2005/2006 season

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m fairly sure that we slept walked into the play-offs that season and I had little confidence going into them…

we also lost the Home leg 1-0
then out of nowhere came a brilliant performance away Huddersfield .

Im feeling pretty underwhelmed at the moment which is a strange feeling when we are 3 games away from promotion but…..it’s a funny old game.

 

https://www.11v11.com/teams/barnsley/tab/matches/season/2006/

Going in to the play offs it was six games unbeaten.

 

We took the lead in the away leg then gave away a stupid equaliser. It was one of my all time favourite games.

 

From memory, we went 1-0 up in the away leg in the first half, but made an error with about 25 minutes left to put them back in front in the tie. But I think we rallied and scored 2 fairly quick goals with about 15 minutes left to win it.

 

We'd won 2 in 12. It's not a mile away from our current form in terms of points.

Another thing to think of - we scraped 6th place at this level on the final day in 2016. And played the team in 3rd... etc etc.

 

We also had a caretaker manager in charge in 2016. The circumstances were different, but still, that's an omen I'd say.

 

That’s right. I suppose the point I’m trying to make too is that despite the mood being downbeat at the moment, it can change very quickly


The play offs have seen some crazy things happen over the years and all the pressure is on Bolton

COYR

 

Huddersfield keeper dropped a straight forward shop for Nardiello to tap in I recall.

Paul Reid scored a header and was other goal a Paul Hayes penalty.

Won 3-2 on aggregate.

 

2016 we chased hard and scraped in.
2024 we were 'in' and almost managed to scrape out.

 

Don't think it was a case of sleep walking, more that we lacked quality. At no point through that season did I think we were good enough for promotion or would ever achieve it, but we did.

I have very fond memories of dozens of games from all other promotion seasons and rate many of the players very highly, but that season, other than the play-off games, I just remember an endless run of draws. The last game we won at Oakwell was in February and there were only 2 away wins after that.

It was all "Meh", but we were promoted despite winning 3 fewer games, accumulating 4 fewer points and scoring 20 fewer goals than this season.

 

yep…that’s what I meant. Perhaps I could have used a better metaphor but that’s all I had to offer. We didn’t exactly fly into the play offs, similar to this season.

we did lack a bit of quality but had a great team spirit - I think that’s what got us over the line.

my memory of Cardiff was being battered by a very good Swansea team. We were dead on our feet in extra time.

 

Great anticipation from Nardiello. He was a cracking player on his day.

 

Yet we've lost less, and got more points.

Play-Offs is a clean slate. A new tournament.

However, history suggests 3rd place goes up more often than not.

 

It's the momentum that worries me, but yes, a 3-game lottery starts Friday.

 

Some really good and valid points here. What feels different to me is the Ritchie team though limited had a sense of identity and were a cohesive unit. They fought as one. Also there seemed to me to be a stronger connection between the team and the fans. I don’t think there has ever been a bigger disconnect than there is now.

A fractured team. A fractured club.

Regardless of results or performance we need to reconnect the club to the fans and we need a team that fights and supports each other.

 

All fair points!

 

'Tap in' is a bit harsh, it was a bouncing ball about 8/9 yards out and he slammed it in.

 

That 'scraped into 6th place' is a re-writing of history.

From bottom of the Division on New Year's Day to trouncing the Champions on the final day, at their ground - and then winning the Play Offs - was one of the finest achievement's I've ever seen at this Club in 50 years. Truly outstanding. No offence to the current 11, but not one of them would make that team.

That team would likely have achieved far more than it did, if part way through the following season we hadn't done our usual trick of breaking up success.

"Scraped into 6th place" Harrumph!! We were flying and no-one was going to stop us that year.

 

That 2016 team had so much quality, it was a miracle of management how Johnson managed to get us bottom of the league, after 20 games we had 18 points and sat bottom of the league. Roll forward another 26 games we had 74 points and had just smashed the league winners at their home 4-1. The last 26 games yielded 56 points at 2.2 ppg and we were flying in to the play offs with a team including players such as Roberts, Mawson, Hourihane, Brownhill, Hammill, Winall and Fletcher. I never doubted us against Walsall or Millwall as we were just so much better than any team in that division. That was borne out the following year with the team faring so well up to Christmas in the Championship.

This year feels so different the slump at the end of the year has meant our last 10 games would put us in the relegation battle, by contrast the last 26 games brought 41 points at a rate of 1.6ppg. Maybe in years to come we will reel of the names of the current squad but I highly doubt the quality is anything like what we had 8 years ago.

Anyway, its three games and this team could still get promotion and I sincerely hope we do, this time I'm a little less confident than in 2016.