IT’S an honour and a privilege to be asked to step up and be interim head coach for Barnsley Football Club.

Firstly, I want to say thank you to Darrell for all he has given me and the rest of the staff over the course of the last nine months.

I said in the press conference, it’s never nice to see anyone lose their job and especially Darrell who has tried really hard to get the team pushing for the play-offs.

Barnsley is a team and a community that means so much to me that I didn’t hesitate to agree to help out when Mladen called on Wednesday afternoon.

I was down at St George’s Park on a course when the call came in and I very quickly made my excuses and headed back to Yorkshire making plans on the way to ensure we could hit the ground running straight away.

It’s fair to say I haven’t had much sleep since as we prepare for the game at Mansfield on Saturday as myself and the rest of the staff have been working hard on making sure the team can be prepared and ready to go.

The first session on the grass with the players was positive, their attitudes have been excellent since the news was communicated to them and everyone knows what the objective is for the next ten games.

For however long I am in charge, my aim will be to give the town a team they can be proud of.

The fans demand hard work, we will press and attack the opposition as much as we can whilst also trying to show the qualities on the ball that I know the squad possesses.

I would like to think I have a close bond with the supporters, even after I left back in 2017 I know many of them continued to follow my career, and I know they will be behind me as well as the staff and the team at Field Mill on Saturday before we come back to Oakwell next weekend for the game against Cambridge, which is sure to be a very emotional occasion for me and my family.

Thanks again for all the warm messages of support this week. Let’s get down to business.