Barnsley Match of My Life

David Kuzio

Description

Fifteen Barnsley footballing legends tell the stories behind their favourite ever games for the club - enabling fans of all ages to relive these magic moments through the eyes and emotions of the men who were there, pulling on the famous red shirt. Local lad Mick McCarthy recalls the moment he was selected for his first game representing his boyhood team, revealing how dearly he holds the club, the fans and one person in particular all these years later. Arjan de Zeeuw talks about how he was smuggled into a hotel when he was still an unknown, and was told he was signing for an English club. In the end he was delighted that his career in England started at Barnsley, going on to describe how it felt to do the unthinkable at Anfield during the club's only Premier League season. Oakwell legends including Marley Watkins, Lewin Nyatanga, Marc Richards, Paul Hayes, Brian Howard, Adie Moses, Darren Barnard and Stephen Foster also turn in characteristic star performances, winding back the clock to relive treasured memories of the Match of Their Lives.

Informations

• Publié par: Pitch Publishing Ltd
• Date de parution: 15 août 2018
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781785314643
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

Extrait

First published by Pitch Publishing, 2018
Pitch Publishing
A2 Yeoman Gate
Yeoman Way
Durrington
BN13 3QZ
www.pitchpublishing.co.uk
David Kuzio, 2018
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the Publisher.
A CIP catalogue record is available for this book from the British Library
Print ISBN 978-1-78531-426-1
eBook ISBN 978-1-78531-464-3
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Contents
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
INTRODUCTION by David Kuzio
FOREWORD by Shaun Dooley
ARJAN DE ZEEUW
v. Liverpool Premier League, November 1997
DARREN BARNARD
v. Huddersfield Town Football League First Division, November 1998
MICK McCARTHY
v. Chesterfield League Cup first round second leg, August 1977
DANIEL NARDIELLO
v. Huddersfield Town League 1 play-off semi-final second leg, May 2006
NICKY EADEN
v. Bradford City Football League First Division, April 1997
MARC RICHARDS
v. Swansea City League 1 Play-Off Final, May 2006
LEWIN NYATANGA
v. Charlton Athletic Championship, April 2008
DANIEL BOGDANOVIC
v. Plymouth Argyle Championship, May 2009
MARLEY WATKINS
v. Blackpool League 1, December 2015
PETER RAMAGE
v. Nottingham Forest Championship, March 2014
DIEGO LEON
v. Liverpool FA Cup fifth round, February 2008
ANDY LIDDELL
v. Bradford City Football League First Division, April 1997
WAYNE GOODISON
v. Fulham Football League Second Division, April 1983
GEOFF THOMAS
v. Ipswich Town First Division Play-Off Final, May 2000
ADI MOSES
v. Bradford City Football League First Division, April 1997
CHRIS SHUKER
v. Luton Town League 1, March 2005
v. Bristol City League 1, August 2004
LEE CROOKS
v. Sheffield Wednesday Football League First Division, October 2001
TONY VAUGHAN
v. MK Dons League 1, August 2004
v. Preston North End Carling Cup first round, August 2005
This book is dedicated to my wife Chris, sons Ryan Adam and Jack Freeman and my late daughter Kate - I love you with all my heart and the reason I keep taking on crazy projects like this.
Why do you support Barnsley? WHY NOT!
Author s Acknowledgements
FIRST OF all, I would like to thank Paul and Jane Camillin at Pitch Publishing for having the confidence in me to produce this book because, in all honesty, Barnsley are not the biggest club in the world so for them to take a risk with this publication, I ll be forever grateful.
You can never take on a project like this and complete it without the support of your family. My wife, Chris, always has my back in situations like this even when I am stressed out and in one of my why does no one ever reply moods. My son Ryan and mother-in-law Margaret for always shouting at me for just lying in my office instead of writing. My mum and dad, Kath and Adam, and older sister Karen are always there with support and guidance and every single one of my family form my support group in times like this.
I have to take time to thank every single player who contributed to this book, whether it was via me phoning them, e-mailing them or interviewing them in person. You all made this book possible and it has been nothing short of an honour listening to your tales about my club. Fran Manning at Ipswich Town deserves special praise as she worked wonders for me ever since my first e-mail. She went out of her way to get Mick McCarthy and Andy Liddell for me and that meant a lot.
I would like to thank Andy, Nicola and Matt at Barnsley FC, Fulham FC and Chesterfield FC respectively after coming to my aid in the final hours to provide some much needed line-ups to complete the book, while two gentlemen on the Tykes Talk Facebook group managed to find me the goalscorers from McCarthy s debut game.
I d also like to thank actor Shaun Dooley for agreeing to write the foreword for this book. Many of you will probably see his name and say, Have I seen him in anything? Google his name and as soon as you see his face, trust me, you will say, Oh my god. I ve seen him in this and that. He s really good.
Shaun is a massive Barnsley fan and a really private person, so I was made up he agreed to write a few thoughts about life as a Barnsley fan. Put it this way, I don t think anyone else in the world spent their first wage at Coronation Street on a Barnsley season ticket. Thanks Shaun.
My final thanks goes to my oldest friend Mark Hayes after he came up trumps for me when deadline was fast approaching. Mark is the chairman of Ashton Town and every year he organises a charity match for Joseph s Goal involving Wigan Athletic. This year it was the Latics against Manchester City as an anniversary reminder of Wigan winning the FA Cup. Quite a few Barnsley players have played for both clubs, and Mark said he d get whoever I needed. Unfortunately, not everyone turned up but I managed to grab a couple of interviews and for that Mark - thank you.
Everyone who contributed to this book being published, I thank you all from the bottom of my heart. It means a lot. And to my youngest boy Jack, you haven t a clue that every time I disappeared it was to write this book. Thanks for making me smile.
Dave Kuzio May 2018
Introduction
RIGHT, LET S get this out of the way early on. I am not from Barnsley and I am not even a Yorkshireman, but my love and affection for this club is just as strong as if I was born in Grove Street or Thirlmere Road. I am from Wigan.
So, how does a lad from Wigan, a die-hard rugby league fan, end up becoming a Barnsley Football Club supporter and allowing that team to take over his life? In August 1997, I moved to Barnsley as a student to study journalism. This was the year Barnsley played their first and so far only year in the Premier League - I know what you are thinking, but I didn t start following them that year. I attended a few games as part of my course but I waited until they got relegated to get really involved.
My first live game as a fan was an FA Cup tie at Oakwell on 19 January 1999 against Swindon Town. We won the game 3-1 with goals from Sean McClare, Martin Bullock and Craig Hignett and that s when my real love affair with the club started.
Many people thought, when I passed my course in the June that year, that I would move back to Wigan and forget all about my silly little phase and the Tykes would never be mentioned again. How wrong they were and despite living exactly 79.5 miles away I continued to make regular trips to Oakwell to watch my team. I even dragged my rugby league-obsessed girlfriend (now wife) to games to try and get her involved - although she did almost get me beaten up at Huddersfield. It didn t work, but our eldest son is just as fanatical about the Reds as I am, so I do have company on the long drive home.
Barnsley FC means the world to me and I was honoured to write this book. In my opinion every football or rugby club should have a book like this. It brings back some awesome memories, not just for me writing and the fans reading, but it brings joy to the players because they talk with passion about the club and it brings back great memories for them.
As most of you know, Barnsley are not the biggest club in the world and they haven t been to countless finals or played in the big games around Europe, but the matches some of these players have picked are memorable for different reasons. They all have a personal aspect to them. A few of the players have chosen the same game (no prizes for guessing which one) and at first I didn t want to have any duplicates, but who am I to mess with someone s fondest memory? So I kept them in and they are not identical chapters because everyone sees things differently anyway.
This is the second book of this stature that I have written, the first being on Wigan Warriors. When I was asked to take on this project, I once again got giddy thinking of all the famous players I could interview. It would read as a Who s Who of Barnsley greats. Then I remembered the troubles I had last time as getting the players you want is not an easy task - I didn t have a phone book with all the players names in it. I did my best going through LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook and word of mouth to get some big names. I didn t get every single player I wanted, but I think you ll agree there is a nice blend here and some great stories to read.
You might think writing a book like this is a pleasurable experience, and don t get me wrong, the end product is something to be immensely proud of, but the frustration you feel trying to get it all done and chasing players for stories is very stressful. I would personally like to thank every player who took time out of their life to help with this book because it really means a lot. I would also like to thank the players who never answered my e-mails or Twitter requests, because your rejection just fuelled my fire to produce the best book I could and I have done that.
Just like when I was writing the Wigan book, I started to get excited when players agreed to be involved. My first interview was with Arjan de Zeeuw and this one was extra special to me. When Arjan was at Wigan he became friends with one of mine - Mark Hayes, who I mentioned before - and somehow Mark got Arjan to be a witness at his wedding at the DW Stadium. My lad Ryan was only ten days old at the time and Arjan was brilliant with him, signing my shirt and posing for pictures. Nothing was any trouble for him, and I got to find that out myself when he agreed to be a part of this book.
Arjan de Zeeuw is genuinely one of the good guys and on t