<h3 class="headline">"WE WILL HAVE FRESH FACES IN FOR NEXT SEASON AND WE WILL BE A MORE COMPETITIVE AND FITTER TEAM. WE WILL BE CHALLENGING FURTHER UP THAT TABLE" - SIMON </h3> <p align="center"> <table width="140" cellspacing="0" border="0" align="center" class="caption"> <tbody> <tr> <td style="text-align: center" class="captionImage"></td></tr> <tr> <td class="captionText"> <div class="innerCaptionText">Simon Davey</div></td></tr></tbody></table></p> REDS manager Simon Davey chatted exclusively to Barnsley World today after seeing months of pressure lifted by securing Championship safety last weekend.</p> Simon told Barnsley World: "It is fantastic to stay up this year. We took over from Andy (Ritchie) when we were second from bottom and our main objective was to stay up. Looking at the league table at the time we knew it was a big task. We had not strengthened much in the summer so we had to go with what we had but with a few additions.</p> "To achieve what we have done and actually get to the 50 point mark is fantastic. That was our target and we achieved it. All credit has to go to the players and the staff for that.</p> "It was a big relief. We won three games on the bounce to get to 50 points and there was still a doubt that other clubs could catch us and all the hard work would have been in vain. Winning at Stoke, Plymouth and Luton were big achievements and to turn this club around and secure safety in front of our home supporters was brilliant.</p> "Losing against Leicester was unfortunate but we have to realise that the three great wins before that have kept us in the Championship. Getting to the 50 point barrier has kept us up - not what other teams have done. We have not just sneaked into the Championship because we have won enough games over the season to stay up. It is all about what we have done.</p> "This is the biggest achievement of my career. As a player I won two championship medals; played in a Welsh Cup Final; played in the European Cup Winners Cup; was in the PFA Team of the Year but my biggest achievement is to manage a team in a division higher than I have ever played. I never played in the Championship and now I have managed a Championship team to safety. We avoided relegation when everybody thought we had no chance.</p> "Phil Brown has said that keeping Hull up is his biggest achievement and he has worked with Bolton and had a spell at Derby County. He has said that it is the biggest achievement of his life - I am only 36 and it is my first managerial job so it is the biggest of my life as well".</p> He added: "I never doubted that we would stay up. I believe in myself and know that I have the right temperament, work ethic and passion to do well. People have questioned my passion on the sidelines but they have never said that about Roy Keane when he had stood there expressionless all year.</p> "I have never doubted my ability. I have never doubted my staff's ability and I have never doubted that the squad we have would be good enough to stay in the Championship.</p> "There have been a lot of people behind this team and reasons why things have worked so well. I have worked with four of my backroom staff before and I knew that Ryan Kidd, Kelham O'Hanlon, Richard Kay and Dave Kelly would not let me down.</p> "Ryan is an excellent coach. He has been a friend for a long time and I know that I can trust him. He is also a defender and a lot of his priorities have been on that side of the game. I have worked with Kelham before and he is vastly experienced as a coach, an assistant manager with David Moyes and as caretaker manager at Preston. He has been at three or four clubs now and has taken on a managerial role and that is invaluable. When you have to call on people that are friends and who have experience it can only be a good thing. The most important thing is that I know that they can all do a job and they have been great.</p> "Dave worked with the Academy as fitness coach and I say straight away that his knowledge of sports sciences is immense. His sheer knowledge has made the team fitter and we have blended and gelled as a four. That has brought us success.</p> "People from the outside would see a move from Academy Manager to the first team as being a gamble. I was secure at the Academy with relatively little pressure and was thrust straight into the limelight a fortnight later in front of the Sky cameras. It was not a gamble personally because you have to strive to be the best that you can be in whatever job you do. You have to try and work at the highest level possible and the opportunity of getting to where I am today in such a short space of time was something I was not going to let pass. I wanted to grasp the opportunity with both hands and I was always confident that I could do the job. That takes the gamble away from it.</p> "I do not think I would change a thing over the last six months. It has been a bit of a baptism really and I have had to learn as I went along a bit. Every fork in the road has taught me something about myself, about my staff and about my players. You have to go down those roads and make those mistakes to become a better coach, manager and a better person".</p> Simon said: "I have learned is that you cannot dwell too much on winning and losing matches. I was a nightmare to live with after the first few defeats but there was always a win around the corner and everybody was euphoric again.</p> "I have learned that when you cannot take winning foregranted because in this division there are big clubs with big budgets and you are always going to be on the end of a hiding somewhere. You cannot relax and dwell on winning matches because that will come back to get you. The job is not done at five o'clock on a Saturday. We cannot afford to dwell on a win or a defeat. You have to keep you feet on the ground and look to the next game.</p> <span style="font-size: 14pt; color: red"> <hr /> There was competition for places and players know that they have to work their socks off in the team or they will be dropped. Istvan and Peter had a big impact on the group and we have ended up staying in the division - Simon <hr /> </span></p> "Bringing in Istvan (Ferenczi) and Peter (Rajczi) was a big thing but their work ethic in games and in training had a huge impact on the squad. We wanted a squad with a higher work ethic, we wanted them to be fitter and we wanted them on the same wavelength. Sometimes that comes from the training ground and sometimes it is something else that triggers it. It could be that Istvan and Peter came in and embarrassed some of our players with their work ethic and urged a few to copy them. Whatever it was we ended up with a squad of players who were dying to get the shirt on a Saturday afternoon. There was competition for places and players know that they have to work their socks off in the team or they will be dropped. Istvan and Peter had a big impact on the group and we have ended up staying in the division.</p> "When I have spoken to the Board it has never been about money - it has been about the player. If a player is on a free transfer and is from Yeovil or Manchester United or whether we have to pay for him from Europe, it is not going to be an issue of money. It is all about what players are available and then do then cost money or not. I have never been knocked back on any player I have asked for.</p> "We have only ever had one list of players for the summer and that was for those who can improve us in the Championship. We know that people outside have been saying that it was all bravado when we were losing matches and still insisting that we would stay up, especially after Ipswich. There were a lot of doubters but the dressing room never stopped believing, the coaches never stopped believing and we have done it.</p> "There was only ever going to be one list of players and that was the Championship one. If we failed we would have had to have started again but we knew that we were not going to be relegated.</p> "We do not want to be in the same situation next season. We do not want to wait until the penultimate game of the season to secure safety. We have to be further up that table and that means strengthening departments in the team. I am not going to go into that specifically but we will have fresh faces in for next season and we will be a more competitive and fitter team. We will be challenging further up that table.</p> "Brian (Howard) has been named the Player of the Year and that is a great accolade for him. It shows that he has been consistent throughout the season. I had watched the games before I took over in November and I dropped Brian for my first match in charge. I felt I needed to freshen things up - I brought Brian back in and he has not been dropped since. He has been consistently one of the top players at the club and that is all credit to him for his reaction to being dropped. We are still in negotiations with Brian and the other players at the Club and we will let people know when they sign. Brian is a player that I want to keep".</p> Simon added: "Luke Potter is an excellent player and I expect him to sign a two-year professional contract shortly. He will be involved at West Brom. Luke's performances with the reserves and Academy have warranted his involvement with the first team. There is no pressure on us to win at West Brom and we can experiment a little so I am sure that Luke will feature in that game.</p> "We have to look to the future and we could blood some more at West Brom. We have to look to next season and see whether our youngsters can play on the big stage. Some of our lads have played a lot of games this season and all of them have been high pressure. We will have to assess it this week before we decide what we are going to do.</p> "We still need to put on a performance at West Brom. We owe that to every other team in this division and we are now a team that has no pressure on its shoulders".</p>
Well said that man, comes across very well. Hope we sign Pete, i know he's not been scoring but i reckon he will be alot better player next season once he has settled over here.
"People have questioned my passion on the sidelines.. ..but they have never said that about Roy Keane when he had stood there expressionless all year." CORRECT! Thats because those people are "errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrh" Ming Mongs!
Sounds like he is enjoying flipping the finger at his critics. And quite right too. If I was constantly criticised and slagged off from Day 1 of a new job, I'd be pretty happy to go 'eat that, mongwizards' upon proving myself.
(clap) (clap) (clap) Never doubted you... and I will stick my neck out and say.... I bet that we will be fighting to keep hold of this bloke within the next 2 seasons, if not by the end of next!
Very good interview.. Said all the right things, and that speech has really impressed me. Lets see what the Summer brings. </p> Terrific achievement Simon, well done.</p>
