18 February 2023 , 10:50
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On a works outing they will never forget, Michael Duff took his Barnsley players 500ft down a coal mine to show them how many Tykes fans had to graft for a living.
And when they bobbed to the surface, they were greeted by news of the Queen's death.
Going down was nothing new for Barnsley in 2022 after they slipped through the Championship pit shaft without a whimper last May. But manager Duff's inspired visit to the National Coal Mining Museum at Overton last September put his squad on the same wavelength as a fan base who confounded, for generations, the adage that grime doesn't pay.
“We took the players down the mines to give them an understanding of what so many of our supporters had to go through to earn their gate money to come and watch us,” said Duff. “So when the supporters are booing us, that's where they are coming from. We got the kit man (Malcolm Mitchell), who worked down the pit for 18 years, to give them a talk to help them understand who they are representing.
“When they heard his stories about the dangerous conditions, and losing five or six mates over the years, you could see the penny drop. This town was built on the mining industry and the club represents them – you don't see many Manchester United or Liverpool shirts around here.
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“As a manager, I promised them sweat on the shirt – and they appreciate a muck-and-nettles team doing the hard yards, getting the blocks in, grafting when the conditions are horrible.”
Duff has clocked up nearly 250 games as a manager (Gareth Copley/Getty Images)A town where the statue of cricket umpire Dickie Bird, with raised index finger sending another batsman packing, stands guard over Church Street, is crying out for leadership - and 45-year-old Duff is cut out to be a standard-bearer. Barnsley are sixth in a League One, a division rife with big beasts, and most of their promotion rivals are due to visit Oakwell on the run-in. Buckle up and strap in, the next three months could be fun.
In his playing days, he became the first to appear in the top eight tiers of English football, in ascending order – from Carterton Town in the Hellenic League to Burnley in the Premier League. And along with Nick Clement of West Brom, he is the only player to be promoted to the Premier League three times with the same club.
“I always claim I played at the top nine levels – including my 24 international caps for Northern Ireland,” he grinned. “As a manager, I don't need to tell the world what I'm going to do, but I was never going to be parachuted into a Premier League or Championship club and my mentality is the same: Hard work pays you back.”
This weekend Duff goes back to Cheltenham Town, the homely club he led to the League Two title in 2021, before he was headhunted in coal mining godfather Arthur Scargill's former stronghold. He said: “It will be nice to go back because I never got the chance to say goodbye properly.
“You walk round on the day last day of the season to thank them for their support, not realising you'll be gone over the summer. But it's home – I still live there and my kids go to school in the town – and I will always be grateful for their support.
“It was my first job and I went 10 games without a win at the start, but they stuck with me. Too many first-time managers fail and they never get another chance. One of the best tips when I started out was from my old Burnley manager Sean Dyche, and it always stayed with me: Get to 100 games, by hook or by crook, because then you can build your philosophy and all the buzzwords people talk about.
“But I took it on because I didn't want to be that bloke in the pub at 50 saying, 'I could do that job.' I'm glad I grasped the nettle. I've nearly 250 games on the board as a manager now, and if I get sacked tomorrow, I will have reached sixth in League One. I didn't cut corners, I didn't try and cheat the system, and if this is as high as it goes, then so be it.
“I had to wait until I was 31 to play in the top flight, and if my progress as a manager has to be incremental, I can live with that.”