For what its worth I think that people bemoaning the attendance yesterday need to inject some kind of proper perspective in the argument and stop being so blinkered to the fact that there are other things in life than football. People need to accept that we are a club from a provincial town, squeezed in between Sheffield and and Leeds, who will never get regular attendances as high as they would like. Football, at the end of the day, is part of the entertainment industry, and competes for people's money like other forms of entertainment, balanced against the fact that people have other priorities for their cash. 10,000 Reds fans yesterday was a very disappointing turnout but it is getting towards the end of the month when people are waiting for pay day, people have already forked out for their Wembley tickets, and football is a damned expensive lark these days. Its ok if you are a spotty 17 year old with a weekend job and nothing else to spend money on other than Barnsley and beer - I've been there and its great - first time I got home from University 19 years ago and got a full time job my first thought was that I could afford to go to EVERY game, home and away - I had nothing else to spend money on. But as you get older things like mortgages, supermarket shopping trips to feed the family, ever increasing gas and electric bills, insurance bills, petrol to feed the car that is going up at a rate of knots, not to mention the council tax bill for 1,300 quid that has just dropped through the door - all these things mean that you have to prioritise your cash and, whilst I have a season ticket and a good job with a decent salary, I know that not everyone can afford the things I can - my mate could only decide on Friday night that he could squeeze a Blunts ticket out of what's left until payday (too late for him to actually go) and he's single with no kids - others would have decided that they couldn't - its called a fact of LIFE. So all this ******** about whether the town wants a championship football club is just that - ********. If the choice was between feeding the kids, or paying the heating bill, or going to Barnsley to make sure that they can afford another 5 grand a week player, there is only one non-priority in that list and it’s not the gas bill. If people think it’s bad now, just wait until the recession bites - as I think it will within the next year or two - and it could be a harsh one. First things that have to go in situations like that are life's luxuries and attendances will fall all over the country - football could actually be in a lot of **** if people chuck out their sky dishes as well - who's going to pay £50 a month to watch telly when they are struggling to pay the bills - the only people left with Sky will be those on incapacity benefit who somehow seem to manage to pay for it already, along with their fags. And when Sky's subs drop by half, then watch the size of the next Premiership deal drop by half as well. Face it - 10,000 home fans is an average to decent attendance for us on any given day - of course we are going to take a lot of people to Wembley who don't come every game - that's bloody obvious and would be the same at any other club. So if you want to support a club where attendances are 30,000 even though the football is ****, you need to go to watch Leeds. Staying with Barnsley? – then accept some facts of life.
good honest opinion ,with which i agree although you would have thought with the added hype surrounding the club at the moment(wembley giant killings),people would be more inclined to go to oakwell even if it was to only learn the players names for said trip to wembley.(clap)
A few truisms in there when RR#2 goes to Uni 2 ST's per season will be a thing of the past as well. Much as he'll want to go when he can £500+ will be better spent on putting a roof over his head & food on his table. I'm sure we'll still go when he's home but I dont expect he'll be home that often & for us its what we do together, mum & son bonding, so going wi others wont be same. Attendences ebb & flow due to personal circumstances. Crowds have grown by about 2k ave since pre 96 so some glory hunters came & stayed post Prem
All the excuses you have articulately listed apply to everyone in the country, not just Barnsley. Therefore there is nothing wrong with comparing our attendances with those of other clubs at the same level. The last time I looked our average attendance was the 4th worst in the division. A division where every club's fans have the same social and economic choices and problems. They are not unique to Barnsley.
Apart from the fact that they are not all squeezed between Sheffield and Leeds ! I take your point, but that comparison needs to take into account the historic attendance comparison, as being a fan in the first place is something that, for many people, is passed down through the generations. I bet, if you did the same comparison of the same 24 clubs attendances from, say 30 years ago, or 40 years ago, we would still be something like 4th bottom.
