Barnsley Football Club

This is the first Myspace site dedicated to Barnsley Football Club. It is completely unoffical and set up by a life long fan. Its aims are to help promote the club while also showing the strength of the support for the Super Reds, It will also give fans a chance to voice their opinions. This is not offical and not associated with the club in anyway ! I do not have offical links with the club and no inside infomation. I am just your average fan. The views expressed here are not necessarily the views of Barnsley Football Club.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 reach the final again in 1912 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 would reach the top tier of English football for the first time in their history. However, they were swiftly relegated the following season despite a battling effort.In the following years Barnsley were not so successful, with relegation to Division Two and administration both threatening the existence of the club itself. Barnsley suffered greatly due to the ITV Digital crisis, resulting in the club going into administration in 2002. Only a late purchase from Barnsley Mayor Peter Doyle saved the club from folding. Doyle has since left the club, with Gordon Shepherd and local businessman Patrick Cryne currently in control. There has also been a swift turnover of managers, with no less than ten managers in the same number of years.Barnsley did have the distinction of playing in the final play-off game 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 but managed to avoid relegation, eventually finishing in 20th. In the first half of the season, Ritchie had been sacked in favour of coach Simon Davey.