Due to spending most of the day vomiting. This meant I had the 'pleasure' of watching the match laid on the settee. An exceptionally poor game, with two poor teams, officiated by a poor referee. The whole event had the stench of relegation about it. The effort and commitment was there, but you also get that with a hamster on it's wheel and with the same conclusion, unfortunately. It's years since I felt this down and depressed with the club and I don't honestly know if I'll bother going down there over the holiday period. I doubt it'll bother the club, as they've got my money already. As for getting a season ticket next Summer, goodness only knows. I've had one since the 1969/70 season, but I'll have to think long & hard about it if nothing changes down at Oakwell. It certainly appears my loyalty and backing of the manager has come back and bitten me on the bum. If others who've held differing views to me now come back and say "told you so", I'll have to accept it and take it on the chin. It certainly won't make me feel any worse than I do now, even if it makes them feel better.
I've never been a fan of Hill, but I thought it was his gaffes in the press, rather than results that would eventually see him go. I'd much rather live with an annoying but productive manager than say "I told you so" . Unfortunately I think enough is enough. That team should never have lost, but we did because Mr Quirky knows best. If we'd have set up with wingers we could have torn them to bits. He's got it wrong too many times, he chops and changes too ofte, and is destroying what could be a reasonable team at this level. Oh and he wears a crap coat.
You're not on your own Kev, I can't ever remember feeling this down and disillusioned with the club as I do know, even during admin and relegating last time around. I feel like my support and enthusiasm for the club has reached rock bottom and I no longer feel committed to giving up my hard earned money and time so at this point there is a huge question mark over me renewing my season ticket. I backed Hill blindly but I am now firmly in the Hill out camp, there is no hope of survival with this manager in charge. I respect other peoples right to an opinion too but at this stage I would ask just what they can see that is keeping them in support of this manager because I can no longer see any positives, any signs of progress or any signs of something being built. I honestly can't see where the next win is coming from and I can't see any hope if us getting out if this mess.
Dropping players when they're playing well and scoring Bringing in experienced Championship players, but not achieving better results.
I'm one of Hill's last remaining allies and I desperately want him to turn it around as much for himself as us. But when someone as thick as me comes away from a game certain that they could have picked a more suitable team and devised a better game plan, then trouble is not far off. I like Keith, but he's becoming his own worst enemy and hurting the supporters in sensitive issues, such as Bobby Hassell and now Sheffield Wednesday. The arguments against him are stacking up and to be honest, his supporters are running out of ammo to defend him. Following this defeat, the strongest argument in his defence is 'changing managers is not the answer', but that says nothing for the credibility of the man in charge, however much truth there is in it. I so want him to do well, but I'm now in a grey area of indecision. If this was a vote, I would put my personal views to the side and now back the majority of my fellow supporters. Especially with the growing disillusion that threatens to damage the club further reduced crowds and season ticket renewals. We didn't play too badly yesterday, I don't care what anyone says. But it was a must-win game and we blew it. That was the understood tipping point and it has been breached. To redress this in my eyes, Hill has to take that team to Millwall next Saturday and win. I'll be there to support him and any man wearing a red shirt as I always have and just let fate run it's course, the rest is up to Keith Hill now and his players.
For me, it's the fact that I don't think any of this changes with a change of manager. The underlying problems are higher up the chain and anyone else who comes in as manager will face the same issues, and have the same constraints to achieve "success" (for me this is avoiding relegation each season, but individual views on this clearly vary widely among the fan base). I'm tired of the ongoing cycle of 'rinse, repeat, achieve same results as before' that we're mired in. Sack him or keep him - I don't think the end result looks different either way, and that boils down to the running of the club. Until that situation changes, I just think another change of manager means we piss more money up the wall without drastically changing the end result. Much as I'm critical of the Board at the moment, I think allowing that to happen would be unforgivable. This all goes back to the messages sent out by BFC when Robins departed. We had then a manager who was achieving success (as per my definition) and then the financial tensions between club and manager led to a parting of the ways. At that point, the club effectively said we want the same success, but done more cheaply (and we were already struggling to compete financially in the Championship at that point in time). From that point onwards we, as far as I was concerned, were living on borrowed time in this division. Hill, when appointed, was the clear-cut best choice to delay the inevitable and I'm still struggling to think of anyone else who'll work within the same constraints, for the same money, and achieve more. Ultimately, we'd just be bringing in another scapegoat, and wasting resources in the process. It's hardly a ringing endorsement of Hill, which is a pity, but it's good enough for me not to want to go through the torture of yet more upheaval and realising once again that the likes of Kevin Blackwell and Russell Slade are who our hopes of a change are going to be pinned on. On this I agree with you 100%. In the dark days of relegation, admin and Doyle's asset-stripping, the underlying emotion was anger at the injustice of it all, but with the knowledge that everything was likely to be resolved one way or another in the short-term, so that there'd be some sort of closure. The current situation is a case of increasing apathy and disengagement and what looks to be a slow, tortuous slide with no realistic hope of anything changing for years to come.
I like the rest on here, very down with the clubs and teams performance, Maybe we do need to be relegated to find our winning way,s lets face it most supporters want a winning team but I am afraid we can not compete in this division anymore, I think Keep with Hill as a change of manager now will not save us, We are just prolonging the inevitable.
Nice one. I was hurling all Tuesday night with the dreaded vomiting bug. Hope you're up and running again soon.
Cheers mate I feel a bit weak, but other than that, I feel okay. Truth be told, my self pity was greater than my vomiting!
