Darrell Clarke is ‘hurting’ and having sleepless nights but says turning around Barnsley’s poor home form will be one of the biggest successes of his coaching career.
The Reds have won just two of the last 17 home league games, and were thrashed 4-0 at Oakwell on Saturday by Leyton Orient.
They have won one of the last eight, home or away, and are a point off the League One play-off places.
Clarke told the Chronicle: “The people close to me will tell you exactly how I feel in these moments. I live and breathe my football, it’s my life and always has been.
"I am hurting. I am having sleepless nights. But there is always a determination to put it right.
“The conversations I had with my players on Sunday will stay in the building but we have to understand what clubs mean to supporters.
“I have tried to leave every club I have managed in a better place and make it so that the supporters can appreciate the team. We’re miles off that at the minute but we have to rectify that over Christmas and build for a positive new year.”
Barnsley won just six of 23 home league games in 2024 and two in 11 after Clarke took over last summer. They have the 21st best record on their own turf in the third tier this season.
Clarke said: “It’s a massive problem. It will probably be one of the biggest successes of my career to turn it around. And I will do it.
“If we’re Barnsley in League One and we have the home form we have and then have a game like that at Christmas – families paying hard-earned money to watch that rubbish, I can’t paper over that. It’s not acceptable.
“It’s not just that game. Mentally it’s got to be better. We can’t freeze.
“It hurts me and I hope it hurts my players. We’re custodians and the supporters will be here long after we’ve gone.”
He added: “It has to be a mentality aspect for me. We can’t have the away form over a 12-month period and the home form like we have. It has to be the players’ mindset. There is only us who can do something.”
Clarke brought the players in on Sunday after Saturday’s thrashing.
He said: “It was a disastrous weekend, very stressful and disappointing. I got the boys in yesterday. I am here to support them, they are young men. We know we have to be a hell of a lot better. The buck stops with me. I don’t think for one minute they don’t care.
“I wanted to give them a life lesson in what clubs means to our supporters and that the performance was not acceptable. That starts with me. I have experience of going through difference scenarios and coming back from adversity.
“Sometimes players have to get through adverse moments to come out the other side. It has to happen quickly.
“I don’t live in a victim mentality and we have to put it right at Bolton on Boxing Day.”
Clarke said midfielders Luca Connell and Adam Phillips were back in full training and hoped they would feature in Thursday’s match.
