Going Down?: Barnsley

Last updated : 19 March 2007 By Rob Miles
What's gone wrong this season for your team?
Mainly the fact we were only the 5th best team in League One last season yet still got promoted and we didn't strengthen properly in the summer

Are you behind the manager? Or is it all his fault?
Well nobody wanted Andy Ritchie to leave and I think a lot of people have taken that anger out on Simon Davey. He has conjured some excellent results but some abysmal ones as well. A bit tactically naive but keeping our head above water.

Which will be the key games in your run-in?
Leicester at home and Southend away are MUST win games for us. We've still to play Derby, Birmingham and West Brom and it looks very unlikely we'll take anything from those games so Leicester and Southend are crucial.

Predict how many points you'll finish on. Will that be enough to stay up?
Looking at our remaining fixtures Ill go for 48 points which I hope will just be enough.

Do you think Hull City will survive the drop?
Yes I do. Even though we battered them at Oakwell they look a good side and there are easily 3 worse teams than Hull in this league.

Which three teams are going down?
Leeds: Total disarray and too far behind now.
Luton: Just sacked Mike Newell, no players, no money.
Burnley: Haven't won since November and don't look like winning again this season.

If you're staying up, will you be in another relegation fight next season?/If you're going down will you bounce straight back up?
If we stay up we will definitely struggle if we don't strengthen properly but I'd take 2 survival seasons. If we go down I think it will be extremely hard to come straight back. League One is the hardest league to get out of and the fact that in 4 years in that league we only challenged once and just made it proves to me we would probably end up mid-table next season. Plus our good players would also leave.

Barnsley's form this season:


Rob Miles is editor of Tykes MAD