Town legend Booth hoping final day history doesn’t repeat itself

Yorkshire is preparing itself for another final day of the season full of nerves, tension and excitement, reports Leon Wobschall.
Andy Booth comes close to scoring past Bobby Hassall in 2006Andy Booth comes close to scoring past Bobby Hassall in 2006
Andy Booth comes close to scoring past Bobby Hassall in 2006

SINCE its opening in August 1994, Huddersfield Town’s splendorous home has witnessed some nerve-jangling end-of-season episodes, with Saturday’s instalment promising to top the lot.

Both Town legend and club ambassador Andy Booth and former manager Andy Ritchie have been party to two of the most infamous end-of-season denouements involving the blue-and-white on home soil there – one of which resulted in starkly contrasting emotions in May 2006.

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The visiting team who provided the opposition for Town on that spring night, Barnsley, will again be in the away dressing room this weekend for another monumental White Rose derby, which brought ecstasy for Ritchie and anguish for Booth nearly seven years ago.

Then Reds chief Ritchie enjoyed one of his finest hours in management – at the expense of the club he would join just 11 months later – as the South Yorkshire visitors turned around a 1-0 deficit from their League One play-off first leg at Oakwell to earn a trip to Millennium Stadium after a stunning 3-1 triumph on the night.

Booth, then winding down his career at his hometown club remembers it well, although he insists the pain was more acute five years earlier when Town suffered end-of-term relegation heartache at what was then known as the McAlpine Stadium in May 2001.

Perish the thought, but it is a scenario Town might face again if things conspire against them as they did on that shattering Sunday afternoon almost 12 years ago when a 2-1 home loss to Birmingham City – and results elsewhere – dumped them back into the third tier.

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Then as now, Town – who headed into the final day fifth from bottom – needed a point to guarantee survival or failing that, require assistance from elsewhere.

With their own escape route promptly jettisoned, they had to rely on Crystal Palace and Portsmouth losing – and it cruelly proved a forlorn hope with the pair beating Stockport County and Barnsley respectively to relegate Town.

Desperate to avoid lightning striking twice, but acknowledging the similarities, Booth told the Yorkshire Post: “I had just come back on deadline day for my second spell and we were 10 points from safety and we managed to win the games we had to – a bit like Peterborough and Barnsley are doing now – and got ourselves out of trouble.

“I remember drawing 1-1 at Wimbledon on the Tuesday and us throwing our shirts into the crowd because we all thought we were safe and then every single result went against us on the Sunday when all we needed was a point.

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“I will always remember a ball dropping to my head six yards out and I met it with a bullet header and Ian Bennett, who was in the Birmingham goal, made a fantastic save. I thought: ‘This is it, we have avoided relegation’ and he pulled off a Banks-like save to send us down. Let’s hope history doesn’t repeat itself.

“I remember the changing rooms afterwards. Lou Macari was manager back then and the atmosphere was just dead. We could not believe it.”

On the similar scenario facing present-day Town, Booth added: “We have had some good wins over the past few weeks. But that does not mean anything now. It’s all down to one game.

“We should not have to rely on anyone else and Mark (Robins) will be geeing the team up.”

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Having had a foot in both camps as a manager at both Town and Barnsley, Ritchie is hoping that both survive a final-day pressure-cooker at the John Smith’s Stadium and are hailing their safety by mid-afternoon.

Just as thousands of Sheffield Wednesday fans hope they will be at Hillsborough, which stages yet another pivotal final-day clash, this time against free-falling Middlesbrough.

Over the years, Wednesdayites have endured the good and the bad in end-of-season assignments against the likes of Wycombe Wanderers, Crystal Palace, QPR and Nottingham Forest.

Ritchie, synonymous for his playing part in Oldham’s remarkable 4-3 final-day Great Escape win over Southampton in 1993, was manager on the last occasion Barnsley visited Huddersfield when he led them to the sort of end-of-season victory in May 2006 that David Flitcroft would give his right arm for on Saturday.

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Ritchie said: “The night in Huddersfield was such a good one for me. We got out of jail a bit as they battered us at Oakwell and only won 1-0 and should have beaten us by three and we used that as motivation with the players after. They were saying how disappointed they were, but we said: ‘How disappointed must they feel in their dressing room as they should have had the tie wrapped up; we still have a chance.’ And it did work.

“As I have an affiliation with both clubs, I would love to see them both stay up.

“It will be a cup final atmosphere at Huddersfield. The players have just got to run themselves into the ground until they can’t move.

“With both sides’ points tally, it would be unprecedented for either to go down. (Barnsley) are certainly unlucky to be where they are as they have had such a good second half of the season. The first half was probably their downfall.”

HUDDERSFIELD

Andy Booth

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Scored 137 goals in almost 400 games for Town. Now club ambassador

I have never known a season like this. To have 57 points and still be not safe and have to go into the last game to get a point is crazy.

Fair play to Barnsley, they have kept on winning and made sure many teams are still in it.

The league is so close and all the bottom teams are beating those at the top. If we win on Saturday, we could end up in the top half of the league, thinking what a fantastic season this has been. While if we lose and results go against us, we could be relegated. It certainly makes it exciting for a neutral.

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We can’t just go for the draw as you have problems if you sit back. I am sure if we play like we did against Wolverhampton, Bristol City, Peterborough and Millwall, then the lads will have no problem.

However, Barnsley were fantastic against Hull and if two months ago someone had said they would have to go to Huddersfield on the last day to survive, they would have snapped their hands off.

The nerves will be jangling. The fact that a number of teams can still go down makes it more interesting and nervous.

It will be tense for both sides, but we have experience and these are the games you want to play in as a professional footballer.

SHEFF WEDS

Imre Varadi

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Striker enjoyed two spells with the Owls. Now a licensed FIFA agent

I DO think we will win against Middlesbrough on Saturday – it is all set up for a home victory.

Funnily enough, I have spoken to Mark Proctor, (Boro’s first-team coach and ex-Owls player) and been teasing them that we will beat them!

Boro have nothing to play for, while we have everything to play for. It will not be easy but I think we will get over the line.

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Mark has asked me how many will be at Hillsborough and I said it will be a big crowd with a great atmosphere.

We have had some really big games on the last day of the season at Hillsborough and with Wednesday’s fanbase, they have always come up and supported the team when they have needed it. I remember the one where Mel Sterland – who is my best mate – scored the penalty against Crystal Palace to get us promoted back to the old First Division (in 1983-84) and the crowd sucked the ball in. We often talk about that game. It was such a fantastic day and the sun was shining and the ground bouncing. Those were the days!

The fans got us over the line and I am sure they will play their part on Saturday.

Wednesday are strong with a certain way of playing and I have no qualms that we won’t get the result we need.

BARNSLEY

Paul Heckingbottom

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Faced Town in 2006 play-offs and now on Oakwell coaching staff

SATURDAY’S game is the reverse of when we played there in the second leg of the League One play-offs in 2005-06, when we had to win to keep alive our chances of going up.

Now, we have to win to have a chance of staying up. There’s as much riding on it as the game in 2006 and it’s as good as a play-off game as it’s massive for both.

I’ll be there and it would be a dream if we could get another result like we did then.

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A point might be good enough, but you can’t say that with any certainty.

We must go for the win. There’s probably more to think about for Huddersfield but you would rather be in their position as they just need to draw.

To be fair, David Flitcroft has done so well to give us a chance going into the final game.

When he took over in January, I thought Barnsley would need to win 11 of their remaining games. They were dead and buried and everyone had written them off.

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But things snowballed and he got momentum at the right time and the lads bought into what he has done and have worked their socks off.

Everything has been black and white for them and it’s pretty much been do-or-die in most games for us.