Ashley Barnes & Nick Pope

[MiltonKeynesClaret93]

Travelling back down to Milton Keynes from Manchester after the game on Saturday. Fantastic mood, sharing some drinks with my two mates (United and Chelsea fans) and a group of ladies on their way back home to Stoke.
Normally we'd go to Burnley via Preston but Manchester was far cheaper that weekend.
We leave Stoke and the ladies behind and about 10 minutes later my friend sat opposite me on the isle says ''that's Ashley Barnes!''. I think he's taking the mick out of someone. Lo and behold, I look up at a man in a grey Nike tracksuit and there he is; I'm not sure what to think. He shakes my mate's outstretched arm and says ''I'll be back in a minute boys''.

5 minutes later, he's returned from the shop. ''You alright chaps?'' he says. Placing two of his bags from the on-board shop on our table.
He stops for a chat and we ask what he's doing on his way down south. ''Me and Nick are on Goals on Sunday tomorrow''. He shares a couple of jokes and takes a couple of photos with us.
We let him get on and he says ''Those are for you by the way, pop down for a chat in a bit''

I look in the bags, 8 cans of Grolsch. We're not sure what to think now, has Ashley Barnes just bought us beers?
We give it some time, and have a couple of beers.
We then go down to first class and see Ashley with Nick sat opposite. They spend a good 15 minutes chatting away with us. We spotted they had a beer each as well and we made a point of how much they deserved it.

We leave them to it and head back to our seats feeling pretty elated as you can imagine.
Just wanted to share that as it's another example of what a great club we have and a great set of grounded lads playing for our team.
Ashley didn't have to do anything other than stop for a quick hello on his way back from the shop, but he stopped and chatted with us, bought us drinks, and invited us down to chat with him and Nick after.
We might be 7th in the Premier League, but meeting them was like meeting a couple of mates at the pub.
It was absolutely amazing and I'll never forget it.

[burnley007]

magic story.
It is remarkable how there are never any negative stories coming from fans' encounters with players, it's always overly positive. What a bunch SD has assembled. You can tell he only buys certain charachters.
I hope this continues as the club continues to grow...

[Falcon]

Barnes is an absolute legend

[exclaret]

Where did you dream this story up? Blatant lies!

[TVC15]

Barnes’ character has really come out these last few weeks as he has done a few interviews. It was clear from Goals on Sunday that he is a massive character in the dressing room and takes the mick out of everyone.

He’s a great lad and had a brilliant season.

All that said I hope both Barnes and Pope receive lengthy bans from the club for drinking - absolute disgrace

[jedi_master]

Barnes is probably one of the most popular players we have had in my time supporting Burnley, everyone loves him and I imagine that is a great experience for him after he apparently got booed a few times whilst at Brighton (they must be xenophobic down there about British folk who play for the Austrian U21’s).

[turfytopper]

Barnes was never booed at Brighton. He was really popular and had Poyet not have persisted with one striker would have maybe not transferred to us.

Brilliant story, i returned from manchester myself on the 7.35pm..i guess you were on a later train?

[MiltonKeynesClaret93]

Barnes was never booed at Brighton. He was really popular and had Poyet not have persisted with one striker would have maybe not transferred to us.

Brilliant story, i returned from manchester myself on the 7.35pm..i guess you were on a later train?

Yes mate, I was on the 20:35.

[jedi_master]

Barnes was never booed at Brighton. He was really popular and had Poyet not have persisted with one striker would have maybe not transferred to us.

Brilliant story, i returned from manchester myself on the 7.35pm..i guess you were on a later train?

I read it on North Stand Chat myself a year or back (that he had been booed). Seemed a hugely marmite player from what they said, which I find baffling as he is surely the epitome of what any club would want representing them.

[ClaretinMyBlood]

Pics or it didn't happen...

[1968claret]

Fantastic story. But not surprised in the slightest. We are very lucky to have such a talented, grounded and decent team of players and manager.

[Colburn_Claret]

Some people have short memories.
Plenty of people on this board claimed he was a waste of space.
Thankfully he's just got on with proving them wrong.

A great story by the way, you can't imagine many, if any top 7 players sharing a few beers and a natter on a train. We're a VERY lucky club.

[ClaretMoffitt]

Best thing I've heard all day

[Dark Cloud]

Good story and I was listening to that Kieth Andrews thing which was linked on here the other day and the thing he kept stressing most was how welcome he was made when he visited BFC to make that report. It clearly must be unusual to be made so welcome as he really couldn't state it often enough.

[turfytopper]

I read it on North Stand Chat myself a year or back (that he had been booed). Seemed a hugely marmite player from what they said, which I find baffling as he is surely the epitome of what any club would want representing them.

I can assure you he was extremely popular. For a start he played a huge part in their final season at the Withdean. His partnership with Glen Murray was superb. Murray left as they achieved promotion having a contractual disagreement with Poyet. Poyet bought in Mackail Smith who he played as the lone striker, Ashley Barnes' appearances at their shiny new home were limited.
A lot of crap is written on NSC, quite honestly most contributors wouldn't have seen many of his performances as the Withdean held less than 6,000 home supporters.

[dsr]

Were the United and Chelsea fans impressed? Because I suspect that wouldn't happen with any of their players!

[JohnDearyMe]

Barnes is probably one of the most popular players we have had in my time supporting Burnley, everyone loves him and I imagine that is a great experience for him after he apparently got booed a few times whilst at Brighton (they must be xenophobic down there about British folk who play for the Austrian U21’s).

Think Walton might have something to say about all Burnley fans loving Barnes. He was regularly expressing his hate for him earlier in the season

[IanMcL]

Proud to be a Claret - and glad they are too!

[ontario claret]

Amazing how all of these players who got their start in non-league football are "grounded". Not really. They know where they came from and, like Dyche, who never played in the Prem, they appreciate everything that has happened to them, just like Claret supporters. May it last forever.

[jdrobbo]

Awesome story!

[superdimitri]

Ashley Barnes prefers Cans.

Cans of Grolsch...

Exactly what I expected.

About the toughest man there is from the west country.

[Shore claret]

great story, and as was said above well jel.

[Hendrickxz]

Got to agree about the public profile of the players. A bunch of them turned up at Crow Wood the other week. They were smiling, laughing and joking with the regulars and Robbie Brady even held the door open for me -- obviously knows an old git when he sees one! Exemplary manners.

[MiltonKeynesClaret93]

Were the United and Chelsea fans impressed? Because I suspect that wouldn't happen with any of their players!

They just mentioned how it's easy to forget that at the end of the day they're just regular blokes like you or me, but with the players at United and Chelsea there's a far less approachable aura about them usually and that anything beyond a quick hello and a selfie feels like overstepping boundaries. Totally the opposite feeling with Ashley and Nick.

[ontario claret]

Hockey players are the same way. About 15 years ago, myself and a couple of guys I worked with came upon 4 members of the Toronto Maple Leafs in a bar. I think they were trying to keep as low a profile as possible, but that's hard to do if you're a Leaf in the Toronto area. We didn't make a big deal about it. We wished them luck as we left. (I don't know how long they stayed.)

[ontario claret]

I don't know if anybody on this site has ever heard of Jeremy Roenike. He was a huge star with the Chicago Black Hawks and the Phoenix Coyotes. My old boss was a huge Hawks fan, and also ran a hockey card trading business on the side. He would go to Chicago at least once a year to see the Hawks. One time he took a bunch of Roenike cards with him, and got Jeremy to sign them, thus increasing their value. They became such good friends that Roenike allowed him the use of his house in Phoenix while he was on a road trip. What other sport has people like that?