When I was young, my dad and I had season tickets and went to football for many seasons. When I moved away we stopped going. Now, many years later, I've found a new home and another cracking club to support. My wife and I went to a few games, fell in love with the club, and have had season tickets for a third season now. My dad doesn't visit us very often as it's quite the journey obviously. When my dad and his other half decided to visit us, we saw it clashed with a Barnsley home game. We coined the idea of going together, the invitation was happily accepted, and the ticket office was very helpful to sort us four seats together. So last Saturday we took them on a proper match day outing. Off to the pub first and then walking with the masses towards the stadium. They really enjoyed the atmosphere and the whole match day experience. My dad's other half had never been to a football match in all her life. Quite something to jump into for someone in their seventies! My dad really got into it and cheered us on like he'd always been there. And with us all he was equally disappointed that we conceded so late on. Having been to football together for so long, and him still somewhat following Dutch football on the TV, he could compare the two places quite well. Apart from a few individual mistakes and the occasional gap in front of our defence, he told us he was very impressed with how the team played. The pressed up high and some of the passing was very quick and with the aim to get the ball forward. The entirety of play was much quicker than in The Netherlands. And he also noted that we didn't hoof it up field all the time and used short distribution a lot of the time. So even though we didn't win and we were struggling at times because we missed a few very influential players, those were some great things to hear about our club and about how we play. And I think he's right. Last season all balls from the goalkeeper went long. And the amount of sideways passes must've surpassed the amount of forward passes. We are getting treated to some cracking football here at Oakwell. And the level of play, even in League One, is more than decent. It might be easy to get spoiled not having lost yet this season and to expect the team to only win every match. But we shouldn't forget to enjoy the football they put on display for us. I hope we get to enjoy a lot more of it throughout the season, even if it doesn't always work out. Up the Reds!
the level of play. My take on this is its better because of the premiership being saturated with foreign players , thus players who would perhaps made in the top flight many years ago have had to filter down to the second tier and second tier to 3rd tier and so on. Many on here complain and say we should be a second tier team as that's our historic standing. I argue that due to my theory of the premiership moving everything down a step is the reason why we are not. It's only my opinion but that's how I see it.
In the other direction, other top competitions are bleeding talent. Even the top clubs in The Netherlands lose players to foreign clubs with more money. England, Spain and Italy are draining a lot of talent from other competitions. I think we're as far as Barnsley, while being third tier here, may not even make fools of themselves in the Dutch Eredivisie. I'm not saying we would be top half, but we'd not be the worst team in there.
I took my Dutch missus to the game on Saturday as well - she's usually our lucky omen but not on this occasion. We've got a little supporters network in Groningen these days due to the extended family - hoping to get to the Euroborg in the next season.
Bloomin foreigners. Cummin over here, taking our seats! Nothing but glory hunters. Where will they be when we're playing Walsall on a miserable Saturday in the pouring rain?!
Ah yes, I forgot to mention they braved the weather without complaining! We got quite a bit of rain sitting further forward on the East Lower than we would normalyl sit ourselves. That high roof stops bugger all that far down.
Yes she must do better young man! Mind you it's hard to believe she's Dutch and a Groningen fan, the way she celebrated our goal She is steadily being assimilated into the TARN
There seems to be quite a Dutch connection to the club doesnt there. Im half Dutch, my dad supported Groningen but i never got to take him to Oakwell, me and one brother are Feyenoord fans and the other brother is an Ajax fan. Only taken one brother to a game, Blackpool at home 125th anniversary game.
Yes there’s a strong Dutch connection on here. I’ve been told Dragon Tyke speaks fluent Double Dutch.
