2014 - A YEAR TO FORGET?

Seeing your club relegated and losing nearly twice as many games as they win is bound to leave you thankful that the year is over and with a new one about to begin, a new dawn will break with new resolutions. It's been awful has 2014, no question about that. We had to witness not only that relegation, but a lot of players supposedly fighting for survival who either weren't capable, or were, but couldn't be bothered to put a shift in. One of them wanted to fight with us, one even gave us the finger. The defeats against Huddersfield, Wednesday and Leeds were horrific or heartbreaking. The rays of light so infrequent, as we more or less surrendered our record holding status as a second tier club. The sad fact that Danny Wilson was in the dugout for half of the season, and that we dropped on the 26th April just plunged the knife in deeper. Yep, 2014 was wucking fank... 





For those ignoring all the eventualities and obvious fallout that a relegation brings upon a club, the new season will also seem just as dire. Results haven't been great. They've not even been okay. We're hovering just above another relegation zone, only a level lower down. But the green shoots of recovery are there for all to see, should you open your eyes or remove the blinkers that agendas provide you with. The mammoth rebuilding task is under way. We've blooded a handful of teenagers. The likes of Bree, Nana, Oates, Abbott, Cowgill, Smith and Holgate. Academy products. We've recruited other promising youngsters in Hourihane, Winnall, Berry, Williams and Davies. You'd be a harsh critic to be saying anything but good stuff about the lot of them. Unfortunately, it's our experienced lads who've struggled the most in 2014-15 thus far. 





For the awful to endure defeats of last season, I've had the pleasure of seeing some great victories so far this time around. Notably, Sheff Utd away, Bradford at Oakwell and of course, Rochdale away. Seen some gash on show too. Not felt as embarrassed as I was against Milton Keynes in erm, well, since last season. So aye, the shít defeats are still there. And those days have been hard again, because the dissenters among us often then scream for a change in manager. I sort of understand that, in this modern age of football. But come on, look at where we are. We're here in part (a large part) because our board can't stick it out with the manager. We're always told they've found the perfect man. But a year or so down the line it's the manager blamed once more. They can't all be bad. There's one doing a decent job in League Two right now, our last manager. The one who preceded him has his little club well above us at present, with no money (as he loves to remind everybody). And the bloke prior to that? He was in the away dugout at Oakwell recently, taking three points home with him and his now upwardly mobile outfit. 





Patience and a strong stomach. Prerequisites. We'll get it reight. Rome wasn't built in a day, nor were the sides at the top of our division. Lets stick this out for a change. I believe our board finally get that this time. Lets hope we as a fanbase can stick together too. We've backed the lads brilliantly so far this season, our away support bettered by just two other clubs who are at the top end of the table. We're also a good and charitable bunch. The continued great work of BFC fanzine 'West Stand Bogs' deserves all the respect in the world, and I'm proud to play a very small part in that. 





Fingers crossed we enjoy next year. 



Here's a video (below) for you, and may I wish all of you reading this a happy and prosperous new year 2015. You Reds. 




'Love Barnsley, Hate Football'