Today's results - 28th March 1998

[Satchmo Distel]

There have definitely been a lot worse teams than us in the PL, and that season we were better than Bolton and C Palace.

[Jumbo McGinnis]

Analysing a referee’s body language? Heh.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

The main thing that bothers me from that season, although you don't hear it much now, is the phrase 'Team X will do a Barnsley next season'. By which they mean(t), go up in fortunate circumstances, be garbage, come straight back down. Yeah, we went straight back down, but we were initially automatically promoted playing pass and move football. Then we had a proper good go of it and just fell short at the end (in large part due to this travesty). Were we garbage? Far from it.

See I remember Barnsley being a bit like norwich this season. A decent style of play, but the players weren't quite good enough to pull that way of playing off at the highest level. some horrible hidings along the way, but if you watched any more than the highlights you could see that they had broadly the right idea. Barnsley won 10 games that season, they were clearly doing somethings right. it was the inability to hang on in narrow games that killed them,. They lost 10 games by a single goal, five of them in the last nine games. The gap between barnsley staying up and going down was certainly a lot narrower than popular memory would suggest. if they conceded a single goal fewer in three of the five games they drew, they would have stayed up.

They only spent 5 and a bit million when they were promoted. Why didn't they bounce back?

[jameswba]

Barnsley played at WBA on the opening day of 96/97. There was quite an optimistic atmosphere around the Hawthorns at the time, since Albion had had an excellent run-in to the season before - 2 defeats in the last 19 games or something like that. But Barnsley outplayed us, won 2-1 and were applauded off by Albion fans at the end. Clint Marcelle ran the whole game - we wanted to sign him for years after that. Opening days of seasons don't always have that much to tell about what's to come, but I think that one did.

I was at Oakwell on the opening day of 98/99, first game since Barnsley came down. I feared a hammering, but it finished 2-2. Albion should probably have won ; anyway, we scored the best two goals of the game, through Richard Sneekes and the much-maligned James Quinn. Barnsley were actually much better the season after that one - won 2-0 at the Hawthorns in early January I think, and looked strong candidates to go back up.

[Billy Casper]

See I remember Barnsley being a bit like norwich this season. A decent style of play, but the players weren't quite good enough to pull that way of playing off at the highest level. some horrible hidings along the way, but if you watched any more than the highlights you could see that they had broadly the right idea. Barnsley won 10 games that season, they were clearly doing somethings right. it was the inability to hang on in narrow games that killed them,. They lost 10 games by a single goal, five of them in the last nine games. The gap between barnsley staying up and going down was certainly a lot narrower than popular memory would suggest. if they conceded a single goal fewer in three of the five games they drew, they would have stayed up.

They only spent 5 and a bit million when they were promoted. Why didn't they bounce back?

We took some hammerings early in the season because we weren't clever enough. Later on though we became, well, average. We had all those narrow defeats it's true, but we also won only one game all season by more than one goal (2-0 against Coventry). The Norwich comparison works if you look at the style of play perhaps. But since about Sept/Nov they have looked absolutely doomed (to me). Barnsley looked finished early on, but up until that Liverpool game we had turned it around and it looked in the balance still.

We didn't challenge the following season because we appointed John Hendrie as manager. I don't think I need to add anymore detail to that. The season after that though, with Dave Bassett in charge, we lost in the play off final to Ipswich. The only problem was we'd spent money we didn't have to get there... The inevitable administration came two or three years later.

[Hot Orange]

The main thing that bothers me from that season, although you don't hear it much now, is the phrase 'Team X will do a Barnsley next season'.

I will always think of it as "doing a Swindon".

[jameswba]

I'd forgotten it was Hendrie in charge at Barnsley at the start of 98/99. I only remembered it wasn't Wilson and that whoever it was had departed long before Albion's 0-2 defeat in 99/00.

[White No Sugar]

I will always think of it as "doing a Swindon".

No “doing a Swindon” is outclassing a team in a playoff final then being refused promotion.

[Giggler]

Sorry Satchmo, I wasn't there. I didn't go to a single Premier League game as I was out of the country. It hasn't bothered me to this day. My Barnsley don't belong there.

A few thoughts on the game though. Referee Gary Willard (and no, I didn't have to look his name up) doesn't do himself any favours with his demeanor. Instead of sending Barnard off with a 'sorry lads, he was last man, it's the rules now' shrug of the shoulders, it was very much 'I'm in charge and you'll do what I say'. This seemed to continue throughout the game. It doesn't show it in the highlights, but he took the players off for a few minutes in the second half to calm the situation - without telling either manager what was going on. There was a lynch mob waiting for him outside the ground (he left through a different exit), which might be what Giggler is thinking of.

In my mind, that game marked a turning point in Barnsley's fortunes and not just for that season. The upward trajectory started with the signing of Allan Clarke twenty years earlier and this game marked the beginning of the downturn. It started in the Fourth Division and before this match we looked like we might survive in the PL (we were unbeaten at home in about three months and had knocked PL Bolton, Spurs and Man Utd out of the FA Cup).

Rochdale fan Mark Hodkinson (sp?) in his excellent book Life at the Top writes that during the first half he felt something wasn't right. He said that he almost said to the journalist next to him that every 50/50 decision was going Liverpool's way. Was there a conspiracy to send us 'back where we belonged'? I don't think so. We were excellent for the PL. Either 'Everyone's Second Favourite Team' or something to be sneered at. We weren't just another yo-yo club there to make up the numbers.

The main thing that bothers me from that season, although you don't hear it much now, is the phrase 'Team X will do a Barnsley next season'. By which they mean(t), go up in fortunate circumstances, be garbage, come straight back down. Yeah, we went straight back down, but we were initially automatically promoted playing pass and move football. Then we had a proper good go of it and just fell short at the end (in large part due to this travesty). Were we garbage? Far from it.

I definitely have in my mind a rotund Barnsley fan screaming into a TV camera "It's a conspiracy, this!" or words to that effect.

The Barnsley documentary, Daydream Believers, is fantastic, by the way,

[Simon G]

It's on the Match of the 90s on Youtube for 97/98 at 23 mins 28 secs.

[White No Sugar]

My only footballing recollection of that weekend is watching the LC Final propping up a bar in Hampstead alongside a few workmates, Marc Overmaars and Pierre Van Hoojidonk! A Boro player comedically messed up a throw in while Overmaars was in the toilet. On his return VHoojidonk ended up pouring an orange juice down his own shirt attempting to illustrate it. I do remember Boro beat us in an early round though.

First season at the SOLE. No memory of beating Bury but Reidys team lay second after that weekend and were a different animal to the one Boro knocked out earlier. The week prior to the Boro KO sitting 12th after 10 games wed gone to Reading still struggling to get Quinn and Phillips fit. They’d scored 4 in 4 between them when starting together with a 17 year old Michael Bridges Impressing as a replacement. Reading featuring iirc our current manager Phil Parkinson finished bottom yet buried us 4-0. I was there and thought Reid a gonner, replacements were discussed all night. All that kept the crowd off his back was the thought of a Quinn/Phillips partnership.
GK and centre half dropped. Quinn/ Phillips regained fitness and next seasons foetal back four started to grow. We didn’t lose again until Jan 28 apart from an FA Cup tie at Tranmere when Aldridge threw on a sub following a red card with no one initially noticing. Ref blew for full time with about 8mins to go in embarrassment. FA offered us a replay or walkover. Reid declined both. I wonder if it had involved a club from anywhere else in the country his reaction would’ve differed?
Probably the right decision as we’d left ourselves too much to do ending up 3rd losing to Charlton on penalties at Wembley after a 4-4 draw with same GK as Reading fiasco having a mare. GK and centre halves changed again and we took the following seasons title with record points and lost in LC semi to ONeils Leicester after resting two teenage centre halves
The 18 months or so from Reading 0-4 to promotion was the best Sunderland team I’ve ever seen. Better than the one that finished 7th in the PL the following two seasons? I think so. Allan Johnson, Michael Bridges and Lee Clarke all left under clouds so we’ll never know. Shame that.

Sorry about that, I typed a bit more than I intended. Lock down fever I think.

[Foot of Astaire's]

apart from an FA Cup tie at Tranmere when Aldridge threw on a sub following a red card with no one initially noticing.

Nothing should surprise me with that sh*thouse but I'm surprised I have no recollection of that incident.

[Capybara]

My only footballing recollection of that weekend is watching the LC Final propping up a bar in Hampstead alongside a few workmates, Marc Overmaars and Pierre Van Hoojidonk! A Boro player comedically messed up a throw in while Overmaars was in the toilet. On his return VHoojidonk ended up pouring an orange juice down his own shirt attempting to illustrate it. I do remember Boro beat us in an early round though.

You remember more than I do then, and I was at the game.

Actually, if what was supposed to have happened had happened, it would have been Liverpool playing in the final that weekend, so that Barnsley v Liverpool game would not have been played on that Saturday. Who knows how things might otherwise have turned out?

[That Night In Barcelona]

Nothing should surprise me with that sh*thouse but I'm surprised I have no recollection of that incident.

I thought this happened in 1999/2000, with Tranmere against a Premier League club like Bolton or Leicester? Tranmere made the league cup final or semi-finals that year.

[Gangster Octopus]

I will always think of it as "doing a Swindon".

I've a friend who saw all 100 goals that Swindon conceded in their season in the top division...

[Baptiste]

Yes, the sub incident was in 1999/00 against Sunderland, in the daft year when 3rd round day was on 2nd round day and so on. (The year Man Utd didn't enter?)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rz8tKlRztqc
The fourth official put the sub board up and waved Stephen Frail on for the sent off Clint Hill (who else) who then headed away the resulting free kick before being correctly told to get off the pitch. I could be wrong but don't remember Peter Reid being offered anything, I was walking home from school on the Monday evening when 5 live announced the FA had met and decided the result stood.

That was the third 1-0 home win in three seasons against Sunderland
1997/98 was also a 1-0 win in the FA Cup 4th round, where we played Newcastle in the next round. Sunderland won the league game at Prenton Park 2-0 in the April.
1998/99 was one of only 3 games Sunderland lost that year, and a pub full of away fans sang Happy Birthday to me so I've had a soft spot for the Mackems ever since

Nice of Mr Astaire to pass comment, I'm now reminded of Alladyce taking his team away post match without having a shower, moving the ad boards in towards the pitch, etc...

[Foot of Astaire's]

Nice of Mr Astaire to pass comment, I'm now reminded of Alladyce taking his team away post match without having a shower, moving the ad boards in towards the pitch, etc...

Which to be fair, he did because the year before the hot water had been turned off in the away dressing room and all the balls for the warm up were flat, or something like that. I'll give you the ad boards though

There was no love lost between the two of them that's for sure.

[White No Sugar]

The fourth official put the sub board up and waved Stephen Frail on for the sent off Clint Hill (who else) who then headed away the resulting free kick before being correctly told to get off the pitch. I could be wrong but don't remember Peter Reid being offered anything, I was walking home from school on the Monday evening when 5 live announced the FA had met and decided the result stood.
..

Reid wasn’t offered it by the FA. Sunderland were asked off the record by the FA and gave Reid the option. Nothing announced officially. I heard the FA were hoping we’d decide for them and Sunderland didn’t want to plus it was less games at a time when we didn’t need them.