“If you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen”: Why Darrell Clarke’s hard talk is not for show with his Barnsley FC players
There was no sugar-coating things to protect them.
After that aforesaid Orient game just before Christmas, an awful 4-0 home reverse, Clarke’s group seemed to get the message. They won their next four matches.
The Reds also incurred Clarke’s wrath for their second-half fall-away against Huddersfield recently, with the Oakwell boss withering in his criticism of his players’ mentality.
Two successive wins since, to keep Barnsley’s season alive, suggests they have been listening once more.
But the last thing Clarke is doing is playing mind games.
Clarke, whose side host Lincoln on Saturday, said: “I try and be honest in my assessment and sometimes, it comes out after a game as exactly what I say in the changing rooms. I am not your stereotypical manager who says everything that you want to hear.
“If I call the players out because their performances have not been good enough, so be it. Players have to be tough enough and be able to accept that.
“I have a honest individual relationship with my players and have a lot of individual meetings and group chats and if you can’t be honest with them, you are a dishonest person.
“Also, I am my own biggest critic and I always have been. The first person I assess is me. ‘Have I got the decisions right, have I got the training plan right’ and ‘have I directed my staff in the way I want to do’. It starts at the top and myself.
“But when I feel that the players, particularly against Huddersfield and Leyton Orient and a few occasions this season, have let themselves down, I don’t see it as digging me players out, but just being truthful in seeing performances are nowhere near where we stand.
“Fans want to hear the truth and most fanbases I have worked under want to know what the manager is genuinely feeling and not being careful what I say all the time. Fans like honesty.” Clarke’s side must dig deep for their third time in seven days against the Red Imps, with a number of players out. Mael de Gevginey serves the first game of a three-match punishment following his dismissal at Northampton, with Clarke confirming that the club will not be appealing against the decision. Luca Connell is also missing through suspension, the second game of a two-match ban. Donovan Pines, Joe Gauci, Fabio Jalo and Barry Cotter are injured, while recent signing Jonathan Lewis will be out for a few weeks with a small tear in his thigh. Keeper Jackson Smith will make his home debut. Clarke added: “There’s probably seven or eight players out with injuries and suspensions on Saturday. “But we rock and roll with it and we don’t use that as an excuse and we get on with it and it’s up to the players to take on the baton and make sure they are ready to try and continue what has been a good week so far.”
