Barnsley - Championship side.
April 11th, 2008
Barnsley Football Club is an English football club, based in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, and nicknamed the Tykes, with Toby Tyke being their mascot. The club was founded in 1887 as Barnsley St. Peter's. They currently play in the Championship after promotion was secured at the end of the 2005-06 season by beating Swansea City 4-3 on penalties in the play-off final.
The height of their success was on April 24 1912, when they beat West Bromwich Albion 1-0 at Bramall Lane to win the FA Cup. They also reached the final in 1910 but lost to Newcastle United at Goodison Park. Both results came in replays after draws at Crystal Palace.
Barnsley have spent more seasons in the second tier of English football than any other club in history, and have developed some fine talents over the years who have gone on to be successful at other clubs. The most notable of these is Tommy Taylor, who was a prolific goalscorer for Barnsley in the early 1950s and went on to win two league titles with Manchester United (as well as scoring 16 times in 19 England internationals) before losing his life in the Munich air disaster. Taylor's move to Manchester United was for a then world-record fee of £29,999.
Barnsley FC was established in 1887, playing in the Sheffield and District League from 1890 and then in the Midland League from 1895. They joined the Football League in 1898, and struggled in Division Two for the first ten years, due in part to ongoing financial difficulties. In 1910 the club reached the FA Cup final, where they lost out to Newcastle in a replay match. However, they would then reach the 1912 FA Cup Final where they would defeat West Brom 1-0 in a replay to win the trophy for the first and only time in their history.
The club were never quite able to reach the top division in the early years, although they came very close on a number of occasions such as in 1922 where they missed promotion on goal difference decided by a single goal. From the thirties up to the fifties the club found themselves sliding between the Second and Third Division, and in the sixties and seventies they hovered around the Third and Fourth Division, not able to break back into the top two levels of English football.
The eighties and early nineties saw the club get back on track, earn promotion and once again establish themselves as a strong Division Two side as they had been in their early history, eventually reaching a position to once again start challenging for a place in the top tier for the very first time.
Over the past decade Barnsley have experienced a number of highs and lows as a football club. At the end of the 1996-97 season Barnsley reached the top tier of English football for the first time in their history. However, they were relegated the following season despite their efforts.
In the following years Barnsley were not as successful, with relegation to Division Two and administration both threatening the existence of the club. Barnsley suffered greatly due to the ITV Digital crisis, resulting in the club going into administration in 2002. A late purchase from Barnsley's Mayor, Peter Doyle, saved the club from folding. Doyle has since left the club, leaving Gordon Shepherd and local businessman Patrick Cryne in control. There has also been a rapid turnover of managers, with no less than ten managers in the same number of years.
Barnsley had the distinction of playing in the play-off final at Wembley before the stadium was closed for redevelopment, and in 2006 won in a play-off final at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, where they beat Swansea City 4-3 on penalties (2-2 after extra-time) to earn promotion to the Championship. The manager at this time was Andy Ritchie, who was in his first season in charge after replacing Paul Hart.
The team struggled in their first season back in the Championship. In November 2006, with Barnsley in the relegation zone, Ritchie was sacked in favour of Simon Davey. Davey managed to steer the team away from relegation in the second half of the season, and eventually finishing in 20th. The following season, a much-changed Barnsley side managed a historic FA Cup run, beating Premiership giants Liverpool 2-1 at Anfield and defending champions Chelsea 1-0 in order to reach the semi-finals for the first time since 1912, where they narrowly lost out 1-0 to fellow Championship side Cardiff City at Wembley.
Barnsley have played their home games in red shirts for most of their history. The only exception to this is the period 1887-1901, where it is speculated that the team first wore blue shirts with purple/claret arms, then circa 1890 the team wore chocolate and white stripes, before moving on to blue and white stripes around 1898. The team first wore their now traditional red shirts in 1901.
Since this time, the team has worn red shirts often with a white trim. In more recent times a black trim has sometimes been used. As with most football clubs the shirt design varies from season to season. One particular design that stands out is the 1989-90 season shirt which featured white stars on a red background and has been named as one of the worst shirts ever. However, the kit is fondly remembered by some fans. Sponsors names and logos were first worn in the 1980-81 season and the club has had 12 different sponsors on the shirt in total. Since manufacturers logos were added to the shirt in the 1976-77 season, the club has 12 different kit manufacturers.
Traditionally, the team has worn white shorts (sometimes with red and/or black trim) for their home games with the only exceptions coming in the early years of the 20th century. One other notable exception came in the 2000 Division One Playoff Final against Ipswich Town, where the team wore red shorts, thus having an all-red strip.
Apart from the clubs early years and the period 1921-1934 where the team wore black, the team has worn red and/or white socks for its home games. Again, the design changes from season to season.
The club's away strip (used for away or cup fixtures where there is a clash of colours) differs from season to season but usually follows the design of the season's home strip with a variation on the colours. The most common colour for the away shirt has been white but many others have been used, including blue, yellow, black, ecru, dark green and even black and blue stripes. One notable away strip was the 2001-2002 “Its just like watching Brazil” kit, where the team wore the colours of the 5-time World Cup winners Brazil for their away games. However, that season it was not at all like watching Brazil as the team were relegated to Division 1.
The current strip for the 2007-2008 season is manufactured by Surridge Sports and the main sponsor is Wake Smith Solictors. The home shirt is the traditional red with white stitching from the collar to underneath the arms and around the end of the sleeves. The collar itself is white. The shorts are white with a thick red band down each side with red stitching down the front. The socks are red with a thick white band running down the back getting wider further down.
The away strip is of the same design as the home strip substituting ecru for red and navy blue for white.
With the departure of six first team players (Daniel Nardiello, Paul Hayes, Antony Kay, Paul Heckingbottom, Neil Austin and Marc Richards), Simon Davey dipped heavily into the summer transfer market and ultimately brought in fourteen new players, the majority of whom were foreign. The most successful of these signings included goalkeeper Heinz Muller, midfielders Anderson and Jamal Campbell-Ryce, and a new defensive line-up made up of Robert Kozluk, Dennis Souza, Stephen Foster and Lewin Nyatanga (who returned on an extended loan spell after becoming a fan favourite).
Barnsley had a very positive start to the season, surpassing expectations and finding themselves in the top six of the Football League Championship with ten games played. Most of the summer signings found their way into the squad early on, making it quite common for there only to be two or three players in the starting eleven who were with the club in the previous season. Top scorer Brian Howard was rumored to have attracted Premiership interest along with new signings Heinz Muller, Dennis Souza and even manager Simon Davey. The team managed to maintain a decent level of consistency, remaining in the top half of the table throughout the first half of the season. Derby striker Jon Macken arrived on loan in November, and scored his first three goals for the club in his last two matches before being recalled by Derby at the end of December along with Lewin Nyatanga. Barnsley's form finally began to stutter through December and January, when they went for eight league games without a victory and dropped to 16th in the table. They did, however, beat both Blackpool and Southend in the FA Cup to secure passage to the last sixteen.
The first new signing of the January window was Spanish midfielder Diego Leon, followed by a short-term loan signing for Miguel Tininho and a controversial loan deal for ex-reds striker Daniel Nardiello (who had turned down a contract offer to leave the club for QPR the previous summer). Shortly before the transfer window closed, Davey signed previously-loaned players Jon Macken from Derby County and Anderson from Everton (each for an undisclosed six-figure fee), as well as securing yet another loan spell for Lewin Nyatanga, with a fee agreed for a permanent summer switch. Outgoing from the club was reserve goalkeeper Nick Colgan to Championship rivals Ipswich, so an injury to first-choice keeper Heinz Muller forced a late loan deal for goalkeeper Tony Warner on a month's loan from Fulham. Anderson also suffered an injury in late February which would keep him out for up to seven months.
Barnsley continued to maintain their lower mid-table position in the Championship, unable to put a winning streak together. On February 16th, the team travelled to Anfield to play Liverpool in the 5th round of the FA Cup and pulled off a surprise 2-1 victory, with a strong defensive display and a 'Man of the Match', 'Player of the Round' performance from loaned keeper Luke Steele (who was brought in at the last minute for cup-tied Tony Warner). After conceding a goal in the first half, it was Stephen Foster who equalised in the second and captain Brian Howard who scored the last-gasp winner which allowed them to progress to the quarter finals for the first time since 1999, where they would face Chelsea at Oakwell. Here, the Tykes put in a 'sensational' performance against the FA Cup holders and 'Player of the Round' Kayode Odejayi's second-half header (only his second goal of the season) was enough to put the Yorkshire side into the semi-final for the first time since they won the cup in 1912. Even Chelsea boss Avram Grant admitted after the game that the Championship side fully deserved their win. With Portsmouth the only Premiership side remaining in the competition, what had begun as a shock result at Anfield had now developed into a genuine chance to reclaim their FA Cup glory, and when they were drawn against Cardiff City in the semi-finals a repeat of the historic final versus West Brom was well on the cards. However, in front of a Wembley crowd of 82,752 they narrow lost the game 1-0 to Cardiff thanks to a 8th minute strike from Joe Ledley.
Meanwhile in the league, losses against Crystal Palace, Sheffield United and Burnley saw them drop to a precarious position and relegation fears were brewing, but a surprise 0-3 away win at Watford (with Kayode Odejayi scoring only his second and third league goals of the season) was a big boost to their survival hopes.
