Dear Andy & Rick

I am not the kind of person that takes any pleasure whatsoever in the misfortune of others, so I was as disheartened as anyone that it hasn't worked out for you at Oakwell.

I don't remember ever calling for the head of a Barnsley manager, certainly not like many of the people around me. However I have long believed that you were not the men to take the club forward. I was more relieved, than pleased, to be honest, when you were shown the door.

Thanks for the memories of the Play-offs last season, I will remember those games against Huddersfield and Swansea for the rest of my life. However now we are back in the second tier of English football, and it is time to progress.

Unfortunately I somewhat lost my faith in you, from the moment you tried to play down expectations by suggesting that the club, with a long and proud history of playing in the second tier, was more at home in the old third division.

At the time I wondered how you dare. Most of us can remember being in the second tier for almost a quarter of a century before you came along, had the football world changed so much in that short time?

The writing was on the wall, then, and for me your final mistake was to openly tell the fans that you did not think the club could ever make it back to the Premiership. Football is about dreams, about ambition. Without either it is a pointless business.

Deep down fellas, I think you were too "in" with your lads, too reluctant to replace them when it seemed obvious to everyone that some of them were not making the grade. I suspect that you would have been content to fail, shrug your shoulders and return to your League 1 comfort zone.

The thousands of hours and tons of emotion I and many others have ploughed unconditionally into this football club over the years is worth more than that, and I think that most of us are now looking forward to a more disciplinarian, proven manager to take control, and lift the club in line with the expectations of the supporters. These are not unrealistic expectations, history has proved.

Good luck with all of your future endeavours.

 

Great post Vim...

You seem to be on the same page as me.</p>

I've decided that all my posts are going to contain manager speak in the hope that Gordon and Patrick read them.</p>

 

I totally agree with everything you say

Ritchies statement was an absolute disgrace

 

This ambition ******** that everyone keeps banging on about.

Do you reckon every manager in the Football League has a job because they have told their Chairman they are looking to get to the Premiership?</p>

You are correct , history has proved that we can make it to the top league , it took us 105 years to get there.</p>

Unless Cryne puts ALL his money into the club I dont see how we can get to the Premier League again.</p>

Maybe you can , but I can't. Thats not to say I dont want us to get to the Premier League I am just trying to be realistic.</p>

 

brilliant post, totally agree with you.

 

Very good post.

 

RE: This ambition ******** that everyone keeps banging on about.

yes, but the manager should NEVER say that the club will never get to the premiership under any circumstances

 

Agreed

It wasn't about getting to the Premier this season or next, it was about consolidation and stability. You do that and then when it's time to push on then you look to who can do that for you. Ritchie was merely being realistic.

 

Agree, absolutely 100% bang on .....

.... and to all those who are crying over Ritchie going I say this .... yes, once again we have sacked a manager quite quickly and that is a worry and yes we do thank him for getting us promoted, and for that he will always be highly regarded ...... BUT ..... the facts are

a) we were very lucky to get promoted, we all know that ... but we did
b) we all came away from Cardiff knowing we needed to strengthen our team for the Championship ........ but we didn't
c) we were going straight back down to Pub League One ..... but now we might not

Thanks for the memories Andy but we need to move forward and you weren't up to the task because your loyalty to the Promotion winning squad, whilst admirable, was foolish, and you paid the ultimate price, as all managers do who continue to lose football matches and don't address the problems.

I wish you well Andy but I agree with the Chairman, you had to go (before we were 12+ points adrift from the rest of the teams in the league!)

 

The managers remit is to keep costs down,

that to me says that the current circumstances make it &quot;very difficult&quot; for the Barnsley manager to get us up.</p>

Do you not think?</p>

 

What a relief to be able to read a good sensible post.

 

Spot on

 

In agreement with you there Vim!

 

We got into the prem while we were on our arse

taylor report condemed most of ground,Viv Anderson tryed and failed to bum rape the club,Danny boy fending off the boo boys,never say never.............</p>

 

Well said Vim! Couldn't have said it better!

 

RE: The managers remit is to keep costs down,

"Very difficult" is different to "never".

 

what a terrific post

 

Had Ritchie...

...said that about the Prem if we were pushing for a play-off spot it would've been dismissed as mind-games. It's only because of the circumstances anyone even reacted to it...

Whichever way you look at it we've had managers who have "talked the talk" but only Ritchie, in recent years, has "walked the walk". Rather a manager who does but don't say than say but don't do.

That said, what's done is done...

 

Superb post
I echo every sentiment
Sums it all up for me.

 

Yep

Ritchie was more of a leader than a manager and saw himself as part of the team, well liked by the players, one of the lads.  Anyone who has ever been in a position of management knows that this cannot be done because there are times when you have to be a Barsteward.  How can you tell your mate that he isn't good enough, how can you bollock someone you were having a laugh with two minutes earlier?</p>



Thanks for what you did Andy, you pulled the players together into a team that scraped promotion on a truly memorable day by way of winning a penalty shoot out and gave all of us a fantastic experience.  In reality, if we all look deep inside, I think we would all admit we were bloody lucky and realise that we had a decent (not exceptional) league one team.  It was never going to be enough for the Championship.</p>