CONOR Hourihane hopes the Barnsley fans who chanted against him and the players on Saturday will take the international break to ‘reflect’ that he is doing ‘the best we can’ with a squad that is so thin to make players play ‘obscene’ numbers of minutes.
There were chants of ‘sacked in the morning’ during the 1-0 home loss to near neighbours Doncaster Rovers and ‘you’re not fit to wear the shirt’ to the players after the game which realistically confirmed a mid-table finish in League One ahead of the current 13-day hiatus from games.
Barnsley’s owners have said they have a mid-table budget while Hourihane cited factors such as not getting another striker in the January transfer window, when they sold star man Davis Keillor-Dunn, and the very busy end to the season which sees them play 16 games in 56 days.
Hourihane said after the match that ‘it will be the same next season’ but is thought to have been referring to the financial challenges rather than a likely mid-table finish.
Asked if those chants were hard for him to hear, Hourihane told the Chronicle after the match: “Not really, to be honest.
“That’s because I think, after January and probably over the course of the season, we keep giving messages out about where the club’s at, where the squad’s at.
“Anger (after the window) was obviously towards other people other than me and the players and that can get quickly forgotten. But I hope, when they have this break now and reflect, that they’ll understand that we’re doing our very best with what we have.”
After selling then top-scorer Keillor-Dunn in the window and bringing in Tom Bradshaw, the Reds did not sign the extra striker Hourihane wanted.
Bradshaw missed Saturday’s game with an injury and David McGoldrick, 38, played every minute of the last six games which Hourihane called ‘obscene’.
The head coach said: “As much as we all want to win games and I get that the fans want to continue to win and I want to continue to win, everyone needs to know where we are. And I think everyone does.
“And I know the frustration is there and I completely understand it.
“And I’m the first person to be frustrated more than anyone. But we’re asking a lot of these lads and we’re asking a lot of these young lads and we’re asking a lot of the squad in general.
“You know, with Bradders being out, if I was Bradford City, I’d have four strikers to choose from.”
Asked if there would be an assessment within the club about why the squad was not stronger in certain areas, he said: “There is nothing to assess.
“I’ve been given what I’ve given, that’s it.”
Asked what he thought was needed to compete above mid-table level, he said: “That’s not for me to say.
“I’m the head coach. I get obviously given what I’m given.
“I try and work with what I’ve got.
“I try and improve players that I’ve got. What I think and what I feel and what I would like, it’s not my decision.”
Chairman Neerav Parekh and director Julie Anne Quay were in Barnsley last week and met with Hourihane.
The head coach said: “There were just discussions about moving forward and next season. And that was kind of it, really. There were discussions around how the summer looks and how next season looks. That was the nuts and bolts of it.”
Quay posted on social media: “Was at Barnsley FC for meetings with my fellow owners and executives.
“Important conversations, honest moments and a club that means everything to its people.
“You Barnsley Football Club.”
