Massive wake up call around the corner for BFC

I cannot believe how many people I've spoken to (most of em die hard fans that normally don't even think about whether to get a season ticket or not) that have said they are either not getting one or cant believe it when they are actually contemplating not getting one after all these years because they cant put up with the negativity and pessimism shown by the club. Like Spartacus said - they have started to believe their own "we will do well to survive".

A lot of people will just get one out of habit i guess and i may be the same... its our club and we want to turn up and cheer them on hoping for a great game and a great season. The trouble is the club now actively suggest the fact we will be fighting for survival yet again next year and finishing 1 above relegation will be a success.

Sorry but even if they feel (or know we will only just survive) they should be banging the drum of "our next assault on the championship" and "get down to oakwell and drive the reds on towards that premiership dream". Without that hope, dream and vision where is the excitement and passion? They have taken managing expectations to the extreme.

No wonder the players also give up after xmas when it looks like we've met the brief. The club want to know why they tail off year after year! Well if maybe they just looked at themselves, their message and ambitions, i believe they will find the answer.

My own personal stance is not the £300 for a season ticket or the cost in following them - its the TIME invested in and my ENJOYMENT i get from that. To come home week after week seeing another shabby performance looking to shade a draw or nick a win is boring me to tears. Keith Hill is so fixated on not losing he has forgotten how to go out and win a game. Until this changes people will keep on leaving in drives.

If we are going to lose a game GO DOWN FIGHTING FFS!!!!!!!

 

The club's attitude is small time and this has now passed onto supporters who believe it to be "realism".

 

Can't disagree with that.

 

I've knocked it on the head, got a young un on the way in August and l was still going to get a ST and feel the wrath of the missus, it would have blown over after a few days. But after the demise since January and some of the boards decisions l've spent the £300 on a Cot bed instead. Gunna stencil a toby tyke on it.

 

It is financial realism. Can't spend what you 'ain't got... unless you are portsmouth.

I don't like it but I haven't got a spare £10-20m to chuck at the club I'm afraid.

 

But if we can't even "sell" the club to our own supporters how are we going to attract ambitious players??

 

Its not just the financial aspects of it though Dave... It's the rhetoric from the board, the tin-pot attitude to marketing/promotions, ticketing policy, strange tactics and generally poor match day experience.


It's hard to sympathise with the club over finances when they are unable to command even a respectful transfer fee for our best (and only assets). It is this inability which has hindered our progress as a club imo. The team worsens so fans stop coming, which means less revenue, which means higher prices and more short term 'deficit plugging' Vaz Te style transfers.

The club is too short-termist, chasing the quick buck and it is leading to longer-term decline. New owners and board needed I'm afraid

 

What's classed as ambitious players? You mean good players?

 

I normally renew at the end of June just before the deadline, I have had chance to stop fuming about the season just past. This year if I wait I'll be paying more than the 'discounted' price. At this moment I really can't be arsed about tying myself into another season.

 

I agree with your comments regarding the way the club presents itself and the match day experience. I'm not sure what the club can do about the transfer fees short of tying players into longer contracts.

 

Great post! I think you're right Omen.

For years after our season in the top flight (and then our near miss with promotion in 2000) I think we suffered from delusions of grandeur. There was an expectation of challenging for promotion again and chasing it was probably what caused our period in administration. A reality check was needed and I think the club rightly felt that it was right to try to manage expectations. But it's gone too far. Football fans have to have something to believe in and aim towards - without that what's the point? (and by the way, that's why for me the Premier League is slowly dying as a competition - it's got to the stage that realistically only 3 of the 20 clubs in the competition can actually win it. The days of a club like Nottingham Forest or Ipswich Town for example coming out of the Championship and challenging for the title have long gone).

And I think you're correct that the message has been so oft repeated that everyone at the club has become conditioned by it. The message needs to change. Fans expectations have now well and truly changed but can we go back to the pre-1996/7 belief: "we may not be as big as other clubs, but we'll stand toe to toe and have a go - and sometimes we'll win. We'll battle the odds - and continue to beat them."

 

I think you've hit the nail on the head Dave. Our best players need to be tied down to longer term deals before the bigger clubs come sniffing. The club will argue this is too risky, but, with Vaz Te, once he started showing the quality early in the season (which, remember, Keef will see every day in training) a new contract should have been offered.

Butterfield was showing some real glimpses of quality last season, and has come on leaps and bounds this season. Keith Hill sees him at work every day, and should have offered him an extension early on before the lads head gets turned.

As fans we can forgive mistakes, but it seems our club just doesn't learn from them

 

7000 home gates and Cryne will have to accept any bidder whether their intentions are honourable or not

 

Exactly - personally i couldnt really care 2 hoots if we don't get out of the championship! But what i want is to go see us go hell for leather to batter other teams and give it a go! We may lose more than we win but it would be exciting - something to look forward to like it was with andy ritchie when we just scraped into the playoffs in league 1 and with danny wilson when we went up. In either of those seasons - if we hadnt gone up we wouldnt be able to wait until the next season to have another go!

This years its - why bother wasting my time! Its like watching crown green bowling.

 

Great post that Omen. I have renewed but it could be my last one if the club continues in a similar vein as this season.

 

Bit irrelevant for me; I work weekends so rarely get to Oakwell, but I've sworn for years that the first thing I'd do if I ever got me weekends back was buy a season ticket. This last few months has done for that. Not a chance. I don't mind a defeat, but I want to come away thinking they've had a right crack at it. Not happening at the moment, summat rotten about the place...

 

Well said.I share many of those sentiments.

 

Longer contracts bankrupted the club.

 

Didn't renew this season and I can't honestly say I've missed it.

Still followed their fortunes on here and TV/radio, but you feel a right dick shelling out good money for very little entertainment in return.

It's as simple as that, really.

 

Whats all this about Ricardo Vaz Te
HE didn't do it until November maybe?
He was never the best player in the midfield. He came on against Leeds and ok did very well but thats only becuase leeds decided to make Jacob Butterfield out who they and everyone knew by then that he was by fair our best player.