What do I want from supporting Barnsley?

To win the Premier League, FA Cup and League Cup treble, before rampaging through Europe beating Man Utd, AC Milan, Real Madrid and Barcelona on the way to the Champions League title. Obviously. It's what every football fan wants, even if you won't hear them admit to it because such an eventuality is ridiculous. But I'm in my 40s and I still catch myself daydreaming about such stupid nonsense.

It's not going to happen, so what do I realistically want? I want what we've got right now.

I want an owner who cares about the club, a Barnsley fan, who won't let anything untoward happen to it. I want a CEO/Secretary/General Manager, whatever you want to call the position, who will regularly take the time to talk to fans, both through local media and face to face, and address us like we matter. I want a manager I can relate to, not a skin-full of ego in trousers, someone who knows what football is about, who genuinely cares about the club and the fans, and can easily demonstrate he can produce a team that plays exciting football that wins games. I want the club run properly, within our means, so our future is secure, not riddled with debt spending more than we have. I want the back room team to be constantly looking at ways to improve all aspects of the club. I want a squad full of young players with potential and a will to succeed, who are prepared to sign longer contracts because they believe in our club. I want a number of academy graduates in the squad, local talent, who care about playing for Barnsley, so the club can prove the investment they make in youth is worthwhile.

We've got all that.

I also want a bunch of local nutters writing about our club and our town, making us laugh and earning £1000s for charity. We've got that. I want another bunch of nutters opening a supporters' bar selling local fare, again giving money to charity, and we've got that too.

I'd like a team that plays with heart and skill, that wins more home games than it loses and dishes out a number of hammerings throughout the season. I'd like a team that finishes in the top half of the league rather than the bottom. I'd like, in the not too distant future, for that to happen at Championship level. We'll have to see about all that, but with what we have already put in place, I'm certainly hopeful we can achieve this.

Things aren't perfect, they never will be, but we're progressing and we're progressing towards the club I always wanted us to be, a club we can all be proud of. We were relegated last season, but I feel closer to the club now than I have done in a very long time. I hope the results on the pitch can reflect our efforts off it, so more and more Barnsley people will buy in to what is happening. After years of ****, I think things are finally looking up.

I'll shurrup nar. Come on you reds.

 

This post sums up exactly how I feel, and have felt for the last 60 years, about supporting the Reds. Excellent stuff. Thanks very much for summing it up in such a succinct yet passionate manner. Top class.

 

Love it, my old mate. Thank you for posting that, I agree with every word of it.

 

not very often where we agree jay, but 100%, nail/head etc. I'm feeling really good about next/this season. played a crap game with a someone elses crap cards last season. there seems to be that long lost buzz about the place and the lets slag the club for the slightest thing brigade seem to have disappeared back under their rocks, ok genuine complaints but to go on and on about " theres only white sugar for my coffee and I only use muscavado the clubs 5hite"

 

**** all that, where's chuffin new scoreboard...

 

Yep deal me in..

 

Brilliantly written as ever mate and just about sums up how I feel about it all to be honest.

All we need now is for Conan and NIGHTMARE to comment and take the thread to the opposite end of the spectrum. I wonder if he can shoehorn Dawson in somewhere.

 

An excellent post Jay it really sums up my hopes for the club too.

After the gloom of the last few seasons we now have a season to look forward to. Roll on Saturday, well actually Friday afternoon as I will be 'working from home' making the journey South in preparation for Saturday.

 

to come out of Oakwell after a match feeling happy -- that's all!

 

Really? I usually let him post for me; he's far more eloquent and on point than me.

 

I may recant my recent negativism if we get in 3-4 more players in the coming weeks. Not loan players, proper signings.

We need the new scoreboard. It is embarrassing. If Ben has one ounce of gumption about him he will be sorting that out now.
It should be a source of revenue & a way of building up to a game, keeping stuff going at half time & reminding people of the next match as they leave. Not a f-ing joke.

The caterers / bar people need a lick up the arse too. They couldn't run a p!ss up in a brewery ... at least not in the old Brewery Stand.

At the moment Peachy is still out in the cold.

I can see Danny has been astute, but supporting Danny & the club isn't in my opinion the sort of blind faith that some of my religious friends have. The club needs to be properly run. Words to me are cheap. Actions count.

Come on Ben, show some real mettle.

 

I've been feeling as though my club is coming back to me recently, and after reading your thoughts, Jay, I'm now convinced. I've got my club back. Can't really add owt to your original post. But I will keep bumping it as soon as we lose a couple of games and the naysayers are out in force.

 

I'd rather we ploughed any monies we do have into the squad with the aim of getting out of this division as soon as possible, and then sorting the scoreboard next summer. I do though find it bizarre that the club can't find anything to improve the current monstrosity. Are we seriously suggesting that it's so old that the bulbs can't be replaced? The Sheff Wednesday scoreboard is similarly ridiculous and never improved so I'm assuming that either both clubs can't be arsed to fix em, or the bulbs or whatever is required are impossible to replace. Somehow.

 

We found £200k+ for someone on the commercial end of things if i remember a few months ago... WTF is he doing I ask?

Sorry to piss on everyone's chips, but I don't see things the same way.

I'd never boo a barnsley player, manager or sponsor, but I can speak my mind on here.

I hope Barnsley are top half next season, but I think if we don't spend a bit more we could continue the slide.

 

You're not urinating on my pommes de terre. You just interpret the current situation at the club differently to me (and, it seems, others) that's all. C'est la vie.

 

only time will tell...

I don't want to be proved right if we don't invest / get more switched on to commerce. At the moment West Stand Bogs literally p!sses on anything the club does.
I want to be wrong & us be top 6, but I don't think even Danny really believes that we ca do it. No eye contact in his interview. I think his real target with current squad is top half & then a push next year. Problem is a few injuries & a relegation scrap ensues.

There are different ways of caring / supporting a club. Mansford for me has to stop the rhetoric & show me something.

 

As I said, yours is a different interpretation to mine, that's all. I'm not going to call into question someone else's intelligence, honesty, understanding & integrity, when they hold an alternative viewpoint.

 

Thanks. We both love the club.