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Viking Chat => Viking Chat => Topic started by: karldew on March 21, 2026, 08:49:28 pm

Title: Conor Hourihane RS interview
Post by: karldew on March 21, 2026, 08:49:28 pm
What a belter it is!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0n81qp4

Fans need to stop thinking they’re a top 6 club and they’ll become happier…
 
Then goes onto say they won’t be top 6 next season either and will be getting rid of experienced players in the summer.

Tops off a brilliant day, can we finish this season above them?!

 :scarf: :scarf:

Title: Re: Conor Hourihane RS interview
Post by: Fal on March 21, 2026, 09:00:25 pm
He does make a fair point to where Barnsley currently are as a club but you shouldn't be coming out and saying that. We don't have half the budget they have yet our manager always says play-offs is the aim minimum.
Title: Re: Conor Hourihane RS interview
Post by: les@donr on March 21, 2026, 09:43:38 pm
Tha aim and destination are two completely different things. I doubt at the start of the season it would be unlikely that Lincoln would have considered themselves a top two team, but it is very likely they will be, and in a good place to get the title.
Title: Re: Conor Hourihane RS interview
Post by: tyke1962 on March 21, 2026, 09:56:33 pm
Never heard such comments in my life from a Barnsley manager ever .

No Hourihane we don't give it up at Barnsley , we fight on and find a way no matter what to be successful .

You captained a team who came from the bottom of the league in December to win promotion and pick up the EFL Trophy you absolute disgrace .

This is a club who got promoted to the Premier League with two bob .

Be gone Hourihane , you don't belong here .

Congratulations on the win , well deserved .
Title: Re: Conor Hourihane RS interview
Post by: drfchound on March 21, 2026, 10:01:17 pm
Good to hear from you Tyke.
Glad you are well.
Title: Re: Conor Hourihane RS interview
Post by: DINGLE on March 21, 2026, 10:05:04 pm
He’s absolutely use-less, devoid of all the attributes needed to be a decent head coach. So like all use-less bell ends he’s looking for excuses.
Title: Re: Conor Hourihane RS interview
Post by: BillyStubbsTears on March 21, 2026, 10:11:11 pm
That comment at the start was bang on. I couldn't believe how little heart they had.
Title: Re: Conor Hourihane RS interview
Post by: Lifelong supporter on March 21, 2026, 10:35:41 pm

Crazy interview!
Be surprised if he's still the manager at the start of next season.
Things are clearly not right at the club.
He's a nice enough guy...but not a manager.
Title: Re: Conor Hourihane RS interview
Post by: tyke1962 on March 21, 2026, 11:08:05 pm
Good to hear from you Tyke.
Glad you are well.

Had a really traumatic 12 months , the wife was seriously ill , touch and go for months but she pulled through thankfully and by the grace of God.

Wanted to post for a while but when you haven't for a while it just seems hard to do it .

Hourihane has really angered me tonight , I know it's a Donny forum but I didn't start the thread so posters will  just have to tolerate it .

A young HC finding his way and making mistakes with some average players I can accept , it's a tough gig but that kind of negativity doesn't belong at Barnsley .

We ain't that kind of people or club , we've enjoyed some good times over here but nobody gave us anything and we've always punched above our weight because that's our DNA .

If you can't do it you make way , what you don't do is bellyache on Radio Sheffield and take everybody down with you .

Take one look at our history Hourihane you moron and you are throwing the towel in at league one level , do me a favour .

Rovers wanted it more today which is understandable given you needed the points more than us , I can even accept that .

Rovers fans are going to be happy tonight putting one over us and even a tad OTT and I get that too , why wouldn't you be ?

Others write us off Hourihane but never ourselves .

Be gone .





Title: Re: Conor Hourihane RS interview
Post by: Bentley Bullet on March 21, 2026, 11:11:18 pm
Good to hear from you Tyke.
Glad you are well.
Welcome back Tyke. Great to hear from you.
Title: Re: Conor Hourihane RS interview
Post by: DINGLE on March 21, 2026, 11:34:36 pm
Good to hear from you Tyke.
Glad you are well.

Had a really traumatic 12 months , the wife was seriously ill , touch and go for months but she pulled through thankfully and by the grace of God.

Wanted to post for a while but when you haven't for a while it just seems hard to do it .

Hourihane has really angered me tonight , I know it's a Donny forum but I didn't start the thread so posters will  just have to tolerate it .

A young HC finding his way and making mistakes with some average players I can accept , it's a tough gig but that kind of negativity doesn't belong at Barnsley .

We ain't that kind of people or club , we've enjoyed some good times over here but nobody gave us anything and we've always punched above our weight because that's our DNA .

If you can't do it you make way , what you don't do is bellyache on Radio Sheffield and take everybody down with you .

Take one look at our history Hourihane you moron and you are throwing the towel in at league one level , do me a favour .

Rovers wanted it more today which is understandable given you needed the points more than us , I can even accept that .

Rovers fans are going to be happy tonight putting one over us and even a tad OTT and I get that too , why wouldn't you be ?

Others write us off Hourihane but never ourselves .

Be gone .







It’s bread into him, always the victim, it’s never their fault, he’s basically a Liverpool & Celtic fan who stayed at home . It’s just the way they are, all excuses and playing the hard done by victims. They’ll never change .
Title: Re: Conor Hourihane RS interview
Post by: Pancho Regan on March 21, 2026, 11:38:19 pm
Not for the first time when I listen to opposition managers, I’m so glad we’ve got Grant.

We needed the 3 points more than Barnsley, and boy was that obvious in terms of the effort on the pitch.

Our players showed heart, hunger, desire, determination and guts.
And Barnsley’s didn’t.

Title: Re: Conor Hourihane RS interview
Post by: Avsuptem on March 22, 2026, 07:30:35 am
If Barnsley had nicked it one nil, which could easily have happened, their manager would not be subjected to such vitriol. In turn some on here would be piling it in our Grant. It's the nature of things.
Title: Re: Conor Hourihane RS interview
Post by: Spud on March 22, 2026, 07:37:33 am
Couldn't believe what we were listening to on the way home, what a bizarre interview, not exactly getting the fans on board there.
Title: Re: Conor Hourihane RS interview
Post by: Rupee92ONLY on March 22, 2026, 07:40:38 am
Barnsley were the better side for a large chunk of the game. We were all over the place when the 2nd half kicked off and they’d changed set up and we could’ve easily gone 1-0 down. They  were all looking at each other without a clue where they needed to be and i can’t believe none of the players went down for treatment so the players could get together with the coaching staff and talk things through.

Luckily they didn’t capitalise on it and it was an hard fought win in the end. It’s one thing we certainly aren’t lacking, effort.
Title: Re: Conor Hourihane RS interview
Post by: Spud on March 22, 2026, 07:58:04 am
Slightly off topic, but Derek & his Mrs were funny too on the call in. Is he on here? Have a good weekend you two.
Title: Re: Conor Hourihane RS interview
Post by: Barmby Rover on March 22, 2026, 08:11:50 am
The problems that Barnsley have are common to probably more than half of this division, yet the only time Grant brings up the differential in funding is after getting beat by teams like Southampton and Cardiff, but never in the terms that Hourihane did, "accept managed decline" is never a policy for a manager, he needs to go back to his coaching course and look up inspiring the individual.
Title: Re: Conor Hourihane RS interview
Post by: jmt23 on March 22, 2026, 08:32:44 am
It was an interview that reminded me of the Butler, Wellens, Schofield era.
I’m not sure the Barnsley fans have realised their plight just yet, it was hard and slightly difficult hearing we couldn’t compete financially at this level then, having been in the championship and top end of league 1 for so long.
I imagine that reality is hitting home at Barnsley now, who let’s face it have had a higher league status than us for longer.

You still want to hear, whilst we’re not at that level, we will fight and give our all.

Title: Re: Conor Hourihane RS interview
Post by: tyke1962 on March 22, 2026, 09:49:10 am
It was an interview that reminded me of the Butler, Wellens, Schofield era.
I’m not sure the Barnsley fans have realised their plight just yet, it was hard and slightly difficult hearing we couldn’t compete financially at this level then, having been in the championship and top end of league 1 for so long.
I imagine that reality is hitting home at Barnsley now, who let’s face it have had a higher league status than us for longer.

You still want to hear, whilst we’re not at that level, we will fight and give our all.

We probably have a number of fans who are struggling with today's reality mainly because they are younger or maybe feel more entitled for some reason .

However for us older fans and we have a very substantial older support amongst our fanbase i think it's different .

This isn't even the first time this century we've found it tough in league one , we fell in to administration in 2002 and had to win the last home game of the season to prevent dropping in to league two .


We found a way back then without throwing mega money at it and went out and found some players who got us back on the horse .

We've got a local authority that despite having a challenging local economy found a way to create a new town centre that's the envy of many in the north of England and absolutely bustling and booming when the consensus was that northern town centres are done for .

Wakefield , Rotherham and Huddersfield may have gone to the dogs but we found a way .

Go out this summer and amongst players released by other clubs there will be enough within budget to make us successful again i can guarantee it .

I don't see mega money at Lincoln City .
Title: Re: Conor Hourihane RS interview
Post by: MachoMadness on March 22, 2026, 11:15:23 am
It's a remarkable interview. Yes it's honest, yes it's transparent, in theory there's nothing wrong with setting expectations and he hasn't said anything particularly out there...

But in context, a Barnsley fan has just rung in to bemoan a poor performance and defeat against your local rivals. Your direct response to that is to not only say you're nowhere near the top 6, but that you won't be next season as well, and to basically shrug and say what do you expect! That's remarkable really and smacks of a manager who knows he won't be there next year. It's incredibly naive at best, if he's been on a media training course he wants to ask for his money back.
Title: Re: Conor Hourihane RS interview
Post by: rover-n-out on March 22, 2026, 11:24:59 am
Good to see you back on here Tyke, and I'm so pleased to hear your wife is better, I'm sure that goes for all of us on here. If you ever feel like defecting, I know a nice friendly club only 15 miles or so down the A635 that would welcome someone with your passion, and I've got some white gaffer tape somewhere, we could easily turn your home shirt into the mighty red & white hoops!! (Just kidding!), it's good to see you back posting on here and to hear you and your good lady are both well.
Title: Re: Conor Hourihane RS interview
Post by: Ian Nimmo on March 22, 2026, 11:48:23 am
Barnsley were the better side for a large chunk of the game. We were all over the place when the 2nd half kicked off and they’d changed set up and we could’ve easily gone 1-0 down. They  were all looking at each other without a clue where they needed to be and i can’t believe none of the players went down for treatment so the players could get together with the coaching staff and talk things through.

Luckily they didn’t capitalise on it and it was an hard fought win in the end. It’s one thing we certainly aren’t lacking, effort.

I certainly didn’t consider they were the better side for a large chunk of the game, although yes their best period of the game was at the start of the second half.
Is was a very hard working performance by the guys, the only negative being our lack of quality in getting any decent attempts on goal.
Little harsh to say they were the better side.
Title: Re: Conor Hourihane RS interview
Post by: Alan Southstand on March 22, 2026, 12:04:46 pm
Good post Tyke and long overdue. I think both our clubs are in a similar situation, to be honest. With us, there is progress but it’s definately slowed this season, due to the fact we’re now competing with some big spenders.

It’s glaringly obvious what we’re missing but the sort of players we need to be near the play-off’s do cost money.
Title: Re: Conor Hourihane RS interview
Post by: tyke1962 on March 22, 2026, 12:08:33 pm
Good to see you back on here Tyke, and I'm so pleased to hear your wife is better, I'm sure that goes for all of us on here. If you ever feel like defecting, I know a nice friendly club only 15 miles or so down the A635 that would welcome someone with your passion, and I've got some white gaffer tape somewhere, we could easily turn your home shirt into the mighty red & white hoops!! (Just kidding!), it's good to see you back posting on here and to hear you and your good lady are both well.

Thank you for your kind words and I really appreciate them .

Alas my Barnsley escape is Wakefield Trinity and Rugby League although the two sports don't really collide .

At the end of the day nobody has a devine right to be successful and it is what it is , you get to a certain age and you've either seen it before or at least should know that it can happen .

I'm sure Rovers fans don't need me to remind them what can happen and nobody is immune to that either including ourselves .

The thing is as far as I'm concerned we are having the season i thought we'd have so my expectations haven't caught me out .

Besides sometimes you need periods like this to sort yourselves out , to be honest and hand on heart I think we may even drop in to League Two and reset from there .

I think there's a real storm coming , losing 500k a month and reliant on a majority shareholder whose not from Barnsley to write a big fat cheque every month doesn't seem to me to be sustainable for too much longer which may be the crux of what Hourihane was saying .

Many of us  have seen this coming for a while now but none the less I thought Hourihane was made of better stuff than that , he knew what he was getting in to when he accepted the job .
Title: Re: Conor Hourihane RS interview
Post by: tyke1962 on March 22, 2026, 12:25:16 pm
Good post Tyke and long overdue. I think both our clubs are in a similar situation, to be honest. With us, there is progress but it’s definately slowed this season, due to the fact we’re now competing with some big spenders.

It’s glaringly obvious what we’re missing but the sort of players we need to be near the play-off’s do cost money.

The game in my opinion is crying out for salary cap regulations implementing below the Premier League .

There simply has to be a limit on what clubs can spend on wages and capped sensibly.

Quite how anybody thinks ourselves having an £11m wage bill to service in the middle of league one is a good thing is beyond me .

Not only is it not sustainable but it's not even as if the players are worth the money we are paying them .



Title: Re: Conor Hourihane RS interview
Post by: jmt23 on March 22, 2026, 05:44:57 pm
Crikey 11 Million, I take it back…that is nothing like the Butler, Wellens and Schofield era. Was our wage bill ever that big?
I wonder where 11 Million ranks in a budget league.
Title: Re: Conor Hourihane RS interview
Post by: Rupee92ONLY on March 22, 2026, 05:49:11 pm
Where would ours be, around £3.5m maybe?
Title: Re: Conor Hourihane RS interview
Post by: idler on March 22, 2026, 06:30:35 pm
As people have said before, it isn’t just how much you spend but also how wisely it is spent.
Title: Re: Conor Hourihane RS interview
Post by: scawsby steve on March 22, 2026, 08:26:22 pm
Good to see you back on here Tyke, and I'm so pleased to hear your wife is better, I'm sure that goes for all of us on here. If you ever feel like defecting, I know a nice friendly club only 15 miles or so down the A635 that would welcome someone with your passion, and I've got some white gaffer tape somewhere, we could easily turn your home shirt into the mighty red & white hoops!! (Just kidding!), it's good to see you back posting on here and to hear you and your good lady are both well.

Thank you for your kind words and I really appreciate them .

Alas my Barnsley escape is Wakefield Trinity and Rugby League although the two sports don't really collide .

At the end of the day nobody has a devine right to be successful and it is what it is , you get to a certain age and you've either seen it before or at least should know that it can happen .

I'm sure Rovers fans don't need me to remind them what can happen and nobody is immune to that either including ourselves .

The thing is as far as I'm concerned we are having the season i thought we'd have so my expectations haven't caught me out .

Besides sometimes you need periods like this to sort yourselves out , to be honest and hand on heart I think we may even drop in to League Two and reset from there .

I think there's a real storm coming , losing 500k a month and reliant on a majority shareholder whose not from Barnsley to write a big fat cheque every month doesn't seem to me to be sustainable for too much longer which may be the crux of what Hourihane was saying .

Many of us  have seen this coming for a while now but none the less I thought Hourihane was made of better stuff than that , he knew what he was getting in to when he accepted the job .

Now I know what kept you away, Tyke, I also thank God for your wife's recovery.

Welcome back.
Title: Re: Conor Hourihane RS interview
Post by: Lincoln Rover on March 22, 2026, 08:38:23 pm
Spud
We had a lovely weekend thank you very much. RTID
Title: Re: Conor Hourihane RS interview
Post by: ncRover on March 22, 2026, 08:45:34 pm
Oxford have a wage bill of £21m and that gets you a Championship relegation scrap.
Title: Re: Conor Hourihane RS interview
Post by: Lesonthewest on March 22, 2026, 11:30:43 pm
It was an interview that reminded me of the Butler, Wellens, Schofield era.
I’m not sure the Barnsley fans have realised their plight just yet, it was hard and slightly difficult hearing we couldn’t compete financially at this level then, having been in the championship and top end of league 1 for so long.
I imagine that reality is hitting home at Barnsley now, who let’s face it have had a higher league status than us for longer.

You still want to hear, whilst we’re not at that level, we will fight and give our all.

We probably have a number of fans who are struggling with today's reality mainly because they are younger or maybe feel more entitled for some reason .

However for us older fans and we have a very substantial older support amongst our fanbase i think it's different .

This isn't even the first time this century we've found it tough in league one , we fell in to administration in 2002 and had to win the last home game of the season to prevent dropping in to league two .


We found a way back then without throwing mega money at it and went out and found some players who got us back on the horse .

We've got a local authority that despite having a challenging local economy found a way to create a new town centre that's the envy of many in the north of England and absolutely bustling and booming when the consensus was that northern town centres are done for .

Wakefield , Rotherham and Huddersfield may have gone to the dogs but we found a way .

Go out this summer and amongst players released by other clubs there will be enough within budget to make us successful again i can guarantee it .

I don't see mega money at Lincoln City .
Picking up on your local authority bit tyke, what a fantastic town centre you now have, wife & I always go there now instead of our own, in football terms yours is Premiership, our sorry City centre is league 2 at best.
Title: Re: Conor Hourihane RS interview
Post by: mpc123 on March 23, 2026, 04:41:34 am
He does make a fair point to where Barnsley currently are as a club but you shouldn't be coming out and saying that. We don't have half the budget they have yet our manager always says play-offs is the aim minimum.

Difficult isnt it for a manager. Create positivity even though a challenging budget compared and you cant quite achieve that, then it creates what we had earlier this season.

Everyone is rubbish according to the fans.

We do now have a sense of where we are I think.

He is just trying to accelerate and manage expectations and that is a difficult thing to get right in words to fans.

An impossible task really, individually
Title: Re: Conor Hourihane RS interview
Post by: Monkcaster_Rover on March 23, 2026, 06:06:34 am
It was an interview that reminded me of the Butler, Wellens, Schofield era.
I’m not sure the Barnsley fans have realised their plight just yet, it was hard and slightly difficult hearing we couldn’t compete financially at this level then, having been in the championship and top end of league 1 for so long.
I imagine that reality is hitting home at Barnsley now, who let’s face it have had a higher league status than us for longer.

You still want to hear, whilst we’re not at that level, we will fight and give our all.

We probably have a number of fans who are struggling with today's reality mainly because they are younger or maybe feel more entitled for some reason .

However for us older fans and we have a very substantial older support amongst our fanbase i think it's different .

This isn't even the first time this century we've found it tough in league one , we fell in to administration in 2002 and had to win the last home game of the season to prevent dropping in to league two .


We found a way back then without throwing mega money at it and went out and found some players who got us back on the horse .

We've got a local authority that despite having a challenging local economy found a way to create a new town centre that's the envy of many in the north of England and absolutely bustling and booming when the consensus was that northern town centres are done for .

Wakefield , Rotherham and Huddersfield may have gone to the dogs but we found a way .

Go out this summer and amongst players released by other clubs there will be enough within budget to make us successful again i can guarantee it .

I don't see mega money at Lincoln City .
Picking up on your local authority bit tyke, what a fantastic town centre you now have, wife & I always go there now instead of our own, in football terms yours is Premiership, our sorry City centre is league 2 at best.

I concur. Went on one of the lads leaving do’s who hails from Barnsley and was incredibly surprised at how nice it all was. One of the other lads has told me they’ve put millions into a youth centre as well. Really on the up.
Title: Re: Conor Hourihane RS interview
Post by: Spud on March 23, 2026, 06:15:49 am
Spud
We had a lovely weekend thank you very much. RTID


I had a feeling you were one of the Lincoln posters when you said 2 hour journey home.
Great call in, loved it :-)
Title: Re: Conor Hourihane RS interview
Post by: mrfrost82 on March 23, 2026, 07:34:59 am
It was an interview that reminded me of the Butler, Wellens, Schofield era.
I’m not sure the Barnsley fans have realised their plight just yet, it was hard and slightly difficult hearing we couldn’t compete financially at this level then, having been in the championship and top end of league 1 for so long.
I imagine that reality is hitting home at Barnsley now, who let’s face it have had a higher league status than us for longer.

You still want to hear, whilst we’re not at that level, we will fight and give our all.

We probably have a number of fans who are struggling with today's reality mainly because they are younger or maybe feel more entitled for some reason .

However for us older fans and we have a very substantial older support amongst our fanbase i think it's different .

This isn't even the first time this century we've found it tough in league one , we fell in to administration in 2002 and had to win the last home game of the season to prevent dropping in to league two .


We found a way back then without throwing mega money at it and went out and found some players who got us back on the horse .

We've got a local authority that despite having a challenging local economy found a way to create a new town centre that's the envy of many in the north of England and absolutely bustling and booming when the consensus was that northern town centres are done for .

Wakefield , Rotherham and Huddersfield may have gone to the dogs but we found a way .

Go out this summer and amongst players released by other clubs there will be enough within budget to make us successful again i can guarantee it .

I don't see mega money at Lincoln City .
Picking up on your local authority bit tyke, what a fantastic town centre you now have, wife & I always go there now instead of our own, in football terms yours is Premiership, our sorry City centre is league 2 at best.

Barnsley Town centre looks nice, but there's nothing there. Much better choice of shops, bars, restaurants in Donny, even if it looks a little "rougher"
Title: Re: Conor Hourihane RS interview
Post by: DINGLE on March 23, 2026, 11:57:41 pm
It was an interview that reminded me of the Butler, Wellens, Schofield era.
I’m not sure the Barnsley fans have realised their plight just yet, it was hard and slightly difficult hearing we couldn’t compete financially at this level then, having been in the championship and top end of league 1 for so long.
I imagine that reality is hitting home at Barnsley now, who let’s face it have had a higher league status than us for longer.

You still want to hear, whilst we’re not at that level, we will fight and give our all.

We probably have a number of fans who are struggling with today's reality mainly because they are younger or maybe feel more entitled for some reason .

However for us older fans and we have a very substantial older support amongst our fanbase i think it's different .

This isn't even the first time this century we've found it tough in league one , we fell in to administration in 2002 and had to win the last home game of the season to prevent dropping in to league two .


We found a way back then without throwing mega money at it and went out and found some players who got us back on the horse .

We've got a local authority that despite having a challenging local economy found a way to create a new town centre that's the envy of many in the north of England and absolutely bustling and booming when the consensus was that northern town centres are done for .

Wakefield , Rotherham and Huddersfield may have gone to the dogs but we found a way .

Go out this summer and amongst players released by other clubs there will be enough within budget to make us successful again i can guarantee it .

I don't see mega money at Lincoln City .
Picking up on your local authority bit tyke, what a fantastic town centre you now have, wife & I always go there now instead of our own, in football terms yours is Premiership, our sorry City centre is league 2 at best.

Barnsley Town centre looks nice, but there's nothing there. Much better choice of shops, bars, restaurants in Donny, even if it looks a little "rougher"

Over 30 pubs and upwards of 14 restaurants in the town centre, and at least 5 or 6 greasy spoons, the same again in tea and coffee shops, must be well over a dozen takeaways, that’s knocking on for 70 drinking and chewing places.(and that’s just of the top of my head) I’ll have missed some, How many more do you want.

Shops wise, yeah we’ve got the essentials, boots, Superdrug, JD, Sports Direct, USC, Lidl, Home Bargains, Iceland, and such like. With a fair few independents, and about 20 market stalls. And not much else apart from 5 betting shops.

But Barnsley is a Town not a City, we’ve got everything we need, and much much more. Comparing ours to Wakefield, Huddersfield, & Rotherham, they’ve got f**k all, and their town centres are providing for a population much bigger than ours.

Obviously the bigger City’s, Leeds, Doncaster, Shïtfield, have a far bigger population, so they need more places than ours, but for the size of Barnsley we’re short for nowt. Well we could do with a few more Homeless, Druggies, & Prostitutes because we’ve hardly any of them compared to the rest of Yorkshire. But shops, pubs, restaurants, wise we’ve a lot more than we need.
Title: Re: Conor Hourihane RS interview
Post by: Padge_DRFC on March 24, 2026, 05:29:02 am
Barnsley has had some money spent on it and spent well. Bern a while since I last went. Personally think it's overtook Donny.
Title: Re: Conor Hourihane RS interview
Post by: scawsby steve on March 24, 2026, 06:31:07 pm
Barnsley was always a lovely town, with it's hilliness and Yorkshire Stone everywhere.

Now the town centre's been done up, it's even better.

Donny's a shithole in comparison; but it's my shithole, and the Rovers are my team.

Saturday was a great day out.