Matchday experience

We’ve had a lot of upheaval on the board level and it’s led to uncertainty throughout the club for me. It will take time to turn it around, but I think the club now should be making moves to enhance the experience. I have serious doubts about Kalid - all this nonsense with the behaviour of fans and the lack of action from the club just smells like a Micky mouse organisation. Football in general has made great strides to be an inclusive and welcoming place and to banish the bad days of the 70s and 80s, meanwhile we seem to be sliding back to those days - I don’t want to sit near racists or sexist d1ckheads thank you very much and if the club can’t shut them up or shut them out then I don’t want to be there - and I’m sure I’m not alone in feeling that way.

 

Agree with every word. On the walk down from Outpost it was perfect to walk on all the way down including Oakwell Lane as long as you walked down the side by the car dealership. The other side wasn't safe and should have been cleared by the council. Oakwell really is a place to come to only five minutes before kick off and not spend a penny. The owners have been here a lot of years between them all and the club are in a worse state than when they arrived. It's the 21st century but they only cater for meat eaters. If you're veggie or vegan forget about eating at the game. We still have a situation where people have to miss the end of the first half to try and avoid not queuing the entire duration of the break. We don't need an app to avoid this situation. We should be able to allow people to go to a catering stall on arrival, pay up front and give a time they want their order to be ready for.

The plastic seats we sit on make you colder and are uncomfortable. I can't believe there isn't an option to have a padded seat put in like clubs like MK Dons do better than us. People get put off parking at the ground because you have to pay for the disservice of having to wait ages to get away at full time. We've not seen Toby Tyke for months which is bone idle because surely they can find someone to take over. We have a 6k stand that can be split, which they cannot be split and away fans only get about 4.5k tickets for. We are told the north side of the west stand isn't safe but again yesterday it had loads of people sat in the upper tier.

We have advertising boards down the east stand that hide the touchline for the first few rows of seats and are dangerous for players to clatter in to. Our sound system is so bad that even with how loud the commentary of previous goals was being played, it was still hard to make out. There are no seats in the concourse areas so people bad on their feet either have to stay upstairs in their cold seat or for some shelter go downstairs and stand. The fanzone hasn't been seen for months because of the weather. We interview former players at half time in front of empty stands rather than something like fifteen minutes before the kick off when more would be there to show their appreciation towards them.

 

It's absolutely dogger in the East Stand. I aim to get there no earlier than 5 to 3. Things looked to be heading in the direction with Lee and his new culinary offerings (the flatbreads really were great) but for some reason it seems he left the club and that all stopped.

 

Not sure what a match day experience involves. Majorettes? Boys Brigade brass band? I must admit, I haven't missed their absence. And I can't imagine a modern day equivalent would improve anything. Climate change freak conditions aside, Oakwell is a grim place to be between October and March, which is the majority of the football season. As much as this subject rears its head continually, any entertainment above and beyond the football (the reason people go) is always doomed to failure. And it's wasted money.

Make the stadium as clean and comfortable as possible - that's the seating areas and the toilets. Offer good quality food and drink (we're talking local pork pies, a selection of beers, a good burger and a coke) at reasonable prices and serve people quickly. And don't make it so bloody difficult to walk to the ground from the town centre. It's easy.

 

Yeah yeah yeah

yadda yadda yadda

 

Given they won’t get anything from selling Oakwell. Can you really see them investing 10 million plus on a new stadium?

I can’t. Yet at the sand time I agree it does seem a deliberately attempt at actively making the ground as crap as possible.

 

This.

They are rich people surely they can run a cost benefit analysis. A business plan that will be measurable and could be mainly imagination and volunteer driven rather than cash driven.

 

Last season I reported racist changing and sexism on numerous occasions to stewards. No action was taken. I ended up sorting it myself which could have ended up badly.

 

To give them their dues, they had two different ales from the superb Salt brewery on tap in the ponty yesterday. Can't argue with that. My twisted pizza thing was more than acceptable as well, albeit I only went for it as the burgers and hot dogs looked so dire. Considering how absolutely outstanding the burgers and pork sandwiches are from the truck at the bottom of the car park, I don't believe it would be very difficult to knock out food of a similar standard inside the ground. Full marks for the beer upgrade though. Even though I very rarely drink before the match, it was still great to see.

 

Shame that there is an inconsistency. Have actually considered switching to the Ponte but I'm sentimental and the East is where I've sat forever and where I used to come with people that can't make it anymore. I would have murdered a nice pint of something from SALT.

 

That's a pity, as I'm sure there's just as much demand for it in the East as there is in the Ponty. Maybe more in fact considering it's the "posh" section

 

I think if we all just stop going to Oakwell, they will eventually have to shut the club down. Our lives will be a lot better if we dont have to worry about selling our best players for less than Peterborough do, never to worry again about a poor match day experience, no investment, bird ****, embarrassing scoreboard, players with hearts of peas, queueing for a pie at rip off prices. Shut the bugger down.

 

Hard disagree unless that was sarcasm. We have all the fundamentals in place for a decent tier 2 club that is an asset to the town and its people. The Glassworks is brilliant and has shown Barnsley can still be a place people want to go and that can want for better. The club can be terrific but it needs imagination, care and some investment. All three lacking which is why a match day is getting more and more of a chore even WHEN we play well.

 

Maybe having a new purpose built stadium is the only way the club can be dragged into the 21st century .

 

What would make you think our current owners would wish to spend millions doing that? I can see us ground sharing in the way Coventry have if Oakwell Is left to ruin

 

Don’t think the owners have the money to spend on a new stadium unless the council got involved with something like a community type stadium i honestly don’t know the answer but like you say oakwell is turning into a outdated ruin and nothing is changing.

 

I don't get all this "matchday experience" stuff, I travel to the venue, watch the match, then go home. I really don't care if there's a tent serving beer or some half time "entertainment". I just wish that, at Oakwell there was a bit more atmosphere, ie singing etc.

 

I think the point is that for those who do want to spend time before the game and at half time, then the experience should be better.

If you don't, then it's of no importance to you. But for others, it is.

 

Fair point.

 

At every TV show taping with a live audience there is a warm up guy because it's a well known fact that people are more likely to join in and get involved if they're in a better mood. At Oakwell they seem intent on pissing people off and draining the life out of them before the game even kicks off. It's no coincidence that this then leads to soulless bored fans