Barrow head coach Pete Wild has revealed that the club are in phase two of a three-year cycle, with the side making a push for promotion to League One, albeit while undergoing a worrying spell of results.
The Bluebirds were as high as third place recently but have since dropped to sixth after a dismal run of form in February, losing three matches in a row against AFC Wimbledon, Forest Green Rovers and Salford City.
𝐑𝐮𝐥𝐞 𝟏: 𝐍𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐢𝐧 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐚𝐧 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐫 🙅♂️
Level: Impossible 🎮#WeAreBarrow pic.twitter.com/W5yYWaDJCb
— Barrow AFC (@BarrowAFC) February 19, 2024
Wild’s men have the chance to get back on track and avoid falling even further behind in the race for the automatic promotion places when Bradford City come to Holker Street on Saturday. However, the Bantams are on a three-game winning streak themselves, hoping to make a late push for the playoffs.
Nevertheless, even a sixth-place finish in England’s fourth tier would be an improvement on last season when Barrow ended the campaign terribly, losing four matches in a row to put the team 13 points behind the playoffs.
Head coach Wild recently spoke about the club’s progression. The 39-year-old stated his Barrow are in stage two of a three-year cycle, having gone through what he described as “crisis management” last season [quotes via Northwest Evening Mail]:
“When I came in, I talked about three-year cycles. Last year was about crisis management and dealing with that and the second year was about developing a plan and we looked at the whole structure of the football club.
“We have developed a plan and have tried to implement that plan as we have gone through the season and I think there is real progression on and off the pitch for Barrow this season,” Wild continued.
“I know fans will look at the tangible outcomes and they want to be right up there at the end of the season and certainly so do we but if you just take a step back and look at the processes the club has gone through and how the club is set up now. It is a million miles away from when we walked in two years ago.”
Writer’s View
Achieving a finish inside the top seven and securing a place in the playoffs by the end of the campaign would be an incredible feat by the players, Wild, and his coaching staff and would be the highest in the club’s history.
However, it would be incredibly daft to expect Barrow to achieve promotion this term, particularly with the likes of Wrexham, Notts County and Stockport County all in the running with far meatier budgets. Perhaps the third year of Wild’s cycle will prove to be the season that he takes the club to League One.
Deputy Head of Writing
