Brammer’s Blog

Great to see some initiative being shown down at Oakwell with the ‘Forest for a Fiver’ campaign. It looks like the public of Barnsley have responded in large numbers with several parts of the ground already sold out.

Perhaps it was the full house at Pride Park last week which stimulated the club to make the offer? There is no question that a capacity crowd generates a far better environment for the players to perform in.

The atmosphere at Oakwell over the past few seasons (local derbies aside) has been pretty poor, and in most games the only time you hear the crowd is if there is a goal or the referee gives a bad decision. We need to try and recapture the cheering and singing of old and make Oakwell the intimidating place it once was for visiting teams. 

Credit to Patrick Cryne for presumably underwriting the cost of this initiative. He mentioned at the last Supporters’ Trust meeting how successful the discounted Junior season tickets had been, with crowds for equivalent fixtures increasing by around 20% on last term. He also went on to say that prices for next season would – at the very least – be pegged at the same level and ideally he would like to reduce them further. I dare say the Forest initiative is being used to ‘test the water’ to see what potential demand there is in the town and what they would be willing to pay.

Retaining our Championship status would certainly give the club more financial freedom to reduce season ticket prices. Another reason why it is important to get down to Oakwell and back the Reds this (and indeed every) weekend.

…or Quite Interesting as Stephen Fry might say. Flicking through The Observer this morning I noticed a table of Championship teams entitled ‘Can’t Buy A Goal’. Guess who tops it? Correct! We’ve failed to score in 17 of our 38 games this term, which basically means that we only score every other game.

It just reinforces the belief that we’re two strikers short of being a Play-Off side. Yesterday’s game underlined the fact.

I’m on the train back from Derby and I’m actually disappointed we’ve only got a point because that was arguably our best away performance of the season.

The fact that Nigel Clough said he was pleased to get a draw and that his goalkeeper was man of the match tells you everything. The Reds were dominant for large spells, combining excellent football with 100% commitment. The only thing the performance lacked was a goal to earn the Reds the three points they deserved. Not for the first time this season we failed to be clinical in front of goal, with both Jon Macken and Michael Mifsud spurning golden opportunities.

With results elsewhere going in our favour a win today would have created a nice cushion going into the international break. That said, if we perform like we have in our past two fixtures for the rest of the campaign we shouldn’t be worrying about finishing in the bottom three.

The only fly in the ointment today was the injury situation with Kozluk, Andranik and De Silva all having to be substituted. Maybe the two week break has worked in our favour.

*The picture I’ve attached was up on the wall in the Derby press room showing Clough Snr and Jnr. Seemed quite fitting with the film about ‘Old Big ‘Ead’ coming out next week.

Clough Snr & Jnr in the Derby Press Room

Very disappointing to see that Dennis Souza ‘chose’ not to be on the bench on Tuesday night according to Simon Davey.

It was a talking point in the Press Room before kick-off because Souza’s name was on the original team sheet but had been scribbled out. It was assumed that he’d either picked up a late knock or his name had been written in error.

The last thing the Club needs at present are prima donnas. Compare Souza’s attitude with that of his defensive partner Darren Moore who – having suffered two hefty knocks in the course of the game – still managed to play the full 90 minutes despite his obvious discomfort.

You could almost understand Souza’s reaction if he’d been in the form of his life, but he hasn’t. In fact he was lucky to keep his place earlier this season after a series of gaffes cost us a number of goals.

I’m sure Mr Davey will have made Dennis aware – in no uncertain terms – what ‘Stronger Together’ means.

We had to win. And we did. We wanted to see passion and commitment. And we got it. We needed to see that the players backed their manager. And they do.

It was an uncannily similar performance (in identical circumstances) to that against Doncaster at Oakwell earlier this season. Sat in the relegation zone on the back of a poor run of form, manager under pressure, big performance needed from the players, fall behind early in the game, fight back and eventually win convincingly.

Of course one swallow doesn’t make a summer – we need to replicate that kind of performance over the coming 9 games – but at least it has given us hope.

Incidentally Neil Warnock was on good form in the post match press conference. After an honest assessment that Palace ‘weren’t good enough’ he went on to quip that “We’ll have to put on a better performance on Saturday against Reading because it’s on TV. Have you got telly’s in Barnsley yet?!” Love him or loathe him (probably the latter), there’s no denying he’s a character!

There’s that old saying in football that ‘players win games and managers lose them’ – the inference being that when things are going well praise is heaped on the players, yet when things start going wrong everyone blames the manager. It isn’t fair, but life isn’t is it?

Managers are judged on results and Simon Davey will be well aware of the fact the Reds currently sit rock bottom of the form table based on results since the turn of the year. We had the same scenario last term, although that could largely be explained by the distraction of the FA Cup run. The same excuse can’t be proferred this time round.

Granted we have had injuries and suspensions – but we are hardly unique in that are we? Yes we have a small squad, but then so do Donny who’ve collected 25 points (against our 8) since Jan 1st.

Of course as supporters we only see what happens on a matchday – we don’t know what occurs ‘behind the scenes’. Is it the manager’s tactics and team selection which is wrong, or is it the players who get on the pitch and don’t follow instructions? We can argue till the cows come home on that one – and no doubt we will! However, the recriminations can occur at the end of the season, right now we have to put our faith in Simon Davey and his squad in the hope that they can pull us out of this mess.

The biggest concern at the minute is our home form. It has been our relatively strong record at Oakwell which has kept us afloat the last couple of seasons – yet it now seems to be deserting us in our hour of need. I can’t remember the home fans being so quiet at Oakwell or the sense of expectancy so low – there is almost an air of resignation (especially if we fall behind in a game).

Of course there has been little for us to shout about, but it comes back to that old chestnut of whether it is up to the fans to get the players going or visa-versa? Never has the phrase ‘Stronger Together’ had more resonance.

The home match tomorrow night is arguably the most important game of the season. It’s not only about getting three points, it’s about how we get them too. We need to see commitment and self-belief and we need to see that the players back the manager. If we get that then I’m certain the supporters will play their part too.

My name is Adam Brammer and over the coming weeks I will be ‘blogging’ on Barnsley One to give a fans’ perspective on events at Oakwell. I hope you enjoy reading my random musings even if you don’t necessarily agree with them!