Danny Wilson hopes to pop Barnsley's party balloons tomorrow when he takes his Chesterfield side to Oakwell.
The Reds are back on their promotion push in League One after collecting the Johnstone's Paint Trophy on Sunday. Former Barnsley manager Wilson said: "Personally, I think it's a fantastic club that has fantastic memories for me which will never change. But I'm hoping we take three points. It means a great deal personally, but professionally nothing at all for the 90 minutes.
"Barnsley's season has been strange. In the first part they couldn't buy a win unfortunately but since then they have done very, very well. It just proves that, if you stick with people you believe in, they will come good in the end. They've got themselves into a very good position and, after winning the cup, they'll be full of confidence."
Wilson had been in charge of 264 Reds games across two spells. He led them to the Premier League for the only time in their history in 1997 then returned in 2013 but was unable to keep them in the Championship and was sacked in February last year when 17th in League One. While his second stint was unsuccessful, it allowed him to pass 1,000 games as a manager and he also made Paul Heckingbottom – now Reds caretaker head coach – a permanent member of the first team coaching staff.
Heckingbottom said: "Danny has been an inspiration to me, although I always remind him of when I came here after leaving Manchester United in the 90s looking for a pro deal and he said no. Danny was great to work for and a really good bloke with good values.
"To manage in more than 1,000 league games is unbelievable and I can see him going on and on. Chesterfield are fighting for their lives but, if we give them space to play, they will play good football. We need to impose ourselves on them. It will be an intense game for lots of reasons but hopefully we take our chances and make it an easy afternoon."
Among Wilson's staff are goalkeeping coach Mark Crossley – who worked with Heckingbottom at Oakwell before leaving for Chesterfield a year ago – and ex-Red Chris Morgan, his former Barnsley Boys colleague. Spireites chairman Dave Allen was in charge at Sheffield Wednesday when Heckingbottom was signed in 2004 by then Owls manager Chris Turner who is now chief executive of Chesterfield. There won't be as many familiar faces for Wilson as, of the Reds side that won at Wembley, he signed only Conor Hourihane, Adam Davies, George Williams and Sam Winnall.
Danny took over at Chesterfield from Dean Saunders on Christmas Eve when they were 19th with 23 points from 22 games and has doubled that tally in 18 matches, moving them up to 18th. But they are still just two points clear of the relegation zone. They would have been in the bottom four if they had not come from behind to beat Port Vale 4-2 on Saturday with ex-Red Jamal Campbell-Ryce netting their first. That result ended a four-match winless run and the four goals matched the number they had netted in six games during March.
While no side in the division has conceded more home goals than the Spireites, only teams in the top three have more away wins than Chesterfield's eight.
Barnsley have not beaten their near neighbours in six meetings since 2004, including a 3-1 defeat in Derbyshire on the opening day of this campaign. Tomorrow's match will be the Reds' 50th of the season.
