The town of Barnsley has an estimated population of just over 80,000. The town of Oldham has an estimated population of just over 100,000. Both 'boroughs' have populations of around 230,000 people. The 1980's saw the decimation of the mining and textile industries which crippled both areas. As Jay points out, our club's supporters have stuck with it whereas Oldham's haven't. We're not a big club. We're a small town club. I'm proud of that. But at this level, we're a ******* giant when compared to the likes of Oldham, only because our fanbase makes it so. Lee Johnson would have been mental to turn us down.
And it doesn't make me a Wednesdayite to be proud of our gates and away followings, nor the mocking of clubs such as Oldham whose fans have abandoned their club. And lets be reight. Wednesday get around 20,000 on average at Hillsborough, double our Oakwell average, albeit a division higher and top half, enjoying their best season in over a decade. Yet their population - even taking into account the city is home to another club too - is double ours. Stands to reason they attract more supporters/fans. Hell, a lot of them were born or live in our ******* town/borough. Wednesday/United/Leeds are not better supported than we are. Not many clubs are I would guess. Proud of that. And if only we had a bit of a good run in the division we belong in, we'd get the glory hunters back too and our gates would be even more impressive for a small town, unfashionable little club from ooop north.
Totally agree with what Jay says but I do think a lot of our supporters have got fed up and don't come to Oakwell anymore, the crucial thing being we have new younger ones which have replaced them. I see the same faces at a lot of away games (young lads and lasses) who can't be more than 19/20 year old and it's not like they'll have got the bug for supporting Barnsley due to the 'glory days' of the 90's as they won't remember it, and 2001 onwards has been generally dire apart from a decent 05/06 season and a cup run a few years later so massive respect to them young 'ens - if I was their age I'm not sure I'd be such a regular attendee to our games if I'm completely honest.
Cracking post Jay. It's true, our town has capitulated. We got relegated from the Prem in '94, and it's been a disaster since. We were relegated to the 3rd tier in '97 and we've been here since. There is some correlation between Man U hitting form in the early '90s - there are more armchair Man U fans in Oldham than there are Latics fans. Kids grew up and watched Utd wining things, while Oldham were a joke club. My kids got derided for wearing Latics shirts at Football practice (at a school in Oldham). That tells you how it is. There are more Barnsley supporters work in my office building than there are Latics fans. Other than a lone Rochdale fan, the rest are Sky Sports City/Utd/Liverpool. We've been through administration, our council has shafted us twice with new stadium developments, and we have ended up staying in a crumbling stadium that until this season has had only 3 sides (whether the new stand ever opens is anyone's guess, remember the new stand at Millmoor?). We had the Lee Hughes saga - I know people who had been home and away for years who haven't been since after we signed Hughes. Our owner will no doubt have a rant after Tuesday's attendance about how we don't deserve our club, but he's partially to blame. We were getting 6-7000 fans in 2005-06, this season we're lucky to see more than 3500 diehards. He preaches to the converted in that he has a rant on the media platforms that the people who are turning up read (website, message board). The decision to appoint the lacklustre Dean Holden this week says everything. Cheap option that attracts nobody back. I voted with my feet last night - I am no fairweather fan, I've endured some dross over the years, and renewed my season ticket, year after year. I love my club, and if I'm feeling abject about the whole situation, then there's something wrong.
As soon as I see anything to do with attendances - straight away I think of the Sheffield clubs or Leeds. And for that reason I have resisted reading this ***** of a post.......but eventually it got the better of me and I looked..........and sadly it was what I expected This Troatman fella..........that name rings a bell, or was it Trautmann?............the guy with the broken neck from Man City We now have a Troatman or Trautmann on this message board........similar name........but surely this guy is the one with the broken brain from Barnsley The post from Jay was spot on..........but it was so long and boring that I woke up an hour later face down in a plate of mash potatoes and peas But Jay is right.........if you have a bit of age behind you..........which obviously the guy with the broken brain hasn't.......then these clubs are of a similar size Rotherham, Doncaster, Oldham, Barnsley, Blackburn, Bolton, Preston However, they have all had different success stories over the last few decades and this is reflected in their current attendances. At a meeting with Pat Cryne some years ago I asked him this........'how big is Barnsley Football Club'?...........he gave a poor answer - because he didn't know and neither does anyone else, because Barnsley have never had a period of prolonged success (in the way that the Sheffield clubs and Leeds and even Blackburn and Bolton have had).
I feel really sad about what's happened. I hadn't realised how low Oldham's crowds had become until there was talk of Johnson taking over at Barnsley. I just couldn't understand why he would even contemplate leaving Oldham to come to us. We've got a reputation for sacking managers every two minutes, we were well below you in the league, you still had a chance of the play-offs, where as we looked well out of it, so I thought he must be off his rocker if he was seriously thinking about switching jobs. Then I had a look at your average attendances and I was shocked. I was expecting to see crowds of 7 or 8,000 but in most games there were less than 4,000. And then I understood. I haven't got a soft spot for Oldham as such, more like a friendly or even fierce rivalry. I want us to beat the team that's similar to us. If we lose to Man Utd it doesn't matter, they've got squllions of pounds and play a different sport entirely. But if we lose to Oldham? Grrrrrr. Football needs teams like Oldham. It needs them doing well, challenging in the Championship, spoiling the party the big clubs like to enjoy by sneaking in to the Premier League. Giving hope to everyone that a small but well run club can be successful, that it can do it without the money. Barnsley need teams like Oldham. We need rivalries with similar sized clubs. We need to be on the back of our board saying "if Oldham can do it, why can't we?" It does none of us any good to look upward and just see a mountain of money. We need to see grit and determination beating the money or we may as well all give up. I hope you can turn the corner. I hope the people of Oldham return. If a club the size of Oldham can no longer attract the numbers needed to survive as a professional outfit then the chances are it'll happen to many more clubs and all we'll be left with is Premiership 1, Premiership 2 and millions of sky subscriptions. Give me a day getting piss wet through on an exposed Boundary Park terrace watching Roger Palmer put another past our bewildered goalkeeper ahead of that nightmare any day of the week.
Wow............................being called thick by......................someone like Nudger..........who has been on the brain donor transplant list...........long before this message board existed.........I must try harder.
Not 'harder'..............but, 'extremely harder'. In fact if I was you I would probably take some time out and have a good long look at oneself
That hits the nail on the head for me. I met MarioKempes and NezBFC and their travelling companions off here on Saturday in the pub before the game (I work with them both). Nice to mingle with likeminded fans. We all had similar opinions about our beloved clubs, the beautiful game, and it was, to me how it should be. Like you say, I don't think theirs ever been a rivalry between us and Barnsley, and there shouldn't be unless we're both playing each other on that particular Saturday, and even then, it's a good-natured one like I experienced with my Barnsley colleagues. You have the upper hand of recent years having played at a higher level for a good few seasons (via the playoffs withe ex Latics Andy Ritchie and Rick Holden). Your last paragraph made me chuckle, Roger Palmer, kudos for the namedropping And we did let you have Sir Neil of Redfearn, scorer of the "Greatest Goal in Recent Latics History". Biggest clanger ever made by Joe Royle, letting that fella go... So we've given you Redfearn, Ritchie, Holden, and now Johnson. We did inherit Darren Sheridan (The only player I've ever seen get a red card in every competition in the course of one season haha!) but you must owe us a bit more in recompense. Oldham Athletic - Barnsley feeder club ;-)
Ok - I will. On the condition that you try "extremely harder"................to work..........on............your........grammar........
Why?.........obviously I'm able to get the message across in a form that you are able to understand, hence your reply