In profound contrast to the mood this time a year ago.Barnsley were confronting third-round humiliation when they were trailing 1-0 to non-League Bromsgrove with three minutes to go, and escaped huge embarrassment only by two late goals. They reached the fifth round but the season was a wearying struggle against relegation."At Bromsgrove their fans were doing a lap of honour while ours were getting ready to throw bricks," Wilson, who won League Cup winners' medals with Luton and Sheffield Wednesday, said "That match turned our season round. If we had been knocked out there we'd have had big trouble in the League because the confidence would have been sapped out of us."Twelve months on and their short-passing game has won them admirers while they have become divisional giants rather than pygmies. "We played Newcastle in the Coca-Cola Cup when they were the best team in the country. They couldn't stop scoring and they were flying at the top of the league, but we took them on over two legs and I think we surprised a lot of people."We lost 3-1 on aggregate but from our point of view we gained a lot of confidence. We gave them a good run for their money and I think it has put thoughts in people's minds here that we can cause an upset against Villa.
The town is bracing itself for the icing on the cake of Gough's achievements - an FA Cup win over Aston Villa tomorrow."There is an excitement," Danny Wilson, the club's player-manager, said. They are not too unhappy, once Darren delirium subsides, to have their worth weighed by their football team either.Barnsley, as unfashionable as Beatle jackets and Chelsea boots, are seventh in the First Division and wilder thoughts are drifting to play-offs and a possible place in the top division for the first time in their history Not now, though. Done us proud." They did not need to amplify as to who " he" was. Their talk was of Darren Gough and England's near-miss in the third Test, as indeed was almost everyone else's in the Alhambra whose conversation strayed beyond the foul weather and the kids' bronchitis. The nation's new sporting hero is a local lad, and this pocket of South Yorkshire is bursting to let you know he is one of their own.The motto below the coat of arms in Barnsley's tourist information office is "Judge us by our actions" and the town is delighted to be held up for scrutiny in the light of Gough's cricket in Australia. "Did his damnedest though." The other nodded, adding: "Done us proud, he h as. I will never forget it, because it left us a player short for the five-a-side!". If Deehan was to walk out today, now that would be a shock."A few days after it had happened, Mike Walker came back and said he had to do it that way because of legal implications," Deehan said, "But I think the football person in me would have told the lawyers that there had to be a better way of doing things It created a big problem at the club for 48 hours.
Then this very morning I woke up to find the headline in the local paper claiming that Mark Robins wanted a transfer, which just goes to show you should never feel satisfied in this business."Nevertheless, he is clearly happy with how things have turned out. We are almost there with the first two, so I'm hoping I'm the manager who can benefit on the silverware side."The accent continues to give away his Brummie roots. He ended his playing career with Manchester City and Barnsley, but Carrow Road was where he had enjoyed himself most as a player and where he decided to begin his managerial education."I was just thinking the other day that it had been quite a relatively quiet year, really, with no bust-ups and hardly any disputes with the players. When I told him that Jon Newsome would cost £1m, which was a new step for this club, he said that if he was the defender I wanted he would happily write the cheque."The chairman has always said that the priority was to stabilise the finances, improve the ground and then aim to win something. Jon Newsome and Carl Bradshaw have strengthened the defence, Mike Sheron has the stage to flourish and Ashley Ward could prove a real steal. But - and it is a recurring but for all those with Norwich's best wishes at heart - how can a trophy- winning side be built when the foundations are always being ripped away?"To be fair to Robert Chase [the chairman], I have not had a problem with him on that score.
Goals against have been reduced, although he is the first to concede it has cost Norwich in terms of their attacking style as, obviously, have the departures of Ruel Fox and Chris Sutton.Deehan helped accelerate Sutton's record transfer - believing the continuing speculation was harmful to the club - and has spent wisely the money made available to him. It is not difficult to see that the major difference between Deehan's team and Walker's is that this side are a lot less charitable. There is little time for Deehan and his assistant, Gary Megson, to contemplate first anniversary celebrations.There have been changes in the 12 months, plenty of them. Bryan Gunn was important in the dressing-room because he said that for the first time everybody was wanting us to lose, because it would vindicate Mike and show the club were wrong."A year on, the team continues to prosper and their not-so-new manager continues to demonstrate sound judgement and principles while, irony of ironies, Walker is out of work.Only six sides sit above Norwich in the Premiership, while after tomorrow's start of a new FA Cup campaign at Grimsby, attention turns to the Coca-Cola competition and a quarter-final tie at Bolton. We had been to Munich and Milan in the Uefa Cup and you felt everyone was wishing Norwich well that season Now, in the space of 24 hours, it had all changed. The staff were left marooned."As it turned out, the professionalism of the team saw Norwich through."In some ways, what had happened worked as an inspiration. He had gone without saying anything to me or the players."There must be better ways to launch a managerial career "It was terrible preparation for such an important game.
Comments are closed.