Saw this article by Doug. Seems like a good analysis to me. (Dont think it's been posted?) https://www.barnsleychronicle.com/article/22730/comment-who-is-to-blame-for-barnsleys-sorry-season
We went from being sluggers who got points through brawling a result,to try and do a jab and move and not surprisingly we failed
Yes, it seems to cover all aspects of our demise .... but ... I also seem to think I have read most of that on here. T'would appear that we fans are not stupid.
We were much more than ‘sluggers’ last season. Yes we could slug it out when necessary but I think fans that think we were just a kick and rush team or 1 dimensional must know little about the game.
Last season we had a head coach who was clever and knew our players capabilities and made the most of them, it wasn’t pretty but it was bloody effective.
Got it spot on in this article. Agree 100%. Never looked like being anything but relegation fodder for months.
“finally contaminated by a general malaise which the squad have been unable to shift all season.“ This final sentence is eye wateringly hurtful. The most hurtful thing being that it appears to sum things up perfectly.
Pretty good appraisal of our disaster season...and well done our weekly rag for putting this to print and telling those of our fans who don't go on online forums what the vast majority if us think and know.
As it stands at the moment next season we look like facing six out of Plymouth, Wednesday, Wycombe, Sunderland, Portsmouth, Ipswich and Bolton, as well as Derby and Peterborough. If Doug is right about it being a busy summer (in and out) I'm not sure how much confidence I'd have in us sorting all that out and galvanizing the squad that emerges in time to make a realistic challenge for promotion. And it seems to me that if there is to be any change of head coach or even CEO, that and any replacement needs to be sorted very, very quickly if we are not to find ourselves in the same mess going into next season.
I know that I will be the odd one out here, but I view Doug O'Kane as an individual who is more interested in boosting his own ego, than he is in producing an accurate analysis. As a result, what we see is the usual character assassination of an unpopular representative of unpopular owners. A witch hunt that puts him in a good light with the fans who have already made up their minds, and who are more than happy that the local newspaper has taken the opportunity to reinforce their prejudices. I do not like the reporter, and I preferred the Chronicle when it reported the facts and did not seek to boost readership figures by reinforcing existing opinions and biases.
We benefited hugely from five subs. Being able to play that high tempo style and swap the entire front line was a huge advantage. Switching back to normal football was never going to produce the same results and we needed a capable manager with experience in the league to deliver the transition. Losing Mowatt and Sollbauer was huge. Solly was a huge reason we survived under Struber, and losing his experience was stupid, especially after we lost Mowatt. Simply, we should have done whatever was necessary to land Hourihane, the cost of his wages would easily be offset by the £8m loss from relegation, and we should have appointed Warnock.
You say that his analysis isn't accurate. Why so? What do you believe is inaccurate? The chronicle has, for my entire life, not simple reported the facts. I have never known a newspaper that doesn't report like this.
i’m going to suggest his review of the finances is a little too forgiving. The fact of the matter remains that the club has frittered away all the cash that was on balance sheet and is staring at a negative asset position prior to relegation. The notion that the current owners’ strategy is sustainable is not correct.