A recurring theme on here is the happy clappers (the club can do no wrong) versus the doom mongers (the club can do no right). There must be room for those who feel that we are not doing outstandingly well but things are ticking along okay. I have a feeling in my water that deep down, most posters would naturally fall into this constituency, if only we could be bothered to say so. The fightback starts here. This has been an averagely good season.
Put me in the Clapping Doom-Mongles camp. We're punching above our weight coz there was some sausage rolls left on Saturday, but the January transfer window was a total flop as I slammed my knackers into a metal non-fluorescent bollard on my way out of the car park before getting my gut run over by James Bree's Auntie Val. Hard fought point though but we're not going up...or down. Cheaper at Bradford. Dearer at Wendy's.
I do not have a problem with those who try to hold the club to account. Neither do I have a problem if a poster becomes so enthused that he has to shower the club with false praise. However, whether you go down one road or the other, the poster needs to think about what he has written, and be prepared to show the logic of his remarks. Otherwise it is just an empty Praise or Grumble. The revelation that the club would have lost £1m in the last financial year, but for a donation of £500k by the owner has brought out a lot of comment, most of it badly thought through. According to them, the club has either been cheating, or it is incredibly poorly run. Most of these comments come from a fundamental lack of understanding about how business, and in particular, a football club works, and about the cyclical nature of investment and the return on that investment which sometimes happen in different financial years. The club has a transfer policy which it uses to supplement its other sources of income, which are restricted because the other sources of income rely solely upon the town of Barnsley, which is not exactly flush with cash, and has not been since the closure of the mining industry. Policies that rely purely upon the town and the fans, many of whom come and go according to whim and the current on the field success or failure, is always going to be akin to placing all your eggs in a basket that is full of holes. The club has seen this, not only recently, but over a long period of its history. It knows that it must sell in order to supplement its income and for long term survival. The policy is well publicised, it is well argued over and it is established. It only becomes an issue when it is in a selling phase, and not a buying one. The club sometimes needs help in the investment part of the cycle. It must invest in young players, be that through investment in the academy or by investment through transfer fees, in the hope that it will be able to cash in later. It invested over the previous two years, and this season it cashed in on that investment, which it has to do. Next season, we embark on another investment cycle, but thanks to the success of our investments in the last cycle, the club will not need the help of its owner during the investment phase on this occasion. Of course, this is frustrating to those who measure the success of the club purely on league standing, and who expect the club to continually advance, but that is simply not possible. There has to be a period of consolidation, otherwise boom is inevitably followed by bust. That was where John Dennis made his mistake. He became caught up in the importance of league position and in the chase for further glory, and he made the wrong decisions at the wrong part of the cycle. Posters confuse their own hopes and fears with good financial planning and management. As I say, there is nothing wrong with holding the club and its management to account for its decisions, but it must be a logical process, or it begins to look like unjustified hectoring from the side lines, and then everyone just stops listening. I try to act as the balance to unreasonable and unreasoning comment. I will argue against extreme views in both directions, because both are damaging in the long run. Too much praise tends to lead to unreasonable expectations and consequent adverse reaction when these expectations cannot be met. I am the wet blanket that puts out wild fires before they have chance to get established. A fireman caught up in a constant fire fight in order to defend the thing that I value most against arsonists who would have you think that extreme views are normal or right. They are not, because in the end, extreme views see the house burned to the ground.
I'm trying to hear the sound of one hand clapping as I read this, based on another thread from yesterday ... In reality we are all supporters of the club & our perspectives & expectations are based on a lot of factors. The older you are & the longer you have supported the club will have an effect for example. Those who can remember the 1970's pre Clarke era & before, I would suggest may be happier to see us where we are now than those who started watching in the Premiership season. Quite natural. Having seen the town decimated post Thatcher it's amazing how well we've done. There was a lot of money washing round the town between 79 & 83, when the Clarke / Hunter years occurred. That can't be said of now. That said anyone with half an eye, going round the club shop, stadium concourses, etc can see that whilst we've moved on a great deal from the 70's, there is room for improvement. To deny this is to blind yourself to the truth. Most other grounds I've been too bear testament to this. So, yes there is a third & probably the largest group that isn't happy clapper or doom monger. One can support the team on the field 100%, but be critical of off field matters & for me that is not to criticise a man who is a hero to us at BFC, Patrick Cryne.
