Bournemouth are not a good advert....huge debts bailed out by billionaire ownership. https://www.footballinsider247.com/...ankroll-67m-injection-as-new-documents-filed/
And Dean Court wouldn’t be big enough for us. I could see a scenario where we have a stadium that holds, for eg, 15k. It would be almost full most weeks, the atmosphere would be a ton better and more would want to be part of it - but we couldn’t fit them in. Turning away big away followings and bandwagon fans when times are good. Oakwells fine. Shouldn’t make the stadium scapegoat for shortcomings on the pitch. The clubs priority is to assemble teams that win football matches. Everything else will fall into place when that’s happening.
The build up to Christmas when fixtures come think and fast and this fixture is additional payment. A team that's struggling to win home games. Pre match facilities (lack of) Dropping home attendances due to inconsistent form. Don't think the criticism of home supporters is necessary.
I agree it would be a shame to leave Oakwell but, if we did, a 15,000 capacity would be plenty. I see no point in having a big ground that is rarely more than half full. It’s not just Oakwell that looks awful with acres of empty seats - plenty of other clubs are in the same boat
I guess if your ambitions are to remain in league 1 and limit yourself to being a small club in the third tier then yes a ground that's so small people would be locked out for around a quarter of the games then yeah a 15,000 seater stadium would be perfect for our tiny little ambitionless club
There's always a reason for some to not turn up. Price is too high footballs poor etc etc. Be better if people were honest and say they'd prefer to watch on tv or go shopping with their wives
Weve had 3 gates of almost 15k this season already, for Mansfield, Stockport and Rotherham, so very little room to accommodate any spike in form. Also, if we get back into the championship, which I believe we will, we need to be able to accommodate the bigger away support.
The board are reaping what they have sown. Piss poor off the field with **** up after **** up, haven't been able to win regularly at home for 2 seasons, good squads ripped apart at the first opportunity, recruitment reducing the standard of the playing squad every window. It tells a story when the most successful season we've had under the various consortiums is when the manager just basically did what he wanted and ignored the boards orders. The thing that surprised me about the crowd was that there were 4000 willing to turn up.
I don't think its a Barnsley issue.Look at the attendances throughout the country. Only 2 games attracted 7 +, Blackpool v Birmingham 4800 for example.
I think it is, and always will be, apart from the odd fixture, every now and then. Trouble is if you have the gall to say so some people think you’re totally in the wrong.
No one’s saying you’re totally in the wrong, or that the grounds not too big, it obviously is too big. What’s really up for debate is how much of a reduction in capacity would suit our current circumstances and leave a bit room for ambition.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with the stadium or it's size, the problem is with the owners and the choices they make, fail to prepare, prepare to fail.
I think another factor is times have just changed. Live Football on tv was a rarity in the 80s, now it’s saturation coverage. Most of us I would say had another top club they followed-ie Liverpool/Everton in the80s-but to get there would’ve seemed nigh on impossible- so folk I would say attended such as oakwell to get their fix . Today you can watch a top team pretty much all season and not leave your house. Look at things in general - food, clothes, betting etc - you could live a life where you don’t leave your home -the same couldn’t be said back then. Priorities is another issue-average ticket prices were £1.50 ish in 80s to an average wage of around £6000. the average wage is now around 5 times higher, but ticket prices 20 times higher.
