RUFC - Spotlight on.....

Rotherham United's next pre-season friendly is against Barnsley. Here are some facts and figures about The Tykes:

Barnsley, who are currently playing their football in the Championship, were founded in 1887 and originally called Barnsley St Peter`s and joined the football league in 1898.

After reaching the FA Cup Final in 1910 and losing to Newcastle in a replay they went on to win the Cup two years later against West Brom. In 1922 they missed out on promotion to the top division on goal difference (by one goal). In the 30`s, 40`s and 50`s The Tykes found themselves swapping between the second and third division and in the 60`s and 70`s between the third an fourth divisions. In 1996/7 they found themselves promoted to the Premiership but dropped straight back down again.

In 2002 the club went into administration and Peter Doyle, then Mayor of the town, stepped in at the last minute to stop the club folding. Four years later they got promotion to the Championship via the play-offs but struggling they sacked their manager half way through the season and Simon Davey came in and managed to steer them out of the relegation fight to stay up. The following season Barnsley reached the semi final of the FA Cup beating both Liverpool and Chelsea to get there, but lost to Cardiff at Wembley.

Club Record
Record League Victory: 9-0 v Loughborough Town, Second Division, January 1899
Record Cup Victory: 6-0 v Blackpool, FA Cup January 1910
Record League Defeat: 0-9 v Notts County, Second Division, January 1927
Record Cup Defeat: 1-8 v Derby County, FA Cup January1987
Highest League Scorer in Season: Cecil McCormack, 33, Football League Division Two, 1950/51
Most League Goals in Total Aggregate: Ernest Hine, 123, 1921 - 1938
Most Internationals Caps: Gerry Taggart, 35, Northern Ireland
Most League Appearances: Barry Murphy, 514, 1962 - 1978
Record Transfer Fee Received: £4,500,000 from Blackburn Rovers for Ashley Ward, December 1998
Record Transfer Fee Paid: £1,500,000 to Partizan Belgrade for Georgi Hristov (1997) and £1,500,000 to QPR for Mike Sheron (1999)


Head-to-Head

The last time the Millers met the Reds was in League One in 2005/06 season

The game at Millmoor saw a win for Barnsley with a goal from Martin Devaney in the seventy-third minute. The attendance that day was 5,401.
A month later the Millers were the visitors to Oakwell and the game finished 1-1 with Shaun Barker scoring for the Millers first and Steven Watt getting an equaliser in the ninetieth minute for the draw. Of course, this game will live long in both Barnsley and Rotherham fans memories for the refereeing (???) of one Mr Trevor Kettle who lost the game completely and ended up sending off three Millers players - Deon Burton after 56 minutes, Lee Williamson after 85 minutes and the captain, Colin Murdock in the ninetieth minute with eight players being booked.

The all time results between the two South Yorkshire teams are pretty even:

League - Millers wins 17, Barnsley wins 17 and 16 draws
FA Cup - Millers wins 2, Barnsley wins 2 and 1 drawn game
League Cup - Millers wins 1, Barnsley wins 2

Total - Millers wins 20, Barnsley wins 21 and 17 draws

The game is on Saturday, 26th July at Don Valley Stadium and kick-off is 3pm

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