Skip to main content

The Inside Line: Bristol City v Barnsley (28/03/2015)

Well, what a week! Six days after 42,000 of us returned home from one of those special days at Wembley, City return to their ultimate target with a league match against Lee Johnson’s Barnsley. Little Lee just can’t keep away from Ashton Gate, can he. Perhaps a portent of times to come… 

This week Stu Radnedge spoke to Andy White, a Tykes fan who has renewed hope for their new regime.

“It's been a difficult season back in the third tier for we Barnsley supporters. The football on the whole has been poor/dull, results little better and we've had to say goodbye to yet another manager, the greatest we've ever had. First time around. Unfortunately, results and the failed product put paid to his second coming a couple of months ago now. Lots of us found it a harsh decision to remove Danny Wilson. We were mid table, anything could have happened. But the board sacked him after a 2-1 home defeat against Fleetwood Town. The caretaker managership then oversaw a 5-1 humiliation at Crawley Town (for which the travelling fans were reimbursed) before guiding us to two victories without conceding a goal. And then the very 'meh' appointment of Lee Johnson came about.

What has happened since then has revitalised the fanbase, the players and breathed new life into the dying embers of the league campaign. Two consecutive victories became six, with just one goal conceded and at last it appeared the quality players we knew we'd got had finally clicked as a team. Clicked so well that we now stand a fighting chance of making the end of season playoffs. Barmy game, football!

I have been very impressed with Johnson so far. The performances of his players haven't been standout to be honest, we've not all of a sudden looked world beaters. But the team now looks like a team. It's cohesive, it looks purposeful and well drilled. Not boring, but not thrilling either. He's basically come in and got them back to basics. We went a goal behind last weekend against form side PNE. A few months ago you'd have seen us lose that by three goals, surrendering I suppose. But we came out flying in the second half and got a well deserved and hard fought point. We weren't very good in the game prior to that, away at Orient, but our young keeper Adam Davies had a stormer and we fought for a precious point and goalless draw. Fight. We've now got some. And it's a trait that everyone supporting little old Barnsley expect from their side/players as a bare minimum.

Can we make the playoffs? I doubt it, deep down. I wouldn't rule it out, we've some exceptionally talented footballers for this division. But injuries are biting again. We've now lost Davies for a couple of weeks and had to emergency loan in a young kid keeper from neighbours Sheffield Wednesday. You might have heard of them? No? They're massive. No? Oh, ok then...

It appears you lot have had a far smoother ride this season. Stability, success, confidence, optimism. A trip to Wembley and what now looks a nailed on return to the second tier. I expected you to win the division, and you're going to do. With minimal fuss. Fantastic achievement, and momentum to take into a much harsher environment next season. I'll wish you all the best with that. And perhaps we'll see you there...?

Just a quick note to end - When we nearly beat you in the Oakwell fixture, we followed up that point with a victory over Sheff Utd and another against Colchester. The fixture list throws all three of those games at us again now, and so I'd be over the bloody moon if we take another seven from nine.

Thanks for reading, and good luck going forwards.” 


My thanks to Andy and Stu for this great preview. After holding Preston for us last weekend, let’s hope they can do us another favour this week and roll over to a nice zero points!

COYR!


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why Cotterill was sacked

In the end, it was very sudden.  In a season where pressure has increasingly grown on Steve Cotterill for all sorts of reasons, an unknown combination of a lacklustre, exhausted-looking performance at home to Preston, an unsavoury altercation with an abusive ‘supporter’ at the end of that game, or perhaps a behind-the-scenes disagreement over transfer policy look to have ultimately curtailed his time at Ashton Gate. No manager these days can win just four out of 28 games in a season, be in the bottom three, and expect to be impervious to the threat of being sacked. But given such an incredulous level of success last season, Cotterill was surely closer than most to having a level of credit in the bank to be given until the end of the season? I share views with many as a general principle where I wish all clubs would give mangers more time to build, but the days of giving a manager the luxury of years of under-achievement, of the type Alex Ferguson enjoyed, resulting in a ...
12 comments
Read more

Bristol City: Our Greatest Team to the Ashton Gate Eight

Back in 2014, I was invited by the Two Unfortunates website to write about Bristol City's greatest team. It was a story which, of course, ended ultimately in the story of the Ashton Gate 8. Since the site of the original post has long since gone, here it is republished in full. "Eight players with more than 80 years at the club and more than 2,000 appearances between them, cast aside as unwilling saviours" Sometimes, events occur that make you realise your true standing in life. When the emotional mask of expectation is removed and those rose-tinted spectacles are lowered onto the brow of the nose, you can realise that things aren’t quite all they seem. And so it was for me, a lifelong Bristol City fan, when I was asked to talk about our greatest ever team. For when it came down to it, there was only one real choice. One genuinely great team that I could write about even in the perspective-bending world of football and this was one I hadn’t even had the privilege of seein...
Post a Comment
Read more

Up in smoke. England's Ashes tour 2025/26 review and player ratings

High on hope, low on delivery. England are heading towards yet another heavy away Ashes defeat, with an overriding feeling of frustration and annoyance at what could have been. Despite a largely woeful winter, it doesn’t feel like they’ve been too far away from having a chance of claiming a rare victory, which makes the scale of the failure all the more galling. Mitchell Starc and Travis Head have been the huge difference makers and deserve to be joint Men of the Series. Steve Smith delivered in Sydney, whilst Alex Carey has proven himself to be the world’s best wicket-keeper. Other than that, there hasn’t been a lot to scare England. Major Australian absences opened the door. Starc, and more latterly Scott Boland, have dragged their attack through the series. Thirty years of worrying about Shane Warne and Nathan Lyon ended with a complete lack of spin option. Other than Head, Smith and Carey, no Aussie batter averaged over 28. Ultimately, though, it was a series defined by brainle...
Post a Comment
Read more