Clarke V Hunter

Seen some chat last few days about Allan Clarke, my first game was 81 so missed the Clarke days so can only personally speak of the hunter era even if a tad young.

So for those of you fortunate to have witnessed both periods from 77/78 onwards, who was the better ? Do you think Hunter kicked us on further? Would Clarke have got the 2nd promotion had he stayed?
And finally did Hunter change much or just let the thing roll on from Clarke carrying on in the same manner?

I do remember thinking we should have gone up to the 1st Div under Hunter remember us being either 4/5th around April in 1982 (I think) and losing a key game at home to Leicester who took one of the top 3 spots, clearly remember a certain Mr Lineker scoring into the Ponte end in a 2-0 win for Leicester and that did for us basically

Edit 4th May 1982 I was close enough

 

The 2-0 defeat to Leicester was one of the Easter games I think. The other was away to Grimsby where we were 2-0 up at half time but went on to lose 3-2.
Those games cost us going up.

 

My first game was at the start of '81 (an Fa cup game against Torquay!) and Clarke had gone to Leeds that season. So by then, it had definitely become Hunter's team.
And covering the first half of the season back in Division Two as well, what a year 1981 was.

 

Allan Clarke turned us round big style and made the club very professional. Maybe a knock on effect from being managed at Leeds by Don Revie. It was unbelievable the change around from the Iley era and suddenly we were pulling in big crowds and the town was buzzing.....then he left( got poached by Leeds) and Norm took over....well big Norm took us that step further and with football that in my eyes was a bit more entertaining than under Clarke.....however Clarke was the catalyst for me, I would call it a draw tbh and both gave us supporters a fantastic and probably never matched(premier season included) period of watching Barnsley F.C.

 

Under hunter barnsley played the best football I ever saw Barnsley play.

 

Clarke was the catalyst for change and the ‘modern’ Barnsley team owes everything to the work he did. The Hunter team was a magnificent footballing team and almost certainly the best we have ever had.

 

Great insight thanks

 

Hopefully this link works but here's the table days before that Leicester game 3pts behind Wednesday (3rd) with a better goal difference, we'd swap places with Leicester days later after that defeat.
https://www.11v11.com/league-tables/league-division-two/01-may-1982/

 

I can't compare them because the Clarke era I saw, was in the mid 80s onwards, when Hunter had gone.
In fact that was an awful decision to sack Norman, I think it was about March time, in season '83.

 

Clarke kick started everything. Hunter wouldn't even have been at Barnsley had it not been for Clarke. The only two players that Hunter brought into the best Barnsley team were McHale & Barrowclough. All the rest were brought in by Clarke (with the exception of McCarthy & Chambers). Hunter produced the best football it's been my pleasure to watch as a Barnsley fan. However, it was also Hunter who totally ripped that team to bits. The likes of Barrowclough, McHale, Evans, Birch, Aylott, Parker, Banks, Pierce & McCarthy were sold, or released, by Hunter,
During the 1983/84 season, we were going backwards in leaps and bounds. Attendances were falling (this was prior to the start of the miners' strike) and the quality of football was poor & incapable of stopping the rot. By the time of his sacking, I had no problem with Hunter going.

 

The reason why I thought it was harsh though JL, is that was Hunter's first real disappointing season.
Whether we would have been relegated, I don't know. But that saw Bobby Collins getting the job for about 15 months I think.
And that carried on the links with former Leeds players, managing us.

 

I was very young at the time but while Clarke was the catalyst and deserves huge and enduring respect, We played some of the best stuff we have ever seen at Oakwell under Hunter. They are both utter legends.

 

Reminds me of Shankly / Paisley argument. Clarke/Shankly kick started both clubs but for me Hunter/Paisley took it to another level. The football we played in 81/82 was exceptional and we feared no one but teams feared us. Think Paisley said we were best team to play Liverpool at Anfield that season. We should have gone up but as people said we had the wobble near the end .

 

I mostly agree and your memory is better than mine but as a 16 year old I remember thinking Hunters sacking was harsh. It only seemed the briefest of bad spells before the axe swung and it was the first bad spell under him.
Best memories ever for me. Clarke had already overseen the massive change and got the town buzzing when I started, so to me the crowds, results and atmosphere were par for the course. Maybe I'd have appreciated him more if I'd experienced what had gone before.

Both Hunter and Clarke are legends in my mind.

 

That better?

 

Quite simply, Clarke turned the club around. Hunter built on that.

 

As I posted earlier…. I think we should call it a draw between the 2 legends of our club…..crikkey to think we had 2 great England International footballers both playing for and managing our team. Not sure it will ever happen again.

 

Agree with most of the above, by far the most enjoyable time following the Super Reds, the away following we had was unbelievable, re who was best, as has been said Clarkie transformed both the team and the club mentality, Big Norm carried it on and progressed, re them as people Big Norm takes it everyday, I remember him often dropping into the old social club by the Ponty end after games to thank the fans, he was a top bloke.....Clarke was a bit more aloof, esp during his second spell

 

I think Bill Shankly might have something to say about who started Liverpool's rise!

 

The best away game I ever attended was theta cup tie against Enfield at white hart lane unbelievable the number of people from Barnsley that attended that match.