Luke Steele is set to return to Oakwell tomorrow for the first time since the end of a six-year spell as Barnsley's goalkeeper which he looks back upon fondly.
The 33-year-old started 227 games for the Reds – only one fewer than the entire starting line-up in the 2-0 loss to Millwall – between 2008, when he starred in the run to the FA Cup semi-final, and 2014 when he was part of the team which was relegated from the Championship. He then moved to Greek giants Panathinaikos but returned to England last summer to sign for tomorrow's opponents Bristol City where he has mainly been the back-up goalkeeper, although he impressed in the run to the League Cup semi-finals.
Steele, who is expected to be on the away bench tomorrow after missing the last game with an injury, told the Chronicle: "I am looking forward to it. I haven't been back to Oakwell since the day I left the club. I can't wait to see the stadium and a few familiar faces, but not that many. I know Adam Hammill and I had three or four weeks with Adam Davies before I left. I will go straight to see Elaine in the kit room.
"I know the club will have changed quite a lot since I was there and they will probably have taken my pictures down which is fair enough because they've made a lot of new memories since then. I'm not expecting fireworks or a parade of cheerleaders or anything like that. But I will certainly give the fans a big clap and show my respect for them. It will be a very strange feeling coming back as an away player and warming up at the other end.
"It's a game I have been looking forward to since I joined Bristol City and my dad and other family have had it pencilled in all season because they loved watching me at Barnsley."
It is ten years next week since Steele played in the FA Cup semi-final for the Reds against Cardiff City at Wembley. He said: "One of the lads at Bristol asked me the other day how long I was at Barnsley and I ended up telling them the story about signing on the Thursday then winning at Liverpool two days later and it sounds a bit far-fetched. That was a great cup run and it set me up for a fantastic spell at the club.
"It's a club I love and it is literally the first result I look for. I have kept an eye on their results every week since I left and I was really happy when they won those two Wembley finals and got back to the Championship. I will be looking for three points on Friday but, after that, I hope Barnsley can stay up.It's a club that needs and deserves to be in the Championship."
Steele is aware of Barnsley head coach Jose Morais who was briefly in charge of AEK Athens last season when the goalkeeper was in the same city with Panathinaikos. He said: "AEK play at the Olympic Stadium so he is used to massive crowds and really big occasions. I don't know too much about him as a manager but I think it's exciting for Barnsley to have a foreign manager and I hope he keeps them up."
Steele famously kept the ball at his feet for several minutes at the end of Barnsley's dramatic final day draw at Huddersfield Town in 2013 which kept both sides in the Championship and sent his hometown club Peterborough into League One. But the goalkeeper could not stop the Reds going down the following season. He said: "I have been through a few tough times in my career but that was something else. It took me a long time to get over and hit me really hard.
"The previous season I found I could influence the team quite a lot but something just wasn't right in that relegation season and there were certain players who I found it very difficult to influence."
Steele was saddened from afar to hear of the deaths in the last 18 months of both Oakwell stalwart Norman Rimmington, who worked in the washroom during the goalkeeper's time at the club, and ex Reds owner Patrick Cryne.
"They were both incredibly sad moments. I knew Rimmo better than I knew Mr Cryne but I appreciated what they both did for the club and they are true Barnsley legends. I saw Stonesy (former Barnsley defender John Stones) when we played Man City in the League Cup semi-finals and we were telling loads of stories about Rimmo, who was a fantastic character and someone I miss. I was really disappointed I couldn't go to his funeral but I was in Greece at the time."
Steele is due to meet up after the game with Keegan Caddick, a blind teenager from Barnsley who met the goalkeeper while on a tour of Oakwell in 2014 and inspired Luke to co-found The Vision Foundation. The charity aims to provide day trips and coaching sessions for blind children in South Yorkshire.He said: "It will be great to see Keegan and I know he is now coaching and helping younger blind children himself which is great. He used to write me letters in braille to Greece and I have a fantastic collection of them."
