Is it any different at other clubs of our ilk though? This matchday experience thing baffles me. The only experience to me is the match itself and we all want to see us win. Ok a proper fanzone might help and maybe cheaper catering but most folk aren’t bothered about bells and whistles stuff, a winning side brings people in. Imagine how our fanbase would moan if we had an out of town ground and had to get a bus to it?
I see all of that but I still think a Saturday crowd that low is poor. I also think that if you were someone calling for the last manager to be sacked, then got your wish & you still aren’t attending (obviously this doesn’t apply to people who can’t afford it) then I think that’s poor too.
Except apparently a lot of people are bothered because they're sat at home or out at meadowhall while you're sat in an half empty stadium. Seems to me there's two options that you have as a person. 1. Slag off your fellow fans for moaning and continue to sit in a half empty stadium at a loss making club or. 2. Call on the club to improve the matchday experience even if you personally don't utilise it because you understand that OTHER people actually care about the stuff you don't and are staying at home because of the lack of facilities etc which is causing you to sit in a half empty stadium at a loss making club. The attitude of "I don't care about the matchday experience. Imagine how you'd moan if things were even shitter" is something I will never get my head around because it's completely dismissing other people's needs and wants and is basically burying your head in the sand and pretending a problem doesn't exist when it does.
Given how bad my experience was yesterday, I regret going and honestly don't fancy going again in a while. I got there late which was my own fault (struggling to be motivated to go) but to only have one bar open in the East stand upper tier is pitiful, tried to get a drink at half time but the queue was ridiculous. Once it went to extra time, I thought I'll get a water or coke just because I was desperate to get a drink of any kind and that one bar was shut. My first game in 3 months due to all the kick off changes and other commitments and it was crap, if the club are giving off half arsed vibes then why should the fans be expected to be any different. I actually enjoyed the performance despite the poor finishing but everything else about the experience (atmosphere, lack of bars etc) was awful. I've defended these owners for years but I almost get the feeling they don't care now.
I don't think it's helpful blaming the fans on here. Its a bit like someone moaning about latecomers to those that are already there!
I do still prefer Saturday 3pm kick offs but in all honesty i just cant be arsed with the p1ssing around having to jump through hoops just to grt to and from the game and as i said its been turned into such a long day with very little entertainment in it (i mean time wise with the match only being 90 minutes of the sometimes 5 to 6 hour ordeal I have to ask is it worth it? And when it's something I have to pay extra for then the answer was basically no for me which is sad because until the last couple of seasons i had only missed I think 1 home game since the 90s and that includes league, cups and friendlies and we've played some dross in that time so performances arent what dictates whether I go or not. Someone at the club should read that and think about what it means. They've got a fan who has previously stated on here that Oakwell is where he feels safest, what feels like a second home, who only missed one game in over 20 years who yesterday decided to sit at home and clean the spare bedroom rather than go to the match and it's a story repeated over and over by different people with attendances shockingly low as a result. If I was in charge at Oakwell that would scare the **** out of me and make me do something about it but despite them knowing they just haven't done anything. Case in point, the TVs were broken for an entire year despite them being told dozens of times. Apathy started with the club not the fans and they need to accept that and change it.
Fair enough, I respect your opinion but what is this matchday experience people crave? I travel to a few away games and apart from a few with cheaper catering and a permanent fanzone I’ve seen nothing that’s better than what we have. Plus fans of other clubs always say they’re envious of us having a stadium so close to the town centre. Just a quick edit…..worst part of matchday experience is the crap atmosphere but not sure how that improves apart from scoring goals and winning games.
I’m not blaming any fans just trying to get to the bottom of why we had such a poor crowd when the tickets were cheap & we actually had a 3pm Saturday game that most of us have been pining for.
Well yeah that’s fair enough. I’ll clarify that I do attend (I didn’t yesterday, my son was working) - but I see why others don’t and I’m loathed to call them out.
The fact that the wider matchday experience isn’t important to you doesn’t really help attract newer, younger fans to whom the whole experience is a factor. If you could get summat decent to eat and drink at a reasonable price within a reasonable amount of time it would be a start. (I did get a very good bite to eat last Saturday to be fair, chilli chicken loaded waffle fries). If there was an area to sit in the vast spaces under the east stand maybe. Things could be made better with no great expense outlayed. A winning team would be a start too - but the sporting side you can only control to a certain extent as you can’t control what other teams do. We can control what we offer though.
1. No one I know who used to use the car park goes anymore. Neither do the people who used to sit with them. The people who used the car park were old. They don't want to be sat in a freezing cold stadium for an extended period before the game. And they don't want to be sat in the car park for an extended period after the game. Attending the game used to be 3 to 3 an' half hours of their time. Now, it's over 5 hours. It's simply not worth the inconvenience. 2. There are very few games on Saturday at 3pm. If you move most of your games away from the traditional time then people will find something else to do at that time. If a game is then organised for the traditional time then people have already got into the habit of doing something else. 3. Almost all games are on TV. If you've got a VPN and sky then you can watch almost every game from your living room. You don't have to go on a dodgy web site to do it, you can purchase the games through official means. If you make it difficult and inconvenient to attend live games, if you constantly change kick-off times, if you charge ludicrous ticket prices, you're not suddenly going to get a full stadium because, for once, you've made it affordable and put the game on a Saturday afternoon. You've already alienated your fanbase and they've found something else to do.
The atmosphere is directly linked to the poor matchday experience. Ant and Dec's Saturday night takeaway was one of the most popular shows on TV. The audience were laughing, cheering and clapping along constantly for an hour. It was hosted by the UK's most popular presenters. Yet they had a warm up act on who would get the audience in the mood first. That's because they know that in order to get a positive reaction straight away you have to have people in a positive frame of mind. We know that Barnsley are aware of this because when they wanted an atmosphere for big games two years ago they went all out and planned the pre match entertainment and music accordingly and Oakwell was rocking. I know that many people can hop on a bus to the town centre, get **** faced in a town centre pub before stumbling into Oakwell to sing a racist song or two and they're happy but not everyone is able or willing to do that. Imagine the general mood you'd be in if you'd had to get to Oakwell at about half 1 and stand in an empty stand with literally NOTHING to even keep your mind occupied for the next 90 minutes until the game started. You wouldn't exactly be in any mood to jump around and sing songs. Or look at it another way. If you were going on a date with a leggy blonde model who could breastfeed a crèche do you reckon you'd have more chance of getting a bit of Stephen Dawson style fun time with her if you dressed nicely, picked her up in a Ferrari and gave her compliments all the way to the restaurant or if you told her you'd meet her there and she had to stand outside the restaurant in the rain for an hour before the meal was served? Even porn stars have fluffers to erm get the man in the mood. I completely get that many people don't care for the matchday experience but the evidence shows that many others do. Add that to the fact that the club makes money from sales of merchandise and refreshments in the ground and I really don't understand why anyone, especially the club, would basically ignore those who do want the extras and who would be in the ground early spending money if things were improved. All I personally want is to be able to get to and from the game relatively easily like I could for decades until the club chose to review and revise it's parking and traffic management policies (yes it was the clubs decision to do so, it's on record from a freedom of information request) and to have something, anything, to look at on the pitch while I'm waiting for the match to start. Give me those and I'm personally happy. They aren't hard to achieve because we managed it for years
I suppose I’m a bit old school, growing up in an era of crumbling terraces and bad fan behaviour. Results and performances on the pitch have always been what mattered. Suppose I’m easy to please from the matchday experience point of view and I do get that many others want more these days. My point is that I don’t see much difference at other clubs at our level when I travel away. We do seem a bit of a moaning bunch. The car park situation does sound to be a major problem though and of the club’s own making but I don’t know the full story.
I don't live in Barnsley (Kirklees) so getting too and from town isn't that big a deal for me. Food and drink at the ground isn't a deal breaker for me given that I can have something to eat before I set off. I meet up with mates in town for a pre-match drink that's both cheaper and better than anything available at Oakwell. What will be a factor is our home results. I'd hate to think that yesterday's result effectively means our season is as good as over because we've not got a squad capable of achieving a play-off place but sadly it's a realistic possibility. Just like other improvements that is in the owners hands. For too long we haven't seemed to have a plan of continuous improvement. Others have spoken of managed decline, I'd hate to think that our Board don't have an aspiration for things to be better.
I agree with you calling out your mate. I saw loads of such posts yesterday, from people that don’t go but are happy to stir the pot. The crowd was as I expected though tbf, regardless of cost. Can’t remember last time we had a decent crowd in an early round FA cup game at Oakwell. I was surprised the whole ground was open.
2nd round of the f.a Cup sure I remember Blackburn and Reading getting similar gates in the 3rd round a few years back.
I wouldn’t mind an out of town location and much smaller. Dean Court looks great when it’s full and they manage to stay in the premier league so I don’t subscribe to the must have 20,000 plus seats idea
