Big val

was anyone really hammering him, barring the odd idiot?, It was the most exciting squad to watch since I’ve been going.

 

We were on about this a bit back. How it must have been for Wimbledon and Watford fans, amongst others, watching their team execute a direct style, week in and out. Decided many fans will put up with anything if it’s effective - plus there are always the odd bits of brilliance, like Dikes goal against Brum at Oakwell.

 

Try telling Chris Wilder that blunts are top of the Championship

 

I assume the point of the post is that Val is a prime example of a coach maximising their resources, rather than about the style of play as such.

I was lucky enough to get a rare insight into his work, as through pure chance I was part of a team that was responsible for creating the Covid LFT test centre at the Metrodome at a time when most people were still restricted to home. This meant I got plenty of opportunity to go outside and watch the first team train from the top of the hill - sometimes before or after a shift I'd spend well over an hour watching them train.

I coach children, so watching other people coach is something that really interests me - there's always something you can take from any coach. Watching Big Val coach though was something else - you could see from the training sessions exactly what he was trying to get them to do, and it was absolutely no surprise to see it play out in the matches. He was at the centre of everything, absolutely demanding how they closed territory, won second balls and got up the pitch.

There were certainly games in that season that were horrible to watch, and I expect if you look through the BBS posting history I'll be one who questioned whether there wasn't a way to achieve results a different way. But my god did those players know what their jobs were, what was expected of them, and how their roles translated to performances - precisely because of the way he coached. I'd give anything right now for the same level of game awareness. And for all people might say that having a Morris, Dike or Mowatt will help, he also got massive performances out of Romal Palmer, Toby Sibbick and Victor Adeboyejo, who I think everyone would now agree were pretty limited footballers.

If the point of the post is "would we like Valerian Ismael now" then my response would be a very emphatic yes.

 

I’ve probably said it on here before, but that period under Val was probably my favourite. I know it wasn’t like watching Brazil and we didn’t go up, plus the virus stopped fans attending. I get that. But it’s the closest I’ve ever felt to a Barnsley side in terms of it matching what I think the club should be about.

Completely unique. Doing our own thing. This is us. We will beat you if you aren’t on it. Even then, we might beat you if you’re playing well. Because we won’t stop trying. We’ll be in your face at all times and battle for everything.
There’s a famous passage of play against Birmingham at home where both teams are just lumping it back to each other. Big header after big header. I think even Brad Collins comes out and heads it clear. It goes on for over a minute. But we win the ball eventually. And second half, Dike nearly takes the net out.

Val came in, watched some of the prior games and on day one (I was there when he first met the players) he showed them the tactics board with the shape on. He explained in proper basic terms what he expected of them. It was like an ‘explain it like I’m 5’ version of Lee Johnson’s PowerPoint.

He also worked out who was able to play a part and who wasn’t. So the likes of Oduor, Bahre, Simoes, Schmidt etc who had been regulars were quickly replaced. Big credit to Dane too, as CEO who worked hard to make sure we added Morris and Kitching early in January but the latter sadly ended up injured. Then he produced magic by finding Dike. My only criticism was choosing to send James back, although to be fair, it’s only guesswork when I think we’d have done even better with him rather than Palmer from January on. And don’t forget, Val also brought both Sibbick and Adeboyejo in from the cold and they both made impacts.

The odd occasion where we went away from home and changed things up a bit, tried to take sides on just proved we weren’t a one trick pony. Norwich away for example. We lost because Buendia scored a genius goal. We’d given them a right game. Brentford and Bournemouth we just took them on, no fear. Some great football. We finally beat Wednesday away. Did the double over Rotherham and Huddersfield, some of the goals were very special too. We won 9 of 10 games (drew the other) across 30 days or something. People say we were found out at the end, because we lost three of the last 10??

After we’d beaten Boro, Warnock told me in the corridors on his way out that “you’ll go up lad, and god help the Premier League fannies”. He was wrong, sadly. In two tight games with Swansea I don’t think we had luck with us. Some dubious decisions cost us. And I’ll always remember Val screaming at Jordan Williams in the away leg, as he picked the ball up in our half, far right hand side. “Hit it Jordan, go long! Jordan, go long!” And he didn’t. He kept running and running and squared for Cauley to sweep home and level the game. I asked Jordan about it after the game. “Really? I never heard him.” Because fans were back.

Val had properly coached and instructed them through games. In empty stadiums. You could hear him bellowing out instructions at all times. Like a commentator. A scary one.

Anyway, I’ve rambled on enough. But yeah, I adored that period and the fact that Val was just the most lovely bloke helped make it even more special. Win lose or draw, he was just the same bloke. And he never made excuses.

The current carry on could not be any further away from all that. And half the squad right now wouldn’t last five minutes.

 

To be fair Harry Bassett was likely a missed penalty away from taking us back into the premier league with a defence that could have got us relegated.

That wasn’t bad.

 

Agree. That's 3rd in the list.

 

one thing you find with our fans is they hate any decent player who scores us goals and any manager who gets results Dave Bassett big val etc

 

The season under Val was remarkable but it always felt a like an illicit affair.

Purely aesthetically, it didn't appeal to me but I was happy to be on the ride as you couldn't fault the work rate and commitment.

I would have liked to have seen how a second season with him in charge would have developed as it would answer a lot of questions about his ability to adapt but we will never know.

I do believe he inherited one of the best coached teams we had under Struber and then subsequently turned it up to 11 and maximised its potential.

He also benefited from astute recruitment as any team would have from the additions of Dyke and Morris.

 

It's funny how winning football under Val was accepted yet under Collins it wasn't.

 

I feel like he’s tinkered more in jobs since Barnsley and potentially become worse as a manager as a result

 

Do you mean the players, or the owners, ehh!.

 

I’d love Val to return. My second favourite manager. Loved the football under him, it was proper battling barnstorming Barnsley.

 

The football they played is probably more 'in' today than it was then. Fast, powerful, direct but with plenty of quality when it was right.

Always remember us knocking it out of play from kick offs though. Mint.

 

Genuinely reckon we could have beaten anyone on our day under Val. His football was mental and some teams were unable to cope with it. Loved it. Would have been interesting had we been promoted.

 

Makes me laugh this forum, the good managers we’ve once had get battered for ‘not playing attractive’ football - the same was said about Robins.

Whilst the likes of Collins & Clarke get away with it as ‘who else are we going to get’ get chirped up all the time. Let’s just accept **** whilst finishing 14th in the Alehouse league shall we…..

 

They wouldn't have known what hit them, we'd have been top 10 by Christmas and taken some scalps.

We might have ended up going down as teams adjusted, but it would have been the best half season in the club's history, I'm sure of it.

 

It's context though innit. You can and should always want the best, but its about knowing you're not gonna get it every season and with every manager. So a bit of patience doesn't see you far wrong sometimes.

 

Christ. I bet your bit on the side would be thrilled with that description