GOING UP

[Sweden Stag]

Mansfield Town fan here living in Sweden (and remembering the games against Barrow in the late sixties). As far as I am aware, Barrow are not the only club to have been voted out and then voted back in over the years. But the Bluebirds are the first after WW II. To clarify: there are at least two more examples of this in entire Stags and Barrow Bluebirds League history. When Mansfield Town were elected way back in 1931, the old Newport County were voted out. After after the resignation of one club in the old division 3 (S) and of Wigan Borough, who then had played Barrow several times, Newport County were elected back into the League along with the old Aldershot club. When Ipswich Town were elected to the League in 1938-39, Gillingham were voted out, But when the old division 3 (N) and (S) both were extended to 24 sides, Gillingham were voted back for their League return. Others who became League clubs then were Colchester, Scunthorpe and Shrewsbury.

Regarding the old Accrington club, they did resign from the League in March 1962. Elected then: Oxford United, whose first-ever League fixture was at Barrow,who won 3-2 on August 18, 1962.

Looking forward to the Stags v Bluebirds games next season. And no game between the sides, regardless of the League or in our dark conference years a decade ago in which we faced Barrow in all our five seasons there, has ever been goal-less, regardless of venue Field Mill aka One Call Stadium or Holker Street.

[Sweden Stag]

Barrow will NOT be in the bottom 5 and certainly won't need points deductions at other clubs... Positivity please.

Bottom 5 doesn't matter seeing as only 2 clubs get relegated from L2, plus it looks quite likely that Macclesfield will be one of them if they don't get thrown out before that. Also no club promoted to L2 has ever been relegated back to NL the following season.

True.

[Nigel Bamford]

Mansfield Town fan here living in Sweden (and remembering the games against Barrow in the late sixties). As far as I am aware, Barrow are not the only club to have been voted out and then voted back in over the years. But the Bluebirds are the first after WW II. To clarify: there are at least two more examples of this in entire Stags and Barrow Bluebirds League history. When Mansfield Town were elected way back in 1931, the old Newport County were voted out. After after the resignation of one club in the old division 3 (S) and of Wigan Borough, who then had played Barrow several times, Newport County were elected back into the League along with the old Aldershot club. When Ipswich Town were elected to the League in 1938-39, Gillingham were voted out, But when the old division 3 (N) and (S) both were extended to 24 sides, Gillingham were voted back for their League return. Others who became League clubs then were Colchester, Scunthorpe and Shrewsbury.

Regarding the old Accrington club, they did resign from the League in March 1962. Elected then: Oxford United, whose first-ever League fixture was at Barrow,who won 3-2 on August 18, 1962.

Looking forward to the Stags v Bluebirds games next season. And no game between the sides, regardless of the League or in our dark conference years a decade ago in which we faced Barrow in all our five seasons there, has ever been goal-less, regardless of venue Field Mill aka One Call Stadium or Holker Street.

Encyclopaedic knowledge there, Sweden Stag (which I'm not going to check for accuracy ). I was at that Barrow v Oxford United game in '62 and still have a few memories of it.
We do, though, feel the need to redress the balance of our most recent visits to Field Mill.

[HenneysKnee]

Need to speak with the furness premier league now try and change there saturday kick off times to maximise gate attendances need to get as many people onboard as possible. Literally have a pool of 300 lads there maybe even more that cant attend due to kick off clashes

Would the Furness League actually want to do this? I’m not sure so sure, would be tight for time for lads who work Saturday mornings

[JammyBluebird]

Selfishly this means good news for us. If Macc stay up then they could start next season with a hefty points deduction.

Plus Macc is a lot closer to home

Barrow will NOT be in the bottom 5 and certainly won't need points deductions at other clubs... Positivity please.

Realism. I hope that people aren't going to pile the pressure on Barrow to be pushing for playoffs this season. First season back in the Football League in 48 years. Big step up, let's take it one game at time!

[Adam29]

The supporters might not be putting that pressure on them but I know one person in particular that will be

[RedWeb]

The supporters might not be putting that pressure on them but I know one person in particular that will be

Let's hope that one person is still here and not elsewhere in L2

[Sefton Aubergine]

Barrow will NOT be in the bottom 5 and certainly won't need points deductions at other clubs... Positivity please.

Realism. I hope that people aren't going to pile the pressure on Barrow to be pushing for playoffs this season. First season back in the Football League in 48 years. Big step up, let's take it one game at time!

I'm not asking to win the league but am I really putting pressure on to say that this team are too good to be bottom five. The one thing I do expect is the crowds to still be healthy (if allowed) even when they are likely to witness a few more home defeats than last season.

[NORTHERNSOUL]

Barrow will NOT be in the bottom 5 and certainly won't need points deductions at other clubs... Positivity please.

Realism. I hope that people aren't going to pile the pressure on Barrow to be pushing for playoffs this season. First season back in the Football League in 48 years. Big step up, let's take it one game at time!

There is actually an uncanny history recently of clubs promoted into league 2 repeating the fact 2 months later and being promoted into League one there's been a couple of studies done on it and they come up with reasons but what the both agree on is that momentum plays a big part.

[pjdaly]

There is actually an uncanny history recently of clubs promoted into league 2 repeating the fact 2 months later and being promoted into League one there's been a couple of studies done on it and they come up with reasons but what the both agree on is that momentum plays a big part.

Yes, what you say is very, very true. As you suggest, it's momentum; it has a psychological basis and feeds into both confidence levels and motivational levels, at both an individual level within each player but also at a whole-group level. But it's not just a feature of teams coming up from Non-League into League 2, it happens at any level whenever a team is on the up. There is a classic example this season in the Premier League with the performance of Sheffield United. A few years ago Ipswich likewise went up into the top flight and they were relegation favourites but ended up in 4th place and qualified for Europe. The momentum often dissipates after a season at a higher level - - - "second season syndrome".

Closer to home, the best example might be what happened to our neighbours, Carlisle. For several seasons they flirted with the lower reaches of the bottom of League 2 and came perilously close to dropping out of the League. They managed to just avoid the drop, season after season, including the famous Jimmy Glass season. But they flirted one time too many and eventually did drop out of the FL. But, although they could not have known it at the time, it was perhaps the best thing that could have happened to them because they were able to bounce back out of Non-League with fresh spirit and instead of immediately reverting to type with a struggle at the wrong end of League 2 they bounced back all the way into League 1. The bubble burst eventually of course and they dropped back into League 2 but that momentum that you mention lasted for several seasons.

I guess you could look back and say it happened to Barrow too in the late 60's. After promotion in 1967 we shot up to a highly respectable 8th in the old 3rd Division in 67/68. Then in our second season in the 3rd Division we all too briefly hit the top spot for a period of less than 24 hours in November 1968. After that it was all downhill from there. But we carried that momentum that you referred to for quite a long time. Of course, in our case, there was another very real factor in us dropping out of the sky and that was the loss of our manager, Colin Appleton.

But, yes, these springboard effects are very commonplace. So, Barrow have to take great care in season 22-23. Next season, 20-21, the theory says we go up into League 1, then in season 21-22 we do quite well in League 1 and hold our own but don't quite manage to make it into the Championship. But we have to beware season 22-23 in League 1 . . . we have to be afraid, be very afraid, that we don't get complacent that season as the momentum slackens off, otherwise we could find ourselves back in League 1 again in season 23-24.