Pre Premiership Season.

I remember being down at Oakwell the summer prior to our Premiership season.I got talking to this bloke he looked like he'd found a bob and lost a fiver.I said whats up we're on the verge of a fantastic adventure in the Prem.He looked at me and said this could be the worst thing that could happen to Barnsley.I couldn't believe what he was saying .After been wheened on league 4 football and steadily climbing the leagues it seemed such a silly thing to say.The man was adamant in his views and its only the last few years I realised what he meant.From been Barnsley FC a very much small community club we had moved to the football worlds elite and things would never be the same.Expectation levels changed over night and I think this legacy continues today.We have a generation of fans who apart from a couple of seasons plagued with admin.etc have only seen Championship and Premier league football.Andy Ritchie,Simon Davey and now Keith Hill have all seen the pessimism that surrounds this club.As a supporter of well over 40years I'm still getting remarks like "tha still goin darn the're,tha must be daft"Maybe Keith Hill is right about trying to change the aura that surrounds the club.The truth hurts and now Mr Hill get on with the job of winning games and although you might feel you're treading treacle at times keep your head down and try and achieve what Ritchie and Davey couldn't do.

 

You still believe some fans have high expectation levels regarding BFC? Which fans are these then and what are they saying?

 

Ritchie didn`t get much time at all to do owt really int Championship.

Yer right a lot of youngsters cant remember bad owd days in the depths, but its improved for us oldies for them its got a lot worse from their starting position as a supporter.

 

What couldn't Davey do? Kept us up every year, cup semi, he did better than most we have had regardless of his style of football.

 

Apart from our brief sojourn to league one, we as a club have been pretty successful since the late 70's, one relegation (from the prem) and one to league one in the past 30 years, a couple of promotions within that period too and it all looks quite stable, in actual fact it been a struggle to maintain an even keel and its constantly getting harder, expectation levels in my mind have increased since the premiership, that's not a bad thing per se but it must be accepted that we are where we are and we will only achieve what finances allow us. and therein lies the problem, some fail to realise staying in the championship is success

 

I wasn't knocking Davey,just saying that although we got to Wembley and retained our championship status the pessimism still surrounded our club.

 

I can see where you are coming from but to start saying expectation levels are too high is just wrong. Your post shows the level of the biggest success of the latter Cryne era - reduce expectations to nil.

I do not expect us to do anything beyond "battle" against relegation but my ambition is for us to win every single game. And that is the worst part of the aforementioned reduction of expectations, it has actually obliterated hope and ambition.

Also if you want to follow us back down to the Fourth Division to recapture some mythical halcyon days when no one complained and no one expected anything and let alone hoped for it then you are welcome to it....

This pessimissim that you talk about comes from the club itself!! From the managers continual references to "exceeding expectations" and "budget" to the clubs frankly pathetic advertising slogan "come and see us beat the bookies" it is al negative as it fits in with the programme of getting the message across that fourth bottom is enough. It might well be all we can achieve but all it has done for me is remove hope and ambition and football without those two is not worth following IMHO.

 

From getting promoted to this level in 1981 to getting relegated from it in 2002, how many times did we finish fourth bottom? I don't know the answer for definite but I'm going to stick my neck out and say never. However, apart from the promotion season and play off season I bet we finished in the top six or seven half a dozen times. We only spent four years out of the division but in that time it's almost like the previous 21 years never happened and we behave as if we're Stevenage or Hartlepool and have never played at this level before when in fact we have a very respectable history. That's why King Keith ****s me right off with his negative talk and how pissed off I am with Cryne and Rowing's small time attitude and lack of vision. No idea what Gravy Train thinks as we don't hear from him one season to the next.

 

Bradford City.

 

Can't disagree with one single word

 

I never ever want to see a return to the old 4th division or division 3 for that matter and maybe I'm easily pleased but retaining our Championship status is vital to me but I can also see that without investment of some kind its getting harder each season.

 

It's vital but if you set out to finish 21st every year people lose interest very quickly.

I'd much rather be in this division than the one below but just staying in the division to play the likes of Burnley, Millwall, Watford, Blackpool, Peterborough and the like hardly stirs any excitement.

 

Imho it all stemmed from the administration period - for me that resulted in the club being detached from its fanbase.

However many likes the facebook page now gets.

It's not 'our' club anymore.

That has a massive impact on my attitude towards BFC. Hill would have been a great manager pre Prem season. It's a pity he's in charge in the current climate.

 

It was Patrick Cryne's 'small time attitude' that saved and stabilised our football club.
Trout Head LOL!!!.

 

I don't think finishing 21st is the clubs ambition or mine but until things change it is probably reality.

 

I didn't realise it was still 2002.

 

Of what I said?

 

I have to be a bit careful what i say but come on PC has plowed a lot of money into this club.

He saw the sharks surrounding us with regards to the prosecution & has done the right thing bringing the club
onto an even keel, in the unlikely hope another benefactor is gonna pop up in the worst recession since the 30's in a town
that has not recovered from the miner's strike nearly 30 years ago... get real with your expectations or get your own money out

 

Why do you have to be careful?

And I've made it clear the difference on my eyes between EXPECTATION and AMBITION.

We don't necessarily need a benefactor we just need ideas and innovation.

 

Because the likely outcome is that our funder may get sent down & his assets seized - DON'T U GET IT?