In June 2020, the Reds were just about to start their remarkable run to Championship safety amid the Covid-19 crisis. Doug O’Kane looks back

FIVE years ago this week, Barnsley were preparing to return to action amid a national lockdown in one of the most remarkable periods in their history on and off the pitch.

The Covid-19 pandemic meant most of the world, including English football, shut down in 2020.

The Reds had played at home to Cardiff City on March 7, with dispensers of hand sanitiser installed around the ground after cases spread in the UK, then their trip to QPR a week later was called off the day before and football just stopped.

Barnsley were bottom of the Championship, seven points off safety with 34 points from 37 games – having won just eight and lost 19.

It had been a tough season, with several of the promotion stars from the previous campaign sold and replaced by painfully young signings as owner Paul Conway’s declaration of the ‘most successful transfer window for incomings in our history’ proved to be drivel.

Daniel Stendel had been controversially sacked in October during a 17-game winless run then replaced by Gerhard Struber, who – after the gap to safety grew to nine points – had started a mini recovery with three straight wins including a 3–0 success at promotion favourites Fulham, before losing the final two games ahead of lockdown.

Mums in goal and improvised training during 73 days away from Oakwell before bizarre return

The players and staff spent 73 days away from Oakwell, which was initially deep-cleaned then left almost totally empty for weeks.

They attempted to stay match-fit, sprinting back and forth between lampposts in their half an hour permitted outside exercise per day and using heavy items in their homes as weights.

Cauley Woodrow practised in his garden with his mother as the goalkeeper, Conor Chaplin developed a hobby of doing jigsaw puzzles and the squad got involved with the online craze of the ‘toilet paper challenge’ in which they did keepie-uppies with loo roll.

About half of the squad were foreign so returned to their home countries, as did Austrian Struber.

They were grim and scary times for many, as the death toll rose across the world – with Reds legend Norman Hunter one of millions who died after contracting Covid-19. There was debate over whether football mattered but it was concluded that the biggest and most lucrative leagues must continue.

While League One and League Two were cancelled, the Championship would be completed and the return date was first set at April 3, then April 30 then May 16 and finally May 25 which is when training re-started at Oakwell in groups of five staggered throughout the day while keeping two metres apart.

The players had all been tested previously, driving up Grove Street to the carpark entrance to be greeted by a member of the medical team in a mask who would swab their mouth and nose for the sample to be tested.

Gradually the restrictions were lifted and they began full contact training and, while there was one positive test, it was a non-playing and non-coaching member of staff.

Struber criticised the ‘chaotic’ EFL and said they should have been clearer with details about when the season would re-start then said the schedule of June 20 to July 22 was too short to fit in the nine remaining games after such a long lay-off. But they did it.

Players calling fans who backed club magnificently in tough times

The financial impact of Covid was a major worry for Barnsley and all clubs, without the lifeblood of regular matchdays. Reds season ticket holders were given an option of a refund for the final four home games, a voucher for future spending or a donation to the NHS.

Season tickets for the following season were another major issue. Would the cash-strapped club get its usual boost of thousands of fans buying them in April and May when they did not know when they could return to the stadium?

A total of 25 first team players were given a list of hundreds of supporters’ names and numbers to ring for an hour after training every day to encourage them to renew their season tickets.

The fans responded magnificently with about 7,000 buying season tickets – which started from £249 for adults – despite knowing they may have to watch all the games on iFollow.

Struber took a wage deferral but the players didn’t, with captain Alex Mowatt citing openly that they were among the lowest paid in the division – while privately it was pointed out that the club’s owners had just purchased Belgian club Oostende so were not short of cash.

There were various other issues.

The Reds were hoping Bambo Diaby could play if cleared of drug use allegations, while Sami Radlinger and Kenny Dougall were released when their contracts expired at the end of June despite Dougall playing in the first game back.

Barnsley academy manager Bobby Hassell decided not to release any players below under 16 level during the pandemic.

Co-owner Conway said the Reds were considering legal action if they were relegated but points deductions for Birmingham City, Derby County or Sheffield Wednesday, after breaches of financial fair play rules, were applied the following season.

The Reds also tabled a motion at an EFL meeting for there to be no relegation, which was rejected while they called for a parachute payment to cover the roughly £7million drop in revenue if they went down.

Football returns in empty grounds and Reds cut down 7-point gap

The first game back was on June 20 at QPR, where Barnsley won for the first time in 25 attempts across 70 years, thanks to a seventh-minute Elliot Simoes goal. It was a surreal occasion with fake crowd noise blaring out of speakers placed around the empty stands.

QPR – whose team included current England player and Crystal Palace’s recent FA Cup final match-winner Eberechi Eze – had expressed concern that football was returning too early and they were not ready.

Struber changed to a back three, picked previous third choice Jack Walton in goal, handed a debut to Romal Palmer and recalled defender Mads Andersen who had had a nightmare season and been dropped in February.

The Reds then hosted their first fanless games, choosing not to use crowd noise, kicking off at 1pm on Saturdays and 6pm on Tuesdays, deploying squad players as ball boys in the empty stands while the small group of journalists allowed in were placed one per corporate box in the East Stand.

After a 0-0 draw with Millwall, they looked set for another with Blackburn but Struber’s changes made a difference as Chaplin then Jacob Brown got the goals in a 2-0 success. Ben Brereton – before the Chile call-up and the addition of Diaz to his name – was sent off for a tackle on Kilian Ludewig.

Barnsley had kept three successive clean sheets but were stunned 4-0 at Stoke, with the otherwise impressive Andersen briefly returning to his clumsy pre-lockdown errors and the hosts dominating from corners.

They then drew 1-1 at Luton, with top-scorers Woodrow – who was playing in attacking midfield – and Chaplin taken off when behind only for oncoming defender Aapo Halme to play up front and score. Walton’s late one-on-one save was a vital moment.

They drew 0-0 at home to Wigan, who reportedly were not being paid properly and had been deducted 12 points for going into administration.

The visitors had one player sent off but could have had two others including Antonee Robinson who sent Ludewig pirouetting in the air before landing on his neck in a remarkably violent tackle which went viral.

Barnsley played well but lost 1-0 at promotion-bound Leeds United on a Thursday evening, with Michael Sollbauer inexplicably slicing a clearance into his own net.

Results on the Saturday meant they were five points adrift of safety going into their home game with promotion-chasing Nottingham Forest.

The Reds looked set to be relegated in injury-time, as the visitors broke away on the counter-attack at 0-0 but Callum Styles made a remarkable tackle and, seconds later, Patrick Schmidt fired home to spark a pitch invasion from the substitutes and staff.

Barnsley end 311-day spell in relegation zone in final seconds

Barnsley still needed a final day miracle at Brentford, who knew a win would put them in the Premier League.

In the final league game ever at Griffin Park, on a Wednesday evening, the Reds had to win and hope neither Charlton nor Wigan won.

They took the lead through a first career goal by Styles – who had been a revelation at left wing-back after barely playing before lockdown – but Josh Dasilva levelled with a superb strike.

With Charlton being thrashed at Leeds and Wigan drawing with Fulham, Barnsley and Brentford both went into injury-time knowing they needed to score to achieve their respective goals.

After the ball looped high into the sky just outside the Brentford box, Mowatt produced surely one of the best touches in the club’s history with a magnificent reverse flick of his boot which totally bamboozled the home defence and put Schmidt through on the right of the box. The Austrian, on his 22nd birthday, squared low for substitute Clarke Oduor, who had barely played for months, to tap into the empty net.

That sparked an ecstatic celebration, which was replicated – after an iFollow delay of a few seconds – in households around Barnsley.

The Reds players and staff flooded onto the pitch a few minutes later when the final whistle went, celebrating with ‘we are staying up signs’ while Chaplin did the popular ‘floss’ dance.

They had been in the relegation zone for 311 days since losing at home to Leeds in September, but came out of it with seconds to spare. Chief executive Dane Murphy, now at Charlton, tweeted ‘Simples…’ while Conor Hourihane was one of several ex-Reds to congratulate the team on social media. ‘I am so proud of my boys’ spluttered a tearful Struber in his post-match Zoom interview.

Barnsley only conceded 11 goals in their last 14 games, with eight clean sheets, as the relaxation of youth-first transfer policy allowed them to sign the influential Sollbauer in January.

Brentford had won eight in a row but lost to lowly Stoke and Barnsley to fall out of the top two before losing in the play-offs to Fulham. Their former Barnsley defender Ethan Pinnock congratulated the Reds players afterwards.

Barnsley had to wait another fortnight to discover if Wigan had won their appeal against their deduction, but were always confident of the decision being in their favour and so it proved.

Fans would have to wait another year to return to Oakwell, during which time Struber left for New York Red Bulls and Valerien Ismael pulled off an even more extraordinary achievement as the Reds reached the Championship play-offs.