Thanks for your kind words. To be honest, I have been torn about Minority Report all summer. Sometimes I am definitely packing it in and at others, it is more like I will continue whether they like it or not. Like the BBC, I seek to inform, educate and entertain and if enough people claim that they have been neither informed, educated nor entertained, it is pointless continuing to flog the proverbial dead horse. This summer seems to have been spent restating long held opinions. And that is not just me. It is 99% of what has been written on here. It is all getting a bit stale and I would rather stop than become irrelevant. I will see if I have anything new to say after the Ipswich game before I finally decide. Thanks again.
Wowee Mr Rain, isn't it enough for us to have lost Scowen, Marley and Robbo without losing Minority Report! First up, Hemmsy's original post echoes something you have been saying on here for quite a while. You have referred previously to players being mercenaries (I paraphrase) and that your affection is for the club, not individual players. I have heard it said on Radio Sheffield tonight that they have it on good authority that Andy Yiadom has told the club he wants to leave. Now I can't blame any player wanting to better the level he plays at while simultaneously multiplying his earnings. But it seems Yids is keen to engineer the situation having had his head turned by Huddersfield's initial advances. The fee matters not to him if he can quadruple his earnings. This all assumes Radio DeeDah is right, but Yids has also put in a shop window appearance on Sky Sports News today, as documented elsewhere. There is a way to do these things (see Conor) and a way not to (see Sam). But the upshot is that I have considerable sympathy for the views of yourself and Hemmsy on this topic. Anyway, to point. I don't take too much interest in formations and tactics - I have never hidden my lack of knowledge of such things. I think there are things players should do regardless of the formation or the setup. But Minority Report is a stimulator for debate (without blowing smoke, etc). I think you should not only continue it, but that you should expand it to take in the effect on performances of the club's organisational setup, and also your take on the emotive aspects of the game, as opposed to just the cerebral. I look forward to reading why we got it wrong against Mr McCarthy on Saturday. (Don't know if I've ever mentioned, but his sister was a schoolfriend of my sister's, and attended my 21st birthday party. But that was in the last century!)
I strongly disagree. When you strip everything back to when you first visit Oakwell as a wide eyed kid, the players are who you go to see. Without players you don't have a football club.
I like reading your reports for your opinions on how the match went and how players performed. I don't, however, like the style of trying to 'educate' people as to systems etc. as it comes across like you think we're all a bit thick. Thing is though, if a match day doesn't have a Red Rain minority report, is it even a match day?
Kind of see your point especially in the modern game where player turnover is high, but having heroes is what bonded me to Barnsley FC. I'm a bit of an old football romantic as you'll probably guess from many of my posts, but players like Ronnie Glavin, Steve Cooper, Gerry Taggart, felt like they were in my blood, and it's always a sad day for me when good players move on, inevitable as it is. And I'll be honest, the buzz from watching Hourihane, Winnall, Roberts et al over the last couple of years has given me as big a buzz at 42 years old as the others did at age 6, 14, 15 whatever I was. I love them because at some point in time they played in the red of Barnsley, my club, our club. They were ours to enjoy. And enjoy them most of us did.
The day that Barnsley fans aren't connected to players at the club is the day we should all give up supporting them. It's one of the unique things about supporting "our club"
I do enjoy watching the players, I enjoy seeing really talented players come through the system. This was only 5 or so years ago but watching the team that Stones was in was very good. Different people need to be held responsible why that team didn't go on but that's not for this thread. Watching the top top players. Stones Holgate Mawson Bree Kent Vaz Te Butland to name a few. These players that if they don't reach a top 10 prem club minimum then they've messed it up. Love watching those players. But really it's about the team for me and I see that as one thing. I love tactics in Football, Cricket Tennis..... to me playing FM. I'm constantly looking at it and spotting things. I'm looking forward to seeing how the youth teams develop this season. There are a few players that could out do the levels maybe. In the first team at the minute. All about Ugbo. Watching him in the games he's got it all. We've got to build to play to his strengths. We do that he'll make waves and he talked about at every club's fans in the league.
Hemsy, genuine question mate. How old where you, and what was it about Barnsley FC that got you hooked and engrossed in it, if not the players (or a player)?
Was that the team that stayed up after he'd left but then could not reach the same heights the following season as they just weren't good enough?