The new Championship fixtures for the 2013-14 season was recently revealed and it was learnt that Barnsley will be facing relegated Wigan athletic on the opening day of the season. Barnsley manager David Flitcroft, though, has said that he is happy with the way fixtures have panned out in the first few weeks of the campaign. He also has no worries about facing Wigan, who were only recently relegated. It was not long ago that Wigan managed to beat Manchester city in the FA Cup final to lift the famous trophy for the first time in their history.
Flitcroft, though, was expecting a fixture list that did not involve a lot of travelling during the early stages of the season. He is happy that he got exactly what he wanted. Wigan will certainly be one of the favourites to get promotion back into the top flight. They appointed former Bolton manager Owen Coyle as the replacement for Roberto Martinez, who left the club after their relegation into the Championship. Barnsley looked like they were almost certain relegation candidates last season, but they pulled off a miracle in the second half of the season to survive in the division.
Flitcroft has said that the club showed last season that they are match for even the top teams.
“It’s a tough start against Wigan. Nobody knows whether there’s going to be a buzz of excitement around the place because of their FA Cup win, or disappointment because of the relegation. But there’s an excitement here about what we are doing. We are trying to bring fresh players in and also trying to re-engage the players who served us so well last season. We are not scared of anyone in this division,” said Flitcroft. Barnsley will have three home matches in the first five matches.