I love looking at old photos of our ground and players. The top one shows just how much progress we've made over our time. Both are brilliant photos in my humble opinion
bottom ,I hope when I die the run up to heaven is red shale hill, interspaced escorts, cortinas and the odd grass patch,it is sunny and we are in short sleeved reds tops then I get into Oakwell buy a pie for 90p, just in time to see the team in red waving to the crowd stood in straight line,at the final whistle we have won and all of a sudden I am back running up the hill again with my dad and brother, it all starts again no recollection that its on permanent repeat not a bad way to spend eternity
An age thing for me. I Preferred standing. .,(Terrace) when younger. Sitting now. (ESL) mi bones prefer it. The atmosphere in the older days, old ground. The paddock blew the roof off. ( Stood opposite)even better than the ponty. would decide it for me if I had to choose.
This book may be of interest to some of you. Football Grounds from the Air (From The Air S.): Amazon.co.uk: Ian Hay, Cassandra Wells: Books
I used to buy that book every year and enjoyed it but it got that not many changed so haven't bought it for a while.
I’d have to vote for the ground I grew up in. The atmosphere in the old brewery stand once Clarke started us on the rise from the 4th division is what I want heaven to be like. The buzz when King Ronnie set off. The roar when Banger smashed one in from 30 yards, and I've always preferred standing to sitting. That said the new stands are better than the identikit Lego grounds but if we could go back to the ground of the 80's I would in a heartbeat.
Stood on the ponte with me mates watching first Clarke's then Hunters teams or sat in the ponte watching Wilson's team on reflection I think stood up was better
Lot of very happy memories and a great deal of sentiment in seeing any shots of the ground before it was developed. Always remember the first home game when the new East Stand opened, but future developments were always tinged with sadness as some of my favourite players ever to don the Red shirt were sold to help fund the completion of the Kop and Ponte Road stands, plus the legendary Social Club which stood where the Ticket Office/ Reception is now, disappeared. Someone was asking about our new Hon Secretary in the thread about the Look North feature the other day. When I started supporting the Reds, the legendary Michael Spink was our Secretary. Nothing fazed Michael. He knew everything about the Club. You could call in at reception during midweek and ask for him and minutes later he would appear and answer any queries you might have had at that time. He also was the key holder to the Club merchandise store which was in a building near the West Stand bogs, so if you wanted any Memorabilia, it was Michael that usually served you. Another thing he used to do, was walk round the perimeter wall prior to kick off, stopping to talk to fans on the way. I once asked him about the availability of season tickets in the West Stand and using his trusty walkie talkie handset, he contacted the office and inside two minutes got an answer for me. Very nice bloke was Michael and a true professional as well.
can still see the old paper tear out season tickets in my minds eye, felt like a proper legend walking up to the season ticket entrance back in the day more people paid on gate
bought my brother a Barnsley tracksuit from that little shop ,he never had it off his back bless him, from age 7 to 12 my mum only ever saw him in reds stuff or school uniform
happy days Farnham,everything just seemed simple,your brains were not fried with information overload
Even the refs were better in those days and there was no VAR (though there were still the odd bad one)
Agree Farnham. One surefire indication that the refs were better, is that you rarely recognised their name because unlike their modern day counterparts, they weren't surrounded by controversy around the number of cards they have dished out, or got crucial any possible result bearing decisions hopelessly wrong. Back in the day, the referee and his linesmen had the final word and irrespective of what any commentator, summariser, manager, player or fan thought, their decision stood. I honestly can't see how VAR has improved our game and in its present format, how it can enhance proceedings in the future.
Always remember, that a former colleague from Doncaster Council qualified as a referee and was eventually addded to the list to enable him to officiate at Football League level. I attended a particular League game at Oakwell and lo and behold, it turned out that he was the referee. By that time, he had gone to work down South and I had left Donny to work in Wakefield, so when we had worked together, I didn't support the Reds. We used to stand behind the nets on the Ponte end and at a corner I shouted " eh up John how are you.?" His face was an absolute picture. He looked flustered and you could tell he was thinking " what's he doing here."? After I had spoken to him, he appeared to be a bag of nerves and seemed unable to get a decision right to the point that both sets of fans started to get on his case. Felt sorry for the lad, but we won 2-0 and he gave me a smile and a sly thumbs up as a policeman accompanied him to the changing rooms.
