Barnsley FC: How will we do this season?

Having finished my preview of the Championship, team by team, earlier today, you might have noticed that someone was missing. We were.

That’s because talking about how your own team is going to do is very difficult. It’s important that, whilst doing it, you justify everything you say, and carefully separate hopes from expectations.

First of all…expectations. Last season we finished 18th, which was generally considered adequate because Robins on the whole used Davey’s squad, he had missed several games before he joined the club and because players became indifferent at the end of the season we went on a 10 game winnless run.

At one point Robins had us second in the form table, and all Reds fans will think we can reach those heights again.

The key point here is that I expect a noticeable improvement on last season in all areas. Robins has had the time and the funds to make his own team, and he seems to have used those resources carefully. I think all Barnsley fans are convinced that we are player by player better in all departments than last season, even if the squad isn’t perfect.

But, it’s important to not expect unrealistic things. Robins will be building us up gradually, and not in one summer. He says that we should finish in the top 10. I would be happy with a top half finish, so long as the players look motivated, and Robins makes sensible decisions throughout the season.

And now hopes. Hopes are such an important part of football, that we can use statistics to prove them.

If we take the final points total last term, take out Davey’s time, take out the last 10 games (reasonable in that if we needed the points, they wouldn’t happen again) and last year, we achieved 48 points from 30 games. 1.6 points per game, and over the course of a full season that reaches 73 points. Enough for the top 6.

It’s taboo to say I ‘hope’ we can reach the top 6, because that’s more a dream than a hope, and when a dream is spoken it becomes surreal. No team achieves a constant point per game, it will vary, with good and bad form.

I ‘hope’ we can be pushing for the play offs, and I hope that we are still pushing for promotion with 5 games to go. That would be real progress, because once a team gets a sniff of the play offs, even without winning them, it becomes easier to attract players in the following summer, who are hopeful of reaching the Premiership.

Here’s some other thoughts on the 2010/2011 season for Barnsley:

• I’m really hopeful that we can get attendances up this season. we’ve seen signs of good football in pre-season, and once word got out that Donny were passing it around, their crowds shot up. Add in a quiet push up the table post-Christmas, and it could mean good things financially.
• I can accept that not all Robins’ new signings will work out. I can accept that some may be total flops or drop outs. What I want to see is that some of them are successful, and that Robins can identify when a player has failed, and replace him in January or next summer. That is improvement.
• Nobody should panic if we start badly. We have away games against QPR, where we haven’t won since 1950, and Bristol City, where we have played 39 and lost 29, and a home game against favorites Middlesbrough all in August. Add into this that early season is the least important part of the season, and it’s worth issuing a pre-season warning to keep calm, and carry on.
• Equally, the fact that it’s going to be a tough August means that if we do come out of August in tact, there is a lot of cause for hope in an easier future.

I think that covers everything we need to think about for now, and I’ll try to refer back to these thoughts whenever necessary throughout the season.

It’d be great if everyone could use the comment box below this article to leave what they hope and expect from this season, and we can find out what Oakwell calls for.

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