Barnsley Football Club History
2006-07 Season
20th in the Championship
League Cup: 2nd round: MK Dons h. 1-2
FA Cup: 3rd round replay: Southend United h. 0-2
Highlight:
3-2 home win over Leeds United, 4/11/06
Low Spot:
0-3 home defeat to Sheffield Wednesday, 30/12/06.
Good:
Brian Howard
Had an excellent season on the left hand side of midfield. A good distributor of the ball and chipped in with eight goals, including a few absolute beauties.
Bobby Hassell
More dependable than his defensive colleagues and is effective moving forward to help the attack from right back.
Bad:
Paul Heckingbotham
Never totally convincing at left back. Heckingbotham hasn't previously been able to establish himself at this level and question marks remain ahead of next season.
Marc Richards
Started the season brightly but then faded badly and looked below the required standard. Finally completed a move to Port Vale.
In Brief:
Barnsley won their opening two away games of the season at Hull and Colchester and those victories would prove to be absolutely vital come the end of the campaign.
The club were fighting a constant battle against relegation and just about managed to keep their heads above water. Wins in April against Birmingham City, Southend and Crystal Palace earned Barnsley another year in the Championship but improvements to the playing staff need to be made, especially in defence, if the club is going to move significantly up the table.
It was disappointing to see the club sack Andy Richie who had done superbly to get them into the Championship and always had his side playing entertaining attacking football.
Barnsley Football Club was formed in 1887 by the curate of Barnsley St Peter's church. The club was known as Barnsley St Peter's until 1897. One year later in 1898 the club was elected into Division Two of the Football League.
Although Barnsley made a quiet start to life in the league they suddenly made their mark in the FA Cup.
In 1910 they defeated Bristol Rovers, West Bromwich Albion, Queens Park Rangers and Everton to reach the final against Newcastle United. They battled to a 1-1 draw at the Crystal Palace before losing the replay at Goodison Park 2-0.
In 1912, however, the Tykes actually won the competition. They knocked out Leicester Fosse, Bolton Wanderers, Bradford City (after three replays) and Swindon Town to meet West Bromwich Albion in the final. There were no goals at Crystal Palace but Barnsley triumphed in the replay at Bramhall Lane thanks to a Harry Tuffnell goal.
Despite this success Barnsley were unable to achieve promotion. The closest they would come was in 1915 and 1922 when they finished third on both occasions. They were particularly unfortunate in 1922 when they only missed out behind Stoke City on a narrow goal average inferiority.
In 1932, however, the club was relegated into Division Three North. They were promoted back to Division Two as champions in 1934 but were relegated again in 1938. They immediately won another Division Three North title to reclaim a second division place after the war.
Barnsley then remained in Division Two until 1953 when they again slipped into Division Three North. They again won the championship in that division two years later. The Tykes spent four seasons in the second division before being relegated into what had then become the third division in 1959.
During the post war period the club was most notable for unearthing two of Britain's finest players. They brought Danny Blanchflower over from Northern Ireland and found Tommy Taylor on their own doorstep. They could scarcely keep such talents for long, however. Blanchflower would go on to captain Tottenham's double winning side and Taylor became the spearhead of Manchester United's Busby Babes.
Barnsley struggled through the 1960's and 70's, slipping into the fourth division in 1965, climbing back into Division Three in 1968 before suffering relegation again in 1972.
It would be seven years before the club managed to escape Division Four but at least when they did in 1979 they were better equipped to push on under the management of Allan Clarke.
Barnsley had the raw centre half Mick McCarthy in their ranks and a fine young midfield prospect, Ian Banks. Clarke made some inspired signings, notably Ronnie Glavin from Celtic but also the likes of Ian Evans and Trevor Aylott, and the club went from strength to strength.
In 1980-81 Barnsley reached the 4th round of the League Cup and the 5th round of the FA Cup as well as winning promotion to Division Two as runners up behind Rotherham United.
The following season they finished sixth in Division Two as well as producing their best run in the League Cup to reach the 5th round. Barnsley knocked out Peterborough United, Swansea City, Brighton & Hove Albion and Manchester City before bowing out to Liverpool. They actually managed a goalless draw at Anfield before losing the replay at Oakwell 3-1.
Barnsley remained steadfastly in mid-table in the second tier for sixteen seasons before clinching a shock promotion to the Premier League in 1997 under Danny Wilson. Wilson got his side playing good football and the fans coined the famous terrace chant "It's just like watching Brazil" although there were no real stars in the line up.
Few gave the Tykes much chance of surviving in the top flight and this proved to be the case as they slipped to immediate relegation.
In 2000 the club had a chance to return to the Premier League when they reached the play offs. Barnsley recorded a remarkable 4-0 win over Birmingham City at St Andrews in the first leg of their semi final to all but guarantee a place at Wembley but then went down 4-2 to Ipswich Town in the final.
Two seasons later Barnsley slipped back into the third tier and have spent the past three seasons stuck in the middle reaches at that level.
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