Holker Street Newsletter 30 - 30th December 1997

Barrow beat Lancaster City 2-0 at the weekend, so all we have to do is do it again on New Year’s Day and it will be a cracking Christmas for us all. Included in this Newsletter is the history of Barrow AFC, this has been gleaned from a number of publications, so if you see any errors or have any improvements, please pass them on, I’d be particularly interested in your comments on how I’ve portrayed the Vaughan era.

Don’t forget if you have any questions for the Barrow manager, Owen Brown email Paul Darragh and he will ring the Evening Mail for inclusion in the Word on the Street section in the paper. Paul’s email address is .

In the next Newsletter I’ll be including the story of how Napier City Rovers and Barrow became linked, all I have to do is type up the letter John Simmonds of Napier sent me. If you have any ideas for future articles or features, can you let me know, as whilst I’m not running out of topics at the moment, it might happen one day. Thanks to everyone who has responded to why Harry Thomson, Barrow's 32 year old goalkeeper and former First Division player was sacked by Barrow AFC 25 years ago, I’ll include the answers (?) next time.

Happy New Year to everyone on the list.


REPORT VIA RADIO CUMBRIA
Barrow end 1997 unbeaten away in the League with a 2-0 victory at Giant Axe over Lancaster. Live commentary from Radio Carlisle (sorry, Cumbria), as Carlisle weren't playing. Russell Dodd sounded reasonably enthusiastic but Graham Liver appeared to wish he was somewhere else. Still, I learnt a lot about the movement of trains in and out of Lancaster station. The first half hour was poor and of course Barrow scored their first when the broadcast had switched back to the studio for an update. It was Lee Prior, returning after suspension, with a good goal volleyed in from an angle. Barrow went two up just before half time with a Robertson/Coates combination but the goal was credited to an own goal by Boyle. Barrow dominated the second half and could have had three or four more. Wright came on for Cooper after 60 minutes and Marginson for Robertson (I'm not sure if he was injured). Tony Hesketh, now with Morecambe, was seen in the crowd - just interested or watching someone?

Thanks to Jim Whitton for this.


ANOTHER MATCH REPORT - LANCASTER CITY 0 BARROW 2
Great day out. Barrow threatened several times in the first half before taking the lead in the 34th minute when Lee rifled home a stunning volley following a "one-two" with Marc Coates. Barrow sealed the game just before half time (43 minutes) when Paul Robertson cut the ball back from the Lancaster bye-line and their centre back could only deflect the ball into his own net. Barrow piled on the pressure in the second half and had both a goal and a penalty claim turned down. We were good for the points.

Thanks to Steve Grisdale.


GED'S GETTING PLASTERED (WITHOUT ALCOHOL, THAT IS)
Evening Mail, 24 December

BAFC's skilful midfielder Ged Hennigan will be getting plastered this Christmas instead of playing in both games against Lancaster City over the holidays, but we're not talking about overdoing it with festive cheer, the 20 year old broke his foot in last Saturday’s win over Gainsborough and doctors have now told him it will have to go in plaster for four weeks. It is the latest in the long list of injuries for the unlucky Hennigan who has already missed the majority of this season with a recurring ankle problem. Fortunately for manager Brown he has midfielder returning from suspension and he is likely to come in for a straight swap for Hennigan for Saturday’s game at Giant Axe. Brown said: "Lee's defiantly in my plans because he was playing well before he was suspended. Saturday is the first of a double header against Lancaster this Christmas and it's a great chance for Brown's side to improve on their lead at the top of the table, especially as Lancaster are having a few problems at the moment. They have lost their last five games and manager Gordon Rayner resigned at the weekend leaving them in the hands of a caretaker boss. Brown is confident his side will do well and is looking for revenge for the UniBond League Cup defeat suffered against City earlier this season. Brown added: "They won comfortably in the Cup at Holker Street, we owe them for that. Everyone is looking forward to it. At Christmas you can get some odd results. We've just got to look at ourselves and give it our best shot. If we do I'm sure we'll get the result we want."

Barrow: Farrelly, McCauley, Robertson, Higgins, Jones, Johnston, Bauress, Moran, Coates, Cooper, Prior, Marginson, Grugel, Wright.


SNIPPET FROM THE DAILY MAIL
24 December

Remember Barrow? They are another former League club on the comeback trail. Twenty-five years after dropping out of the old Fourth Division they are now top of the UniBond Premier Division and take non-League football's only unbeaten away record to managerless Lancaster on Saturday hoping that lightening won't strike twice in the same place twice. That's where they suffered one of only two travelling setbacks this year, way back in February.


AWAY THE LADS
Brown salutes fans as AFC stay unbeaten in League travels this season
Evening Mail, 29 December

Hundreds of Barrow fans saw AFC extend their brilliant unbeaten away run on Saturday with a 2-0 win over Lancaster City. The Bluebirds have won nine and drawn three away from Holker Street this season, and only lost twice on the road in the whole of 1997. Speaking this morning, Brown was quick to praise his players' achievement and also wanted to thank the travelling fans who made the trip to the Giant Axe. Brown said: "I can only pay tribute to the lads' determination and concentration away from home. They've been fantastic. They played well again on Saturday and really the 2-0 scoreline flattered Lancaster. The support was unbelievable, they turned it into a home game for us. If there were any Lancaster fans in the ground, we didn't hear them. It just seemed there were all Barrow fans on all four sides of the ground. It was in the lads' minds not to let the supporters down and they managed to turn on a show for them."

The victory maintained Barrow’s six point lead at the top of the UniBond Premier Division, which they can improve on New Year’s Day when they face Lancaster again at Holker Street. AFC's nearest rival Bishop Auckland do not have a fixture on Thursday and the next game they play in the League is against Barrow in the North East on Saturday. Brown will have suspended trio, Morton, O'Keeffe, and Brown available again for the second clash with City this week, and he said they are all in the frame for a return to the side. "It's happy headache time for me as regards team selection now," said Brown, "Neil, Jimmy and Lee have all been influential for us this season, so they are in contention for a place."


LANCASTER 0 BARROW 2
BARROW ON THE RIGHT ROAD ANOTHER WIN FOR BROWN'S BOYS
Evening Mail, 29 December

Barrow handed their hundreds of travelling supporters the perfect Christmas present with an excellent, comfortable win at The Giant Axe to round off a wonderful year on the road. There have been just two defeats in 1997 (one at Lancaster in February) in 20 League away games and this season marvellous away record now stands at nine wins and three draws from twelve starts. Manager Brown welcomed back after a three game ban in place of the luckless, injured Hennigan and it was the young ex-Liverpool man who put the Bluebirds on the road to victory with a fine goal.

The first half hour was instantly forgettable as both sides struggled to find any rhythm. Barrow's first chance fell to Cooper but home man of the match Thornley smothered his effort well when the ex-Burscough forward was put clear by Johnston. Barrow took the lead on 34 minutes. when McCauley's inside pass was flicked on neatly by Coates into the path of Prior who hammered the ball into the far top corner from the angle of the six yard box. Robertson was by now causing all sorts of problems and as he cut in to the six yard box on the left his hard low cross struck Boyd and went into the net with Prior unmarked behind him. Cooper was again denied by Thornley as Barrow looked to seal the game before the break. The Barrow fans who accounted for well over 50% of the crowd, need not have worried though, as their side maintained their thoroughly professional display after the break and the Dobie-less City forward line hardly had a chance. Indeed, it was Barrow who could of had more goals with a Jones effort ruled for a foul on the excellent Thornley who also pulled off a wonder save from a Prior twelve yard shot. Cooper, Marginson and Johnston all went close as the final scoreline flattered the home side.

MATCH RATING - Good
THE PLAYERS :-
FARRELLY 7 - Did most of what he had to do well. Commanded area apart from one missed cross and a close call from a clearance.
McCAULEY 8 - Constantly going forward against his former club, but also defended well. Had a hand in the first goal.
ROBERTSON 8 - Lively and dangerous for the first hour. Created second goal with hard low cross after good run.
HIGGINS 8 - Excellent game. Barrow were hardly in danger due to the solid work of the back three.
JONES 8 - As for Higgins above. Unlucky to have headed goal ruled out.
JOHNSTON 8 - Another good game from steady Eddie. Also got forward on a few occasions.
BAURESS 8 - Certainly back to his best at present and is always getting stuck in well. Always available to keep the move going and did the simple things well. M.O.M
MORAN 7 - Another solid performance in only his second game. Linked up well down the right.
COATES 7 - Constant source of problems for the home defence. Enjoyed little protection from the referee.
COOPER 7 - Could easily of had a couple of goals as he was denied twice by the keeper when clean through.
PRIOR 8 - Good bubbly performance on his return from a ban. Took his goal brilliantly and added an edge to the midfield.
THE SUBS - MARGINSON for ROBERTSON 73 mins, GRUGEL for COATES 81 mins, WRIGHT for COOPER 67 mins.
GOALS - PRIOR 34, BOYD 43 (og)
YELLOW CARDS - Evans 87 (Lancaster)
OFFSIDES - LANCASTER 2 BARROW 2
FREE KICKS - LANCASTER 12 BARROW 9
CORNERS - LANCASTER 6 BARROW 10
SHOTS
ON TARGET - LANCASTER 1 BARROW 9
OFF TARGET - LANCASTER 3 BARROW 5
ATTENDANCE 1119
REFEREE - Mr. Copeland (Liverpool)


UNIBOND LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION, 26 - 27 DECEMBER 1997
26 December: Gainsborough Trinity 0 Boston United 1, Marine 0 Winsford United 0, Radcliffe Borough 0 Hyde United 0.
27 December: Alfreton Town 2 Bishop Auckland 6, Altrincham P Leigh RMI P, Bamber Bridge 2 Accrington Stanley 1, Frickley Athletic 2 Emley 1, Guiseley 1 Blyth Spartans 3, LANCASTER CITY 0 BARROW 2, Runcorn P Colwyn Bay P.

P W D L F:A Pts
BARROW......................25 16 4 5 39:15 52
Bishop Auckland.............25 13 7 5 55:35 46
Boston United...............23 10 10 3 28:19 40
Altrincham..................24 11 4 9 42:28 37
Runcorn.....................23 11 4 8 43:31 37
Guiseley....................23 9 9 5 36:29 36
Hyde United.................24 8 10 6 40:31 34
Winsford United.............19 9 5 5 21:15 32
Colwyn Bay..................21 9 5 7 30:31 32
Emley.......................21 9 4 8 35:30 31
Chorley.....................24 9 3 12 34:47 30
Leigh RMI...................16 8 5 3 23:13 29
Frickley Athletic...........23 8 5 10 26:34 29
Gainsborough Trinity........20 8 4 8 23:21 28
Accrington Stanley..........27 6 10 11 32:37 28
Marine......................20 7 6 7 26:26 27
Spennymoor United...........21 7 6 8 27:34 27
Lancaster City..............26 7 5 14 34:49 26
Blyth Spartans..............22 6 7 9 27:30 25
Bamber Bridge...............22 6 5 11 28:42 23
Radcliffe Borough...........23 4 6 13 24:43 18
Alfreton Town...............22 2 4 16 16:49 10


NEXT WEEK’S FIXTURES
Thursday 1 January: Accrington Stanley v Radcliffe Borough, Barrow AFC v Lancaster City, Boston United v Gainsborough Trinity, Chorley v Bamber Bridge, Winsford United v Altrincham.

Saturday 3 January: Altrincham v Spennymoor United, Bamber Bridge v Guiseley, Bishop Auckland v Barrow AFC, Blyth Spartans v Chorley, Colwyn Bay v Frickley Athletic, Emley v Accrington Stanley, Hyde United v Winsford United, Lancaster City v Boston United, Leigh RMI v Runcorn AFC, Radcliffe Borough v Marine


BARROW AFC HISTORY
Founded in 1901, the club began playing competitive football in the Lancashire Combination at its first home ground, The Strawberry, on the outskirts of Barrow. After a move to Little Park, Roose, the club won its first honour, promotion to Division A of the Lancashire Combination, and in 1908 professional players were employed for the first time.

The club moved to its current home, Holker Street, in 1909, where there was no major success before the First World War apart from an FA Cup run which ended in defeat by Division Two side Bradford Park Avenue. The club won Division A of the Lancashire Combination in the 1920-21 season and were promoted to Division Three North. From then until the outbreak of the Second World war the club constantly struggled against relegation. The best season during this period was 1933-34 when the club finished eighth. Little changed after the war, although the club did enjoy a little success in the FA Cup, in January 1954 a crowd of 16,874 saw the club earn a 2-2 draw against Swansea Town. When League organisation came in 1958 the club were consigned to Division Four.

The eyes of the football world focussed on Holker Street for the first time in 1959 when the then mighty Wolverhampton Wanderers travelled to Barrow for an FA Cup Third Round tie. On a partly frozen pitch, Wolves were glad to win 4-2. In the early 1960s saw a tale of further struggle. In 1963 the club erected floodlights and fortunes began to improve, slowly. In 1967, under the guidance of Don McEvoy the club won promotion to Division Three for the first time and despite McEvoy's departure, his replacement as manager, Colin Appleton, steered the club to eighth place in Division Three in his first season in charge. Sadly, half way during the next season Colin Appleton resigned due to ill health and within another three seasons the club had been voted out of the Football League, having been a member for 51 years. Barrow were replaced by Hereford.

The club was immediately elected to the Northern Premier League for the 1972-73 season, but there was no instant success, over the early non-League years, survival was the name of the game. The only ray of hope during this period came when the club reached the First Round proper of the FA Cup under manager Ron Yeats (former Liverpool and Scotland star) in November 1976. A crowd of 3255 turned out to see the Barrow beaten 2-0 by fellow NPL side Goole Town.

Despite a less than impressive playing record the club was elected as a founder member of the Alliance Premier League in 1979, and the crowd for the opening home game of the 1979-80 season against Yeovil Town of 2027 suggested the club was a sleeping non-League giant. In the 1980-81 season, the club won its first non-League honour since leaving the Football League, when Mickey Taylor's side won the ATS Trophy (Lancashire Senior Cup) defeating Chorley 2-1 at Wigan. However, further success did not follow and the club was relegated back to the NPL.

At that stage former Sunderland star Vic Halom took charge and in one glorious season he took the club straight back into the Gola League, as the Alliance Premier League was now called. The success was short lived - at the end of the 1983-84 season, Halom departed to take charge at Rochdale and took leading scorer Barry Diamond with him.

The club survived just two seasons back in the Gola League before relegation but, in May 1986, Ray Wilkie who had known success as manager at Gateshead took charge and over five years he brought more success to the club than it had known in the previous 85 years.

In season 1987-88, the club reached the FA Trophy Semi-Finals; the following season the club won the NPL title and with it promotion to the Vauxhall Conference and also reached the First Round proper of the FA Cup for only the second time since losing their League place in 1972: In the 1989-90 season the club attracted national publicity when they won the FA Trophy, defeating Leek Town 3-0 with two goals from Kenny Gordon (son of the club’s all time Football League leading scorer, Billy) and one from Colin Cowperthwaite (who now holds the club appearance and goalscoring records). Two other members of the side went on to further success in the football League with Barnet, Stoke City, Birmingham City and Darlington.

Sadly, the club was unable to build on that success and, in November 1991, Ray Wilkie had to step down as manager due to ill health. He died shortly afterwards and his ashes were spread on the turf at Holker Street.
At the end of the season, the club were relegated into the NPL once again, and are now striving to regain Conference status for, in effect, a fourth time.

Under the enthusiastic chairmanship of Liverpool businessman Stephen Vaughan results over the last two seasons have been encouraging and off the field much has been done to re-organise the club and improve facilities. Stephen Vaughan also appointed Owen Brown as Manager, and Franny Ventre, as Assistant Manager, in October 1996. Unfortunately Stephen Vaughan resigned as Chairman in November 1997, withdrawing his considerable financial support from the club. Since then the club has continued to operate, with considerable behind the scenes activity to allow the club to operate and hopefully win the UniBond Premier League and gain promotion to the Conference.


NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE 1986-87

Pl W D L F A Pts
1 Macclesfield Town . 42 26 10 6 80 47 88 Promoted: APL
2 Bangor City . . . 42 25 12 5 74 35 87
3 Caernarfon Town . . 42 20 16 6 67 40 76
4 Marine . . . . . 42 21 10 11 70 43 73
5 South Liverpool . . 42 21 10 11 58 40 73
6 Morecambe . . . . 42 20 12 10 66 49 72
7 Matlock Town . . . 42 20 10 12 81 67 70
8 Southport . . . . 42 19 11 12 67 49 68
9 Chorley. . . . . 42 16 12 14 58 59 60
10 Mossley. . . . . 42 15 12 15 57 52 57
11 Hyde United . . . 42 15 10 17 81 70 55
12 Burton Albion. . . 42 16 6 20 56 68 54 Transferred: SLP
13 Buxton . . . . . 42 13 14 15 71 68 53
14 Witton Albion. . . 42 15 8 19 68 79 53
15 BARROW . . . . . 42 15 7 20 42 57 52
16 Goole Town. . . . 42 13 12 17 58 62 51
17 Oswestry Town. . . 42 14 8 20 55 83 50
18 Rhyl. . . . . . 42 10 15 17 56 74 45
19 Worksop Town . . . 42 9 13 20 56 74 40
20 Gainsborough Trinity 42 9 10 23 53 77 37
21 Workington. . . . 42 5 14 23 38 70 28 [-1]
22 Horwich RMI . . . 42 3 12 27 36 85 20 [-1]

New entries for 1987-88: Frickley Athletic and Gateshead, relegated from the GM Vauxhall Conference {APL}

From 1987-88 an additional Division is added to the Northern Premier League. Initially it will consist of: Stalybridge Celtic, Accrington Stanley, Winsford United, Fleetwood Town, Penrith, Congleton Town, Eastwood Hanley, Radcliffe Borough, Leek Town, Netherfield, Irlam Town and Curzon Ashton from the North West Counties League Division One {NW1}; Droylsden and Lancaster City from the North West Counties League Division Two {NW2}; Alfreton Town, Farsley Celtic, Sutton Town, Harrogate Town and Eastwood Town from the Northern Counties East League Premier Division {NEP}.
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