Sports Frog

So Luke Steele has, by nearly all accounts, been standing on his head to help Barnsley defeat both Liverpool and Chelsea to keep the hopes of FA Cup glory alive for the English Minnow. The thing is, Steele is not a full member of Barnsley's team. He is in fact a West Bromwich Albion player, on loan to Barnsley (imagine if the Browns sent Brady Quinn to the Vikings for a few weeks late in the NFL season). West Brom is another lower level team vying for the FA Cup in this upside down year.

The way that loans typically work is that the loan team will often continue paying a portion of the wages for the player so that the player can get playing time that he would not be getting with the current sqaud. Typically it's a developmental thing with younger players who want first team action (Steele was well thought of in recent years as a youngster with Manchester United). Well, West Brom will let Steele continue playing for Barnsley, but with a couple of provisions:

West Brom have been subsidising Steele's wages during his first month with Barnsley because of their financial situation.

Given the lucrative rewards Barnsley have reaped from their cup run, Albion would now want their Coca-Cola Championship rivals to pay Steele's wages in full should the loan be extended.

They would also be looking for Steele, who has 15 months left on his Baggies contract, to join Barnsley on a permanent basis in the summer as part of the agreement and would be willing to grant him a free transfer.

Of course, there may be a provision as well that prevents Steele from playing against West Brom. It doesn't seem like this would be the case, otherwise I doubt that they would have much issue with a simple loan extension. The other Goalkeeper on Barnsley's squad, Tony Warner, is Cup-Tied, meaning he cannot play in the FA Cup for them as he already played in that competition this term with Fulham. If a deal cannot be worked out, Barnsley will be scrambling for a keeper who hasn't played in the FA Cup.

Maybe then it would be time to call and see if Sir Alex Ferguson would want Ben Foster to get a little game time in the FA Cup semis on April 5th. Foster may still be between the sticks for the Man U first team at that time, however.