Mark Hodkinson - Author of "Life at the top" recalls that day in April 1997...

...apologies if already posted.

A brief life at the top never to be forgotten by Barnsley townsfolk
The last great Premiership fairytale
Mark Hodkinson


Barnsley – even the name of the place has a touch of Monty Python about it. Throw in grim, coal dust, hobnail boots and Billy Casper and they will chase you out of town, much as they did in 1997.

A decade ago today, Barnsley secured their place in the Premiership and became the nation’s most-romanticised sporting underdogs. Other small-town clubs have made it since but Barnsley, like first love, have stayed in the mind, stuck in the heart.

Their elevation to the elite division came after 110 years in football’s backwaters. They made it with a team mostly forged in Britain, assembled on a paltry budget coughed up by a collection of Yorkshire-based traders and businessmen – a local club for local people. It is unlikely – Colchester United may disagree – that we will see their like again.

I had the great fortune to report on Barnsley’s match against Bradford City that sealed promotion. It is strange how you remember little things about big days. Much of the detail of the game has passed me by, but I can recall vividly the walk from my car to Oakwell. I thought how many others on how many days had shuffled through streets dreaming of this moment.

I was an outsider that day, but within a few months I was full up on Barnsley because The Times installed me as a writer-in-residence, with the brief to file a weekly dispatch. The column was christened Life At The Top and it was a privilege to become enmeshed in a club where everyone, from supporter to star striker, understood implicitly that only maximum effort at all times would guarantee survival.

Memorably, they won away to Liverpool and beat Manchester United in the FA Cup. But they were thrashed by Chelsea, Arsenal, West Ham United and Manchester United. It hurt every time they were called plucky or gallant losers, much as it did references to a long-gone Barnsley of coal dust and children with hawks. They dreamt of much more.

They were relegated on the first Saturday of May 1998, after losing away to Leicester City. John Dennis, the chairman at the time, trudged around the pitch with the pallor of a man who had found a stairway to hell.

Dennis, along with every player, coach and member of the administrative staff, has moved on since that day. In fact, only one person remains at the club from that time – Norman Rimmington, the 84-year-old kitman.

The decade since has not been kind to Barnsley. As often happens, their downfall was forged in the eye of success. They signed players on high wages and long-term contracts. Several were reportedly on £6,000 a week. Some agents duped them. A foreign player was passed off as a second-choice goalkeeper at his club when he was a third-choice with barely any experience. The collapse of ITV Digital was a further blow, the club having spent heavily assuming that the money would be recouped via the television deal.

Meanwhile, after the departure of Danny Wilson to Sheffield Wednesday in the summer of 1998, managers have been appointed on what seems a weekly basis. Simon Davey, the man in charge now, is the tenth to take charge since Wilson moved on.

The mismatch of players assembled by the various managers have underperformed markedly. In the 2002-03 season they were only two points away from falling into the bottom division, with attendances half their Premiership average of 18,600 a match.

The nadir came in October 2002, when the club went into administration, losing £50,000 a week and carrying debts of £3.5 million. A complex takeover has brought stability at least and Davey has all but secured their Coca-Cola Championship place for next season after a fraught scrap against relegation.

Wilson’s decade has also been disappointing. While at Barnsley he was tipped as a future manager of a top Premiership club. He failed at Sheffield Wednesday and achieved little at Bristol City before moving to Milton Keynes Dons, where he oversaw last season’s relegation to League Two. He has fared better at Hartlepool United, his present club, where he has led a successful promotion campaign that may culminate in winning the title today.

Thankfully, the travails have not been allowed to infringe upon Barnsley’s plans to celebrate their finest hour. Two reunion dinners have been held and on Bank Holiday Monday, May 7, a commemorative match between Barnsley and a Bradford Legends XI will take place at Oakwell. For the grand sum of £5 (£2 for juniors) fans can relive the day when they danced madly on the pitch and in the stands, bruising themselves and each other with their love of the players, club, town and themselves.

Such unabashed nostalgia may grate on some and serve to amplify the predicament, but others will sense, at last, a club at peace with itself and a town substantially reinvented through sport: just like watching Brazil, indeed.

Ups and downs

Oakwell highs

— Brass bands played, balloons were set free and Barnsley played their first game in the top flight, against West Ham United on Saturday, August 9, 1997. They lost, but with 37 league matches to go, from August to May hope reigned supreme.

— A solitary goal by Ashley Ward gave Barnsley an unexpected win against Liverpool at Anfield in November. The night before, Danny Wilson, the manager, had taken the players to a local pub and encouraged them to have “a couple of pints” each to settle their nerves.

— After a draw at Old Trafford, Barnsley beat Manchester United 3-2 in an FA Cup fifth-round replay in February. The United players had complained beforehand that their dressing-room at Oakwell was too small. The softies.

And lows

— Barnsley were made to resemble a pub team – hungover at that – by a rampaging Manchester United at Old Trafford in October. The final score was 7-0 but could have been much, much more. “We committed suicide,” Wilson said.

— Georgi Hristov, Barnsley’s Macedonia striker, ruined his chances of some après-training female company when he allegedly told a newspaper back home that the local women were “ugly” and drank too much beer.

— Gary Willard, the referee, sent off three Barnsley players in their match at home to Liverpool in March. They lost 3-2 amid several pitch invasions by fans. Many pinpoint it as the day the club lost their heart for the fight.

 

Cheers mate.

Like his book, that article is quite brilliantly written.

 

Read it in the times yesterday

Great article - love the line </p>

Other small-town clubs have made it since but Barnsley, like first love, have stayed in the mind, stuck in the heart.
</p>

 

proper kinell

I am so sick of keep crying this week

 

That line stood out for me as well

my Dad brought the article with him yesterday, read it on the train home. Very good read</p>