Bulletin Board Polling

How I understand it is that true fans are those who know their place. Cash cows and nothing more. True fans are those who know they should be seen but not heard and should not question anything. If a manager picks 11 donkeys then that is the correct choice because the manager is trained whereas a true fan is merely a nobody who stumps up cash every week.
If a board backs a clueless manager then they must be correct to do so as they are richer than a true fan and must therefore be of better judgement.

The motto of a true fan is 'I've watched the reds for x years'. In fact they are the only words a true fan is ever allowed to utter in public, though at night they quietly whisper the revs prayer. 'Our owner, who art in boardroom. Patrick be thy name'

 

I think those who are persistently complaining are just as much a true fan as those who don't . They're hurting at the club's demise, we all are. Folk are simply different in how they display that pain. Whether they decide to continue to put money into the club after this season is for them to decide, no one else. It's their money, it's their time they're committing to the club & it's no one else's business how they spend it but them.
I too have been watching Barnsley since the 1960's, some have been watching for a damn sight longer. It doesn't mean I'm a better fan. It doesn't mean I'm wiser. It doesn't mean mean I know more about football than others. It doesn't mean my views carry more authority than anyone else's. It simply means I'm old!

 

What reasons do you think are acceptable from a true Supporter/fan for missing any one of Barnsley`s games?

 

I'm willing to bet that the vast majority of the most vociferous critics have season tickets.

Look at Dr Zazlos - he bought a season ticket after the season had already started and it was clear how bad we were going to be. The lunatic.

 

I believe that everyone who cares enough about the club to spend time particularly posting on here, telling everybody else on here about their thoughts hopes and fears is a true supporter. If they weren't they would not waste their time. For me though, that is not the real issue.

Rather, the issue is how best to try to affect the future for your club. I refer to the past quite a bit, but I do so, not because I want to prove anything about myself. I do so because I think that the past contains lessons that can be used to affect the future. There are those on here who think that the best way to affect the future is to threaten to withdraw their support if X,Y or Z does not happen. They believe that they know enough about the game to pick the team, to say which players the club needs to buy and which to sell. They believe they have the experience to sack the manager and the knowledge to hire a new one. Even though they do not believe that anyone has the right to tell them how to spend their money, they believe they have the right to tell Mr Cryne how to spend his.

This is what football supporters do. They do it because they know that no-one will remember what they said last week. They can change their minds constantly and because none of their ideas are ever acted upon, they are always right. It is important to remember though, when you are slagging off, Patrick Cryne, Ben Mansford or Lee Johnson, that their decisions are the ones that come to fruition. That their decisions are the ones that are challenged by posterity and that no-one can make the correct decisions all the time. Sometimes, the decision is taken out of their hands, because a player, his agent, another manager or another board makes their decision for them. Even then, they are criticised.

Supporters all have to make their own minds up, what they think the most beneficial way that they have got of positively affecting the outcome of events for their football club. Many of the fans in my age group saw the resurrection of the club after many years of decline. They drew lessons from that and have decided that the best way to affect the future is to keep buying tickets, keep supporting and keep a positive outlook. We are not looking for any kudos. We just think that it is the best way forward. I am not sure why our way attracts so much criticisms from those who advocate a more negative solution. Perhaps you could enlighten me.

 

Back in the 60/70s the anger and frustration was just as vociferous but was released in the Social Club after the match and in the pubs that evening. Sunday dinner sessions were still a bit tasty, by Monday morning the mood at work/school had receded to a shake of the head muttering "fekin useless tw&ts" or suchlike.

With social media the anger festers all week till the next game, in fact it often increases in its intensity. Opinions are laid down for all to see and many posters draw their line in the sand and will never be moved, seeing it has some kind of weakness.

Personally I much prefer the past but it's never going to be like that again, so I'd suggest to the OP, just log in once in a while, shake your head wisely and ignore...though taking the piss out of certain posters every so often is quite therapeutic...