My considered opinion after today's fun and frolics.

Our two centre backs defended well, but neither's passing is particularly good.

Our full backs were superb. Stones got better as the game went on, then Golbourne was arguably my man of the match today.

Alnwick. I have no idea why there was such a witch hunt against him pre-season - whilst he was settling in to the club - he was superb today and so far in the league has done little wrong. I criticised him for his blatant stupidity at Rochdale, but his goalkeeping has been plenty good enough so far.

Midfield: Mellis. Looked so much fitter than before and although he faded later, he made a very positive impression. Dawson. One of my other contenders for man of the match. He was everything he is supposed to be today. Well played sir.

Cywka. Looked lively but didn't get enough of the ball in dangerous areas which is understandable considering the quality of the opposition. Give him a new contract ASAP.

Daggers. Worked his nuts off as usual. Lacks a bit of quality but certainly played his part today.

Cranie. Good signing. Genuine Championship player in either defence or midfield. Looking forward to him moving to a solid defensive role eventually, but let no one down today. Well done Keith for signing this lad.

Davies. Scored a very good goal. Quality player, who has his minor faults at this level, but those who criticise him as Championship level striker know dick all about football, or must have an agenda against the chap.

All in all, a superb day out for all who could be bothered to attend. At £12.50 with a 100% home record the people of Barnsley slightly let the club down today by not turning out in greater numbers - but those that were there had outstanding value for money.

Blackpool FC deserve their success and I hope they do well this season, as they have managed their recent success and subsequent financial filip perfectly.

A great day. Well done to BFC and BFC and everyone involved. Thanks for making my trip back from CHF extremely enjoyable.

You Reds.

 

Stones is class, going to be some player in the future that lad all going well.

 

Absolutely. 100% agreed. At 18 he is something else.

 

I like the cut of your jib, sir

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Good summary, Mike.

Agree with the majority of your points, especially on Golbourne (MOM) and Cywka (sign him up).

But, I still can't understand how there was supposedly 9,000 empty seats.... maybe I'm blind, but it looked a few thousand more than the official figure, IMO.

 

Agreed and it was another great game to watch. With a bit of luck, and a penalty or two which could have been given for us (particularly the handball from Foster's header which was blatant) we could have won. But then again they could too, especially towards the end when Alnwick was superb, so a draw was a good result.

On target for mid table or just above so far, depending on what happens in away matches. We look very good at home.

 

I agree

 

True. I was expecting circa 16k before they announced it, hence my disappointment at the figure, but if we can play like that with over 11k home fans every week then we'll soon build the fan base up to a reasonable level again - just not at £28 a pop. I saw several lads there today that don't normally go, but who decided to go due to the reduced rate. I'm not saying £12.50 is the answer but £20 for adults could be, and I'd basically let young uns in for next to nothing, as it means thay always have a paying adult accompanying them, and pester power leads to increased sales within the stadium - not to mention future fan base effect.

Also, completely withstanding the financial factor, the feel good factor of having a mostly full ground is the initial building block of future financial and on-field success. Once again, in my opinion.

 

U16's should be a fiver. Like you say it normally means an adult coming, if they are £20 then its affordable. Groups of teens might start attending at that price too.