‘A club is for life, and Barnsley Football Club is that club in mine’ – WSB meets John Dennis

New Member.. 28 years a Red.
Met John and had a beer with him Gerry Taggart and Brendan O'Connell at our hotel on eve of FA Cup semi at Wembley
versus Cardiff City. Shared his sadness at having to take us into receivership. Still a genuine 100% supporter.
Great read WSB evoked many happy memories.

 

Excellent read. I've met the bloke a couple of times. Very decent man.

 

Yes I think there was a bit of a fall out between Big JD and Pat.
If I remember right - JD refused the offer of help from Patrick when the club was in trouble - and by doing so the club ended up getting into much deeper trouble - which Patrick then had to dig deeper to get the club out of.

So huge huge credit to Patrick.

But it was a real pity that JD wasn't part of the new board as his absence meant that much knowledge and links with people within the game went with him.

If we do get a new owner in the near future - it would be highly beneficial for the stability of the club if both Patrick and JD were directors.

 

An excellent piece, congratulations all round. A great insight in to why Clarke left second time round.

 

There were rumours that Paul Sykes as well as Patrick Cryne had offered help. Given the parlous state of the Club were it true it's puzzling why JD and other Board members re-Mike Heyselden, Barry Taylor, Chris Harrison didn't take their offers up.
We'll not know the truth of course until someone elaborates further.
It was a very worrying time and we all have reason to be eternally thankful to Patrick and BMBC for their timely intervention.

 

great read that but the one thing I do have an issue with is when Spackman got rid of Eric and Mr Dennis allowed that to happen,he said you just cannot tell him{Spackman} to **** off. Well I`m sorry but you can and you should have done so, this was the biggest mistake, I think, ever made at Barnsley FC. Could you imagine Allan Clarke arriving and telling Rimmo to clear off, it would have been the same thing. Eric was the new Rimmo and the club would have be ok whilst ever he was here. I`m glad he has forgiven Mr Dennis for it but I haven`t......................

 

Great article again, Dyson. Many thanks.

Question: Did Danny's first departure really happen in the way JD describes?

 

In what way mate? Danny also comments on it in my interview with him - similar stories with obviously slightly different angles so you can make up your own mind.

http://www.weststandbogs.co.uk/wsb-meets-danny-wilson/

 

Yep - that nails it Dyson. I was given the impression that we could have matched Wednesday's offer and kept Danny. Quite clear from both accounts that that wasn't the issue. It's something that has always rankled with me because we lost Danny just after the ST renewal date. Looking back, I think that it wouldn't really have made any difference anyway - we'd have had the same hopes for John Hendrie that JD did.

Thanks again for two great interviews.

 

You're welcome mate. My gut feeling is that any decision Mr Dennis made in his time was nothing but transparent, honest & decent. If there's anything that seems untoward or with a hidden agenda, I'd side with it being the opposite. He could be an unbelievable liar but after spending a significant amount of time with him I think he's one of the most impressive men I've had the pleasure of spending time with & I trust his side of events.

 

That was my opinion of him Dyson. A really open and honest bloke who like his Dad before him served Barnsley FC well.
The fact that we have the ground and academy facilities we have now are testimony to John and his co- directors from the time he was in charge. It's just a pity that the powers that be altered the rules governing transfers which limited our ability to raise cash at any time during the season by selling our best player(s).
Allied to that was the collapse of the deal which saw ITV Digital pump money into Clubs in return for TV rights which led to the Board having to call in the receivers.

 

As I said on Twitter, a superb read, thanks.

 

What a brilliant piece of work that was - well done to all at WSB who made that possible.

I have only just got around to reading it, and still haven't read the Danny Wilson one yet. It's great hearing the inside stories as described by Mr Dennis there. It's ironic that there are so many on here who have absolutely NO IDEA what goes on inside a football club, yet claim to know everything and can't help criticising those who are doing it because it's not how they think it SHOULD be done!

As I've said before, more than once, I trust the custodians of my football club completely. They have made mistakes, and will make plenty more, but that's life. I don't think it's defeatist to be satisfied that we have a club at all. It would be nice to get another shot at the Premier League I suppose, but then again we'd have to put up with the likes of Diego Costa week after week. There is enough gamesmanship at our level and below without being exposed to his brand of cretinous behaviour. It's people like him who kill people's love of the game, unless he happens to play for your team of course!

 

WSB. PROUD OF OUR CLUB. Great & tireless work.

 

A great read. Goes to show how different stories can be from inside the boardroom and how important it is to have people who generally care about the club actually running it!

 

Great read WSB. Brought back a lot of very happy memories. I went to Middlesbrough when we needed to win.
Squeaky bum after we scored. I was at Man City when Clint scored both and didn't realise what was going to happen later in the season.
Bradford game will live with me forever. Absolute joy for all the Reds devotees there that day.
Still got every copy of the Green Un and home programme for our promotion season and our one and only season in the Prem. They're great to look back on.

 

A wonderful and captivating piece. Well done. A real trip down Nostalgia Lane with some fascinating insight also. I love JD and his love of the club. I also love WSB and want to have sex with it.

 

Unfortunately the ruff has to come with the smooth as well, and for me our relegation & administration outweighed our promotion to the Prem.
Thats why I think the 'blame' towards John Dennis rather than the 'credit', is justified.

 

No comment here either but Yes !!!

 

I don't think John Dennis takes full credit for the promotion to the Prem & thus he shouldn't take full blame for admin. Outside, uncontrollable events are more to blame for me...