FORMER Reds’ players re-live Barnsley’s glory days at the premiere of Daydream Believers.
By Luke Watson
WHAT can football mean to a struggling Northern town on the brink of economic collapse?
Can it give people hope at a time when they have none?
These are the questions posed by Daydream Believers a film documenting Barnsley Football Club’s single season in the top flight of football.
The film, made by Barnsley-based GRAFT Agency, is the latest in a trend of documentaries detailing unexplored periods in British football following in the footsteps of ‘Do You Want to Win?’, a film which looks at the late 80s’ Leeds United, and Nottingham Forest’s ‘I Believe in Miracles.’
Producer Liam Dyson said: “The film documents the success of the football club, and the impact of that success on a town that was really struggling following the closure of the final pit.
“With 30,000 people unemployed, it just gave some joy and hope to the community.
“It gave them that opportunity to believe they could achieve what they wanted to achieve.
“It’s not just a football documentary, it’s a film about the feeling in the town outside the club.
“We knew the story we wanted to tell and hopefully we have done it justice, because it’s such an amazing story.”
Beginning with the closure of the last coal mine in Barnsley in 1994, the backdrop to the story is one of social disruption and volatility.
The miners’ strike, pit closures and economic uncertainty are key to understanding why Barnsley FC’s success was so vital to the town, and where the film excels is in its deft interlinking of these factors and the on-the-pitch success.
The Taylor Report which followed the Bradford City stadium fire and the Hillsborough disaster was also a big blow to the club, forcing it to drastically alter its stadium to meet new regulations.
Money was tight and Daydream Believers explores how the partnership of club chairman John Dennis and young manager Danny Wilson continued to make the team competitive on a shoestring budget not only that, but take it to a level not seen in its 110-year history.
While unemployment rose, attendances still continued to grow as people flocked to watch a squad  put together for little more than £800,000 gain promotion in Wilson’s third season in charge.
Danny said at the film’s premiere: “Times were tough for people in Barnsley. The football club was central as a form of respite from all that.
“We were very fortunate in that time to put on something people and families wanted to see, to take their minds away from everything else for a couple of hours on a Saturday, and we were well aware of what was going on in the town at the time.”
Events are laid out in chronological order and the film picks out key matches from throughout the promotion and Premiership seasons with an assured clarity and crisp graphics from Jamie Walman.
It slows down at key points, but never dwells, showing you what happened, and then, much like the group of people at the centre of the story, moving onto the next game.
The clean presentation lets the personalities of those involved shine through making the most of Danny Wilson’s understated wit or John Hendrie’s bubbliness.
The film lets those involved tell the story.
Scott Jones admits he didn’t know what to do after scoring his first professional goal against Manchester United let alone his second in the same afternoon.
Eric Winstanley talks about being spotted taking the team into a local pub the night before Liverpool away a game from which the Reds came away with three points.
At the premiere on Sunday, these moments get the biggest laughs from the audience of ex-players, production staff and friends and family.
Ashley Ward said his year at Barnsley was ‘one of the best times in his career’.
“We were battling against the odds from the start. We had that siege mentality, going up against the big boys,” said Ward.
“You could instantly feel it in the town, it was just so inspiring for the club to be where it was.
“I didn’t come across anything else like that in my career, where the feeling around the club engulfed the whole town.”
The football club became central to the town for that two-year period from promotion to relegation, and so it is in the film.
After the introductory segment made up of violent clashes between police and miners interspersed with clips of Margaret Thatcher speeches, the camera mainly lingers over Oakwell, and when the floodlights go out at the film’s conclusion, it is the perfect representation of how the club’s success almost made the town forget its troubles.
The film, directed by Chris Johnson, took 18 months to complete, using a mix of interviews and archive footage of matches, fans and pundits.
Interviews were conducted with squad members, club staff, journalists, historians and fans, in locations including Barnsley’s NUM hall, the Spencer Arms in Cawthorne and the Lamproom Theatre.
GRAFT Agency has already had around 1,000 pre-orders for the DVD, which is released later this year. Any profits from DVD sales go to the Tiny Hearts Appeal, with collectors from the charity attending the premiere and showings throughout this week at the Lamproom Theatre.
