Flit can’t weight to take stick from Tykes
DAVID Flitcroft is ready for anything the Barnsley fans might throw at him this afternoon as the Bury boss returns to Oakwell for the first time since being sacked as Tykes manager two years ago.
Before taking the hotseat at Bury in December 2013, Flitcroft’s coaching career began at Barnsley where he rose from assistant manager to caretaker to permanent boss in the 2012-13 campaign.
However, after leading the Tykes to a memorable escape from Championship relegation that season, Flitcroft was sacked seven months later with Barnsley bottom of the league.
Today sees the 42-yearold return to Oakwell for the first time since being axed, and with the advice of Sam Allardyce ringing in his ears, Flitcroft is ready to once again dust off his tin hat.
“I’ve had stick all my life,” he said. “I was quite a weighty player and I had strawberry-blonde hair – some people say it’s ginger – so I’ve been abused by football fans for 20 years and not just by away supporters.
“I’ve also had stick from home supporters at most of my clubs, so it’s 20 years of having a rhino’s skin.
“It’s something Sam Allardyce talks to me a lot about. If you let people in, then it can affect you. And if you let people’s opinions in, then it can affect you.
“It’s important to me that my emotions are about the team and about Bury Football Club because it’s Bury Football Club versus Barnsley Football Club.
“You get abuse from everywhere being involved in football. If you’re a player or in staff or management or the chairman – anything to do with a football club – then you know that you’re going to come in for stick. It’s the territory, it’s what we do.
“It’s gladiatorial, it’s what you do. It’s a stadium and there’s people in it.”
Bury travel to a Barnsley who are through to the JPT final, but are unlikely to be able to call on Thursday’s penalty shoot-out hero at Fleetwood, Adam Hammill, and Aidy White as they bid for a seventh straight league win through hamstring and groin problems.