Walking in a Wilson Wonderland

  When Danny Wilson accepted the position of Barnsley manager it looked like mission impossible for the man who led the reds to the Premier League in 1997.  

Wilson has now had the time to stamp his own authority on the squad and has also been fortunate enough to bring in his own players and move on some that were deemed not up to the task.

Can Wilson work his magic and keep us in the Championship? Have we improved since Wilson took the reins? Was he always on a hiding to nothing given our precarious league position when we took over?

I aim to give my view on the above questions and would love to hear the opinions of other Barnsley fans.

Wilson certainly wasted little time in addressing certain issues upon his arrival at the club. Fringe players who were never likely to feature were quickly releases along with a few others in order to free up some funds for incoming players wages.

His signings on paper look to be an improvement on the quality that we had in the squad before his arrival but whether they have the stomach for the battle remains to be seen.

Have we improved under Wilson? This is a debate to be heard between the fans at half time over a pie. Fans are split when discussing this question but I don’t think it is as straightforward as a yes or no answer.

We have certainly improved defensively and are a lot harder to beat than we were in the early part of the season so in that sense then yes there is improvement.

Despite this improvement in our backline, we are still struggling to get three points on the board and draws are not what we need in the position we are in.

This is why the fans are split on if there is improvement. Yes we are more solid but is there really improvement if we are not winning games?

Many fans felt that the appointment of Wilson automatically secured our Championship status. This is far from the case and whilst I do think that he is doing a good job I still think that the likelihood is that we will be playing League One football next season.

There is still hope however as the new signings begin to settle and Frimpong and Mellis are still to return from suspension.

February is a massive month for the reds. Relegation rivals Doncaster, Charlton and Millwall are all on the horizon during this month.

Nine points from those three fixtures is a must if we are to stay up and I believe we are capable of beating all three of them.

If the unthinkable did happen and we were to go down then I urge the board to stick with Wilson. He is certainly the right man to take us back up if that does happen but I haven’t lost hope of him leading Barnsley to yet another great escape this season.