats with standing puddles of water - despite no rain. It was the same with the town centre actually after a few years at uni, it was just tarn until I'd been away for a bit and then I realised how small and old looking it really is.
Couldn't give a toss, I'm there to watch a football match. All these new fans who need a shiny stadium and being pampered are a f*cking joke.
Not very - as long as I've somewhere to go for a pee, or (rarely) buy a drink/pie, that's all I'm bothered about really. Priority for me is on the pitch. I'm probably in the ground for no more than 10 minutes before kick off, and same after the final whistle. Probably increasing importance for the younger generation maybe and perhaps those who go as families? Sent from my SM-T710 using Tapatalk
It matters to me. I'd rather there be standing areas within the ground. A well presented environment well painted. Pop up bars. Somewhere nice to take the little fellas. Not too much to ask. Sent from my iPad using Barnsley FC BBS Fans Forum
I've been on worse grounds than Oakwell. When I look at the ground now from when I watched my first game in 1987 we've come an awful long way. I used to sit in the West Stand lower concourse simply because from that vantage point three sides of the ground look absolutely brilliant. There ought to be a preservation order taken out on the West Stand bogs or they should be adopted by the National Trust at the least. Where else in the U.K. could you stand and point Percy at the porcelain whilst waving to a Police observer in a helicopter hovering above your head without getting arrested for indecency in a public place.? Absolutely unique.
50/50 on this. Football is football, you go to watch the match. Remember my first few games as a kid, in the east stand while the ponty was being rebuilt - was probably pretty grim looking, but I don't remember thinking that, just enthralled by football and seeing if we could score or win (all hail King Brendan). Nowadays Oakwell is a but rundown, but so long as it's not dangerous, I'd rather have that than a Reading/Donny soulless bowl. A game is only two hours, take a bottle of pop and you're fine. Fair enough, the club can make money from being an entertainment centre, but I think the majority on this won't see it as an attraction as in order to be profitable it'll have to be expensive. What sort of pre-match entertainment is going to draw people there before 2.55, realistically? Especially with the stadium being 5 minutes walk from the centre of town and its main public transport hub. Same goes for food and drink. As I said, bottle of pop will see you right. It needs to be summat special at a match to stop people thinking, 'I'll just eat before I go, 3-5pm'. That'll cost a lot to implement, and quite probably won't be taken up at a rate that'll make it break even. Top of my head stuff, but it's maybe why there's not been a great deal of development of what's on offer/the situation of the ground.
Location of the ground is important- near to pubs and transport - like Oakwell- but not like Swilsboro. Inside the ground - I want drinking and toilets relatively close by. I also want it to be reasonably warm. Which ain't going to happen throughout the season. That's why I know this season like most recent seasons I will go to matches until the weather changes and it gets that cold that it stops me going. Can see me living in India in next few years.
A safe maintained stadium with my seat and toilet facilities available in case I need them. I have no interest in TV's, food outlets, score boards, entertainment and the like when at home. However, when I travel away I appreciate the food and drinks kiosks.
These new "fans" are hilarious. How would they cope at Belle Vue or Later Road? If stadiums like Oakwell are an embarrassment maybe they'd be better off finding something else to do with their weekends, or go watch a team like Arsenal with their soulless bowl and leather seats. Give me Oakwell every day of the week. Proper football stadium for proper football fans.
Just because someone has a different opinion to you doesnt make them a 'f*cking joke'. If someone doesnt enjoy a ground because of the facilities, that makes them no less of a fan than you.
Not anymore - there has been a roof on them for about 4 years now, unless you mean the ones for A and B blocks which are not in use due to half the stand being closed To respond to the OP Priority one is a decent seat with a good view of the pitch - though a standing area would be nice this isnt currently an option The councouse should be clean and it should be easy to buy basic food and drink of reasonable quality. At Oakwell I never do - I take in my own snap and either flask if cold or soft drink if its hot. The idea of a beer behind the west stand doesnt appeal In general I prefer to have a pre match beer outside the ground and have never been a fan of drinking one in 5 minutes at half time - of course if you could take a beer to your seat like at Rugby or Cricket matches that would be a lot different