Ronnie Glavin

I see him mentioned a lot, and a lot of people here see him as the most talented footballer to ever pull on a Barnsley shirt.

Sadly, he was before my time. But I am curious about what he did for us, how he did it and why he sticks in the memory so much.

Did he usually play as a striker, centre mid, number 10 role?

Was he the type of player who went under the radar a lot and popped up with two goals to win the game, or the kind who was always involved in every phase of play?

What are your best memories of him?

 

Attacking central midfield. Had an amazing burst of pace and was involved in everything. When he had the the ball and was running at the opposition even from the half way line, a buzz went round Oakwell which we will never see happening again. His goal scoring record from midfield is absolutely incredible and no-one has come close to recreating the sheer excitement he generated. I feel truly blessed to have witnessed a class, natural footballer. The best.

 

Total dynamism from midfield. As sr has implied when Glavin used to move forward with the ball it often felt like a goal was coming. Class player.

 

When we first bought him from Celtic I don't think many Reds fans had heard of him. 24 hour sports news wasn't a thing back then. His first game was away at Lincoln in the league cup. He looked stocky, pedestrian and, at best, a neat fotballer.
He soon revealed himself to be everything said above. A very good footballer, lightning pace and ice cool in front of goal. I can't remember him scoring any spectacular goals, he just had the ability to pick the ball up around the box, accelerate into space and slot the ball home.
He played from centre mid but had the luxury of Ray McHale alongside him doing the spade work that allowed him to roam.
Best player I've seen in a Reds shirt. Biggest impact. His goals steadied us in our first season back in tier three then got us up and established us back in tier two.
Key player in a fabulous team that was probably a good goalkeeper short of going straight through to the top division.

 

Deceptively quick. He appeared to be quite chunky but with the ball apparently glued to his feet was able to glide past players and generate the buzz to which Sir Ronald refers. We used to go and watch training back then and his all round finishing (heading, long shots, flick finishes, dribbling round the keeper, etc), had to be seen to be believed. A poor man's Maradonna if you like. Best player I ever saw week in week out with my own eyes.

 

As Sir Ronald says in an earlier post, when he picked the ball up a buzz went around the ground. An illustration.

We’re playing Wednesday away. Ronnie has fallen out with the Manager and finds himself on the bench. We’re 1-0 down and making no headway. The Barnsley fans are screaming for Glavin who is trotting up and down the touchline chopping at the bit and getting dogs abuse from the Wednesday Fans.
Finally Hunter comes to his senses and on comes King Ronnie The Barnsley fans are going nuts. To their credit the Wednesday fans are now quiet. Why? Because they know what’s coming.......and it does. Within a few minutes a long diagonal ball gets played to Glavin. He controls it on his instep in a nanosecond, slips the flying pig that is Bob Bolder in the Wednesday goal. 1-1. Cue Bedlam among the Reds fans.

Hero worship continues for a man who made Barnsley fans proud to be Reds at a time when W e strutted our stuff in this Division and bowed down to no one because we had so much talent in that team.

 

He played in the Celtic team with Kenny Dalglish. And outscored him. An odd combination of events led him here, but he was good enough to play for any team in the country.

 

Think Maradona in attacking midfield.

 

Where do we start? Could write pages.

92 goals in five seasons (only something like 214 games) from midfield.

Nominally centre mid but more to the right of Mike Lester or later Ray McHale. But he popped up wherever his predatory instincts took him. Forget that number 10 role nonsense which is a media invention for a creative midfield player. McHale wore 10 and was the link that held the midfield together - the grafter between the creative players Ronnie and Banger.

Pure class. Would pick up the ball on the edge of our box and - to cries of “goooo on” from all around the ground - would glide forward and before you knew it was exchanging passes on the edge of their box before tucking the ball into the net.

Think of when you’re at the Well and someone beats a man near the goal and the crowd stand up in anticipation of us scoring. If we’d been all seater then, the crowd would have been on their feet as soon as The King picked up the ball at the edge of his own box.

Could beat a man (or more usually two or three) with ease. Wonderful passer of a ball. And could finish with power or subtlety.

Envied by all our rivals. Coveted by much bigger clubs.

In the words of the song of the time, (to the tune of Men of Harlech)

They can’t say that football’s boring
Ronnie Glavin’s always scoring
Can you hear the Ponty roaring
Glavin is our King

Do yourself a favour - there’s some footage on YouTube. Search it out and enjoy.

 

Didn’t know / realise he only played once for Scotland , great player to watch

 

King Ronnie Genius. Was honoured to see him throughout his Reds career and definitely the best player I've seen in the near 50 years watching Barnsley. Like most players then was always happy to chat to fans too. Made it even better that Wendys fans hated him with a passion because they knew what he was capable of

 

Terry Venables when manager of QPR who won the league I believe the same year. Drooled about how good Barnsley were. And Ronnie was the most outstanding player in the league no doubt whatsoever. With Ian Banks in the side n’all. Who if any of you didn’t see him. Every goal he scored was worth the attendance money alone. Peter Lorimer was quoted by experts of having the hardest shot in football. Nah. don’t you believe it. seriously. Banksy beat him on that score hands down.

 

Interview with Ronnie here, ah the memories

 

Cant say much more than already been said. Maradona like to us that saw him but best summed up that when he got the ball you felt a lift in the crowd,an anticipation that summat would happen, hard to think in al the time since that any Reds player has had the same affect on us but closest for me was Higgnet . Ronnie only knew one direction..forward and he took us all with him....Brilliant

 

My mate a Wendy. Openly admitted the player he most feared. EVER . Was indeed King Ronnie. We were blessed to have him.

 

All of the above. There are times - and last night was no exception - when our midfield players receive the ball, have the chance to drive upfield, but get pegged back at the first sign of an opposition shirt. That never happened to Ronnie Glavin. He was phenomenal going forward. Best player I've seen in a red shirt by some distance.

 

To me, starting watching the Reds in the 70’s, He was the first truly talented player I’d seen at Barnsley who was at His peak with us. We’d had years in the 4th Division which were tough going, then all of a sudden we have ex-England internationals at the club and then Him. He’d outscored Kenny Dalglish a few years before at Celtic and He epitomised a change in fortunes and a new era of exciting football.
He could run with the ball at speed but also just appear in the right place to net a rebound or intercept a back pass. He knew when to rush in and when to hang back (around the box, he didn’t believe in defending). All the clubs around us had a Glavin wannabe (Curran, Birch, Moore, Sabella) but we wouldn’t have swapped them for Him. In a special talented team He was the King.

 

Got a bit of dust in my eye reading this thread

 

to me he had the x factor, the sort of player who no one ever quite knew why but was different from other players. As has been mentioned he was quick over short distances, deceptive so. He could pass and run with the ball so easily and shoot too when in position. In a time when footballers were not as technical as they are now Glavin was ahead of his time. One question iv'e never thought of is why he wasn't snapped up by a bigger club? maybe he had offers but never went, contracts were different in those days.

 

Thanks Egham. First time I’ve watched that. So pleased he mentioned how good his teammates were. Especially Chambers who I think never got the credit he deserved from some fans. For me one of the best link up players. Found Ronnie every time.