All is NOT lost ....... how I see things panning out

the way the playing field is slanted now we're always going to be a strong 3rd tier club or a weakish 2bd tier club.
that's more or less how it's always been but is more weighted against us now because of other clubs cheating or a few smaller clubs having found financial backing they never previously had.
the only thing that is going to change it is having owners who will spend over the odds or dropping lucky on the right manager and group of players for a while.

 

No - we wernt a weak 2nd tier club.
Most of my life we have been a strong ish 2nd tier club.
We only became weaker in the Cryne era - basically because clubs in that division got stronger and Patrick just couldn’t compete with the money that was being thrown around.

 

bang on.

 

Check out the historical stats. Our average league position taken as part of the whole 92 clubs is, i think, around 40th. That puts us near the foot of the 2nd tier.
We had a long run in the 2nd tier in the 80s and 90s. Most of that time we weren't strongish, we were middling with a handful of good seasons. That was achieved in an era where the playing field was a lot flatter.

 

in my lifetime.
Which is the 80s and 90s era
The Dennis era.’

 

Nudge said in his lifetime. Unless he's 130ish. In my lifetime the last 53 yrs of watching the tarn over half have been in the top 2 tiers.. We are also the longest members of the 2nd tier in the history of the football league in all its guises. Not bad for little owd Barnsley. Middling/strongish is a little pedantic.

 

Nudge is in his 60s. Not long after he was born we went down into the 3rd division and then spent 22 years there or in the 4th till 1981. In this century we've spent about 7 seasons in the 3rd tier meaning we've spent nearly 30 years of Nudger's 60+ years below the 2nd. Of the remaining 30+ years we have definitely not been a strongish 2nd tier club most of the time. We had 8 relegation battles from 2006 to 2014 for a start. Anderson's year in charge was purgatory. Most of the other seasons were mid-table mediocrity - beat Southend, draw with Grimsby, lose to WBA, ad nauseam. In the early 80s and mid-90s we were strongish 2nd tier but I don't recall many other times.

 

I agree and I'm proud of our history. We've rarely been strong contenders in the second tier though and the stats prove that.

 

Exactly.

 

I suppose it’s easy to look at our club through rose tinted specs and to hope for the best for us.we’re down, I hope Nudgers right about our league 1 bounce but I fear that once we’ve lost our best this summer our board will continue their scattergun approach to recruitment and we’ll become a third tier club permanently. It’s sad really, we’re no more than a rich mans plaything. A lot slate Cryne but he was a Barnsley fan who could have avoided the flak and walked away, instead he stepped up. This lot will drop us like a hot stone when it suits.

 

If the club is relegated it will have a team full of young lads battle hardened form a hard season in the Championship. If the club choose to sell Woodrow, Mowatt, Brown and Chaplin to off set the cost of relegation. It will no doubt bring in players using the same model it has previously.

I'll use Woodrow in for Bradshaw as the main example.

Players come and go. However, fans don't. I sincerely hope the team stays up because relegation to League 1, balance the books and promotion back to the Championship won't be a given.

Bristol City and Sheffield Utd had lengthy spells in League 1.

 

I don’t think it was a scatter gun approach.
What it was - was a NEW approach.
Last summer was really the start of the building process.
Bring in decent quality young players costing £500k to £1 million and start the development.
It doesn’t look like it’s worked well enough to keep the club in the Championship.
But we are still only looking at the foundations here.
The owners have dug out the footings and the concrete has still to be laid.

 

I

I respect your view Nudge, but if they remove the cornerstones each season in pursuit of profit then their foundations will never be stable.

 

When did you start watching Nudge, I'll work art how strong we've been.

 

I started when Barry Thomas was the centre forward - and went for years as a kid.
Then I had time out.
A few years later Eugene got me back tut WELL.

 

I don't think the future is as bleak as some make out. "IF" we're relegated, yes we may lose Woodrow and Brown to good offers but the rest are under contract (?) and should be retained. With some additions, we will be good for a promotion push.

Our attacking play at times, even in this league, is great - we'll have no problems scoring goals in League 1 and with the defense under less pressure from poorer opposition, we'll be fine.

All we can hope is that upon promotion (again!) that the owners learn their lesson and give us a squad to better compete.

After Saturday though, staying up is still a real possibility if we can push on.

 

It isn't the massive task if we ignore the league table and keep chipping away. Win one, lose on until end of the season would do it.

 

Same year as me then young nudge. 1966. 9yrs old at the time. First full season 67/68. Only missed about 8 at home since. My biggest fear as and when my time is up is coming back as a Leeds fan. Perish the thought. Feeling sick as I write this post. .
PS Would that be Eugene of Tina fame ?

 

Yep - most know arrr Eugene.

 

Spot on.