There was no way he was staying. I have it on reasonably good authority that he was offered shedloads more and a bonus if they got promoted-which they have !
Antony Kay and Neil Austin. Never going to be world beaters but they had Barnsley in their hearts and would've been far better to stick with than some of the chancers we signed in subsequent years. An older Martin Bullock would've been twice the player Kevin Donovan was in that Spackman era.
Redders, like many of the promotion team, had a contract that included a clause that stated the Club could reduce their wage if we were relegated from the Prem. Those who signed during the Prem season didn't have that clause. He approached John Dennis to see if he could have that clause removed and JD refused so Redders wanted away. Personally I think Redders would have been a better replacement for Danny than Hendrie proved to be. Redders had been team captain whereas John Hendrie had been the dressing room joker.
With the luxury of hindsight we went unbeaten at Oakwell and went up nearly as Champions in that one more year option that’s been mentioned
Was this ever confirmed by him or in his book. Been to an evening with him and yet to read the signed book I got about a decade ago but don’t recall these specifics.
We started that season with Mamadou Thiam on one wing and Brad Potts on the other; sold Potts and then had Jacob Brown on the right. Hammill would therefore have been useful you’d argue but let’s be honest, he had pulled up no trees in the previous season or two and we didn’t exactly miss him as it turned out.
John Dennis' "The Oakwell Years" talks about Neil wanting a revised contract as early as February during the Prem season. Seemingly he'd changed agent during that season and wanted a contract that would have guaranteed him being the highest paid player at the Club.
“We didn’t know how good he was”. FFS about 12000 of us watching him, most of whom have played some games in their lives, knew just what they were looking at.
I may be remembering it wrong, but I thought Bassett made the call, choosing to bring players he knew from previous clubs in
He wanted to leave after we were relegated,he was at the end of his contract. But John Hendrie persuaded him to sign for one more year, probably hoping we might go back up. When that didn't happen he went to Wigan,who were chucking money around at the time