Barnsley take on Oxford United in four days time at Wembley with the Johnstones' Paint Trophy on the line.
Incredibly it is 17 years since these two sides met when a Dean Windass effort earned the U's a 1-0 success in January 1999.
TykesMad looks at what has happened to the 28 players on duty that day.
Oxford United:
Paul Gerrard (43) - Was on loan for Oxford at the time from Everton and after making 16 appearances for them played for Ipswich, Sheffield United, Nottingham Forest, Blackpool, Stockport and Oldham. Now goalkeeping coach at Doncaster.
Les Robinson (49) - Left Oxford in 2000 after 10 years and 459 appearances and played for Mansfield and Banbury United. Now a PE teacher.
Phil Gilchrist (42) – Left Oxford in 1999 and played for Leicester, West Brom and Rotherham before returning to Oxford between 2006 and 2007 then played for Woking. Became Woking manager in September 2008 but was sacked in April 2009 and is now director of sports at Ratcliffe College Leicestershire. In total he made 248 appearances for the U’s.
Mark Watson (45) – Left Oxford in 2000 after 69 appearances and went on to play for Oldham until 2001 before moving back to Major League Soccer (where he had played for nine years before moving to Oxford, barring a two season stop at Watford between 1993 and 1995) Back in the MLS Watson played for DC United, Charleston Battery and Vancouver Whitecaps.
Following his retirement in 2004 (after which he became Canada’s second highest appearance holder with 78 caps) Watson became assistant manager with the Canadian Under 20 and senior squads. He then went on to be assistant at Charleston, San Jose Earthquakes and Orlando City whilst also holding the top job at San Jose in 2013-2014. He is currently assistant at Orlando.
Martin Gray (44) – Left Oxford in 1999 after making 134 appearances and played for Darlington for three years before retiring in 2001 to become their reserve and youth team coach on a full time basis. He was joint caretaker manager of the first team in 2006 and sole caretaker in 2009 before becoming Oldham’s caretaker manager in 2010. Now manager of Northern Premier League Premier Division side Darlington 1883 which took over from Darlington Football Club following it’s liquidation in 2012.
Jamie Cook (36) – Started his career with Oxford and left in 2001 to play for Boston, Stevenage, Bath, Witney, Rushden & Diamonds and Crawley before returning to Oxford in 2009. He joined Crawley in 2010 and then played for Bath and now Oxford City. In total Cook made 111 appearances for Oxford United.
Paul Powell (37) – Spent nine years at Oxford between 1994 and 2003 making 200 appearances before moving to Didcot Town. He spent six years there before signing for Didcot Casuals in 2013. Powell was last playing for Hellenic Football League Premier Division side Milton United.
Paul Tait (44) – Left Oxford in 2002 after 105 games and went to play for Cypriot side Nea Salamis before retiring in 2003.
Nicky Banger (45) – Left Oxford in 1999 after 75 appearances and joined Dundee before going on to play for Scunthorpe, Plymouth, Merthyr Tydfil, Torquay, Andover, Woking and Eastleigh. He was made Eastleigh’s full-time corporate manager and coach whilst still on the playing books in 2004 but retired from the playing staff in February 2005. Banger remained corporate manager with Eastleigh despite signing as a player with AFC Newbury in August 2005 and then as a player-coach with Brockenhurst in November 2005 but finally cut his Eastleigh ties in February 2006. Became player-coach at Lymington & New Milton until June 2006 and was then appointed commercial manager at Romsey Town in December of that year but was sacked just 17 days later amid rumours he was announcing himself as a future team manager. Became corporate sales manager at Havant and Waterlooville in February 2007 and then held the same post with Aldershot Town in 2008 following their promotion to the Football League. He is now Head of Commercial Operations with Woking.
Dean Windass (46) – Probably the most illustrious name of the Oxford side from 16 years ago. Windass spent only that 1998-1999 campaign with the U’s where he netted 18 times in 38 appearances including the winner against Barnsley after signing for a club record fee of £475,000. That summer he moved to Bradford following Oxford’s relegation for a fee of £950,000 and helped them win promotion to the top flight for the first time in 77 years that year, meaning his transfer fee from Oxford rose to £1m.
He moved to Middlesbrough in 2001 and went on to play for Sheffield Wednesday, Sheffield United, Bradford again, Hull (where his goal in the 2008 Play-Off Final sent the Tigers into the top flight for first time in their history), Oldham, Darlington, Barton Town Old Boys, Scarborough Athletic and Walkington FC.
Windass also spent a short time as caretaker manager at Bradford in 2003 and in January 2015 was named a club ambassador at Hull.
Matt Murphy (44) – Spent eight years at Oxford between 1993 and 2001 making 291 appearances and scoring 55 goals before playing for Bury, Swansea, Kettering, King’s Lynn, Ford Sports, Slough, Brackley, Banbury, Spalding, Wellingborough, Sileby and Daventry United where he was appointed player/assistant manager in 2009. Unfortunately the club folded at the end of the 2011-2012 season.
Kevin Francis (48) – A player who gained most of his success before joining Oxford after scoring 117 times in 198 games for Stockport County. He joined Oxford from Birmingham in 1998 and left in 2000 after scoring eight times in 40 games. Francis went on to play for Stockport again, Exeter, Hull, Hednesford Town, Redditch United and Studley before retiring in 2005. He is now a Police Officer in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Christophe Remy (44) – The Frenchman left Oxford in May 1999 after making 37 appearances to move back home to Auxerre where he is now a board member.
Dave Smith (45) – Left Oxford less than a month after this match to join Stockport. He made 231 appearances for the U’s and after Stockport went on to play for Macclesfield until 2004.
Barnsley:
Tony Bullock (44) – Left Barnsley in 2000 after making 44 appearances and had a pretty nomadic career from then on. He played for Macclesfield, Lincoln, Ross County, Dundee United, Gillingham, St Mirren, Montrose, Dundee, Livingston, Arbroath and Airdrie over the following 14 years making 322 appearances in total. Bullock retired from playing in 2014 to become Airdrie’s goalkeeping coach. He left the club in October 2014.
Nicky Eaden (43) – A legend at Oakwell after helping them to promotion to the Premier League and the Division One Play-Off Final in 2000. He left that summer after making 342 appearances for his hometown club. Eaden then moved to Birmingham helping them win promotion to the Premier League via the Play-offs in 2002 although he did not feature after March that season. He did though feature for the Blues in the 2001 League Cup Final where they lost to Liverpool on penalties.
Eaden moved on to then Division Two side Wigan Athletic playing an integral role as they eventually won promotion to the Premier League before he left in 2005 and joined Nottingham Forest. Eaden spent two years at the City Ground- also spending time on loan at Lincoln whilst there- and signed for Halesowen Town. He then went on to appear for Solihull Motors and Kettering Town. He was named player-coach at Kettering in 2009-2010 before moving with manager Mark Cooper to Peterborough. He left by mutual consent a year later.
Eaden joined Rotherham in 2011 as a coach and then became assistant at Tamworth. However he had a change of heart and quickly moved back to Kettering to be assistant. Eaden became Leicester Under 21 coach in 2012-2013 before being named Rotherham assistant in February 2016 under his former Barnsley captain Neil Redfearn. When Redfearn was sacked just five days later Eaden was named caretaker manager and then when Neil Warnock was appointed he became first-team coach.
Arjan De Zeeuw (45) – Another key member of the Reds late 90’s side helping them to promotion to the Premier League, he left at the end of the 1998-1999 season after making 164 appearances to sign for Wigan. Whilst with Wigan he was named their Player of the Year in 2001 and 2002. He left in the summer of 2002 to join Portsmouth and helped them win the First Division title in 2003. In Pompey’s debut Premier League season the Dutchman was named their Player of the Year and was named captain for the 2004-2005 campaign. However he returned to Wigan in the summer of 2005 and spent another two years there, appearing in the 2006 League Cup Final defeat to Manchester United before playing for Coventry and ADO 20 back in his homeland.
De Zeeuw was named Wigan Athletic’s Greatest Player of all Time in a PFA poll and is now am investigative detective back in Holland.
Adie Moses (40) – After making 181 appearances for Barnsley in eight years he left in 2001 to join Huddersfield for £250,000. Moses spent two years in West Yorkshire before going on to play for Crewe, Lincoln, Mansfield and Gainsborough Trinity. He was named caretaker manager of Gainsborough in August 2009 but retired from football in November 2009 and now works as a financial consultant for Paul Kerr Associates.
Matty Appleby (43) – After helping Barnsley to the Premier League and playing in the 2000 Division One Play-Off Appleby left Oakwell in February 2002 after making 166 appearances to play for Oldham and then Darlington and Whitby. He retired in 2008 to become a deep sea diver.
Kevin Richardson (53) – Left Barnsley in March 2000 and signed for Blackpool following a loan spell at Bloomfield Road. However they were relegated at the end of that season and Richardson decided to retire at the age of 37. He decided to go into coaching and was youth team coach at Sunderland and assistant manager of Stockport. He returned to Sunderland as reserve team coach in 2004 and also held the first team coach there when a consortium headed by Niall Quinn took over. Richardson’s last role in football was as assistant manager at Darlington in 2009.
Sean McClare (38) – Left Barnsley in 2001 after eight years with his first club Barnsley but made only 69 appearances and went on to play for Port Vale, Rochdale, Halifax, Bradford Park Avenue, Scarborough and Grantham Town but his last on pitch action came in 2007.
Darren Sheridan (48) – Another one of the 90’s legends who left in the summer of 1999 after six years and 197 appearances. After Oakwell “Stumpy” went on to play for Wigan, Oldham, Clyde, St Johnstone, and Barrow. He was made co-manager of Barrow in December 2007 and won the Conference North title and FA Trophy before departing in 2012. Despite having his first taste of management he decided to continue playing and turned out for Radcliffe Borough and Droylsden before finally retiring at the end of the 2011-2012 season.
He wasn’t out of football long and was appointed manager of Salford in May 2012 but resigned in January 2013 over budget issues. In June of that year Sheridan was appointed Chief Scout of Plymouth but left in June 2015.
Martin Bullock (41) – The speedy diminutive winger left Oakwell in 2001 after making 218 appearances and starring in the Premier League. “Bully” went on to play for Blackpool, scoring a semi-final winner against Huddersfield in the Football League Trophy and then the full 90 minutes in their final win against Cambridge at the Millennium Stadium in 2002. He then played for Macclesfield, Wycombe and New Zealand outfit Waitakere United where he won two Premiership titles before retiring in 2012.
Bullock now runs a lawn mowing franchise in New Zealand and is a youth team coach at Waitakere.
Don Goodman (49) – Made 10 appearances in an unsuccessful loan spell at Oakwell from Wolves in the 1998-1999 season and went on to play for Motherwell, Walsall, Exeter, Doncaster and Stafford Rangers before retiring in 2004. He is now a football commentator for Sky Sports.
Craig Hignett (46) – Regarded as one of the greatest players to pull on the red shirt after scoring 37 goals in just 80 games before securing a £2.2m move to Blackburn in the summer of 2000 after his two goals were not enough to secure a return to the Premier League for Barnsley in the Division One Play-Off final. He helped Rovers regain their top flight status in his first season and was a League Cup winner in 2002. He was sent on loan to Coventry in 2002-2003 where he broke his leg and was never the same when he returned. Blackburn released “Higgie” in the summer of 2003 and he went on to appear for Leicester, Crewe, Leeds, Darlington, Apollon Limassol, Spennymoor and Hartlepool. He left Pools in May 2007 and in April 2008 was appointed to the Academy staff of Middlesbrough. He left the Riverside in May 2013 to become assistant manager at Hartlepool but returned to Teeside in March 2014, it was short lived however and he left that December. Four days later, on the 6th December he was again appointed assistant manager at Hartlepool and was appointed manager on the 10th February this year.
Eric Tinkler (45) – The South African midfielder departed Oakwell in 2002 after playing Premier League and Play-Off football with The Reds and made 121 appearances for the club.
Barnsley were the only English side that Tinkler ever appeared for and he moved on to Portugal to play for União Futebol Comércio e Indústria de Tomar between 2002 and 2005 and then back to his native South Africa to play for Bidvest Wits F.C.
He is currently the head coach of Orlando Pirates.
Mike Turner (39) - Arguably one of the forgotten men in the history of Barnsley Football Club as the striker made only 13 appearances for the Reds between 1998 and 2001, of which only two were starts. After leaving Oakwell he moved to Lincoln, Finn Harps and Doncaster but made only a total of 24 appearances.
Clint Marcelle (47) –Scored the most famous goal in Barnsley FC history to defeat Bradford and win promotion to the Premier League – one of only nine he bagged for The Reds. The Trinidadian left Oakwell in October 1999 after 84 appearances and had a pretty nomadic career turning out for Goole, Hull, Darlington, Harrogate, Hucknall, Stevenage, Ossett, Scarborough, Grimsby, Tamworth, Arnold Town, Gainsborough and Armthorpe Welfare before retiring in 2006 and returning to his native Trinidad. Once home he entered into management with the North East Stars between 2007 and 2010 and now runs his own Clint Marcelle Football Academy