A tumultuous and frenetic conclusion to the Championship season saw the eventual fate of a string of clubs hanging in the balance as the final minutes of a 46 match marathon were being concluded.

All concerned with Hull City, managed by the indefatigable Steve Bruce, were reduced to whey-faced, helpless observers as they counted down the seconds on Watford’s eventually futile search for a promotion stealing strike.

French attacker Anthony Knockaert wrote his name into Leicester City folklore with a last-ditch emphatic finish, in front of his own supporters, at Nottingham Forest’s City Ground to steer the Foxes into the play-offs.  That goal consigned Forest and Bolton Wanderers to another term of second-tier football.

How Wolverhampton Wanderers must wish they could lay claim to the same boast.  The fabled Midlands outfit completed two of the most miserable years imaginable with a limp 2-0 defeat at Brighton & Hove Albion to seal their second successive relegation.

Amidst the competition of all that drama, perhaps the achievement to top them all was Barnsley’s – and chiefly that of their exceptional young boss, David Flitcroft.

In June 2011, the Lancastrian followed Keith Hill, in his role as assistant, from the duo’s previous home at Rochdale.  When Hill was sacked after Barnsley had lost at home to Blackburn Rovers on 29^th December last year, his erstwhile Number 2 was promoted to the manager’s chair.

That arrangement was only ever intended to be temporary.  The Tykes approached both Terry Butcher and Sean O’Driscoll with a view to appointing either man to their top job.

Flitcroft’s hopes of becoming the main man would surely be hindered by his association with the Hill regime?  During their one full season together, Barnsley finished one place above the relegation positions – only escaping the drop by virtue of 22^nd placed Portsmouth suffering a ten-point deduction.  When Hill departed, the Oakwell club were rock bottom of the 24 team division.  They had won five of 25 matches, and scored only 25 goals, while conceding 41.

There is little precedent for clubs dismissing a failing boss, and fortunes subsequently being revived by a member of the same regime.  Mick McCarthy’s replacement at Wolves by Terry Connor springs immediately to mind.

Flitcroft held no truck with that theory.  An inauspicious start – losing 2-1 at relegation rivals Peterborough United – was instantly given brighter perspective with an F.A. Cup victory against Burnley and, crucially, a pulsating 2-0 home win against Yorkshire adversaries Leeds United.

The mix of on-field improvement, and the air of buoyancy that had been restored within the Oakwell walls, were enough to earn Flitcroft a run at the job.  Prior to confirmation of the new manager’s longer-term status, Tykes’ goalkeeper Luke Steele had advocated the caretaker’s credentials saying that the players ‘would love to see him (Flitcroft) given the job’.  The ‘keeper continued;

‘He’s a really good coach, gets on with everybody and in the two games we’ve had under him we’ve done well’.

A club statement to coincide with the new man’s ascension said;

‘It is clear that David has the passion, personal dedication and commitment of the players’.

These were some testimonies for a man who had been in charge for little more than a fortnight.  There are a plethora of previous examples of the ‘new manager bounce’ resulting in a brief boon, only for the old foibles, which brought about the initial struggles, to re-surface with a vengeance.

Flitcroft was being handed one of the most formidable tasks in English football.  Of immediate concern was the four point gap to safety that remained after the triumph over Leeds.  Additionally, a man who enjoyed a distinctly journeyman playing career as a midfielder trawling the northern football circuit, was placing his hopes for a more celebrated managerial life in the hands of a club not renowned for its stability.

Since their Premier League campaign of 1997/1998 – Barnsley’s sole experience of top-flight football – 11 other men (excluding caretakers) had tried their hand at restoring cheer to this tight-knit, provincial outfit.  The once burgeoning reputations of; John Hendrie, Nigel Spackman, Steve Parkin, Simon Davey, and Hill, are among those to have suffered.

Viewed retrospectively, Barnsley’s one year stay with the elite was far from disastrous.  Danny Wilson’s team won 10 matches – six more than QPR have managed to date this term.  If two of 23 losses had been turned into three point returns, the men from South-Yorkshire would have lived to fight another day – and relegated Everton in the process.

Despite the sporting allure of that campaign, which also included a run to the last eight of the F.A. Cup, Barnsley attracted their greatest share of headlines for the comments of Macedonian striker Georgi Hristov – still the club’s joint most expensive signing at £1.5m.  Midway through the season, the then 21 year-old was quoted as saying;

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