Keith Hill

NorthRed wrote:Yesterday Mr Hill had a go at our fans again for booing the team off at half time. Well on this occasion I'm right behind him, fair play we had a shit first half (well match to be honest) but we're gonna have runs like that through out the season at the end of the day we are not blessed with most excellent players in the championship. I think these fans seem to forget some of the footy we've played over the past few months.
Boo at full time by all means when we've BEEN beat by the bottom club but lets not make the lads feel worse than they already do at half time!! Hows that helping them get back into it? Its just making it harder for em!

The reason I am posting it on here, rather than e-mailing the club is that I have e-mailed the club on a few occasions (in fact, despite the club apparently being hard up for cash I am still waiting for a response to my offer to sponsor some kit) and have never had a response. However, I know this website is monitored, so I think there's more chance of the people it is aimed at actually reading it.

My complaint is Keith Hill's comments in his post match interview. I know some of his comments in the past have rubbed the fans up the wrong way and, whilst I haven't particularly appreciated his comments, I have taken them with a pinch of salt. Today, however, he has gone too far. I appreciate he is being interviewed after a disappointing display and home defeat, but he had had some time to reflect before being interviewed, so he had the time to consider what he was going to say.

I was sat in the Pontefract Road End, a place that I have watched Barnsley from since before any of the current first teamers were born. I heard a certain amount of booing at half and full time, and a few disgruntled shouts throughout the match. The way that a few of the players played and the basic mistakes they were making were enough to make any of us shout. I noticed the players were giving each other the same treatment. I didn't boo though, as I have never booed anybody in a Reds shirt. But I can see why some people did, particularly the ones that have paid £30 to watch the game.

But I also heard a lot of support for the Reds, and not just after we had scored the goal. I heard plenty of singing and encouragement throughout the dismal first half performance too. And from greater numbers than those that were booing. Mr Hill needs to get a sense of perspective and realise that it was a small amount who booed and not all of us. That doesn't necessarily mean we weren't all unhappy with the performance though.

Apparently it was our lack of education. There we go again with the old chestnut of only people who have played the game or done our coaching badges actually understand how the game is supposed to be played. I suppose we shouldn't be allowed to criticise a politician unless we've been elected too, eh? Mr Hill would find that a lot of fans know a bit more than he'd think. We can certainly recognise that the constant delaying and signposting of passes, which invariably go to the receiving players wrong foot or that half a yard behind them, makes it easier for teams like Bristol City to 'defend' against us. I put defend in inverted commas, because for a defensive team they seemed to have a better idea of how to attack against us too.

We also know that centre backs dallying on the ball and then trying to dribble round oncoming attackers can often lead to mistakes. We also know that only 1 in 20 of the high crossfield balls that we seem intent on playing lead to us retaining possession. Many of them lead to opposition throw ins. We also know that defenders stopping running when they think an offside decision should be coming our way is very naive.

Many of the things we saw today that disappointed us didn't need FA coaching badges to educate us for us to know they were examples of poor play. for the money these players earn and the prices it costs us to see football games, we do expect a little better application, particularly after the fanfare about the style of play Mr Hill is going to bring to the club.

I have to say that, on the whole, over the last few games I have seen at Oakwell the standard was pretty good, and I appreciate that some days we'll have our off days. Certainly when so many players have poor games by their own standards we can't expect to win. However, as I said, I didn't boo and made every effort to get behind the team. So I didn't expect to be on the receiving end of the comments made by Mr Hill after the game.

The most irritating thing he said though was in relation to the fans' reaction to the man of the match award. The obvious criticism is that if he is going to have a go at the fans' reaction he should at least get his facts straight, as it was Butterfield who won the award and not McNulty, but then again the stadium announcer can't tell the difference between Jim O'Brien and Craig Davies! But Mr Hill's comments did irritate me.

I don't know whether he is trying to create an 'us and them' bunker style mentality, as people have suggested, but I hope not, because that would be a stupid method to try to inspire his players. I do know, however, that negotiations to keep Jacob Butterfield at the club are ongoing, and, whilst some of the fans don't necessarily share the view that Butterfield is the new messiah that others are proclaiming, I don't think any fans would want to see him leave and we are all in agreement that his form this season has been very good. Mr Hill attempting to create an idea that the fans were booing Butterfield perhaps showed that there is a lack of education in the dugout.

The sponsor's man of the match award has long been the subject of ridicule to us sat in the stands. It has become a case of 'the man of the match that this week's sponsor particularly want their picture taking with'. Before it is announced you can hear the murmurs of who people think it should be. Today McEveley was my choice, as well as my mate at the side of me. It certainly wasn't Butterfield today, so the reaction in the stands was that it was another ridiculous decision. Most of us simply laughed or argued the case for our choice, as we usually do, but a small amount showed their dissatisfaction by booing. I agree it was a badly judged response by those people and could have been interpreted badly, but I can guarantee Mr Hill and, most importantly, Jacob Butterfield, that the booing was aimed at the sponsors and certainly not at Butterfield. If Mr Hill can't see that he maybe needs to come down from his high horse and speak with some of the fans.

It is very rare that individual Barnsley players get booed, no matter how poorly they play. In fact, the only one I can think of who got booed was Deon Burton and that was due to his attitude about being at the club. If players are playing poorly they tend to get shouted at to pull their socks up, or a shout is aimed at the manager to take him off. A few colourful phrases may be added, but individual players do not get subjected to boos.

Nathan Doyle had a poor game today. Matt Done didn't play well. Andy Gray had an ineffective game and missed an absolute sitter. All three got subbed, so it is likely that Mr Hill had the same views of the uneducated fans, and yet all three received a good ovation on the way off the pitch. So we are certainly not going to start booing a player who has won games for us recently. Mr Hill, think before you make such uneducated comments in future, because all you have done is given doubts to Jacob Butterfield. Or Jimmy McNulty.

Another word to the wise Mr Hill, at some point a substitution may also get booed. Again, this will not be aimed at the person getting subbed (if we thought he had played badly we'd be more inclined to shout our approval) and it won't be aimed at the player coming on (if we didn't like the look of the player coming on we'd be more inclined to put our heads in our hands). No, if you hear booing at a substitution it will be your decision getting booed. So you can take that one personally. You can win that battle though if you prove us wrong and the substitution changes the game in our favour.

I was disappointed with the performance today, but as I say, you can't win them all and I hope we do better on Tuesday. However, Mr Hill has to do much better the next time he is speaking in public, because he is in danger of turning a lot of fans against him, which is the last thing a manager of a team near the bottom of the table needs to do. If he only heard the boos today and not the singing or support he should maybe listen harder on Tuesday, but in the meantime, he needs to retract some of the things he said today and give more consideration to his next post-match comments.

Site admin have my name and address and I give their permission to give these to you should you wish, as I don't want to be seen as one of the anonymous key board warriors that the club likes to refer to. I just, as I said, have never had a response to any e-mail I have sent the club, so I thought this would be the best way of anyone at the club seeing my comments.