Having written in previous issues of West Stand Bogs about
trips to Oakwell with my team Newcastle United, of the times I was at Oakwell
supporting Barnsley and away trips with South Yorkshire’s finest, for this
edition, I’ve decided to look at games involving Newcastle and Barnsley at St.
James’ Park. As I’m a mere slip of a lad of 49, you’ll forgive me for not
mentioning such results as our brace of impressive home wins 4-1 and 3-0 in November
1934 and September 1935, or Barnsley’s consecutive brace of 1-0 away successes
in season-opening games in August 1936 and 1937. The latter season saw Barnsley
and Newcastle finish on 36 points, with Newcastle staying up only on goal average;
however that arcane system worked… It may be of some consolation to know the
situation would have been unchanged using goal difference. After the war, I
don’t know anything about the 4-2 home win in February 1947 or the 1-0 on 6th
March 1948.
Strangely, 6th March seems to have certain
significance for the two teams, as that date in 2010 was Barnsley’s most recent
visit to SJP. It ended up 6-1. The ex-wife was there, but I wasn’t, preferring
instead to take in the delights of Benfield 2 Jarrow Roofing 0 in the Northern
League Division 1. I can remember that particular day and game quite clearly
but, and this is surprising considering how the elderly memory works, there is
a hole in my recollections for 6th March 1982 when Newcastle beat
Barnsley 1-0 in the first league encounter in 34 years.
I remember your next visit well enough; 25th
September 1982. Ahead 1-0 at the break courtesy of an Imre Varadi goal, we eventually
lost 2-1 in one of the early games of Kevin Keegan’s stint as a player on
Tyneside. My mate Alan had missed the game, because of the lame excuse of
getting married, but we still enjoyed ourselves at his reception in the evening,
especially as sunderland lost 8-0 at Watford that day. The next season saw Newcastle United win
promotion, and a desperately dour 1-0 victory courtesy of a Chris Waddle curler
at the Gallowgate on a bitterly cold 2nd January was one of the
results that showed we could tough it out on our way up, as well as playing
pretty football.
There wasn’t any pretty football in our next encounter; a
0-0 second round first leg League Cup tie, in which Newcastle prevailed on away
goals after a 1-1 at Oakwell. I missed both these games as I was away in
Ireland at University then, however I was back home and in my seat in the shiny
new Milburn Stand for the 4-1 hammering
we dished out in March 1990. Clad in your famous spangly yellow flashes shirt,
Barnsley were blown away on a day when even Roy Aitken scored for us.
The next season, nobody scored at all in one of the worst
games of football I’ve ever seen, although 17th November 1990 is
definitely mainly memorable for me as I took my ex-wife to this game for our
first date. It’s amazing she ever spoke to me after this one. A year later, I
almost didn’t talk to her as David Currie ruined my day with a bullet header
equaliser in a 1-1 draw. That weekend we’d held a housewarming party and about
a dozen friends and relatives from South Yorkshire had made the trip up and
were at the game. The Friday night do had been fabulous, but Saturday wasn’t
quite as good after this late dampener. I had cheered up the year after though,
when Keegan’s championship winning side were absolutely irresistible on a
magical night in early April 1993, winning 6-0, with former Barnsley player
John Beresford opening the scoring from the spot. A bloke I know, Mick, was
still furious at full time as he’d have won £2k, a lot of money in those days,
if it had stayed 5-0. It explained why he was the only one still in his seat,
head in hands, when Kevin Brock completed the scoring.
Following Newcastle’s promotion, the next game at SJP was
another League Cup tie, when Neil Redfearn’s famous long range strike gave
Barnsley the lead in September 1994, only for Ruel Fox and Peter Beardsley to
turn the game around and a Beardsley goal to win the second leg 1-0 at Oakwell.
By the time the teams met again, it was with both Newcastle and Barnsley in the
top tier; a sixth round FA Cup at St. James Park in March 1998 was one of the
best and most thrilling encounters I’ve seen between the two sides, with the
game only finally settled in the last few minutes when David Batty, of all
people, scored a glorious late shot from distance, in off the post. In
contrast, the league game at SJP a few weeks later on Easter Monday was a
desperately poor affair, won by Newcastle by a 2-1 margin. Barnsley could have
had a point if Arjan de Zeeuw, denied a foul, had played on and marked Shearer
as he scored the winner, instead of remonstrating with the officials. Barnsley
went down that season and if Newcastle hadn’t won that game, I feel we could
have joined you.
Things got a little quiet after 1998. Subsequent to that one,
the only other league game up here was the 6-1 in March 2010 that I’ve already
referred to, but there was one other tie; a mundane 2-0 win for Newcastle in
the League Cup in August 2007. I still had a season ticket in those days,
despite Allardyce’s appointment, but this didn’t cover me for cup tickets. I
went along on the night to pay on the door, but the queues at those turnstiles
were so vast, what with it being the last week of the school holidays, I tried
to dodge in with my season ticket at another entry. The season tickets we were
issued with had just been switched that season from tear out slips of paper, to
credit card sized bits of plastic which you swiped in with; lo and behold, the
technology was so poor I was able to wander in and take my normal seat
unhindered. Needless to say, I used that method subsequently for all cup games
until I chucked my season ticket in 2009; it’s the natural anarchist in me I
guess.
With Barnsley in their current precarious position, it seems
unlikely the two sides will play each other at SJP anytime soon, unless Pardew
remains in charge and we start falling through the league. However, a cup draw
would be nice; if that happens, rest assured that Mike Ashley’s master plan
will see Newcastle snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in any manner
possible, as the very last thing he wants is a repeat of the 1910 FA Cup Final
any time soon.
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