Freddie Ljungberg

You and Big Lil are both right.

In 1997 we were set to sign Ljunberg and Johan Mjalby for 250k but because our other foreign signings had flopped I believe John Dennis didn't want to take the risk.

In 1998 John Hendrie was the manager and we went back for Ljunberg and agreed a 1.5m deal but then he played great for Sweden in a euros qualifier which led to Arsenal gazumping us.

 

Plan b was Iain Hume

 

If I remember right, it was spend £500k on Charlie Adam, or sign Adam Hammill. The budget didn't stretch to both, and Hammill had just had a good loan spell with us.

 

Yeah I wish you wouldn't mate i know your feelings on the guy but a lot of us on here love/like him. Please stop making falsehoods. It was definitely Davey

 

So it was to do with Cryne he told Davey there's a 500k kitty it's Hammill or Adam. Yes Davey chose Hammill but it was still a massive oversight not freeing up the extra cash for Charlie Adam. I might not have got the story right but I was hardly slurrying Cryne's name. It was also 15 years ago.

 

Could be worse, Cryne could have sold Stones for peanuts because he didn't realise he was any good. I believe on that one Don Rowing himself said that he wouldn't be revealing the fee we got because fans would be unhappy if they knew how much it was

 

The same Cryne that didn't offer contracts to Winnall and Hourihane because he didn't think they'd sign them anyway. He then said they wouldn't be sold "over his dead body" before the end of the season. Then said he'd offered Hourihane the best contract in Barnsley history in spite of Hourihane saying no contract was offered and he was disappointed the club didn't approach him after the Play-Off Final win.

 

Aye that one. The same Cryne who categorically denied that James had anything to do with any spreadsheet.

 

Water off a ducks back.

 

To be fair, every barnsley fan and their dog would have chosen Hammill at the time mate. I've got absolutely no issue with him not forking out on them both. Especially when Davey said he wasn't worth it, why would Cryne pay it? Hindsight is a wonderful thing... it would have certainly come in handy with Iseka and our lord and savior Oulare

 

Of course, I relent to the greater knowledge.
Gazzumped. Quite right. Arsenal doubled everything Barnsley offered, to get that footballer. Which wouldn’t have been a lot, strange, ,especially when Sol Campbell became the first 100k a week footballer.
I lived close to Arsenal in those days. I was passing when Marc Overmars was mobbed when stuck in traffic at the corner of Holloway Road & Seven Sisters. In a Jeep Cherokee. They’d just won the league, unbeaten..

 

Lee Clark

Didnt we agree a record for of over £2million with Newcastle in 97 and he crossed the divide to join Sunderland?

 

And wasn't there a Trindadian player called Russell Latapy who John Hendrie refused to sign claiming he was too old? Played in the SPL at the time.

 

I think he played for Boavista at the time, joined Hibs the season we apparently wanted him. That's what I got told anyway, I was only a bairn

 

The stones saga all worked out well in the end. Every owner/chairman we have had in my lifetime has made mistakes some more than others. Cryne was a good one wish he was still about now tbh.

 

He should have sacked Hecky during his summer tantrum.

 

I think he had alot more on his plate that summer than football or hecky throwing Teddy out of the cot. Hecky got a new agent that summer he wanted out from Connor leaving he should have resigned himself.

 

Hecky should have been Barnsley head coach for years. He was royally shafted starting in January 2017 thanks to Crynes ineptitude at running a football club. Hecky is a great Coach & is proving so at Sheffield United.

 

His spells at barnsley after conor went, hibs and leeds would say otherwise. Plus he has a great squad at sheff hardly overachiving. But let's not get into this it's been done to a death.

 

He did a steady job at Leeds considering they were a basket case club at the time, he integrated a lot of youth into their squad. Hibs was a strange club to take on, the SPL is impossible to be successful in straight away unless you’re Celtic or Rangers.