Lots of great comments about our fans on their forum. https://www.twtd.co.uk/forum/557743/barnsley-fans-are-amongst-the-most-gracious-anywhere/#14 Have to say, I find the feeling to be mutual. I have had a soft spot for Ipswich since Wembley. If I had to wish them bad luck in the remaining two games, it's only because I would rather have a rematch with them in the final, rather than Wednesday.
They’re an ok bunch the Ipswich lot. I too have pretty fond memories of Wembley 2000 (I wish I was still as fresh faced as I was at 17; and weighed what I did!) even though the result was gutting. Compare that day and before and after with the Ipswich lot to the millwall thugs in 2016; there’s no comparison. It was some side that Ipswich team, basically the same squad that went on to get into Europe the next season. If we’d have managed to get up then, who knows. Anyway… Much fewer of their fans with illusions of grandeur compared to other clubs of similar stature. No problem with them at all. Given we can’t finish in the top two I’m delighted it will be them and Plymouth rather than that mob down the way. I think they’ll do well next season as well. Hopefully we still join them.
Was a good day in 2000 they came across as a great bunch. I think the away trip at Portman Road earlier this season was less friendly between the 2 sets of fans after the game. And Wednesday fans I spoke to who went Portman Road this season got similar aggro.
Message received from a mate who was there last night and is an IT fan: In fairness you were the better team for the first 40 minutes we hit the bar. You lacked any penetration but held the ball well. We kept closing you down. Our first corner wasn’t till we scored the first. Quick second while you were still reorganising. That killed you off. Second half we could play the game we wanted too. The ref was awful several decisions could have gone either way for both teams. I thought the 3 goal had a hint of offside. You then started playing silly hacking and fouling. By far the best team we have played in a while. You had a game plan but as I’ve seen before we work it out and adapt. We played Wycombe a few weeks ago and I thought they were fantastic for the first 20 minutes we worked it out and beat them 4-0
Nothing major against them though, unlike ours, where we should’ve been playing against 10 men, a horrendous penalty decision, very suspect offside for third goal. 1st goal should’ve been a goal- kick (however should defend better).
I was distinguishing the bit about about ‘awful decisions could’ve gone either way’ they went their way.
Good comments definitely. The Bobby Robson Ipswich side were amazing. Worst day of my life travelling back from losing to them in the playoffs in '99. That was the end of an era.
Can’t really knock Ipswich. They seemed a decent lot in 2000, made a cracking atmosphere on Tuesday night & were the best away side I’ve seen all season. Full credit to them for filling that stand on a Tuesday night. My only comfort to us losing 3-0 was knowing I’d have been asleep for about 3 hours before the majority of them got home.
I'm loathe to share anything from this schittrag, but a bit salty from the Suffolk bottlers.... https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/2215...dium=sharebar_native&utm_campaign=sharebaramp
I am getting on a bit... memory obviously not as good as it used to be. Surprised I was only a year out TBH...
This is why I struggle to like Ipswich. They seem to have this superiority complex. Plymouth are still above them, or had they forgotten?
If anyone's interested, I wrote this for West Stand Bogs back in 2016 about the play off final v Ipswich and memories of that day. Result apart, that was how going to a football match should be. My own positive memories of Ipswich go back a little further to when we played them on a Friday night just before Christmas in 1995, drew 2-2. And having a pint bought by Alan Brazil in a pub across from the ground (Not sure if he was just in there or if it was his pub?). "Only with hindsight do the memories of the 2000 playoff final leave a heavy hearted feeling, as undoubtedly it was the turning point for the club after 20 years or so of relative success. Little did I think at the time, even after our defeat to Ipswich, that we’d enter a slow cycle of decline, relegation, administration and a haemorrhage of quality players, pretty much setting the tone for the present. Ticket purchasing for Wembley was as good an experience as I can remember at BFC. Queuing from about 4am outside the East Stand, fuelled by bacon sarnies delivered at 6.30am, and then fairly rapidly moving queues through the turnstiles. Getting to Wembley was an achievement, not just in football terms, but in the context of somehow getting out of Birmingham in one piece a couple of weeks earlier. A complete contrast to the atmosphere between Ipswich and Barnsley supporters in the sea of red and blue that was JJ Moons pub, and Wembley way. Given what was at stake, it’s a credit to both sets of supporters that it’s still looked upon as the Friendly Final. The offer on Theakston’s XB was a bonus in the pub. About £1.50 for a pint if I remember. Bumped into Juddy G, met Sheriff and the others from our group in there too. The day itself is something I still find spine tingling when I look back, it felt like a complete privilege to see my team playing in the grand old stadium, something my Grandad didn’t live to sample, and my Dad missed having been put off football by Machin and greed. Even more special was the fact that I knew that my wife, who joined us at Wembley, was expecting our first child, her due date meaning I’d had a pretty good night after a 1-1 home draw with Bolton in late February. He’s now 15 and bitten by the Barnsley bug, and he’s been spoilt by seeing the Reds at both the new Wembley and at the Millennium Stadium. As I’ve told him, in terms of league position, we’re back where it started for me. Third division. But I digress. I recall the pre-match drinks and banter, Andreas Johnson’s “Glorious“ playing several times during the warm up, just literally soaking up everything the day threw at me, similar to how I spent the hour after that Bradford match – not on the pitch, just watching everything from the stand with eyes welling up, comprehending that this was happening to Barnsley FC. The stand out bits of the match are Hignett’s piledriver, Ipswich dominating the period of the game either side of half time, that penalty miss, that save by Wright from Hristov, late hope when we got back to 3-2 and scratching my head when we conceded the 4th goal at the end when Keith Brown was trying to play Martin Reuser offside in the Ipswich half....... “That penalty miss” was preceded by the said wife asking me “has Barnard ever missed a penalty?”. We’re still married, and she went to Wembley again for the 2008 FA Cup semi final. She kept quiet about Kayode and “that miss”. Journey home in the car was quiet but still optimistic about the season to come. How those conversations changed within weeks when we serially lost our outstanding right hand side players – Hignett, Eaden and Curtis. And so began our decline and managerial merry-go-round. Result apart, I wouldn’t change a thing from that day. 20 years of being a red (at the time) was lived out in 24 hours. Business as usual. As a footnote, later in the wife's pregnancy we were up at ante-natal classes at Barnsley General one night per week for about six weeks. Practising puffing and panting and all that. Along with Mr and Mrs Heavily Pregnant Barnard........"
Great piece that, mate. Like most I have mixed memories of that day. We went down on the Sunday on a coach from the Outpost and stopped overnight leading up to the game. The build up, atmosphere in the pubs, and the electric feeling inside the ground leading up to kick off will all live with me for ever. Unfortunately so will the deflation of the defeat. It was definitely a turning point for BFC and I've often wondered where we would be now if Barnard had scored that penalty just before half time as I'm sure we'd have gone on to win the game. We'll never know.....
