BARNSLEY's arrival in the Premiership next season will be an aptly timed reminder to the game about where its true heart lies. It is safe to assume that at Oakwell on Saturday, amid the sea of faces rejoicing at the club's promotion, nobody was considering the benefits a share flotation might bring.

All that mattered was that Barnsley, having beaten Bradford City 2-0, were up and for the first time in their 110 year history would be entertaining the English game's aristocracy on a more regular basis than the occasional cup tie. Many fans, young and old, shed unashamed tears; it meant that much to them.

It was a moment for South Yorkshiremen to relish. Dickie Bird - "Ah said they'd win two nil" - has never looked happier on an afternoon beset by rain and bad light.

Michael Parkinson, Barnsley FC's Venerable Bede, could join in the celebrations content in the knowledge that if a Dutch centre back called Arjan de Zeeuw was not quite in the Skinner Normanton tradition, the eventual appearance of Peter Shirtliff, born in Hoyland rather than Holland, restored some local flavour.

Every time a team goes up a division the occasion is a happy one, but it is hard to remember a promotion being greeted with such universal warmth. Memories of the miners' strike and the pit closures that followed run deep, and Barnsley was overdue something to cheer.

"This has given the town something to smile about, something to feel a bit of hope about," said the club's chairman, John Dennis, a 46 year old fruit and vegetable wholesaler. "The place has had a few knocks but the club has achieved a lot.

"You saw the effect today, 16 and a half thousand of our supporters all smiling. You would have had to have been around the place a long time to remember something similar."

Just how long Barnsley and their followers will smile in the Premiership is a matter of conjecture. Staying up next season will depend not so much on how well the team perform against Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool but the regularity with which they take points off those likely to share the struggle to survive.

If Southampton escape this time it will be because they have just defeated Nottingham Forest, West Ham and Sunderland and drawn with Leicester, Derby and Coventry - and never mind heating Manchester United 6-3 last October.

Barnsley's performance on Saturday, composed at the outset but giving way to nervous tension after half time, offered a poor yardstick by which to judge their chances of lasting more than a season in the Premiership. Bradford played well enough in patches to gain the point which would have given them a better chance of avoiding an immediate return to the second division, and the fact they did not get it owed much to the steadying influence of Redfearn and Sheridan in Barnsley's midfield.

Even so, the might of the roar which greeted Marcelle's goal three minutes from the end reflected the anxiety which had built up among the fans following Wilkinson's glancing, bouncing header past Davison midway through the first half. When Sunglot hit a Barnsley post just over a quarter of an hour from the end Oakwell could not help reflecting on the chances on the rebound missed by Wilkinson and Hendrie after Davison had blocked shots from Redfearn.

Still, Barnsley showed enough of their stronger qualities - good passing in midfield and plenty of inventiveness around the opposing penalty area - to suggest that from the point of view of skills and imagination they should not be out of their depth next season. But they will have to cover more ground at a greater pace, and 38 matches will still seem like 46.

Danny Wilson, the bright young Barnsley manager, cited Wimbledon as the example of what can be achieved on limited resources. "All the managers I've had in my career have appreciated good football," Wilson added. "There has been nobody I ever played for who used long ball tactics, and that just sticks with you."

Wilson's philosophy is somewhat different to that of Angus Seed, Barnsley's manager when the young Danny Blanchflower was at Oakwell in the late 1940s. When Blanchflower asked to be allowed some ball practice Seed refused, arguing that if a player did not see a football during the week he would be all the more keen to get it on Saturdays.

In his autobiography Blanchflower also recalled that, however well a season began, everyone at Oakwell would go around muttering "wait until November". Sure enough, the 11th month would bring a dip in form. This season Barnsley only lost once in November.