..........Barnsley were one of the pre-season favourites to be relegated and they've began the campaign as many predicted with eight losses from eleven matches and a whopping 27 goals conceded. The Tykes sit bottom of The Championshiip but all is not lost and there are signs that things could be about to turn around at Oakwell.
Here are three reasons to think that Barnsley will not be relegation this season
1. Results are improving
Barnsley began the season with a 4-0 home defeat to Wigan and were also thumped 5-2 by Blackburn Rovers in August but things have settled down a bit since then and David Flitcroft's men have only been beaten by more than one goal by Watford and QPR since the start of September. They've played Nottingham Forest, Leicester City, Bournemouth and Reading in that period, which means that in their last six matches the Tykes have played six of the top eight in The Championship. These are the teams that will rack up the gbig wins and the fact that they haven't is testament to a new steel being shown by Barnsley. If they replicate the performances of the past month over the course of the season then they'll have more positive than negative results.
2. Jack Butland and David Fox
Jack Butland is the England Under-21 captain and could well be on the plane with the senior squad to Rio in nine months time so his signing on loan can be seen as something of a coup from Flitcroft. The Stoke City loanee will instantly add a touch of class to the Barnsley defence and this move could prove to be the catalyst for improvements in defence.
David Fox, meanwhile, is another player with Premier League experience who is willing to drop down a division for regular football and he too will dramatically increase the quality for the Barnsley starting XI. It doesn't take much at Championship level to turn a losing team into a winning team and two hungry, top quality players in key areas could well be enough.
3. There are worse teams than Barnsley in The Championship
At the moment the bookies make Barnsley the second favourites to be relegated, behind Yeovil Town, who don't have the quality or experience to remain in the second tier. Sheffield Wednesday are next in the betting, followed by Charlton and Millwall. I'd wager that two of those three will finish below Barnsley this season with both Charlton and Millwall possessing arguably worse squads on paper. Neither has been particularly convincing and it's only a couple of points separating them from the Tykes at the bottom at the moment.
Sheffield Wednesday, meanwhile, have just appointed new owners and there are strong rumours that Dave Jones could be replaced by Paolo Di Canio. Sunderland fans know what happens with Di Canio at the helm and any implosion at Hillsborough will be directly beneficial to Barnsley. It may not take all that much in the end to be the best of a bad bunch.
Neil Roarty writes for Footballtips.com, a sports, news and betting website.