[BFC SITE] Darrell Clarke Pre-Blackpool Press Conference

Darrell Clarke spoke to the local media ahead of facing Blackpool in Sky Bet League One this Saturday at Oakwell.

On injuries

They’re still getting assessed, like you said it’s a real frustrating period for ourselves. I don't think we have the squad strength to be honest to miss key players, but we can't use that as an excuse we've got but build a siege mentality here. You know, we've got a lot of problems in that department, so we just have to build with confidence, and build a plan to try and win the next game, and that's what we'll do. We won't feel sorry for ourselves, we'll get on with it.

They are very doubtful, until we get scans back and scan results back, I can’t say much, I'm not trying to withhold information, I just tell you when I can get the actual facts, but they're very, very doubtful.

I would love to give some good news, but there's not, I don't want to lay out excuses. Everybody knows where we're at, we have to make sure myself and my staff get a game plan in place, ready to win Saturday. You know, I'm a great believer that we don't become victims, we get on with it. We have got problems, but we have to move forward in a positive manner. It gives players opportunity to come into the team, into the squad, and show what they're about. Obviously, we've got an academy system here, Connor Barrett obviously played majority of the game the other day, we’ve recalled Bailey McCann, that gives us a left wing back option, we've recalled Jonathan Bland as well, he’s a midfielder that can play different positions as well, so we're doing what we can to try and make sure that we get ourselves ready for Saturday.

Obviously, the injury crisis is never good at any time, but there's certain reasons why players wanted to go out on loan and get some minutes. There are always reasons behind everything, every single decision that's made at the Football Club, I think in hindsight, if I knew this was happening, those decisions probably wouldn't have been made, but we’ve got to get on with it. A lot of those players that went out on loan and wanted to explore different options was because they weren’t getting the game time and those decisions were made. So we just have crack on.
On required mentality

That is exactly what we've got to do, dig in and then try and get some bodies back, and the way you do that is to try and get the game plan right, try and win Saturday's game, and then we're a little bit Saturday, Saturday for the next two, three weeks where we can hopefully get some bodies mended a bit, and obviously Maël comes back from suspension as well and then we start looking a little bit stronger with the strength in depth, so we've got to ride the wave, we've got three wins out the last four games, can we make it four out of five Saturday? That's all I'm looking at, and then down the line, let's have a right go in the in the last 10 games of the season.

We’ve got to win a certain amount of games with these last 11 games, you've got to win, whatever that looks like, you know, we've got to potentially get seven, eight wins to get in the top six, I look at it in that aspect, but let's try and take care of Saturday's game. I'm sure our crowd will get right behind the boys. We might have one or two young players in the group, we'll get behind the boys and try and get the three points Saturday. And then we can have a bit of a reset, reassess, with the games being Saturday, Saturday for the next few weeks.
On Blackpool

Yeah, it's another team, isn't it, that's been in the Premier League, not so long ago, they’ve played a lot of the football in the championship, they’re maybe not having the season they would’ve liked, they probably would’ve thought that they'd have been up and competing for the top six, but they’ve got a talented manager in Steve Bruce, he’s been there, seen it, done it and got the T shirt. They’ve got a group of players that are a decent set, so we know we're in for a tough, tough task with Blackpool on Saturday, and even more so with the problems we’ve got. But you know, my eyes will be fixated on winning that game and finding a way how we can do that.

Fixtures

• Barnsley Vs. Blackpool - Sat, Mar 08 2025, 15:00

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That's as bleak a presser as I've read from DC. The transformation into Keith Hill continues.

 

So he's not going to use the injuries as an excuse, but then bang on about them over and over?

 

"we've got but build a siege mentality here"???

#ProofRead

 

You can tell from the tone he's given up.

 

Don't be daft. He's just being honest.

At the time loaning out Shepherd and Lopata for minutes was a good idea. But if both were here now at least one would be starting this weekend.

 

Loaning them out perhaps, but the option not to recall Shepherd in January is looking more and more questionable.

 

"The country's goosed, WW3 is round the corner, inflations spiralling and Brexit has been a disaster. But look, the snowdrops are out in my back garden"

 

Word-salad

 

Having his words transcribed verbatim... doesn't do him any favours at all.

 

I don't think we have the squad strength to be honest to miss key players, but we can't use that as an excuse we've got but build a siege mentality here. You know, we've got a lot of problems in that department, so we just have to build with confidence, and build a plan to try and win the next game, and that's what we'll do.
Says a lot about our transfer business!

 

Can't see why there's negative, critical responses to that interview. He knows we're weak and has said as much. That's all there is to it. Whether he or someone else is to blame is another matter.

 

I don't see negative criticism; just agreement of his sentiments disguised as meh-like apathy.

 

I feel inspired after reading that. If I was a player, I’d be buzzing to get out there on Saturday.

 

I'll be buzzing to get up at 6:30 after that.

 

We had 5 centrehalves so didn't need him back as the DoF rates all 5!! Idiotic sending offs don't help.

 

In summary - 'weve got some injuries but we're gonna work hard to win Saturday'.

Media team wanna have a think about word for wording it - people want that watch the video. Always looks **** written down.

 

I hope Shepherd comes back next season and is a roaring success, but in January we had Earl and MDG both available for selection, add Pines Roberts and McCarthy and that’s 5 centre halves. Unless we were recalling him back to be first choice then it was the right decision not to recall him. 6 would have been too many, just unfortunate that we have 3 unavailable at this moment in time for me.

 

He says we need to have a right go at it this weekend, and then also in the remaining 10 games.
Yeah that's good to hear, but I don't believe it, because some look now like they have just given up.
And shouldn't we be going at it (looking to win games) all the time, not just in certain parts of the season.