It's Sunday morning. The temperature outside is freezing. Everywhere you turn both the press and forums are generally negative. Or at least this is how you might see it if you support the Reds and live in Tarn.

I know it might seem a bit "leftfield" at this stage when I mention that I never joined the Cubs or Scouts. Well - it just wasn't the thing you did when you hung around with my mates. So tying knots and possibly, using this as a reference, creating a noose and dangling from a tree is something I lack any skill in whatsoever.

After a series winless games both Home and Away, fans have probably reached that period in the season where we either have an epiphany on Tuesday night, or the tiny fractures will become a chasm.

Going back only a few months, on the field, we were sharper, more skilful, adventurous in our play, antagonistic in our support and incidentally, one goal better off than Wednesday in the end. Have things really changed since then?

Personally, I don't think so. A change in fortune has been linked with injuries, changing personnel and in some cases a lack of form. Barnsley FC is still a great club, with great support (particularly at grounds like Hillsborough. The next fixture will not stave off any threat of relegation on its own, but will mix the mortar that will fix the unifying "wall of faith" we all need between now and Sunday 3rd May.

Okay, I am harping back. Since the late 1950's when foreign workers were "allowed" in to the pits, Barnsley has demonstrated that not only could these people work alongside the existing men, but that they also became a force within those teams - at a time when many British workers preferred instead to work in seemingly better paid positions in better conditions. Sound familiar?

And what of Simon Davey? How could a bloke from South Wales ever understand the aspirations of a community which was decimated by the demise of its main industry?

Maybe none of this matters when you're under 21, but be advised if you are - it's why your friends and family have grown up with many of their attitudes towards life. Our shared history has made us this way.

It's time to pull together and face the facts. We have enough resources to get through this decline in fortunes, but can only do it together. That starts with Barnsley FC getting it's house in order on the field of play with every player being reminded of exactly what it means to wear the (Barnsley Blood) Red shirt. From the terraces, we have to be ferocious in our support and unstinting in our demands for more heart.

After all, We Are Barnsley!
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Ian Wilkinson

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