Sheffield Wednesday is a big club. They regularly get over 20,000 to their games when they are not playing well. The fact that Barnsley FC consider themselves to be rivals to Wednesday says a lot about how both clubs have been managed.
I live in Manchester now and I've realised that if I'd been born over here then I would probably be a fan of United or City with a soft spot for my much smaller local team (Bury, Rochdale, Oldham etc). However, it is not like that in South Yorkshire where a combination of geography and history have meant that big clubs, such as Sheffield Wednesday, and smaller clubs, such as Barnsley, see themselves as rivals.
And make no mistake, Sheffield Wednesday is a big club. They regularly get over 20,000 to their games when they are not playing well. The fact that Barnsley FC consider themselves to be rivals to Wednesday says a lot about how both clubs have been managed, particularly in the last 30 years or so.
The point is that I can understand Sheffield Wednesday. I can see that they are a big club with lots of potential and that, if they can get promotion to the Premier League, then they have at least a fighting chance of staying there. When I look at Barnsley FC, I see a club hanging on to second tier status by the skin of its teeth. I see a succession of managers forced to make compromises because the budget is not there to support them and I see players coming and going with such speed that I hardly know who is playing anymore.
I am off work at the moment and watching more football than is good for me. I watched Derby versus Forest at the weekend and the thing that struck me the most was that here were two well organised clubs with plenty of resources and each with a large fanbase behind them. For Barnsley FC even to be able to compete with clubs like these is a miracle. However, it cannot last and unless the Club reinvents itself as something other than a makeweight for the Big Boys who are in the Championship, then I really do not see much of a future.
I am not a Wednesday fan, I am a Barnsley fan. That link still gives me some identity but it is getting harder to justify each season. Surely it is time to build a community club and focus on youth? Anything else will be death by a thousand cuts.
Editors note: Thanks to John Meara for his first contribution to the site as a response to Michael Roach's recent post, "An Open Letter to the Players of Barnsley Football Club" . Perhaps the headline is bound to spark some baiting of both Wednesday and Barnsley fans alike? We invite you to leave your comments below or join the debate with us on Facebook or Twitter.
And make no mistake, Sheffield Wednesday is a big club. They regularly get over 20,000 to their games when they are not playing well. The fact that Barnsley FC consider themselves to be rivals to Wednesday says a lot about how both clubs have been managed, particularly in the last 30 years or so.
The point is that I can understand Sheffield Wednesday. I can see that they are a big club with lots of potential and that, if they can get promotion to the Premier League, then they have at least a fighting chance of staying there. When I look at Barnsley FC, I see a club hanging on to second tier status by the skin of its teeth. I see a succession of managers forced to make compromises because the budget is not there to support them and I see players coming and going with such speed that I hardly know who is playing anymore.
I am off work at the moment and watching more football than is good for me. I watched Derby versus Forest at the weekend and the thing that struck me the most was that here were two well organised clubs with plenty of resources and each with a large fanbase behind them. For Barnsley FC even to be able to compete with clubs like these is a miracle. However, it cannot last and unless the Club reinvents itself as something other than a makeweight for the Big Boys who are in the Championship, then I really do not see much of a future.
I am not a Wednesday fan, I am a Barnsley fan. That link still gives me some identity but it is getting harder to justify each season. Surely it is time to build a community club and focus on youth? Anything else will be death by a thousand cuts.
Editors note: Thanks to John Meara for his first contribution to the site as a response to Michael Roach's recent post, "An Open Letter to the Players of Barnsley Football Club" . Perhaps the headline is bound to spark some baiting of both Wednesday and Barnsley fans alike? We invite you to leave your comments below or join the debate with us on Facebook or Twitter.
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When I look at Barnsley FC, I see a club hanging on to second tier status by the skin of its teeth. I see a succession of managers forced to make compromises because the budget is not there to support them and I see players coming and going with such speed that I hardly know who is playing anymore."
You could quite easily be referring to Wednesday with the above quote. Fair enough, they've had a decent run this season which has seen them pull well clear of the bottom three, but still. They're the club who have yo-yo'd between this and the division below for the last ten years. They've more debt and post more losses than we have or ever will do. Their stadium is in a right old state and has outside loans against it. They've more short term signings than most clubs, a revolving door policy of recruitment. Little in the way of an academy.
By all means, have a moan and groan about the reds right now. We're all at it. But to suggest you'd rather support Wednesday is a little OTT, very wrong, and can only be based upon them winning a few games this year.
I believe the reds are doomed this season. But I've been wrong about my club before and will be again. They're still our club, no matter what. We've a manager in position that will hopefully be given real time to implement the raft of changes and put a strategy in place to get our small town club thriving once again. He's done it before remember?
I would rather die than support Wednesday. Massive my @rse. Hang your head in shame. You should never ever even consider supporting them. However, if you are that flakey and misguided, I will drive you down the A61 myself. Delusions of grandeur. Pathetic, fuelled by weaklings like yourself. Don't knock BFC and blow Wednesday's trumpet, that is just stupid. Knock us. But ignore them.
Many years ago, after a game where Barnsley had lost again, my eldest son said "Why don't you try supporting someone else?" I told him not to be ridiculous. "Why don't you try it for a week?", he asked. I thought about this. I could choose any team I wanted. I could experience what it feels like to be a winner. Then reality struck. "I just can't" I said. That is my reality.
The reality for teams like Barnsley in the Championship is that the Money Men are prepared to take a punt on the bigger teams in the hope of getting them into the Premier League. I don't see anyone being prepared to take that risk on Barnsley and I would not want it if it meant selling the club's soul and being rebranded 'Barnsley Tykes'' and playing in blue shirts like a Cardiff or a Hull.
I am as susceptible to the romance of football as anybody. I caught myself the other day wondering about a Neil Redfearn/Bobby Hassell dream management team leading a team of committed but limited professionals up the league, but the reality is that things have changed and I think Barnsley FC needs to decide what is for and what it represents.
At the start of the season following relegation from the Premier League there was a sign near the box office at Oakwell which read "On loan to the Championship" which set my alarm bells ringing then. The clubs which I admire stand for something over and above the vagaries of a season.
I wish I could support a big club but I can't. I would like to support a club with values which go beyond clinging on to Championship status.
Still, great win last night! Shame Wednesday won as well.
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