Reality check - where are we going?

We're lucky to have a club at all. Were it not for the relative stability brought to BFC after the flurry of takeovers in recent years, Oakwell would probably be a housing estate.

Yet just a few years on, we expect quality players and managers to come to an unfashionable club like ours for less money & prospects than they can get elsewhere. We expect no less than a passionate commitment to BFC, in an age when football is a career first and foremost. Even the Oakwell legend that is Mick McCarthy won't come here to manage, because his career comes first and he can do better than BFC.

OK, so we love our club. Get real - outsiders don't feel the same about our club or town. We're a relatively small, unfashionable club & town. Even Campbell-Ryce on Socer AM joked about why anyone would want to live here, and he's one of our most passionate players on the field.

The only way we can increase the attractiveness of our club to players & managers is by passionate, positive support from the fans. It's the one thing that costs nothing to provide. Unfortunately we have a surplus of gutless wonders who prefer to continue our tradition of making Oakwell a bitter and hostile place for our own players and management when things aren't going well.

As a result, we will continue to attract only managers & players who are either inexperienced, need to kickstart their careers, or are looking to prolong careers by dropping to a lesser club. Unfortunately our fans tire of them because we expect only quality, athletic automatons who need no encouragement and should love the club from day one. After a few weeks of abuse, their chances of success with us will be reduced accordingly. And if they do somehow break through they'll not want to stay (or indeed come back in the case of Chopra).

Having decided that we don't like Davey and that we're prepared to boo him and his squad out of Oakwell, where will that leave us? Who will come here and improve on what we've had? We took a gamble on the inexoerienced Davey who has clearly made some errors and we've crucified him for it.

So i ask you... where can we go from here?

 

I have watched the reds since 1976 so can hardly be called a glory hunter, if so I would have joined Park Road Club and gone to Man U every other week.

What gets me now is that theres no passion or atmosphere at the club. Oakwell used to be a fortress, yes we hardly ever won away but the home results kept us in this league for a great many years.

We have a manager who is stubborn to the point of stupidity, and players who are just not good enough for this league. Kayode seems a nice guy but just look at his record.

In an age of credit crunches money is tight and football is an expensive luxury to some. Forgive me if I am wrong but football is meant to be entertainment. alas something we rearely see at Oakwell.

I took my son to a match and he was bored and cold within half an hour, I may as well have taken him to watch the local team for free as shell out £30 for the "privilege" of going to Oakwell.

This is why people are negative, they pay top dollar for an inferior product, to which they have every right to complain.

 

Listening to pre season speak from the Club

Mid table at least with a leaner, more competitive squad.</p>

Thus far I'd say not like.
</p>

 

If people want guaranteed entertainment for an admission fee then the cinema is a better bet. There's been a change in our society whereby fans expect instant gratifiction - especially kids. If you're talking about football as a "product" rather than a passionate affiliation then that's probably a good example of how peoples' attitudes have changed.

I agree that people have a right to complain, but if they boo and complain during the match then they're hurting the team and therefore the club! Can't they do it with demonstrations outside the ground, or petitions & letters to Patrick Cryne? No, because it's easier to boo at the match.

Yes Davey is irrationally stubborn... i guess he's trying to look like he's in charge. Would you prefer him to ask fans who to pick & where to play them? Don't forget we have him because we are not an attractive club for proven, quality managers. Danny Wilson was a gamble that paid off, but those were the days when the teams around us didn't have many millions to spend.

I'm afraid that many fans' expectations far exceed the means of the club.

 

please please please, we all know where we would be without our Mr. Cryne and his money but I don't hear the likes of Portsmouth making the same noises and just look
where they are now. I accept we do not have the same finces as they but, at least we might have chosen a fcking man who might have taken us forward. We don't even have
that privalage.Seriously though, after 51 years of supporting the reds I am increasingly becomming so frustrated with this w*nker that I'm ready for throwing the towel in.

 

RE: Perhaps the pre-season optimism/hype was a mistake

Looks like it depended entirely on Kevin Phillips coming to Oakwell more than once this season.

 

RE: Reality check - where are we going?.........

I think we are looking for a settled side
I don't think SD has found that yet mainly due to injuries

We need to get the back 4 working as a unit.
But the main concern is the strike force. We need to off load Macken, Mostto and Odejayi (if possible) and bring a couple of decent strikers in. The juries still out regarding Coulson and Rigters.

 

My reply...

UPWARDS...

 

we don't have a back four. Ther is no left back in the squad nt

 

Re: Hindsight is a wonderful thing

I can only assume that Davey was the best option when he was chosen to manage this club - a gamble yes, but so was Danny Wilson. Unfortunately we can't attract the Wengers of this world.

You mention the finances of Portsmouth as the only factor separating them from us in circumstances. Money is by far the largest differentiator in football nowadays, because clubs are run as businesses and players/managers look after their careers first.

It's all very well speculating who might have done better in Davey's place, or who might do better fromnow on, but who exactly can we attract to manage & play for us who will improve this squad?

Personally i'm unlikely to renew my seaon ticket if Davey's still at the helm next Summer - not just because he's clearly failed with transfers/tactics/motivation, but also because i can't stand to listen to boo boys ruin an already frustrating experience on matchdays, and harm this club in the process.

 

RE: I'm glad you are optimistic for a future without Davey

...but things are not guaranteed to get better simply by making a change in management. Who will we get? Will they fare any better without the ability to attract decent players? Will they be just as bad?

My point is that we're unlikely to attract quality now, not least because a sizeable section of the fans are a disgrace and attack their own players. Relatively limited finances and an unfashionable club/town are the other big factors.

 

what he said nt

 

RE: I'm glad you are optimistic for a future without Davey

I mean come on, it's not as if we're trying to attract artists, musicians and nobel prize winners to the town is it? We're just trying to attract decent standard Championship players, not the Tottis and Ronaldos of this world.

And as I said, Leeds is 25 minutes away, Manchester 40 minutes away and some of the most beautiful countryside and villages on offer are on our doorstep. There are loads of places for players to live other than in Barnsley itself.

And to say a sizeable section of the fans are a disgrace is wrong. A small minority are mindless whereas the sensible majority have now realised its time for a change before irreparable damage is done to their club.

Believe me, if we were winning games then plenty of players would be happy to join us. That is the telling factor.

 

Of course we could get a decent manager! We are a

Championship club, there are lots of experienced guys out there who would jump at the chance.

 

Thanks for that, £25 gets me r lass and the rug rats in the cinema. Glad you dont work for marketing at BFC.

 

RE: Those are all good points

Davey's position must be viewed as untenable. Even if he wins a couple of games, he's alienated the crowd and probably a few players. I just hope that your "how hard can it be?" attitude to recruitment is correct and that things start to improve.

Hopefully we can overcome the gap in salaries players can expect to come here, and the fans can start to make this club an attractive one for players & managers to come to. Unfortunately the players we've abused and driven out in recent times are hardly going to speak highly of BFC if they're asked for advice.

 

Offload players, again? Just set up a turnstile for them, Jesus!

 

I knew it'd be the fans fault eventually.

 

RE: Those are all good points

We've attracted people in the past with largely the same core of fans at the club.

Which players have we abused and driven out?

 

RE: So you think the boo boys hurling abuse after 20 mins are entirely blameless?

Don't get me wrong, the Davey experiment has failed and he has to take the lions share of the blame.

BUT LOOK BEYOND THAT to what's to come...

Significant pockets of our fans on matchdays are hardly a credit to the club. How can we expect players & managers to come here and succeed when they suffer abuse so readily? We probably have a reputation for this already. Just ask Chopra.