PANIC IS OVER FOR BARNSLEY
Potts says players are relieved that Heckingbottom was overlooked
BRAD POTTS is entitled to be particularly grateful that the bush telegraph from the north east has died down somewhat this week.
Talk had been rife last week that Sunderland were to firm up a move for Barnsley head coach Paul Heckingbottom, with many of Potts’s friends back in his native north-east bombarding the Reds midfielder with enquiring texts.
Thankfully for Hexham-born Potts and his team-mates, not to mention Barnsley supporters, the Wearsiders moved onto other targets after electing not to make an official approach for Heckingbottom’s services and the relief at Oakwell was palpable.
Brought in by Heckingbottom for an undisclosed six-figure fee in early August, Potts is the first to admit – from a selfish perspective – that continuing to work at close quarters with the Reds’ head coach is likely to be critical in terms of his own development at Championship level.
The former Blackpool player, starting to look the part after some teething troubles during the early part of his Oakwell career, said: “I am obviously from the north-east and I have a lot of mates who are Sunderland fans and it was looking like it was nailed-on to happen.
“But I am really pleased that he is obviously staying.
“Last season, they (Barnsley) lost a lot of players and with us doing well at the minute, if people are doing well then they will get noticed and we have just got to keep the squad together too.
“He (Heckingbottom) has been great for me and the lads this season. I have learned a lot from him. I think the lads were panicking a bit and thinking that he might be going.”
Having seen their colours lowered just once in their past eight games, a quiet confidence is starting to be detected at Oakwell with a feeling that the Reds are a team on the move.
After a fraught start to the campaign, a phalanx of new signings is assimilating into a team of note, with Saturday’s draw at Norwich City – where the Reds had lost on their previous six visits and have not won at since 1937 – adding to the sense of well-being ahead of back-to-back home games against Cardiff City and Leeds United.
Stressing that the Reds have nothing to fear ahead of tonight’s game with third-placed Cardiff, Potts added: “They are obviously a good team who are doing well. But we feel like we have got everything to beat them.
“We have been to Wolves away and more than matched them and should have got something out of the game. Now we have gone to Norwich, who are a big club, and we have shown that we can match anyone, really.”
Much may have been made of the strength of the Reds’ crop of the opening half of last season, when the likes of Conor Hourihane, Sam Winnall and Marley Watkins were making themselves heard at Championship level and the Oakwell outfit briefly flirted with the play-offs.
But it is unlikely to have escaped the attentions of many that the club’s current points haul is almost identical to that which was achieved at the same stage in 2016-17, with the Reds closer to sixth spot than they are to the drop zone too.
This is certainly no mean feat given that many ‘experts’ rated them as firm relegation candidates back in the summer.
Now the smart money is on a few more chapters being written by an evolving side who, in the belief of Heckingbottom, were always likely to grow into the season, given a hectic summer that saw 15 new players arrive.
Heckingbottom is quick to pay tribute to his backroom staff for their part in Barnsley’s solid past few months, with a barometer of the club’s recent progress likely to be available this week and in the busy run-in to the end of the calendar year, a time when the Reds excelled last season.
On his side’s efforts in a productive autumn, Heckingbottom said: “I am delighted, but in all honesty, I never doubted where we would be and I think we will improve between now and the end of the season.
“It is not by fluke, but the players’ hard work. It is Claps (Jamie Clapham) and Vaughany (John Vaughan) working with the players and Sedge (Craig Sedgwick) and Nath (Nathan Winder) in particular.
“They push the players, particularly those not in the squad who are coming back from inju- ry. Then there is Alex (Bailey) and Jack (Riley) with the detail they give us with the analysis.
“I know what it takes to get here and I know how good the people are in there. I would expect us to keep pushing and working and getting better.
“The lads are believing that now and Cardiff is another test against a team at the top.
“I am pleased where we are. But for me, it is how do we get better now.”