Reflections, Musings, Dreams and a note for Red Rain

What a day!!!!
Up there amongst promotion from the old 4th under Johnny Steele. Up there along with promotion from the old 3rd, beating Man City, promotion to the Premiership, beating Manure, beating Liverpool, the cup run to the semis against Cardiff, the first trip to Wembley against Ipswich, the play off semi at Brum the Scum, the play off final at The Millenium, winning the John Stones Trophy, surviving under Flitcroft, seeing Redders and Ronnie in their pomp, Barnards goal against Huddersfield.......in my lifetime my club has given me some beautiful moments in life, some of the best days of my life.............
......and today was another one to add to the list. I don't want to go on too long but I think I probably will so to all those who get bored with long posts mebbe you should stop reading now. What I do want to do is join all the other positive posters on here in celebrating this fantastic day. I've shared today with Lawrence, Nye, Paul and The Doctor and our group elation was a wonderful thing. Together with 5000 other BFC diehards we witnessed something extraordinary today. Our support was stunning, and the team performance was remarkable, particularly after failing to get to grips with Wigan for the first 20 minutes.
With this bright young Manager, who remember was criticised last week for being overly cautious, and with this special group of players, and our magnificent Chairman, we are once more a club who can dream again. Win or lose, we have a plan. Under good stewardship and the excellent Ben Mansford (yes....excellent) those guys have given us the chance to dream again.
My note for Red Rain is as follows.........if you are reading this I want to say that I always read your posts with great interest and you do give objective insight intone games with the MR. Last week your exchange with Whitey was fascinating. Whilst I value your opinion, I don't always agree with it. I did agree with your assessment of the last 15 mins against Colchester; for my part I'm delighted that those closing stages haven't defined our season.
What intrigues me about your views is that you think we're not good enough to survive in the Championship and therefore promotion would be too soon. How does that work? Should the players not try? Should those who run the club plan for mediocrity ? I'd love for you to explain what tactics we should apply in the play offs now. The point I'm trying to make is that this thing that we love is all about the dream. The second we can't dream is the second that the game dies.
For me that's what our club has done this season......they've given us all the chance to dream again. My dear old Dad and Grandad first took me down when I was a scrawny 5 year old. Since that day I've been dreaming about times like this. And it's happening again.
Today epitomised all that is good about football and Barnsley FC.
What a day, what a club.

 

To be fair to Red Rain..he's taken it on the chin and brought up the subject himself below.

 

Yep. Just seen it. Posted whilst I was trying to get my one brain cell to communicate whilst sipping a celebratory bottle of red.

 

Great post Mr B!

Despite my anger last Saturday, the one bit of encouragement I took was that the players looked like they'd been relegated when they came out for the lap of honour. I think I said this to you at the time.

Today, after a shaky start, they played like they had a point to prove, and did it in style. Full credit to them for exorcising the demons from last week.

Hopefully 3 more games now to end a truly remarkable, roller coaster season.

See you on Saturday.

 

Top banana curt

 

Adopt me, please. I'm nice, too...

 

Has to be said that the last 20 years have been the best of times to watch the club, made all the sweeter by some rotten ones.

 

My exchange with Whitey was one that I regret, and I backed away from it as soon as I realised that it was going wrong. We are two very different characters who approach the act of supporting our team in very different ways. That is bound to lead to misunderstanding and misinterpretation of motives and views, but the thing is, I enjoy Whitey's posts, and I have no desire to fall out with him.

Sometimes the way that I post is seen as talking down to others. After the exchange with Whitey, some of his comments hit the mark and I asked my wife if she thought that they were true. She said that they were. She is like that my missus, she does not pull her punches. I have always thought that you should only talk to people on here if you have respect for them, and that is what I try to do, so I maintain that my on line persona is nothing like my real persona, but one that I portray because of my writing style. I suspect that my writing style was developed during my years of work and that all the reports that I wrote during that time have influenced my style on here. There is also no doubt though that I am very analytical and there is also no doubt that there is a place and a time for analysis, and that I do not always pick that time and place very well.

There is also a time and place for telling others that what you said was proved correct, and a time and place for telling others what you said was proved wrong. I did not think that we could beat Wigan. I did not think that we could reach the play-offs. I was wrong and I am delighted that I was proved wrong. This is the time to glory in that error of judgement. It is not the time for analysis and prediction.

 

I think our level of performance has been difficult to analyse or predict in these last few weeks, Red Rain. I hoped for yesterday's outcome but certainly couldn't predict it with any certainty. Keep on posting though - because debate is surely what this place should be all about.

 

Decent post mate...there's room for all views on here, and don't be too hard on yourself..
But a bit of humility is always a good thing

 

96/97 - Promotion to Premiership
98/99 - Championship Play-Offs at Wembley
05/06 - Play-off Winners at Wembley
08/09 - FA Cup Semi-Final at Wembley
15/16 - JPT Trophy Winners at Wembley
15/16 - Play-offs


Have I missed anything?


Throw in all the down and you can't say it's boring watching Barnsley

 

Yeah, 05/06 was at the Millennium Stadium

 

Oh yeah, still....same, same but different

 

Great post and you may have been right regarding Wigan, any other week of the season and the task may (emphasis on may) have been much harder.

 

First time I've hit the mark in years. The missus sez.

Don't alter your writing style on my behalf, pal. I haven't a problem with it, and it's unique to you (on this forum). Be **** if we all typed the same words in the same manner.

Some folk don't like my posts either. Tough titty.

 

60 but feel like I'm stil 16 when at Oakwell.