Chronicle football in brief

Former chairman John Dennis had a secret meeting with David Moyes in 1999 to succeed John Hendrie as Barnsley manager, but Moyes wanted to see out his play-off final campaign with Preston, in which time the club appointed Dave Bassett as manager despite having very encouraging talks with Moyes.

Age the reason behind Steele's one year offer- Flicker believes it is too risky to offer Luke a longer contract as we don't know what our budget will be next season. This comes after Tom Kennedy, who is 28 this month, signed a 2 year deal a couple of weeks ago. Flicker goes on to say that he has full confidence in naming Ben Alnwick his number 1; he said he's been patient in his role as support to Steele and thinks he deserves the chance to step up to the plate. He also eludes to a young European goalkeeper who he expects to sign today.

O'Grady deal getting closer, whilst Flicker admits his interest in both Jon Stead and Michael Higdon. Flicker says he is a step closer to signing O'Grady but would like another striker as well; he has made an approach for both the SPL's top scorer and the former Bristol City striker, who are both out of contract. The O'Grady deal is all about agreeing the final details, and Flicker is confident that O'Grady will get his wish to move across south Yorkshire.

Tom Kennedy reveals he would have quit the club had Keith Hill not been sacked, but signed a 2 day contract in order to play for the reds against Burnley in the FA cup. Kennedy said his agent had lined him up moves elsewhere and that he was frustrated at the lack of opportunities he was getting. But Flicker made Kennedy part of his plans when the formation switched to 3-5-2; he believes he took a big risk signing the 2 day contract to play for us as his future was uncertain and that he was risking injury over the chance to play regular football elsewhere. He also believes Scott Golbourne is one of the best left backs in the division.

Don Rowing will buy a season ticket next season after retiring from his post at Oakwell. He says he has enjoyed his time working with Paddy Cryne but his reducing involvement in the club has made him realise it's probably time for himself to retire too.

Ben Mansford believes that he and Maurice Watkins can take the club forwards. Mansford will be, by far, the youngest CEO in the league, he's even younger than Barnsley striker Jason Scotland. Mansford's main experience comes in working with particularly financially stricken clubs such as Port Vale, Rotherham, Luton and Portsmouth. He saw a few Barnsley games last time, including the Cardiff game away, where he was impressed with our fighting spirit whilst we were fighting for our lives at the wrong end of the table.

Jim McNulty says that there has been a 'tug of war' between management and the board in the last few years and hopes that the appointment of Watkins and Mansford will put an end to this. McNulty is expected to sign a new contract today and complemented Don Rowing but says that it was time to freshen things up at the club.

 

and you sir have just saved me a trip to the co-op after work. Thank you.

 

"particularly financially stricken clubs such as Port Vale, Rotherham, Luton and Portsmouth"

Not quiet sure what to make of that track record...

 

Age? For a 28 year old goalkeeper? I don't know what to say about that.

And it's too risky to offer him a longer deal because we don't know our budget next season? Nothing's changed then. No long term plan or strategy, no attempt to secure our assets, just getting by one season at a time.

 

Could be going the other way - we might be looking at a different calibre of laiker and Flicker dunt want folk hanging around that he doesn't rate ?

I don't get what's happening with Steele - Flicker had him as skipper, he was one of the mainstays of last season's renaissance so what's gone awry ?

 

And I think Matthew Murray has just basically repeated your posts about Steele....

 

He's a Christian isn't he?

 

You'd think Maurice and Ben would have something to say about letting an asset go like Steele.

 

I'd rather he just came out and said 'I think the money we spend on Luke Steele would be better spent elsewhere. He's a fantastic lad, player and captain for us last year but with a restricted budget I need to make tough decisions. I have faith in Ben Alnwick after working with him for a year and he'll be our new number 1'.

Done. No more f.cking about lying.

 

Me an all, l thought they got better with age?

 

Ben's not in post until the 17th. Maurice is busy looking for a bloke called Barry Taylor.

 

He'll be out the next time there's some good news.

 

Next season will go either spectacularly wrong, or fantastically well.



Oh, and good luck to Luke Steele in his future endeavours.

 

Seems that way.

Andrew Lodge once copied sections of a match report I did on here word for ******* word and printed it as his own work in the Chronicle. Whole paragraphs were identical. I sent a jokey e-mail to him saying he owed me a pint, but he flat out denied he'd nicked it. He said that the fact that the words were all the same was a coincidence, we must think the same, and anyway he never looked at the BBS.

 

I was a bit confused over that, I mean if you look at the premier league clubs, the majority of them have a goalkeeper (albeit 3rd/4th choice) in their ranks which are aged 38 or older, which gives Steeley at least another 10 years in his career. It was a poor argument for me that one, something must have gone off that isn't being revealed publicly.

Flicker goes on to say that he expects Steele to look at his options elsewhere and if he can't find himself a more suitable deal, then we'd welcome him back with open arms.

 

As an aside, as much as I disagree with the Steele contract etc, we'll all be kissing Flitcroft's arse if Alnwick after 10 games has performed magnificently.

Fingers crossed.

 

The only thing I can think of is, he was skipper to make him more high profile..cos they knew then, he was on his way out..

maybe...or maybe not

 

I do...people who make statements like that...if that's the best they can offer..then maybe it would be better to say **** all..

I think only Hemsy..in this big wide world would agree wi owt like that...anybody under 21 great at everything...anybody older..old fashioned Dinosaur fcukwit ...but I suspect has he gets older, so will the age thing..

 

The Chronicle is notorious for using other peoples work and not giving them credit. I know of at least two people who have had material used and not been given credit. Indeed, as you've experienced, not even acknowledge that the work has been plagiarised (or quite frankly knicked) when confronted. Basterds.

 

"old fashioned Dinosaur fcukwit"

Chortle.

I might get a tee shirt with that on it (and give you credit for it of course).