<h1>Reds relishing City test</h1> <div class="viewarticlepanel"><div class="multiimageoff" id="MainMultiImage"><div id="MainImageDiv"></div><div id="ThumbDiv"><div class="thumb"></div><div class="thumb"></div><div class="thumb"></div><div class="thumb"></div><div class="thumb2"></div></div> <div id="Navigation"><div class="off" id="PreviousBlock1">« Previous </div><div class="off" id="PreviousBlock1Inactive">« Previous</div><div class="off" id="NextBlock1">Next » </div><div class="off" id="NextBlock1Inactive">Next »</div></div><div class="off noprint" id="divGalleryLink">View Gallery</div></div></div><div>Published Date: 31 July 2009 </div><div class="byline" id="ds-byline">By Neil Goulding</div><div class="ds-firstpara" id="ds-firstpara">BARNSLEY director Don Rowing is expecting an exciting atmosphere at Oakwell on Saturday as the Reds face Manchester City in their last season pre-season outing.</div><div class="va-bodytext" id="va-bodytext">But while Reds fans having already snapped up around 10,500 tickets for the eagerly-anticipated visit of the Premier League side, the Blues have surprisingly sold only around 2,500 of their ticket allocation. Roughly 8,000 Reds fans took advantage <div class="MPUTitleWrapperClass" id="ds-mpuTitleWrapper"><div class="advertisement" id="ds-mpuTitle">ADVERTISEMENT</div><div id="ds-mpu"><div id="mpuholder" style="display: block"><div class="dartiframe" id="WctlDartHtml4" style="width: 300px; height: 250px"></div></div></div></div>of the chance to renew their season tickets earlier with the added bonus of free entry to two pre-season friendlies, including the visit of Mark Hughes' all-stars. However, with City also fielding another team at Rotherham United on Saturday, it seems Blues fans will be splitting themselves across South Yorkshire to catch a glance of their array of star players. "We've had a lot of fans who have renewed their season tickets early - and for that they've been given the chance to watch two friendlies for free," Rowing told the Star. "It should be a good atmosphere. I think everyone is looking forward to City coming to Oakwell. "We've had a good pre-season, the winning mentality has been there and the players are in good spirits. "The players had a good team-building week in Spain and have benefited from that." And Rowing, a self-confessed "eternal optimist", believes the club should aim for a play-off finish. "We've got to go into the season believing we can get there rather that worrying about where we have finished for the last three seasons," he said. Barnsley have not offered former Sheffield United defender Maxine Chanot a permanent deal at the club. The ex-Blades centre-back has been on trial at Oakwell for the last three weeks and accompanied the team on their recent one-week pre-season training camp to Malaga. But Reds boss Simon Davey has decided not to keep the 19-year-old and he has now joined Crewe Alexandra on trial. The Railwaymen are now managed by former Barnsley boss Gudjon Thordarson.<!--- MPUMinCharsCutOff:210 PageLength:1817 MPUPositionFromStart:250 MPUPositionRange:1000 hasVideoOrImage:False ---> </div>
It's City's reserves at Rotherham though, and I reckon a fair few City fans will pay on the day in the north stand as well!
Owt over 10,000 for pre season friendly is excellent for us. Should be close to our average gate for a league game.
