Match Day Thread

It`s a good sign when we`re dissapointed with a point away.

 

Shows how far we've come this season.

 

I was Alex Ferguson who famously complained that his side were losing at Southampton because they couldn't see each other as a result of their grey shirt colours. So we wear black shirts on a dull day against a dark background of stands and terraces. I cannot understand the logic. There was no reason at all not to wear red. I actually can't really write a decent match report because I found it hard to see what was going on and where our players were, so it must have been just as difficult for the players themselves to see and find each other, especially wide players against the terraces. Hardly a surprise that our passes went astray so much more than in the previous two games. Players often only get a moment to gauge where a team mate is, or what move he is making and all that gets harder with dull shirts against a dull background on a dull day. That being said, I thought that a draw was a fair result. Bristol Rovers had worked out our strengths and threats and countered them particularly well, especially in having the full backs in such positions of readiness that the long diagonals to Williams, or Cadden just did not reach their targets most of the afternoon. Hoole and Gordon had been well briefed and did their jobs very well. I was sitting amongst the Rovers fans and they thought that they had done really well in winning a point and especially in defending well for ninety minutes, which I agree with. Having said all that, it was a cracking save for Belford to get up and tip Kitching's header over the bar. The penalty claim was just too much in the murk and hidden by dark shirts for me to even notice live, but it looked nailed on now that I have had a better view of it on Sky. We certanly came on strong towards the end and Rovers were obviously just holding on to try to gain a point, which shows a lot of respect to us on a day when we weren't at our best, nor our brightest.

Bring back the red shirts for games like this one, or white if we have to change. Just seems stupidity to me both from a player's and a spectator's point of view. No player ratings today from me because i could barely work out who was who. Yours through a glass darkly. TE

 

This. And Whitey, if you're reading this can you tell us why nobody at the club has the guts to come out with an explanation about the constant, needless change of colours for away games.

 

& that awful England grey strip from Euro 96. Worn in the semis. Several players said it was a problem..

 

I'm just back and couldn't agree more about the awful kit decision. We talk about matchday atmosphere and I rev myself up ready to sing my favourite 'Reds' songs and we turn out in black, against a team in blue and white shirts and blue shorts ffs. Just puts a right downer and dampener on proceedings straight from the off and as you say virtually impossible to see for fans and players alike - I swear I never knew Cadden was playing in the second half, so badly was he camouflaged against their supporters from where I was viewing!

Club rule number 1 of away match atmosphere, no ifs, no buts, should be - Barnsley wear red shirts unless the opposition are wearing red or red stripes or there's a ref-mandated colour blindness issue.

 

Black should be for refs!

 

Totally off topic, but on the subject of colours, early in the new year I went to Penny Church v Frickley, when the visitors turned out in mint green shirts, grey shorts and socks. Again not an easy combination to make out on a murky January day.
Imagine my surprise today then, on my very next visit to the Memorial Ground, when Barton Town turned out in - mint green, grey, grey! And to compound my sense of deja vue my side of the pitch was lined on both occasions by a lineslady of ample proportions - though a different lady each time.
Sorry for interrupting, do please carry on

 

A couple of other random observations:-

1) We ain't going to steamroller everyone and today we played a team in a mid-table position whose only intent was to stop us playing - literally at times - with a combination of play-acting, time-wasting and general all round sh!thousery. We could have won with sharper finishing on a couple of occasions or one of them long-lost penalty thingies but it wasn't to be.
2) I've never seen a set of fans celebrate a 0-0 draw at home so much! It was like they'd won the World Cup or something! Are we that good?!
3) We are never, ever going to get a penalty again!
4) That's the first time I've ever seen the ref - who today was a Mr John Marquis from Bristol - substituted by an opposition player mid-way through the second-half.
5) If anyone on here ever complains again about the speakers at Oakwell, I'm going to buy them a Rovers season ticket and watch them get instant tinnitus as the industrial strength sound is blasted out a couple of feet from their ears. Think The Who at the Valley in 1976 and then double it!
6) There were some decent performances today and some who were off the pace but I'm not going to judge any individual player just on today's game against an anti-football team, with an out-of-his-depth ref, on a crap, bobbly, sloping pitch, dressed in camouflage jackets so we couldn't see each other.

We move on and the important thing is a win on Tuesday. Four points from these two games would do nicely.

 

& funerals..

 

I'd have had them wearing red today. So I completely understand the frustration. It doesn't affect my life in the slightest, and I don't believe it had any impact on the match today whatsoever. But yeah, I'd have thought red was most appropriate. Would it have looked more like a penalty on Cole if he'd got red on? Probably not.

We did wear black away at Pompey, Fleetwood and Peterborough too. Unbeaten. Two goals conceded. Maybe our backline should wear black? Norwood should wear white though. He's scored in that kit a few times.

I reckon Pompey won't wear blue on Tuesday night. Wonder if it frustrates them too?

Ponderous evening eh?

We last won against Bristol Rovers away in 1992. I remember it well. I was 10-years-old. We wore yellow....

Have a great night!

(email the club, raise the question at a fans forum - I genuinely don't know the answer - sorry)

 

I don’t really have an opinion on the colour we play in and certainly don’t believe it has an impact on the outcome of our games but the tone of this post is needlessly aggressive right?

 

I think the answer is obvious but perhaps you’re not going to comment. I imagine the club shop has loads of the tyre tread shirts still to be shifted so the more our players wear them the better from a commercial point of view. All clubs do it so why shouldn’t we try to sell the stock as well.

I understand that but I don’t like it. I suppose many couldn’t care less but I bet the majority want to see us in red whenever possible.

 

I wonder if Mr Wenger was worried when he had to take his team to a naval dockyard? Arsene in a naval dockyard used to be a capital offence.

 

I don’t know if the black kit makes a difference, but when I’m robbing your houses, I won’t be wearing bright red..

 

Disappointing not to win, but if we average 13 points from 5 games for the rest of the season we'll be reyt.

 

One would hope that the ref in the Plymouth vs Charlton game wasn't colour blind. Plymouth in green shirts, white shorts & green socks, Charlton in red shirts white shorts & red socks. Just sayin?

 

Thanks for the reply Whitey. I know I have a bee in my bonnet on this but it's needless and smacks of a willingness to sacrifice the identity of the club for a couple of quid. We're supposed to be a community club, a club who value our history and tradition. I don't care what kit Pompey turn up in but I do care that, wherever possible, we look like Barnsley FC. It seems that there's someone within the club who doesn't.
I just read an article about Celtic's kit at St Mirren whose colours are the same as Newcastle United. Celtic turned out in light grey shirts and black shorts. It's all just a reinforcement of the fact that the game has sold its soul.

 

No. Whitey knows my posting history well enough to know I'm not having a go at him.

 

Your post really explains that all clubs are doing it to try & maximise kit sales. I'd be hard pressed to think of those who are not. Not saying they are right. Diluting your brand isn't usually a great policy, but it seems the way...