Manager: Mark Robins Owner: Patrick Cryne Ground Name: Oakwell Capacity: 23,009(all seater) Last Season Prediction: 21st in the Championship Last Season Position 18th in the Championship Official Web Site: www.barnsleyfc.co.uk All Time Top Scorer Ernie Hine (123)

Mark Robins

Mark Robins is a new manager and certainly makes me feel old. It doesn't seem that long ago that he was part of Fergie's Fledglings in 1989 and scored as a young striker for Man Utd against QPR.

Robins also got the goal that many claim saved the job of Alex Ferguson in an FA Cup win against Nottingham Forest in 1990. He still looks the same now but has retired and become a good young English manager.

Robins became manager at Rotherham in 2007 as the side sat 13 points adrift of safety. Robins made a good fist of keeping them up but was ultimately unsuccessful. In his first full season he produced an excellent attacking team which just ran out of steam at the end of the season and missed out on promotion.

His second season saw them run away with the league before going into administration and being deducted seventeen points.

He moved to Barnsley last season with the side bottom of the table but he quickly turned them around playing some excellent attacking football and he looks like one of the best young English managers around at the moment.

It was a season of change at Barnsley which at one stage looked like it may end in glory but ended with the club slipping down to a familiar position.

Simon Davy had a tough start to the campaign failing to win any of the clubs first five games of the season, a run which saw him sacked as manager. Mark Robins came in after an impressive spell at Rotherham and he began to turn things around. They played a far more attacking game and although results took a few weeks to turnaround as they beat Premiership Burnley in the Carling Cup before thrashing promotion chasing West Brom at Oakwell.

The good form continued as they began to comfortably pull away from relegation and after an impressive win at Cardiff in February Mark Robins side were are unlikely play off chaser and looked in good shape to make a real push for sixth place.

A heavy defeat at Newcastle looked to have ended their chances but they fought back again with some great attacking football to beat Nottingham Forest. Alas defeat in an eight goal thriller against Bristol City (5-3) saw their chances fall from outsiders to faint hopers and the teams form fell away in the final month of the season going ten games without a win and ended the season in eighteenth place.

Adam Hammill

Adam Hammill was voted young player o the year at Barnsley last season and looks set to continue his improvement at the Yorkshire club. Hammill is a winger signed from Liverpool who has pace and plenty of tricks to his game.

He scored some spectacular goals last season including the goal of the season for Barnsley at Derby. Hammill can also play behind the strikers if required.

Hammill was perhaps more of an individual than a team player when he arrived at Oakwell but he is now a firm member of the side and provides a real touch of quality from wide areas.

He played in the Scottish Cup final with Dunfermline in 2007 during a loan spell and is also a former England under 19 international.

The one area of his game that does need improving is his goal tally, his total of five last season was the best of his career to date but at just 21 years old he is more than capable of improving on that next season.

Barnsley start most seasons as one of the favourites for relegation but they have every reason to hope for better this time out under Mark Robins who turned them into a very competitive team last season.

Robins has retained the services of player of the year Hugo Colace which is a huge boost for them and he has been active in the transfer market with the addition of Liam Dickinson an interesting one, he's a player with a decent record in the lower leagues and will be hoping to build on his loan spell at Peterborough last season.

Robins again will have a strong midfield with the addition of Uruguay international Diego Arismendi a shrewd one. They are a side that looks to play good football but a lack of goals for and too many conceded last year left them struggling at times.

I still think they are lacking in forward areas but have more than enough quality about them to avoid any relegation scares and secure their Championship status for another year.

Barnsley have spent more seasons in the second tier of English football than any other club in history.

When the league re-started after the First World War, the 1919-20 season brought some significant changes to the league. The principal difference was that the First Division would be increased from 20 teams to 22. The bottom team from the previous season was Tottenham Hotspur and they were duly relegated.

The first extra place in the First Division went to Chelsea, who retained their place despite finishing 2nd bottom and therefore in the relegation places. Derby and Preston were rightly promoted from the Second Division which left one place to be filled. Having finished the previous season's Second Division in 3rd place (1914-15), Barnsley were full of expectancy at gaining First Division status for the first time, but the Football League instead chose to call a ballot of the clubs.

Henry Norris, the then Arsenal Chairman, had recently moved Woolwich Arsenal north of the River Thames to Highbury, and needed First Division Football to attract fans to their new home.

He was later to admit some underhand dealings, allegedly including the bribing of some member clubs to vote for Arsenal's inclusion.
They duly won the vote and Barnsley were consigned to the second tier of English Football for another 8 decades.

Both sides have one of their former players on each others books. Daniel Nardiello joined QPR from Barnsley a year ago and hasn't had the best of timers in West London.

He struggled to get a first team place early in the season with John Gregory preferring Blackstock and Sahar up front and then injury saw him reduced to a bit part player when De Canio arrived.

He returned to Barnsley on a loan deal in January where he did ok for his former club but he ended up moving to Blackpool in August 2008 where he has again failed to impress.

Rohan Ricketts is now at Barnsley after he had a short loan spell from Wolves at the end of the 2006/07 season. Ricketts made a few substitute appearances before going back to Wolves and played his part in a massive win against Preston which went a long way to keeping us in the division.

In the past Kevin Gallen has played for both clubs. Gallen had a brief spell at Barnsley in 2001/02 season but failed to settle and was allowed to join QPR after just a few months at Oakwell for his second spell with us until 2007 as he scored 54 of his 97 goals for QPR.

Nigel Spackman also played for QPR in the 1980's before moving to Glasgow Rangers in a move that saw Ray Wilkins come to Loftus Road. Spackman went onto manage Barnsley in 2001 but didn't last too long in the job.

Rangers have faced Barnsley several times in recent years.

Since this web site started the two sides have met many times and last season was the first time the away team won this fixture.
Back in 1998/99 Richard Langley's home debut came against Barnsley and Langley scored in a 2-1 win which gave Gerry Francis his first three points since returning as manager. The return game was a comfortable 1-0 win for Barnsley.

The 1999/00 season saw both games drawn. Rob Steiner scored in a 2-2 draw at Loftus Road and a brilliant Matthew Rose strike almost gave us all three points at Oakwell but Craig Hignett got his yearly goal against QPR to earn his side a point.

Rangers not so glorious relegation season saw Barnsley thrash QPR 4-2 early on in the season. Chris Kiwomya's double looked like it might bring us back into the game but Bruce Dyer killed the game off late on.

Gerry Francis resigned as manager in the week leading up to the return game but was still on the bench when the two sides met as he agreed to stay in charge until a new man was found. Peter Crouch and Chris Kiwomya got the goals in a 2-0 win.

Barnsley joined QPR in Division two a year later and a week into that season Barnsley beat Rangers 1-0 on a sunny day at Oakwell. Rangers got revenge with a 1-0 win later in the season as Richard Pacquette got the goal.

Rangers promotion season saw two unforgettable games between the two sides. Barnsley came for a point at Loftus Road and rarely got out of their own half before Rangers finally broke them down. Kevin Gallen got the goal and Rangers then ran riot as Rowlands, Ainsworth and Thorpe added goals to complete a 4-0 win.

The return game was a crucial one. Rangers needed a win to stay clear of Bristol City in the race for promotion. A tight first half saw the teams go in at 1-1. Rangers dominated the second half and Paul Furlong grabbed a deserved goal to make it 2-1.

The three points looked in the bag before a bizarre substitution saw Rangers look to sit on the lead and inevitably threw it away.
Two goals in the last five minutes gave Barnsley a 3-2 lead and our promotion dream looked shattered. Enter Paul Furlong though and in the 93rd minute he equalised to earn Rangers a vital point and send the 2,000 QPR fans into scenes of jubilant celebrations.

in 2006/07 season both sides were in a relegation battle for most of the season and faced two six pointers during the winter. The first one was at Loftus Road just before Christmas. That day I was out in Florida sitting around the swimming Pool whilst the team were in action and thankfully it was a good day as Martin Rowlands goal separated the two sides and won the three points for Rangers.

The return game at Oakwell a month later was a different story though. Rangers missed several good chances and were denied a blatant penalty but the home side took their chances and score in the last minuet of each half to collect a valuable win and drop Rangers into the bottom three.

The first season after the takeover at QPR we met Barnsley for the first time in January and a new look QPR side thrashed the Tykes 2-0 with goals from Agyemang and this websites goal of the season from Rowan Vine. The game could have been won by a much higher scoreline with many chances missed although Barnsley's attempts to play football showed they had something about them.

The return game was called off due to Barnsley playing and beating Liverpool in the FA Cup and both sides went away from Oakwell thinking they could have won what was a 0-0 draw.

Barnsley v QPR was the opening day fixture at Loftus Road in 2008. Rangers were in for a shock as Iain Hume put the visitors in front with the first real attack of the game. We fought back though with Fitz Hall scoring twice to give us a half time lead. Hall then missed a penalty and a chance of a hat trick but Rangers held on for an opening day victory.

The Away game was under a different manager as Paulo Sousa's men took the lead through Damien Delaney but ended up losing the game 2-1.

Last season the game at Loftus Road was an entertaining one, Mikele Leigterwood gave QPR an early lead before two excellent goals from Akos Buzsaky sent us into half time with a three goal lead.

Barnsley had looked a decent side though and quickly pulled it round scoring twice to set up an exciting finish but late goals from Jay Simpson and Ben Watson made sure Rangers ran out comfortable 5-2 winners in the end. Barnsley have now not won at QPR since 1950.

The return game was played on my son's first birthday so whilst we had a party in my garden Rangers were up north winning at Barnsley for the first time since 1996 thanks to a Mikele Leigterwood goal.

Click on the match for a report of the game from this web site.

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