Drunk and heartbroken

That was the chance wasn’t it? That was FA Cup semi final 2008, it was play off final 2000. And like those two we blew it with inexplicable team selections and awful performance. Gutted. Actually really and truly gutted. This is the third time in my lifetime when we blew it, pissed away a golden opportunity. We won’t be back next year. That was a once in a generation opportunity.

And he played f.ucking Victor f.ucking Adeboyejo in his starting line up. It was Val’s Keith Brown moment. We will regret last Saturday for 20 years. Sadness x 10.

Imagine having Woodrow, Morris and Dike - the best combination of 3 forwards in the living memory of this 42 year old - by a very clear distance - and not playing them together through the whole of the most important games in the last 13 years of the football club.

It’s fu.cking stupid. The selection, being kind, was idiotic. It was moronic team selection. Neil Ferguson would have picked better forward combinations. We blew it. Gutted.

 

It was a big chance and one that no-one expected to materialise at the start (and even middle) of the season. It is gutting, but it's part of being a Barnsley fan I suppose. Let's not blame Big Vic for the failure to go through over two legs though, we failed to beat Swansea in 4 matches this season, and we had an absolute joker of a ref. We win and lose as a team, and that's it. Onto next season. At least we weren't staring down the barrel of League 1 at the end of the season. Chin up mate

 

I blame the selection. Don’t get me wrong - it’s entirely down to Val that we even had a chance to be at the big show. Without him we’d be battling relegation. But let’s be honest - he totally pissed the bed with the selections in the second game particularly. It was a disaster.

 

I guess what I’m saying is - three days later - I still don’t get why he didn’t just play Woodrow Morris and Dike through both legs. I get it through a long season, rotation and energy makes sense. I don’t get it in a knockout situation. Those three are so miles in front of the others that it makes no sense.

It’s an uncomfortable truth that the guy who got us there with his incredible motivation and man management also massively f.ucked it up with his awful team selection when it really mattered. We blew it. Let’s be right - everyone knew when Victor was starting on Saturday that was wrong. Why not Chaplin or Frieser if not the main three? We pissed the bed.

We blew it when it really mattered. Sadness.

 

Who's to say that any other combination over the full 90 minutes would have fared better? It's debatable of course but its still just speculation. At the end of the day it's just a game of football and not worth getting overly down about. Who knows if the team will do better or worse next year?. Cheer up, laugh at Wednesday, enjoy the sunshine when it decides to come out, have another nice beer if it doesn't make you feel worse and get it into perspective.
We're all BFC fans but there are more important things in the world to get pissed off about. Regards. P.s. Beer comment edited!

 

It was an odd selection and it might have turned out differently if he'd fielded the optimal front three. We'll never know. I was also feeling pretty crushed yesterday, though I'm coming round a bit now.

Where I disagree with you however, is that it was a once in a generation chance. 2000 felt much more deflating, because we knew that the team was going to fall apart. We expected to be up there challenging, and we also knew that realistically we had two seasons to get back up, the first of which was completely wasted. The parachute payments had finished, and we had to cut our cloth, starting with the departure of Craig Hignett, one of the best players I've ever seen for us. Hignett should have been a regular in a Premier League side, knocking on the door of the England squad. It's still an absolute mystery to me why he wasn't. Take someone like that out of an otherwise average second tier team and replace them with Lee Jones and it's obvious what's going to happen. After that final was horrendous, as I had a feeling that dark times were ahead.

2008 - a mediocre second tier side beats two of the best teams in Europe in successive games is clearly once in 100 year stuff. An absolute flash in the pan, so I'm completely with you on that.

But the situation right now is completely different. We're on an upward trajectory with a very solid and systematic recruitment plan in place. We didn't do so well last season just because a load of random signings clicked, as sometimes happens. Last season was the result of a very deliberate and long term transfer policy, which has resulted in us having a young, balanced squad, most of which are under long term contracts, and many of whom are quite a few years from their peaks, both in playing ability and maximum potential transfer fee. This means we can absorb one or two losses in the playing squad each season, while keeping on a financially even keel. And all of this while half of the league is financially imploding.

I'm not saying that we'll finish in the top six again next season, though I wouldn't be surprised if we do. Wilson's second season was a bit of a dip after a great start, as it had a slightly transitional feel to it. But just like then, it's clear to me that the fundamentals at the club are excellent, and so the overall trajectory is in the right direction. So, huge disappointment from me that we fell short, but no despondency looking at the bigger picture.

 

chin up mate I feel the same to a large degree. completely deflated. Compounded by a nagging feeling that Ismael will now leave whilst his stock is high. But…agree with a lot of what John says - the future is reasonably bright.

 

Ward, Dyer and Hignett?

 

I'd take those any day!

 

Ward, Fjortoft, Hendrie?

 

A big chance masterminded entirely by Valerien. He was entitled to pick whatever team he chose. We lost the tie by the width of a crossbar. So get a grip, man!

 

I feel your pain too mate. I feel it for different reasons though. It was a chance to get over the pain I felt in 2000. I still feel that pain more than the pain I'm feeling over the loss to Swansea. It sounds daft I know.

 

Once in a generation? So was the Scottish Independence vote and the next one will be along in the next couple of years.

Chin up lad these things come along much quicker than you realise, especially as you get older!

 

Whilst I get the point and agree about team selection, the service into our front 3 was poor and needs to improve next season... Too many fight balls from the back and our delivery into the box from out wide was lacking. One moment of quality from Jordan Williams second half when he ran at pace and picked out Woodrow, was our only moment of quality. Still much to he positive about. Our recruitment has improved significantly over the past 12 months so if players move on, I'm more confident they will be replaced. I'm sure Brentford weren't optimistic when they lost their best 2 players at the end of last season but they've replaced them well. It's always going to be difficult in this unfair league but we have a better chance now of competing with the model we have and the improved recruitment

 

If Grimes hadn't scored an extremely good goal, which was a 1 in 1000 effort going on his past record. I reckon at 0-0 after say 60 mins with with 5 subs to use we'd all be calling Val's selection a masterstroke.
We had chances don't forget, we didn't take them.

Then there's the issue of the 12th man in black. I've watched the match back, on at least 4 occasions the ref has his whistle raising towards his mouth before we challenge a high ball.

 

I honestly don't think this was our only chance. I'm not saying we'll be challenging again next season either but I do think the club is in good shape, and is certainly in the ascendency. Keeping big Val, and giving him the tools he needs will dictate whether we're as successful again next season. This wasn't a flash in the pan.

 

I must not be a proper fan.I am dissapointed for about ten minutes when we lose a game.After that,its history.

 

Wasn't DD carrying a slight thigh injury that's why he didn't play the full 90 minutes in the second leg......plus it wasn't 2 minutes this place was raving how VA had come on in leaps and bounds and deserved a start....
Small margins but big impacts....oh how hindsight is a marvellous thing
Personally i thought the fault was in the very tactic that got us to where we were....not the players.... we should have played football on the floor and changed our game plan...Swansea had the measure of our game and had mastered how to play us...hence 3 defeats previously.....but like I said above hindsight hey....
I wouldn't say I'm gutted ...but I was disappointed as I was convinced we'd go all the way once we had confirmed our spot in the playoffs .....as for the future and what it holds ...its natural to feel apprehensive given our track record at Oakwell....we never seem to take the easy road....in our approach to the beautiful game...life is a roller coaster being a barnsley fan as we are well aware
For the time being let's put the blame game to bed ....bask in the positives be proud of this seasons highs and for once be the glass is half full person and in typical barnsley fashion dust ourselves down... we live to fight another day at this level ...and start all over again....
The future is not orange its firmly Red &white
and let's now look forward to building on the platform we've just constructed.....we've just announced we are now here in this division and mean serious business....one would hope.....viva the Grove Street gang

 

I agree with much of what you say, it mirrors my feelings since Saturday. Who would have thought that would ever happen! Where I disagree is when you say Val made a mistake in not starting with our best three forwards. It's saving at least one of our best three forwards to come on fresh at the 45-60 minute stage, which has been part of our success story this season. Refreshing the high pressing front three in that way has enabled us to finish strongly in games and not give the opposition any respite. It hasn't been done purely for rotational purposes. You wanted him to tinker with one of the key reasons we got into the play offs in the first place.