Would we have had a better chance of stopping up if we hadn't released Perkins,Dagnell and Scotland.No right or wrong answers just opinions.
No , I think our defence was poor all across at times, both fullbacks and centrally. Ok Cranie and Ramage had some decent games, as did M`Voto and Nyatanga, but I was never confident of keeping a clean sheet no matter who was in the back 4. Perkins, Dagnall and Scotland were very poor this season for Barnsley and I cannot see any way they would have made the slightest difference to our season.
It's all if's & buts. I personally think we'd have stayed up if Pederson would've stayed fit as him & O'Grady had the makings of a good partnership. That combined with either Hunt or McLaughlin staying fit & having a run at RB might just have done it but we'll never know. I think our biggest problem was midfield. We didn't have one midfielder who you could say had a good season. About the best it got was Jennings having a decent 2/3 months after the new year. On top of that our full backs were garbage.
No I'd say not there was an improvement after the clear our albeit not a marked one. Midfield was the weak link throughout the season lacking creativity and offering little cover defensively and we didn't have the money or time to effectively replace our entire midfield. Not finding a consistent partner for COG was also a hindrance that nothing could overcome. Dagnall offered effort without quality, Pedersen offered little, and Proschwitz was the wrong signing. Left back was also a major area of weakness and neither Flitcroft nor Wilson ever replacing Golbourne was a serious error.
No. Our problems came from not having good enough central midfielders to allow us to play 4-4-2 (which Danny clearly wanted to play when he came in). Scotland/Daggers wouldn't have solved that....and Perkins was an absolute shadow of last season - it was the right decision to get rid of him. Fixing the midfield has to be a priority now.
Probably not, no, but I said at the time I would've much rather had Perkins in the team than Dawson, and I stand by that. I always liked Dagnall due to his effort, but at the time I thought letting him go was the right thing to do. He wasn't the best goalscorer, besides that run he had last season, but his closing down of defenders is something we may have missed. He also had a good partnership with O'Grady. Scotland seemed past it. Scoring goals in the second tier of Scottish Football doesn't change my opinion.
I would say, no. I don't believe there was one single factor that pushed us down, it was a cumulative effect : manager change, coaching change, loan players not working out, players playing well below par, not enough commitment (at times), legacy of continual struggle, off-field inactivity leading to poor financial backing, etc. If ever there was a season when BFC deserved to be relegated, this was it.
I thought Dagnall looked better and scored more of his goals when Harewood was his strike partner and we let Marlon go before the start of the season so I'm not convinced letting Dagnall go was instrumental in our downfall, Perkins looked a shadow of the player from the season before. Scotland hadn't been all that prolific in front of goal so I doubt he'd have kept us up.
