If I ran the club

I've been making a list for a while of what I'd do if I was in charge of running the club. Since I started it, a couple of these things have been implemented, or mooted, though the vast majority are reasonably inexpensive ways of reconnecting the fan base and the club. A lot are things I've noticed from being at other stadiums and events. Some are ways which Oakwell could be better utilised during the summer; we've got a town centre to be proud of, it's about time the stadium was incorporated into that. Apologies for the long post, but the vast majority of our fan base feels the disconnect at the minute, so I just thought it prudent to float some potential solutions.

- Proper maintenance of bottoms up beer pumps. I'll be honest, I added this to the list last summer. It does appear that the club have managed to resolve the gremlins they had for the first 12 months of having bottoms up pumps, where they'd pack in pretty much every match. They're a great way to help get the queues down on a busy match day and surely, they can't be that difficult to maintain.

- Roaming bottle sellers. Another idea on how to reduce queues during busy fixtures. The last time we played Bradford, they had a couple of massive bins on wheels with ice in them and bottles of lager. One person wheeling it around and taking payment, and another opening bottles. They could serve probably 10 people per minute. If this isn't feasible, then maybe just some sort of mobile bar that serves bottles; in the Ponte it could go in the West side corner, and along the back walls in the East. They got these out for the Callum Simpson fight last year.

- Round pricing & contactless. I'm not suggesting we go full contactless, as that would go down like a fart in a space suit with some of our fanbase, however round pricing would mean cash transactions could be processed quicker. E.g. £5 for a pint as opposed to £5.40 (or whatever it is now); the likelihood is that the purchaser has a note, so time is saved from not messing about with change. Lee Strafford, former Sheffield Wednesday Chairman, did a study on the time saved from round pricing and determined there was a significant increase in the number of people served and subsequently, revenue gained. I can't find any details on the exact numbers though.

- Supporters bar and/or fan zone. It appears a new Fanzone is in production, based on shipping containers which, I don't mind as a concept. Though it doesn't seem to dissimilar to the previous fan zone (containers aside) which begs the question whether it will still face similar challenges when the weather turns 'northern'. There'd been rumours in the past about a more permanent supporters bar being built; whether that's true, or even financially or physically viable I'm not sure. As a compromise between the two, Gateshead has something on the Tyne called HwkrLand which was originally owned and run by On The River Brew Co. I watched a World Cup game there when it was held in December, and despite the balmy conditions outside, the basic roof shelter and accompanying heaters meant it was a pleasant experience. It's perimeter was mainly shipping containers, which housed a variety of street food places, bars and toilets. It had a brewery attached which meant the drinks weren't overly pricy. It seemed such a simple but effective idea. Whether there's the space for it at Oakwell, I'm not sure, though I was previously led to believe that the old brewery site is now owned by the club. I'm not suggesting the club should open a brewery on it, but...

- Fair pricing. Specifically on food; I understand that club branded merchandise will always carry a premium and it's up to each individual whether they want to pay it. I guess you could say the same about the cups of Spanish Carling, but for some reason, I find the pricing of food at Oakwell more insulting. Queues haven't been an issue for the majority of this season, which isn't the bonus that it sounds like it should be. Let's face it, a fiver for a sausage roll and £3 for a bottle of coke is taking the piss. It's exploitative and wrong. Some will say, 'well don't buy them then' and believe me, I don't. Though we're often encouraged to support local businesses, and whilst we don't like to think of it that way, Barnsley football club is a business. However, when I can't get change from a tenner for a cooked from frozen pie and a pint in a plastic cup, it's hard to ignore the cheap pints in Wetherspoons (Watford based), the cheap pasties at Greggs or Pound Bakery (Newcastle and Bolton respectively) or even the better quality of an Urban Burger (at least that's a South Yorkshire company). I get it's a captive market, however it just feels that prices have been increased so drastically this season as a way to reduce queues. I was led to believe that catering was back in house, surely that should make it cheaper?

- More events like 'scarf day'. I liked that. It was a simple idea that probably helped shift a few dozen scarfs in the club shop, improved the atmosphere slightly (helped by a bumper crowd that day and 4-1 win over Derby) and introduced the scarf twirl (for want of a more gritty Yorkshire phrase), which continues to this day after we score. I must admit, I may have forgotten if we had one this season. I certainly don't think the club pushed it if we did, it was more of an effort from one of the supporters groups. Why stop at 1 event a season too, why not lean into the clubs history and have a flat cap day; Preston have their Gentry day used to remember Preston players and fans who have passed away in the year before. Sheffield Steelers Ice Hockey team have special kits for Christmas, Halloween, Remeberance day and Valentines day; I'm not suggesting we should have 25 different strips a season (though we might land on one which fans actually like), but some sort of engagement with the fan base wouldn't go amiss at this time. Social media is a powerful tool, why not use it to it's potential.

- Open day. An annual tradition which seems to have disappeared. Open day was a great way for the fans to get up close to the players they would be cheering on for the next 12 months, or, in my dad's case, a way to let Nick Colgan know how he felt about that howler at the Millennium Stadium. Having the squad on hand, just for a couple of hours, to take pictures and sign a few autographs let's the supporters feel connected to the playing staff, let them know they're human. Previously, it was used to launch the away strip, so it was always an event not to be missed. The attendances of it weined over the years, and the weather can be unpredictable, but I think if it was made worthwhile, people will attend. Or why not combine it with a pre-season fixture? Open day to commence from 12, with a friendly at 3pm. Some sort of (metaphorical) hook should be used to bring people in. Would it be difficult to hold off announcing a signing, and publicise that a special guest will be attending the open day?

- Allow fans to be involved with kit design/club branding. It's always been nonsensical to me that people are making decisions about club branding, kits and merchandise on offer, largely without consulting the people who will actually be buying it. I'll start off with kits as that's previously been the most contentious issue. I don't mind the club utilising JAQ's skill set, I don't mind her using her contacts to bring in someone like Kid Super to help design it. I'm not entirely against the stars and certainly not against drawing inspiration from kits we've had in the past, we've had some belters. I am against this notion that we should accept whatever we're served up because it's what's been decided for us, with little input from the people who will be purchasing the kit. I'm against having our intelligence insulted, when we were told that we no longer have white shorts with the home strip because they're difficult to clean, though the away strip had 'off white' shorts. I'm against the aforementioned Kid Super retaliating to criticism of his design by saying words to the effect of, 'a Barnsley strip is whatever I want it to be'. Whilst I don't mind the red shorts this season, and I'd personally have a collared shirt and hooped socks, I get that you'll never please everyone. So why not let the fans design the kit? Even if it's just the third one. Technology is such now that even a computer dunce like me can have a fair crack at recreating one of our early 90's masterpieces. Other clubs have done this, and the results are largely favourable. Having a system where there's a selection of fan designed kits to vote, at least ensures that it'll probably be commercially successful. Rather than telling the fans what their history is, let them decide for themselves. They're the ones parting with £50+ for a shirt after all.
https://www.soccerbible.com/perform...2/04/are-fan-designed-shirts-the-way-forward/
It doesn't have to stop with kits. Club branding and badges could have an input from fans. Watford did this a few years ago, and whilst fans eventually voted to keep their existing badge, it at least gave them the opportunity to gauge fan opinion, without the club spending thousands transitioning to an inferior branding line.
https://www.independent.co.uk/sport...dge-4000-designs-fans-vote-poll-a9211706.html
This could then form the basis for merchandise lines. Driven by the fans, for the fans.

 

- implement a proper club identity. By that, I mean have a pre or post-match song, or goal music, or just something that is unique to Barnsley. We currently have John Denver, but that's not unique to us, Man Utd have it. We usually have Hey Jude post match, but Brentford, Ipswich and Man City are all credited with having that too. Brentford are also credited wit having Zombie Nation as goal music, as too are Southampton and previously, Celtic. Post match, we used to have Bon Jovi, I love this town, which might not have been to everyone's taste, but I can guarantee it was unique to us. The only thing we seem to have unique to us presently is Cocoon, which again, is divisive, and regular announcements about racist chanting. The Civic Green lads have previously written a song about the town, and did a mock up of the Barry Cotter song originally invented by EyupAndDown. They seem keen to be a part of the club, why not utilise that. It doesn't need to even be good; Stoke have Delilah, Wednesday have hi ho silver lining, the Blades have butchered Annie's song. But it's unique to them (well, Wolves and Aston Villa have hi ho silver lining too, but you get the idea). Build an identity unique to us. We previously had a shirt which we were told was 'Barnsley Red', I think it was the 07/08 home shirt. That'd be an ideal starting point. Maybe even a regular away strip colour, a variation of yellow and black every year, so that it becomes synonymous with the club.
- Get merch out early in the summer, eg. Home shirt before father's day. I appreciate that there could be constraints with suppliers, however it seems like an obvious missed boat every year that we don't have any new merchandise in the club shop at least the week before father's day or in time for summer holidays. Given the last couple of seasons, we seem to have heavily discounted replica shirts in the second half of the season, it would suggest that this is the lull period for sales in the club shop.

- Improve the supplier of merchandise. Whilst some of the stuff in the club shop will obviously be mandated by our chosen kit supplier, the rest of it, it seems, is supplied by Fanatics. Their clobber is tat. It's proper basic, logo on a £2 fruit of the loom shirt tat. I can't imagine we shift a lot of that in the shop for upwards of £25. I personally would favour the Puma branded stuff which, although a little more expensive, looks decent. I've not heard of as many Fanatics horror stories this year, and I've seen fewer bizarre printing combinations of brand new Barnsley strips pop up on ebay a week after the kit launch (anyone want a 3xl 23/24 third shirt with big Corey 69 on it?), though there must be a better solution. We've previously had a collab with the Terrace, who produce mainly retro inspired merchandise for a range of clubs in England. I've got some of their stuff, it's decent (I've got one of their mouse mats). I get adverts on Instagram for their stuff all the time, albeit Sheffield Wednesday, but again, it looks decent. I don't recall many complaints from our fans previously when we did have a deal with them, and certainly not on the same scale as with Fanatics. I don't know why our deal with the Terrace ended, but surely there's an alternative out there which produces merch that doesn't look like it's been designed by AI, like it does from Fanatics. I'm glad to see the club leaning more into the retro stuff again though, I bet it really sells. I'd rather pay £40 for a remake of an iconic 90s strip, than £55 for the latest pink and red monstrosity any day of the week.

- Do more for fans affected by late postponements, even if it's just holding people accountable. I always feel fans are an afterthought, particularly when it comes to making travel arrangements. I also get that it isn't the clubs fault when a pitch inspection is left until the last minute by the referee/opposing team, however sometimes, it's obvious 24 hours before that a game isn't going to be played. Insisting on early pitch inspections might at least prevent some fans from making unnecessary journeys, or allow them to try and reclaim the cost of travel. As a gesture of good will, discounted travel to the rearranged fixture, or another away fixture could be offered to people affected, though I do know the club ha e done something similar in the past.

- Shirt raffle. This is an idea I've stolen from the Sheffield Steelers. They regularly have match worn shirt raffles. Sometimes for one shirt, sometimes for all the shirts from a particular fixture. They use a platform called raffall, where you can actually see how many tickets have been sold. It is regularly I'm the thousands, just for 1 shirt. When you go to a Steelers game, everyone has a replica shirt, often it appears they are previous match worn ones. The arena is orange. I'm not suggesting that every match worn shirt should be raffled off, however the club currently have a partnership with MatchWornShirts, an auction site. Auctions only appeal to fans who have a reasonable amount of disposable income. The appeal isn't there for the common fan, who might be happy to part with a couple of quid in a raffle. Furthermore, the current partnership with MatchWornShirts, it seems the shirts aren't going to genuine Barnsley fans. I've recently seen match worn shirts of Jono Bland and Neil Farrugia, with the certificate of authenticity from the auction site, being sold on ebay by 'Arsenewengerboys'. A raffle would act as more of a deterrent to people just wanting to buy the shirts to sell them on, and I reckon would generate more income.

- Fanzone/park for England games. With the World Cup on the horizon, it could be a good idea to have a large screen down the East Stand side, and food and drink being sold from the East Stand. This is just another way that the stadium could be utilised in the close season. I imagine there's some sort of licensing required for an event like this, however there's plenty of time for it to be organised. I reckon that with reasonable pricing, you'd be able to attract a decent number of people.

- Barnsley live. Similar to the World Cup idea, I've said for a while that having Oakwell as a 'main stage' for Barnsley live would be ideal. With how popular the event has become, it would take the pressure off town a little, having such a large space just on the edge of town. Again, a stage could be set up in one of the parking areas, and surrounded by bars, and/or food vendors. Having someone like Barnsley fc involved might enable the festival to attract some bigger names to play the festival.

Better engagement using social media. At long last, here's praise for the club; I actually think they've got their output on TikTok spot on. I'd argue it could be a bit more frequent, however there appears to be acknowledgement of what's 'on trend' and loads of content involving individual players. I do think that the club often go missing on social media after a bad result, and whilst some fans can't wait to hurl abuse at anything that's posted after a poor game (mainly on twitter), some do look forward to the same routine comtent that we get after a positive result. One area of social media where I do think the club is severely lacking, is on YouTube. Of the clubs top 11 most viewed videos on YouTube, only 1 is from the last 7 years, and that is highlights of our defeat at Old Trafford and most are from over 10 years ago. Aside from highlights of the Wycombe game where Sam Cosgrove forced their keeper to have an aneurism in stoppage time (12th most popular video), none of our top 24 most viral videos occurred in the last 3 years. The only video with over 1 million views is the end of the Huddersfield game in 2013 and Howard Webb scoring a panenka in a charity game is a distant second. That Sam Cosgrove game has just 82k views; Dorking Wanderers, a team 3 divisions below us, have a collaboration with Bunch of Amateurs, who document their games for YouTube. They've had 100 videos with more views than any of our videos have in the last 6 years on YouTube. I'm not suggesting making a documentary, though it hasn't done Wrexham or Dorking any harm, but at least look at the potential financial benefit, even if it's just from advertisement revenue of being more active on YouTube.

- Stronger ties to the women's team. The two seem like separate entities again. It shouldn't be asking too much to advertise upcoming fixtures on main BFC social media accounts well in advance and not just the day before the game. Why not try and Incentivise attending both men's and women's fixtures. Discounted tickets for season ticket holders or discounts on mens match tickets if you buy a ticket for a women's game. Is there even scope to have men's and women's games on the same day? Spurs did it recently. Could there be a women's game kicking off at 12, followed by the men at 3? It would get some fans into the stadium earlier and help with revenue from the concessions stands.


- Stadium tours. I think this has been mooted a couple of times, but never seems to have taken off. It was offered as an incentive to renew season tickets a few years ago, and I really enjoyed it. I get that once you've been once, you probably don't want to go again, but they could offer a limited number durimg school holidays. There's a youtube video of a chap who isn't a reds fan but is a shirt collector, turning up to buy a shirt and being offered a look inside the stadium. It was great publicity for the club, and would suggest that casual football fans and ground hoppers might be interested. It wouldn't cost the earth to put on, and I'm sure people would be willing to pay a small fee for the privelidge.

 

- Collab with a local brewery for a Barnsley themed beer/lager. I've seen that True North are now serving the official Barnsley FC beer in the Market Kitchen. That's a start. I hope to be able to sample it on the Ponte end at the start of the new season. It'd be a huge missed opportunity if it isn't available at the ground. There's so many decent local breweries now, it'd be a worthwhile exercise in getting one on board. I've enjoyed having a couple of options from Salt these last couple of seasons.

- Rotation of local caterers/breweries in each stand. Why not have guest caterers or alcohol offerings. It might not be logistically possible to have them regularly, or even inside the stadium. But support local businesses who might have experience in supplying large crowds. Have a station in each stand, or even outside the stadium for fans to sample before kick off. The overheads are covered by the caterer.


- Get the ground back to capacity. Maybe not a really pressing issue, but it would be prudent to get the ground back to capacity. Not only are we limiting the ground if we do have a big crowd, but it probably prevents us from hosting bigger events. The Callum Simpson fights have had staggered capacities, the first appears to have been a test. Make every effort to make a success of these events, and Oakwell will become more commercially successful in the future.


- Have Toby Tyke scoring into the away end before kick off again. It was a phenomenon that should never have gone away. It might sound like something minor and a bit daft, but it's all part of building a club identity. How many other clubs have their mascot score in front of the travelling fans before kick off. I honestly don't believe it would incite anyone to do something stupid.


- Street art. Surely an agreement could be reached with the council to have murals around the town pertaining to the club. Other cities have this (Liverpool, Brighton, Leeds just off the top of my head). Again, all part of building a club identity and a connection between the club and the town. We've many talented artists amongst our ranks, and commissioning them to have feature walls dotted around town would only add to the great atmosphere that the Glass Works has brought to the town centre.


- Champion twenty is plenty. As I've mentioned previously, I've no major quarms with ticket pricing, however I think every club in the country is missing a trick by not championing the 'twenty is plenty' concept. Think about it, say our average gate is approx 10,000 with maybe 8,500 season ticket holders. Only 15% of ticket sales are to non season ticket holders. Dropping the price from £27 a ticket to £20 a ticket is only a revenue decrease of £10,500 if no more people attend games at lower prices. Only 525 more people would need to attend to make up the difference. By making a statement and being the first club to adopt the 20 is plenty approach, I think fans would make more of an effort to go to Oakwell. Furthermore, the most tangible element of the attendance is away fans. I'm more likely to go to an away game if the ticket price is more affordable, other away fans I would assume would do the same. Get away tickets sent to clubs as early as possible, so if fans are choosing games based on price, they're more likely to come here. All of the numbers are hypothetical, but I do think that leaning into that would benefit the club no end. Due to 'reciprocal' pricing too, our fans would, in theory, feel the benefit when purchasing tickets for away games.


- Target surrounding areas. I firmly believe that the best way to attract new fans is to target the ones just outside of town. I work in Wath, which whilst being Rotherham, tends to have as many, if not more Barnsley fans than Rotherham fans. Run incentives for school kids or have community activities in areas just outside of the borough to try and attract a new generation of fan. The neighbouring villages of Wakefield, Rotherham, Doncaster and Sheffield. Of course, I'm not suggesting neglecting communities within Barnsley, though I often think that with Barnsley being the closest club to people inside the town, if they don't come already, then they're unlikely to be swayed in the future.


I've purposely ignored the playing side, as this has been done to death and in reality, nobody knows realistically what our budget is for the season. Long winded, but I thought it'd be an idea to float some ideas. Please add your own!

 

Some great ideas there and lots wouldn’t cost much to implement too

 

When you've got time you'll have to let us know what you think.
(When I've got time I'll read it !!!!!!)

 

Some great ideas there, this needs to be passed onto the club

 

I worked for as a BDM for a company who do mobile screens, you may have seen one or two of them this season out front of the Ponte end advertising. I had a meeting. I pitched a fanzone idea, events such as outdoor cinemas and footballing events such as the World Cup. It went down like a sack of ****. But they should definitely be looking to go down this avenue. Especially for a fanzone. If you ever went to Huddersfield the company did it for them, it was literally a section of the car park with a mobile big screen with pre match highlights/interviews/other club media input and food wise it had 3 locals companies and a couple of beer stalls. It was nothing special but it worked a treat for them, they got some great numbers in when I’d got roped in to going to watch over the screen.

I tried to put across my ideas as both a salesman but also a passionate fan who wanted the club to benefit as much or more than I/the company would’ve from my commission and their revenue. I felt like it fell on deaf ears.

 

I don't drink on matchdays very occasional odd pint, so 75% of that would have no real impact to me (from a selfish point of view)as I have to commute to oakwell 60 mile round trip.

If I ran the club

(1) Be honest and transparent
(2) Sack Mladen
(3) Stop with the half baked press releases
(4) Sign a decent defense
(5) Stop wasting money, stuff like the Safe Standing fiasco, excessive staff
(6) Attention to detail across pretty much everything we touch, check, check then check again.

 

Hopefully with Oxen supplying the kit shirts might be available a lot sooner than has been in the past.

 

Good ideas, but l wouldn't waste your breath. Anything they've tried in the past dies of death no matter how successful it is.

If we get someone else running the show I'd send your ideas in.

 

It would require someone to be employed and manage the implementation of such ideas.

A Project Manager even, and I don't think the club have appetite to employ someone that's not on the pitch or directly related to someone being on the pitch.

Some good ideas though.

 

But not a word about assembling and retaining a competitive squad?

 

We can assume you didn't read the whole post!

'I've purposely ignored the playing side, as this has been done to death and in reality, nobody knows realistically what our budget is for the season.'

 

To be fair, I drive to most games too. I was just thinking what could be commercially successful at Oakwell.

 

I did actually, but I don't see how any discussion of the club's future can start without examining the way the squad is invested in, recruited and (importantly) retained. I think the OP's ideas are good ones, but none of them will attract me back to Oakwell until they sort out the team, and their own ambitions.

 

Until pricing on food and drink is aligned better then they'll struggle to compete with town centre pubs.
I did the Huddersfield home game via the train last season, it was an absolute no brainer to get off the Train go into Market Kitchen out of the weather, keep dry, keep warm, good choice of food, good selection of beers to choose from all reasonably priced.
There was absolutely nothing engaging to say go to the ground, spend more for less choice in a worse environment.

I applaud your efforts though some good ideas

 

Leave Barnsley Live alone. Oakwell is too far out of the town centre anyway for anybody to turn up.

 

What's the pricing like these days?
An council funded arts project ran a couple of days of outdoor cinema for our kids during the school holidays a few years ago, it really went well, after the funding dried up our community group tried to bring it back but the cost of hiring the kit in was just too much.

 

If I ruled the world, every day would be the first day of spring..

 

£20 is plenty is an idea that should be given to Barnsley 100%.
Lets face it 2 of the main reasons the club dont get the fans are... "Not watching that ****" or "I aint paying that much its too expensive".

A few more suggestions to add for me....
1. Give every season ticket holder a free shirt, the more people see the shirt the more people will want it (especially kids who are our next generation) it will drive a passion for people to come
2. Give away free big car stickers, you see people all over with L**ds and B**des and O*ls in their car.
3. Brand everything
4. Get into schools regularly, run events to get kids wanting to come to Oakwell.
5. Use social media more, do a TikTok or Youtube video regularly of the team in training, or interviewing the injured ones giving an update.
6. It has been mentioned above but be open and honest, if you are in the wrong say it and own up to it, the backing of the fans will follow.