Barnsley FC boss Darrell Clarke's candid admission about Reds' crippling bout of League One homesickness
The Reds' form at Oakwell has ravaged their progress for the past 10 months and they ended 2024 with arguably the worst performance of the calendar year in an atrocious 4-0 reverse to Leyton Orient.
All told, Barnsley have won just two home league matches out of 17 since late February and so far in 2024-25, only the current bottom two of Shrewsbury and Burton have picked up fewer points in the third tier than the Reds.
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Hide AdClarke said: "For me to turn the home form around - and I will do - would be one of my biggest achievements.


"Because I think when you come into the expectations of a club who want to be higher up the pyramid - and rightly so because they are my expectations – it can take a little bit of time to get going.
"We need to look forward to a positive year next year and make sure that our punters, who are spending hard-earned money, are going to be rewarded with good performances that are consistent at home.
"We have a massive, massive problem at home."
Mercifully, Barnsley’s numbers on the road stand up rather better and their away record is bettered only by Wycombe in terms of points.
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Hide AdIt helps to explain why a Christmas double-header at Bolton and Peterborough - tough though it looks on paper - is viewed as not necessarily too bad a thing.
Clarke, who held a clear-the-air meeting with his players on Sunday after the desperate Oakwell events against the O’s, added: "Let’s look at the positives. Our away form has been pretty strong and we have two tough away games coming up at two teams that were in the play-offs last year and who are probably not having the season that they probably would have been hoping for so far this season like ourselves.
"We go into those games trying to improve."
Clarke is ‘very hopeful’ that key midfield duo Luca Connell and Adam Phillips will be available for the Roses trip to Bolton after returning to full training on Monday.
Ex-Wanderers player Connell missed out at the weekend due to illness, while Phillips was absent after undergoing emergency dental treatment last week.
Clarke, who is without two senior players in key defenders Marc Roberts and Josh Earl, added: "I am very hopeful. We’ll see. Hopefully, they will be back in contention."