Source: TheGuardian
Barnsley pin hopes on caretakers as stagnation hangs heavy in Oakwell air | Jeremy Alexander
Paul Heckingbottom and Mark Burton join forces to secure a much-needed win as Crewe fly in the face of their cultured reputation• Chief executive drafts in replacements following sacking of Danny WilsonPaul Heckingbottom sounds like a Yorkshire caretaker waiting to happen. And happen he did the week before last when Barnsley, one of several clubs he had played for in the county, reluctantly sacked Danny Wilson and made Mark Burton and him joint caretakers for the immediate match at Crawley. After a 5-1 defeat they looked more like undertakers. They badly needed Saturday’s 2-0 win at Oakwell, climbing above Crewe, their opponents, on goal difference in League One’s lower reaches.Barnsley do not expect to be there. They have spent more seasons in the second tier than anyone, were relegated last May after eight in the Championship and have the fifth highest wage bill in their new division. In Wilson’s first spell at the club he took them into the top tier in 1997 for the only season in their history, giving him legendary status. Crewe’s manager, Steve Davis, was a defender with them in that promotion year, when ‘Bunny’ Burton was already at the club, a Barnsley man from birth to player, to head of academy coaching. Davis, knowing his counterpart, knew Crewe would “have to be on it”. In the event both sides were off it. Continue reading......read full article
