Hey after chatting about this at the weekend, with the two big geezers Fitz and Wuz lol, it got me thinking. This '88 season has got so many good things to think about and talk about hasn't it (but then again, we could say that about every single season!). What are your memories ehh, about this particular season ?. Which was sadly Allan Clarke's only good season, in his second time here, and it all went downhill for him after this!.
I saw us win at Maine Road; went over in my mate's dad's Mini with a leaking roof. Bangles - Eternal Flame on the radio. If my sieve of a memory is working I think the winner hit the post, and rebounded off the back of the keeper's head into the net. I was only about twelve at the time, I was convinced we would beat Everton after knocking Stoke out of the cup in the replay at Oakwell.
Yeah Oskar mate we did win there away at Man City, late on in the season, which sounds weird now doesn't it lol.
Went to a lot of aways that season, and we were in with a shout. I think a defeat at Bournemouth finished us off in the end. We took a decent following down there from memory. Great 5-3 game at Chelsea, Mal Shotton playing in midfield at Walsall on the final day, the cup run, particularly a drunken day at Leek on our way to stoke. Great times playing for the supporters club on a Saturday and Sunday footy as well.
I was also impressed when we won away at Wimbledon in the Lg Cup, even though we lost to them on agg (two legs in those days). As they rarely lost at home, and they were the Fa cup holders at the time.
We lost only two of our last sixteen games. One of those was a 5-3 at Chelsea, and the other was the Bournemouth defeat. Entertaining football; classic FA Cup games, and the Stevie Cooper triple salko which ended up on the Match of the Day intro. Everywhere we went we had the home fans asking about Currie. No animosity. Just a nice brief chat etc. The papers' headlines were either 'Currie Too Hot to Handle' or the oft used 'Battling Barnsley'. Blow up bananas were in. Stoke had pink panthers and waved them like mad on the Kop.Grimsby had Harry the Haddock.. the craze never caught on at Oakwell. Who'd have thought we'd start the following season like we did.
I was at Stoke in the cup, one of their goals never crossed the line, I was standing where the linesman should have been... Currie was brilliant that day.
Our coach broke down on the way to Stoke and we had to hitch a lift from another. Got to the ground at 2.55 and it was chaos outside. Only got in after half time when we were 3-1 up. Just in time to see them score two for a 3-3 draw. Halcyon days of the FA cup when it was the highlight of the season before it became a nuisance to the big boys….
Are you sure you're not thinking of our goal in the 1-1 draw there the season before? That was a bit.like that, a Gwyn Thomas shot that hit both posts and dribbled in...
That day at Stoke could have turned into a Hillsboro-type disaster. The crush caused by the chaos outside the ground was truly frightening, and my main memory is of the police on horseback just sitting there and allowing it to happen. Glad to get out alive.
1986 (posted the other day) summarised the poor crowd sizes at Oakwell and football in general. 1988 saw a bit of a rebound after the strikes and there was a buzz around Oakwell again, especially at the big games. I was an ST holder and think I got to every match for the simple reason I could plan around the original fixture list. Got to a fair few away games too
The Stoke game was my first away game. I was probably a bit too small as I didn't see a great deal but it felt a huge departure from the modest home gates I'd gotten used to, then suddenly you had 21,000 for the Stoke replay and then over 32,000 for the Everton game which really didn't feel safe at all.
1988/89 was the only season I held a season ticket. I think I got it off a school mate for £20 - and he'd been given it by Winnie's oldest son. Good days. Wasn't that the 4-0 against Chelsea in the cup that saw Gwyn Thomas crocked. IIRC we were at home on the day of Hillsborough and the news filtered through while we were playing.
Yes that was the game Thomas got crocked by a disgusting Chelsea side. And yes, I think it was Birmingham at home, a dull 0-0. Thankfully I was there and not at Hillsborough, which I did have a ticket for as the guy who used to take me could get free tickets there and took me a few times.
Paul cooper in city nets that game , think it was Aggie who shot and it came off woodwork and then went in off goalie