I’ve been a fan of the club for the last 45 of them, out of a total of 57 Now that’s old. https://www.soccerbase.com/teams/team.sd?team_id=208&teamTabs=managers
For the first 73 years of the club’s existence there were just 12 managers. In the last 53 years there’ve been 45.
It seems Arthur Fairclough is our longest serving manager. Fair play and rip. Next longest serving in post WW2 is Clarke??
https://www.perplexity.ai/search/list-all-barnsley-fc-managers-7ZchWWWPR7uqeLt0XNPg_Q AI not quite accurate there as it seems to sum the tenures of managers that served more than once, eg Clarkey
Hey Air, it's a tough one lol, but Id have to say Danny Wilson in the mid/late mid 90's. Nothing will ever be as good as that again. But it's all about creating memories again isn't it, so who knows what's just around the corner ehh!.
Angus Seed. Johnny Steele and Tim Ward beat Clarke post ww2. Angus Seed longest serving in tenure . 16yrs (5/6 seasons suspended for the war though) Fairclough 13yrs. Over 3 periods.
Clarke's second spell was longer and more successful than his first. How come it's never acknowledged?
He got us promoted in his 1st season changed the club immensely. Made us more professional. In attitude and appearance. and that was the start of a golden era. Whereas during his second spell he achieved what most others around that time did. Mid table finishes.
Missed out on Play-Offs in 1988/89. Never mentioned but Machin's heartbreak in 1990/91 referenced all the time.
Not sure but didn't the Machin one go down to the last game. And we were in the mix right up to the last few minutes. Brighton scoring a late winner. (I remember checking scores throughout our game against boro) Tbh the clarke one doesn't stick in my memory on the same lines.
Tbf you are right. I had forgotten it went to the last game until I just googled it. We had to better Swindons result. We lost, they drew. I can only imagine not being at pompey that day does not spark up mi memory box lol.
It's like 85 to 90 is a blind spot. Not just for Barnsley fans but football fans in general. Take out a few moments and Hillsborough and Italia 90. I sometimes feels like football paused until the Premier League's inception. Back to Barnsley we also had an F.A Cup and League Cup quarter final during that time. I've heard a few fans talk about losing at home to Everton in the 5th round in 1989 but no one talks about going to Highbury in 1987.
I started when Johnny Steele was manager for his first spell. For the football played my favourite was Norman Hunter.
What a player, coach and all round top bloke your dad was. Had pleasure of his company a few times in my dad's pub in Penistone.
I'm Arthur Fairclough's cousin twice removed, for what that's worth! Between his second and third spells at Tarn he managed Huddersfield for seven years just prior to Herbert Chapman, then Leeds for seven years where he won promotion to the First Division.