Matchday experience

Ok lets have a pre-match warm up match (that Barnsley win obviously), that might do it

 

Being honest Oakwell is majorly outdated now, if we are to remain there long term then it needs more than a lick of paint to bring it into the 21st century.

The atmosphere is crap mainly because the ground is too big for us. A stadium like Rotherham’s would be perfect for us.

 

Yes, but even the 'travel/watch/go home' experience is bobbins. Most sensible routes to & from the ground are off-limits, the PA and scoreboard are an embarrassment and it's Russian roulette as to whether an over-anxious pigeon has taken a dump on your seat. Our basic facilities are put to shame by many a non-league club.

 

None of us like to admit it but a 23k capacity stadium is simply too big for us in the modern era. Never thought I'd say it but a new ground is probably what's needed and 15k capacity would be more than enough.
Having said that, under the current owners I can't see either Oakwell being improved or a new ground built.

 

The only matchday experience that counts is what happens on the field of play and watching an entertaining game of football.

In my opinion peoples frustrations at everything else are a byproduct of us all not really enjoying what we have seen on the pitch for quite some time now.

Duff is doing a great job but let’s be honest this is an awful league and doesn’t provide a high level of entertainment. Modern football as a whole suffers with this problem though as styles of play have become too functional making games seem more like a game of chess half of the time.

A truly enjoyable matchday experience involves watching some skilful players get you off your seat and entertain you with some signs of attacking intent.

 

There's no money for a new ground.

 

Oh aye, I'm well aware of that. Can't see it ever happening, I was just saying what I think is needed.

 

Then, that would call into question the ambitions of the owners by many of our fan base. Look back to the Prem season, apparently we could’ve doubled our attendances for most games had we had the capacity. Yes the ground was full and absolutely bouncing with atmosphere, but it also limited the opportunity to expand our fan base. There were stories of many fans being turned away not just local ones either.

 

It was a missed opportunity to expand the fan base though. That’s not said to lay blame anywhere, it’s just how it was. Deliberately building a smaller ground would be seen by many as the owners admitting we’re not going anywhere soon, and nor are we looking to. I think a single tier stand (not big)to replace the old main stand and enclose the corners would make a difference. However, where is the finance coming from for that?

 

Sorry but I have to disagree, all the negative statements from Barnsley supporters about we are only a little club etc. when I started watching in the 70s in the fourth division same negative fans we are a little club etc on 4K gates. Along comes Allan Clarke then Norman Hunter money from Otulakowski and gorry sales put back in to club, gates go up tp 12K at back end 21000 for game against Grimsby. Third division 12K regular of our own, away fans take us to high teens gates. Second div 12K to 14k our own fans 20k+ when fowls, geordies come visiting. I told John Dennis and Chris Harrison at a meeting in Cudworth late eighties /early nineties that Barnsley was within easy travelling distance of a lot of well supported clubs and the ground would have to be built to take that in to account. A few years later one saturday morning I spoke to Stuart Manley( barnsley fc director who ran his family building firm) and he said to me" chris we have done it, we have made the new stand 6500 capacity like you suggested to take extra away fans!"
Between its opening and up to the shenanigan's of the South Yorkshire Police Committees clamping down on all capacities of the local clubs, the north stand will have earned quite a bit of money with the aways fans. Clubs like Scunthorpe, rotherham, wycombe, colchester etc over the years when they have managed to get to the second tier have not had the capacity of stadium to increase revenue from away fans in order to keep their best players or attract better players. Remember that if you are not in the premier league or on parachute payments the majority of a clubs income is from gate receipts. I remember a certain Brighton playing at the withdean stadium with capacity of 4 or 5 k, Luton's capacity is 11000, Bournemouth the same and where is their Russian backer now?
Brentford's griffin Park was around 12K and there others who I can't think of at the moment.
The problem is the rank bad management of BFC since 2004 where has all the transfer fees received money gone? Over £7M for John Stones not one bit of stadium improvement or shrewd transfer signings, the old board managed the following £1.4m Carl Tyler & 750K Steve Agnew= East stand, £1.4M Gerry Taggert New Ponty End, £4.5M ashley ward north stand, new academy pitches & indoor sports pitch. Patrick Cryne was already millionaire status before he made money on the Isoft flotation; reports stated he made £50M the lowest quote I saw for his wealth was £30M back in 2002 or so in the Financial Times Rich List. He would invested and made more money before it was left to his wife and son, could they not help out a little?
The biggest problem is the the club is owned by a lot of " absentee landlords" and the Ground is owned by two different groups one of which the council who do not have any money to invest in the stadium or building a road from the north side to the Aldi/ Burton road roundabout and then on to A61 north towards Athersley, new Lodge, Staincross and eventually junctions 38 and 39 of the M1 in order to facilitate egress away from Oakwell.

 

Ohh I'm always doing that, its called waiting for a late 189 Normy bus, at the station.

 

I honestly think that's absolute rubbish (but I accept it's an opinion held by quite a few).

The issue for me isn't the size of the ground as the away end is huge and a few hundred can make a right noise in it. The issue is that the west stand is too small and it lets the sound straight out and the cold wind straight in.

If it were up to me I'd be building a new west stand the same size as the east but I wouldn't be installing any seats in the upper tier yet.

I'd be sticking a big massive scoreboard in the corner on a copy of the dimensions/Audi/ whatever it is this week stand and putting it between west and ponty end. It would house a restaurant so the fact that the scoreboard covers most of the balcony isnt an issue as that's not it's primary purpose as a stand. It would be open 7 days a week as a proper restaurant and there's no reason it wouldn't be financially viable on an ongoing basis as other out of town restaurants thrive.
I'd put another one between north and east again with the scoreboard on but this time it would be a proper kids club/play area with access directly into the family stand. This would be open 7 days a week as a destination kids play centre/youth club.
Id build another one in the remaining corner and it would house the police control box on the upper level and a large open plan drinking area for away fans on the lower level. Big screen and bar with seats but nowt fancy or expensive.

The west stand would have a number of community units in the back of it that the club rents out on one floor and offices that are again rented out on the other floor which would bring in year round money.

By completely closing off the stadium on all 4 sides and corners the atmosphere would be kept in, the noise would reverberate instead of escaping and with the warmer temperatures it creates fans would be in a better mood to sing in the first place.

Obviously it's all a pipe dream but I'm just showing how you don't need to downsize to generate noise or atmosphere, it can be done while future proofing the stadium. Rotherham have turned fans away many times already because their stadium looks nice but isn't big enough to house a successful team

 

Pull the west stand down. Then put a big fence up at that side of the ground and let kids paint and draw on it at half time. They could also cut 3 holes in it and Khaled could put his head and hands through and charge disgruntled fans to throw wet sponges at him.

 

For me, an atmosphere in the ground is the main thing, but I don’t think that can be artificially created very easily, if at all. The atmosphere on Saturday was dreadful, despite the brilliant performance in the first half.

I think a warm bar where you can have a good quality beer pre match with some decent local snap would be a good idea but not essential. You could get people to donate memorabilia to kit it out, I’m sure that could be done.

Being able to order food quickly during the match would be nice, and maybe Wi-Fi so you can check scores mid match.

 

I agree - atmosphere is important but on Saturday 3-0 up and the place as flat as a pancake.
20 years ago with a score like that the place would have been buzzing.

What has changed?
Is it the type of football we now play - is there a disconnect between players and fans - do we expect too much from the match experience - are we harder to please than the fans of 20+ years ago?

 

Bit of everything. 20 years ago I could get to the ground easily, Toby was on the pitch pre match warming the crowd up, the theme tune was perfectly timed so it got the fans pumped just as the players RAN on to the pitch. Now getting to the ground is a nightmare that puts you in a bad mood, there is zero pre match entertainment and the theme tune plays for ages before players slowly stroll the length of the pitch.

It doesn't create a good atmosphere to start with