It seemed to suddenly happen down there and hasn't stopped since. I know it's size of crowd, the league they are in, opposition fans etc but come on, if anyone coughs at Barnsley they are told to shut up.
Winning football mate. Draws in more people. I remember Oakwell at the start of the 96/97 season. We were averaging between 7-8k. It only started to pick up around March time when we played Sheff Utd at home when the feeling of promotion increased. Season after…….18k every game with a whole new atmosphere change. If this club ever has that sort of success again, it will be buzzing. Unfortunately, we don’t build anything to get anywhere near these days.
I don't necessarily think a bigger crowd equals a better atmosphere. In the Michael Duff season, we were regularly getting crowds over 15,000, albeit supplemented by some big teams coming down, but the atmosphere was often flat, even when we were winning those games comfortably. Palace have won 5 games at home all season, their atmosphere is arguably the best in the country. I think for me what needs to happen, is that the section that generally gets songs going, needs to persist with a song for a longer period. The noise is generally generated by the East Side corner of the Ponte, though when they sing a song, they get halfway through the 2nd time singing it and stop (weirdly unless it's a new song, but then nobody knows the words). Someone will correct me if I'm wrong too, but for the Bolton game, I'm pretty sure someone brought a drum. I only heard it a couple of times, but I noticed that they were waiting for someone singing, then they were banging the drum. It should be the other way around, if we're going to have one. It should be used to create the atmosphere, not try and supplement the existing one.
Would you not agree that another season like the 96/97 one would make the atmosphere on another level? I never mentioned L1. I mentioned winning football. The higher you go the more you draw in. Wrexham for example. Our greatest most recent success was in 96/97. I’ve never seen anything compare atmosphere wise hence why I mentioned it. I do kind of get what u mean tho mate.
In my fifty eight years of watching us I’ve never heard anyone told to stop singing,unless it’s offensive obviously
There is very little atmosphere at Oakwell these days, and a better atmosphere away. We also win more away. Cause and effect, just not sure which way round.
A year or so ago when Granty stripped off he managed to get the crowd going. At least he made an effort. What happened to him?
To be fair, my memories of 96/97 are a bit hazy as I was only a kid at the time, so I was using the only comparison I could think of. Under Duff we started the season with lower crowds, but they got bigger as the season went on, albeit I think more to do with the opposition rather than how we were playing. I don't necessarily think it's the size of the crowd though that improves the atmosphere, or what's happening on the pitch, it's more whether the people in the stands can be bothered in my opinion. I've often though that the best atmosphere we've had in my time watching the reds, was in that period back in the championship under Simon Davey. I recall the atmospheres back then being quite good, despite the fact that we didn't always play particularly good football, and would often lose more than we won. There was just a plucky underdog nature about that team which I think the fans appreciated.
We won 16 games at home under Michael Duff and the atmosphere was flat. The club did try and introduce scarf day and tifo's, but ultimately, even in games where we were 3 up inside 20 minutes, the atmosphere was poor.
COVID, the enforced year off and the acceptance of streamed matches that came with it has imo killed football at a lot of small clubs like ours.
I certainly think it's contributed to lower crowds, especially at the end of the season when there's little to play for. A lack of engagement from the club's part doesn't help either. The apathy between our fans and the club is mutual at present.
Exactly that. Prime example, we had boiling (ok nice) weather for the last two home games of the season and the club couldn't be arsed to open the fanzone. No attempt at all to get fans in or to have an atmosphere
https://barnsleyfc.org.uk/threads/bfc-site-club-statement.334823/page-4#post-3398114 https://barnsleyfc.org.uk/threads/bfc-site-club-statement.334823/#post-3397735