Feeling disillusioned/disenfranchised

I don’t think I’ve felt as low as this in almost 3 decades as a fan. My first game was a 0-0 draw in the old Fourth Division but it was enough to hook me.

For the next five seasons, due to my personal circumstances, I only got to see about six games per season, cup draws & weather permitting. I even went one full season without seeing a single win, but still I kept going without a second thought.

I’ve held a season ticket since the Ponty end was redeveloped, the first time that season tickets were available to disabled supporters & I’ve followed The Reds to more than 60 different away grounds. I was fortunate enough to see every game in what turned out to be the promotion season to the Premier League & I saw every game as we fell back down through the trap door. Never, at any point, did I consider missing a match out of choice.

Due to severe illness, I missed most of the season when we were relegated under Steve Parkin, having been admitted to hospital during November 2001 & not returning home until February 2002 & then spending the next three months “confined to barracks” to recuperate. During that time, I dreamed of being able to return to Oakwell & take up my usual spot to watch my beloved team play, even if it was to be in a lower division than where most of the football I’d witnessed had been played.

In the intervening years, I’ve attended most home games, sometimes missing a few due to other commitments, but always making the pilgrimage each time I wasn’t expected to be elsewhere.

Now, however, I find myself questioning my loyalty. Is my previous unswerving loyalty being used against me? Am I being taken for a ride? Either way, I have a ticket for Tuesday’s game that I’m seriously considering not using & I’m also seriously considering not renewing my season ticket next time around.

What has happened to me? Have I finally “woken up”? Have I taken my personal fill of disappointment? Am I simply a fair weather fan who is having his commitment to the cause tested for the first time & failing? I really don’t know what to do. (dunno)

 

Many feeling the same!

The football is boring, there is no team spirit and no passion...I don't like watching BFC at the moment and yet this is the club I love blindly. Davey has got to get a grip!

 

They don't look happy at the moment nt

 

You're not the only one mate...

but it's in yer blood by now, there's no escape!</p>

Don't worry, after about 40 years it gets easier.</p>

Not better, just easier!</p>

 

RE: You're not the only one mate...

youre not alone mate....I have supported tarn both man and boy...I even took my son who was "bored"...never have I felt so apethetic...I even had to ask a steward to let me out yesterday...I am having serious misgivings about renewing next season...£320 to watch Carlisle...Chesterfield and Bournemouth isn't exactly an attractive proposition.......

 

Rubbish, apathetic football.

Why is Davey allowed to get away with such rubbish???

 

Don't blame Davey..

because you can rest assured that he is doing the best he can. There isn't any reason for him not to.
He wasn't my first choice, although I suspected that he would get the job from the moment he was given the "Caretaker's" job. After his first couple of games, I was even more convinced that he would be the chosen one. For a fleeting moment I even thought that I might be wrong about him.
Unfortunately, since he has been confirmed as the full time Manager he seems to have done everything in his power to prove that he wasn't the right man for the job. Despite all of this, I still don't blame him for the predicament that the club now finds itself in. Some of his recent decisions have been quite bizarre and difficult to understand, with regard to team selections and substitutions etc. but I still think he is doing his best.
It is beginning to look as though his best may not be anywhere near good enough and that is the fault of the people who chose him. Whatever their logic was for deciding he was the one, it seems that it may have been flawed and they are the ones who should carry the can, not Simon Davey.
There is still time for them all to redeem themselves but it is getting shorter and the nettle has to be grasped by all concerned.
Davey has to go back to his original methods when he first took over, because for a little while, they worked.
The Board of Directors have to realise that Davey needs help, both on and off the field and have to provide him with that help, even if it means that some of the financial plans have to be restructured and rescheduled because if we are relegated at the end of this season, there is no way that Mr Shepherd's time table for Financial Stability will be achieved any way. It would be better to understand that now and plan accordingly than to carry on as we are and go into freefall. Once the slide has begun, it will be difficult to bring it to a halt and League 1 or even League 2 might not be the final resting place. This of course just my opinion, for what it is worth.

 

Cheer up pal, most of us are feeling down at the moment, and my thoughts are that it isn't going to get much better. After all it's only a game, and our high was at Cardiff. Our low will come at the end of the season when as i feel now we will be relegated. So put on a happy smile, and remember this, watching BarnsleyFC is very hard work, we are a club with no consistancy, either with managers or quality players, we sell our best players and we try to replace them with mediocre. Come what may, win or loose we all keep going back, we all moan and groan, and promise never to watch them again, but after a couple of wins all is forgotten and Barnsley are great again. No matter what division they are in most of us will be watching, moaning, cheering, and booing, but we will be there, nowt ont telly any road.

 

The sentiment echos my own. I know exactly how you are feeling.