Source: Northern_Echo
'Simon Davey is seen as a super bloke'
Neil Goulding covers Barnsley for South Yorkshire newspaper The Star and reported on the Tykes' fortunes during Simon Davey's tenure as manager.[LNB] Here he gives his verdict on Davey's spell in charge and what Darlington can expect from their new boss.[LNB] TO many people connected with Barnsley FC, myself included, Simon Davey is seen as a super bloke and when he left Oakwell a lot of the players were very upset. I think there were a few tears shed in the dressing room.[LNB] In some respects he might have been perceived as being too soft with the players and that could have been why he didn't do as well in the league. But he was running the club under a strict budget because there is rarely any money to spend at Barnsley.[LNB] In his two-and-a-half seasons in charge he did keep the club in the Championship working on a shoestring budget for most of his tenure. When he did have money he bought Ian Hume for £1.2m. In the Championship that may not be seen as overly excessive but for Barnsley it was. Unfortunately his star striker was out for most of his first season with a fractured skull.[LNB] That meant he was missing his best player for 15 months.[LNB] He did bring a lot of other players in and most have done well. Former Sunderland striker Andy Gray, Daniel Bogdanovic from Malta, who is the leading scorer with 14 goals, Anderson De Silva, who used to play for Everton, and Emil Hallfredsson have all played well for Barnsley and are still doing well now under Mark Robins.[LNB] Davey has an eye for a player. He did bring in a couple of very poor signings but he got rid of them very quickly. He seems to have scouts everywhere and knows a lot of people all over the place, particularly in the international market.[LNB] Simon brought in an Argentinian, two Spanish players, one from Iceland, a Brazilian, a Frenchman and a German goalkeeper. The German was Heinz Muller, who made his debut against Darlington in a League Cup game at Oakwell.[LNB] Former Rotherham manager Robins took over from Davey and although quite a few of the players are Davey's, Robins has got them playing better as a team.[LNB] When Robins came in they had lost four and only won in the cup, but he has taken them off the bottom and they have been up to ninth this season, although they have dropped down a bit lately.[LNB] The Championship is such a tight division. Under Robins they have had much better results, beating some of the best teams like Cardiff and West Brom.[LNB] To be fair to Davey, Robins has brought in some loan players who have done a really good job.[LNB] If you're looking for a difference between their teams, Robins' team goes to win the second ball, they tackle and they're no-nonsense, whereas Davey's team were a bit lightweight in that department.[LNB] They wouldn't really get stuck in.[LNB] He goes for experience in the back four and plays 4-4-2 with wingers, nothing flamboyant.[LNB] He admitted himself after he'd been sacked and just prior to that decision that he was never really accepted by the Barnsley fans. He's a Welshman and he had a tough job to follow because he took over after Andy Ritchie, who was absolutely adored by the supporters.[LNB] Ritchie had got the club promoted from League One into the Championship, so that was a baptism of fire for Davey, and he won a lot of fans by taking Barnsley to the semi-finals of the FA Cup.[LNB] That was his crowning glory. They beat Liverpool and Chelsea along the way and that was his pinnacle.[LNB]
