Position Now Compared to 28th April

After walking out of the Brighton game feeling as depressed as I ever have watching Barnsley, I hoped that a good break from it all would re-ignite the spark in me. Unfortunately it hasn't. I think the signings so far have been ok but are not enough to arrest our shocking decline. I have never seen a Barnsley side play so poorly for such a prolonged period as the second half of last season and we are still relying on the bulk of the players responsible. I think the job is too big for the manager and he knows it despite all the billy big b.ollocks talk.

Barring a miracle I cannot see us finishing above 24th.

 

Re. Position Now Compared to 28th April

Oh really?

Because with all the positive posts you've been making I assumed you'd already have your promotion suit ironed.

 

You may well be right. But you don't know for certain and even if you did you don't get any points for being right. Better to go in to the new season with an air of optimism or at least a casual indifference rather than a certainty that we're going to fail. At least then you get to be happy for the close season instead of being miserable all year round. Getting to say "I told you so" isn't nearly what it's cracked up to be.

 

Have to admit, in the cold light of day, our summer recruitment thus far has been disappointing. Norwood wouldve made a difference, but I'd have expected other targets in by now and as harsh as it is, if it doesnt happen soon I think we're going down.

And I havent renewed, yet.

 

I think that it is realistic to view next season as a season of struggle. Not only do I see the same players who struggled in the later half of last season, but I also see a stronger league with more money to strengthen at a lot of clubs. However, unlike yourself, I do not blame Keith Hill for the bad finish last season, and unlike yourself, I really rate him as a manager. If he does keep us up this season, I hope that you will remember your gloomy prediction and give him some credit for his achievement, even if it is a finish in 21st again.

 

yes it looks a bit dismal..... you have to recall that the majority of the players who were so dreadful last season are still here. Mido has a ton of lard to get shut of and Mellis was an up and down performer to say the least.

Here's hoping for a reasonable season but once again we are just trying to stay up...and beat the wendies and weeds.

In summary then: we were w@nk last season and the likelihood is that we be w@nk this season n all

 

It's not a question of being right. I hope I'm completely wrong. I'd be over the moon if people could turn to me at the end of the season and say "told you so", I just can't see it happening.

I just have a genuine feeling of dread going into this season.

 

Keiths still in the market for 3 players, and in all fairness our key players missed months due to injuries IE jimbo & Perkins thence had to rely in league 1 loanees and players who had only been at the club for since January. Next season will be completely different story, look at hull the year they went up under Phil brown? They signed 2 players to a side that finished 21st, and the season after went up via the play offs! Last season is history, move on from it.

 

Ah, but on the other hand I haven't renewed for the first time in 26 years, so I fully expect us to start winning games and possibly get promoted, just to f*ck me off.

Squad's not good enough unless he can make some good signings in the next couple of weeks. That said, it's far from a certainty that we'll be in the worst three teams in the league. Someone will no doubt have financial difficulties again (Charlton this time maybe?) so assuming that's not us that'll be one down and only two places left. No point getting too down about it. It's only football.

 

Am I the only one looking forward to the season at this moment in time?
We've made 4 decent signings and Hill commented on the fact he is still looking at more. In terms of putting bids in, the real action will start next week. Most clubs finally back in training and getting early idea of who can go.

Not many other clubs have signed players either.

Hill's already stated he's learnt from last season. He wants these players in asap so we are set for the season and not falling down from January.

 

Fookin heck, cheer up bit. The summer is meant to be about optimism for the coming season. Fact is nobody knows how we are going to do in the coming season so at least allow yourself to look forward to the new season. We can all revert to being miserbale, moaning gits in October.

 

I wouldn't say I'm looking forward to the new season, I think the last time I genuinely looked forward to a season was when we were in the Premier. I quite like the close season, I get that worked up and stressed in the season I wonder if it can be good for me, it's nice to have weekends that don't seem to hinge on something I have no control over!
As to whether we'll struggle this season....I honestly don't know. Last season we had a great first half of the season, so what went wrong in the 2nd half? If Keith Hill can put his finger on that and we have more first half than second half we could have a surprisingly good season. I'm reasonably satisfied with the signings so far and hoping that the coaching team are sorting the players out in pre-season.

 

Wow we've not even kicked a ball and were already religated. Let's give it ten games then your point thread mint carry some weight. Why don't u stop supporting Barnsley and go support some prem team. All this negative talk won't do anyone any good.

 

A typical response. Go and support someone else because someone happend to think we wil get relegated.

It doesn't matter how well we support them. If there are not good enough or are not organised well enough, we will go down. And that, in my opinion, as a fan for 25 years, is more of a possibility than it has ever been before.

 

I'm also looking forward to the new season

We've brought in a striker who may turn out to be as good a forward as there is in the Division. We've brought in a goalkeeper who appears to be superior to the one he's replaced. We've brought in a midfielder who a great number of fans were wanting us to sign as soon as Chelsea sacked him. I hope to see an improvement & development of the young lads brought in from the league's lower reaches (Golbourne, Dawson, Done, Collins), as it's highly unlikely they've reached their peak as players at their current age. I'm looking forward to see the continuation of the careers of our Academy lads, who now find themselves in the first team squad. I'm looking forward to seeing a full season from the likes of O'Brien & Davies, who were unable (through injury and loss of form respectively) to find the consistency in their play required at this level. I'm looking forward to seeing more recruits coming through the door during this current transfer window and not knowing who they may be.
I'm an optimistic, ignorant, old bugger wearing my rose tinted specs, who can't wait for the new season to start.

 

Re: I'm also looking forward to the new season

So were already relegated then?

FL should just make us start in League 1 and Promote Sheff Utd. Mellis, Mido, O'Brien, Davies and Steele would be awesome in that league.Plus all the lower league players we signed would be good in that league.

We'd finish on 100 points, cant wait!!

 

Re: I'm also looking forward to the new season

Not sure how anyone can be more pessimistic than this time last year. With the benefit of hindsight people will say we now don't have Butterfield, Vaz Te or Drinkwater, but at this point last season we only had two of those, one of which was a promosing bit part player and the other couldn't even find a club.

At the start of last season we had lost our manager who most fans didn;t want to leave, had publically stated that we were going to considerably reduce the budget when we had only just stayed up the previous year, and our only signing of note was a lad from Chesterfield.

This season we have a manger who now has experience at this level, kept us up with a smaller budget, has got rid of highly paid players who weren't contributing freeing up the wage bill, has brought in arguably the bigget name player ever (fat or otherwise), brought in lots of players in January who now have experience at this level, and we know Hill is capable of (at times) getting us playing attractive football for the first time in ages.

There are still harsh financial realities but surely the position is better than this time last year?

Added to which the Leeds game last season is as optimistic as I've felt as a Barnsley fan in years. Things fell apart after that but it would take someone incapable of rational thought to not at least accept in part there were reasons for that.

 

Re: I'm also looking forward to the new season

Whatever happens, one thing will be good. The day out with the lads every time. Whatever happens on the pitch, I'll enjoy noon to 14:55!

 

Re: I'm also looking forward to the new season

Is it really all that depressing to be a Barnsley fan at the moment?

Think back to the season we had 10 years ago... we'd just been relegated to the third division for the first time in 15/20 years, and went into administration. At one point it looked like we might no longer have a league football club to watch in Barnsley. On top of that, we played some dreadful football against equally poor sides, some of whom had a travelling support of less than a hundred, and came very, very close to being relegated to the fourth division.

Whereas now, we are playing in one of the most exciting, if not best leagues in Europe, are secure financially, certainly in comparison to most clubs in the division, and have the most promising batch of young players coming through since the mid-90s.

Even if we are relegated, we've got some big games to look forward to along the way and at least we don't have to worry about whether there'll be a team to actually go and watch next Saturday. Although some don't seem bothered about having a team to go and watch unless they are doing well...

 

Re: I'm also looking forward to the new season

While I respect the opinions/thoughts of most people on here, as it stands at the moment all talk of relegation is just pure conjecture, just as we are in no place to speculate that we will finish in the top 10. In reality, the players, manager and coaching staff are a year wiser and now have the experience of playing in this division for a full season. That doesn't mean that some of them will have improved dramatically and turned into world beaters overnight (Dagnall, Wiseman, Dawson etc), however, it means that they should now be have a bit more savvy and be able to let the better players we have flourish. And if they aren't, show them the door! Who is to say that Mido won't score 25 goals next season or JOB won't score 15 from the wing? We still don't know who the manager plans on recruiting. If it is 3 top Championship/lower half prem players to suppliment like likes of Mellis and Etuhu who in reality are two unknown quantities to us, despite the former being on loan here two seasons ago, we will have a strong and competitive squad. Adversly, if its three lads from the Dog and Duck we will probably struggle. All it takes is a good scoring run from a Davies or a Done to win 4 or 5 games in a row and we'll be right up there and on the flip side if we play like we did the second half of last season.......well that doesn't bare thinking about.