Ill always be a Barnsley fan, I was pretty much born at Oakwell. After my old man was sent packing in the early oughties by Spazman I did take a while to get the love back, and from time to time it takes a hit but in the main my love for the club has remained. We all had a surge 24 months ago, with that glorious end to a pretty **** start to the season. I felt connected, the club seemed to be going somewhere. Some didn’t like ‘******** Ben’, some did, but no one can deny we had communication and a positive communication channel directly from the club. I felt part of a movement, I felt we helped to create an atmosphere and a positive wave across the club. The club might have sown the seed but we watered it and nurtured it, we helped to make the team a glorious thing of beauty. What happened afterwards was commercial suicide, alienated the fans and took us back years, it was madness but we are where we are I suppose, it’s been done to death. The current feeling as a loyal supporter is one of ‘meh’. I don’t think I’ve ever felt like this before. I’ve felt incredibly angry and bitter for personal reasons mentioned above, but I’ve never felt that emotion where I couldn’t give a ****. It’s really quite odd. I’m not enthused by anything, maybe it’s post/pre season blues but I’m normally excited by what’s going off, irrespective of where we find ourselves but this year is different. I don’t feel attached to the club, I’ve not renewed yet, not sure if I intend to, I don’t feel attached to the environment or fan base in the ground. It’s not the fans fault, I’m not pointing fingers at anyone in the stands for the lack of atmosphere (2 blokes near me at the back right of the pointy are ******* annoying though) but the wave of emotion and that collective has gone and will take a while to get back. It’s such a ******* shame. The spectrum of feelings of being a barnsley fan is as wide as a chasm in such a small space of time. You Meh Reds.
You know, I kind of get exactly what you mean. Like you, I'm not really one for whinging and moaning because it makes zero difference. But, at present, it really does feel like the club is closed for business, and us paying customers are locked out. I have renewed, but because of my son's enthusiasm hasn't wavered, but I am seriously close to falling out of love with football altogether.
I certainly didn’t feel the sting of relegation in the same way as I had previously. Perhaps it was just the inevitability of it. And different people will have a different point at which it was inevitable. From January 2017, summer 2017 recruitment or the Morais appointment. It was a combination of all 3 in my eyes, and mistakes have been made. The fact we didn’t sack Morais is a shocker too. And again I can see the logic behind the decisions made at all 3 milestone periods (although apointing Morais is one of the strangest moments I’ve ever seen as a Barnsley fan), but together they did result in us being back in League 1 but what I’m surprised by is that I just don’t seem to care. I’m sure I’ll still get that excitement when I see a couple of pre season friendlies. And perhaps next season we can win a few more matches which always helps. Let’s see what GG and the new owners are actually made of and what they intend to do.
I know I don't post very often or attend as many games as most on here but your words resonate. I think success has been our downfall. From the Premiership promotion we began to lose our identity. Commercialism on a scale never known to us and a desire to keep in with the Joneses has made a difference. Ben did do a good job at reconnecting us, selling Patrick's dream and when he left it was the downfall to the custodianship we find ourselves under now. While it is wholly early days and the jury is out on our American/Chinese/Indian/French brothers and sisters, understanding what Barnsley is all about, its history, its legacies and its people will aid any success. On or off the pitch. Football fans are an odd bunch, p!ss us off and it'll be more of an uphill battle.
We tend to agree on a few things mate so I think we are similar in our approach to the game. I like to be positive about our chances and just as importantly our long term goals. I also understand the importance of communication. It’s frustrating as ****. Ben wasn’t the greatest CEO on the planet, but he knew the art of communication. In business that’s Day one on the leadership training. He wasn’t the messiah, but he lead the business well, by doing the communication bit like he should. It doesn’t matter who does the communication, as long as someone does it, but does it well and passionately. It’s the same at work, if there’s change in a company but nobody tells the workers or customers then the company is going to fail. I’m not like Young Fudger, I don’t need details, I just need something. If I didn’t speak en masse to my teams in my line of work for more than a week I knew the performance would drop. If the company didn’t continuously connect with its customers they’d all **** off or make stuff up to fill the void. It’s all completely counter intuitive at the moment. Irrespective of the clubs intention for the next coach the silence is turning me off as a customer. It’s turning me from a proud tub thumping season ticket holder to writing a serious post on the BBS which is definitely not my style.
I think the key thing and I certainly felt it (or not as the case is) is the accepting of relegation and like you say, it just didn't hurt this time around. Much work to do both on and off the pitch. Regardless, red until I die.
The OP is quite succinct and accurate. I fear for the club's future identity and its ability to re-group, re-engage with the fan base and put a vision for the way forward. I hope I'm proved wrong. A few good results in the first weeks of the season is of paramount importance.
It's difficult this, because slagging our club off on here feels a bit like calling your best mate a lovely person, behind his back. But...other teams are sacking managers, replacing managers, releasing players, signing players... Since the Derby game the club have told us that they've parted company with the (suspect) manager and that we'd better renew our season tickets quick sticks or the price rises by a chunk and/or you could lose your seat, and that's it. That 'meh' feeling, as described above, is so true. What has happened to OUR club?
Exactly, for what it’s worth my kids all got a letter about 2/3 weeks ago. They’re 17 (just), 13 (just) and 7. I didn’t get one, and I’m the one who buys 700+ quid a year of season tickets.
The new owners have probably done a bit of historical Barnsley research and assume your 7 and 13 year olds work down Barnsley Main Colliery and therefore buy their own tickets. Though ironically, my lad (12) did renew and got his renewal postcard from the club a month later, though my daughter (16) didn't renew and didn't get the sincere 'wish you were here' postcard. ...mind, they work down Frickley Main, my kids, where the pay is very basic.
I'm busy over the summer months, so not that impatient. Surely has to be sorted soon though. I have to say things have not been good for 18 months & the new owners really need to make a statement.
This is a thread merely about how old people are. How a person feels about football and their club is linked intrinsically with a person’s age. I’m old enough to not be that influenced by meh feelings any more. If I have enough interest to go to footy then I do and I have. A few years ago I didn’t so I didn’t. Nowt to do with who is in charge or who plays.
You know what? Not sure if that was tongue-in-cheek, but I've been wondering if my lack of interest recently has been cos of my age. I've lived in Hong Kong for 30 years (apart from a **** couple of years in the States) and was never able to get the Reds out of my blood. Saturday evenings (we are 8 hours ahead) were mostly spent listening to commentary or prior to the online commentary, BBC World Service score updates! pretty sad really! This season I watched a couple of pre-season friendlies whilst I was back in town in the summer and my interest was as high as ever. Then we suddenly got these new owners, Hecky left and everything was just... 'different'. I didn't even watch the final game on iFollow despite what was at stake. I just felt we deserved relegation & wasn't bothered. Is it age or is it the changes in the club? We've been through **** times before, so I really do wonder if age has something to do with it too. Can you buy Viagra for football?
I agree with most of the sentiments above. I'm hoping that, with the appointment of the new manager/coach, there comes some sort of clarification of short term and medium term goals from the hierarchy. I've nothing against GG but boy do we miss Mansford in terms of communication. Having said that I'm sure Ben was only so forthcoming because he was allowed to be by the owner. For now it would be nice to have a bit of a rallying cry and some tub thumping from those in charge.