Barnsley FC: The Importance of a good number 2
Article be e-Barnsley's Chris HawdenClick here to follow e-Football on Twitter!
I was laying in bed considering the importance of not only a good number 1, but the value of a quality number 2.
Before anyone starts considering that I'm off my head, writing a piece of work relating to toilet habits, forget it.
I am contemplating the impact that , the managers right hand man or number 2 as in a football club.
Manager and Coach can work like strawberries and cream or if you get it wrong fish and ice cream.
Consider, Brian Clough and Peter Taylor as an example.
So what of my beloved Barnsley.
Danny Wilson has gone about assembling his own back room team, his decisions in coaching staff recruitment are as vital as selecting a suitable playing staff.
In situ currently are Chris Hutchings as number 2 with Paul Heckingbottom and goalkeeping coach Mark Crossley making up the rest of the team.
Wilson took over in 2013, he was forced to work alongside a team that predecessors, David Flitcroft and Keith Hill, had assembled, a decision, I believe, which sealed Barnsley's relegation from the Championship.
Mickey Mellon, Flitcrofts pick as coach, was thrown Wilsons way at the start of Danny's second tenure as manager.
Was this to be a partnership made in heaven.
Well, no, it was the fried fish and ice cream recipe of foot ball management.
Mellon had ideas of being the Club Manager and was in all fairness probably bitter, after being overlooked for the job.
With results going badly for the club, Wilson had identified that within his players and backroom staff, separate factions were at play, pulling in opposite directions and destroying the efforts and work he was doing within the club.
After meetings with the Barnsley Board, he convinced them, he needed his own trustworthy team of coaches, the axe finally fell on Mickey Mellon and the rest of David Flickcofts back room team that had remained at the club.
This was all after the Lord Mayors show as they say.
Danny Wilson has appointed former team mate from Brighton, Chris Hutchings.
No doubt a genuine friend to confide in, it's clear from looking at these guys that they are pulling the same way, but it was too little too late, the damage was done and the club were relegated to the third tear for the first time in 8 years.
What of Chris Hutchings then.
Chris has been in the management and coaching business a hell of a long time.
Working alongside Paul Jewell as number 2, he enjoyed success with Bradford City, then Wigan.
But Barnsley fans beware, his recent jobs alongside Jewell were at Derby where they hardly won a game and they then struggled with Ipswich Town.
Hutchings had a flirt as a manager at Walsall, that was unconvincing.
I hope Chris has his head straight, it could be full of negativity from his recent spells involved in the game.
Has Danny made the correct selection, only time will tell.
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