Preview: Southend United V Barnsley

The greatest highlight of Barnsley's recent past was a surprise promotion to the Premier League in 1997. However, the Tykes were relegated the following year.

The club has more recently been relegated to Division Two. The price of not being able to sustain success, factored with the ITV Digital crisis, meant that the club went into administration in 2002. Only a late purchase from Barnsley Mayor Peter Doyle saved the club from folding. Doyle has since departed the club, with Gordon Shepherd and local businessman Patrick Cryne currently in control.

Barnsley currently compete in the Championship after promotion was secured at the end of the 2005-6 season by beating Swansea City 4-2 on penalties in the play-off final, after a 2-2 draw.

Although Barnsley have never been one of England's greatest playing sides, they have produced some of the finest talents ever seen in this country who went on to achieve great things at other clubs. The most notable of these is Tommy Taylor, who was a prolific goalscorer for Barnsley in the early 1950s and went on to win two league titles with Manchester United (as well as scoring 16 times in 19 England internationals) before losing his life in the Munich air disaster. Taylor's move to Manchester United was for a then world-record fee of £29,999.

Their record transfer fee paid for a player is £1,500,000 for both Mike Sheron in 1999 and Georgi Hristov in 1997. However, they received £4,500,000 for Ashley Ward when he made his move to Blackburn Rovers in 1998.

In the summer of 1994, Barnsley appointed 34-year-old midfielder Danny Wilson (formerly of Sheffield Wednesday) as their new player-manager following the departure of Viv Anderson, who had taken the assistant manager's job at Middlesbrough.

Barnsley finally reached the Premier League at the end of the 1996-97 season after 100 years of trying for a place in the top flight of English football. They finished runners-up in Division One thanks to the efforts of manager Danny Wilson along with key players including Clint Marcelle, Neil Redfearn, Adie Moses and David Watson. Barnsley reached the FA Cup quarter-final in 1998, having beaten Manchester United 3-2 in a fifth round replay, only to lose to Newcastle United in the quarter-final. However, Wilson's team were unable to stave off relegation and they were relegated along with the other newly-promoted teams, Bolton Wanderers and Crystal Palace. Wilson left soon afterwards to take charge of Sheffield Wednesday.

Barnsley striker John Hendrie, 35, was given the manager's job for the 1998-99 season but was dismissed after failing to reach the playoffs. His successor Dave Bassett, who had achieved five promotions in 14 years with Wimbledon, Sheffield United and Nottingham Forest, took Barnsley to the Division One play-off final in 1999-2000 but they lost to Ipswich Town at Wembley in the last play-off final before the old stadium was closed for redevelopment.

Dave Bassett resigned a short time after Barnsley's playoff final defeat to make way for the inexperienced Nigel Spackman. This change had little effect on the club and Spackman was dismissed within a year. He was replaced by Rochdale's Steve Parkin, who appeared to have secured a mid table position before a slump during the final weeks of the season saw Barnsley condemned to relegation from the upper tier of the Football League for the first time in over 20 years. Parkin was sacked soon afterwards and replaced by Glyn Hodges, who prevented Barnsley from suffering a second successive relegation in 2002-03 despite being statistically the worst manager in Barnsley's history.

Gudjon Thordarson, who had won the Division Two playoffs with Stoke City in 2001-02, was named as Barnsley's manager for the 2003-04 season and had an impressive start. However, a dip in form during the winter saw Barnsley's promotion challenge fade away and Thordarson was dismissed in February in favour of former Nottingham Forest manager Paul Hart.

Hart remained in charge at Barnsley until February 2005, before being sacked due to the club's failure to get anywhere near the play-off places in Football League One. Andy Ritchie, Hart's assistant was given the job on a temporary basis and was confirmed as the permanent manager in the summer of 2005 despite speculation that previous manager Danny Wilson was set to return.

Barnsley successfully made it into the playoffs in the 2005/2006 season, guaranteeing fifth place in the league on the final day of the season. The team beat local rivals Huddersfield Town 3-2 on aggregate, after losing the first leg at home 1-0, to reach the Football League One play-off final against Swansea City at the Millennium Stadium on 27 May 2006. After normal time and extra time, the score was 2-2, but Barnsley gained promotion thanks to a 4-2 win in the penalty shoot-out. Ritchie was sacked on 21 November 2006.

After the end of the 1995/96 season several regular first team players left the club, including Andy Payton who was the leading goalscorer for the club. Manager Danny Wilson successfully acquired a number of signings in the summer that were to play huge roles, amongst these were the vastly experienced duo Neil Thompson and Paul Wilkinson, as well as youngster Matty Appleby.

Oakwell also gained an international flavour, as Jovo Bosancic and Trinidad and Tobagoan international Clint Marcelle were to sign, with Marcelle's work permit clearing just a couple of days prior to the Red's first game of the season, an away match at West Brom. Fortunately, Marcelle was cleared to play and scored the opening goal of the season in a 2-1 victory. Barnsley went on to equal their best start to a season by winning the next four games. Wilson then further improved the team by bringing in Scottish forward John Hendrie, who had partnered Wilkinson at Middlesbrough.

Bolton looked increasingly likely to win the league as the season progressed, the Reds played both games against the Trotters relatively early on in the season, with the two games both resulting in 2-2 draws. As the season neared its closing stages, it looked as if either Barnsley or Mark McGhee's Wolves would join Bolton.

In Barnsley's final home game of the season, a Yorkshire derby against Bradford, the team knew a win would be enough to secure promotion to the top tier of English football for the first time in the club's history. The side dominated the game, but led only 1-0 at half time thanks to a Paul Wilkinson goal. With only a few minutes remaining, Clint Marcelle, the man who had scored the opening goal of the season scored the Red's final goal at home. As the final whistle blew, the fans swarmed onto the pitch amid jubilant celebrations.

The team would lose their final game of the season 5-1 away at Oxford; however the joy of promotion would remain throughout the summer and the team would later go on to have an open-top bus celebration around the town, culminating at the town hall.

The joy of promotion and sense of achievement was mixed with the knowledge that much hard work would have to be done for the club to stay in the top flight. Neil Thompson and Paul Wilkinson left the club, with Wilson bringing in several international calibre players, Slovenian captain Ales Krizan, South African Eric Tinkler, Welshman Darren Barnard and for a club record fee of £1,500,000 Macedonian striker Georgi Hristov. Wilson also brought in a reserve keeper, German Lars Leese from Bayer Leverkusen.

The team got off to a dream start, with Neil Redfearn scoring a seventh minute goal in the Red's first game, a home contest against West Ham. Two second half goals however saw the Reds lose. The first victory of the season came away at Selhurst Park, where another goal from Reds skipper Neil Redfearn secured a 1-0 victory.

This was followed by a bad run of results, including 6-0 and 5-0 home defeats to Chelsea and Arsenal respectively, alongside a 7-0 thrashing against Manchester United at Old Trafford. Despite this fans continued to enjoy every moment, after going 6 down against Chelsea Barnsley supporters could be heard singing, "We're going to win 7-6".

Wilson moved to strengthen the squad and signed attacking duo Ashley Ward from Derby and Jan Age Fjortoft from Sheffield United. Wilson further strengthened the squad by signing central defender Peter Markstedt. One of the highlights of the season was to follow as Barnsley gained a measure of revenge for their 7-0 defeat at Old Trafford. After being drawn against Manchester United in the FA Cup the team played admirably to secure a 1-1 draw. There were also claims for a Barnsley penalty late on after Gary Neville apparently brought down Barnsley striker Andy Liddell in the box. In the replay at Oakwell, two goals by Barnsley youth team graduate Scott Jones and a goal for John Hendrie were able to dump Manchester United out of the cup 3-2. Barnsley would go on to lose 3-1 away at Newcastle.

Another of the highlights of the season was a 1-0 victory at Anfield against Liverpool, with an Ashley Ward goal being the difference between the two sides. It was the return fixture at Oakwell however, which will be remembered for longer. After a good run of results for Barnsley, hopes were emerging that the team could avoid relegation. With the scores at 1-1 referee Gary Wilard sent off Barnsley players Darren Barnard and Chris Morgan. Liverpool then took the lead 2-1; the crowd was in a hostile mood yet were not out of control. Then, for no apparent reason Wilard left the pitch without informing his assistants as to why. After a short break Wilard returned and Barnsley were able to create an equaliser. In the last few seconds of the game Wilard sent off another Barnsley player, Darren Sheridan, and Liverpool were able to score a winner from the resulting free kick.

The results went downhill and Barnsley only won one of their final nine games, a 2-1 victory over local rivals Sheffield Wednesday. Barnsley were relegated after a 1-0 defeat at Leicester and played their final game of the season at home against Manchester United, which they would lose 2-0. In the summer to follow manager Danny Wilson was to depart for Sheffield Wednesday, a bitter blow for the club.

At the end of the 98/99 season Barnsley sacked manager John Hendrie, who had failed to make the team into genuine promotion contenders. A replacement was found in Dave Bassett, who had achieved considerable success with other clubs and who had won the 97/98 Division One Championship with Nottingham Forest. Bassett was active in the transfer market, bringing in Neil Shipperley from Forest for £750,000 and former England international Geoff Thomas.

After losing the first two games of the season, Bassett brought in defender David Tuttle and goalkeeper Kevin Miller, both from another ex club of his, Crystal Palace. The next game Barnsley emerged 6-0 victors against Portsmouth. Two days later, however the Reds lost 6-1 away at Ipswich.

Bassett strengthened the squad with defenders Steve Chettle, another former Forest player, and John Curtis who joined on loan from Manchester United. The Reds season continued brightly, occupying third position on occasions and consistently maintaining a pace that kept them in the promotion hunt. Barnsley did however lose to Ipswich in the return fixture at Oakwell.

As the season drew to a close, results went against Barnsley leaving second place an impossibility but they did secure fourth position, and a tie against Birmingham, a team who had soundly defeated Barnsley just two months before. The first leg was played at St. Andrews and Barnsley delivered the greatest winning margin by any team playing away, emerging as 4-0 victors.

The return leg at Oakwell appeared to be a formality; however, Barnsley would end up losing 2-1. Playoff fever gripped the town as Barnsley had never before been to Wembley, and roughly, 35,000 fans made their way to see the Tykes play under the famous twin towers and try to beat Ipswich Town, a feat they had failed to do all season. Barnsley took the lead through attacking midfielder Craig Hignett but Ipswich equalised. Shortly before half time Barnsley were awarded a penalty but Darren Barnard saw his spot kick saved by future Arsenal, Everton and England goalkeeper Richard Wright.

After half time Ipswich scored two goals. With Barnsley going on the attack, they were awarded another penalty, taken this time by Craig Hignett. With time running out, Bassett introduced Georgi Hristov to the game as a substitute, who later saw a header at goal spectacularly saved by Wright. As time ran out Barnsley conceded a fourth, condemning them to another season in Division One. In the summer that followed a number of influential players left the club.

Relegation and the collapse of ITV Digital led to the club being placed into administration on October 3, 2002 by the then owner John Dennis. The remaining finance for the day-to-day running of the club was scheduled to run out on November 30, providing a deadline by which a new owner for the club had to be found.

Ten days before the club was due to close an announcement was made by administrator Matthew Dunham that the then mayor of Barnsley, Peter Doyle was in line to complete a takeover of the club. This was confirmed on December 3 but ratification by the league was not confirmed for some months. Many fans however were unhappy with Doyle's motives in running the club, as he was seen as a surprise buyer. Fans staged walkouts during games to protest and ultimately followed in the steps of former Wimbledon fans by creating a breakaway club, AFC Barnsley, though they folded towards the end of the 2005-6 season due to the salvation of the main club.

In the summer of 2003, the sale of the club appeared imminent on numerous occasions. Initially a deal was agreed between Doyle and Sean Lewis, a California based businessman. This led to the departure of manager Glyn Hodges on July 5 with former Stoke boss Gudjon Thordarson being given the job as part of the deal. The deal was ultimately rejected by the Football League who refused to ratify it because they did not believe the takeover would clear the club's debts.

On September 4, 2003, former Leeds United chairman Peter Ridsdale announced that he had purchased the club alongside local businessman Patrick Cryne. Ridsdale ultimately stepped down on December 24, 2004 after a conflict of interests within the board, with the club's finances becoming increasingly uncomfortable. Ownership was transferred to board member Gordon Shepard, with Cryne remaining in a prominent position at the club.

With Andy Ritchie, Paul Hart's assistant, being confirmed as manager the team made a number of signings, including a surprise addition in the form of Richard Kell, a player recovering from a broken leg. He was joined at Oakwell by fellow Scunthorpe player Paul Hayes, who had netted 18 times for the Iron in the previous season. Marc Richards signed as a free agent and Martin Devaney joined the Tykes from Watford. Barnsley players Tom Williams and Mark Stallard left the club.

As the season progressed, the Tykes showed glimpses of quality and notable victories included two 2-0 wins over newly relegated Nottingham Forest which proved vital at the end of the season as the Tykes finished just three points above Forest.

On March 2, Barnsley lost influential player Jacob Burns to Polish side Wisła Kraków, with the player looking to improve his chances of being selected for the Australian World Cup squad and he wanted to play in either the Champions League or the UEFA Cup . The Reds won just two games out of their next eleven in the league, missing numerous chances to secure a playoff spot, and arguably an automatic promotion place.

One such example was the game against the league leaders Southend. They had the opportunity to close the gap when they led The Shrimpers 2-0 at home but eventually drew the game 2-2. Such spurned chances were to be a trademark of Barnsley's season but despite this, Barnsley would finish fifth in the league, resulting in a playoff tie with local rivals Huddersfield.

After losing the first leg at home 1-0 it appeared that Barnsley were resigned to another season in League One. The Reds took a vocal support of 4,000 fans to the away leg at the Galpharm Stadium, and the ground erupted as Paul Hayes placed home a penalty. Huddersfield went on to equalise but goals from captain Paul Reid and a 77th minute winner from ex-Manchester United trainee Daniel Nardiello put the Reds into a playoff final against Swansea who had beaten third placed Brentford.

The final was played at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff on May 27, 2006 in front of a crowd of 55,419. Barnsley took the lead through a Paul Hayes opener but Swansea replied with goals from ex-Red Rory Fallon and Andy Robinson following a blunder by keeper Nick Colgan. Barnsley was not to be out-done and the vocal fan support continued throughout the game. A Barnsley equaliser came from a Daniel Nardiello free kick, and chances were traded back and forth for the rest of the game and extra-time.

The match was decided on penalties, with Nick Colgan going from villain to hero and saving the winning penalty from Alan Tate, to give the Reds a 4-2 shootout victory and a place in the Championship to boot.

Barnsley have struggled in 2006-07 and by December they were in real danger of relegation. Andy Ritchie was sacked as manager and replaced by Simon Davey, who initially took over as interim manager before receiving a permanent contract on New Year's Eve. Currently Barnsley yo-yo in and out of the relegation zone. As of April 9th 2007 they sit in 21st position, one places above, and 2 points above the drop zone. So far this season, important wins against Hull City (twice), a 2-0 away victory at Luton Town, a 2-0 home win versus QPR, a 2-0 win at home to Southend United and a fantastic 3-2 derby win versus Leeds United. They have also managed a fantastic away win at Stoke City live on Sky Sports. New signing Istvan Ferenczi has been scoring goals and Peter Rajczi has also been putting his fair share of work into Barnsley FC. In the match on Wednesday 14^th March, Barnsley FC forgot about their 3-1 defeat at Norwich City, to beat Plymouth Argyle 4-2 win at Home Park where Martin Devaney's 2 stunning long range strikes aided by Lewin Nyatanga's equalising header and a 6th goal in 6 games for Istvan Ferenczi blasted them to victory. In the next game the same team lost 4-1 away to Coventry City, going 3-0 down in the first half, with Bobby Hassell netting a late consolation. Barnsley then played Derby County in a game marred by the injury of goalkeeper David Lucas, Derby County went on to win the game 2-1 with Sam Togwell netting a late consolation. On the Easter weekend, Barnsley travelled to Ipswich, but lost 5-1. Three goals were let in in the last eight minutes. On the Easter Bank Holiday Monday, Barnsley entertained Birmingham City. An important game for both sides saw Daniel Nardiello score the only goal of the game. This win and other results from the bottom of the table, has taken Barnsley out of the relegation zone, However, the bottom end of the table is tight and all could change.

(Thanks to the usual suspects for help with the above.)