FAO Barnsley Directors ……… Sheffield Wednesday

[Young_Nudger]

I was on holiday during the 1st Division Final.
I didn’t see the game but I thought I’d put a few words together in relation to the game which I hope our directors read.

Neerav and JAQ are relatively new to Barnsley and I was wondering if it crossed their mind why there were twice as many Wednesday supporters at Wembley than there were Barnsley supporters.
After all the clubs are only about 13 miles apart.

To understand that you must have lived around South Yorkshire for a while - which obviously some of our directors haven’t.

The basic reason is this:
Wednesday have always thought themselves to be a big club - and let’s be honest they have huge support.
Consequently no matter what league they are in they have spent big money on players that’s allowed them to play on a bigger stage in comparison to other local clubs such as Barnsley.

Even when Wednesday were in the 1st Division they could attract big crowds because they have a successful tradition spanning back decades that have attracted great grandfathers, grandfathers, fathers and now their children to Hillsborough.
But importantly many of these families have no links to Sheffield whatsoever - they go to Hillsborough from surrounding towns such as Chesterfield, Rotherham, Doncaster and Barnsley.

These are football supporters that have abandoned their own town club to watch Sheffield Wednesday.
The question our new directors must be asking is - WHY ?

Barnsley is a medium sized town of about 240,000.
I’m sure the directors have already realised that in terms of football supporters it’s a big town. Most men and many women in Barnsley are football fans who support one team or another.

Problem we have had in Barnsley is that a large percentage of football fans have turned their back on BFC - why continue to watch lower league games such as Barnsley v Exeter when 13 miles down the road you can watch Sheffield Wednesday v Manchester United.

The objective of our new directors is to tap into that huge potential football support that is present in Barnsley.
It’s there but it’s going to be very difficult task - but it can be done.
I little example of this - I remember when Barnsley were in the Premier - two friends of mine who are out and out Leeds supporters bought Barnsley STs.

I’m not advocating that our relatively new directors throw £££ millions at Barnsley in a way that Sheffield Wednesday has done resulting in £60 million debt - but there needs to be an understanding by the directors of where Barnsley is right now and where they could be given the right stewardship.