TEAM BARROW
‘This club is a community. No glitz, no glamour... just genuine heart and honesty with people wanting to help each other out’
BARROW-IN-FURNESS may be one of English football’s most remote spots — but David Dunn feels right at home.
The Bluebirds’ new boss grew up at a tight-knit club with a strong sense of identity and his first real job in frontline management has replicated that.
It was at Blackburn Rovers where the gifted playmaker made his name.
When the Cumbrian club lost title-winning boss Ian Evatt to Bolton Wanderers earlier this summer, Dunn had little hesitation about leading the club back into the professional ranks.
A state of “nervous excitement” has set in ahead of AFC Barrow’s first steps back into the Football League next month in almost half-a-century.
“What have I found at Barrow?” said Dunn. “A community – a real community.
“And that feeling is endearing, without sounding soppy about it – it’s what a club should be.
“There are people doing dual roles all over the place. They are actually keen to help one another, they want to get things done.
“We don’t have glitz and glamour here. But there’s genuine heart – and honesty. And that’s what I want from my team.
“Commitment, hard work – I want my players to be really committed. I want good people. It’s about much more than just doing your job on a Saturday afternoon.
“I want them to see the whole side of it. Not just turning up, training, going home. I want them to be decent fellas as well, committed to the cause.
And they can leave their egos at the door when they come in.”
Dunn played football with a smile on his face. He can count Graeme Souness, Steve Bruce and Sam Allardye among the bosses he played for.
But spells at Oldham Athletic as a player-boss, for Blackburn’s Under-23s and, most recently, standing alongside Simon Grayson at Blackpool have eroded any ideas he may have about how the b e au t i f u l game should be played.
He said: “I have a picture in my head how I want to do things. The more experienced you get, you become more confident going with what you think.
“Of course, advice is important – you never stop learning. But at some point you’ve got to think about what you want to do and how you are going to go about it – and go with it.
“I have my own thoughts, but I’m not going to use the word ‘philosophy’. I hear it over and over again and it drives me nuts. That’s one word which drives me up the wall – ‘identity’ is another.
“They have crept into football during the past 10 years.
“I get that the game moves on – and each to their own. But let’s try and win as many football matches as we can. If we can do it attractively, fantastic. If we can’t, I’ll settle for winning lots of matches ugly. We’re in League Two. We’ll have to mix it up.”
Dunn added: “You give yourselves half a chance if you work hard as a team and stand together as a club.
“If you are somewhere like that – and that’s what we want – you won’t go far wrong.”