The prices of £10 and £5 concessions for a game of football FA Cup is very good ,and the club must be applauded for. The ponte end may have been a better option being covered . But if demand for more home fans to attend ,it is easier to open the upper tier if required. I can see the logic behind this.
Sorry mate, my irate response wasn't directed at you. I had no problem at all with the point you were making. I just feel frustrated by some of the decisions being made. I have no issues with the club as far as the big picture is concerned but many of the smaller decisions seem ill thought out. We seem to have gone out of our way to spoil a dream FA Cup tie for a small club when we should be trying to make it an event.
The thing is though, we don't know. Because Khaled has disappeared and nobody seems to want to communicate then it leads to speculation like this.
Unfortunately there's been a bit of an atmosphere since the height of the PMG days that accommodating fans in the ground is an inconvenience for cup matches and friendlies and the costs are barely worth it. That might not be the case, but it's how if feels and it needs to change. What's the point of a football club if they don't make matchdays a desirable event ffs?
That's the crux of it. When we played away as underdogs at Middlesbrough, Liverpool, etc. they were huge occasions. We couldn't wait to get there and see our team perform on a bigger stage. It was a magical experience. That's exactly how all the Horsham fans will have been feeling until the rug was pulled out from under them. I feel so disappointed for them.
Honestly I genuinely didn't think it was mate. And didnt take it as that. I get the frustration. There are things that anger the lot if us. This latest just one of em. I dont really get over emotional. And try reading between the lines. rather than jump the gun.(I certainly dont see you as one of those). Which doesnt allus come to fruition. Eg you were right on a comment from the front at that meeting we met up at once, You stood in for Gally. I think Murphy was the ceo at the time. I interpreted it differently. And as time progressed, wrongly. We are on the same page as I also think things can be improved. Just not sure even a minority of Barnsley public eg (free tickets) welcome any of it. And any improvement Is provided for the converted so to speak. Just pointing out as how I see the fa cup and how it has been devalued to the point from when it was once the greatest cup competition in the world, to now being an also ran. You know as well as I those attendances I quoted are a fraction of what they would have been 20+ years ago. Started when man utd withdrew from the competion. And others putting out weakened teams. Wheras the teams from lower divisions were denied that dream tie. Against the best opposition.
Me too. Some of my favourite memories, recollections that make me feel warm and fuzzy and sometimes even a bit teary, are from the games you mentioned and others like them. For the Middlesbrough game we went in me dad's van and I got to spend the day with a load of proper blokes who were crammed into the back and I found that shouting and swearing was right up my street. They gave me chocolate limes and when we went 2-0 down early on I felt like my dreams were being ripped out of me, but we battered them for the rest of the game, Mike Lester got one back and the Barnsley fans and me dad's mates and I sang "What's it like to be outclassed" and it was genuine magic and it didn't matter that we lost because every single one of our players was a hero. For the Liverpool game I was let out of school early and we got the coach (we usually went to away games in me dad's car) and only got in at half time but it was amazing. Again we battered them and I still have dreams of Big Trev heading the ball down into the net instead of over the bar. I'm now in my 50s and I'm posting on a Barnsley FC bulletin board because when I was in junior school I experienced days and nights watching Barnsley FC that nothing else has ever matched, other than other Barnsley FC games. And now we're hosting a game that could provide the same sort of memories for an 8 year old from Horsham, except it won't because they won't be able to get here as it's being played on a Friday night and they won't be greeted by a wall of noise because we're only opening half of one stand, the half that's open to the elements. A Friday night in November and your only choice of seat is in the rain. Wonderful.
Exactly this. I could have written this, with just minor amendments: 1) Got to Liverpool 10 mins before final whistle. 2) I've never been in your Dad's van.
If the club were determined to stick home fans in one section of the ground only, then either the upper tier of the East Stand or the Ponte End would have been better options on a Friday night in November, as either would offer better protection from the elements. It's not even as if the ESL is being done for TV viewing aesthetics, given that the game isn't going to be televised.
I agree that donating our 45% share would be the best PR move we could make, given the underlying circumstances and the fact that we're actively contributing to ensuring a lower home attendance with the ticketing arrangements that have been chosen.
With no working lifts opening the upper only would have meant only people who could manage all the stairs could have gone. Surely they could have just opened the whole of the East?
The lifts work, as far as I'm aware. The club just chooses not to operate them on matchdays for anything other than the Exec level.
I can understand why they'd do it on a normal matchday, as there'd be a demand from people who just couldn't be arsed to climb the stairs if they had a choice. My last specific enquiry on this dates back to the late 90s / early 2000's when I took my Uncle to what turned out to be his final game at Oakwell. He'd had numerous heart surgeries and was visibly frail, and I'd assumed (foolishly) at the time that they'd allow him to travel in the lift to the Upper Tier, but this was rejected. It took us about 30 minutes to climb the stairs, with a break at every landing. I can't remember if the game was worth the effort in the end, but it was the only time he ever saw a game from the East Stand, having spent most of his life as a season ticket holder in the Brewery Stand before stopping going when it was knocked down. He took me to games as a kid, including ones such as the Everton cup-tie when I got the use of his additional ticket voucher. I'd hoped that he'd appreciate a chance to see a game from a viewpoint that he'd never had previously, but pretty much nearly killed him getting him into his seat.